ABSTRACT This study investigates technical efficiency and productivity for Swedish higher education institutions (HEIs). One identified problem in previous research concerns adjusting efficiency scores for input quality. This problem is avoided using grades from upper-secondary schools. A second problem concerns heterogeneity with respect to subjects and institutions between HEIs. Using the Swedish national resource allocation system, students are weighted according to subject. For research production, a bibliometric index that allows for differences in publication tradition is used. A third problem when using the data envelopment analysis approach is the lack of statistical inference. Bootstrapping is used to approach this problem. The results indicate an average inefficiency of 12% and a productivity increase of around 1.7% per year.


Personalization is a phenomenon that intrigues and confuses. Personalized offerings promise customer attention, loyalty and safe haven against commoditization. However, these promises do not materialize unless customers accept personalization as a means to enhance their consuming experience. Three points of views are offered to personalization in this paper. An analysis of various personalization concepts shows that the basic concept of personalization is reaching maturity even though fresh views are added to it, e.g. context-based personalization. Secondly, a text-mining based approach profiles the personalization research based on bibliometric data on nearly 800 articles, and indicates that the research field is fairly fragmented, and that mass customization and customization research clearly diverges from personalization research. Based on a selection of articles, a further analysis classifies the type of research and research contexts that are the most common. Finally, this research also suggests a conceptualization of personalization.


The cost of launching satellites is getting lower and lower due to the reusability of rockets (NASA, 2015) and using single missions to launch multiple satellites (up to 37, Russia, 2014). In addition, low-orbit satellite constellations have been employed in recent years. These trends indicate that satellite remote sensing has a promising future in acquiring high-resolution data with a low cost and in integrating high-resolution satellite imagery with ground-based sensor data for new applications. These facts have motivated us to develop a comprehensive survey of remote sensing sensor development, including the characteristics of sensors with respect to electromagnetic spectrums (EMSs), imaging and non-imaging sensors, potential research areas, current practices, and the future development of remote sensors.


In this article, we conceptualized a new organizational variable, Communicatively Restricted Organizational Stress (CROS). CROS is a perceived inability to communicate about a particular stressor and functions to exacerbate negative outcomes related to the appraisal of that stressor. To aid in our conceptualization, we reviewed extant literature on organizational stress and social support. We also collected open-ended data from a national sample of 354 workers. The responses to these questions lead us to specific themes about the nature and function of CROS. Finally, we propose a conceptual conditional process model with two primary propositions: (a) An organizational member who reports high levels of CROS will experience negative outcomes, regardless of reported level of social support and (b) an organizational member who reports high levels of CROS will experience negative outcomes, regardless of the severity of the stressor.


Populations of wide-ranging species are likely to extend across multiple jurisdictions, including national and international borders. This requires that local institutions implement data sharing and a standardization of monitoring designs. However, a formal evaluation of the benefits of integrated monitoring systems had not, of yet, been performed. Using the wolverines in central Scandinavia as a study case, we assessed the benefits of data sharing for the monitoring of trans-boundary populations. We also assessed the performance of two demographic monitoring systems, one relying on a count of reproductive units, the other resulting from non-invasive genetic sampling and capture-recapture modeling. Sharing data across the border between Norway and Sweden allowed a strong increase in the precision of population size, population growth rate and vital rates estimates. It also allowed revealing that the probability to emigrate from Sweden to Norway was significantly higher than in the opposite direction, a required condition for the existence of a source—sink dynamics. These findings would have been impossible without trans-boundary data sharing. While the den count monitoring provided an estimated population growth of 138% over the 12-year period, the DNA-based estimate was only 72%. A positive trend likely occurred in the detectability of wolverine dens during the first years of the study, and the index was not able to separate the actual demographic trend from the trend in the system's ability to detect reproductions, thus providing positively biased estimates of population growth rate during the initial phase of the study. Data sharing is a crucial need for the study of the processes occurring in trans-boundary populations. It should be enhanced wherever trans-boundary ecological processes occur. Also, managers should be aware that count-based monitoring has a risk of overestimating population growth during the first years after its implementation.


We have reviewed the available scientific literature on how natural sources and the atmospheric fate of methane may be affected by future climate change. We discuss how processes governing methane wetland emissions, permafrost thawing, and destabilization of marine hydrates may affect the climate system. It is likely that methane wetland emissions will increase over the next century. Uncertainties arise from the temperature dependence of emissions and changes in the geographical distribution of wetland areas. Another major concern is the possible degradation or thaw of terrestrial permafrost due to climate change. The amount of carbon stored in permafrost, the rate at which it will thaw, and the ratio of methane to carbon dioxide emissions upon decomposition form the main uncertainties. Large amounts of methane are also stored in marine hydrates, and they could be responsible for large emissions in the future. The time scales for destabilization of marine hydrates are not well understood and are likely to be very long for hydrates found in deep sediments but much shorter for hydrates below shallow waters, such as in the Arctic Ocean. Uncertainties are dominated by the sizes and locations of the methane hydrate inventories, the time scales associated with heat penetration in the ocean and sediments, and the fate of methane released in the seawater. Overall, uncertainties are large, and it is difficult to be conclusive about the time scales and magnitudes of methane feedbacks, but significant increases in methane emissions are likely, and catastrophic emissions cannot be ruled out. We also identify gaps in our scientific knowledge and make recommendations for future research and development in the context of Earth system modeling.


The basic concept of using the square hysteresis loop of certain magnetic memory as storage devices was known from the earliest days of computer development. Magnetic hard drives were the world's most common means of memory storage. In this mechanically based memory system, information was stored on magnetic platters and read with magnetic heads, which hover over the disks. Hard drives were very susceptible to breakage from shaking, bumps, and falls. Data access can be slow; the magnetic reader must scan the disk magnetic section by magnetic section, looking for often-dispersed data stored on the disk. Flash memory is an alternative storage source. It stores data in solid-state transistors without moving parts. This makes the memory hardy and much less in size inclined to damage than traditional forms of storage. It also uses less power and works faster than other forms of storage. When a computer utilizing Flash is turned on, all data used in the last session reappears quickly, and without danger of corruption, as it is stored to the non-volatile, incorruptible Flash RAM. This feature makes virtually instant startup time possible, which is the reason this device majorly use on future aspects. The future of Flash technology looks bright. Less than a year ago, it was impractical due to technological and economic restrictions. However, the price of Flash memory has dropped significantly and is now rather competitive with other forms of storage but the today's price is not competitive. The purpose of this paper is to detail the current and future technology of Flash and discuss the uses, features, and flaws of the technology. The information within this paper has been culled from professional papers, magazines, and internet sources. It also contains personal knowledge of Flash technology.


This major new resource is a much-needed support to the few textbooks in the field and offers an excellent introduction and overview to the established principals and new thinking in cultural heritage management.

Leading experts in the field from Europe, North America and Australia, bring together recent and innovative works in the field. With geographically and thematically diverse case studies, they examine the theoretical framework for heritage resource management.

Setting significant new thinking within the framework of more established views and ideas on heritage management, this reader re-publishes texts of the past decade with an overview of earlier literature and essays that fill the gaps in between, providing students of all stages with a clear picture of new and older literature.

A helpful introduction sets out key issues and debates, and individual chapter introductions and reading lists give a background collection of key works that offer ideas for the development of thought and study.

With good coverage of major issues and solutions in Britain, the USA and Australia, The Heritage Reader will appeal to students internationally across the English-speaking world, and will stand proud as a key guide to the study and practice of this major archaeological sector.


How can we design reinforcement learning agents that avoid causing unnecessary disruptions to their environment? We argue that current approaches to penalizing side effects can introduce bad incentives in tasks that require irreversible actions, and in environments that contain sources of change other than the agent. For example, some approaches give the agent an incentive to prevent any irreversible changes in the environment, including the actions of other agents. We introduce a general definition of side effects, based on relative reachability of states compared to a default state, that avoids these undesirable incentives. Using a set of gridworld experiments illustrating relevant scenarios, we empirically compare relative reachability to penalties based on existing definitions and show that it is the only penalty among those tested that produces the desired behavior in all the scenarios.


In this paper, the effects of Bi2O3 addition on the electrical and physical properties of 0.98(Na0.5K0.5)NbO3-0.02(Na0.5Bi0.5)TiO3 were investigated. The 0.98(Na0.5K0.5)NbO3 -0.02(Na0.5Bi0.5)TiO3 [0.98NKN-0.02NBT] ceramics with the addition of 0~0.5 wt% Bi2O3 have been prepared following the conventional mixed oxide process. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that, during sintering, all of the (Na0.5Bi0.5)TiO3 diffuse into the lattice of (Na0.5K0.5)NbO3 to form a solid solution, in which a orthorhombic phase with a perovskite structure was found. For 0.98NKN-0.02NBT ceramics by doping 0.1 wt% Bi2O3, the poled dielectric constant (K33T) and the electromechanical coupling coefficients of the planar mode kp reach 684 and 0.38, respectively, after sintering at 1100 °C for 3 h. Our results show that 0.98NKN-0.02NBT with the addition of 0.1 wt% Bi2O3 is a good lead-free piezoelectric ceramic.


