The Supreme Court's test for the constitutionality of state action and its test for the constitutionality of congressional legislation enforcing the Fourteenth Amendment are out of synch with one another. When a plaintiff challenges state action under the Fourteenth Amendment, the degree of scrutiny varies with the type of claim. Racial classifications, for example, are examined under "strict" scrutiny. Most classifications, such as disability, age, or socioeconomic status, are examined on a "rational basis." When Congress acts pursuant to its Section 5 powers under the Fourteenth Amendment to protect rights, however, the Court has no corresponding spectrum of degrees of scrutiny. In this paper I argue that the Court should adopt the "mirror image" spectrum of scrutiny for congressional enactments pursuant to its Section 5 powers. For example, if Congress seeks to protect people from age discrimination or discrimination based on disability by permitting individuals to sue states without their consent in federal court, the plaintiff should have to show that he or she actually suffered a constitutional violation in the case at bar. If Congress seeks to protect people from race discrimination, the plaintiff should have to show only that there is a rational, "means-end" relationship between the congressional remedy and the targeted discrimination. Applying this test to the Fifteenth Amendment, which prohibits race discrimination in voting, the courts should apply rational, "means-end" scrutiny to statutes such as the Voting Rights Act, including the preclearance condition that is likely to come before the Supreme Court in the near future.


Genome-wide association study reveals new genetic risk factor for prostate cancer The post-genomic era has sparked a new trend in biomedical research that was scarcely imaginable a few years ago. Case in point: the NCI Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility (CGEMS) project, a genome-wide association study that leverages knowledge from the Human Genome and HapMap projects, while capitalizing on the latest generation of DNA chip technologies. Co-led by David Hunter, MD, professor of cancer prevention at HSPH and director of the DF/HCC High-Throughput Polymorphism Detection Core, CGEMS is a collaboration between the National Cancer Institute and several other institutions, which are pooling population resources to find the common inherited mutations that contribute to increased risk for prostate and breast cancer. Unlike a candidate gene study, a genome-wide association study makes no assumptions about which genes contribute to disease, but instead combs the entire genome for variations that occur more frequently in patients who have a disease (cases) than in a matched set of individuals (controls) who do not. These data help researchers locate the most common mutated genes that increase susceptibility to disease. The CGEMS study analyzes the genetic variations known as SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms), which represent a one-letter change in the genetic sequence at a particular site, or locus, on a chromosome. (SNP generally refers to the site of variation, whereas allele refers to the particular nucleotide at that site, eg, A or G.) While some alleles contribute to individual traits, such as eye color, or have no appreciable effect, others predispose to disease. SNPs, chips, and the HapMap converge on cancer research The human genome harbors 10 million "common" SNPs - those in which the frequency of the variation, or minor allele, is shared by at least one percent of a population. Moreover, SNPs in close proximity to one another are often inherited together in blocks called haplotypes. The HapMap project, which mapped these ancestral segments of the genome, has identified a subset of SNPs that represent - or tag - the haplotype to which they belong, acting as proxies for the other SNPs in that segment. Thus researchers can capture variations across the wide expanse of the genome more efficiently by studying the much smaller number of tag SNPs that reflect the diversity of the study population. The initial scans in the CGEMS project analyze 550,000 tag SNPs at once, a feat made possible by new ultrahigh-volume DNA chips. The chips analyze the alleles at each SNP for both cases and controls; a readout indicates whether the person carries no copies of the minor allele, one copy, or two copies - producing a value of 0, 1, or 2, respectively. This information is fed into the CGEMS database, which compares the readouts and determines which SNPs have the highest frequencies of the minor alleles - that is, those that are more common in patients with cancer. The multistage design of the CGEMS study resembles a funnel or inverted cone: the first scan winnows down 550,000 tag SNPs to the top 25,000 SNPs; the second scan narrows these 25,000 to 1,500; and the third scan reveals the final 25-50 candidate markers that may be implicated in cancer. In each case, sequential scans are replicated in different populations of cases and controls. "This multistage design can realize genotyping cost savings without loss of statistical power," says Peter Kraft, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at HSPH and a statistician for CGEMS, who helped design the study and determine sample size. Since some results could be a matter of chance, cautions Kraft, it's important that other research groups conduct replication studies to determine whether the final 25-50 SNPs continue to demonstrate an association. A new way of doing science The CGEMS initiative takes advantage of several existing study populations - including the NCI's Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO), the Nurses' Health Study, Physicians' Health Study, and many others - for which researchers have collected not only DNA samples but also extensive lifestyle and biomarker data. The three-year CGEMS project began in 2006 with the scan of DNA samples from the PLCO study taken from 1,150 men with prostate cancer and 1,150 controls, explains co-investigator and epidemiologist Ed Giovannucci, MD, professor at HSPH and member of DF/HCC's Prostate Cancer Program. The first scan of 550,000 SNPs was completed late last year, and the results were posted on the CGEMS Web site (http://cgems.cancer.gov/). Other researchers can look up the rank order of each of the 550,000 SNPs, or query the data by gene name, chromosome region, range of base pairs, individual SNP, or P value. "This is a brand new way of doing science," says Hunter. "We're releasing our data six months before publication to try to drive the science faster. And we display the aggregate results in a flexible format, which is a huge leap forward in sharing scientific results. We encourage DF/HCC researchers to access these data to help advance their own prostate cancer work." While analyzing their data from the first scan, CGEMS researchers decided to take a closer look at an area around chromosome 8q24, which recent studies had suggested was associated with prostate cancer. This region rose to the top of the first scan, says Kraft, which provided proof of principle that the CGEMS association study works. What's more, researchers discovered a new locus in the same region that had not previously been reported. The group conducted four follow-up scans of chromosome 8q24, using a total of 4,200 cases and 4,200 controls in different populations, which confirmed their findings (published online April 1 2007 in Nature Genetics). "We were very excited because we discovered a new genetic risk factor for prostate cancer," says Hunter. "And because it's in the same neighborhood as the previously discovered locus, this region looks like a 'hot spot' for prostate cancer." The results of the second scan of 25,000 markers are expected in the next few months. Hunting for genetic risk factors in breast cancer Meanwhile, the breast cancer component of the project is also under way. The first scan genotyped DNA of 1,150 cases and 1,150 controls from the Nurses' Health Study, a group that has been tracked for decades. Hunter and his team selected women who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and were postmenopausal at diagnosis. "We needed to carefully select where we thought we'd have the most impact, given that pre-and postmenopausal breast cancer may have different contributors," says co-investigator Susan Hankinson, ScD, associate professor of medicine at HMS, co-leader of the DF/HCC Cancer Epidemiology Program, and principal investigator of the Nurses' Health Study. "We focused in one area so that we'd have better statistical power." This approach should yield the common SNPs that are much more frequent in the general population than are the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Data from the scan will be released on the CGEMS Web site in the coming weeks. "We're hoping to identify new pathways that are important in breast cancer etiology," adds Hankinson, "and that this study will spur additional collaborations with DF/HCC researchers." CGEMS has already spawned other projects: Rulla Tamimi, ScD, assistant professor of medicine at HMS, has proposed using SNP data from the first scan to hunt for genes that correlate with breast tissue density, a strong risk factor for breast cancer that is not well understood. Hankinson explains that CGEMS, which uses existing study populations, offers unique opportunities for related research because of the wealth of lifestyle and biomarker data readily available. "The mammographic density proposal is a good example of other projects that will emerge from CGEMS." An association study at this scale - involving tens of thousands of patients - would not have been possible a few years ago, nor would scientific findings have become public so quickly. "Discoveries are going to tumble out over the next two years," says Hunter, "and it's because of the genome project, the HapMap, and the magic of these new technologies."


Accurate estimates of surface soil moisture are essential in many research fields, including agriculture, hydrology, and meteorology. The objective of this study was to evaluate two remote-sensing methods for mapping the soil moisture of a bare soil, namely, L-band radiometry using brightness temperature and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) using surface reflection inversion. Invasive time-domain reflectometry (TDR) measurements were used as a reference. A field experiment was performed in which these three methods were used to map soil moisture after controlled heterogeneous irrigation that ensured a wide range of water content. The heterogeneous irrigation pattern was reasonably well reproduced by both remote-sensing techniques. However, significant differences in the absolute moisture values retrieved were observed. This discrepancy was attributed to different sensing depths and areas and different sensitivities to soil surface roughness. For GPR, the effect of roughness was excluded by operating at low frequencies (0.2-0.8 GHz) that were not sensitive to the field surface roughness. The root mean square (rms) error between soil moisture measured by GPR and TDR was 0.038 m3·m-3. For the radiometer, the rms error decreased from 0.062 (horizontal polarization) and 0.054 (vertical polarization) to 0.020 m3·m-3 (both polarizations) after accounting for roughness using an empirical model that required calibration with reference TDR measurements. Monte Carlo simulations showed that around 20% of the reference data were required to obtain a good roughness calibration for the entire field. It was concluded that relatively accurate measurements were possible with both methods, although accounting for surface roughness was essential for radiometry.


Routing protocols for wireless sensor networks must address the challenges of reliable packet delivery at increasingly large scale and highly constrained node resources. Attempts to limit node state can result in undesirable worst-case routing performance, as measured by stretch, which is the ratio of the hop count of the selected path to that of the optimal path.

