This thesis examines International IJVs and the conditions that contribute to their success. The original contribution to knowledge of his thesis is the identification of Trust, the Parent Relationship and Long-Term Commitment as conditions most likely to foster successful IJVs. This thesis showed the applicability of these conditions to IJVs in the automotive sector and also demonstrates the dependency of each condition to the other by identifying a sequential order with which the conditions

These conditions are established through interviewing senior management from both parents and the internal management of 13 successful IJVs in the automotive industry. The thesis is divided into a qualitative and quantitative analysis. Key themes from the respondent s qualitative views of success are extracted, coded and then analysed to provide robust empirical results. The data acquired from the respondents is analysed using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA).

The conditions leading to success are the parent s relationship, the level of trust that exists between the parents and their long-term commitment to the IJV.


We propose a novel scheme for directly determining the intensity and phase of ultrashort pulses. The technique involves time-to-space conversion of an input pulse by a diffraction grating, followed by the detection of its spectral intensity distributions in the Fourier transform plane with and without an exponential filter placed in front of the grating. By use of an efficient noniterative phase-retrieval algorithm, the spectral phase of the pulse is retrieved from these spectral intensities. The intensity and phase of the pulse in the temporal domain can be reconstructed by the inverse Fourier transformation of the retrieved spectral amplitude. Computer simulation results confirm that robust reconstructions of a linearly chirped pulse and a pulse with quadratic and cubic spectral phases are possible with high fidelity.


A key regulator of translation is the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), a protein kinase member of the family of phosphatidylinositol kinase (PIK)-related kinases. mTOR is dually regulated by growth factors and nutrient availability, though the precise mechanisms by which mTOR is regulated are not well understood. The C-terminal of the mTOR catalytic domain has been of regulatory interest by the identification of the insulin stimulated and nutrient sensitive S2448 phosphorylation site. The functional significance of S2448 phosphorylation on the mTOR downstream targets p70 S6 kinase (S6K1) and eIF4E-binding protein 1 (4E-BP1) are unclear. A novel nutrient responsive mTOR phosphorylation site has been identified at T2446. In contrast to S2448 phosphorylation, T2446 is dephosphorylated when CHO-IR cells are insulin stimulated and phosphorylated when cells are nutrient deprived. Studies show that activation of AMP-activated kinase (AMPK) is concomitant with an increase in mTOR T2446 phosphorylation, paralleled by a decrease in S6K1 phosphorylation. Regulation of T2446 phosphorylation may involve AMPK. Phosphorylation at T2446 and S2448 is mutually exclusive. The functional significance of phosphorylation at T2446 and S2448 on the downstream target S6K1 was investigated by a mutational strategy where each site was substituted with non-phosphorylatable alanine or phospho-mimic glutamic acid. Evidence indicates that although phosphorylation of T2446 and S2448 is mutually exclusive in response to growth factors and nutrients, their individual phosphorylation may not be enough to have a direct effect on downstream S6K1 activity. Additionally, the tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) may have positive regulatory effects on insulin signalling. Loss of TSC2 impairs insulin signalling by down- regulating the turnover of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) protein, affecting associated class 1a phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) activity and downstream signalling; including suppression of PKB activation and mTOR S2448 phosphorylation.


With the help of fog computing, urban computing and intelligence novel systems can be created to improve the urban environment and the quality of human life. Sensor-cloud systems based on urban fog computing (SCS-UFC) are new intelligent network systems, which combine a cloud platform with wireless sensor networks (WSNs) as well as fog nodes to provide functions such as sensing, computation, and storage of large-scale data. Since the sensor nodes in WSNs only have limited transmission capacity, they cannot transmit their data to the cloud platform directly. Therefore, fog nodes with stronger transmission capacity are deployed to relay the data from WSNs to the cloud platform. However, different fog nodes may be burdened with different workloads (i.e., amounts of data): usually, the fog nodes with heavier workloads mean longer transmission delay and more energy consumption. If a fog node exhausts its energy, it will die and then make the network cease to work. Therefore, it is necessary to balance the workload of all fog nodes so as to reduce transmission delay and energy consumption of the sensors. However, addressing the problem is challenging because each fog node only knows local information of its neighbors, and thus it is difficult to get a global optimization result by itself. In this paper, a distributed intelligent algorithm based on the Hungarian method is proposed. First, each fog node collects the information connected with its neighboring fog nodes that are located within its transmission range. Then, a new genetic algorithm is designed to find an approximate optimization solution. Finally, each fog node decides if it should forward parts of its workload to other fog nodes so that the workloads of all fog nodes are balanced. Simulation results show that our algorithm can achieve shorter delay and less energy consumption than existing works.


The US-led intervention in Haiti has often been held up as an example of how not to conduct foreign policy. Ill-defined and open-ended interventions in affairs of other countries for reasons tangential to national security are seen as primarily squandering US military resources and readiness on dubious results and outcomes that only generate more ill-will among those targeted for intervention. Furthermore, to the extent that problems in these countries may have been decades or centuries in the making, they are seen as only being fixed through the "n"-word—nation-building—whereby expensive ventures are undertaken to rebuild entire polities or economies. For many contemporary experts, such nation-building is at best misplaced hubris, at worst sheer folly. This paper uses the example of Haiti to propose that efforts to build peace in war-torn societies need not be endlessly expensive or open-ended, and if conducted with precision and moderation, can lead to the achievement of key long-term US foreign goals without undermining short-term priorities. This argument is presented from the prism of Haiti's historical and current experience.


Background Two meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have suggested that four variants: rs2605100 in lysophospholipase-like 1 (LYPLAL1), rs10146997 in neuroxin 3 (NRXN3), rs545854 in methionine sulfoxide reductase A (MSRA), and rs987237 in transcription factor activating enhancer-binding protein 2 beta (TFAP2B) associate with measures of central obesity. To elucidate potential underlying phenotypes we aimed to investigate whether these variants associated with: 1) quantitative metabolic traits, 2) anthropometric measures (waist circumference (WC), waist-hip ratio, and BMI), or 3) type 2 diabetes, and central and general overweight and obesity. Methodology/Principal Findings The four variants were genotyped in Danish individuals using KASPar®. Quantitative metabolic traits were examined in a population-based sample (n = 6,038) and WC and BMI were furthermore analyzed in a combined study sample (n = 13,507). Case-control studies of diabetes and adiposity included 15,326 individuals. The major G-allele of LYPLAL1 rs2605100 associated with increased fasting serum triglyceride concentrations (per allele effect (β) = 3%(1;5(95%CI)), p additive = 2.7×10−3), an association driven by the male gender (p interaction = 0.02). The same allele associated with increased fasting serum insulin concentrations (β = 3%(1;5), p additive = 2.5×10−3) and increased insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (β = 4%(1;6), p additive = 1.5×10−3). The minor G-allele of rs10146997 in NRXN3 associated with increased WC among women (β = 0.55cm (0.20;0.89), p additive = 1.7×10−3, p interaction = 1.0×10−3), but showed no associations with obesity related metabolic traits. The MSRA rs545854 and TFAP2B rs987237 showed nominal associations with central obesity; however, no underlying metabolic phenotypes became obvious, when investigating quantitative metabolic traits. None of the variants influenced the prevalence of type 2 diabetes. Conclusion/Significance We demonstrate that several of the central obesity-associated variants in LYPLAL1, NRXN3, MSRA, and TFAP2B associate with metabolic and anthropometric traits in Danish adults. However, analyses were made without adjusting for multiple testing, and further studies are needed to confirm the putative role of LYPLAL1, NRXN3, MSRA, and TFAP2B in the pathophysiology of obesity.


Natural resources are often held responsible for intrastate conflicts. As a consequence, both national and international measures to avoid the detrimental impact of resource endowments have increasingly been discussed and implemented in resource-rich countries. These measures include stabilization funds, subregional development programs, revenue-sharing regimes, and transparency initiatives. However, comparative empirical studies of the actual impact of these measures, particularly regarding their contribution to conflict prevention, are scarce. This paper contributes to the filling of this gap: combining a medium-N sample of oildependent countries and three in-depth case studies (Algeria, Nigeria, and Venezuela), we evaluate different instruments of resource management and their effects on conflict risk factors. On the one hand, the findings do not show any systematic connection between the countermeasures and a reduction in resource-related risks; on the other, the paper highlights common causal factors for the lack of implementation of resource-related countermeasures.


