Welfare-state restructuring featuring the use of equity held in owner-occupied housing assets to offset declining public welfare resources and diminishing pension reserves – a form of 'homeownership-based welfare' – has become increasingly prominent in many developed economies in recent decades. This paper, focusing on the UK, examines the shifting position of homeownership, arguing that while the private home has become a key component of welfare restructuring, both owner-occupation and housing equity have become more polarised in the last decade, especially across cohorts. A particular concern is whether passive homeownership-based welfare switching strategies have become more active, or even pro-active, strategies to housing property accumulation as a means to compensate for welfare state retrenchment and anticipated pension shortfalls leading up to and since the Global Financial Crisis. We identify the significance of the rapid advance of a 'generation landlord' in the recent development of 'generation rent'.


Biotite, muscovite and vermiculite were treated in HCl and H2SO4 solutions at pH ranging between 7 and 1. The solid residue was studied using Mossbauer spectroscopy at room temperature. The spectra of the untreated samples, D0Bio, D0Mus and DOVer were fitted assuming quadrupole splitting distribution, QSD. Different fitting models with different combinations of Gaussian components for the Fe sites were tested and the models with chi(2) near 1.0+/-0.1237 and with the least number of free parameters were adopted as working models. The models were then used to fit the experimental products of each group. If a model fails to describe a spectrum of a sample in the group then this is taken to signal a significant crystal chemical change induced by weathering. All three minerals are oxidized during weathering and the correlation between oxidation ratio and pH is modeled using a Weibull function. The rate of oxidation in biotite is higher than that in muscovite and vermiculite, The average CS and QS of the Fe sites in a group remain more or less constant during the experiment. However, the position of the peak QS of Fe-[6](2+) in biotite is shifted to low energies with decreasing pH, a measure of the decreasing covalence character of the Fe/Mg-O bonds. In muscovite the major feature observed is the enhancement of the bi-modal distribution of the QSD of Fe-[6](2+) with decreasing pH. (Less)


The incidence of incisional hernia occurring at the port sites after laparoscopic surgery, lies between 0.02 to 3.6%[1] and usually remains unreported, until the development of complications.[2] Such a case is reported here and the problem briefly reviewed.

A 55 year-old obese lady presented to the emergency ward, with the complaints of pain, redness and swelling of the periumbilical region, for a duration of 4 days. She had undergone laparoscopic cholecystectomy at our hospital 4 years ago and had remained well, prior to the present problem. Examination revealed cellulitis of the periumbilical area with induration and a vague swelling without cough impulse. The local temperature was also elevated. When directly questioned, she was not aware of any hernia at the site, either before or after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Her routine hematological and biochemical investigations were within normal limits. Contract enhanced computerised tomogram (CECT) scan revealed a defect in the midline at the level of the umbilicus, with herniation of the intra-abdominal contents through this defect [Figure 1]. With a diagnosis of port site hernia, she was taken up for surgery.

Figure 1

CECT of the abdomen showing herniation of the omentum through the umbilical port site

Surgery was performed under general anaesthesia and revealed herniation of the omentum through the port site. There were dense adhesions and areas of gangrene in the herniated omentum. The gangrenous parts were excised and the rest of the omentum reposited back into the abdomen. Closure was performed using 0 polypropylene suture and reinforced with an onlay mesh. The patient remained well in the post-operative period and was discharged on the 5th post-operative day in a satisfactory condition.

Incisional herniae can occur after any abdominal surgery and laparoscopic surgery is not immune to this complication. The herniae that follow laparoscopy usually occur through the larger ports (size greater than 10 mm), especially the umbilicus,[3] but the smaller ports can also be affected. Various factors have been implicated in their development - wound extension, male sex, infection of the wound, pre-existing umbilical defects, post-operative chest infections and pre-existing diseases such as diabetes mellitus and connective tissue disorders; but the single most important factor in their development remains the improper closure of the fascial defects at the port sites.[4,5]

The hernia may become evident at any time following laparoscopic surgery and the patient may either have an uncomplicated hernia, or may be afflicted with a variety of complications such as evisceration of the bowel or omentum and it may become a cause of significant morbidity[3] Meticulous closure of the fascia, avoidance of unnecessary wound extension, the use of non-absorbable sutures when faced with defects more than 2 cms in size, completely defining the extent of any pre-existing hernia and repairing this at the time of port site closure, are recommended to minimize the incidence of port site herniae after laparoscopic surgery.[4,5]


The problem of a self-sustaining detonation wave diffracting from confinement into an unconfined space through an abrupt area change is characterized by the geometric scale of the confinement and the reaction scale of the detonation. Previous investigations have shown that this expansion associated with a detonation transitioning from planar to spherical geometry can result in two possible outcomes depending upon the combustible mixture composition, initial thermodynamic state, and confining geometry. Competition between the energy release rate and expansion rate behind the diffracting wave is crucial. The sub-critical case is characterized by the rate of expansion exceeding the energy release rate. As the chemical reactions are quenched, the shock wave decouples from the reaction zone and rapidly decays. The energy release rate dominates the expansion rate in the super-critical case, maintaining the coupling between the shock and reaction zone which permits successful transition across the area change. A critical diffraction model has been developed in the present research effort from which the initial conditions separating the sub-critical and super-critical cases can be analytically determined. Chemical equilibrium calculations and detonation simulations with validated detailed reaction mechanisms provide the model input parameters. Experiments over a wide range of initial conditions with single- and multi-sequence shadowgraphy and digital chemiluminescence imaging support the model derivation and numerical calculations. Good agreement has been obtained between the critical diffraction model and experimental results.


Study objectives: To determine the safety and efficacy of the use of oral anhydrous caffeine and intravenous aminophylline in the neonatal population using therapeutic drug levels and clinical effects as markers for determination. Design: Prospective randomised study. Patients: Thirty-one neonates admitted (aminophylline n = 16, caffeine n = 15) with a gestational age of less than or equal to 34 weeks for prevention of apnoea of prematurity (AOP) were enrolled. Results: Oral anhydrous caffeine or intravenous aminophylline were administered using prescribed study regimens. One peak level was taken for the two drugs on day 4 of treatment 2 hours after the maintenance dose was administered. The two regimens were clinically monitored using cardiovascular, respiratory, gastro-intestinal and central nervous system parameters four hourly. The two groups did not differ significantly for gestational age (p = 0.782), birth weight (p = 1), gender (p = 0.722), and Apgar scores determined at 5 minutes (p = 0.068). Serum concentrations were within range (5–20 μg/ml) for both study groups. The median pulse rate (beats per minute) for two days; day 7: 160 vs. 148 (p = 0.019); day 9: 168 vs. 147 (p = 0.020) and median respiratory rate (breaths per minute) for five days; day 3: 68 vs. 61 (p = 0.039); day 4: 67 vs. 57 (p = 0.014); day 5: 64 vs. 58 (p = 0.045); day 7: 65 vs. 50 (p = 0.021); day 8: 66 vs. 56 p = 0.014) were significantly higher in the aminophylline study arm. Conclusion: The findings of the study indicated that caffeine is an effective alternative for intravenous aminophylline in prevention of AOP. The oral administration of caffeine may also have an advantage in a resource-poor setting.


We use a long panel with information on expected and realized changes in household finances to study the process of expectation formation and expectation errors, controlling for individual fixed effects. We find that, following improvements in financial situation, individuals tend to form extrapolative expectations and they are excessively optimistic about the future. However, following a deterioration, there is an increase in the dispersion of forecasts, with increases in the expectation of a further deterioration (consistent with extrapolative behavior) and of a future improvement (consistent with mean reversion). We show that these expectation patterns are in line with observed savings behavior. When individuals expect mean reversion, they are too optimistic about the future; they reduce their savings and increase their borrowing, and they are more likely to find themselves financially worse off again in the future.


Legislative speeches are an important instrument for parties and members of parliament (MPs) to signal their positions and priorities. This raises the question of who speaks when. We evaluate whether a MP's presence on the floor depends on his or her gender. We hypothesize that female MPs give in general less speeches in parliament and that this pattern results from debates dealing with "harder" policy issues. Our expectations are supported when analyzing a new data set containing information on the number and content of speeches given in the Swedish Riksdag between 2002 and 2010.


In this solo exhibition I continue to reflect upon the broad impact of digital culture upon imagery – in both cases, meaning is inextricably bound up with the relations between the physical and the immaterial.

My paintings, which operate at the interface of abstraction and pop, are constructed by combining poured, abstract configurations of transparent varnishes and opaque household paints with ready-made graphic stencils. The repeated pouring, in conjunction with pop signs, form a physical process of sensual flat-on-flat layering that reveals multiple perspectives and optical depths.

This layering is part of the fracturing process, the breaking up or 'exploding' of a recognisable image, a response, to broadcast and internet-based images of violence and confusion that seem to fill our world. Amorphous shapes, sharp-edged logos, scything blocks of colour and silky veils of tinted varnish intrude into Stubbs' picture planes, fragmenting the surface; the physicality of the works are coming up against the pixilation of the flattened, immaterial space of the digital image.

Yet there is an overriding seductiveness in these works; the perfection of the finish and the boldness of the palette alleviate the chaos of the visual explosion. By interrogating the utilitarian but sensual medium of house paints and varnishes, I attempt to critically re-configure the medium of painting in an age of internet information overload.


A civil claim for damages for adultery by the innocent spouse against the third party has been part of South African law as far back as 88 years ago, until recently. This claim was based on the action iniuriarum or a general remedy for the infringement of personality rights. This remedy is directed at protecting plaintiffs against wrongful and intentional infringement of personality rights and allows for the recovery of damages. The personality rights protected by this action are bodily integrity (corpus), dignity (dignitas) and reputation (fama) as derived from Roman-Dutch-Law. The damages claim in this context is essentially for loss of the benefits of family and disrespect.