We have observed 3-m auroral E region plasma waves with a high-resolution 50-MHz radar interferometer at Ithaca. During postmidnight periods of very strong magnetic activity at Ottawa (L = 3.5), the backscattered power and Doppler spectra vary rapidly with time and range and may have both mean Doppler shifts and half power widths in excess of 200 Hz (600 m/s). In addition, when the radar and magnetometer data imply that the current is approximately parallel to the radar line of sight, sharp spectral peaks corresponding to phase velocities approaching 1 km/s sometimes appear suddenly. These persist for at most several tens of seconds at any particular range and their amplitude seems to be more strongly dependent on the drift velocity than is the strength of the wide spectral component, which generally broadens substantially before the high-velocity peak appears. The shape of the peaks and their time evolution lead us to believe that they represent a true two-stream instability, implying an ion acoustic velocity in the medium of about 900 m/s in extreme cases, which, in turn, means an E region electron temperature of as much as 2000 K or more at latitudes as low as L = 3.5. This interpretation of the data is consistent with recent E region incoherent scatter measurements and helps to resolve some questions raised in connection with earlier coherent radar studies.


The generalized inverse of a regional model is used to estimate barotropic tidal dissipation along the Hawaiian Ridge. The model, based on the linear shallow-water equations, incorporates parameterizations for the dissipation of energy via friction in the bottom boundary layer and form drag due to internal waves generated at topographic slopes. Sea surface height data from 364 orbit cycles of the Ocean Topography Experiment (TOPEX)/Poseidon satellite mission are used to perform inversions at eight diurnal and semidiurnal tidal frequencies. It is estimated that the barotropic M2 tide loses energy at a rate of 19 GW, of which 88% is lost within 250 km of the ridge, presumably via conversion to the internal or baroclinic tide. Uncertainty in the assumed model error and wave drag in the forward model suggest that M2 dissipation values from 18 to 25 GW are consistent with the altimetric observations. Other barotropic tidal constituents are estimated to lose a total of 5.7 GW. The spatial distribution of barotropic dissipation along the ridge is similar to that inferred from three-dimensional primitive equation models, and it is largely insensitive to details of assumed model and data errors. Dissipation at semidiurnal frequencies is most intense at the French Frigate Shoals with lesser, but significant, contributions at other sites. Diurnal tidal dissipation is concentrated to the east of the French Frigate Shoals, at the Gardner Pinnacles. Further work with threedimensional models will be necessary to determine the fate of the energy that is removed from the barotropic tide.


Kaiser Permanente Clinical Review Criteria are developed to assist in administering plan benefits. These criteria neither offer medical advice nor guarantee coverage. Kaiser Permanente reserves the exclusive right to modify, revoke, suspend or change any or all of these Review Criteria, at Kaiser Permanente's sole discretion, at any time, with or without notice. Member contracts differ in their benefits. Always consult the patient's Medical Coverage Agreement or call Kaiser Permanente Customer Service to determine coverage for a specific medical service.


Background. We use Social identity Theory as a theoretical framework, specifically focusing on strategies of identity management. The study is based on the following theoretical assumptions. First, identity management strategies might serve as mediators between different identity threats and behavioral patterns in intergroup relations. Second, identity management strategies help to make the shift from the individual to the group level of analysis, allowing us to take the consequences of intergroup behavior for a group entitativity into consideration. Third, identity management strategies strongly depend on the social context of intergroup relations. Objective. in the current study, we look into the relationships between identity management strategies of the ethnic Russian majority and their attitudes towards multiculturalism to identify whether certain strategies are helpful or harmful for the acceptance of multiculturalism in Russia. Design. We use Russia vs. the West comparison to evoke the perception of identity threat. We measure strategies of identity management based on this comparison, as well as attitudes towards multiculturalism in a survey of 307 Russian participants. Results. The findings suggest that identity management strategies are indeed related to attitudes towards cultural diversity and equality in Russia, as well as to acculturation expectations of whether minorities should adopt the mainstream Russian culture or keep their own. We find that strategies of individualization, individual mobility and assimilation have mostly negative consequences for acculturation expectations, as they all show patterns that support assimilation of minorities instead of integration. We also find support for the "scapegoat" hypothesis, showing that choosing the strategy of changing the comparison group results in more negative attitudes toward cultural diversity and equal-


College football fans, coaches and observers have adopted a set of beliefs about how college football poll voters behave. I document three pieces of conventional wisdom in college football regarding the timing of wins and losses, the value of playing strong opponents and the value of winning by wide margins. Using a unique data set with 25 years of Associated Press (AP) poll results, I use a hedonic regression to test college football's conventional wisdom. In particular, I test (1) whether it is better to lose early or late in the season, (2) whether teams benefit from playing stronger opponents and (3) whether teams are rewarded for winning by large margins. Contrary to conventional wisdom, I find that (1) it is better to lose later in the season than earlier, (2) AP voters do not pay attention to the strength of a defeated opponent and (3) the benefit of winning by a large margin is negligible. I conclude by noting how these results inform debates about a potential playoff in college football.


There is concern about the potential impact of sea-level rise on coastal regions around the globe. An EU-funded initiative collaborated with South American partners to assess vulnerability of coastal areas to sea-level rise on a continental scale. Although the effects of sea-level rise are expected to be significant, their magnitude is uncertain due to a lack of information about the level and rate of the rise. Furthermore, it is not known how coastal communities will respond. The 'Comparative assessment of coastal vulnerability to sea-level rise at continental scale' (COMPASS) project designed a tool for estimating the future impacts of rising sea levels. Knowledge on the development and application of the tool, called the Dynamic and interactive vulnerability assessment (DIVA) model, was transferred to countries in South America. A complete overview of the DIVA tool and its component database, models and graphical user interface was given to partners in Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Hands-on training on DIVA was conducted in South America by researchers from European institutions. Further training in Greece and Germany was carried out for seconded researchers. DIVA was used to quantitatively assess the impact of sea-level rise in Europe and South America. The knowledge base of the DIVA tool was expanded using local knowledge and data collected during studies carried out in South America. The information was evaluated to gain a better understanding of the institutional frameworks in which DIVA results could be used to support decision makers. This will help to develop more detailed regional versions of DIVA. Results revealed that large numbers of people in South America can expect flooding, with poorer countries being affected most. Although adaptation measures could reduce the impacts, they would require significant levels of investment and effective adaptation techniques. Preliminary results for Europe indicated that adaptation in the face of sea-level rise would be both beneficial and affordable. Experts from participating institutions conducted an evaluation of the DIVA tool to determine potential limitations and identify areas for further development. An updated version of the DIVA database was produced for South America and work on further development of DIVA algorithms commenced. COMPASS activities have led to the development of strong links and a solid basis for long-term collaboration between the participating European and South American institutions.


Progressive video delivery over wireless networks is very challenging due to the time-varying nature of wireless channels and limited power in the mobile devices. This paper proposes an end-to-end architecture for multilayer progressive video delivery over space-time differentially coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (STDC-OFDM) systems. An input video sequence is compressed by 3D-ESCOT into a layered bitstream. We input multiple layers of the bitstream in series to a STDC-OFDM channel. Different video source layers are protected by different error protection schemes in order to achieve unequal error protection. In progressive transmission, the reconstruction quality is important not only at the target transmission rate but also at the intermediate rates. So, the error protection strategy needs to optimize the average performance over the set of intermediate rates. We propose to use progressive joint source-channel coding to generate operational transmission distortion-rate (TD-R) functions and operational transmission distortion-power (TD-P) functions for multiple layers before forming the operational transmission distortion-power-rate (TD-PR) surfaces. Lagrange multipliers are then employed on the fly to obtain the optimal power allocation and optimal rate allocation among multiple layers, subject to constraints on the total transmission rate and the total power level. Progressive joint source-channel coding offers the scalability feature to handle bandwidth variations and changes in channel conditions. By extending the rate-distortion function in source coding to the TD-PR surface in joint source-channel coding, our work can use the "equal slope" argument to effectively solve the transmission rate allocation problem as well as the transmission power allocation problem for multilayer video transmission. Experiments show that our scheme achieves significant improvement over a nonoptimal system with the same total power level and total transmission rate.


Unethical behavior in the use of IT may result in significant negative impacts on the productivity, profitability, and reputation of the organization. IT exacerbates moral problems through its constant evolution, multi-faceted nature and encroachment into our personal and professional lives. People have difficulty recognizing moral characteristics, applying moral decision-making heuristics, and anticipating consequences of ethical problems when IT is present. These qualities highlight the moral milieu of ethical IT problems in organizations. The dissertation investigates this phenomenon through three perspectives. First, while moral development in childhood and adolescence predispose people toward particular moral reasoning, situational and contextual factors of ethical IT dilemmas may unearth other different moral reasoning patterns. The deviation of people's situational moral reasoning from broader moral dispositions is explored. Second, the scenario-specific situational moral reasoning is further framed into patterns of decision-making heuristics using the domain theory of moral development. Third, research in IT ethics has largely ignored the properties and characteristics of IT artifacts in ethical decision-making. Using affordance theory from ecological psychology, the dissertation proposes a framework of moral affordances, including ownership, anonymity, reproducibility, etc. that shapes ethical IT decision-making, intentions and behaviors. The study surveys 321 individuals across three ethical IT dilemmas of varying moral character and technology use. Ethical intentions and decisions deviated significantly from when situational moral judgments were considered, emphasizing utilitarian and relativist judgments. These decision-making models are transformed when ethical IT dilemmas were attributed to different domains of morality, exhibiting not only different patterns of moral reasoning but also an entirely different moral character. Finally, the salience of IT moral affordances varied between ethical dilemmas and demonstrated some influence on ethical IT decisions and intentions; however, these moral affordances lacked predictive efficacy within the broader ethical IT decision-making model.