Madagascar has a rich and diverse reptile fauna including several species of chelonians that are found nowhere else. It is home to such spectacular species as the Radiated Tortoise, Astrochelys radiata, the Spider Tortoise, Pyxis arachnoides, and the Ploughshare Tortoise, Astrochelys yniphora; which is considered to be the world's rarest tortoise and one of the most endangered reptiles. The Tortoises and Turtles of Madagascar is the first book to cover all the living and extinct chelonians of Madagascar. This book is an authoritative and comprehensive guide covering every known aspect of their natural history. Recent field studies that have been carried out by the author and others to provide a better understanding of these species' ecology are synthesised in this publication. Practical species accounts provide accurate details of species identification, distribution, ecology and conservation, and are complemented by numerous beautiful photographs of Malagasy tortoises and turtles in the wild. Up-to-date information on the status of their populations is also presented, and there are details on the best sites to observe tortoises and turtles in Madagascar. Currently all extant endemic species of tortoises and turtles of Madagascar are threatened and the rapidity with which chelonian populations have declined in Madagascar underscores the need for equally rapid action to protect them. The Tortoises and Turtles of Madagascar outlines the challenges to chelonian conservation in Madagascar and the approaches developed to date to facilitate their recovery. This book will not only introduce readers to the fascinating world of Malagasy chelonians but will also raise awareness and support to ensure that they are preserved for the future. (Resume d'auteur)


Abstract Gravel highways in the continuous permafrost zone provide critical transportation links that are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate warming and permafrost thaw. To examine if the physical effects associated with the construction, maintenance, and use of gravel roads alter vegetation and permafrost conditions, we measured vegetation, soils, and near-surface ground temperatures at tall and dwarf shrub tundra sites adjacent to and distant from the Dempster Highway in the Northwest Territories of Canada. We found that alder growth and recruitment were significantly enhanced adjacent to the highway. Where alder shrubs had formed closed canopies, we observed dramatic alterations to plant community composition, soil properties, and ground temperatures. Tall shrub sites adjacent to the road exhibited less understory vegetation, greater litter and organic layer thickness, higher nutrient availability, and thicker snowpack than all other site types. Our results show that in shrub tundra ecosystems the conditions generated by the maintenance and use of a gravel road can drive ecological feedbacks that magnify changes to vegetation communities and soils. We found that where the road facilitated shrub dominance, feedbacks were initiated that enhanced snow accumulation and altered ground temperatures and soil chemistry. In turn, these changes likely promoted enhanced shrub recruitment and growth. Shrub proliferation adjacent to highways is an important consideration for the planning and maintenance of this form of infrastructure. To improve our understanding of the spatial heterogeneity of shrub proliferation, research exploring the relationships between biophysical landscape features and shrub development is also needed.


This discussion is a critical assessment of the role of cultural factors in promoting tourism in Botswana. From the 1990s, the Botswana Government's policy on tourism focused on involving local community participation in tourism by making Botswana cultural heritage one of the cornerstones of tourism. This policy included goals of alleviating rural poverty and promoting sustainable resource management. Communities in urban and rural areas were challenged to market their cultural knowledge such as holding court, traditional Botswana hospitality, performance arts and handicrafts in attracting international tourists. This policy of engaging communities in cultural tourism caused tension in relations with policies launched earlier. Since independence in 1966, the Government of Botswana followed economic policies which promoted private sector participation and partnerships. From the 1970s, the private sector was particularly courted to participate in tourism in order to attract famous and rich tourists such as entertainment actors to Botswana. This promoted a strategy and vision called 'low volume – high price market tourism'. The Government hoped to use its reputation for good governance and economic management to attract rich tourists. It was anticipated that through cultural tourism, local communities in various parts of the country would become involved and benefit.


This paper further explores some of the issues raised in an earlier research paper by the same authors (MThe Canadian Urban System, 1971-2001: Responses to a Changing World," Centre for Urban and Community Studies, 2003) concerning urban growth. The research draws on the findings of the 2001 Census of Canada and comparable data for 1971 to Investigate trends over the past three decades. After describing the location and amount of urban growth, the paper examines the correlations between growth and other urban characteristics and between growth and changes in those characteristics. In particular, the authors consider the question of whether cities are becoming more alike or more specialized in some ways. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of continued variability In the rates of urban growth and decline. Centre for Urban and Community Studies • Untvarsily of Toronto • www.urbancentre.utoronto.ca Iv Urban Growth and Decline in Canada, 1971-200I


A crystalline binary adduct between trimethylamine N-oxide (TMANO) and 2,4-dichlorobenzoic acid (2,4-DCBA) molecules was obtained by slow evaporation from acetonitrile. The obtained molecular complex is formed by a racemic mixture of molecular complexes crystallizing in the orthorhombic space group Pbca. An exhaustive analysis of the temperature dependence of the cell parameters and the behavior of the acidic hydrogen position and carboxylate group was performed by single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, FT-IR spectroscopy and theoretical calculations. The molecular system was thermally characterized, subsequently demonstrating an order–disorder transition. Finally, the intermolecular interactions were analyzed via Hirshfeld surface analysis.


Land leveling is one of the most important steps in soil preparation and cultivation. Although land leveling with machines require considerable amount of energy, it delivers a suitable surface slope with minimal deterioration of the soil and damage to plants and other organisms in the soil. Notwithstanding, researchers during recent years have tried to reduce fossil fuel consumption and its deleterious side effects using new techniques such as; Artificial Neural Network (ANN),Imperialist Competitive Algorithm –ANN (ICA-ANN), and regression and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) andSensitivity Analysis that will lead to a noticeable improvement in the environment. In this research effects of various soil properties such as Embankment Volume, Soil Compressibility Factor, Specific Gravity, Moisture Content, Slope, Sand Percent, and Soil Swelling Index in energy consumption were investigated. The study was consisted of 90 samples were collected from 3 different regions. The grid size was set 20 m in 20 m (20*20) from a farmland in Karaj province of Iran. The aim of this work was to determine best linear model Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) and Sensitivity Analysis in order to predict the energy consumption for land leveling. According to the results of Sensitivity Analysis, only three parameters; Density, Soil Compressibility Factor and, Embankment Volume Index had significant effect on fuel consumption. According to the results of regression, only three parameters; Slope, Cut-Fill Volume (V) and, Soil Swelling Index (SSI) had significant effect on energy consumption. using adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system for prediction of labor energy, fuel energy, total machinery cost, and total machinery energy can be successfully demonstrated. In comparison with ANN, all ICA-ANN models had higher accuracy in prediction according to their higher R2 value and lower RMSE value. The performance of the multivariate ICA-ANN and regression and artificial neural network and Sensitivity analysis and Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) model was evaluated by using statistical index (RMSE, R2 )). The values of RMSE and R2 derived by ICA-ANN model were, to Labor Energy (0.0146 and 0.9987), Fuel energy (0.0322 and 0.9975), Total Machinery Cost (0.0248 and 0.9963), Total Machinery Energy (0.0161 and 0.9987) respectively, while these parameters for multivariate regression model were, to Labor Energy (0.1394 and 0.9008), Fuel energy (0.1514 and 0.8913), Total Machinery Cost (TMC) (0.1492 and 0.9128), Total Machinery Energy (0.1378 and 0.9103).Respectively, while these parameters for ANN model were, to Labor Energy (0.0159 and 0.9990), Fuel energy (0.0206 and 0.9983), Total Machinery Cost (0.0287 and 0.9966), Total Machinery Energy (0.0157 and 0.9990) respectively, while these parameters for Sensitivity analysis model were, to Labor Energy (0.1899 and 0.8631), Fuel energy (0.8562 and 0.0206), Total Machinery Cost (0.1946 and 0.8581), Total Machinery Energy (0.1892 and 0.8437) respectively, respectively, while these parameters for ANFIS model were, to Labor Energy (0.0159 and 0.9990), Fuel energy (0.0206 and 0.9983), Total Machinery Cost (0.0287 and 0.9966), Total Machinery Energy (0.0157 and 0.9990) respectively, Results showed that ICA_ANN with seven neurons in hidden layer had better.


The current climate of accountability and public scrutiny in the health and social care professions demands a high level of responsibility by health professionals in terms of understanding, updating and credibly using their professional knowledge. To achieve this, health professionals need to acknowledge the wide variety of sources from which their knowledge is generated: they need a sound working knowledge of practice epistemology which investigates the nature of knowledge and knowledge generation which underlies practice. The call from community, governments and employers is for evidence-based practice with the expectation that health professionals fully understand the knowledge which underpins their practice and can therefore justify their practice. This book examines the nature, generation and development of professional knowledge in the health professions, with particular emphasis on physiotherapy, occupational therapy, medicine and nursing. It is a user-friendly resource book accessible for practitioners, clinical educators, tertiary educators, research students and researchers. What constitutes practice knowledge? How is this knowledge created and developed?What roles do health professionals play in understanding and developing their practice knowledge? Readers, whether from a practice, education or research background, are invited to consider the implications of these questions for their practice. More than ever, the rapidly changing worlds of work and society are providing many challenges to the adequacy of the knowledge bases of the health professions and the capacity of health professionals to critique and develop their knowledge to meet community needs. These issues are explored in this book.