We present a new routing protocol, Small State and Small Stretch (S4), which jointly minimizes the state and stretch. S4 uses a combination of beacon distance-vector based global routing state and scoped distance-vector based local routing state to achieve a worst-case stretch of 3 using O(√N) routing state per node in an N-node network. Its average routing stretch is close to 1. S4 further incorporates local failure recovery to achieve resilience to dynamic topology changes. We use multiple simulation environments to assess performance claims at scale, and use experiments in a 42-node wireless sensor network testbed to evaluate performance under realistic RF and failure dynamics. The results show that S4 achieves scalability, efficiency, and resilience in a wide range of scenarios.


This working paper suggests that the business history of emerging markets should be seen as an alternative business history rather than merely adding new settings to explore established core debates. The discipline of business history evolved around the corporate strategies and structures of developed economies. The growing literature on the business history of emerging markets addresses contexts which are different from developed markets. These regions had long eras of foreign domination, extensive state intervention, faced institutional inefficiencies, and experienced extended turbulence. This working paper suggests that this context drove different business responses than in the developed world. Entrepreneurs counted more than managerial hierarchies; immigrants and diaspora were critical sources of entrepreneurship; illegal and informal forms of business was commonplace; diversified business groups rather than the M-form became the major form of large-scale business; corporate strategies to deal with turbulence were essential; and radical corporate social responsibility concepts were pursued by some firms. Today emerging markets such as China, India, Brazil, South Korea, Mexico, and Indonesia are amongst the largest economies in the world. If business history is to remain relevant as a subject, it must transition as a discipline from being heavily focussed on North America, Europe and Japan to fully incorporating the historical experiences of Africa, Asia and Latin America.


The five-year survival rate of patients after curative resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been reported to be 30 to 50%, however the actual survival rate may be different. We analyzed the actual 5-year survival rate and prognostic factors after curative resection of HCC. Retrospective analysis was performed on 63 HCC patients who underwent curative resection from 1998 to 1999. A total of 63 cases were reviewed, consisting of 53 men and 10 women, with a median age of 49 years. These cases included all four pathologic T stages (pT stage) and had the following representation: stage 1 (1 case), stage 2 (17 cases), stage 3 (38 cases), and stage 4 (7 cases). In our study, the actual 5-year survival rate was 57.0% and the median survival time was 60 months. In addition, the patients in our study had an actual 5-year disease-free survival rate of 50.2% and a median disease-free survival time of 46 months. Thirty-one patients had recurrences, with a majority occurring within one year (65%). These patients with early recurrences had a poor actual 5-year survival rate of 5%. A univariate analysis showed that the prognostic factors influencing survival rate were the presence of satellite nodules, increased pT stage, HCC recurrence, and the time to recurrence (within one year). Interestingly, microvascular invasion made a difference in survival rate but was not statistically significant (p = 0.08). Furthermore, factors influencing the disease free survival rate include the presence of satellite nodules, microvascular invasion, and pT stage. Multivariate analysis identified pT stage as the only statistically related factor in determining the disease-free survival rate. The most important prognostic factor of HCC is recurrence. Moreover, the major risk factor for recurrence is an advanced pT stage. Therefore, performing prospective studies of postoperative adjuvant therapy is necessary to prevent recurrences after hepatic resection. Furthermore, active preventative treatment and early diagnosis of recurrences should be of the highest priority in the care of high-risk patient groups that have an advanced pT stage.


Firms use management accounting, controls and performance measurement to ensure that employee activities are aligned with organizational goals and strategies. Performance is measured at different levels: industry, firm, project and activity. While productivity is a commonly used measure of performance at the industry level, in the construction industry, sustainability is more often used at the firm and project levels. Monitoring resource use in refurbishment projects is desirable from a sustainability and productivity viewpoint. Also, in the context of criticisms levelled at the construction industry for being a major generator of waste, demolition activities in refurbishment are important. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how construction performance is measured by focusing on refurbishment site managers monitoring and management of resource use. An initial analysis of the relations between construction industry productivity and measures of construction project performance indicates that what might appear to suggest low levels of productivity growth in official statistics can be explained in part by the limited range of output and input qualities considered. Current measures of productivity in refurbishment projects are limited to simple, area-based key indicators. To obtain a better measure of productivity requires the range of output and input qualities to be extended using data captured from performance measures typically used for projects. This thesis draws on the data collected in three empirical studies. The first empirical study is based on 8 short, semi-structured interviews. The data in second empirical study was collected through 27 semi-structured interviews. Data collection in the third empirical study involved a pilot questionnaire survey, short semi-structured interviews and, finally, a national questionnaire designed to collect information from refurbishment site managers. To minimize bias related to medium choice, the national questionnaire was distributed by both e-mail and by post in paper format. Resource use monitoring and management at refurbishment sites includes site managers' monitoring of resource use and their waste management practices. The literature indicates that site managers' waste management efforts are influenced by several factors, which may be project related, organizational and personal, technical, or related to the industry culture and legislation. The data here show that waste sorting is the only common waste management activity conducted on refurbishment sites. Project size, level of contract detail and specific client demands for waste management are the three main factors associated with waste management efforts. Large projects may benefit from fewer problems related to site space and availability of more extensive services from waste contractors, including advice during project planning. Although the statistical analysis shows that the relation between contract type (traditional/design-build) and waste practices is weak, there is a potential for reducing waste generation by integrating the project design and the detailed planning of refurbishment activities on site. In this context, more efficient information and communication technologies (ICT) for developing and using digital building information models are desirable. Findings indicate that ICT support for managing resource use on refurbishment sites can be understood mainly as being a case of technology acceptance. Refurbishment site managers' ICT choices are influenced more by performance expectancy than by effort expectancy. Laptops and traditional pen and paper are the most frequently used media by refurbishment site managers, although they often use tablets in private. Screen size, ease of data entry and information updating are important. Respondents saw little need to link to clients' ICT systems. Flexible organizational policies related to environmental sustainability allow managers in project-based firms to respond to projects with different characteristics and limitations and to clients with different requirements and standards. Therefore it is worth to study the dilemma of routinizing employees' actions in environments requiring flexibility for making decisions such as in large, project-based organizations that deliver business services.


The Thorium distribution between monazite and xenotime has been determined experimentally using the coupled substitution Th + Si=REE + P. Experiments have been conducted in standard cold seal hydrothermal and internally heated pressure vessels at 200MPa in the range of 600-1100°C. Starting mixtures were prepared from gels composed of equal amounts of CePO4 and YPO4 with addition of 10, 20 and 50 mol%ThSiO4. The grain sizes of the run products were in the range of a few microns. Analytical electron microscopy (AEM) methods were applied to obtain reliable chemical compositions of the reaction products. Lattice parameters of run products were determined using Rietveld analysis. For runs with 10 and 20 mol% ThSiO4 component in the bulk the ThSiO4 component distributes almost exclusively into monazite at all temperatures. The amount of the YPO4 component in monazite increases relative to the Th-free system if significant amounts of ThSiO4 are present within the structure. ThSiO4 favours incorporation of YPO4 resulting in a shift of the monazite limb and the shrinkage of the monazite-xenotime miscibility gap in the CePO4-YPO4-ThSiO4 ternary diagram. Thermometric calculations based on monazite-xenotime equilibria must be corrected for this effect. For runs with 50 mol% ThSiO4 in the bulk, thorite formed as an additional phase at 600 to 900°C but was absent at higher temperatures. At high Xbulk ThSiO4 and low T, the system is three-phase. The three-phase stability field strongly shrinks with increasing temperature. A tentative phase diagram of the ternary system CePO4-YPO4-ThSiO4 is proposed and discussed in the light of monazite-xenotime-thorite-bearing assemblages in natural rocks.


Biodiesel use and production has significantly increased in the United States and in other parts of the world in the past decade. This change is driven by energy security and global climate legislation mandating reductions in the use of petroleum-based diesel. Recent air quality research has shown that emission of some pollutants such as CO, particulate matter (PM), SO2, hydrocarbons, and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is greatly reduced with biodiesel. However, studies have also shown that some unregulated emissions, such as gas-phase carbonyls, are increased with biodiesel combustion. Very limited research has been done to investigate the particlephase carbonyl and quinone emissions from biodiesel combustion. Also, very limited studies have investigated the ozone oxidation of biodiesel exhaust PM. Fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) are found in high abundance in biodiesel exhaust PM. The presence of these FAMEs in biodiesel exhaust PM can potentially alter the kinetics of the reactions between ozone and particle-phase PAHs. In this study, an Armfield CM-12 automotive light-duty diesel engine operated on a transient drive cycle was used to generate PM from various waste vegetable oil (WVO) and soybean biodiesel blends (containing 0%, (B00), 10% (B10), 20% (B20), 50% (B50), and 100% (B100) biodiesel by volume). The primary PM emissions were sampled using Teflon-coated fiberfilm filters. Laboratory PAHs, FAMEs, and B20 exhaust PM were exposed to ~0.4 ppm ozone for time periods ranging from 0-24 hours in order to study the effect of FAMEs and biodiesel exhaust PM on the ozonolysis of PAHs. Organic chemical analysis of samples was performed using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). PAHs, carbonyls, FAMEs, and n-alkanes were quantified in the exhaust PM of petrodiesel, WVO and soybean fuel blends. The emission rates of the total PAHs in B10, B20, B50, and B100 exhaust PM decreased by 0.006-0.071 ng/μg (5-51%) compared to B00, while the emission rates for the FAMEs increased with increasing biodiesel content in the fuel. The emission rates of the total n-alkanes in B10, B20, B50, and B100 exhaust PM decreased by 0.5-21.3 ng/μg (4-86%) compared to B00 exhaust PM. The total emission rates of the aliphatic aldehydes in biodiesel exhaust PM (B10, B20, B50, and B100) increased by 0.019-2.485 ng/μg (36-4800%) compared to petrodiesel. The emission rates of the total aromatic aldehydes, total aromatic ketones, and total quinones all generally decreased with increasing biodiesel content in the fuel. With the exception of benzo[a]pyrene, the pseudo-first order ozone reaction rate constants of all the PAHs decreased by 1.2-8 times in the presence of the FAMEs. Phenanthrene, fluoranthene, and pyrene were the only PAHs detected in the B20 exhaust PM, and their ozone reaction rate constants were about 4 times lower than those obtained when the PAHs alone were exposed to ozone. The findings of this study indicate that there are both positive and negative effects to emissions associated with biodiesel use in light-duty diesel engines operating on transient drive cycle.