The work in this thesis applies magnetization transfer imaging (MTI) and
conventional MRI measures (brain volume, T2 lesion load and enhancing lesions)
to investigate the mechanisms underlying progression in primary progressive
multiple sclerosis (PPMS), and identifies MR markers to predict and monitor
progression.
First, we demonstrated that MTI was sensitive to change in the normal appearing
brain tissues over one year, and that clinical progression over this period was
predicted by baseline normal appearing white matter (NAWM) MT ratio (MTR).
However, our second study showed that over three years, grey matter MTR
became a better predictor of progression than any other MRI measure. Grey matter
MTR and T2 lesion load changes reflected concurrent progression during this
study.
To localize the baseline grey matter injury more precisely, we developed a voxelbased
technique to identify areas of grey matter MTR reduction and volume loss in
patients compared with controls. The regions of grey matter MTR reduction
identified correlated with clinical function in anatomically related systems.
Finally, because our studies showed that lesion load influenced progression, we
used contrast enhanced T1-weighted imaging to examine active focal
inflammation. We found that while lesion activity declined over five years, levels of
activity at the start of the study could influence mobility five years later.
The work presented in this thesis suggests that grey matter damage has a
predilection for certain brain regions and is an important determinant of
progression in early PPMS. In the white matter, changes in lesion volume and
activity continue to influence progression, but NAWM injury may have a declining
role. MTR is a sensitive and responsive tool for predicting, monitoring, and
localizing clinically relevant brain injury in early PPMS.


In this study, a novel scheme called orthogonal frequency division multiplexing with index modulation (OFDM-IM) is proposed for frequency selective channels. In this scheme, the information is conveyed not only by only M-ary signal constellations as in classical OFDM, but also by the indices of the active subcarriers, which are determined according to the information bits. Different transceiver structures have been investigated for the proposed scheme and it has been shown via computer simulations that OFDM-IM system achieves significantly better error performance than the classical OFDM.


This thesis focuses on the international-domestic interaction within the context of the 1908 Ottoman Constitutional Revolution and examines it in relation to the intemational dimensions of the social transformation of the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. So the focus of the research is on the extent and the mechanisms of the international constitution of political change within the Ottoman Empire in regard to the historical moment of 1908. The framework for the research question is the ongoing theoretical investigations of the scholars of International Relations into the possibility of using a historical sociological approach to conceptualize the reciprocal constitutive roles of the international and the domestic realms in engendering political transformations, whether in this longue duree or in sudden ruptures. As such, the thesis engages with the historical sociology tradition. The main objective is to enable a productive encounter between the case study itself and the general theory: the starting assumption is the impossibility of a purely national account of political changes of this scale. Given this framework, the thesis limits the examination of the case and the discussion of theory to the debate on the interaction between international and domestic dynamics. A creative understanding of how these two dynamics interact and co-constitute each other would contribute to the general analysis of political change within the field of International Relations. At the same time an analytical re-reading of the case study from this angle would locate this turning point in the history of the Ottoman Empire and of the Middle Eastern in a wider analytical context and thereby give it its due theoretical and historical weight.


Applying the Buddhist "law of interdependent origination," which states that if the conditions are right, a particular phenomenon may exist, Brian McLaren provides ten conditional factors that he believes have contributed to Ken Howard's "religion singularity" (i.e. the multi-faceted collapse of institutional Christianity). Each condition falls under two main categories: either a lack of rapid adaptability in religious institutions or the moral failure of institutional leaders. The ten conditional factors include authoritarian centralization, betrayal of the religious founder's non-violence, a history of unacknowledged atrocities, military imperialism, white supremacy, scandals, reaction against scientific inquiry, doubling down on dualism, integrated and change-averse institutional systems, and paralysis and nostalgia.


Introduction: The caudal anesthesia is used by many authors for postoperative analgesia. The purpose of this study was to report our experience in the practice of caudal block as post operative analgesia method in ambulatory surgery in a context of limited technical equipment. Patients and Method: Over a period of 5 months, a prospective study was conducted on 39 children aged 3 to 5 years weighing on average 15.12 kg. Children classified ASA I and II were selected. After premedication with midazolam (0.3 mg/kg) by intra rectal route, the inhalation induction was made with sevoflurane 8%, conveyed by fresh gas (50% O2 and 50% air). The caudal block was obtained with the levobupivacaine 0.25% at a dose of 1 ml/kg. The hemodynamic parameters (systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rates) and respiratory parameters (respiratory frequency) pre-, per- and post-operative were measured. Post-operative pain was assessed with the Objective Pain Scale (OPS). The date of first use of analgesia was noted. The adverse effects of caudal block (meningitis, respiratory disorders, acute urinary retention, cardiac disorders) have been assessed. Results: The average duration of the procedure was 55.2 minutes. The use of analgesia was made 4 hours after skin closure, when the OPS Broadmann score was greater than 3. An agitation was observed in 6 children. Haemodynamic parameters have not significantly varied from the pre- to the post-operative. No infectious complications or intolerance to local anesthetics were observed. Allthe children were able to drink 4 hours after the end of the intervention and issued their first urine later than 3 hours after surgery. Conclusion: This type of anesthesia has been found very suitable for ambulatory surgery of the child, and is always helpful. It assured a post operative analgesia of good quality, and a reduction in consumption of morphine intraoperatively.


The zinc finger protein CF2 is a characterized activator of muscle structural genes in the body wall muscles of the Drosophila larva. To investigate the function of CF2 in the indirect flight muscle (IFM), we examined the phenotypes of flies bearing five homozygous viable mutations. The gross structure of the IFM was not affected, but the stronger hypomorphic alleles caused an increase of up to 1.5X in the diameter of the myofibrils. This size increase did not cause any disruption of the hexameric arrangement of thick and thin filaments. RT-PCR analysis revealed an increase in the transcription of several structural genes. Ectopic overexpression of CF2 in the developing IFM disrupts muscle formation. While our results indicate a role for CF2 as a direct negative regulator of the thin filament protein gene Actin 88F (Act88F), effects on levels of transcripts of myosin heavy chain (mhc) appear to be indirect. This role is in direct contrast to that described in the larval muscles, where CF2 activates structural gene expression. The variation in myofibril phenotypes of CF2 mutants suggest the CF2 may have separate functions in fine-tuning expression of structural genes to insure proper filament stoichiometry, and monitoring and/or controlling the final myofibril size.


Corn is a very important agricultural product, however, some pests may cause damage to the corn productivity such as Spodoptera frugiperda, which prevents the plant from growing in a regular manner. Since the indiscriminate use of the pesticide may cause an increasing resistance of the insect besides an environmental damage, it is important to estimate the areas and the dominant directions where the insect may propagate. The main aim of this work was to study the spreading of the fall armyworm in a commercial agricultural area in the South of Brazil. For this, we considered a set including the location of each corn plant attacked by the insect. In particular, we assumed that the spatial locations given by the geographic coordinates constitute a spatial point pattern following a stationary Poisson point process. In order to detect the presence of possible dominant directions in the distribution of the fall armyworm infestation we studied the anisotropic features of the data by using some second-order spatial point-pattern analysis techniques such as the K directional test, the wavelet-based test, and the quadrat counting test. All the results showed that spatial distribution of fall armyworm may follow a clustered Poisson point process with the presence of an evident anisotropy mainly due to the shape and the distance between corn plants of the experimental area. These preliminary results could be used for reducing and optimizing the use of pesticides with a consequent decrease of the environmental impact.


We review two references: one that appeared almost simultaneously with our paper [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A13, 1204 (1996)] and another that appeared later. We mention an earlier relevant paper, and we also correct two typographical errors in our paper.


Variations in the origin of arteries in the abdomen are very common but with the invention of new operative techniques within the abdomen cavity, the anatomy of abdomen vessels has assumed much more clinical importance. The gonadal arteries normally arise caudal to the renal arteries as antero-lateral branch. In contrast to classical description, very rarely originate from lumbar, common or internal iliac artery, or superior mesentric artery. Here we report a very rare case of variant origin of right testicular artery from right common iliac artery. Awareness of such variations becomes very significant and important during surgical or interventional procedures in abdomen-pelvic areas. Key words: Testicular artery; Abberrant artery; Variant origin; Renal artery; Gonadal vessels DOI: 10.3126/ajms.v2i1.3860 Asian Journal of Medical Sciences 2 (2011) 65-67


Aim/Purpose: The goal of this study was to examine which of the types of teacher-student interactions found in previous studies by Kang (2009) and Kang and Im (2013) during distance learning in routine situations, were also found in times of emergency, specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether these interactions differed between students with regard to the extent and nature of each type of interaction.

Background: Teacher-student interactions during learning in general and particularly in distance learning has an impact on students' satisfaction, motivation, and ability to contend with learning assignments. As learning in times of emergency poses additional, unique challenges, teacher-student interactions may be affected as well.

Methodology: The participants in the study were 591 undergraduate students from different departments in a teaching college, who answered an opinion survey after completing a semester of distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative textual content analysis was performed on students' answers to open-ended questions about the nature of their interaction with their teachers. The students' answers were divided and analyzed according to the answers they gave on a separate questionnaire on self-regulation in learning.