This paper investigates the semantics of three Japanese evidential markers — rashii, yooda and sooda. These three words are often used in similar situations and interpreted in English as 'it seems', 'it appears', or 'it looks like'. The expressions are semantically closely related, but sometimes they are not interchangeable. Thus the question arises how to articulate the subtle differences between them. Previous studies have attempted to explicate the differences by using explanatory terms such as 'direct' or 'indirect' to describe the content of information, and 'objective' or 'subjective' to describe the attitude towards the information. While these terms are convenient to capture the meaning simplistically, they illustrate only part of the words' usage, and also the definitions apply equally well to other evidential markers. This study is the first explication of the meanings of these markers using metalanguage and the framework of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage Theory (NSM Theory) proposed and developed by Anna Wierzbicka and colleagues (Goddard & Wierzbicka 1994, 2002; Peeters ed. 2006; Goddard ed. 2008). By analyzing the deficiencies of the previously presented definitions, and examining actual usage examples drawn from modern Japanese literature, the article applies semantic primes to explicate the meanings of rashii, yooda and sooda. The meanings of each expression are illustrated by cognitive scenarios such as 'I think I can say something like this about X', or 'I think this about X at the moment'. The resulting semantic formulae clarify the differences between the three expressions. They also have utility for assisting second language learners in decisions about using the three terms.


A real-time, frequency-translated holographic imaging system has been developed by use of bacteriorhodopsin film. The system provides a capability for imaging surface acoustic waves and has been utilized to detect and characterize surface-breaking defects through near-field ultrasonic scattering effects. Frequency-plane filtering was used to discriminate between ultrasonic standing-wave and near-field scattering features, dramatically enhancing the holographic visualization of the defect sites. A detailed description of the system is presented, along with representative holographic images showing the interaction of surface acoustic waves with surface-breaking cracks and small notches in aluminum and titanium substrates.


Fabrication and actuation errors of submicron silicon waveguide optical switches are reported to remain within sub-100 nm ranges. These errors cause high loss ruining the optical performance of the switches at the on-state. Elliptical tips with tip angles about the Brewster angle are studied in an attempt to reduce the high-loss of such optical switches. Numerical computations are conducted in 3D Finite Difference Time Domain analysis. Optical performances at various distances both along and perpendicular to the light propagation directions are studied for tips with angles above and below the Brewster angle. Effect of fabrication and actuation errors on the performance of optical switch is reduced using tips with angles greater than Brewster angle. Transmittance of optical switch is calculated to be 94.69% when 1.5 µm-wide and 74º-angled waveguide tip geometry after two cascaded waveguide pairs is utilized.


Eukaryotic mRNAs contain 3'-untranslated regions (UTR) that are involved in posttranscriptional control of gene expression. AU-rich octanucleotide repeats, UUAUUUAU, present in the 3'-UTR of mature lymphokine and other cytokine transcripts, have been implicated in the regulation of mRNA stability and translational efficiency. For example, previous evidence suggests that the AU-rich element (ARE) present in the 3'-UTR of murine tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) can affect the posttranscriptional regulation of murine TNF-alpha gene expression in hematopoietic cells. Although cytokines are produced in epithelial cells, little is known about the regulation of TNF-alpha and other cytokine gene expression by 3'-UTR elements in human malignant epithelial cells. To better understand the function of the 3'-UTR of the human TNF-alpha gene in the regulation of TNF-alpha protein production in human epithelial cancer cells, a series of luciferase reporter constructs with portions of the 3'-UTR of human TNF-alpha was transfected into human breast carcinoma cell lines ZR-75-1 and ZR-75-1R (which overexpresses TNF-alpha). The 3'-UTR of TNF-alpha markedly suppressed luciferase activity in both cell lines, and the suppression of activity was reversed by deletion of the AU-rich sequences. This suppression was quantitative, with six repeats causing more inhibition than two repeats. Increased levels of luciferase activity were observed 3 h after TNF-alpha stimulation in ZR-75-1 cells transfected by constructs containing AU-rich repeats. In addition, cytoplasmic extracts from both cell lines were assayed for factors that bind to the 3'-UTR of human TNF-alpha mRNA. RNA-protein binding activities were found in both cell lines. Competition studies showed that these proteins specifically bound to AU-rich repeats present in the 3'-UTR of TNF-alpha. No binding activity was observed when the AU-rich repeats were deleted. TNF-alpha exposure markedly increased activity of several RNA-binding proteins, especially a novel Mr 50,000-55,000 RNA-binding protein. The binding activity in untreated ZR-75-1R was higher than that in untreated ZR-75-1 cells, suggesting that the level of RNA-protein binding correlates with the expression level of TNF-alpha in human epithelial cancer cells and that the RNA-binding proteins may control expression of TNF-alpha in ZR-75-1 cells. We conclude that the AU-rich repeats in the 3'-UTR of human TNF-alpha mRNA may regulate gene expression in human epithelial cancer cells by binding to AU sequence-specific proteins, including a previously undescribed Mr 50,000-55,000 protein not observed in hematopoietic cells.


BACKGROUND
Many patients with aggressive B-cell lymphomas and high clinical risk score still die of lymphoma after conventional R-CHOP chemoimmunotherapy. We hypothesized that intensified chemoimmunotherapy including systemic central nervous system (CNS) prophylaxis improves outcome and reduces the incidence of CNS-related events.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Inclusion criteria were age 18-65 years, primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma or grade III follicular lymphoma without clinical signs of CNS disease and negative cerebrospinal fluid cytology, age-adjusted International Prognostic Index 2-3 and WHO performance score 0-3. Treatment consisted of six courses of R-CHOEP-14 followed by a course of high-dose cytarabine and a course of high-dose methotrexate. Primary end point was failure-free survival (FFS) at 3 years.

RESULTS
A total of 156 eligible patients with a median age of 54 years (range 20-64) were included. Three toxic deaths were observed. Three-year overall survival (OS) and FFS rates (median observation time 52 months for survivors) were 81% and 65%, respectively. Seven patients experienced CNS relapse, all within 6 months.

CONCLUSIONS
The results are promising with favorable 3-year OS and FFS rates, a low toxic death rate and a lower than expected number of CNS events. CNS progression might be further reduced by earlier CNS prophylaxis. CinicalTrials.gov. identifier NCT01502982.


The focus of this essay is the analysis of daily objects as signs in films. Objects from everyday life acquire several functions in films: they can be solely used as scene objects or to support a particular film style. Other objects are specially chosen to translate a character's interior state of mind or the filmmaker's aesthetical or ethical commitment to narrative concepts. In order to understand such functions and commitments, I developed a methodology for film analysis which focuses on the objects. Object interpretation, as the starting point of film analysis, is not a new approach. For instance, French film critic Andre Bazin proposed that use of object interpretation in the 1950s. Similarly, German film theorist Siegfried Kracauer stated it in the 1960s. However, there is currently no existing analytical model to use when engaging in object interpretation in film. My methodology searches for the most representative objects in films which involves both quantitative and qualitative analysis; I consider the number of times each object appears in a film (quantitative analysis) as well as the context of their appearance, i.e. the type of shot used and how that creates either a larger or smaller relevance and/or expressiveness (qualitative analysis). In addition to the criteria of relevance and expressiveness , I also analyze the functionality of an object by exploring details and specifying the role various objects play in films. This research was developed at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada and was supported by the Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada (DFAIT).