This thesis examines the strategy of re-visioning myth within contemporary European
feminist theatre, a strategy which has proved popular over time and across cultures but
which has received insufficient critical attention. This study seeks to fill that gap by
offering a framework through which this practice can be considered, exploring the
diverse motivations of individual playwrights, and evaluating the achievements of
particular plays in context. Twelve case studies are included, grouped together to
demonstrate a variety of approaches to re-visioning ranging from utilisation of myth as
pretext for examination of social issues, to an apparent abandonment of contemporary
reality for a utopian otherworld. However, it is argued first that mythical, social and
psychological strands remain intertwined, and second that the diversity of approaches
reflects the importance for feminist theatre of selecting strategies to meet specific needs,
and that these strategies can thus be viewed as complementary rather than in conflict.
Chapter One introduces selected critical perspectives on myth, re-visioning and feminist
theatre, framing these within Rita Felski's model of the feminist counter-public sphere.
Chapter Two discusses plays by Hella Haasse, Franca Rame and Sarah Daniels, which
examine myth as ideological narrative. Plays by Maureen Duffy, Caryl Churchill and
David Lan, and Timberlake Wertenbaker, considered in Chapter Three, investigate
myths of female violence. Chapter Four looks at plays by Andree Chedid and Angela
Carter which use myth to confront women's complicity in maintaining the status quo.
Plays by Serena Sartori, Renata Coluccini and Helene Cixous, discussed in Chapter
Five, offer psychological investigations into women's relationships with myth,
language and power. The thesis concludes with a summary of the research findings,
and assesses their significance.


Fiber reinforced polymers (FRPs) are a well established material in lightweight applications, e.g. in automotive, aerospace or wind energy. The FRP components are subjected to multiaxial mechanical as well as hygrothermal loads. Common operation temperatures are in the range of 213 K and 373 K (-60 °C and 100 °C) at a relative humidity of 10% to 90%. In spacecraft applications, the environmental conditions are even more extreme. However, the correlation between multiaxial mechanical loading and harsh environment conditions have to-date not been investigated in detail. The project aims to investigate the fatigue behavior of FRPs dependent on multiaxial mechanical loading, temperature, and humidity. Extensive experimental testing is performed on flat plate and cylindrical tube specimens, accompanied by numerical and analytical calculations.


Heightened natural gas prices have emerged as a key energy-policy challenge for at least the early part of the 21st century. With the recent run-up in gas prices and the expected continuation of volatile and high prices in the near future, a growing number of voices are calling for increased diversification of energy supplies. Proponents of renewable energy and energy efficiency identify these clean energy sources as an important part of the solution. Increased deployment of renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) can hedge natural gas price risk in more than one way, but this paper touches on just one potential benefit: displacement of gas-fired electricity generation, which reduces natural gas demand and thus puts downward pressure on gas prices. Many recent modeling studies of increased RE and EE deployment have demonstrated that this ''secondary'' effect of lowering natural gas prices could be significant; as a result, this effect is increasingly cited as justification for policies promoting RE and EE. This paper summarizes recent studies that have evaluated the gas-price-reduction effect of RE and EE deployment, analyzes the results of these studies in light of economic theory and other research, reviews the reasonableness of the effect as portrayed in modeling studies, and develops a simple tool that can be used to evaluate the impact of RE and EE on gas prices without relying on a complex national energy model. Key findings are summarized.


The development of layout, infrastructure, natural resources and environment is one of city development planning process. Based on regional regulation No. 5 on 2004 about planning of spatial Semarang City, This regional regulation is oriented on the use of spatial information for all necessaries cohesiveness which is used maximally to increase the prosperity of society. The aim of this research is design information system spatial layout of the city which provide a module to allowed transfer of spatial data inter institutions. The Methodology of this research which is used by author is System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) - Waterfall, consist of planning, analysis, design, and implementation. Planning is  carried out by classify  spatial data which is used available; Analysis is carried out by analyze system and  user of system; Design is carried out by DFD tools, Data Dictionary, ERD, STD, and open source WEBGIS MAPSERVER. The objective of this research is application web based which display spatial data of layout Semarang city. The spatial data which is displayed including regional per sub-district which comprise land use data, buildings, rivers, streets, lakes, green open space, parks, pipelines and boundary of administration. There is also an additional download and upload module for spatial data in shapefile format. Keywords : Information System Spatial, Layout, SDLC, WebGIS, MapServer and Semarang City


An analysis of the extensive and intensive barocaloric effect (BCE) at successive structural phase transitions in some complex fluorides and oxyfluorides was performed. The high sensitivity of these compounds to a change in the chemical pressure allows one to vary the succession and parameters of the transformations (temperature, entropy, baric coefficient) over a wide range and obtain optimal values of the BCE. A comparison of different types of schematic T–p phase diagrams with the complicated T(p) dependences observed experimentally shows that in some ranges of temperature and pressure the BCE in compounds undergoing successive transformations can be increased due to a summation of caloric effects associated with distinct phase transitions. The maximum values of the extensive and intensive BCE in complex fluorides and oxyfluorides can be realized at rather low pressure (0.1–0.3 GPa). In a narrow temperature range around the triple points conversion from conventional BCE to inverse BCE is observed, which is followed by a gigantic change of both |ΔSBCE| and |ΔTAD|.


For an Australian iron ore operation in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, an acid and metalliferous drainage (AMD) study has considered available drill-hole data (chemical assays and geological logging information) combined with mine planning information to conduct a high level assessment of the potential for AMD from mined waste storage facilities and within the pit void. Geological modelling tools (Vulcan, Leapfrog) were used to generate 3D visualisations of the distribution of sulfur (a key parameter indicative of AMD risk) within the mined volume. The final sulfur model was aligned with the existing block model to aid future mine planning. Small volumes representing sulfur-bearing 'hotspots' were identified and pit void maps were generated to determine the location of these hot spots on exposed pit walls. Similarly, volumetric quantities of sulfur-bearing material that would report to waste rock dumps and ore stockpiles were estimated. Outcomes from the assessment were used to focus ongoing geochemical characterisation activities, and can be used as a basis for scoping calculations to predict the possible quality of drainage waters from mined waste storage facilities and pit walls. This paper describes the overall assessment approach and summarises outcomes from the AMD risk assessment.


BACKGROUND
The concept of metronomic chronic administration of low-dose chemotherapy has become relevant for the treatment of cancer in the last several years. This study sought to determine the safety and activity of oral vinorelbine (VNB), using a metronomic schedule of administration, in elderly patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
From October 2004 to March 2007, 34 patients with MBC (median age, 74 years; range, 70-84 years) were treated with oral VNB at 70 mg/m2, fractionated on days 1, 3, and 5, for 3 weeks on and 1 week off, every 4 weeks, for a maximum of 12 cycles. The objective response rate was the primary endpoint.

RESULTS
All 34 patients received at least 3 cycles of therapy and were evaluable. Two achieved complete responses (6%), and 11 achieved partial responses (32%). Median progression-free survival and median overall survival entailed 7.7 months (95% confidence interval, 6.9-9.05 months) and 15.9 months (95% CI, 13.1-15.91 months), respectively, for all patients.

CONCLUSION
The fractionated administration of oral VNB is well tolerated and presents promising activity in elderly patients with metastatic cancer, warranting further investigation in combination with other chemotherapy agents.


This paper tests various propositions underlying claims that observed global temperature change is mostly attributable to anthropogenic noncondensing greenhouse gases, and that although water vapour is recognized to be a dominant contributor to the overall greenhouse gas (GHG) effect, that effect is merely a "feedback" from rising temperatures initially resulting only from "non-condensing" GHGs and not at all from variations in preexisting naturally caused atmospheric water vapour (i.e., [H2O]). However, this paper shows that "initial radiative forcing" is not exclusively attributable to forcings from noncondensing GHG, both because atmospheric water vapour existed before there were any significant increases in GHG concentrations or temperatures and also because there is no evidence that such increases have produced measurably higher [H2O]. The paper distinguishes between forcing and feedback impacts of water vapour and contends that it is the primary forcing agent, at much more than 50% of the total GHG gas effect. That means that controlling atmospheric carbon dioxide is unlikely to be an effective "control knob" as claimed by Lacis et al. (2010).


Persistent Mode Current Switches (PMCS) are made from coils of superconductor that in theory will provide zero conduction losses when closed. By causing a section of the superconductor to leave its superconducting state and become resistive, the switch is effectively opened. There are currently 3 methods to open a PMCS; 1) applying heat, 2) applying a magnetic field or 3) application of current above the critical current (Ic) of the tape. The first two methods are not suitable for power applications as the switching time is too slow. Recent work at the University of Wollongong and in literature has shown that by careful design, a switch using High Temperature Superconductors (HTS) and applying a high frequency current pulse can potentially achieve a switching time of less than 50μs.


Though current strategies in counterterrorism are somewhat effective, various counterinsurgency theorists have raised doubts about the true efficacy of current methods. Established current strategies are fundamentally flawed, with an overemphasis on eliminating leaders and highly connected agents. Colonel Derek Jones, a counterinsurgency theorist, proposed the Simultaneous Attack/Persistent Pursuit (SAPP) Theory as a superior alternative to current methods. In this strategy, attacks are conducted equally across all fronts of a clandestine intelligence network, from which connections are pursued with further attacks. To determine whether current methods are more or less effective in counterterrorism than the method proposed by the SAPP Theory, a stochastic computational model was developed to represent a traditional eastern clandestine network for an isolated sub-cell of a terrorist organization. Attacks were modeled through the loss of agents within specific components of the network. After an analysis of relevant literature discussing the efficacy of current methods in counterterrorism, we hypothesized that the SAPP model would lead to a greater reduction in the number of terrorist attacks than other methods. We simulated five attack strategies, with each strategy being simulated for thirty trials, and the resulting final number of attacks of the terrorist network was recorded. Through four two-sample t-tests comparing each of the four non SAPP strategies to the SAPP model, we concluded that the SAPP model was significantly more effective in reducing the final number of terrorist attacks. This demonstrates the comparative advantage of utilizing the SAPP model, which may prove to be critical in future efforts in counterterrorism.