The effect of ethylene glycol-bis-(beta-aminoethyl ether)-N,N'-tetraacetic acid (EGTA) was studied in rabbit sinoatrial node cells treated with ouabain. When isolated sinoatrial node preparations were bathed in the presence of 10(-5) M ouabain in order to depress electrogenic Na-K pump activity, action potentials ceased rapidly. Thereafter, spontaneous miniature fluctuations of less than 2 mV were observed at the resting potential level, while the membrane potential reached a value of about -31 mV. After exposure to the Ca-free 2 mM EGTA solutions, the miniature fluctuations decreased in frequency as well as in amplitude. However, successive exposure to the Ca-free EGTA solutions produced a short series of slow regenerative potentials. Peak amplitude of the slow regenerative potential increased from reduced miniature fluctuations to a maximum value of 46 +/- 3 mV (mean +/- S.E.; n = 10). Resting potential before initiation of the slow regenerative potential reached a value of about -34 mV. Also, Ca-free perfusion produced a small regenerative potential reaching 19 +/- 2 mV (n = 3). In Ca-free EGTA solution, reduction of external Na produced a decrease in amplitude of the slow regenerative potential when choline chloride or LiCl replaced NaCl. Replacement of 25% of the external Na with choline suppressed the slow regenerative potential. Replacement of 60% of the external Na with Li did not affect the slow regenerative potential. Further reduction of the external Na to 0% of the control condition produced a small regenerative potential. Replacement of Na with Li did not abolish the regenerative potential. In the presence of 4 x 10(-6) M verapamil Ca-free EGTA perfusion did not induce a slow regenerative potential. In the presence of 0.7 x 10(-6) M nifedipine Ca-free EGTA perfusion induced a small regenerative potential reaching 27 +/- 5 (n = 3). For low external pH (6.3) obtained with 5% CO2, the slow regenerative potential induced by Ca-free, EGTA perfusion was suppressed, and the regenerative potential amplitude decreased by about 16 mV. Application of 2.5 mM SrCl2 caused a decrease in slow regenerative potential, and the potential decreased by about 21 mV. The slow regenerative potential is not altered noticeably by 10(-5) M tetrodotoxin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


INTRODUCTION I. A THEORY OF THE PRIVATE FOUNDATION A. The Theory B. Two Primary Functions of Foundations II. THE EVOLUTION OF OPPORTUNITY IN AMERICA III. THE PRIVATE FOUNDATION A. Development of the Private Foundation B. The Importance of Donor Intent C. Foundations as Independent and "Out-Market" Institutions 1. Education 2. Scientific Research 3. Social Policy D. External Threats to Foundation Independence 1. The Danger of Vested Interests 2. Political Threats 3. Claiming Foundation Assets for the Public Purse IV. WHY A THEORY OF THE PRIVATE FOUNDATION? A. Rising Foundation Assets and Numbers B. Evolving Problems and Criticism V. UNIQUE ASSETS OF FOUNDATIONS A. Purposefulness B. Non-Financial Foundation Assets 1. Institutional Innovation 2. Ideas 3. People 4. Leverage VI CONCLUSION INTRODUCTION As the American private foundation moves into its second century of existence, the question of what theory guides its social utility looms as vitally important. At present, however, the foundation appears to lack any coherent theory of its role in society and the economy. (1) The regulatory environment in which foundations operate, roughly circumscribed by the Internal Revenue Code and state "charity" statutes, offers the barest of precedent and understanding. The law is clear about the raison d'etre of foundations, namely, to pursue "charitable purposes," (2) but offers little else. Faced with an array of insistent demands, the foundation lacks a clear sense of its normative standing in relation to other institutions. Moreover, its own conception of relevance is muddled and often defined by those who solicit its funds. In the absence of a coherent thesis, government, too, can impose expectations that may destroy the foundation's ability to achieve the purposes for which it was conceived. This Article argues that the private foundation, an institution of democratic capitalism, exists to strengthen and facilitate the mutually supporting American systems of democratic pluralism and a free-market economy. In this, foundations are circumscribed by donor intent and donor aspirations that they be purposeful, even as the objects of their efforts change through time. Part One sets forth a theoretical framework to guide private foundations. Part Two recounts the evolution of the American economy and society over the past two centuries, connecting the vision of the entrepreneurial founders to their ongoing foundations. Part Three discusses the historical development of the private foundation, its nature as an institution, and presents illustrative examples of foundations supporting economic growth and human welfare. Part Three then concludes with a discussion of external threats facing the foundation today. Part Four explores the utility of a theoretical framework for foundations, and Part Five discusses the unique assets foundations bring to this task. The conclusion sets forth a new rule of presumptive continued private action for foundations based on an informal treaty among founders, trustees, and governmental oversight authority. I. A THEORY OF THE PRIVATE FOUNDATION Existing theories about the social utility of the private foundation inadequately explain its role in society, and previous attempts to promulgate a guiding theory have fallen short. Perhaps the two most prominent efforts to lay out visions of foundation philanthropy were the Peterson and Filer Commissions. In 1969, John D. Rockefeller III formed the Commission on Foundations and Private Philanthropy, chaired by Pete Peterson, in response to a "gathering storm" in Congress regarding foundation regulation. (3) The Commission's report, however, was published after passage of the relevant legislation, blunting its impact. …


Outlines a set of problems associated with constructing a robust, domain-independent vision-based navigation system suitable for both structured and unstructured environments. The system utilizes visual tracking to monitor a set of automatically selected image features (markers), and employs vision-based control to guide the motion of the robot from the image trajectory of a set of markers. An environment is represented as a graph which may be constructed either under human control (e.g. by giving the system a tour) or autonomously as the system explores. In the paper, we review the system architecture and present two image-based mobile robot controllers for following visually-defined trajectories.


Abstract The Mesoproterozoic Gardar Province in South Greenland developed in a continental rift-related environment. Several alkaline intrusions and associated dyke swarms were emplaced in Archaean and Ketilidian basement rocks during two main magmatic periods at 1300-1250 Ma and 1180-1140 Ma. The present investigation focuses on mafic dykes from the early magmatic period ('Older Gardar') and the identification of their possible mantle sources. The rocks are typically fine- to coarse-grained dolerites, transitional between tholeiitic and alkaline compositions with a general predominance of Na over K. They crystallized from relatively evolved, mantle-derived melts and commonly show minor degrees of crustal contamination. Selective enrichment of the large ion lithophile elements Cs, Ba and K and the light rare-earth elements when compared to high field-strength elements indicate significant involvement of a sub-continental lithospheric mantle (SCLM) component in the generation of the magmas. This component was affected by fluid-dominated supra-subduction zone metasomatism, possibly related to the Ketilidian orogeny ~500 Ma years prior to the onset of Gardar magmatism. Melt generation in the SCLM is further documented by the inferential presence of amphibole in the source region, negative calculated εNd(i) values (-0.47 to -4.40) and slightly elevated 87Sr/86Sr(i) (0.702987 to 0.706472) ratios when compared to bulk silicate earth as well as relatively flat heavy rare-earth element (HREE) patterns ((Gd/Yb)N = 1.4-1.9) indicating melt generation above the garnet stability field. The dyke rocks investigated show strong geochemical and geochronological similarities to penecontemporaneous mafic dyke swarms in North America and Central Scandinavia and a petrogenetic link is hypothesized. Considering recent plate reconstructions, it is further suggested that magmatism was formed behind a long-lived orogenic belt in response to back-arc basin formation in the time interval between 1290-1235 Ma.


Although curative treatment is surgery (resection/transplantation) and for small lesions ablative strategies, in primary liver carcinomas such as hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocellular carcinoma, palliative treatment is used for most of these patients because of lack of surgical options. These treatments are regional treatments such as transarterial chemoembolization, radiofrequency ablation, or microwave ablation and systemic treatments such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Surgery and chemotherapy are the main treatment options for metastatic liver tumors, particularly in colorectal tumors, although local treatment options are used for these patients. In recent years, transarterial radioembolization with yttrium-90 microsphere has emerged as a local treatment option in primary and metastatic liver tumors. The aim of this treatment is to provide an effective radiation dose distribution for the tumor in the liver tissue and to give the lowest dose in order to not harm the intact liver tissue. Radioembolization has proven to be as effective as other available palliative treatments in primary and secondary liver tumors and is a treatment method that is well tolerated. It has a risk for serious life-threatening complications, although this rate is low. Toxicity can be kept at a minimum with adequate technical and rigorous application in experienced hands and in accordance with multidisciplinarity. It is hoped that the effectiveness of radioembolization is further increased in the future by technological developments, researches on dosimetry, its use along with radiosensitizing agents, and various treatment combinations.