Contribution: The findings of this study can offer a theoretical contribution to understanding the different types of teacher-student interactions in distance learning in emergency situations, their frequency, and how they are connected to students' self-regulation. From the practical perspective, the study highlights the importance of this interaction, especially in times of emergency, and offers practical insights for teachers in academia and in general.

Findings: The study's findings reflect students' critical need for interaction with their teachers in emergency distance learning. The students reported different types of interaction with their teachers during the COVID-19 period. The most common form of interaction was instructional communication (Q&A), which mainly took place via email, though students would have preferred WhatsApp. The least common form of interaction was social intimacy. Students with a high level of self-regulation were more likely to report on interaction with the teacher, and to take more responsibility for whether or not interaction occurred.

Recommendations for Practitioners: Considering the findings of this study, colleges and universities should invest in training and encouraging teachers to engage in different types of interaction with their students. It is important for teachers to be aware of the need for these types of interaction. Encouraging teacher-student interaction in teachers' training colleges (where this study was carried out) is also important, as it may affect the teaching methods used by the students when they become teachers in the future and, consequently, influence the entire education system.

Recommendation for Researchers: Research of teacher-student interaction in distance learning should take into account the unique characteristics and challenges posed by this type of learn-ing in times of emergency, as found in this study. Additional technological and pedagogic tools should be developed to improve teacher-student interaction so that it meets the students' expectations during routine and emergency times alike.

Impact on Society: Studies have found that teacher-student interaction is one of the greatest contributors to students' motivation and satisfaction and to their ability to cope with learning assignments. As distance learning has become widespread and inevitable in times of emergency or crisis, which may occur again in the future, improving interaction during distance learning in an emergency is very important. This may improve the learners' ability to maintain their regular learning routine despite the emergency situation.

Future Research: It is recommended to expand the research method and examine the data using in-depth interviews and questionnaires. It is also worth comparing the findings of this study with findings of similar studies among students in colleges and universities other than teachers' training colleges, graduate students, and students of different ages.


Recently the PAMELA satellite-based experiment reported an excess of galactic positrons that could be a signal of annihilating dark matter. The PAMELA data may admit an interpretation as a signal from a winolike lightest supersymmetric particle of mass about 200 GeV, normalized to the local relic density, and annihilating mainly into W bosons. This possibility requires the current conventional estimate for the energy loss rate of positrons to be too large by roughly a factor of 5. Data from antiprotons and gamma rays also provide tension with this interpretation, but there are significant astrophysical uncertainties associated with their propagation. It is not unreasonable to take this well-motivated candidate seriously, at present, in part because it can be tested in several ways soon. The forthcoming PAMELA data on higher energy positrons and the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (formerly the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope) data should provide important clues as to whether this scenario is correct. If correct, the wino interpretation implies a cosmological history in which the dark matter does not originate in thermal equilibrium.


An important problem in network science is finding an optimal placement of sensors in nodes in order to uniquely detect failures in the network. This problem can be modelled as an identifying code set (ICS) problem, introduced by Karpovsky et al. in 1998. The ICS problem aims to find a cover of a set S, such that the elements in the cover define a unique signature for each of the elements of S, and to minimise the cover's cardinality. In this work, we study a generalised identifying code set (GICS) problem, where a unique signature must be found for each subset of S that has a cardinality of at most k (instead of just each element of S). The concept of an independent support of a Boolean formula was introduced by Chakraborty et al. in 2014 to speed up propositional model counting, by identifying a subset of variables whose truth assignments uniquely define those of the other variables.

In this work, we introduce an extended version of independent support, grouped independent support (GIS), and show how to reduce the GICS problem to the GIS problem. We then propose a new solving method for finding a GICS, based on finding a GIS. We show that the prior state-of-the-art approaches yield integer-linear programming (ILP) models whose sizes grow exponentially with the problem size and k, while our GIS encoding only grows polynomially with the problem size and k. While the ILP approach can solve the GICS problem on networks of at most 494 nodes, the GIS-based method can handle networks of up to 21 363 nodes; a ∼40× improvement. The GIS-based method shows up to a 520× improvement on the ILP-based method in terms of median solving time. For the majority of the instances that can be encoded and solved by both methods, the cardinality of the solution returned by the GIS-based method is less than 10% larger than the cardinality of the solution found by the ILP method.


Inbreeding causes increases in homozygosity and is commonly associated with reductions in fertility and embryogenesis. Although the mechanisms underlying such effects are unknown, recent work has suggested that inbred males may suffer impaired ejaculate quality, thus providing a functional explanation for reductions in reproductive function in inbred populations. However, the relationship between inbreeding and sperm quality remains controversial, particularly in wild populations where the level of inbreeding is typically estimated using neutral molecular markers. Such markers are thought to reflect genome-wide levels of heterozygosity only under restricted conditions, and rarely in outbred populations. Here we employ a comparative approach that takes account of these criticisms and evaluates the evidence linking inbreeding to reductions in sperm quality in 20 mammal species. We focus on sperm abnormalities and sperm motility, which are key determinants of male fertility in many species. We show that species with reduced mean heterozygosity have impaired ejaculated quality, although subsequent analyses revealed that these effects were confined to endangered populations. Our findings therefore support the notion that inbreeding can severely impair sperm quality while concomitantly addressing criticisms surrounding the use of heterozygosity estimates to estimate the level of inbreeding.


This paper departs from the observation that the victim image leading public
 discourse has transformed in recent years: increasingly victims reject the
 traditional victim label implying helplessness and dependency to adopt the
 image of the emancipated victim that wishes to participate in the criminal
 proceedings. Restorative justice at first sight provides an answer to these
 emancipated victims' wishes, offering them participation in criminal
 proceedings. Yet, using the concept of empowerment as an example and the
 community psychology perspective as a theoretical reference, our analysis
 suggests that restorative justice uses a restricted definition of
 empowerment: it reduces empowerment to developing self-confidence and new
 understandings of the offence, neglecting the behavioural component of
 empowerment. This characteristic of restorative justice seems to deny
 victims' capacities to promote social change and inhibit them from reaching
 true empowerment.


Saving Galveston: A History of the Galveston Historical Foundation by Sally Anne Schmidt The history of the Galveston Historical Foundation (GHF) reveals how innovative Galvestonians looked to the past to create a future for their distressed city and inspired the development of one of the nation's leading local historic preservation organizations. Galveston, an island city fifty miles south of Houston, flourished economically and culturally as Texas's leading city during the nineteenth century. By 1900, islanders had built a city filled with handsome commercial and residential structures that reflected Galveston's significant status. The city rebuilt following the devastating Hurricane of 1900, but it never recovered its past glory. With the opening of the Houston Ship Channel in 1914 and the overall growth of Houston, Galveston's prominence slipped away. In 1954 a group of preservation-minded men and women organized the Galveston Historical Foundation to prevent the destruction of the second oldest house on the island, the Samuel May Williams House. Influenced by past Galveston historical societies, GHF's volunteer leadership worked to raise awareness of the city's historical and architectural treasures. Many born-on-the-island Galvestonians did not initially see the purpose of saving dilapidated houses and abandoned commercial buildings, and they had to be persuaded. Little-by-little GHF leaders succeeded and the preservation movement found a foothold on the island. With the hiring of the Foundation's first executive director, Peter Brink, in 1973 and the establishment of a revolving fund to save commercial properties on the Strand, GHF began to materially impact the island's physical, cultural, and economic landscape. The subsequent work of the Foundation in the 1970s and 1980s was not easy, but it resulted in the evolution of Galveston from a run-down, second-rate, beach town into a popular destination for historically-minded tourists. It also helped begin the positive transformation that occurred in Galveston's residential neighborhoods and inspired homeowners (of all economic backgrounds) to maintain their property. As GHF worked to revitalize the city, the Foundation itself transformed from a small, volunteer-led historical society into a professionally-managed, nationally-recognized, non-profit institution.


Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has proven to be a very powerful tool in the analysis of a wide range of compounds. However, continuous irradiation of the laser beam over the SERS substrate can promote the gross decomposition of the sample analytes and significantly broaden and diminish the intensities of observed spectral bands. In addition, the incident radiation can promote thermal or photolytic fragmentation of analytes, thereby altering the observable bands and possibly leading to a misinterpretation of analytical data. Finally, chemical or morphological changes in the SERS substrate are possible. This work presents the use of a sample translation technique (STT) as a means to minimize these adverse effects. By spinning the sample rapidly, the effective residence time of analytes and substrate within the irradiated zone is dramatically decreased without reduction of spectral acquisition time or the density of analyte in the zone. The technique is studied by acquiring SERS spectra of Naproxen USP, riboflavin, folic acid, Rhodamine 6G, and 4-aminothiophenol using silver islands on glass and silver–poly(dimethylsiloxane) composite substrates under various spinning and stationary conditions. In all cases, spectra show improvements upon spinning at laser powers as low as 4.2 (±0.1) mW. Specific differences in the appearance of the spectra and the potential use of STT for improved SERS qualitative and quantitative determinations are presented.