In wheat (Triticum L.), large-scale field studies were conducted to assess the level of intra- and interspecific pollen-mediated gene movement that may exist at varying distances from a pollinator source. The objectives of this research were to measure gene flow rates from a blue-grained pollinator (T. aestivum cv. Purendo-38) to (i) red-grained spring wheat cv. CDC Teal (T. aestivum) over distances of 0.2 to 160 m, (ii) amber durum wheat cv. AC Navigator (T. turgidum L.) over distances of 0.2 to 260 m, and (iii) CDC Teal and AC Navigator over distances of 180 to 2760 m. In 2000 and 2001, 50- by 50-m blue-grained pollinator blocks were sown and surrounded by recipient fields of either CDC Teal or AC Navigator at Saskatoon, SK. At maturity, 0.5- by 4-m strips were harvested at specified distances between 0.2 and 160 m or 260 m along eight transects (N, E, S, W, NE, SE, SW, NW) radiating out from Purendo-38. In addition, random sampling was conducted in 2000 and 2001 from surrounding wheat fields to estimate gene flow rates over distances of 180 to 2760 m. Gene flow from Purendo-38 to recipient plants was Identified by the expression of a light-blue pigment in the aleurone layer of F1 hybrid seed. Confirmed intra- and interspecific pollen-mediated gene flow rates remained below 0.5% and declined rapidly with distance from the pollinator. Elevated gene flow rates to the N, W, and NW of the pollinator were associated with prevalent winds in 2000, but not in 2001. In 2000, long distance intraspecific gene flow was confirmed at a frequency of 0.005% at a position 300 m northwest of the pollinator. No evidence of interspecific gene flow was observed at greater than or equal to 40 m from the pollinator. The results suggest that gene flow occurrence in spring wheat is relatively low but that a tolerance level of 0% transgenic wheat in nontransgenic wheat grain is unrealistic.


The 40Ar/39Ar ages of 10 magmatic and hydrothermal micas from the Grasberg Igneous Complex range from 3.33 ± 0.12 to 3.01 ± 0.06 Ma. The ages of intrusive rocks and the paragenetic relationships between intrusive rocks and hydrothermal alteration and mineralization indicate that the Grasberg Igneous Complex formed during several cycles of intrusion and hydrothermal alteration. These include the Dalam and Main Grasberg intrusion and alteration cycles (3.33 ± 0.12–3.19 ± 0.05 Ma), a Kali intrusion and alteration cycle (3.16 ± 0.06–3.06 ± 0.03 Ma), and a post-Kali intrusion and Grasberg mineralization cycle (3.06 ± 0.03 and 3.01 ± 0.06 Ma). Each cycle of intrusion and alteration appears to have lasted around 0.1 m.y. or less and indicates that the huge size and high grade of Grasberg did not result from an unusually prolonged period of hydrothermal activity.

A sample of phlogopite predating magnetite from the Kucing Liar Cu-Au deposit adjacent to Grasberg has an age of 3.41 ± 0.03 Ma. This is within error of the age of a Dalam intrusive rock from the Grasberg Igneous Complex and suggests formation of the calc-silicate skarn part of Kucing Liar at an early stage in the development of the complex. The ages of the equigranular diorite from the Ertsberg intrusion (2.67 ± 0.03 Ma), phlogopite from an endoskarn vein in the intrusion (2.71 ± 0.04 Ma), and phlogopite from the Ertsberg Cu-Au deposit (2.59 ± 0.15 Ma) indicate that intrusion and alteration and/or mineralization at Ertsberg are younger than the intrusions and mineralization in the Grasberg Igneous Complex. The Ertsberg therefore represents at least one additional cycle of approximately 0.1 m.y. of intrusion and alteration and/or mineralization in the district.

The intrusions that make up the Grasberg Igneous Complex and Ertsberg and the hydrothermal fluids responsible for much of the alteration and mineralization appear to have been derived from a deeper level magma chamber. The youngest dated intrusive phase in the Grasberg Igneous Complex is a post-Kali diorite dike that is more basic than the preceding Kali quartz monzodiorite intrusions. This, together with the presence of mafic xenoliths in the Kali and Ertsberg intrusions, suggests that the magma chamber from which the intrusions and fluids were sourced was periodically replenished by basic magma. This process may also have triggered release of magma to form the shallow-level intrusions now exposed at the surface. The basic magmas also may have contributed components including fluids, metals, and/or sulfur to the Cu-Au deposits in the Ertsberg district.


Class-incremental learning (CIL) has been widely stud-ied under the setting of starting from a small number of classes (base classes). Instead, we explore an understud-ied real-world setting of CIL that starts with a strong model pre-trained on a large number of base classes. We hypoth-esize that a strong base model can provide a good repre-sentation for novel classes and incremental learning can be done with small adaptations. We propose a 2-stage training scheme, i) feature augmentation - cloning part of the backbone and fine-tuning it on the novel data, and ii) fusion - combining the base and novel classifiers into a unified classifier. Experiments show that the proposed method sig-nificantly outperforms state-of-the-art CIL methods on the large-scale ImageNet dataset (e.g. + 10% overall accuracy than the best). We also propose and analyze understudied practical CIL scenarios, such as base-novel overlap with distribution shift. Our proposed method is robust and gen-eralizes to all analyzed CIL settings.


This paper introduces the class of Bayesian infinite mixture time series models first proposed in Lau & So (2004) for modelling long-term investment returns. It is a flexible class of time series models and provides a flexible way to incorporate full information contained in all autoregressive components with various orders by utilizing the idea of Bayesian averaging or mixing. We adopt a Bayesian sampling scheme based on a weighted Chinese restaurant process for generating partitions of investment returns to estimate the Bayesian infinite mixture time series models. Instead of using the point estimates, as in the classical or non-Bayesian approach, the estimation in this paper is performed by the full Bayesian approach, utilizing the idea of Bayesian averaging to incorporate all information contained in the posterior distributions of the random parameters. This provides a natural way to incorporate model risk or uncertainty. The proposed models can also be used to perform clustering of investment returns and detect outliers of returns. We employ the monthly data from the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 (TSE 300) indices to illustrate the implementation of our models and compare the simulated results from the estimated models with the empirical characteristics of the TSE 300 data. We apply the Bayesian predictive distribution of the logarithmic returns obtained by the Bayesian averaging or mixing to evaluate the quantile-based and conditional tail expectation risk measures for segregated fund contracts via stochastic simulation. We compare the risk measures evaluated from our models with those from some well-known and important models in the literature, and highlight some features that can be obtained from our models.


This presentation given at the University of British Columbia (entrepreneurship@UBC) is available on video at the following location: http://vimeo.com/65658787. The presentation is based on my colleagues (Werner Erhard, Michael Jensen and Steve Zaffron) and my research program over the last nine years in which our objective has been to rigorously distinguish leader and leadership and to create a technology for providing access to being a leader and exercising leadership effectively as one's natural self-expression (in short, a technology for reliably creating leaders). This presentation is a new expression of an earlier talk created by Werner Erhard, Michael Jensen and Kari Granger ( http://ssrn.com/abstract=1392406). Our research program involves not only discovering the technology, but also to create a course that would be available to others to use, experiment with, research, improve on and innovate from. Our efforts thus required an experimental laboratory to discover what will enable us as educators and trainers to efficiently and effectively create leaders.The intention of this one semester leadership course is to leave participants actually being leaders and exercising leadership effectively as their natural self-expression. By "natural self-expression" we mean a way of being and acting in any leadership situation that is a spontaneous and intuitive effective response to what one is dealing with. The course is based on a new science of leadership. In addition to being designed to actually create leaders, this new science of leadership enables scholars to access, study, research, and teach being a leader and the effective exercise of leadership as these are actually lived and experienced.Dean Mark Zupan of the U. of Rochester Simon School Of Business provided us with a research/teaching laboratory during the five years (2004-2008) we worked there with students, alumni, executives, and faculty from various academic institutions. This laboratory allowed us to investigate leader and leadership as phenomena, and to create technologies for providing actionable access to leader and leadership. The course is now also taught at the U.S. Air Force Academy since 2008, was delivered in 2009 at the Erasmus Academie (Rotterdam), and a version of which was taught at the Erasmus University Law School. In June 2010 the course was taught at the Mays School of Business, Texas A&M University, in November 2010 in India under the auspices of the IC Centre for Governance and MW Corp, at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in June 2012, and in Whistler, B.C. Canada in October 2012 under the auspices of the Erhard-Jensen Ontological Initiative, at entrepreneurship@UBC, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada in June 2013, in Cancun, Mexico for the benefit of the Erhard-Jensen Ontological / Phenomenological Initiative in October 2013, in Singapore, hosted by Nanyang Technological University in July 2014, in Bermuda for the benefit of the Erhard-Jensen Ontological / Phenomenological Initiative in October 2014 and in Dubai, UAE held at the Zayed University Convention Center in January 2015. In 2010 we taught a program at the US Air Force Academy to train 41 scholars (from various academic institutions in Europe and North America) in delivering the course (all of whom had previously taken the course) under the sponsorship of the Kauffman Foundation, the Gruter Institute and the Air Force Academy. We have also taught the course to a group of over 200 consultants from more than 60 firms who now offer the course to their clients.For the most recent course material used in delivering this course, see http://ssrn.com/abstract=1263835


The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of online teaching experience on faculty members' perceptions about attributes of OER. Rogers' (2003) attributes of innovation theory was adopted as the theoretical base in this study. And questionnaire survey was carried out at Zhejiang University (ZJU) in China. 360 faculty members from ZJU were randomly invited to complete a questionnaire. The results of data analysis found that (1) only small portion of surveyed faculty members had online teaching experience while there was large portions of participants indicated that they would be willing to share their educational resources on the ZJU website or on outside websites; (2) the majority of the participants tended to agree that there is a relative advantage and compatibility of OER, though they were more neutral regarding the complexity, trialability and observability of OER; (3) online teaching experiences significantly impacted faculty members' perceived trialability and observability of OER. Based on the finding, the study suggested that universities may carry out more initiatives efforts to increase faculty members' online teaching experience and to improve faculty members' perceived attributes of OER.