Since 2001, the Document Understanding Conferences have been the forum for researchers in automatic text summarization to compare methods and results on common test sets. Over the years, several types of summarization tasks have been addressed--single document summarization, multi-document summarization, summarization focused by question, and headline generation. This paper is an overview of the achieved results in the different types of summarization tasks. We compare both the broader classes of baselines, systems and humans, as well as individual pairs of summarizers (both human and automatic). An analysis of variance model is fitted, with summarizer and input set as independent variables, and the coverage score as the dependent variable, and simulation-based multiple comparisons were performed. The results document the progress in the field as a whole, rather then focusing on a single system, and thus can serve as a future reference on the work done up to date, as well as a starting point in the formulation of future tasks. Results also indicate that most progress in the field has been achieved in generic multi-document summarization and that the most challenging task is that of producing a focused summary in answer to a question/topic.


The brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) is native to the islands of Papua New Guinea and Northern Australia. An introduced population on Guam has been implicated in the decline of that island's avifauna, and the snakes regularly cause power outages on the island. Concern exists for accidental introduction on the Hawaiian Islands. Traps baited with live mice have been used in control efforts, but the logistics of maintaining live mice in the field is difficult and expensive. This study has two objectives. First, using efficacy reports of small mammal and bird feces as attractants, we set out to identify active fractions of these potential prey odor sources. If active fractions are identified, there is a possibility of encapsulating reagent grade attractant without having to process feces or urine. Second, any successful snake lure should result in the snake's entry into a trap. Four snakes, 2-4 m in length, were obtained from the Philadelphia Zoo. These snakes were attracted to warm water-extracted vole and starling feces, but tended to avoid aqueous acid bird feces extracts. Snakes were indifferent to aqueous-base bird feces extracts. Snakes avoided Big Game Repellenta, cadaverine, butanethiol, and ethanethiol. In summary, potential prey odors lost their attractiveness quickly upon fractionation, suggesting the overall odor profile is important for attractiveness. We are focusing efforts to encapsulate chemicals so that field operatives will not need to process raw feces. In general, sulfurand amine-bearing volatiles seem to repel brown tree snakes, but these same compounds are attractive to mammalian carnivores. If proven true, commercially available predator odors may be used to treat potential hiding places around air cargo areas and electric power plants.


Electrochemical, thermal, and photophysical properties of novel two- (BPODPA), four- (BBPOPA), and six-branch (TBPOA) triphenylamine chromophores are studied. The decomposition temperature of chromophores reaches 373-412 C. The electrochemical properties is explored by cyclic voltammetry. The ionization potential of chromophores is in the range of 5.14-5.18 eV. Excitation at 400 nm reveals emission peaks at 483-487 nm and the fluorescence quantum yields are 0.73-0.75 in CH2Cl2 Two-photon absorption (TPA) properties of chromophores are measured by nonlinear transmission method. The maximum TPA cross-section values are measured at 758 nm to be 20369 GM (1 GM=10^{-50} cm4s/photon) for TBPOA, 7024 GM for BBPOPA, and 1227 GM for BPODPA, respectively. When pumped with 800-nm laser irradiation, chromophores show strong two-photon excited blue-green fluorescence at 502-518 nm. These results provide a basis for understanding the electronic and optical properties of the conjugated multi-branch chromophore in terms of the underlying molecular and electronic structures.


The purpose of this thesis is to seek evidence of commonalities in the mental representations of fractions and decimals between zero and one. The focus is on the mental representations of non-familiar fractions and decimals in adults. In addition, individual differences in the extent of common fraction and decimal mental representations are explored and their links to mathematical understanding of numbers between zero and one.

For whole numbers, number comparison tasks have found evidence of an ordered, magnitude mental representation known as the mental number line through which the magnitude of a whole number is automatically processed. This evidence consists of phenomena such as the distance effect and SNARC effect. Here, indications of a similar magnitude representation common to both fractions and decimals are sought through a task in which a fraction is compared with a decimal.

Substantial evidence of a distance effect is presented but not a SNARC effect, indicating that fractions and decimals can have mental representations containing or accessing a common magnitude but that this magnitude is not automatically processed.

In addition, two emergent phenomena are reported. The first is an effect of location which is contrasted with the size effect in whole numbers and a previously reported anchor-point effect. The second is a larger-stimulus effect which is an indication of differences in the mental representations of fractions and decimals. These effects are explored in two additional, simple magnitude and location tasks.

Furthermore, success but not speed within the comparison task is linked to strength of the distance effect for individuals. Therefore the number comparison task is repeated in series with a test designed to uncover common misconceptions of fractions and decimals. Patterns with the individual differences in responses to the test and comparison task are explored.

By making links between the features and commonalities of individuals' mental representations of fractions and decimals and quality of their understanding, this research hopes to be of value to mathematical educators.


Shallow overland flow on agricultural land has distinctly different sediment transport characteristics than flow in large channels and streams. The high flow velocities on steep land coupled with often large variations in sediment concentrations stand in contrast with the sub-critical flow regimes and relatively low sediment concentrations in stable stream systems. Yet, erosion prediction models for upland areas use the same sediment transport relationships based on critical shear stress or stream power concepts that are used in large stream flows. There is increasing evidence that greater consideration must be given to the micro-mechanic nature of sediment movement in shallow overland flow that substantially affects the sediment transport capacity and bedform development. This article discusses the results of a highly controlled sediment transport study that shows the sediment transport capacity limiting effect due to a high degree of sediment particle interaction. The key parameters measured were particle velocity and the sediment concentration. The study was conducted in a steady state flow regime to which sediment was added at a controlled rate at the upstream of a 7 m long and 10 m wide channel of about 1o slope steepness. As the sediment addition rate is increased, sediment movement by saltation gives way to an organized structure consisting of a strip that transitions into a meandering bedform. The analysis is based on a twophase flow model involving the St. Venant equations of shallow water flow and granular flow.


Objective UNAIDS and country analysts use a simple infectious disease model, embedded in the Estimation and Projection Package (EPP), to generate annual updates on the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. Our objective was to develop modifications to the current model that improve fit to recently observed prevalence trends across countries. Methods Our proposed alternative to the current EPP approach simplifies the model structure and explicitly models changes in average infection risk over time, operationalised using penalised B-splines in a Bayesian framework. We also present an alternative approach to initiating the epidemic that improves standardisation and efficiency, and add an informative prior distribution for changes in infection risk beyond the last data point that enhances the plausibility of short-term extrapolations. Results The spline-based model produces better fits than the current model to observed prevalence trends in settings that have recently experienced levelling or rising prevalence following a steep decline, such as Uganda and urban Rwanda. The model also predicts a deceleration of the decline in prevalence for countries with recent experience of steady declines, such as Kenya and Zimbabwe. Estimates and projections from our alternative model are comparable to those from the current model where the latter performs well. Conclusions A more flexible epidemiological model that accommodates changing infection risk over time can provide better estimates and short-term projections of HIV/AIDS incidence, prevalence and mortality than the current EPP model. The alternative model specification can be incorporated easily into existing analytical tools that are used to produce updates on the global HIV/AIDS epidemic.


Swoogle is an implemented system that discovers, analyzes and indexes knowledge encoded in semantic web documents on the Web. Swoogle reasons about these documents and their constituent parts (e.g., terms and triples) and records meaningful metadata about them. Swoogle provides webscale semantic web data access service, which helps human users and software systems to find relevant documents, terms and triples, via its search and navigation services. Swoogle also provides a customizable algorithm inspired by Google's PageRank algorithm but adapted to the semantics and use patterns found in semantic web documents.


Research suggests that children with conduct problems (CP) and callous-unemotional (CU) traits show a diminished response to behavior therapy, perhaps due to a reward-oriented, punishment insensitive learning style. Children with CP and CU may benefit from personalizing behavioral treatment for them by emphasizing rewards and de-emphasizing punishments. This hypothesis was tested in a sample of 46 children (78.3% boys), ages 7.0 to 12.6 years (M = 9.3, SD = 1.4). All participants met criteria for ODD and ADHD and 63% also met criteria for CD. Participants were oversampled for high CU, but CU scores ranged from average to high. Children received four weeks of modified behavior therapy that emphasized rewards and de-emphasized punishments and four weeks of treatment as usual, which was standard behavior therapy that balanced rewards and punishments. Treatments were implemented in a summer treatment program and compared using a within-subjects design, with order of treatment counterbalanced. Disruptive behavior was equal or slightly higher in modified behavior therapy than in standard behavior therapy on point system measures, but lower on parent weekly ratings. End of treatment ratings showed both treatments produced significant improvements compared to pre-treatment ratings but did not differ from each other. Personalizing behavior therapy for children with CP and CU produced inconsistent findings relative to standard behavior therapy. Behavior therapy is likely to be a necessary part of treatment for children with CP and CU, but treatment personalization efforts may provide some benefit by addressing other deficits shown by these children.