It is shown that the operational transconductance amplifier, as the active element in basic building blocks, can be efficiently used for programmable nonlinear continuous-time function synthesis. Two efficient nonlinear function synthesis approaches are presented. The first approach is a rational approximation, and the second is a piecewise-linear approach. Test circuits have been fabricated using a 3- mu m p-well CMOS process. The flexibility of the designed and tested circuits was confirmed. >


Background: Using a birth cohort, this study aimed to verify whether televiewing at 29 months, a common early childhood pastime, is prospectively associated with self-reported victimization at age 12. Methods: Participants are 991 girls and 1006 boys from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development. The main predictor comprised parent-reported daily televiewing by their children at 29 months. In the sixth grade, children reported how often they experienced victimization by classmates in the past year. The authors conducted multivariate linear regression, in which child self-reports of victimization were linearly regressed on early televiewing and potential confounders. Results: Every SD unit increase (0.88 hours) in daily televiewing at 29 months predicted an 11% SD unit increase in self-reported peer victimization by sixth grade classmates (unstandardized B = .031, p < .001, 95% confidence interval = 0.014–0.042). This relationship was adjusted for child characteristics (gender, preexisting externalizing behaviors, baseline cognitive abilities, and televiewing at age 12) and family characteristics (family configuration, income, and functioning, and maternal education). Conclusions: Daily televiewing time at 29 months was associated with a subsequent increased risk of victimization by classmates at the end of sixth grade, a period which represents a critical developmental transition to middle school. Youth who experience peer victimization are at an increased risk of long-term mental health issues, such as depression, underachievement, and low self-esteem. This prospective association, across a 10-year period, suggests the need for better parental awareness, acknowledgement, and compliance with existing recommendations put forth by the American Academy of Pediatrics.


The problems associated with induction loop failures is addressed through the use of a detailed telephone and literature survey. All Washington state DOT districts, and most of the countries and larger cities are covered along with a random sampling of the major geographic areas of the US. The rates of failures were somewhat similar throughout the state as well as the country. The major problems associated with loop installation failures were closely related to pavement failures and installation deficiencies. The electronics problems centered around periodic adjustment or alignment procedures which are associated with the type of amplifiers used and with the long term integrity of the loop and lead in wire system. This can be improved by using selfaligning amplifiers and by using improved installation techniques.


This paper provides an analytical evaluation of the performance of proportional fair (PF) scheduling in Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) wireless systems. OFDMA represents a promising multiple access scheme for transmission over wireless channels, as it combines the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation and subcarrier allocation. On the other hand, the PF scheduling is an efficient resource allocation scheme with good fairness characteristics. Consequently, OFDMA with PF scheduling represents an attractive solution to deliver high data rate services to multiple users simultaneously with a high degree of fairness. We investigate a two-dimensional (time slot and frequency subcarrier) PF scheduling algorithm for OFDMA systems and evaluate its performance analytically and by simulations. We derive approximate closedform expressions for the average throughput, throughput fairness index, and packet delay. Computer simulations are used for verification. The analytical results agree well with the results from simulations, which show the good accuracy of the analytical expressions.


A new synthetic strategy for the preparation of highly branched, or dendritic-graft, polypeptides is presented. The synthetic strategy is based on a repetitive sequence of ring-opening copolymerization and deprotection steps. Comonomers for the ring-opening polymerization are a set of orthogonally protected L-lysine N-carboxyanhydride derivatives. After each polymerization step, selective removal of the e-NH2 protecting groups of one of the monomers generates a number of new initiator sites that allow grafting of a successive generation of polypeptide branches. Following this strategy, dendritic-graft polypeptides containing up to ∼160 α-amino acids, corresponding to a number-average molecular weight of ∼40 kDa, could be obtained after only four ring-opening polymerization-deprotection cycles. In contrast to perfect dendrimers, the dendritic-graft polypeptides are neither structurally uniform nor monodisperse. Dendritic-graft polypeptides, however, are conveniently prepared in multigram quantities and do not require laborious purification procedures.


In this paper, we focused on two prevailing architectural approaches for control-plane virtualization in multi-tenant OpenFlow-ready SDN domains: The first permits the delegation of a specific, non-overlapping part of the overall flowspace to each tenant OpenFlow controller, exposing him/her the entire substrate topology; the second conceals the substrate topology to tenants by abstracting resources and exposing user-controlled (tenant) Virtual Networks (VNs). For both cases, we propose and analyze three control-plane slicing methods (domain, switch and port-wide), enforced by the management plane, that safeguard control-plane isolation among tenant VNs. Their effectiveness is assessed in terms of control-plane resources (number of flowspace policy rule entries, table lookup times and memory consumption) via measurements on a prototype implementation. To that end, we introduced and prototyped the Flowspace Slicing Policy (FSP) rule engine, an automated mechanism translating substrate management-plane policies into VN mapping control-plane rules. Our experiments, involving thousands of tenants VN requests over a variety of WAN-scale network topologies (e.g. Internet2/OSE3 and GÉANT), demonstrate that the port-wide slicing method is the most efficient in terms of tenant request acceptance ratio, within acceptable control-plane delays and memory consumption.


In the aquatic environment, diet is an important route of exposure for the common contaminant and procarcinogen benzo(a)pyrene (BaP). Dietary organisms vary in their BaP content and in contaminated areas often contain other xenobiotics including cytochrome P4501A inducers. This study examined the effect of dose and previous dietary exposure to the inducer ss-naphthoflavone (BNF) upon the intestinal metabolism of BaP and the systemic bioavailability of BaP-derived products in catfish. BaP was administered at 2 and 20 microM into in situ-isolated perfused intestines of control and BNF-pretreated catfish. The intestine formed an array of metabolites in all treatments including potentially hazardous metabolites such as BaP-7,8 and 9,10 dihydrodiols and 6-methyl-BaP. BNF treatment disproportionally increased the contribution of BaP-7,8 and 9,10 dihydrodiols relative to the contributions of other metabolites. A greater percentage of metabolites was evident as conjugates in 2 microM controls, whereas a greater percentage of unconjugated metabolites was evident for 20 microM controls and BNF treatments of both dosages. BNF pretreatment and the higher 20 microM BaP dosage resulted in greater bioavailability, with 2.6-5.5-fold and 3.0-6. 3-fold increases in systemically available BaP products, respectively. Metabolites represented 10.2-23.1% of the increased bioavailability with BNF treatment, suggesting that mechanisms, in addition to induced metabolism, may be operative. These results indicate that intestinal bioavailability, level of biotransformation, and the metabolic profile of BaP-derived products entering the blood from the intestine may be altered by dose and dietary BNF pretreatment. ImagesFigure 1Figure 2Figure 3Figure 4


The objective of this study which focused on educational industry in Indonesia is to provide
empirical evidence about the negative influence of role stressors on lecturer performance. Three major
components of role stressors are role conflict, role ambiguity, and role overload. This study also examines
burnout as the mediation of role stressors on lecturer performance. Primary data were obtained through
distribution copies of questionnaire to the respondents. Eligible respondents were full time lecturers of
faculty of economics at private universities in West Jakarta, Indonesia. Hypotheses test uses path analysis.
Followings are the research results. Role conflict has no influence on lecturer performance. This result
means that the incompatible tasks that have been given to the lecturers do not directly influence their
performance. This research proves that role ambiguity and role overload have negative influence directly on
lecturer performance. Lecturers need clear frameworks of their tasks.
This research successfully proves the mediation of burnout on the influence of three major
components of role stressors on lecturer performance. The practical implication of this research is very
useful for the management team in managing lecturers in private universities. Continuous new additional
task as a form of role conflict will cause burnout and will ultimately has an impact on performance. Unclear
role will be confusing to the lecturer and will cause burnout which at the end will create lower lecturer
performance. Pressure of too many works to be done or too little time to do so many tasks will cause
burnout which at the end will cause lower performance.


This thesis develops and applies a new theoretical and empirical approach to the study of political participation. It starts with a thorough review of existing theories and evidence of the determinants of political participation. The theories discussed in the literature review are subsequently synthesized using a dual-process account of participation decisions. The central premise of the account is that individuals engage in reasonable deliberation regarding the benefits and costs of participating in political activities, but this reasoning is limited by automatic responses to values, social identifications, and habits that predispose the individual toward participation or abstention. The next chapter develops a new statistical procedure for the study of political participation, based on mixture modeling and simultaneous consideration of involvement in multiple political activities that is consistent with the dual-process account of political participation discussed in the previous chapter. In this model the relationship between underlying utilities and participation probabilities is regulated by a parameter that captures individual propensities toward political participation. After that, the statistical method is applied to survey data from the 1990 American Citizen Participation Study (Verba et al., 1995), where it is used to test a series of hypotheses regarding the impact of resources and civic skills on political participation. Finally, the mixture modeling approach is applied to survey data from the 2008 Cooperative Congressional Elections Study (Ansolabehere, 2008), where it is used to measure the impact of perceptions of economic adversity and support for emergency economic policies on political participation.