This study aims to provide a reference for pipeline compressor station construction costs by analysing individual compressor station cost components using historical compressor station cost data between 1992 and 2008. Distribution and share of these pipeline compressor station cost components are assessed based on compressor station capacity, year of completion, and locations. Average unit costs in material, labour, miscellaneous, land, and total costs are $866/hp, $466/hp, $367/hp, $13/hp, and $1,712/hp, respectively. Primary costs for compressor stations are material cost, approximately 50.6% of the total cost. This study conducts a learning curve analysis to investigate the learning rate of material and labour costs for different groups. Results show that learning rates and construction component costs vary by capacity and locations. This study also investigates the causes of pipeline compressor station construction cost differences.


The medical records of 219 epileptic patients seen over a period of eight years were reviewed to determine the incidence and causes of intractable epilepsy amongst adults in Qatar: The incidence rate of hospital admission with uncontrolled epilepsy was calculated as 25per 100,000persons. Thirty-nine patients (18%) fulfilled the criteria for IE and the incidence of IE could be approximated at 4.5 per 100,000 persons. In the native Qatari population the approximated incidence of IE would be 1 in 100,000 persons per year, while in the expatriate population the rate would be 3.5 per 100,000 persons per year. The most common type of IE was idiopathic generalized epilepsy (75%) followed by symptomatic epilepsy (19%) and temporal lobe epilepsy (6%). To calculate the crude incidence of epilepsy in Qatar, the records were reviewed of 1217patients (aged 13-85 years) visiting the outpatient department or admitted to hospital because of a newly diagnosed epilepsy during the calendar year, 1st January-31st December 2001. These figures were extrapolated to an approximation of an incidence of 174 in 100,000 persons per year.


We perform a model-independent classification of Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) dark matter candidates that have the property that their scattering off nucleons is dominated by spin-dependent interactions. We study renormalizable theories where the scattering of dark matter is elastic and arises at tree-level. We show that if the WIMP-nucleon cross section is dominated by spin-dependent interactions the natural dark matter candidates are either Majorana fermions or real vector bosons, so that the dark matter particle is its own anti-particle. In such a scenario, scalar dark matter is disfavored. Dirac fermion and complex vector boson dark matter are also disfavored, except for very specific choices of quantum numbers. We further establish that any such theory must contain either new particles close to the weak scale with Standard Model quantum numbers, or alternatively, a $Z'$ gauge boson with mass at or below the TeV scale. In the region of parameter space that is of interest to current direct detection experiments, these particles naturally lie in a mass range that is kinematically accessible to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).


No one was surprised when, in Illinois Tool Works, Inc. v. Independent Ink, Inc.,1 the Supreme Court reversed the rule that a patentee accused of tying in violation of section 1 of the Sherman Act is presumed to have economic power in the product market to which the patent pertains.2 That presumption was contrary to both logic and experience. The Court's reasoning is interesting, however, because it points the way to tailoring remedies for patent misuse. The default remedy for misuse is that courts refuse to enforce the patent against any defendant, not just against the victim of misuse.3 Tool Works drew on section 271(d)(5) of the Patent Act4 to reform an antitrust liability rule not mentioned in the statute but influenced by the policy choices it reflects. Similarly, though section 271(d)(5) does not mention misuse remedies, the policy choices it reflects undermine the rationale for the default remedy for patent misuse. I. Patent misuse is an affirmative defense to an infringement action. A patentee misuses a patent when the patentee takes some action to broaden the scope of patent rights or lengthen their duration.5 Misuse allegations are typically aimed at license terms.6 Most misuse cases involve tying claims, in which an infringement defendant argues that a patentee unlawfully tied the purchase of unpatented goods to the purchase or license of patented ones.7 Tool Works involved a contract term requiring licensees of Tool Works' patented inkjet heads and ink containers to purchase their (unpatented) ink from Tool Works.8 An independent ink seller sued Tool Works under section 1 of the Sherman Act, alleging that the term amounted to an unlawful tie. The Federal Circuit held that, under Supreme Court precedent,9 Tool Works' patent created a presumption that it had market power in the tying product market.10 That presumption eliminated the need for the plaintiff to introduce evidence of such power.11 The Supreme Court reversed. It noted that Sherman Act jurisprudence derived the presumption of market power from patent misuse jurisprudence.12 With regard to misuse claims aimed at tying arrangements, however, Congress eliminated this presumption in 1988, when it added section 271(d)(5) to the Patent Act.13 That section provides that certain tying arrangements are not misuse if the patentee does not have power in the tying product market.14 The market power exception to the protection from misuse claims created by this section would be pointless if all patents conferred such power. Not surprisingly, the Tool Works Court believed that the misuse safe harbor reflected Congress's intention that possession of a patent would not be enough to establish such power. Because the presumption had been eliminated from its field of origin, the Court reasoned, it should be eliminated from the Sherman Act jurisprudence that borrowed from that field.15 II. As the Tool Works Court pointed out, the Court adopted the market power presumption for Sherman Act cases in International Salt Co. v. United States,16 which relied on a misuse case, Morion Salt Co. v. G.S. Suppiger Co.,17 for the presumption.18 Morion Salt is also the case in which the Court justified the default misuse remedy. The Suppiger Company held a patent on a machine that deposited salt tablets in cans. It sued Morion Salt for infringing its machine patent by manufacturing salt-depositing machines of its own.19 Suppiger licensed its machine subject to the requirement that licensees buy salt tablets from it. That term could have either or both of two effects. First, if salt tablets had to be manufactured to certain specifications for the machine to work properly, the term might ensure that a licensee only used such tablets, thus avoiding the risk that a licensee might blame Suppiger's machine for problems caused by nonconforming tablets. Suppiger offered this defense, but the district court rejected it out of hand. …


A new technique is developed for the merging and data fusion of two images. Two spatially registered images with differing spatial resolutions and color content are merged by combining multiresolution wavelet-decomposition components from each and then reconstructing the merged image by means of the inverse wavelet transform. The wavelet merger can employ a variety of wavelet bases, but in presentation of the concept, simple orthonormal sets—Haar and Daubechies wavelets—are explored. The wavelet technique is compared with the intensity–hue–saturation merging technique by means of multispectral and panchromatic test images. The results of the comparison show the wavelet merger performing better in combining and preserving spectral–spatial information for the test images.


Nonmetric traits are frequently analyzed in the field of anthropology to measure genetic relatedness, or biodistance, within or between populations. These studies are performed under the assumption that nonmetric traits are genetically inherited. However, much of the research on nonmetric traits has revealed that numerous factors can confound heritability. Skull size is one of the factors that are shown in some samples to have an effect on the expression of nonmetric traits. There is evidence that nonmetric trait expression is population specific; therefore, the current study was performed to determine if size-trait correlations would occur within a single population. Nonmetric traits in a sample of 20 skulls (South Eastern Asian origin) are analyzed to determine if there are correlations between skull size and expression of nonmetric traits. Intertrait correlations are also examined. This type of study is important because if the expression of certain nonmetric traits is related to factors outside of genetics, then those traits would not be useful in biodistance studies. The results of this study indicate that there are no correlations between overall skull size and nonmetric traits. However, correlations were found between individual measurements and nonmetric traits, as well as between traits.


In this work, the gas turbine cycle is modified with the steam injection in the upstream of the combustion chamber. A steam generator of heat recovery, by using exhaust fumes, is installed in order to produce the suitable quantity of steam overheated to inject into the cycle. The interaction of the cycle various components and the properties thermodynamic variation of gas, due to the steam injection, as well as the gas turbine performances variations are taken into account. The steam flow injected to the air flow ratio and the compression ratio are varied on certain range exceed their practice of the acceptable limits slightly in order to study overall their effects on the characteristics of the cycle. A computer code was developed and all required data were taken from GE MS5002 gas turbine which is largely used in the industry of hydrocarbons. This work is followed by the steam injection influence on the NOx and CO emissions by using some existing correlations in the literature. The results obtained are in good agreement with the quantitative variation for the principal characteristics of the machine considered and qualitative for the NOx emissions in the atmosphere. The current technique of the modified cycle can be regarded as one of the possible means of the performances improvement of the gas turbines used in the field of hydrocarbons as well as a reduction in the NOx emissions.