*Corresponding author: Ass. Prof. Stella Stabouli, MD, PhD, Pediatric Nephrology Unit, 1st Pediatric Department, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Hippokration Hospital, 49 Konstantinoupoleos STR, 54642, Greece, e-mail: email@example.com, Phone: +30 6976433767 High blood pressure during childhood and adolescence has evolved as a significant health issue with regard to population cardiovascular health. Guidelines on the diagnosis and management of high BP in children and adolescents aim to offer evidence-based guidance to the primary care physician with regard to screening, diagnosis, evaluation and treatment of high BP in routine clinical practice. In the era of updated guidelines the primary care physician has to familiarize with new definitions, normative data, BP measurement techniques, and treatment algorithms. In addition, controversies between guidelines may add further difficulty in implementation of recommendations into routine clinical practice and may result in disproportional management of BP levels among pediatric populations. The aims of this review is to discuss practical points for the screening, diagnosis, laboratory investigation of high BP in children and adolescents based on the 2016 European Society Hypertension and the 2017 American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines, and to evaluate rational approaches based at large on the similarities between the guidelines.


What was the medical marketplace? What is a 'medical marketplace'? This book provides the first critical examination of medicine and the market in pre-modern England, colonial North America and British India. Chapters cover the most important themes in the social history of medicine from the fifteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries, addressing healthcare in town and country, among rich and poor, women and men, and examining both patients and practitioners. Drawing on recent developments in the history of exchange, they offer new understandings of the ways in which diverse aspects of healthcare operated and changed in this period of social and economic transformation. Each chapter offers significant new interpretation of its field based upon a critical examination of the applicability of the medical marketplace model and presents substantial new research in an accessible style


The vast majority of city planning literature on informal occupations has focused on how residents occupy vacant and peripheral land, developing informal structures to address their basic needs. A smaller body of work, but one with much purchase in South Africa, explores the informal occupation of existing formal structures and how residents infuse these emergent places with social and political meaning. Across this work, occupations represent a dominant mode of city-building in the Global South. Contributing to this debate on city-making and occupations, this paper departs from an unusual case of South African occupation. We explore how displaced people have occupied a multi-storey vacant hospital building situated close to Cape Town's city centre. Using documentary photography and interviews with residents, we argue that this occupation reflects a logic of 'retrofit city-making'. We show that, through processes of repairing, repurposing, and renovating, dwellers have retrofit an institutional building, previously designed by the state for a very different use, to meet their needs and desires. As cities become more densely built and vacant land more peripheral or scarce, the retrofit of underutilised buildings, particularly through bottom-up actions such as occupation, will become an increasingly important mode of urban development. Not only are the practices of material transformation useful to understand, so too are the ways in which occupations reflect significantly more than simply survivalist strategies, but also care and meaning-making.


This study investigates the responses of undergraduate history students, who are also student teachers, to the use of the autobiography or biography of an apartheid resister in their third year academic history course. The motivation for using auto/ biography in the history course has been to get away from a lifeless narrative of apartheid legislation and, for students, somewhat anonymous political movements. It has also become apparent that for some students, their school exposure to apartheid history was dulled by narrow focus and repetition. The study examines the reasons for student choices of their human subject, and how their understanding of apartheid resistance and their feelings about it are affected by engaging with life stories. It also investigates the extent to which the historical thinking and historical sense of these students both shapes and is influenced by their engagement with auto/ biography as a form of history. It notes significant levels of interest and empathy generated by the study of apartheid resistance through the life stories, as well as notable levels of commitment and enthusiasm in doing the related tasks. There is some evidence of an ability to critique auto/biography as history as representation; but largely there is an acceptance of the life story of the 'hero of the struggle' they studied as truthful.


Retroviruses of the nervous system cause HTLV-1-associated myelopathy and HIV-associated diseases. The treatment of HTLV-1 disease is essentially conservative; there is no effective drug treatment and therefore patients should be simply supported and reassured. If appropriate, other members of the family should be tested for HTLV-1 disease and counselled. The effects of HIV on the nervous system are much more complex. Therapy must take account of the diverse complications of HIV disease. Patients are probably best managed in specialized clinics which can cope with the different manifestations of the disease. Zidovudine (AZT) is the only effective anti-HIV drug that is licensed. It is indicated in complicated seroconversion disease and for any manifestation of HIV progression including AIDS dementia complex. Management of severe neurological disease depends critically on the ability to diagnose and treat CNS-specific opportunistic infections. Whether zidovudine is indicated for early asymptomatic disease when CD4 counts are below 500 microliters-1 is controversial. The main problems of zidovudine are reversible anaemia which results in about 30% of patients not tolerating long-term use, and the development of drug resistance which may be associated with clinical failure of the drug. Other, new and experimental drug treatments are discussed but none of them has as yet shown any convincing evidence of efficacy. Future improvements in treatment appear to depend on the development of effective multiple drug regimens (concurrently or sequentially) which will overcome the challenge of drug resistance.


The Kurdish issue has remained in place on Turkey's agenda and that of the world for almost a hundred years. This subject recently became a current issue again with the invasion of Iraq by the coalitions in 2003. Over time, Turkey has attempted to enact different policies in order to resolve the Kurdish problem that causes armed conflicts in some regions even now. Declaration of part of Iraq as Iraqi Kurdistan region in 2005 by some Kurds who benefited from the chaos in this region brought a new dimension to the subject. The Kurds managed to found an autonomous region on the border of Turkey. Civil war broke out along the southern border of Turkey and Syria in 2011. The balance of the Southern border of Turkey has changed with Kurdish communities actively taking a role in the civil war in Syria. On 16th of July 2014, 'The law for ending terrorism and strengthening social integrity' was published in Turkey, and the Democratic initiative process was legalized. All these factors brought the Kurdish problem back into question.

The archival documents show that the Kurdish-British relations became intense especially between 1918 and 1923. In this term relationships were established between some British officers and Kurdish leaders. Major Noel, Major Soane, Talbot Wilson and Percy Cox in Eastern Anatolia and in the Mesopotamia region; Admiral Webb and Admiral Calthorpe in Istanbul; Churchill and George Curzon in London played important roles in shaping the British – the Kurdish relations, and in negotiations on possibility of establishing a Kurdish state. The British officials met with Sayyid Abdulkadir in Anatolia, Serif Pasha in Europe, Sheikh Mahmud and Sheikh Taha in Iraq and undertook important negotiations.

A great majority of the Turkish historians and researchers see Britain as the main force behind the birth of the Kurdish problem in Turkey and the Middle East. Nevertheless Britain was accused of provoking the Kurds, living in Turkish regions, against Turks. According to general Turkish claims, Britain made promises to the Kurds to found a Kurdish State only as a way dominating over Mesopotamia, and used the Kurds as a tool for its own purposes. This thesis examines the extent to what rival these claims are valid and whether Britain really had a significant policy for Kurdish autonomy, or not, in the light of the Turkish and British archives.

In other words, it attempts to throw light on the questions of whether the promises for an autonomous or independent Kurdish State were given by the British to the Kurds. If the answer is yes; whether the claimed promises to Kurds were a result of British state policy or a result of personal initiatives of military officers who were acting in behalf of the Britain will be assessed. The study also investigates the progress of the Kurdish issue on international platforms, how it was shaped and which factors affected it, from the end of the First World War (1918) to the Treaty of Lausanne(24 July 1923). In addition to this, the claims made by British officials that autonomy promises were given to Kurds by the Turkish government in Ankara are evaluated in the light of the Turkish and British records.


One of the great themes in the history of Eastern Asia is the transformation of Chinese culture by Buddhism. This process can be traced across nearly two millennia and can be seen at work in almost every aspect of Chinese life and thought. This study was undertaken with the object of showing how Buddhism has influenced Chinese culture, and in the hope that it may provide some insight into the role of the religion as a carrier of elements from one great civilization into another. It also deals with the interesting question of the nature of Buddhism as a world religion, and of the ways in which it resembles or differs from the other great faiths.


This thesis re-examines selected works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the light of a specific engagement with Victorian spiritualism, which is characterised by an interest in the esoteric writings of the eighteenth-century mystic Emanuel Swedenborg. It locates Rossetti's use of Swedenborgian imagery and ideas in his written and artistic work, contextualising it within his engagement with spiritualism, and with reference to his interest in a visionary tradition of literature. The thesis therefore furthers what has begun in embryo in both Rossetti and Victorian scholarship; drawing together two hitherto separate areas of research, to formulate new and detailed inter-disciplinary readings of Rossetti's poetry, fine art and design.

The critical approach is twofold, combining historical scholarship with textual analysis. A cultural context is re-established which uncovers a network of Swedenborgian and spiritualist circles, and through original research, Rossetti's connections to these are revealed. The specific approach of these groups, which this thesis calls 'Swedenborgian-spiritualism' (thereby naming a new term), is characterised by an intellectual, literary interest in Swedenborg, coupled with a practical engagement with spiritualism, and a fascination with the mesmeric trance state.

In addressing three major works, 'The Blessed Damozel' (1850), Beata Beatrix (c.1863-71) and The House of Life (1881), the thesis traces Rossetti's engagement with Swedenborgian-spiritualism through three distinct phases in his career, the result of which facilitates a greater understanding of the development of his poetics and artistry. In addition, the thesis returns to earlier critical sources, which show a response to Rossetti in this light, and questions long rooted assumptions which persist in Rossetti scholarship. Thus, it adds to the body of critical literature on Rossetti by reestablishing context and readings which are needed in order to fully understand his work, and reinstating a critical engagement with Rossetti that has become sidelined, or forgotten.