Background/Aims: The benefits of colonoscopy in reducing colorectal cancer (CRC) risk for patients over 75 years are controversial. We aimed to determine whether colonoscopy use is associated with a decreased risk of CRC in patients 76-85 years old in the United States (US). Patients and Methods: All patients in the Medicare 5% random sample of the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results-Medicare linked database 76-85 years old at outpatient colonoscopy between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2002 were identified. Using the Kaplan-Meier method, we estimated the cumulative incidence of CRC in the above-mentioned colonoscopy group and compared with the control group of patients without colonoscopy. All patients were followed until diagnosis of CRC or carcinoma in situ, death or December 31, 2005. The multivariate Cox proportional hazards model was used in statistical analysis. CRC was separated by location into distal vs. proximal CRC in subgroup analysis. Results: Of 5,701 patients in the colonoscopy group, 37 (0.65%) patients were diagnosed with CRC, compared to 379 (1.55%) out of 24,437 patients in the control group (p < 0.001). The cumulative incidences of distal and proximal CRC were lower in the colonoscopy group compared to those in the control group (5-year distal CRC: 0.26 vs. 0.77%; 5-year proximal CRC: 0.43 vs. 0.79%, both p < 0.05). In multivariate Cox regression, colonoscopy was associated with decreased risk of all CRC (hazard ratio ((HR) 0.42, 95% CI 0.28-0.65), distal CRC (HR 0.36, 95% CI 0.18-0.70), and proximal CRC (HR 0.53, 95% CI 0.30-0.92)). Conclusion: Among patients 76-85 years old in the United States, colonoscopy use was associated with decreased risks of both distal and proximal CRC, with a smaller risk reduction in distal colon. Due to inherent limitations associated with our retrospective design, future prospective studies are needed to validate these findings.


At the present time only two long-acting somatostatin (SS) analogs, octreotide and lanreotide, are commonly used in the routine therapy. Both analogs have a high affinity mainly to a somatostatin receptor subtype 2 (SSTR2). The established indications for SS analogs treatment include acromegaly, neuroendocrine tumors of the pancreas and gastrointestinal tract, and some gastro-enterologic diseases (pancreatitis, gastrointestinal bleedings, refractory diarrheas, pancreatic and intestinal fistulas). The recent investigations allow to predict the enlargement of therapeutic applications of SS analogs. It concerns pituitary tumors other than somatotropinoma, tumors of other endocrine glands like thyroid and adrenal gland, as well as some non-endocrine tumors. The progress depends on the introduction of new SS analogs with high affinity for SS receptor subtypes other than SSTR2, because some tumors present the high expression of SSTR1 (e.g. prostatic cancers) or SSTR5 (e.g. colonic cancers). Great hopes are connected with the coupling of SS analogs with the radioactive isotopes or non-radioactive cytotoxic agents to destruct the neoplastic cells highly expressing the specific subtypes of SS receptors. The pre- or postoperative in vivo imaging of SS receptors by means of the receptor scintigraphy, as well as the post-operative identification of SS receptor subtypes in the excised tumor tissues using immunohistochemistry, should play an important role in the prediction of the effects of SS analog treatment. Beside oncology, new therapeutic applications of SS analogs could be presumed among others in ophthalmology; it concerns the treatment of progressive Graves-Basedow ophtalmopathy, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and corneal diseases connected with corneal vascularization.


Traditional risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, obesity and metabolic syndrome, as well as additional nontraditional risk factors, can damage the kidney directly and by promoting intrarenal atherogenesis. Evidence indicates that increased oxidative stress and inflammation may mediate most of the effects of risk factors on the kidney. Clinical studies have demonstrated a relationship between oxidative stress and inflammatory biomarkers, and a few studies indicate an inverse correlation of oxidative stress biomarkers with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Further, surrogate indexes of atherosclerosis such as intima-media thickness and aortic pulse wave velocity have been demonstrated to be related to plasma concentrations of markers of endothelial activation, inflammation and fibrosis in patients with different stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Moreover, plasma concentrations of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein have been shown to be increased and related to left ventricular mass in CKD individuals having left ventricular hypertrophy. In contrast, in these patients, decreases in fetuin-A plasma levels have been reported. Considering the complex background of the pathophysiological changes characterizing CKD patients, we can consider cardiovascular disease a multifactorial complication of CKD.


To determine the possible relationship between toxoplasmosis and patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES). Materials and methods: Seventy-three subjects with FES (15-54 years old; mean: 23.4 years) and 40 healthy individuals (20-54 years old; mean: 30.3 years) were enrolled in the study. Most of the FES patients (90.4%) and the control individuals (95.0%) were male. Specific IgG and IgM antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii were investigated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the total amount of antibodies was investigated with the Sabin-Feldman dye test (SFDT). Results: Compared to the control individuals, study subjects had significantly more toxoplasmosis-like symptoms and more cats in the household; they were less likely to live in apartments and more likely to live in ground-floor houses. They did consume more uncooked meat, unpasteurized goat's milk, and chicken eggs; had more contact with soil; and were living less often in urban areas and more often in rural areas. Serum samples from 32 (43.8%) and 25 (34.2%) of 73 patients with FES were seropositive for T. gondii when tested by ELISA IgG and SFDT, respectively. Out of 40 serum samples from control subjects, 13 (32.5%) and 15 (37.5%) were found positive for T. gondii by ELISA IgG and SFDT, respectively. In patients with FES, 17 (68%) out of 25 who were SFDT-positive were also positive by ELISA IgG test, while 15 out of 48 (31.3%) SFDT-negative serums were positive by ELISA IgG. In the control group, 11 out of 15 SFDT-positive serum samples (73.3%) were also positive by ELISA IgG test, while 2 out of 25 SFDT-negative serum samples were positive by ELISA IgG. Conclusion: The present study shows that toxoplasmosis might be associated with first-episode schizophrenia. More studies are needed to prove the association between T. gondii infection and patients suffering from schizophrenia.


We demonstrate an integrated-optical unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer in lithium niobate for detecting wavelength shifts of light sources, such as laser diodes and superluminescentdiodes at lambda = 844 nm. The output signal can be used to stabilize the light source. Because of the temperature dependence of the effective refractive index and the thermal expansion of the substrate, the device acts also as a temperature sensor. The temperature sensitivity of the interferometer was compensated for by the combination of proton exchanged- and annealed proton exchanged-channel waveguides by approximately two orders of magnitude. The thermo-optic coefficients of the extraordinary effective refractive index in integrated optical channel waveguides in LiNbO8 have been measured with high accuracy over a temperature range from 10 degrees C to 40 degrees C.


This article builds on the work of George Lindbeck to examine the role of doctrines in the shaping of religious experience and emotion. Using a series of historical examples, it argues for the value of identifying a mode of theological argument that supports claims through attending to perceived affective effects of particular doctrines. It then applies this approach to Philipp Melanchthon's classic articulation of the forensic model of the doctrine justification by faith in light of contemporary critiques of the doctrine as a 'legal fiction' to show how such critiques fail when examined from the perspective of affective salience, and draws on recent work in cognitive science to demonstrate the psychological plausibility of Melanchthon's description of the affective consequences of justification.


There is no laboratory test or diagnostic tool is available for diagnosing schizophrenia. In schizophrenics significant structural changes are observed in certain parts of the brain. Voxel-based analysis based on the stereotactic coordinates provides a whole brain and unbiased technique for characterizing regional cerebral functions and structure. The multivariate linear model (MLM) has been proposed to characterize the functional brain response as a global pattern in the brain. Application of the MLM to voxel based morphometry (VBM) enables to capture and explain the interrelationship between the voxel-wise MRI data and a set of predictors in the spatial pattern of tissue distribution. Thus, this procedure is applied to differentiate schizophrenia patients from healthy subjects. This process is achieved using a multivariate tool box (MM2) implemented in old version of statistical parametric mapping (SPM2). The scripts in MM2 are upgraded to make it compatible with new version SPM5 so that more accurate and efficient method of classification can be obtained.


A novel approach is described using chitosan–genipin films as a sustainable method for wine preservation. Films prepared from fungi and from shrimp by-products showed similar mechanical and chemical properties. In addition, shrimp derived films showed no IgE positive reaction against shellfish allergenic compounds. The chitosan–genipin films were used to produce white wines without the addition of sulphur dioxide as a preservative. These wines showed lower susceptibility to browning, with organoleptic characteristics comparable to those prepared using sulphur dioxide. It is shown that the formation of iron-tartrate–chitosan complexes promotes the decrease of iron and other metal availability, minimizing oxidation reactions, as well as inhibiting microbial growth. The overall volatile character of the wines was maintained. However, the presence of chitosan–genipin films promotes the occurrence of Maillard and Strecker reactions, producing volatile compounds with positive wine aroma scents. The use of chitosan–genipin films in winemaking is an innovative, green and environmentally friendly technology that could be easily implemented at an industrial scale with no additional costs.