Abstract. An analysis of outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) over the South-West Indian Ocean (SWIO) yields regular, poleward propagating, large-scale, convectively coupled systems of alternating cyclonic and anticyclonic circulation with a quasi-biweekly period during boreal winter. Composites from 10 years (2000/01 – 2009/10) of OLR and reanalysis data show well-formed rotational gyres that can be tracked from near the equator to almost 35° S appearing slightly west of Sumatra and going towards Madagascar, i.e., with mean southwest propagation. The gyres show a marked northwest-southeast tilt, giving rise to a northeast-southwest oriented wavetrain. The scale of the gyres is about 30°–35°, their period is 18–20 days and they have a westward phase speed of approximately 4 ms−1. The group velocity of these wave packets is near-zero. Velocity fields with OLR indicate that maxima of moist convective activity lie in the northeast sector of the gyres (in the Southern Hemisphere), likely a result of both convergence and the poleward rotational advection of moist air. Wavetrains comprising the quasi-biweekly oscillation (QBWO) are born near the equator with a barotropic profile; a first baroclinic form emerges as they move southward and couple with moisture. In their decaying stage, convective activity decreases and the systems regain an equivalent barotropic structure. A vorticity budget reveals that the β effect plays a leading role in the propagation of the QBWO, though moist coupling (via stretching) is important in reducing the speed of propagation of this mode. Further, these two terms with horizontal advection account for much of the observed vorticity tendency. Finally, apart from their contribution to intraseasonal variability, moist convection and strong circulation anomalies in the QBWO lows (cyclonic gyres with negative OLR anomalies) — especially in combination with the vorticity of the background flow during the boreal winter season — are shown to provide favourable conditions for the genesis of tropical cyclones (TCs). In particular, depressions are spawned within QBWO lows, some of which mature into TCs that affect Madagascar, other SWIO islands and the coast of southeast Africa.


The outcome of adults with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) who achieve a complete response (CR) on salvage therapy is thought to be poor, but not previously analyzed. To define the course of adult ALL post CR on salvage therapy and the effects of pretreatment factors on prognosis. One hundred seventy-two adults with ALL who achieved a second or third CR on salvage therapy were reviewed. Prognostic factors affecting survival were analyzed by multivariate analysis. The median survival post achieving CR for the entire group was 10 months. The estimated 1-year survival rate was 42%. Forty-three patients underwent stem cell transplant in subsequent CR: their median survival was 12 months and the 3-year survival rate was 25%. Independent poor prognostic factors for survival were age >55 years, duration of first CR <12 months, and lactate dehydrogenase levels >1000 IU/L. This analysis defines the outcome of adult ALL in CR post salvage therapy and the prognostic factors influencing survival. These results could be used in assessing the efficacy of new treatments aimed at improving CR durations and survival post salvage therapy.


We reconsider the well known Becker-Coase (BC) argument, according to which changes in divorce laws should not affect divorce rates, in the context of households which consume public goods in addition to private goods. For this result to hold, utility must be transferable both within marriage and upon divorce, and the marginal rate of substitution between public and private consumption needs to be invariant in marital status. We show that if divorce alters the way some goods are consumed (either because some goods that are public in marriage become private in divorce or because divorce affects the marginal rate of substitution between public and private goods), then the Becker-Coase theorem holds only under strict quasi-linearity. We conclude that, in general, divorce laws will influence the divorce rate, although the impact of a change in divorce laws can go in either direction.


ABSTRACT GEOPROBE (Geological Processes Bottom Environmental) tripods were used to measure bottom currents, pressure, and light transmission and scattering and to obtain time-series photographs of the sea floor at depths of 23 m and 67 m on San Pedro shelf between 18 April and 6 June 1978. Winds were light (< 5 m/s) with a mean direction from the southwest throughout the measurement period. Hourly averaged currents 1 m above the bottom never exceeded 21 cm/s; average speeds were about 5 cm/s at the 23-m site and 6.8 cm/s at 67 m, and the strongest currents were produced by the tides. The mean flow of bottom water was less than 3 cm/s at both GEOPROBES and was rather persistently southward (offshelf). Wave-generated bottom currents and bottom-pressure variations were sampled at hourly intervals; average wave period and wave height were 12.8 s and 0.44 m, respectively, at the 23-m site. Wave orbital velocities ranged from about 5 to 30 cm/s at 23 m and from 2 to 8 cm/s at 67 m. Bottom photographs at 67 m show that the relatively sluggish tide-generated and mean currents were below threshold velocity for the silty, very fine sand throughout the observational period. Threshold depth for wave rippling of very fine sand averaged about 28 m with a range from about 12 m to 50 m. Wave-generated currents were the only currents that exceeded threshold levels. The wave currents maintained relatively high concentrations of sediment in suspension near the bottom over the inner shelf (< 25 m), and this material (principally silt and clay) was transported offshore by the weak mean flow. Approximately 50% of this material was deposited as the bottom orbital velocities decreased to subthreshold values ( 10-15 cm/s). The o served movement of fine sediment across the inner shelf can account for a portion of the mud content of the modern silty sands on the central shelf and on the outer shelf. However, it is clear that the sand fractions, which constitute greater than 70% of the central shelf substrate, must be transported during high-energy winter storms.


This volume presents a collection of papers presented at the 16th International Symposium of Robotic Research (ISRR). ISRR is the biennial meeting of the International Foundation of Robotic Research (IFRR) and its 16th edition took place in Singapore over the period 16th to 19th December 2013. The ISRR is the longest running series of robotics research meetings and dates back to the very earliest days of robotics as a research discipline. This 16th ISRR meeting was held in the 30th anniversary year of the very first meeting which took place in Bretton Woods (New Hampshire, USA) in August 1983., and represents thirty years at the forefront of ideas in robotics research. As for the previous symposia, ISRR 2013 followed up on the successful concept of a mixture of invited contributions and open submissions. 16 of the contributions were invited contributions from outstanding researchers selected by the IFRR officers and the program committee, and the other contributions were chosen among the open submissions after peer review. This selection process resulted in a truly excellent technical program which featured some of the very best of robotic research. These papers were presented in a single-track interactive format which enables real conversations between speakers and the audience. The symposium contributions contained in this volume report on a variety of new robotics research results covering a broad spectrum organized into traditional ISRR categories: control; design; intelligence and learning; manipulation; perception; and planning.


Background: Surgical skin incisions in rhytidoplasty are very diverse compared to their original form approximately 100 years ago, when the operation was first performed. Many strategies have been proposed to improve this procedure so as to reduce scarring, anatomic distortion of the external ear, and hair loss. To diminish the inconveniences of periauricu lar scars and hair loss and in order to apply the technique to patients of different age groups, rhytidoplasty without preauricular and retroauricular incisions were performed using 2 surgical access points: the hairline on the temporal region and the submental region. The aim of this study is to report the results obtained using this rhytidoplasty technique which avoided periauricular scarring. Methods: From October 2008 to February 2012, 228 patients (80% female) underwent rhytidoplasty performed by means of a short incision instead of a coronal incision. Patients received cervical treatment through a submental access, which facilitated an extensive selective dissection linked to the midface plane for platysma treatment and, when necessary, resection of excess skin. SMAS-plasty, liposuction, fat graft, and laser treatment, in addition to other non-surgical procedures, were selectively combined in the same procedure or an additional procedure. The procedure is contraindicated in patients who present after extensive weight loss and with excessive flaccidity of facial and cervical skin. Results: Overall, the aesthetic results obtained with rhytidoplasty without periauricular scarring were considered satisfactory both by the patients and the surgical team and provided good midand long-term results. Few complications were observed after surgery; these included asymmetry in the temporal region and non-aesthetic scars, which were detected in 2.6% and 2.2% of the patients, respectively. Conclusions: Rhytidoplasties without periauricular scarring that were performed through submental and precapillary incisions in the temporal region provided good midto long-term results. This justified their use, particularly if we consider that treatment of the midface plane and cervical region might prevent the development of possible complications described in the literature.


The elastic constants of pure tephroite (α-Mn 2 SiO 4 ) have been determined by Brillouin spectroscopy. From measurements, the average aggregate bulk and shear moduli at ambient conditions are 129.8 ± 0.5 and 53.1 ± 0.4 GPa, respectively, which also confirm the reality of the unexpected high elastic moduli in tephroite. An analysis based on the present data and those in literature has revealed the relative orders: fayalite > tephroite ≥ forsterite for bulk modulus and forsterite >> tephroite > fayalite for shear modulus. It also indicates that the propagation velocity of a sound wave inside forsterite will be considerably changed by dissolving a small amount of Mn 2+ and/or Fe 2+ (for shear wave) and Ni 2+ cations (for compressional wave). The causes for the significant difference between forsterite and the 3d silicate olivines and the unexpected elastic behavior in tephroite have been explored by considering the nature of both electron orbitals and MO 6 octahedra.


The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has produced a one‐year (2016) probabilistic seismic‐hazard assessment for the central and eastern United States (CEUS) that includes contributions from both induced and natural earthquakes that are constructed with probabilistic methods using alternative data and inputs. This hazard assessment builds on our 2016 final model (Petersen et al. , 2016) by adding sensitivity studies, illustrating hazard in new ways, incorporating new population data, and discussing potential improvements. The model considers short‐term seismic activity rates (primarily 2014–2015) and assumes that the activity rates will remain stationary over short time intervals. The final model considers different ways of categorizing induced and natural earthquakes by incorporating two equally weighted earthquake rate submodels that are composed of alternative earthquake inputs for catalog duration, smoothing parameters, maximum magnitudes, and ground‐motion models. These alternatives represent uncertainties on how we calculate earthquake occurrence and the diversity of opinion within the science community. In this article, we also test sensitivity to the minimum moment magnitude between M  4 and M  4.7 and the choice of applying a declustered catalog with b =1.0 rather than the full catalog with b =1.3. We incorporate two earthquake rate submodels: in the informed submodel we classify earthquakes as induced or natural, and in the adaptive submodel we do not differentiate. The alternative submodel hazard maps both depict high hazard and these are combined in the final model. Results depict several ground‐shaking measures as well as intensity and include maps showing a high‐hazard level (1% probability of exceedance in 1 year or greater). Ground motions reach 0.6 g horizontal peak ground acceleration (PGA) in north‐central Oklahoma and southern Kansas, and about 0.2 g PGA in the Raton basin of Colorado and New Mexico, in central Arkansas, and in north‐central Texas near Dallas–Fort Worth. The chance of having levels of ground motions corresponding to modified Mercalli intensity (MMI) VI or greater earthquake shaking is 2%–12% per year in north‐central Oklahoma and southern Kansas and New Madrid similar to the chance of damage at sites in high‐hazard portions of California caused by natural earthquakes. Hazard is also significant in the Raton basin of Colorado/New Mexico; north‐central Arkansas; Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas; and in a few other areas. Hazard probabilities are much lower (by about half or more) for exceeding MMI VII or VIII. Hazard is 3‐ to 10‐fold higher near some areas of active‐induced earthquakes than in the 2014 USGS National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM), which did not consider induced earthquakes. This study in conjunction with the LandScan TM Database (2013) indicates that about 8 million people live in areas of active injection wells that have a greater than 1% chance of experiencing damaging ground shaking (MMI≥VI) in 2016. The final model has high uncertainty, and engineers, regulators, and industry should use these assessments cautiously to make informed decisions on mitigating the potential effects of induced and natural earthquakes.