This book consists of 20 short essays on different dimensions of international economic policy with specific (though not exclusive) focus on Asia. Topics covered include: exchange rate regimes and reserve buildup in Asia; global macroeconomic imbalances; financial sector liberalization; international capital flows to and from Asia; infrastructure financing in Asia; foreign direct investment (FDI) flows, production networks, manufacturing and outsourcing in Asia; the economic rise of China and India; and trade, financial and monetary regionalism in Asia. While the book covers important and often technical economic issues of contemporary policy relevance, it is written in a manner that is easily accessible to non-economists, including students of public policy, international affairs, international commerce and business, as well as policy-makers and interested observers.


From abstract: General expressions relating product stream compositions to the operating conditions of countercurrent stagewise extraction columns are derived by an inductive method, and the conversion of the general equations to ones involving the particular case of constant extraction factor is demonstrated. For comparison, the derivation of simple column equations by the use of finite difference equations is included.


From the three existing dimensions - content objects, navigation and presentation - of web pages, the navigation dimension is analysed. It consists of macro, meso and micro navigation. A conceptual approach to model and implement the macro navigation structure of web sites is presented. We start by enhancing a function decomposition diagram to model the macro navigation structure. The resulting graph is analysed and transformed to find its crucial components. In order to store these components in a database table, an appropriate entity-relationship model is developed. Afterwards we identify three navigation styles that can be produced from the underlying database and give the PHP source code for one of them. Finally, an example web page using our navigation styles is depicted. It is concluded that using our ideas may lead to reduced development time and avoids link errors in the process of creating the site navigation.


Abstract The article explores how upper secondary students use the learning activity mediagraphy to reflect on their identity and on media as constraining and enabling factors in their social practice. In mediagraphy, the students research four generations of their own families, including themselves. They write a mediagraphy essay on the differences and similarities across the generations in media use and turning points in individuals' lives, in addition to societal and media-related developments. Data from student products and interviews are analysed through three "identity dilemmas" that any identity claim faces: the constant navigation between 1) continuity and change, 2) sameness and difference with regard to others, and 3) agency as "person-to-world" and "world-to-person". The findings suggest that mediagraphy is a type of identity work that can potentially help students develop an agentive identity in a time of insecurity, with rapidly shifting social and cultural conditions and increasing media density.


An analytical multiphase plume model, combined with time-varying flow and hydrographic fields generated by the 3-D South Atlantic Bight and Gulf of Mexico model (SABGOM) hydrodynamic model, were used as input to a Lagrangian transport model (LTRANS), to simulate transport of oil droplets dispersed at depth from the recent Deepwater Horizon MC 252 oil spill. The plume model predicts a stratification-dominated near field, in which small oil droplets detrain from the central plume containing faster rising large oil droplets and gas bubbles and become trapped by density stratification. Simulated intrusion (trap) heights of ~ 310–370 m agree well with the midrange of Q1 conductivity-temperature-depth observations, though the simulated variation in trap height was lower than observed, presumably in part due to unresolved variability in source composition (percentage oil versus gas) and location (multiple leaks during first half of spill). Simulated droplet trajectories by the SABGOM-LTRANS modeling system showed that droplets with diameters between 10 and 50 μm formed a distinct subsurface plume, which was transported horizontally and remained in the subsurface for >1 month. In contrast, droplets with diameters ≥90 μm rose rapidly to the surface. Simulated trajectories of droplets ≤50 μ mi n diameter were found to be consistent with field observations of a southwest-tending subsurface plume in late June 2010 reported by Camilli et al. [2010]. Model results suggest that the subsurface plume looped around to the east, with potential subsurface oil transport to the northeast and southeast. Ongoing work is focusing on adding degradation processes to the model to constrain droplet dispersal.


Despite the considerable potential and significant efforts to use information systems to improve public administration, their implementation remains a challenging task, especially in developing countries. This research addresses the difficulties of implementating information systems at the local government level to achieve administrative reform within the People's Republic of China. Giddens's structuration theory is used to provide a conceptual framework to understand the interaction between the administrative reform policies at the central government level and the rich social contexts at the local level. In the Chinese context, the reform objectives include: changing from an all-round government to a service government; from respect for authority to respect for law; and from extreme egalitarianism to a performance-based reward system. The framework is used to analyse a case study of the implementation of a computerised personnel and salary management system in Foshan, a middle-sized city. This Chinese central government initiative was aimed at solving the "ghost worker" problem and improving transparency and efficiency in personnel and public finance management by the use of information technology. The study shows the difficulties of inter-organisational co-operation between local government stakeholders during system development. In the existing literature, national policy is often seen as a factor independent of the local context or as less important than local social factors. Our study suggests a strong link between administrative reform policies and local information systems implementation. It shows the need to understand such reform policies and their impacts on local stakeholders. It also shows that conflicts involving local stakeholders reflect national problems of administrative reform. The implications of the findings for local and central government in China, and for governments of similar transitional economies, are discussed. The contributions and limitations of structuration theory for understanding the interaction between national and local contexts are also discussed.


The biotechnology industry supply chain begins with a scientific discovery that often originates in academic research laboratories. This study identified determinants of scientific knowledge output (publications and citations) in a sample of academic Canadian biomedical laboratories. The amount of research funding was found to be a positive determinant of the number of publications, but the relationship is non-linear indicating diminishing returns to funding. However, funding had no direct effect on citations, though it did have an indirect effect because publication rates and citation rates are positively correlated. Although the source of funding (public or private) did not have an impact on the number of publications, publicly-funded research is associated with higher citation counts than industry-funded research. Collaboration with external biomedical researchers significantly increased both the quantity and quality of publications. Principal investigators' educational qualifications are also a significant determinant of research outputs. Physician biomedical researchers published fewer journal papers than those with only PhDs, however their publications (especially for those with both MD and PhD degrees) had significantly higher citation rates. Implications for industry–university collaborative research are presented.


The distribution grid is changing to become an active resource with complex modeling needs. The new active distribution grid will, within the next ten years, contain a complex mix of load, generation, storage and automated resources all operating with different objectives on different time scales from each other and requiring detailed analysis. Electrical analysis tools that are used to perform capacity and stability studies have been used for transmission system planning for many years. In these tools, the distribution grid was considered a load and its details and physical components were not modeled. The increase in measured data sources can be utilized for better modeling, but also control of distributed energy resources (DER). The utilization of these sources and advanced modeling tools will require data management, and knowledgeable users. Each of these measurement and modeling devices have accuracy constraints, which will ultimately define their future ability to be planned and controlled. This paper discusses the importance of measured data accuracy for inverter control, interconnection and planning tools and proposes ranges of control accuracy needed to satisfy all concerns based on the present grid infrastructure.


Various interventions to attract girls into computing careers have been instigated around the world in recent years. There have also been many efforts to understand factors influencing girls' career choices, and several career choice models have been developed. This pilot study investigated the career preferences of teenage girls who participated in a New Zealand-based intervention, the Programming Challenge 4 Girls. Results revealed three sociability needs as the girls' primary factors influencing career choice. The girls wanted a career that will allow them to engage socially, with a sense of fun, and in a 'cool' environment. The study also investigated sources of information about programming careers. Most girls did not know where to seek programming career information and their parents and career advisors were found to need more knowledge about IT careers. A government careers website was unsatisfactory with respect to teenage girls' preferences, whereas an industry-based programme partially addressed girls' needs. The paper distinguishes between formal and informal sources of programming career information and proposes a modification to a widely-cited model of girls' career choices.


Objective
The rapid population aging is now a global issue. The increase in the elderly population will impact the health care industry and health enterprises; various senior needs will promote the growth of the senior health industry. Most senior health studies are focused on the demand side and scarcely on supply. Our study selected quality enterprises focused on aging health and analyzed different strategies to provide excellent quality services to senior health enterprises.

Design
We selected 33 quality senior health enterprises in Taiwan and investigated their excellent quality services strategies by face-to-face semi-structured in-depth interviews with CEO and managers of each enterprise in 2013.

Setting
A total of 33 senior health enterprises in Taiwan.

Participants
Overall, 65 CEOs and managers of 33 enterprises were interviewed individually.

Intervention(s)
None.

Main Outcome Measure(s)
Core values and vision, organization structure, quality services provided, strategies for quality services.

Results
This study's results indicated four type of value-added strategy models adopted by senior enterprises to offer quality services: (i) residential care and co-residence model, (ii) home care and living in place model, (iii) community e-business experience model and (iv) virtual and physical portable device model. The common part in these four strategy models is that the services provided are elderly centered. These models offer virtual and physical integrations, and also offer total solutions for the elderly and their caregivers. Through investigation of successful strategy models for providing quality services to seniors, we identified opportunities to develop innovative service models and successful characteristics, also policy implications were summarized.

Conclusions
The observations from this study will serve as a primary evidenced base for enterprises developing their senior market and, also for promoting the value co-creation possibility through dialogue between customers and those that deliver service.


Alternative assets represent an increasing share of pension fund assets, and real estate is a cornerstone of that allocation. This paper investigates the trends in pension fund real estate investments over the last three decades, both in private and in public real estate, focusing on the performance of the asset class for the ultimate asset owners. The development of pension fund allocations to real estate differs across regions, with allocations increasing in Canada, stationary in the U.S., and shrinking in Europe. Just over 10% of the real estate exposure is through publicly listed vehicles. Within the real estate portfolio, the authors observe a continuing increase in the use of external fund managers. Investment costs are stationary, with pension funds in the U.S. structurally paying more to their external private real estate managers than their peers in Canada and Europe. Costs relating to public real estate are more equal across regions. In terms of performance, the authors observe rather stable total returns for both private and listed real estate over the last three decades, contrasting volatile performance of private equity and infrastructure. Intermediated investment management for private real estate is costly, leading to disproportionately lower net returns.