The roles of cytochrome CYP3A and CYP2B isozymes in the bioactivation and detoxification of the pyrrolizidine alkaloid (PA) senecionine (SN) have been investigated in vitro with sheep and hamster hepatic microsomes. Our results show that the rate of SN activation measured by (+/-)-6, 7-dihydro-7-hydroxy-1-hydroxymethyl-5H-pyrrolizine (DHP) formation greatly exceeded the rate of SN N-oxide formation (detoxification) in hamsters. In contrast, SN N-oxide, a detoxification product, was the major metabolite in sheep with much lower DHP production. Immunoinhibition studies with anti-sheep CYP3A and CYP2B antibodies show that members of CYP3A subfamily play the major role in the conversion of PA to pyrrolic metabolites in both species (over 90% in sheep; 68% in hamster). These enzymes also contribute 38.8 and 41. 3% of SN N-oxidation in sheep and hamsters, respectively. In contrast, CYP2B isoforms have a limited capacity toward DHP formation in both species (47% in sheep; 32% in hamster), while these enzymes catalyzed only 24.6 and 35.4% SN N-oxidation in sheep and hamster, respectively. Using triacetyloleandomycin (TAO) and gestodene, two highly selective chemical inhibitors of CYP3A isoforms, our data show that 90% of DHP formation was inhibited by either inhibitor in sheep. Gestodene appeared to be more efficient than TAO in the inhibition of DHP production in hamsters. Testosterone 6beta-hydroxylase activity, a functional marker of CYP3A, was significantly inhibited by TAO and gestodene in sheep liver microsomes and by gestodene (100 microM) in hamster liver microsomes. These results suggest that CYP3A isozymes have important roles in bioactivation and detoxification of PA in both species, whereas CYP2B subfamily members are less efficient in biotransformation of PA.


The traditional Van herby cheese incorporates herbs mainly consisting of Allium species as antimicrobial and flavouring aids. The total antioxidant capacities of 16 different herbs (8 species) collected from different locations were assayed for the first time by CUPRAC, ABTS/persulfate, FRAP, and Folin methods. The assay results correlated well among each other, because all were electron-transfer assays. The highest results were obtained with Folin having the highest redox potential. The second highest results were with CUPRAC, especially for the allium sp., because the sulfur containing antioxidants in allium could be best assayed with CUPRAC, whereas FRAP was nonresponsive to thiol-type compounds. The order of CUPRAC antioxidant capacities as trolox equivalents was thymus sp. > chaerophyllum sp. > allium sp. > prangos sp. ≥ ferula sp. On the other hand, the order of Folin findings was thymus sp. > allium sp. > chaerophyllum sp. > ferula sp. ≥ prangos sp.


Abstract. The conventional approach to path planning for indoor navigation is to infer routes from a subdivided floor map of the indoor space. The floor map describes the spatial geometry of the space. Contained in this floor map are logical units called subspaces. For the purpose of path planning the possible routes between the subspaces have to be modelled. Typical these models employing a graph structures, or skeletons, in which the interconnected subspaces (e.g., rooms, corridors, etc.) are represented as linked nodes, i.e. a graph.This paper presents a novel method for creating generalised graphs of indoor spaces that doesn't require the subdivision of indoor space. The method creates the generalised graph by gradually simplifying/in-setting the floor map until a graph is obtained, a process described here as chained deflation. The resulting generalised graph allows for more flexible and natural paths to be determined within the indoor environment. Importantly the method allows the indoor space to be encoded and encrypted and supplied to users in a way that emulates the use of physical keys in the real world. Another important novelty of the method is that the space described by the graph is adaptable. The space described by the graph can be deflated or inflated according to the needs of the path planning. Finally, the proposed method can be readily generalised to the third dimension.The concept and logic of the method are explained. A full implementation of the method will be discussed in a future paper.


Academics and activists have come together in this edited volume to tackle the complex issues surrounding migration and AIDS. The book sets the agenda for the development of HIV/AIDS prevention and care programme in migrant and minority ethnic communities. Issues covered include: migration patterns; policies for migrant health; legal and human rights issues as they affect mobile populations; racism and stigma; and HIV/AIDS prevention, care and programme evaluation as they pertain to migrant communities. The editors end with an overview of some of the key issues which remain to be addressed. The book identifies foundations on which bridges can be built, attempting to turn away from thinking of migration in terms of 'them ' and 'us', of public health in terms of protection, and from conceptualizing AIDS in terms of the infected and the non-infected. It is hoped that readers will take up the challenge, turn towards groups too often ignored, and ultimately work towards social justice and equity.


This case study research is carried out in. That PT. Kutai Timber Indonesia (KTI) by the title "Application of Responsibility Accounting as Basis of Financial Performance of Marketing Manager Voting to PT. Kutai Timber Indonesia in Probolinggo. The goal of this research is to know the application of responsibility accounting to PT, Kutai Timber Indonesia as the basis of valuing financial performance of division along with marketing is to know effectiveness and efficiency of financial performance of marketing managers to PT. Kutai Timber Indonesia present. The analysis result shows That PT. Kutai Timber Indonesia have met the rules and regulations of the application of responsibility accounting. It May be seen from organization structure That shows there are sharing responsibility, duty and authority clearly. Which help, marketing activity in firm effectiveness and efficiency. Process of composing budgets have run well but there are Some weakness Nowhere firm have not carried out detailed cost calculation per marketing region thus it is Difficult to know effectiveness and efficiency of managers. Cost classification and the bill did not code shown Concerning been controlled or not Happen thus cost the which it is Difficult to someone WHO responsiveness known about the cost. The evaluation of financial performance of marketing managers have be carried out from 2004 up to 2005 to EACH marketing region. The budget statement and realization of sale just show quantity. Base on the analysis result, there are something the which have to be corrected Necessary, about: to compose a budget of marketing costs, it will of be better to do calculation to EACH marketing regions in order to it May be known region of the which have been effective and the which region have yet been effective. Composing of sale budget will from be better if it is calculated to every product to know the which product That be liked by the consumer. To compose the budget statement and realization, it will of be better if it is along with complete explanation about why our lost profits emerge thus different Happen if directly corrupt the will of several known causes. Beside that, to do performance, valuing it be better if firm will of other factors Consider the which have relevance with the marketing duty. To next researcher is hoped to do the study to measure the performance of responsibility center managers.


The optimal duration and intensity of first-line therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer patients once they have achieved an objective response is controversial. In a molecularly selected RAS and BRAF wild-type (wt) population, this concern is amplified. Once disease control has been achieved with a combination therapy including an anti-EGFR antibody, further exposure both to cytotoxic drugs and targeted therapy might result only in increased toxicity. In unresectable metastatic RAS and BRAF wt colorectal cancer patients, a deintensified therapy could represent a valuable option that might preserve quality of life. We designed a study to compare FOLFIRI/cetuximab to FOLFIRI/cetuximab for eight cycles followed by cetuximab alone in first-line treatment of RAS and BRAF (wt) metastatic colorectal cancer patients.


In contract law, common mistake or frustration are grounds for relieving the promisor from the obligation to perform. Conventional economic theory justifies relief by appealing to its effect on the promisee's incentives, namely, her incentives to act efficiently to prevent the unfavorable occurrence or its associated losses. The Article challenges this justification. While relief may indeed generate efficient incentives under certain conditions, these are not the conditions in which it is in fact granted. Consequently, the cases in which the conventional theory recommends that relief be provided and those in which it is actually awarded, are incompatible. Based upon this premise, the Article develops a new theory of the law of common mistake and frustration, bearing descriptive and prescriptive implications. Under the new theory, the purpose of relief is not to incentivize promisees, but rather to determine the legal consequences of non-contemplated events. Viewed in this light, the Article identifies a new set of efficiency rationales for the rule. Under specified conditions, relief allows contracting parties to (1) refrain from welfare-reducing trade in unquantifiable risk; (2) maintain control over the distribution of contractual gains; and (3) overcome disincentives to form efficient contracts. The Article analyzes the conditions under which these virtues are applicable, and finds that they generally correspond to those in which relief is actually awarded.


Exuberant rhymes are an intrinsic part of the appeal of Roald Dahl's books - and here are some classic and magical moments from the books, together with some previously unpublished treats. There are seven themed sections bursting with monsters, ghastly children, magical creatures, unpleasant adults and a few surprises. "Songs and Verse" is illustrated by Quentin Blake, as well as leading artists such as Babette Cole, Lauren Child, Chris Riddell and Tony Ross. This book includes a foreword by Quentin Blake.


Burrows inhabited by Upogebia deltaura (Crustacea: Thalassinidea) were studied over a two-year period on two maerl beds at 10 m below Chart Datum (CD) in the Clyde Sea area, Scotland. Labelled burrows proved to be stable features on each ground, with animals able to withstand the impacts of scallop dredging and storm disturbance by re-building the damaged upper sections of their burrows. Resin casts excavated using an air-lift showed that these burrows were inhabited by single individuals. Burrows were deeper, larger and more complicated than was previously thought typical for U. deltaura and other members of the genus. Mapping of burrow systems revealed average densities of 2.9 ind m−2 with up to ten openings m−2. These elusive animals were the deepest burrowing megafauna (to 68 cm) and the most abundant large crustaceans within the maerl bed habitat.


What is 'creolisation', and at what point do processes that might be called 'creolisation' no longer warrant the name? At what point do creole societies cease to be 'creole'? Creolisation, in the Hannerzian sense of the word, conjures up images of hybridity, globalisation, cosmopolitanism; while not a uniquely contemporary phenomenon it is nevertheless widely associated with the political and economic expansion of the European world, and the cultural implications thereof, in the colonial and post-colonial eras. On the Comorian island of Ngazidja in the western Indian Ocean, processes of social change have been the product of interactions with the outside world since first settlement of the islands some two millennia ago. Much as in neighbouring Mauritius or Reunion, but on a longer timescale, waves of immigrants have arrived on the island, interacting with the inhabitants, each other, and their external partners. They have constituted Ngazidja society and culture as 'hybrid', through processes of interaction that today—and they continue today—would be called 'creolisation'. This paper considers whether the term 'creolisation' is an appropriate and useful description of these processes or whether the widening of the term to such long-term (and perhaps less visible) processes diminishes its acuity.