Urban studies scholars drawing on Foucault's analysis of governmentality have investigated how urban social orders are increasingly more concerned with the management of space rather than on the discipline of offenders or the punishment of offences (Merry, 2001). This paper examines the 'rationality' and efficacy of spatial governmentality in post-apartheid Cape Town, and shows how the city has increasingly become a 'fortress city' (Davis, 1990), much like cities such as Los Angeles, Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro. These 'global cities' are increasingly characterised by privatised security systems in middle class suburbs, shopping malls and gated communities (Caldeira, 1999). These spatial forms of governmentality draw on sophisticated security systems comprising razor wire and electrified walls, burglar alarms and safe rooms, as well as vicious guard dogs, neighbourhood watches, private security companies, and automated surveillance cameras. On the other side of the race and class divide are urban ghettoes characterised by growing poverty and everyday violence. These socio-spatial inequalities continue to be reproduced despite urban planning initiatives aimed at desegregating the apartheid city. Although the media and the middle classes highlight the dangers of crime and violence, they tend to ignore the structures of inequality that fuel the growth of crime syndicates and violent drug economies that are reproducing these urban governance crises. Given the diminished resources of the neo-liberal state, the policing of middle class residential and business districts is increasingly being 'outsourced' to private security companies. In working class neighbourhoods of Cape Town such as Manenberg, the state has attempted to re-establish governance by resorting to new forms of spatial governmentality. The paper draws attention to the limits of these attempts to assert state control through the management of space. Spatial governance in places like Manenberg will continue to be relatively ineffectual given existing levels of social inequality and racial polarization. Such processes are reproduced by massive unemployment and racialised poverty resulting from socio-spatial legacies of apartheid and Cape Town's shift from a manufacturing to a tourist, IT and financial services economy. Although this paper focuses on attempts at re-establishing governance in a crime and gangster-ridden working class neighbourhood of Cape Town, it addresses these issues in relation to city-wide shifts to new forms of spatial governmentality after apartheid.


Q fever is a zoonotic disease caused by a rickettsia Coxiella burnetii. Since its first description in 1937, the disease has been found to be present in most countries of the world. Serological evidences of Q fever in humans and coxiellosis in animals were reported in Japan in the 1950s, however, systematic studies of the disease did not begin until the report of isolation of C. burnetii from an acute Q fever patient in 1989. In addition to the extensive information about epidemiology of the disease, the understanding of Japanese isolates of C. burnetii is increasing rapidly in recent years. In this review, the epidemiology of the disease along with some characteristics of isolates of C. burnetii in Japan is summarized in five sections, i.e., coxiellosis, Q fever, modes of spread of the infection, laboratory diagnosis of the infection and some characteristics of Japanese isolates. This review includes some recent, unpublished data from our and other groups.


In this paper we describe the fundamentals of affective gaming from a physiological point of view, covering some of the origins of the genre, how affective videogames operate and current conceptual and technological capabilities. We ground this overview of the ongoing research by taking an in-depth look at one of our own early biofeedback-based affective games. Based on our analysis of existing videogames and our own experience with affective videogames, we propose a new approach to game design based on several high-level design heuristics: assist me, challenge me and emote me (ACE), a series of gameplay "tweaks" made possible through affective videogames.


ABSTRACT The collective action problem around water use and management involves solving both the problems of provision and appropriation. Cooperation in the provision can be affected by the rival nature of appropriation and the asymmetries in access. We report the results of two field experiments conducted in Colombia and Kenya. The irrigation game was used to explore the provision and appropriation decisions under asymmetric or sequential appropriation, complemented by a voluntary contribution mechanism experiment which looks at provision decisions under symmetric appropriation. The overall results were consistent with the patterns of previous studies: the zero contribution hypotheses is rejected whereas the most effective institution to increase cooperation was face-to-face communication, although we find that communication works much more effectively in Colombia than in Kenya. We also find that the asymmetric appropriation did reduce cooperation, though the magnitude of the social loss and the effectiveness of alternative institutional options varied across sites.


This paper describes the development of language skills among academics of VSB-Technical University of Ostrava in an LMS Moodle e-learning environment with regard to individual learning styles and strategies while learning a foreign language. A student's individual learning style plays an essential role in effective foreign language acquisition, therefore recognizing their own learning style and using the right strategies to reinforce their particular curriculum can lead to effective learning. The Department of Languages at the VSB-Technical University of Ostrava has decided to implement e-learning forms of education into English Language Teaching (ELT) in the form of optimized adaptive e-courses. The paper describes the objective of providing an optimized adaptive e-learning environment respecting preferred learning styles with a narrower focus on the perceptual preferences (VAK) of the presented curriculum and with regard to recommended learning strategies to be used while learning. This e-learning environment is being developed in accordance with the Common European Framework of References for Languages and its key language competences divided into two main categories: receptive skills and productive skills.


It is natural to think of asset prices in terms of dollars per unit. The original Black-Scholes equation does so, giving the price of an option in dollars as a function of the stock price and strike price in dollars. But as models become more complicated, allowing stochastic interest rates, for example, each new source of risk makes solving the model significantly harder. Changing the numeraire can often simplify matters substantially. By recasting the problem using a different unit of account, one can capture the impact of some of the risk in terms of the value of a traded asset, whose price can simply be observed in the market. For example, under stochastic interest rates, the current market price of a zero coupon bond that matures on the option expiration date impounds the interest rate process over that period, stochastically time-varying though it may be. Changing numeraire and writing the option pricing problem in terms of zero coupon bonds per share, rather than dollars, eliminates the need to model the interest rate process at all. The problem is solved in terms of bonds, and the answer is then converted to dollars by multiplying the bond-denominated option value by the current bond price in the market. In this article, Benninga, Björk, and Wiener explain the change of numeraire technique fully and show how useful it can be, and how creatively it can be used, in simplifying option pricing problems.


The lack of effective antiviral drugs restricts the control of the dangerous RNA-containing influenza A (H1N1) virus. Extracellular ribonuclease of Bacilli (binase) was shown to manifest antiviral activity during single- and multi-cycle viral replication in the range of concentrations non-toxic to epithelial cells and 0.01-0.1 multiplicity of infection. During antiviral treatment for 15-30 min, the concentration of 1 μg/ml binase reduced the amount of focus-forming units of viruses by a factor of 3-10 and suppressed the virus-induced cytopathic effect in A549 human lung cells. The possible mechanisms of interaction between the virus and enzyme are discussed. Positive charges in both binase and viral hemagglutinin cause electrostatic interaction with negatively charged sialic acid on the host cell's surface followed by its penetration into the cell. Capsid elimination and release of viral RNA from endosome to the cytoplasm allows catalytic RNA cleavage by internalized binase. The data obtained confirm that binase is an effective antiviral agent against the pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus. Certain progress in this field is associated with clarifying the detailed mechanism underlying the antiviral action of binase and development of the most effective way for its practical use.


We introduce a generalized version of the Jang equation, designed for the general case of the Penrose Inequality in the setting of an asymptotically flat space-like hypersurface of a spacetime satisfying the dominat energy condition. The appropriate existence and regularity results are established in the special case of spherically symmetric Cauchy data, and are applied to give a new proof of the general Penrose Inequality for these data sets. When appropriately coupled with an inverse mean curvature flow, analogous existence and regularity results for the associated system of equations in the nonspherical setting would yield a proof of the full Penrose Conjecture. Thus it remains as an important and challenging open problem to determine whether this system does indeed admit the desired solutions.


Low level of vitamin B12 and folic acid has been reported to play an important role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD). Serum folic acid and vitamin B12 were assayed in 80 AD and 50 VaD cases and in 120 healthy controls. The reduced folate carrier (RFC1) gene, rs1051266, which encodes the RFC 1, protein was analyzed for polymorphism by polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism. It was observed that the patients having folic acid <8.45 ng/mL had 2.4 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.4-4.5) times higher odds of having AD and 2.1 (95% CI: 1.1-4.2) times higher odds of having VaD than patients having folic acid 8.45 ng/mL. Serum vitamin B12 level did not show any such statistically significant effect in altering the odds. No direct association was found between variant (G) allele or genotype of rs1051266 with AD and VaD cases. On serum folate level no association was observed with gene polymorphism.


BACKGROUND
In the United Kingdom, drivers aged 17-21 years make up 7% of license holders but 13% of drivers involved in road traffic crashes resulting in injury. As in many countries, the UK government has proposed to tackle this problem with driver education programmes in schools and colleges. However, there is a concern that if driver education leads to earlier licensing this could increase the number of teenagers involved in road traffic crashes.

OBJECTIVES
To quantify the effect of school-based driver education on licensing and road traffic crashes.

SEARCH STRATEGY
We searched the TRANSPORT Database, TRANSDOC and MEDLINE (1968-2000).

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised controlled trials comparing school based driver education to no driver education and assessing the effect on licensing and road traffic crash involvement.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two reviewers independently screened search results, extracted data and assessed trial quality.