Background In the United Kingdom approximately 1 in 200 pregnancies end in stillbirth. Stillbirth rates are often higher in certain ethnic groups, however in most studies these women account for a small proportion of the population. Methods 53,031 singleton births at Guy's and St Thomas' Foundation Trust between 2004 and 2012 were analysed to determine the prevalence of stillbirth in this population and the odds ratios for stillbirth in different ethnic groups. Population attributable fractions were used to quantify the contribution of certain ethnicities to the prevalence of stillbirth in this population. Results There were 360 stillbirths during the study period. The prevalence of stillbirth was 6.8 stillbirths per 1000 total births which is higher than regional and national figures. Black and Asian women had twice the odds of stillbirth compared to White women even after adjusting for age, parity, deprivation, obesity, hypertension and diabetes (OR2.08 95% CI1.55–2.80 (Black) OR2.54 95% CI1.66–3.87 (Asian)). Having adjusted for all other factors up to 30% of stillbirths in this population could be avoided if Black and Asian women had the same odds of stillbirth as White women (PAF 23.5% (Black) PAF 7% (Asian)). Conclusion There is insufficient research regarding the mechanism by which distal factors such as ethnicity act in determining a woman's risk of stillbirth. Healthcare workers should be aware that these women's increased risk of stillbirth extends beyond the contribution of obesity, hypertension or diabetes.


Peace at last, after Lloyd George declared it had been 'the war to end all wars', would surely bring relief and a renewed sense of optimism? But this assumption turned out to be deeply misplaced as people began to realise that the men they loved were never coming home. The Great Silence is the story of the pause between 1918 and 1920. A two-minute silence to celebrate those who died was underpinned by a more enduring silence born out of national grief. Those who had danced through settled Edwardian times, now faced a changed world. Some struggled to come to terms with the last four years, while others were anxious to move towards a new future. Change came to women, who were given the vote only five years after Emily Davidson had thrown herself on the ground at Ascot race course, to the poor, determined to tolerate their condition no longer, and to those permanently scarred, mentally and physically, by the conflict. The British Monarchy feared for its survival as monarchies around Europe collapsed and Eric Horne, one time butler to the gentry, found himself working in a way he considered unseemly for a servant of his calibre. Whether it was embraced or rejected, change had arrived as the impact of a tragic war was gradually absorbed. With her trademark focus on daily life, Juliet Nicolson evokes what England was like during this fascinating hinge in history.


There has been a growing interest in recent years in reviewing the continued impact of the Ottoman empire even long after its demise at the end of the First World War. The wars in former Yugoslavia, following hot on the civil war in Lebanon, were reminders that the settlements of 1918-22 were not final. While many of the successor states to the Ottoman empire, in east and west, had been built on forms of nationalist ideology and rhetoric opposed to the empire, a newer trend among historians has been to look at these histories as Ottoman provincial history. The present volume is an attempt to bring some of those histories from across the former Ottoman space together. They cover from parts of former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece to Lebanon, including Turkey itself, providing rich material for comparing regions which normally are not compared.


Air bags cause accidents, because well-protected drivers take more risks. This well-documented truth comes as a surprise to most people, but not to economists, who have learned to take seriously the proposition that people respond to incentives. In The Armchair Economist, Steven E. Landsburg shows how the laws of economics reveal themselves in everyday experience and illuminate the entire range of human behavior. Why does popcorn cost so much at the cinema? The 'obvious' answer is that the owner has a monopoly, but if that were the whole story, there would also be a monopoly price to use the toilet. When a sudden frost destroys much of the Florida orange crop and prices skyrocket, journalists point to the 'obvious' exercise of monopoly power. Economists see just the opposite: If growers had monopoly power, they'd have raised prices before the frost. Why don't concert promoters raise ticket prices even when they are sure they will sell out months in advance? Why are some goods sold at auction and others at pre-announced prices? Why do boxes at the football sell out before the standard seats do? Why are bank buildings fancier than supermarkets? Why do corporations confer huge pensions on failed executives? Why don't firms require workers to buy their jobs? Landsburg explains why the obvious answers are wrong, reveals better answers, and illuminates the fundamental laws of human behavior along the way. This is a book of surprises: a guided tour of the familiar, filtered through a decidedly unfamiliar lens. This is economics for the sheer intellectual joy of it.


Environmental surfaces and their role in the epidemiology of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) have become an area of great scientific interest, particularly in light of the much publicised cases of infections due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile in UK hospitals. This feature article sets out to examine the role of surfaces and the inanimate environment in the spread of HAIs, and looks at various antimicrobial techniques being researched to reduce microbial contamination of surfaces. Preventative measures such as coatings which reduce initial microbial adhesion to surfaces will be considered alongside actively antimicrobial measures which inactivate microorganisms already adherent to a surface. The principal focus of this feature article will be given to light-activated antimicrobial surfaces such as the photocatalyst TiO2 and surfaces with embedded photosensitisers. Surfaces which release antimicrobial compounds or metal ions such as silver and copper are also examined, alongside materials which kill microbes upon contact. The widespread research and development of these antimicrobial surfaces is of great importance in maintaining acceptable levels of hygiene in hospitals and will help to fight the spread of HAIs via the contamination of inanimate surfaces in the healthcare environment.


English plays an important part in our educational system of Indonesia. Since it is an international language, almost all the application of technology uses English as the instruction, so that our government requires it to be taught since elementary school level. Moreover, in
achieving the goals of four basicEnglish skills in teaching and learning English, some medias are required; one of them is a textbook.
Today, there are so many English textbooks published by different publishers which are distributed to every level of education; Elementary School, Junior High School, Senior High School, College, etc. It makes English teachers have more choices in selecting what textbooks they are going to use. On the other hand, selecting a good textbook which is suitable for students is still one of the problems for the teacher. They have to know the requirements or criteria of a good textbook before choosing which textbook they are going to use. There are many considerations the teacher should take, such as the difficulty level, the Discrimination index, and etc.
In this thesis, the researcher tried to investigate the difficulty level of the exercises in the book entitle Progress published by Ganeca in 2007 that was used by the first level students at senior high school.
This study used descriptive qualitative as the method. Furthermore, document or content analysis was employed in analyzing the level difficulty of reading exercises on Progress textbook which was published by Ganeca in 2007.
The findings showed that the reading exercises in Progress published by Ganeca that was used by the first year level students of senior high school had sufficient distribution of difficulty level of text, since the average difficulty level of that book is in the range of 0.300.70.


The 3rd Annual European Alternative Finance Report presents the most comprehensive analysis of the status of alternative finance industry in Europe, covering more countries, alternative finance models, as well as industry trends and developments than was available in its predecessors. Much effort has been placed on data quality verifications and clarifications in an ongoing productive and collaborative dialogue with all platform informants and research partners. Here, we wish to acknowledge their invaluable contributions, without which this report could not have been written.
Overall, the data collected shows that 2016 saw European alternative finance doubling its volumes from 2015, and continuing an impressive growth. When placed into its short historical perspective, an impression emerges of an industry progressing from an introduction stage catering to innovators, into the growth stage catering to a growing number of early adopters. This growth phase is characterized by entry of new platforms and service providers, overall increasing competition, emergence of first cases of consolidation, diversification of products, and investments in process effectivization and streamlining.
Despite exhibiting continuous healthy growth, Europe still punches well below its potential in most countries. Challenges remain both in terms of market education, and amendments of regulation. In Europe regulatory challenges are faced with two barriers. First, most countries have relatively mature and well-established regulatory systems. And, second, these vary significantly across countries. In this respect, our study provides initial evidence that more favorable regulation at national level is associated with higher volumes per capita, as well as with higher share of funding reaching businesses. Accordingly, one can expect that if regulatory conditions will continue to improve at both national and international levels, the industry will be able to maintain and enhance its growth.
Nevertheless, one should acknowledge that the story of European alternative finance sector growth, more importantly, is the story of the democratization of access to finance and investment opportunities for people and ventures in Europe. When we present that the industry has generated EUR 2 Billion in 2016, it implies that close to 95% of this sum was actually invested in European venturing reaching businesses, entrepreneurs, artists, and social activists. All aim at creating value to consumers, investors and society via ventures made possible thanks to the support of the crowd. Accordingly, and by extension, more accommodating regulation for the industry, also implies greater access to finance for multiple stakeholders in the economy and more opportunities for value creation.
Here, our findings leave much room for optimism for the coming years. Not only are volumes growing strongly, but platforms are investing actively in innovative solutions towards improving performance and customer service. Moreover, evidence suggests that a greater share of platforms engage in cross-border transactions, although, in most cases, these still represent a relatively modest share of overall volumes (thanks to limitations mentioned above).
Finally, we hope this report, and the insights emerging form it, will be of help to all stakeholders interested in the development of alternative finance in Europe. And we look forward to a continued cooperation with all our partners in monitoring industry developments in the future.


ABSTRACT Strains of the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae are commonly found in the phylosphere and are able to infect a number of agriculturally important crops. Here, we report a high-quality draft genome sequence of Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae B301D-R, isolated from pears, which is a model strain for phytotoxin research in P. syringae.