Dinosaurs of China was a world-exclusive temporary exhibition of iconic, mostly feathered dinosaur fossils, which have revolutionised our understanding of dinosaur appearance and biology over the last 20 years. Hunter the Sinraptor was a puppeteer-operated semianimatronic theropod dinosaur costume. Hunter, accompanied by Dinosaur Rangers, publicised the exhibition within Nottingham and beyond, visited schools to explore dinosaur ecology, and interacted with visitors to the exhibition. The process of putting this element of the exhibition into place included procurement of the costume, 'Dino-Factor' auditions to find a skilled puppeteer, and recruitment of volunteer Rangers. Hunter and the Rangers contributed towards exhibition marketing and the public learning experience. There is an extensive body of literature on the value of integrating dramatic arts into schools and museums, and our findings add to this body of evidence. Hunter inspired engagement with science in formal and informal settings. However, the dinosaur had mixed impacts on visitor expectations, with some anticipating animatronics to feature within the exhibition itself. In conclusion, we show that if used with care, theatre and performance skills can boost marketing and enhance scientifically rigorous learning experiences.


Cadmium (Cd) has accumulated in New Zealand (NZ) soils as a result of phosphate fertiliser application. Cadmium is a biotoxic heavy metal and can be adsorbed by soil and enter the human food chain. Three objectives were investigated in this thesis: 1. Determine if the distribution of Cd varies between soils with contrasting mineralogy and drainage characteristics, but the same phosphate fertiliser history, 2. Evaluate the utility of Cd stable isotope ratios (δ114/110Cd) to trace the sources of Cd in NZ soils through time and distinguish the contribution of different sources of Cd in NZ soils, and, 3. Determine whether there is a difference in the concentration of Cd in irrigated and unirrigated soils within the same paddock.
The concentration of Cd was measured in three soils, with contrasting mineralogy and drainage characteristics within the same paddock, and thus same fertiliser history. The mean concentration of Cd in topsoil (0-7.5 cm) samples was 0.77 mg kg-1 (range 0.56-0.99) in the Horotiu soil (Orthic Allophanic Soil in NZ soil classification, Typic Hapludand in US soil taxonomy), 0.83 mg kg-1 (range 0.60-1.11) in the Bruntwood soil (Impeded Allophanic Soil in NZ soil classification, Aquic Hapludand in US soil taxonomy) and 0.78mg kg-1 (range 0.46-0.96) in the Te Kowhai soil (Orthic Gley Soil in NZ classification, Typic Humaquept in US soil taxonomy). There were no significant differences in the concentration, and/or the total mass of Cd between the three soils. Cadmium was mainly adsorbed to the near surface soil regardless of soil mineralogy and drainage characteristics. Thus, it was concluded that it is appropriate to apply the same Cd management approach (The Tiered Fertiliser Management System) to the investigated soil types.
Isotope ratios of Cd (δ114/110Cd) were used to trace the sources of Cd in a longterm irrigation and fertiliser trial at Winchmore, Canterbury, New Zealand. The isotopic composition of pre-2000 fertilisers (δ114/110Cd = 0.10 ± 0.05 to 0.25 ± 0.04) was comparable to the Nauru source rocks used in fertiliser manufacture (δ114/110Cd = 0.22 ± 0.04), but distinct from the control subsoil (δ114/110Cd = -0.33 ± 0.04) and post-2000 fertilisers (δ114/110Cd range of -0.17 ± 0.03 to 0.01 ± 0.05).
The isotopic compositions of fertilised soil samples ranged from δ114/110Cd = 0.08 ± 0.03 to δ114/110Cd = 0.27 ± 0.04, which were comparable to pre-2000 fertilisers.
Thus, it becomes possible to distinguish the sources of Cd within the soil using isotopes. The fractional distribution of Cd sources confirmed the main contribution of Nauru-derived phosphate fertilisers (pre-2000 fertilisers) in increasing the amount of Cd in soils at the Winchmore research farm.
The concentration and distribution of Cd in adjacent irrigated and unirrigated soils with the same phosphate fertiliser history were investigated. Twenty-two pairs of soil samples from 4 depths (0-10, 10-20, 20-30 and 30-40 cm) were taken from irrigated and unirrigated areas in the same paddocks on different dairy farms from three regions of New Zealand (Bay of Plenty, Manawatu-Wanganui, and Canterbury). The mean concentration of Cd (depth of 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm) and the cumulative mass of Cd (depths of 0-20, 0-30, and 0-40 cm) were higher (P < 0.05) in unirrigated soil than in irrigated soil. Total Cd was about 10% less abundant in the 0-40 cm depth range in irrigated soil (mean of 0.63 kg ha-1) than unirrigated soil (mean of 0.73 kg ha-1), with the average difference of 7.2 g ha-1yr-1 for the 0-40 cm depth. The significant difference (P < 0.05) in the cumulative mass of Cd between irrigated and unirrigated soils demonstrated that irrigation may have enhanced the mobility of Cd. However, overall the results demonstrate that Cd was generally immobile and mainly absorbed to the near surface of the soils studied.


Between 2000 and 2015, Norway has experienced a large increase in the number of international students compared with many other countries. At first glance, this may seem paradoxical considering that Norway is a country with few well-known universities, a high cost of living, and a geographical location on the northern fringe of Europe. This article sheds light on why more students find their way to Norway. Global trends of increased student mobility as well as EU policies influence the flow of students to Norway. Nevertheless, national higher education policies and in this development. Courses in English and more active partnerships with higher education institutions abroad have been established to attract international students. Furthermore, tuition fees are not charged in state-owned universities and colleges, and this has become a comparative advantage in an era when institutions in other countries are introducing or increasing tuition fees for national as well as international students. Asking the international students themselves about their motivation for studying in Norway, we find that the rationale is pragmatic rather than related to perceived quality. Their choices still appear rational; they get free higher education in a safe country, and increase their career opportunities.


In 1994, the Zapatistas took up arms claiming for indigenous people rights in Chiapas, Mexico. After 12 days of civil war, the national government called for dialogue. Nevertheless, since then, it has deployed a "low intensity war" over the self-declared Zapatista Autonomous Communities. At the same time, the Zapatistas started to implement a new set of institutions, which have allegedly enhanced their socio-economic situation. The purpose of this study is, thus, to elucidate this ambiguous theoretical effect on the wellbeing of the communities under harassment. This paper generates a unique dataset, linking socio-economic variables from the Mexican Census with different measures of conflict intensity at the locality level, based on geo-coded influence areas from the military and police positions disseminated throughout Chiapas. The present investigation controls for the endogeneity in the relationship between conflict and the socio-economic performance, instrumenting the former by the distance from each locality to a strategic military spot defined by the Zapatista Army for its uprising in 1994 on the natural boundary of the Lacandon Jungle. The results, robust to different specifications and conflict intensity definitions, imply that the impact of the Zapatista institutions has surpassed the negative effect of the civil strive, suggesting that: i) bottom-up policies carried out by grass-root organizations, even in times of conflict, might represent an appropriate path for endogenous socio-economic development; and ii) the Mexican government should recognize the Zapatista autonomy and its right for self-determination.


In the past 20 years, the Bay Commission, through its permit process, has required that new public access be provided along more than 100 linear miles of the shoreline of San Francisco Bay. The paper discusses the legal basis for the creation and operation of the Commission's Design Review Board; the Board members' backgrounds; the Board's role in the Commission's decision-making process; the formulation of criteria for project review; and the Board's dynamic interaction with the permit applicants and how this process results in project design improvements. The final section of the paper describes three development proposals and the changes engendered in the projects following Board review.


AbstractA 16-year-old adolescent boy presented with osteosarcoma of the left parieto-occipital bone with no history of radiation, Paget disease, or retinoblastoma. The tumor presented as a painless lump, which he attributed to minor trauma 5 months before presentation. Biopsy of the lesion was inconclusive. Complete surgical resection was attained. Pathology revealed a diagnosis of osteosarcoma, grade 1 to 2/3. Adjuvant chemotherapy commenced after tumor resection.Primary pediatric osteosarcoma of the skull is an exceedingly rare malignancy, with only a handful of cases ever reported. Complete surgical resection with negative margins is the key to optimizing disease-free survival. Adjuvant chemotherapy is recommended for high-grade tumors and in cases of incomplete resection.