MAIN RESULTS
Three trials, conducted between 1982 and 1984, met the inclusion criteria (n=17,965). Two trials examined the effect of driver education on licensing. In the trial by Stock (USA) 87% of students in the driver education group obtained their driving license as compared to 84.3% in the control group (RR 1.04, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.05). In the trial by Wynne-Jones (New Zealand) the time from trial enrollment to licensing was 111 days in males receiving driver education compared with 300 days in males who did not receive driver education, and 105 days in females receiving driver education compared with 415 days in females who did not receive driver education. All three trials examined the effect of driver education on road traffic crashes. In the trial by Strang (Australia), 42% of students in each group had one or more crashes since being licensed (RR 1.01, 95% CI 0.83 to 1.23). In the trial by Stock, the number of students involved in one or more crashes as a driver was 27.5% in the driver education group compared to 26.7% in the control group (Relative risk 1.03, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.09). In the trial by Wynne-Jones, the number of students who experienced crashes was 16% in the driver education group as compared to 14.5% in the control group. (RR 1.10, 95% CI 0.76 to 1.59).

REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS
The results show that driver education leads to early licensing. They provide no evidence that driver education reduces road crash involvement, and suggest that it may lead to a modest but potentially important increase in the proportion of teenagers involved in traffic crashes.


Trends are those keywords, phrases, or names that are mentioned most often on social media or in news in a particular timeframe.They are an effective way for human news readers to both discover and stay focused on the most relevant information of the day. In this work, we consider trends that correspond to an entity in a knowledge graph and introduce the new and as-yet unexplored task of identifying other entities that may help explain the "why" an entity is trending. We refer to these retrieved entities as contextual entities. Some of them are more important than others in the context of the trending entity and we thus determine a ranking of entities according to how useful they are in contextualizing the trend.We propose two solutions for ranking contextual entities. The first one is fully unsupervised and based on Personalized PageRank, calculated over a trending entity-specific graph of other entities where the edges encode a notion of directional similarity based on embedded background knowledge. Our second method is based on learning to rank and combines the intuitions behind the unsupervised model with signals derived from hand-crafted features in a supervised setting. We compare our models on this novel task by using a new, purpose-built test collection created using crowdsourcing. Our methods improve over the strongest baseline in terms ofPrecision at 1 by 7% (unsupervised) and 13% (supervised). We find that the salience of a contextual entity and how coherent it is with respect to the news story are strong indicators of relevance in both unsupervised and supervised settings.


Benchmarking and performance measurement are increasingly "hot" subjects among public administrators. A brief historical summary of events illustrates this point. In 1992 the Urban Institute and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) jointly published the book How Effective Are Your Community Services? Procedures for Promoting Results. In 1992 the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) promoted performance measurement by approving a Resolution Encouraging the Use of Performance Measurement and Reporting for Government Organizations. At the federal level, in 1993 Congress adopted the Government and Performance and Results Act requiring all federal agencies to develop one-year performance plans and five-year strategic plans. In 1994 the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) circulated for comment a proposal that local governments include measures of service effort and accomplishment in their external reporting. Among research-based efforts sparked by the performance measurement drive are two projects that attempt to develop uniform measures so that managers can compare the performance of different city and county governments. In 1993, the Large City Executive Forum, an association of city managers in jurisdictions with more than a 200,000 population, joined with ICMA to form the Comparative Performance Measurement Consortium. Initially comprising of 34 jurisdictions, the group eventually grew to 44 cities and counties. The managers in the consortium initially decided to compare performance in four service areas: fire, police, neighborhood services, and support services. In contrast to ICMA's national project, the second project is limited to a single state, North Carolina. In 1994 the budget director of Winston-Salem, concerned about the inaccuracy of intergovernmental service comparisons being made among the large North Carolina cities, proposed to the North Carolina Local Government Budget Association that interested members of the association undertake a performance measurement project. These governments, working with the staff of the Institute of Government (IOG) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, began an extensive effort in 1995. This article compares the methodology used in the ICMA and IOG projects. The results from each project suggest strongly that benchmarking performance results among local governments may be more difficult than theorized. Successfully comparing costs (inputs) requires that a comprehensive cost accounting system be created. The IOG project established such a system, collecting direct costs, indirect costs, equipment costs, and facilities costs. In contrast, the ICMA project collected only direct costs. Likewise, measuring outcomes is surprisingly difficult because definitions differ widely. Both these benchmarking efforts suggest ways of overcoming these difficulties. This article will begin with a brief overview of each benchmarking effort. It will then look at the often unexpected obstacles they encountered and how they attempted to surmount them. It will conclude with some broader lessons that these experiences suggest for local government benchmarking. The IOG Project's Methodology After the IOG project was proposed in North Carolina, representatives from several large cities and counties and staff from the Institute of Government, the North Carolina League of Municipalities, and the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners formed a steering committee to prepare a project proposal. In 1995 the IOG hired a project coordinator. Seven large cities, seven large counties, and 14 medium-sized and small cities and counties agreed to participate in the project (the participation fee was $3,000). The steering committee divided the project into three phases. Phase 1, which included the seven large cities, was completed in September 1997; Phases 2 and 3, which included the large counties and smaller governments, ended in 1998. …


Non-commutative cryptography studies cryptographic primitives and systems which are based on algebraic structures like groups, semigroups and noncommutative rings. We continue to investigate inverse protocols of Non-commutative cryptography defined in terms of subsemigroups of Affine Cremona Semigroups over finite fields or arithmetic rings Zm and homomorphic images of these semigroups as possible instruments of Post Quantum Cryptography. This approach allows to construct cryptosystems which are not public keys, as outputs of the protocol correspondents receive mutually inverse transformations on affine space K or variety (K*) where K is a field or an arithmetic ring. The security of such inverse protocol rests on the complexity of word problem to decompose element of Affine Cremona Semigroup given in its standard form into composition of given generators. We discuss the idea of the usage of combinations of two cryptosystems with cipherspaces (K*) and K to form a new cryptosystem with the plainspace (K*), ciphertext K and nonbijective highly nonlinear encryption map.


The diets and energy content of sympatric populations of invasive age-0 white perch Morone americana and native age-0 white bass Morone chrysops were evaluated in Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron following >20 years of coexistence. Fish were collected during July-November in 2009 and 2010 to assess seasonal and interannual patterns of diet composition, diet similarity, feeding strategy and energy density for the two species. The diet composition by weight of age-0 white bass was dominated by various zooplankton taxa, fish, or emergent insects, depending on the month and year. Although fish occasionally comprised a large fraction of the diet biomass, they were eaten by <24% of white bass each month. The diet composition of age-0 white perch shifted from one dominated by chironomids and other benthic macroinvertebrates in 2009 to one largely consisting of Daphnia spp. in 2010. There was more overlap in standardized diet assemblages in 2010 than in 2009 due to the increased importance of Daphnia spp. in white perch diets in 2010. Contrary to expectations, complete separation of diets was not a requirement that enabled the long-term coexistence of invasive white perch and native white bass in Saginaw Bay. Both age-0 white bass and white perch had a mixed feeding strategy with varying degrees of specialization and generalization on different prey. The inter-annual variation in prey, i.e., higher densities of zooplankton in 2009 and chironomids in 2010, is directly opposite of the pattern observed in white perch diets, i.e., diets dominated by chironomids in 2009 and zooplankton in 2010. Energy density increased from July into autumn/fall for both species suggesting that food limitation was not severe.