At the end of 2006 the project of pilot experiment of immobilization of contaminants in-situ was prepared in DIAMO, s. p., o. z. TUU. Realisation of the experiment is planned for years 2007 and 2008. The principle of immobilization of contaminants in-situ is to develop special conditions in water bearing sandstone sediments when transformation of contaminants from mobile form to immobile form can happen. Under the conditions of remediation after chemical mining (using sulphuric acid) of uranium on the deposit Straz it means injecting suitable alkaline medium and its spreading in contaminated sandstone aquifer. It will lead to decreasing of acidity of contaminated groundwater and precipitating of contaminants (SO4, Al, Fe) in pores. This process is followed by co-precipitation and sorption of other toxic contaminants as As and Be. The results of the pilot experiment will be used for design of application of method of immobilization in-situ in the frame of remediation after chemical mining of uranium on the deposit Straz with the aim to decrease time and costs of the whole remediation process.


Through the critical discussion of some recently published works, the author reflects on the role of global history in the general landscape of contemporary historiography. In particular, he highlights the reasons why it is necessary to reconsider and recast the notion of Eurocentrism, which has long been dominant in historical research on the modern and contemporary age. One can, of course, continue to adopt a basically Eurocentric perspective (Europe in the world), especially in relation to the past two centuries of history. However, in light of a global-scale analysis, many typical beliefs of the classic Eurocentric approach do not seem as convincing today as they once did. Moreover, it seems evident that the global perspective necessarily suggests a rethinking of the very idea of Europe in the course of the modern age (Europe as such). In fact, at the beginning of the modern age, Southern Europe – today often considered backward in relation to Northern Europe – was decidedly at the forefront of globalization processes, performing the role of the prime protagonist of the process of European expansion around the globe.In any case, it appears clear from examination of the texts analyzed in what follows that today also scholars who do not necessarily share this approach are actively addressing global history and its problems.


Calls for United States energy independence and concerns about dwindling fossil fuel reserves have drawn national attention to the search for viable sources of alternative energy. One such source is offshore wind power generation. Offshore wind farms have already proven successful in Europe and Australia, but none yet exist off the coasts of the United States. A private proposal to build such a facility off the coast of Massachusetts has faced strong opposition. Debate exists as to whether the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act permits the federal government to lease areas of the Outer Continental Shelf for alternative energy development. Oil and gas extraction developments authorized under the Act have allowed accelerated development at the expense of the environment. This Note argues that a current proposal to amend the Act to include wind power generation facilities does not address the problems encountered by oil and gas developments, and calls for entirely


Considerable variation exists not only in the kinds of transposable elements (TEs) occurring within the genomes of different species, but also in their abundance and distribution. Noting a similarity to the assortment of organisms among ecosystems, some researchers have called for an ecological approach to the study of transposon dynamics. However, there are several ways to adopt such an approach, and it is sometimes unclear what an ecological perspective will add to the existing co‐evolutionary framework for explaining transposon‐host interactions. This review aims to clarify the conceptual foundations of transposon ecology in order to evaluate its explanatory prospects. We begin by identifying three unanswered questions regarding the abundance and distribution of TEs that potentially call for an ecological explanation. We then offer an operational distinction between evolutionary and ecological approaches to these questions. By determining the amount of variance in transposon abundance and distribution that is explained by ecological and evolutionary factors, respectively, it is possible empirically to assess the prospects for each of these explanatory frameworks. To illustrate how this methodology applies to a concrete example, we analyzed whole‐genome data for one set of distantly related mammals and another more closely related group of arthropods. Our expectation was that ecological factors are most informative for explaining differences among individual TE lineages, rather than TE families, and for explaining their distribution among closely related as opposed to distantly related host genomes. We found that, in these data sets, ecological factors do in fact explain most of the variation in TE abundance and distribution among TE lineages across less distantly related host organisms. Evolutionary factors were not significant at these levels. However, the explanatory roles of evolution and ecology become inverted at the level of TE families or among more distantly related genomes. Not only does this example demonstrate the utility of our distinction between ecological and evolutionary perspectives, it further suggests an appropriate explanatory domain for the burgeoning discipline of transposon ecology. The fact that ecological processes appear to be impacting TE lineages over relatively short time scales further raises the possibility that transposons might serve as useful model systems for testing more general hypotheses in ecology.


This paper examines teachers' mobility in response to exogenous changes in the credentials of their students using data from Stockholm high schools. I explore a major admission reform that lead to the reshuffling of students between schools within the municipality of Stockholm. The results show that a 10-percentile-point increase in student quality decreases the probability of a separation by up to 9 percentage points. These effects are very similar across all types of teachers and are found mainly for mobility between schools rather than out of the profession. They are also present only in the lower half of the student quality distribution. Teachers react mostly to direct measures of student quality (grades from compulsory school) rather than to other characteristics that are correlated with student quality (immigrant status, parental income, paternal cognitive skills). Finally, I do not find any significant effects of changes in student quality on individual teacher's earnings or school hiring policies.


The U.S. government has responded to the increase of financial crimes, including money laundering and terrorist financing, by requiring that financial institutions implement anti-money laundering compliance programs within their institutions. Most recently, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network exercised its regulatory powers, as authorized by the Treasury Department, by proposing regulations that now explicitly add customer due diligence to the preexisting anti-money laundering regime. The policy behind the government's legislative and regulatory measures is clear—financial institutions must ensure that they are protected from and not aiding in the illegal efforts of criminals. The complexity and insidiousness of these financial crimes makes it difficult for the government to act solely and without the compliance of financial institutions. Although national security and the protection of the global economy are urgent priorities, all legislative actions or considerations need to be sensitive to personal privacy. This Note examines the criminal activity and legislative history that has necessitated the proposal of such regulations, the burdens that compliance places on financial institutions, and the technology that aids these financial institutions in their compliance efforts. As a result of these compliance obligations and the potential penalties for non-compliance, customer privacy is not always guaranteed. Existing privacy laws do not sufficiently ensure that customer financial information is adequately protected; rather, these privacy laws allow privacy invasions for the sake of compliance with anti-money laundering legislation and, as a result, are often inadequate and insufficient when compared to international privacy schemes. It is important to find a balance between the need to protect national security, the requirements placed on financial institutions, and the rights customers have to financial privacy. The global nature of financial networks and of these illicit activities warrants concerted efforts by governments domestically and abroad to ensure that compliance does not result in unwarranted financial privacy invasions. Until a global system can be established, this Note proposes that the currently proposed regulations be amended to mandate privacy programs within financial institutions. Financial institutions should develop privacy policies and procedures that will work with their already existing antimoney laundering compliance programs and should ensure that their compliance and privacy focused personnel coordinate their efforts so that 496 BROOK. J. CORP. FIN. & COM. L. [Vol. 10 regulatory compliance neither detrimentally impacts the way they conduct their business nor betrays their customers' right to privacy.


In microfiltration, a deposit of foulant tends to form on the membrane surface and this usually controls the performance of the filtration process. This paper discusses the influence of physical parameters such as aeration and permeates flux on migration and deposition of above micron particles on the membrane surface. Kaolin clay suspension of particle 3.7–8 μm with mean particle diameter 4.1 μm was used in this study. Equal amount of mass of deposited particles on the membrane surface created different transmembrane pressure (TMP) when operated at different aeration rates and permeate flux showing that there is a composite effect. The particle deposition rate at the beginning at lower flux was almost linear which changed to a sharp logarithamic rise at higher flux. The difference in TMP rise for the same amount of deposit demonstrated the selective nature of particle deposition. The mass of the particle deposition on the membrane surface could be described by two parameters: maximum deposition and time using a simple empirical logarithamic equation y = k /[1+exp( b − at )], where k, a, and b are constant; y is the particulate mass deposit (g/m2) and t is the time. The maximum particle mass deposition growth could be described by the equation dy / dt= 1/4 ka .


Background Inhibitory control, or the ability to suppress planned but inappropriate prepotent actions in the current environment, plays an important role in the control of human performance. Evidence from empirical studies utilizing a sport-specific design has shown that athletes have superior inhibitory control. However, less is known about whether this superiority might (1) still be seen in a general cognitive task without a sport-related context; (2) be modulated differentially by different sporting expertise (e.g., tennis versus swimming). Methodology/Principal Findings Here we compared inhibitory control across tennis players, swimmers and sedentary non-athletic controls using a stop-signal task without a sport-specific design. Our primary finding showed that tennis players had shorter stop-signal reaction times (SSRTs) when compared to swimmers and sedentary controls, whereas no difference was found between swimmers and sedentary controls. Importantly, this effect was further confirmed after considering potential confounding factors (e.g., BMI, training experience, estimated levels of physical activity and VO2max), indicative of better ability to inhibit unrequired responses in tennis players. Conclusions/Significance This suggests that fundamental inhibitory control in athletes can benefit from open skill training. Sport with both physical and cognitive demands may provide a potential clinical intervention for those who have difficulties in inhibitory control.