The French historian of discourse, Michel Foucault, made a clear distinction between the "archive" and the method that he describes as archaeological. While this method does not require a trowel to dig through the earth, the metaphor of digging provides a valuable image of what the historical researcher needs to do. For Foucault, the historian must excavate an archive to reveal not merely what is in it, but the very conditions that have made that archive possible, what he calls its historical a priori. (1) This historical a priori is the "condition of reality for statements," the rules that characterize any discursive practice. Thus, the archive in Foucault's work is nothing so literal as rows of dusty shelves in a particular institution, but rather involves the whole system or apparatus that enables such artifacts to exist (including the actual institutional building itself). In this model, the "archive" is already a construct, a corpus that is the product of a discourse. One must dig to make sense of the systems behind what one sees. In fact, Foucault's argument is based on the semiotic distinction between langue and parole in linguistics. The linguistic opposition langue and parole (grammar and speech) is used to demonstrate how any utterance is always a symptom of the system that allows it to exist. In this conception, any act of speech (parole) is a specific instance, an event, that gives evidence of the rules of grammar (langue), the abstract set of rules about language through which that event is allowed its form; a form, which of course, over time, can be reformed or changed. For Foucault then, any archive is an instance of parole, where one can deconstruct the rules of the "language" (langue) that underpins it. The use of this theory by Foucault to construct a model of thinking about the archaeology of knowledge has important consequences for the field of photography and the notion of the archive. In the first instance, the idea of photography as a type of "archive" has been around since the early days of photography. Whether it was (or is) an institution that wants to categorize its objects through photographs (e.g., criminals by the police, military and colonial campaigns mapping land, a museum its artifacts, a family through its "album") or whether it is individual photographers who construct a taxonomy of objects through their photographs (e.g., John Thomson's Street Life of London, Eugene Atget's Paris photographs, August Sander's People of the Twentieth Century in Germany, Phillip-Lorca diCorcia's Heads, to name only a few), the aim is always the same: to provide a corpus of images that represent--and can be consulted about--a specific object. This means that photographs are almost always to be found within the conception of practice as an "archive." Everywhere around us, it seems, there are new digital photographic archives being constructed: cctv control centres, the various types of people-based "democratic" Web sites like Flickr and YouTube, millions of cell phone camera memory cards, and personal computer hard disks--not to mention the many vast commercial and governmental computer data image files. All these new archives, with their taxonomic "tab" and keyword search finder systems, insinuate the archive as an expanded field of cultural activity whose horizons appear more infinite day by day. For all these reasons, the "archive" is a central concept in the arsenal of cultural knowledge. So the idea of photography as an archive (an archival practice) is not so abstract or strange and not limited to the province of curators, academics, museum researchers, or picture agents. The archive is a crucial basic tool of "cultural intermediaries," picture researchers, editors, and agents, etc., where finding and naming something is an essential aspect of daily work, an everyday problematic. We might say the same applies to photographers as well, be they stock library photographers, art photographers, or even amateurs: the taxonomy of "objects, things, and people" that are photographed have the issue of the archive in common. …


Organizations implement information systems (IS) to enable the capture, storage, and analysis of large datasets and inform decision-making. In the United States, government agencies are deploying IS-centric plans to remedy cost and quality issues in healthcare by aggregating and analyzing data on worker performance, patient outcomes, and administrative processes. Federal agencies hope that data-driven approaches will improve administrative decisions and the treatment of patients. A review of existing IS research suggests, however, that the goals of technological interventions often prove difficult to attain. One reason is that technologies do not always suit the context of use, so workers resist. When resistance is locally severe (i.e., many workers in the same organization resist), the organization can customize or replace the technology to satisfy its workers and generate desired outcomes. But when the technology and its uses are mandated, such as in healthcare, organizations have little flexibility in adoption and implementation decisions, and workers have few opportunities to act on their frustration via their use of the technology. How, then, might workers respond when traditional forms of resistance cannot escalate and derail implementation? I investigate this question through a qualitative study of healthcare workers' responses to the electronic medical records (EMR) program. Under this program, organizations must adopt federally-certified EMR and comply with standards for use, or face financial penalties for noncompliance. Preliminary evidence suggests that when opportunities for localized resistance to change are limited, workers leverage political and social structures—such as professional organizations—to resist changes to their work. Continued study in contexts where technology use is mandated is essential for the development of theories that go beyond localized resistance and provide a comprehensive view resistance. Practically, a comprehensive understanding of resistance can inform policy and technology design, implementation, management, and evaluation in healthcare and elsewhere.


One of the advantages of oscillatory neural networks is their dynamic links among related features; the links are based on input-dependent synchronized oscillations. This paper investigates the relations between synchronous/asynchronous oscillations and the connection architectures of an oscillatory neural network with two excitatory-inhibitory pair oscillators. Through numerical analysis, we show synchronous and asynchronous connection types over a wide parameter space for two different inputs and one connection parameter. The results are not only consistent with the classification of synchronous/asynchronous connection types in Knig's model (1991), but also offer a useful guideline on how to construct a network with local connections for a segmentation task.


Professional economics would benefit from an infusion of religious formulations, particularly the notions that all humans are made in God's image and are fallen creatures. This infusion would lead economics to more openly recognize the role of moral reflection in economic thinking and enhance the way in which economics conceives of the use of knowledge in both the private and public sectors. In addition, particular benefits might be realized in rethinking conceptions of entrepreneurship, competition, and opportunistic behavior. I provide examples of the ways Christian values shape my research agenda as an economist.


This paper reconsiders the welfare costs of inflation and the welfare gains from financial intermediation in a heterogeneous-agent economy where money is held as a store of value (as in Bewley, 1980). The dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model recaptures some essential features of the liquidity-preference theory of Keynes (1930, 1936). Because of heterogeneous liquidity demand, transitory lump-sum money injections can have persistent expansionary effects despite flexible prices, and such effects can be greatly amplified by the banking system through the credit channel. However, permanent money growth can be extremely costly: With log utility functions, consumers are willing to reduce consumption by 15% (or more) to avoid a 10% annual inflation. For the same reason, financial intermediation can significantly improve welfare: The welfare costs of a collapse of the banking system is estimated as about 10-68% of aggregate output. These welfare implications differ dramatically from those of the existing literature.


When someone decides to ignore an HTTPS error warning, how long should the browser remember that decision? If they return to the website in five minutes, an hour, a day, or a week, should the browser show them the warning again or respect their previous decision? There is no clear industry consensus, with eight major browsers exhibiting four different HTTPS error exception storage policies. Ideally, a browser would not ask someone about the same warning over and over again. If a user believes the warning is a false alarm, repeated warnings undermine the browser's trustworthiness without providing a security benefit. However, some people might change their mind, and we do not want one security mistake to become permanent. We evaluated six storage policies with a large-scale, multimonth field experiment. We found substantial differences between the policies and that one of the storage policies achieved more of our goals than the rest. Google Chrome 45 adopted our proposal, and it has proved successful since deployed. Subsequently, we ran Mechanical Turk and Google Consumer Surveys to learn about user expectations for warnings. Respondents generally lacked knowledge about Chrome's new storage policy, but we remain satisfied with our proposal due to the behavioral benefits we have observed in the field.


This thesis work focuses on applying microtechnology to produce three toolkits for life-sciences research. The first technique presented is nanostencil lithography for patterning cell adhesions. Nanostencil lithography is a shadow-mask micro and nanopatterning technique that was adapted for patterning on silicone rubber (PDMS) in the course of this work. Once a specific material contrast is present on the substrate, the patterns can be functionalized using highly-selective surface modification techniques. In this work, Au micro and nanopatterns were rendered cell-adhesive by grafting a thiolated peptide (presenting an RGD moiety) to their surfaces. The micro and nanopatters were used to study whether geometric confinement could prevent a mammalian cell's primary 'focal contacts' from developing into mature 'focal adhesions'. Micro and nanopatters were successfully created on both PDMS, glass, and even polytetra fluoroethylene. The second part of this work focuses on 3D bioprinting. Recently, 3D printing has received attention as a possible means of assembling heterogeneous tissue mimetics (and ultimately entire organs). However, to date no one has shown true 3D printing of hydrogels in a manner analogous to an industrial rapid prototyping system. One of the main hurdles at this point remains the fact that printed hydrogels tend to show complete spreading on other printed hydrogels (or, like spreads on like). This work details how the materials properties of a hydrogel system can be optimized to get 3D hydrogel printing analogous to a rapid prototyping system. It goes on to show how an optimized printing process can permit the printing of branched vasculature – a key requirement in tissue engineering applications. The final part of this work focused on creating an X-ray microcollimator to study subcellular (and sub-nuclear) damage responses in cells. While many molecular biologists use ionizing radiation (commonly from X-ray tubes) to induce damage in cells, current X-ray microcollimators only work well with costly synchrotron radiation sources. During the course of this thesis, an x-ray microcollimator was developed that is compatible with conventional X-ray tube setups. The device collimates 20–30 keV X-rays into irradiation stripes between 0.5 and 10 µm in diameter. Results with the microcollimator show that it is effective in limiting IR damage to single stripe lengths. This work was initially funded by the SNF project: 205321-112323, and later by a SystemsX demonstration fund.