The Tjemhu-Libyans are mentioned in Egyptian sources starting with the 6th Dynasty, when they are presented in geographical proximity to the Nubians and meet the Egyptians during exploratory/trading expeditions. Later, the term "Tjemh" was used to generically indicate the Libyan-land and to indicate "the west." Representations of Tjemhu dancers appear in Egyptian temples show the persistence of contacts between the Egyptians and the Tjemhu-Libyans, despite the lack of other clear indications in Egyptian sources. This paper aims to analyze certain Egyptian sources related to the Tjemhu in order to suggest their possible homeland and to clarify their strong connection with Nubian groups. DOI:10.2458/azu_jaei_v06i4_iacoviello


by Ryan M. Miller The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between maximal leg power and swing velocity of each subject completed one assessment to determine anthropometric measures, vertical jump, and swing velocity. Subject (n=34) mean (±SD) age, height, and weight were 20.35years (±1.34), 176.84cm (±9.77), and 77.66kg (±13.92), respectively. Mean measures for baseball (n=17) and softball (n=17) were 20.65years (±1.22), 184.81cm (±4.07), 88.28kg (±9.83) and 20.06years (±1.43), 168.87cm (±6.74), 67.03kg (±7.96), respectively. Vertical jump means for total population, baseball, and softball were 41.50cm (±10.36), 49.89cm ± (6.05), and 33.11cm (±5.92), respectively. Swing velocity means were 33.98m/s (±4.93), 38.65m/s (±1.39), and 29.56m/s (±2.08), respectively. Pearson's Correlation revealed a high (r=0.823), moderate (r=0.520), and non(r=0.036) linear relationships for sample, baseball, and softball players when measuring the relationship of vertical jump and swing velocity. Coefficient of determination was also calculated for each group and were R 2 =0.677, 0.270, and 0.001, respectively. Statistical evaluation revealed a strong relationship between vertical jump and swing velocity in collegiate athletes. THE RELATIONSHIP OF MAXIMAL LEG POWER AND SWING VELOCITY IN COLLEGIATE ATHLETES


Surface electromyography (sEMG) is a means for measuring muscle activity. sEMG data are typically displayed graphically on a computer screen and while this can be a useful way to display the data, it is not always ideal. This extended abstract details the development of a sonification tool that allows users to sonify sEMG data in real-time. The tool will allow the user to independently control the sound of each channel, similar to a software synthesizer. Independent real-time control of each channel will allow the user to create sonification models, which are mappings of certain sounds to specific muscle groups. A prototype of the tool is currently being developed using SuperCollider in parallel with a Delsys Trigno Wireless sEMG system. This tool will allow users to easily explore various kinds of sEMG sonification models and test them for intuitiveness and effectiveness.


In this book Carver Mead offers a radically new approach to the standard problems of electromagnetic theory. Motivated by the belief that the goal of scientific research should be the simplification and unification of knowledge, he describes a new way of doing electrodynamics - collective electrodynamics - that does not rely on Maxwell's equations, but rather uses the quantum nature of matter as its sole basis. Collective electrodynamics is a way of looking at how electrons interact, based on experiments that tell us about the electrons directly. (As Mead points out, Maxwell had no access to these experiments). The results Mead derives for standard electromagnetic problems are identical to those found in any text. Collective electrodynamics reveals, however, that quantities that we usually think of as being very different are, in fact, the same - that electromagnetic phenomena are simple and direct manifestations of quantum phenomena. Mead views his approach as a first step toward reformulating quantum concepts in a clear and comprehensible manner. The book is divided into five sections: magnetic interaction of steady currents; propagating waves; electromagnetic energy; radiation in free space; and electromagnetic interaction of atoms. In an engaging preface, Mead tells how his approach to electromagnetic theory was inspired by his interaction with Richard Feynman.


We consider the stochastic multi-armed bandit problem with a prior distribution on the reward distributions. We are interested in studying prior-free and prior-dependent regret bounds, very much in the same spirit than the usual distribution-free and distribution-dependent bounds for the non-Bayesian stochastic bandit. We first show that Thompson Sampling attains an optimal prior-free bound in the sense that for any prior distribution its Bayesian regret is bounded from above by 14√nK. This result is unimprovable in the sense that there exists a prior distribution such that any algorithm has a Bayesian regret bounded from below by 1 over 20√nK. We also study the case of priors for the setting of Bubeck et al. [2013] (where the optimal mean is known as well as a lower bound on the smallest gap) and we show that in this case the regret of Thompson Sampling is in fact uniformly bounded over time, thus showing that Thompson Sampling can greatly take advantage of the nice properties of these priors.


The American Paint Horse Association (APHA) records pedigree and performance information for their breed, a stock-type horse valued as a working farm or ranch horse and as pleasure horses. As the name implies, the breed is also valued for attractive white spotting patterns on the coat. The APHA utilizes visual inspections of photographs to determine if coat spotting exceeds threshold anatomical landmarks considered characteristic of desirable patterns. Horses with sufficient white patterning enter the "Regular" registry, rather than the "Solid Paint-bred" division, providing a threshold modeled phenotype. Genetic studies previously defined sequence variants corresponding to 35 alleles for white spotting in the horse. Here, we calculate the allele frequency for nine common white spotting alleles in the American Paint horse using a sample of 1,054 registered animals. The APHA spotting phenotype is altered by additive interactions among spotting loci, and epistatically by the MC1R and ASIP genes controlling pigment production. The W20 allele within the KIT gene, independent of other known spotting alleles, was strongly associated with the APHA-defined white spotting phenotype (p = 1.86 ×10−18), refuting reports that W20 acts only as a modifier of other underlying white spotting patterns. The parentage of an individual horse, either American Paint or American Quarter Horse, did not alter the likelihood of entering the APHA Regular registry. An empirical definition of the action of these genetic loci on the APHA-defined white spotting phenotype will allow more accurate application of genome-assisted selection for improving color production and marketability of APHA horses.


Monitoring glaciers and sea-ice is a primary task to understand and quantify climate change. At the same time, it is a major topic in remote sensing due to the difficulty of performing frequent in-situ expeditions [1, 2]. In this sense, microwave sensors like Synthetic Aperture Radars (SARs) have a great potential in cryospheric observations since they can operate in absence of solar illumination (i.e. during Polar nights) and with almost any weather conditions. Moreover, long-wavelength (e.g. L- band) SAR systems are capable to penetrate several meters deep into ice bodies. Hence, they are sensitive to the ice surface characteristics as well as to sub-surface structures (including in some cases the lower ice-water interface of sea-ice). Unfortunately, the description of the backscattering behavior of glacier and sea ice is particularly challenging. For this reason, many scientists moved toward systems able to increase the amount of information acquired. In this context, polarimetry plays a key role, because it is able to enhance the discrimination capability of the observed target, solving many ambiguities revealed in single polarization images [3].
The polarimetric response of a target is highly sensitive to its orientation along the Line of Sight LoS (i.e. the direction of propagation of the wave). Therefore, the same target with different orientations may give a substantially different response in SAR images. For the case of sea-ice, this in general will lead to wrong classification (since a different backscattering will be observed). By exploitingfully polarimetric data, it is possible to estimate the orientation of the target and remove its effects [3, 4]. Several methodologies were proposed for this correction; here the one based on the circular polarizations is exploited since it can be applied to distributed targets (coherency matrix) [4]. If the Pauli basis is exploited, any orientation along the LoS can be mathematically represented by a rotation matrix (along the first axis HH+VV). The circular co-polarization channel can be derived starting from the scattering matrix in linear basis. The phase of the coherence between the circular Right-Right and Left-Left channels keeps information regarding the orientation angle. The reason why some sea ice regions show orientation is not completely clear and can be due to orientation of the ice chunks, wind effects on the ice surface (e.g. sastrugi) or particles preferential orientations. Nevertheless, the correction allows solving this ambiguity and provides additional insights in the observed target.
Concerning glacier ice, this study addresses the modeling of possible scattering contributions to explain L- and P-band polarimetric SAR signatures of a subpolar glacier. The main focus is on the development of an innovative volume scattering model in order to simulate the backscatter contribution from different kinds of inclusions typically present in glacier ice (e.g. ice pipes and lenses, air bubbles, oriented crystals fabrics, etc.) [5]. The developed model allows the shape of the inclusions to vary, ranging from dipoles to spheres, as well as their main orientation and degree of randomness in a three dimensional space. For the case of oriented particles or propagation through an anisotropic medium, such as polar firn [6], differential propagation effects (i.e. different propagation velocities and losses) along the different polarizations have to be accounted [7]. The proposed model is finally completed by including the incidence angle dependency. Additional scattering components attributable to surface mechanisms (from the glacier surface) or to multiple interactions between the inclusions could also be included. Nevertheless they are believed to be much weaker and their characteristic polarimetric signatures do not contribute significantly to explain the ones observed in the data.
The dataset exploited for the sea-ice study was acquired during the ICESAR campaign in 2007 by the E-SAR airborne system of DLR (German Aerospace Center). The sea ice acquisitions were carried out in Svalbard over three different locations: Fram Strait, Storfjord and Barents Sea. In this analysis only L-band acquisitions are used, since they are the only one presenting quad-polarimetric data. After a first analysis of single channel images, three typologies of sea-ice seem present in the Storfjord site. However, the Pauli RGB image after the removal of the orientation angle reveals that there are only two typologies of ice, and two of them appear different for orientation effects.
For the glacier-ice investigation, the available dataset includes fully polarimetric L- and P-band SAR data, acquired during the ICESAR campaign by the E-SAR sensor as well. The selected test site is the Austfonna ice-cap, located on the Nordaustlandet island of Svalbard.