The current investigative interview framework for police officers in England and Wales (and many other countries) recommends the use of the cognitive interview (CI). One of the primary components of the CI is the mental reinstatement of context (MRC) instruction. However, research has consistently indicated that police officers do not regularly use this component and when they do it is often poorly applied. Thus the question arises as to whether some adjustment of the MRC component might enhance its forensic practicability. An initial investigation was conducted as to the efficacy of a more succinct and less complex MRC technique, namely a sketch plan mental reinstatement of context (Sketch MRC). Twenty-four hours after having viewed a crime film, adult mock witnesses were interviewed employing the traditional MRC instruction, a Sketch MRC instruction or no mental reinstatement of context (No MRC). Analysis of overall memorial performance revealed the Sketch MRC to be as effective as the MRC and more effective than No MRC. Thus, for less serious crime the Sketch MRC technique may be a viable, less complex and less time consuming alternative. Copyright # 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This paper investigates whether joint economic and political integration leads to larger economic benefits than just economic integration. The identification strategy rests on the fact that Norway, at the time of the 1995 Enlargement of the European Union (EU), had successfully completed negotiations and fulfilled all accession requirements, taken membership in the European Economic Area (with full access to the Single Market), but decided in a referendum to reject full-fledged EU membership. Using the differences-in-differences and synthetic control methods with regional data, we find substantial politically driven economic benefits from EU membership: if Norway had joined the EU in 1995, productivity levels between 1995 and 2001 would have been 6% higher on average.


The conventional wisdom is that this country's privately owned critical infrastructure — banks, telecommunications networks, the power grid, and so on — is vulnerable to catastrophic cyber-attacks. The existing academic literature does not adequately grapple with this problem, however, because it conceives of cyber-security in unduly narrow terms: most scholars understand cyber-attacks as a problem of either the criminal law or the law of armed conflict. Cyber-security scholarship need not run in such established channels. This Article argues that, rather than thinking of private companies merely as potential victims of cyber-crimes or as possible targets in cyber-conflicts, we should think of them in administrative law terms. Many firms that operate critical infrastructure tend to underinvest in cyber-defense because of problems associated with negative externalities, positive externalities, free riding, and public goods — the same sorts of challenges the modern administrative state faces in fields like environmental law, antitrust law, products liability law, and public health law. These disciplines do not just yield a richer analytical framework for thinking about cyber-security; they also expand the range of possible responses. Understanding the problem in regulatory terms allows us to adapt various regulatory solutions — such as monitoring and surveillance to detect malicious code, hardening vulnerable targets, and building resilient and recoverable systems—for the cyber-security context. In short, an entirely new conceptual approach to cyber-security is needed.


Background Health extension workers (HEWs) are the implementers of the unique primary health care programme of Ethiopia. They facilitate community participation in maternal health service delivery via the health development army (HDA) and pregnant women forums (PWFs). As part of a quality improvement intervention, HEWs received training, guidance and supervision focused on facilitation of
HDA meetings and PWFs. We aimed to assess the effect of the intervention on maternal health service utilization and explore the perceptions of stakeholders regarding efforts to enhance community participation in maternal health.
Methods We conducted a mixed method study in Shebedino woreda (district), Sidama Zone, southern Ethiopia. The research team observed HDA meetings and PWFs (15), conducted in-depth interviews with 32 HEWs, 8 HEW supervisors and maternal health program managers, and conducted 8 focus group discussions
(FGDs) with community members. The interviews and FGDs were recorded, transcribed, translated, coded in Nvivo and thematically analysed. We also collected quantitative data on HDA and PWF participation, antenatal care attendance and skilled delivery and analysed using Excel (Microsoft Inc, Seattle, WA, USA).
Results The proportion of HDA leaders and pregnant women who attended the HDA and PWF meetings increased by 30.6% and 36% respectively, over 18 months of the intervention. The percentage of pregnant women identified and referred by HDA leaders increased from 42% to 85%, the antenatal care utilization increased from 73.4% to 77.6% and skilled delivery increased from 76.7% to 83.3%,) (p<0.05). From interviews with stakeholders, we found improved awareness about maternal health services and increased health seeking behaviour. However, lack of incentives and reporting formats for HDA leaders, absenteeism and limited support from kebele administrators constrained community participation in maternal health.
Conclusion With focused training, guidance and regular supportive supervision, HEWs were able to stimulate and enhance community participation, resulting in better maternal health service utilization in rural communities. HEWs, volunteer HDAs, pregnant women and the wider community have a role to play in quality improvement of maternal health services.


(South) Korea has reached a critical stage in its economic development. Per-capita income has reached a rather high
level, but social cohesion and politically enforced coercion, which were critically important for past growth, are fading
away. Moreover, liberties and freedom will be important for creativity to flourish, which in turn is vital for future economic
growth. This raises the question of the future social frame of the economy, because if this frame is not taken care of, the
free and unchecked market economy may severely undermine the development process. In this context it is important to
monitor how other countries dealt with the issue.

The paper is organised into 3 major parts, apart from this introduction. In part 2, the concept of "Social Market
Economy" as developed in post-war Germany and its implementation are presented. In part 3, the Korean situation is
covered in some more detail. It will be shown that Korea's economy is at a cross-roads where SME experience is
indeed relevant. In the 4th and final part, some lessons from SME experience for Korea are discussed.


The industry plays an important role in the economic growth of a country and for Malaysia the expansion of this sector continues to provide the main stimulus to the growth of the economy. however, growth cannot solely be based on traditional means of production. in order for a country to gain a competitive advantage, investment in new and high technology has become mandatory. Malaysia has moved towards capital-intensive and high technology industries in the 1990s. the Malaysian government needs to encourage the development of high-technology industries so that they can produce better products more efficiently due to the emergence of cheaper production bases in other countries, such as thailand, indonesia and China. in order for Malaysian industries to survive, Malaysia has to sustain its competitiveness by having a higher productivity and efficiency level.. Emphasis has been given to technology development and implementation in the Seventh Malaysian Plan. Various measures were implemented by the Malaysian Government to consolidate and strengthen the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector. among the initiatives undertaken were enhancing productivity and quality systems, along with utilising advanced technologies. these initiatives were supported by promotional activities and information diffusion undertaken by the national Productivity Corporation (nPC) and SiriM Berhad to educate enterprises on the latest techniques in productivity and quality improvements (Malaysia, 2001). the eight Malaysian Plan has also stressed the development of competitive advantage and productivity to enable the manufacturing sector to advance further. Firms are expected to intensify efforts in technology upgrading and developing indigenous technological capabilities in an environment of increasingly competitive markets and an accelerating pace of scientific and technological change (Malaysia, 2001). Recent concerns have been expressed that many firms are failing to invest in advanced manufacturing technology as fully as they should (hayes and Garvin, 1982; Primrose, 1991). a major reason for under-investment in new manufacturing technologies centres on the limitations of financial appraisal techniques (aggarwal, 1991; Cheung and Mason, 1993; drury and tayles, 1997; ashford et. al., 1998). Lefley (1996a; 1996b) suggested that these traditional approaches used in selecting investment failed to capture the full benefits from advanced manufacturing technology projects. These benefits are often intangible and traditional approaches are particularly incapable of capturing the value of options. Boquist et. al. (1998) stated that firms have lost millions of dollars through incorrect investment decisions, most probably as firms have been using the discounted cash flow (DCF) techniques to evaluate high technology investments based on the same criteria of acceptance as traditional capital budgeting (Wilner et. al., 1992).


Information about the mechanisms underlying the interactions of nanoparticles with living cells is crucial for their medical application and also provides indications of the putative toxicity of such materials. Here the uptake and intracellular delivery of disc-shaped zeolite L nanocrystals as porous aminosilicates with well-defined crystal structure, uncoated as well as with COOH-, NH2 -, polyethyleneglycol (PEG)- and polyallylamine hydrochloride (PAH) surface coatings are reported. HeLa cells are used as a model system to demonstrate the relation between these particles and cancer cells. Interactions are studied in terms of their fates under diverse in vitro cell culture conditions. Differently charged coatings demonstrated dissimilar behavior in terms of agglomeration in media, serum protein adsorption, nanoparticle cytotoxicity and cell internalization. It is also found that functionalized disc-shaped zeolite L particles enter the cancer cells via different, partly not yet characterized, pathways. These in vitro results provide additional insight about low-aspect ratio anisotropic nanoparticle interactions with cancer cells and demonstrate the possibility to manipulate the interactions of nanoparticles and cells by surface coating for the use of nanoparticles in medical applications.


Self-employed workers can be own-account workers who control their own work or employers who not only are their own boss but also direct others (their employees). We expect both types of self-employed, i.e., own-account workers and employers, to enjoy more independence in determining their work content (type of work) and more flexibility in shaping their work context (e.g., working conditions) compared to paid employees and hence to be more satisfied with their work. Furthermore, we suspect that employers (who can delegate work to their employees and can help them to develop and grow) enjoy even higher levels of work satisfaction compared to both own-account workers (who are their own boss but do not give direction to others) and (non-supervisory) paid employees (who have to obey orders from others within organizational hierarchies). While prior studies typically broadly compare the work satisfaction of self-employed and paid employees, we distinguish employers from own-account workers within the group of self-employed using data from the ECHP for 14 European countries. Our findings indeed show that employers are significantly more satisfied with their work than both own-account workers and paid employees. Additionally, while employers as well as own-account workers enjoy greater procedural utility than (non-supervisory) paid employees stemming from the content and the context of their work, there also seems to be an additional work satisfaction premium for employers.