The amplitude of an acoustic field propagating through a stratified continental shelf water column in the presence of internal wave packets is shown to be azimuthally and depth dependent when referenced to the propagation vector of the internal wave packet. Internal wave (IW) packets, which propagate across the continental shelf, are known to be regularly generated each tidal cycle at the shelf break edge in stratified water column conditions. They are dispersive in nature and change in physical structure as they propagate away from the generation site. Their wave directional spectrum is highly peaked. Consequently, the wave‐number spectrum of the continental shelf sound velocity field is highly directional and will be shown to cause azimuthal dependency in the properties of the acoustic field as a function of range and bearing from the source. Preliminary results of numerical solutions to the parabolic equation approximation of the Helmholtz equation are presented to substantiate the above assertions, in...


Measurements by a photomultiplier tube at distances of 15 cm from the head demonstrated significant increases in biophoton energies along the right side but not the left when subjects imagined white light in a dark environment. The increased power density of ~ 3 x 10-11 W/m2 did not occur when the same subjects thought about mundane experiences. The calculated increased photon energy while imagining white light was equivalent to the involvement of action potentials from about 107 cerebral cortical neurons. These values are consistent with the typical numbers of neurons involved with imaginative states as inferred from fMRI technologies and the hypothesized origins of biophotons from lipid and redox reactions within cell membranes. We suggest these results support Bόkkon's hypothesis that specific visual imagery is strongly correlated with the release of biophotons and may be the actual experience of organized matrices of photons. The cognitive coupling with photon emissions would also support the electron spin-mediated hypothesis of Hu and Wu for the origin of consciousness.


Many animation systems rely on key-frames or poses to produce animated sequences of figures we interpret as articulated, e.g. the skeleton of a character. The production of poses is a difficult problem which can be solved by using techniques such as forward and inverse kinematics. However, animators often find these techniques difficult to work with.

The work, presented in this thesis, proposes an innovative technique which approaches this problem from a totally different direction from conventional techniques, and is based on Interactive Genetic Algorithms (IGAs).

IGAs are evolutionary tools based on the theory of evolution which was first described by Darwin in 1859. They are derived from Genetic Algorithms (GAs) themselves based on the theory of evolution. IGAs have been successfully used to produce abstract pictures, sculptures and abstract animation sequences.

Conventional techniques assist the animator in producing poses. On the contrary, when working with IGAs, users assist the computer in its search for a good solution. Unfortunately, this concept is too weak to allow for an efficient exploration of the space of poses as the user requires more control over the evolutionary process.

So, a new concept was introduced to let the user specify directly what is of interest, that is a limb or a set of limbs. This information is efficiently used by the computer to greatly enhance the search. Users build a pose by selecting limbs which are of interest. That pose is provided to the computer as a seed to produce a new generation of poses. The degree of similarity is specified directly by the user. Typically, it is small at the beginning and increases as the process reaches convergences.

The power of this new technique is demonstrated by two evaluations, one which uses a set of non expert users and another one which uses myself as the sole but expert user. The first evaluation highlighted the high cognitive requirement of the new technique whereas the second evaluation showed that given sufficient training, the new technique becomes much faster than the other two conventional techniques.


Economic globalization is an irresistible trend of history. Economic globalization is a trend of world economic development. Its influence is various to our country. In this paper, we adopt the method of numerical analysis, we analyze the positive influence and negative influence of economic globalization to our country economy. Economic globalization is a topic of current talk. But whatever the answer is, people can't deny that this is a basic fact. Economic globalization has become an irreversible trend and irresistible objective reality. It is booming in recent years. It brings comprehensive profound influence to the world. President Jiang Zemin has pointed out: "We must know about globalization problem correctly. "In this study, we will briefly discuss its impact on the economy of our country.


Sites that mark atrocity span the globe including Villa Grimaldi in Chile, the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam, the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Museum in eastern China, and Robben Island in South Africa. Generally such sites seek to have some form of social and individual impact. Typically they seek to educate the next generation and prevent future forms of atrocity by revealing the past. It is contended that an overly emotional focus on the narratives of victims at such sites can limit understanding of the dynamics that cause violence. The article also explores whether there is a nostalgic element to conflict museums. Although it seems counterintuitive that nostalgia would have any place in thinking back on periods of extreme violence, it is argued that nostalgia is present in a number of ways. How this plays out in postapartheid South Africa is specifically explored. The article concludes by highlighting the dangers in South Africa of what can be termed a regenerative nostalgia for the "struggle" against apartheid and the perceived unifying peace process that followed.


Antiangiogenic therapy using drugs and food components is a recognized strategy for the prevention of various angiogenesis-mediated disorders such as tumor growth, diabetic retinopathy, and rheumatoid arthritis. Our preliminary cell culture studies, using both bovine aortic endothelial cells and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) on screening for food-derived antiangiogenic compounds, showed tocotrienol (T3), an unsaturated version of vitamin E, to be a potential angiogenic inhibitor. We therefore investigaged the in vivo antiangiogenic properties of T3 using 2 well-characterized angiogenic models [mouse dorsal air sac (DAS) assay and the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay]. In the DAS assay, the increased neovascularization (angiogenesis index, 4.8 +/- 0.6) in tumor cell-implanted mice was suppressed (angiogenesis index, 2.7 +/- 0.6) by dietary supplementation of 10 mg T3-rich oil/d (equivalent to 4.4 mg T3/d). In the CAM assay, T3 (500-1000 microg/egg) inhibited new blood vessel formation on the growing CAM and increased the frequency of avascular zone (36-50%). To evaluate the antiangiogenic mechanism, we conducted cell-culture studies and found that T3 significantly reduced fibroblast growth factor -induced proliferation, migration, and tube formation in HUVEC (P < 0.05), with delta-T3 having the highest activity. Western blot analysis revealed that delta-T3 suppressed the phosphorylation of phosophoinositide-dependent protein kinase (PDK) and Akt, and increased the phosphorylation of apoptosis signal-regulating kinase and p38 in fibroblast growth factor-treated HUVEC, indicating that the antiangiogenic effects of T3 are associated with changes in growth factor-dependent phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase /PDK/Akt signaling as well as induction of apoptosis in endothelial cells. Our findings suggest that T3 has potential as a therapeutic dietary supplement for preventing angiogenic disorders, and therefore future clinical study will be required to evaluate the efficacy and safety of T3.


Objectives
Studies regarding whether light to moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) have generated mixed results. Further, few studies have comprehensively examined the potential impact of alcohol consumption on diverse disease outcomes. The current study aimed to prospectively investigate dose-response association between alcohol consumption and risk of developing major chronic diseases, including CVD, cancers and mortality.

Methods
The study consisted of 83,732 Chinese adults (aged 18-96 y) without history of CVD and cancer from the Kailuan Study, 2006-2007. Participants were categorized into 6 groups based on self-report alcohol consumption (grams of pure ethanol per week): 0, 1-25, 26-150, 151-350, 351-750, and >750 g/wk. Incident cases of CVD (including stroke, myocardial infarction, heart failure andatrial fibrillation), cancers (total and site-specific), and mortality were confirmed by review of medical records. Major chronic disease was defined as the initial occurrence of CVD, cancer, or death during follow-up.

Results
During a median follow up of 10.0 years (interquartile range 9.7-10.2 years), there were 6411 incidences of CVDs, 2947 incidences of cancers and 6646 deaths. Compared to zero intake of alcohol, the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) was 0.72 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.67, 0.78) for consuming 1-25 g/wk, 0.83 (95%CI: 0.76, 0.90) for 26-150 g/wk, and 0.88 (95%CI: 0.81, 0.95) for 151-350 g/wk, after adjusting for age, sex, lifestyle (eg, smoking and obesity), social economic status, blood glucose concentration and medication use. A trend was identified between >750 g ethanol/wk and higher chronic disease risk (adjusted HR = 1.13; 95%CI: 0.95, 1.36), which reached significance for cancer (adjusted HR = 1.51; 95%CI: 1.07, 2.11). Similar results were observed in sub-group analyses alcoholic beverage type, occupation, men, >50 years, and never smokers.

Conclusions
Light to moderate alcohol consumption has an overall beneficial effect for major chronic diseases.

Funding Sources
This research is supported by the start-up grant from the college of health and human development and the department of nutritional sciences, Penn State University and the Institute for CyberScience Seed Grant Program, Penn State University.

Supporting Tables Images and/or Graphs


This book provides a comprehensive account of national parliaments' adaptation to European integration. Advancing an explanation based on political parties' constitutional preferences, the volume investigates the nature and variation of parliamentary rights in European Union affairs across countries and levels of governance. In some member states, parliaments have traditionally been strong and parties hold intergovernmental visions of European integration. In these countries, strong parliamentary rights emerge in the context of parties' efforts to realise their preferred constitutional design for the European polity. Parliamentary rights remain weakly developed where federally-oriented parties prevail, and where parliaments have long been marginal arenas in domestic politics. Moreover, divergent constitutional preferences underlie inter-parliamentary disagreement on national parliaments' collective rights at the European level. Constitutional preferences are key to understanding why a 'Senate' of national parliaments never enjoyed support and why the alternatives subsequently put into place have stayed clear of committing national parliaments to any common policies. This volume calls into question existing explanations that focus on strategic partisan incentives arising from minority and coalition government. It, furthermore rejects the exclusive attribution of parliamentary 'deficits' to the structural constraints created by European integration and, instead, restores a sense of accountability for parliamentary rights to political parties and their ideas for the European Union's constitutional design.