The aim of this thesis is to explore a specific feature of post-Cold War Italian foreign policy, throwing light from a perspective blending Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) and other International Relations (IR) insights, on the interactions occurred in the 1990s between the Italian state institutions and the Community of Sant'Egidio (CSE), a Catholic lay organisation, one of the most influential non-governmental organisations (NGOs) based in Italy, with a remarkable level of international activity. Firstly, this work offers a detailed account of the Italian "Foreign Policy Community" (Santoro 1991; Hilsman 1967 and 1993) and of the Community of Sant'Egidio, taking into consideration the international and domestic changes occurred after the demise of the Cold War, in order to understand where foreign policy governmental actors and a non state actor (NSA) such as Sant'Egidio fit within the bigger picture of the foreign policy process in Italy. This mapping exercise demonstrates that the country's foreign policy setting is rather fragmented, featuring a) centres of power and influence scattered along different "rings", according to the different issues and subpolicies at stake, on a case-by-case basis; and b) an institutional "inner ring" with a relatively high number of "access points" for external actors, i.e. a proactive NGO such as Sant'Egidio, which is located in the "second ring".
Secondly, after identifying slowly emerging "policy subsystems" (Verbeek and van Ufford 2001) in the specific foreign policy subfields of a) preventive diplomacy/crisis management and b) peace-making, in which the Italian governmental foreign policy machinery and the Community are among the extremely small number of actors playing a role and enjoying a certain degree of policy autonomy, this thesis focuses on these two foreign policy areas, in order to try to understand how relations unfolded between the two actors in the cases of the Algerian crisis of 1994-1998 and of the Mozambican peace process of 1990-1992.
The examination of these events has showed both competitive (even conflicting) and cooperative relations, respectively on the Algerian dossier and in the Mozambican case. This thesis argues therefore that "coopetition", a concept borrowed from literature on regulatory theory, and defined as "a flexible mix of competition and cooperation between governmental and non-governmental actors" (Esty and Geradin 2000), is – with some modifications – possibly the most accurate definition to capture the nature of interactions analysed.


A maximum-likelihood estimator, derived under quantum-noise-limited measurement conditions, is used to obtain wavenumber-or-dered spectra produced by a model Michelson interferometer. The estimator is tested on a number of synthetic interferograms, and results are compared to similar spectra obtained by using the Fourier (cosine) transform. It is found that the maximum-likelihood inversion method does not result in white noise in the spectrum estimate when the spectrum is sparse. It thus may be used to circumvent the main disadvantage in multiplexed spectrometer measurements using quantum-noise-limited detectors for emission-based measurements. It is also found that maximum-likelihood inversion methods can be used to obtain spectrum estimates with greater peak-width resolution than those found by using Fourier transforms. The methods produce optical spectrum estimates that are relatively free of artifacts associated with the Fourier transform. The method is extended to include measurements with both quantum noise and additive white noise. Results obtained by using the quantum-noise-limited and normal noise maximum-likelihood spectrum estimation methods suggest that both the multiplex-disadvantage and the Gibbs phenomenon effects may be reduced by limiting the parameter space. The main problem with the maximum-likelihood method is the relatively long times required to obtain spectrum estimates.


Wild animals can represent both value and nuisance. We consider the moose (Alces alces), which due to seasonal migration causes browsing damage in some areas, while creating hunting value in other areas. We first explore a situation when harvesting, following today's practice in Norway, only takes place in the fall. Next, the season is extended to include winter harvesting. It is shown how this redistributes harvesting benefits between areas and landowners, and under which conditions total net benefit increases. The model is illustrated by a real life example from the Swe-Nor moose region some 250 kilometers north of Oslo, Norway. (JEL Q26)


The measurement of hand-transmitted vibration converts oscillatory movements to a form in which they can be evaluated with respect to human responses and assessed for their acceptability. This paper presents methods of measurement, evaluation, and assessment currently advocated in standards and other forms of guidance. The degree to which the methods of evaluating different frequencies, directions, and durations of vibration affect the assessment of vibration on different tools is illustrated. With the frequency weighting currently used to allow for the effects of different frequencies there is little need to measure vibration at frequencies as high as 1000 Hz; this has significant implications to the design and evaluation of proposed antivibration devices, including gloves. Without the current frequency weighting, vibration at frequencies greater than 250 Hz can contribute to the magnitude of the vibration, but many common causes of injury from hand-transmitted vibration have their dominant components of vibration below 250 Hz. On many powered tools, although the dominant frequency of vibration is the same before and after frequency weighting, the reported magnitude of vibration is greatly affected by the frequency weighting. On tools with dominant low frequencies, their vibration is rated as being of far greater importance relative to other tools when considering frequency-weighted acceleration than when considering unweighted acceleration. It is shown that the effect of considering three axes of vibration as opposed to one axis has a greater effect on some tools than on others. The uncertainties and assumptions involved in the measurement, evaluation, and assessment of hand-transmitted vibration are reviewed. It is suggested that whereas current decisions on health and welfare should be based on current assessment methods, the measurement and evaluation of hand-transmitted vibration should involve the collection and reporting of data which allow other interpretations in the future.


An ethnomedicinal survey was carried out in North Western Tarai Forests of U.P. which is full of phytodiversity and a large tribal community which brought to light a number of plant species used as herbal medicines for the treatment of conjunctivitis. The aim of the study is to document the traditional indigenous knowledge of local inhabitants based on oral tradition and vanishing from the use of native medicinal plants and herbs which are being utilized by the people for the treatment of conjunctivitis and other ailments. The method adopted for documentation was based on questionnaire, consisting of semi structured interviews employing a check list of questions and direct observation. The present report elucidates a rich and unique profile of phytodiverisity of the research area surveyed with 70 plant species which belongs to 63 genera and 49 families. Phytochemical and clinical investigation of these plants are desirable for more useful and interesting results.


Michel Foucault's "Standing Vigil for the Day to Come" was a review of Roger Laporte's novel, La Veille, published by Gallimard earlier that year. Although Laporte's work never received the wide readership it deserved, Foucault held it in high esteem, praising it in his assessment as one of the "most original" and "most difficult" of his time and, subsequently, urging Derrida to read it. This article is most appropriately situated in the series of literary reviews Foucault composed between 1961 and 1966, in which his marked attempts to understand the relationship between language and thought drew him to the works of Roussel, Klossowski, Holderlin, Mallarme, and, of course, Laporte. Foucault finds Laporte's treatment of the subject-matter particularly satisfying because it provides a non-reductive account of thought and its relationship to language; thought is neither identical with nor distinct from language. Foucault sees Laporte as relying on an important Nietzschean insight that thought is both too fundamental and too archaic to be reduced to philosophy or to require a Cartesian ego. In this way La Veille is naturally of interest to Foucault because it deals with the relationship of a writer to an anonymous other; it is this other — not the writer — that makes writing possible. With the role of the subject de-emphasized, Foucault finds in Laporte a starting point for talking about language in contemporary literature and thought in postCartesian philosophy.


The paper is an attempt to understand the impact of religious propaganda on believers and evaluating their attitudinal changes, both personal and trade-related towards nonbelievers. To analyse the impact of propaganda, a controlled experiment was undertaken with 86 post graduate students and 3 faculty members from a College in Tamilnadu and subjecting them to narratives based on three different forms of propaganda - fundamentalist, moderate and secular. After each propaganda, the responses were taken through a questionnaire to measure the impact of propaganda on personal relations and commercial relations: 1) with believers or people following the same set of beliefs, 2) with non-believers or people projected as enemies of the community, and 3) with intermediaries or people who are deemed as tolerable. The results were statistically analysed and interpreted. The results provide insights into the value of different types of propaganda on commercial and personal interactions between those subjected to the propaganda and the community targeted through such propaganda (believers and non-believers). The results show that moderate propaganda is not a full-fledged antidote to fundamentalist propaganda; it only improves the commercial relationships. Only secular propaganda can withstand the onslaught of fundamentalist propaganda in both personal and commercial interactions. The results also reveal that creating a set of intermediaries would be helpful in increasing the commercial interaction among believers and non-believers.


When black rage explodes, it's a riot. When white rage erupts, it's...a protest. In a bold work that cuts across racial, ethnic, cultural, and national boundaries, Sheila Smith McKoy reveals how race colors the idea of violence in the United States and in South Africa - two countries inevitably and inextricably linked by the central role of skin color in personal and national identity. Although race riots are usually seen as black events in both the United States and South Africa, they have played a significant role in shaping the concept of whiteness and white power in both nations. This emerges clearly from Smith McKoy's examination of four riots that demonstrate the relationship between the two nations and the apartheid practices that have historically defined them: North Carolina's Wilmington Race Riot of 1898; the Soweto Uprising of 1976; the Los Angeles Rebellion in 1992; and the pre-election riot in Mmabatho, Bhoputhatswana in 1994. Pursuing these events through narratives, media reports, and film, Smith McKoy shows how white racial violence has been disguised by race riots in the political and power structures of both the United States and South Africa. The first transnational study to probe the abiding inclination to "blacken" riots, When Whites Riot unravels the connection between racial violence - both the white and the "raced" - in the United States and South Africa, as well as the social dynamics that this connection sustains.


To analyze and evaluate textbooks, researchers have either proposed scales and checklists to be filled by teachers and learners or conducted qualitative investigations of the match between SLA theories and textbook activities. This study, however, employs the microstructural approach of schema theory to scrutinize the reading passages of "Mosaic 1 Reading". To this end, 17 passages of the textbook were randomly chosen and their constituting words were explored as semantic, syntactic, and parasyntactic schemata. The passages were also analyzed in terms of their readability indices. The results showed that they consist of 3722 schema types, 2979 (80%) of which are semantic in nature. Although the textbook aims at "academic success" at English language "proficiency levels", it provides no objective definition of what they stand for. In terms of readability, however, the passages vary in difficulty from grade three in primary school to college level. Further, the textbook is discussed in terms of its constituting schemata and suitability to the Iranian context and suggestions are made for future research. The findings of this study have important implications for language teaching, testing and materials development. They show that language proficiency must be defined in terms of schema types and the bulk of class time must be spent on teaching semantic schemata rather than syntactic and parasyntactic ones. Similarly, for testing the reading comprehension of these passages, the number and type of test items must be based on the percentage of semantic and syntactic schema types and subjective criteria such as teachers' intuition or experience must be avoided both in teaching and testing the comprehension of passages.