REFERENCES
[1] S. Sandven, Johannessen, O.M., and K Kloster, Sea Ice Monitoring by Remote Sensing, John Wiley & Sons, 2006.
[2] C.R. Jackson and J.R. Apel, Synthetic Aperture Radar Marine User's Manual: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NOAA, 2004.
[3] S. R. Cloude, Polarisation: Applications in Remote Sensing, Oxford University Press, 2009.
[4] J.-S. Lee, D.L. Schuler, and T.L. Ainsworth, "Polarimetric SAR data compensation for terrain azimuth slope variation," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 38, 2000.
[5] W.S.B. Paterson, "The Physics of Glaciers", Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, U.K., 1994.
[6] R.B. Alley,"Texture of Polar Firn for Remote Sensing", Annals of Glaciology, vol. 9, pp. 1-4, 1987.
[7] S.R. Cloude, K.P. Papathanassiou, and W.M. Boerner, "The Remote Sensing of Oriented Volume Scattering Using Polarimetric Radar Interferometry", in Proc. of ISAP, pp. 549-552, Fukuoka, Japan, 2000.


The article concerns the U.S. Supreme Court's first consideration of the diminished capacity doctrine, in a 1944 case in which an African-American janitor killed a white, female librarian at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. - for no apparent reason other than that she called him a "nigger." The article relies on previously unpublished material from Felix Frankfurter's papers to trace the changes in Frankfurter's attitudes concerning racial discrimination between 1946 and 1954. The article argues that, based on this newly discovered material, Frankfurter's attitudes toward the social effects of racial discrimination were far more radical in 1946 than they were in 1953, when Brown v. Board of Education reached the Court. It explores how the defendant's counsel, the civil rights lawyer Charles Hamilton Houston, crafted then novel arguments to encourage these attitudes, and employed new developments in psychology to demonstrate the reality of racial discrimination in the criminal context, as he had done in labor, education and housing. Finally, it draws a parallel between the efforts of Frankfurter and Houston to develop a juristic rhetoric of race in the pre-desegregation period and the work of the pioneering African-American psychiatrist Ernest Y. Williams, the defendant's expert in the case, who had the same project in the area of mental health. It compares the efforts, and difficulties, both Williams and Houston faced in crafting terms of discourse which would permit them -- within the confines of their respective disciplines -- to identify the effects of state-sponsored discrimination.


Abstract Objective We examined psychological outcomes in a sample of participants who evacuated from the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2011. This study aimed to identify risk factors for psychological injury that might be amenable to change, thereby reducing adverse impacts associated with emergency high-rise evacuation. Methods We used data from a cross-sectional survey conducted 2 years after the attacks to classify 789 evacuees into 3 self-reported psychological outcome categories: long-term psychological disorder diagnosed by a physician, short-term psychological disorder and/or memory problems, and no known psychological disorder. Results After nonmodifiable risk factors were controlled for, diagnosed psychological disorder was more likely for evacuees who reported lower "emergency preparedness safety climate" scores, more evacuation challenges (during exit from the towers), and evacuation-related physical injuries. Other variables associated with increased risk of psychological disorder outcome included gender (female), lower levels of education, preexisting physical disability, preexisting psychological disorder, greater distance to final exit, and more information sources during egress. Conclusions Improving the "emergency preparedness safety climate" of high-rise business occupancies and reducing the number of egress challenges are potential strategies for reducing the risk of adverse psychological outcomes of high-rise evacuations. Focused safety training for individuals with physical disabilities is also warranted. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:326–336)


Software quality is critical in today's software systems. A challenge is the trade-off situation architects face in the design process. Designers often have two or more alternatives, which must be compared and put into context before a decision is made. The challenge becomes even more complex for dynamic software product lines, where domain designers have to take runtime variations into consideration as well. To address the problem we propose extensions to an architectural reasoning framework with constructs/artifacts to define and model a domain's scope and dynamic variability. The extended reasoning framework encapsulates knowledge to understand and reason about domain quality behavior and self-adaptation as a primary variability mechanism. The framework is demonstrated for a self-configuration property, self-upgradability on an educational product-line.


Atari games are an excellent testbed for studying intelligent behavior, as they offer a range of tasks that differ widely in their visual representation, game dynamics, and goals presented to an agent. The last two years have seen a spate of research into artificial agents that use a single algorithm to learn to play these games. The best of these artificial agents perform at better-than-human levels on most games, but require hundreds of hours of game-play experience to produce such behavior. Humans, on the other hand, can learn to perform well on these tasks in a matter of minutes. In this paper we present data on human learning trajectories for several Atari games, and test several hypotheses about the mechanisms that lead to such rapid learning.


Although The Conscious Lovers dutifully finds its way into anthologies of eighteenth-century drama as an example of sentimental comedy in its early days, few modern readers would argue that Steele's last dramatic composition is a living classic. Current sentimentality takes a different form and chooses different objects of concern, while the history of response to the play is not rich in incentives to rehabilitation. The most memorable commentary on the piece, indeed, comes from Fielding's Joseph Andrews, where Parson Adams commends it on the grounds that it includes passages "almost solemn enough for a sermon" (Bk.3, ch.9). Against this unpromising backdrop I make no new claims for the work's intrinsic merit; I would, however, like to resituate The Conscious Lovers as an example of innovation: self-conscious innovation, in fact, conceived in an explicitly polemical spirit and designed to change the ground-rules of contemporary drama. Solemn sermons may have few charms today, but the process of literary-historical and generic change is deservedly a focal point for much present-day discussion. (1) In its time Steele's play figured prominently as a departure from traditional comic forms, undertaken in an environment where tradition could not easily be left behind. The pressures exerted by such novelty may be read not only in the explicit controversy excited among Steele's contemporaries but also in many of the internal structures and metaphorical resources of the play-text itself. I want to explore both the public debate and the formal structures and resources, stressing above all the importance of the genealogical idea and the related question of legitimate descent both as they affect Steele's own play and as they become stock terrain for the eighteenth-century combat over the significance and worth of sentimental drama. It will be useful to re-establish first of all that Steele really did think of himself as an innovator, a propagandist for a new comedy, which was to replace Restoration bawdy on stage. This preliminary must be looked after because the nature and indeed the very existence of such a thing as "sentimental drama" have been contested in the critical literature. While older commentators such as Ernest Bernbaum acknowledged the presence of a new subgenre, pointing out origins, a thematic repertoire, and a possible sociology for the form, by the 1950s skepticism had set in. John Loftis, for example, claimed that while there are plenty of plays about merchants in the eighteenth century, there is no such thing as a generically certifiable "sentimental play" (Comedy 127-132). This view may be compared with the latest contribution to the relevant taxonomies from Douglas Canfield, whose Tricksters and Estates provides a theoretical propaedeutic to his major Broadview anthology. This anthology is distinguished by an excellent selection of well-edited plays and a set of somewhat idiosyncratic categorizations: The Conscious Lovers is slotted in the top-level apparatus as a "tragicomic romance" along with Southerne's Oroonoko and Dryden's Marriage a la Mode (ix). A more balanced and erudite treatment is provided in Robert Hume's authoritative The Development of English Drama in the Late Seventeenth Century. Hume's history is, in fact, an account of generic change, with persuasive material on the passage from "hard" to "soft" or "humane" comedy as the seventeenth century draws to a close. (2) Nonetheless, Hume also stresses the extreme particularity of the eighteenth-century theatre scene: he does not deny that there are sentimental plays, but he does caution against dividing theatrical history into clear "before" and "after" periods. As he puts it, "The history of drama, closely considered, is infuriatingly untidy" (9). Such a view is tacitly endorsed in Richard Bevis's survey of drama from the Restoration to 1789. In a chapter entitled "Anything Goes," Bevis stresses the sheer diversity of comic production between the Glorious Revolution and The Licensing Act (146-178). …


Introduction: Infections occurring in the wound as a consequence of the surgery represent the surgical field infections (SFI). Tibia diaphysis fractures are common due to its exposure to the external force. Clinical signs include: pain, swelling, lower leg deformity and skin changes. Tibia in the lower extremities has an eccentric position - from the front inner side it is covered only with the skin and from the back and the outer by muscle mass. The most common pathogens are: Staphylococcus aureus, Coagulase negative Staphylococcoc aureus or S. Epidermitis, Escherichia coli, and other. For the fracture fusion process, it is important that the skin and subcutaneous tissue above the fracture are well supplied with the blood. The American Association of Anesthesiologists defined the so-called ASA score, based on which all patients are divided into five categories according to health status before surgery. Goal: The goal of the study is to demonstrate the influence of risk factors on the occurrence of infection following osteosynthesis of tibial diaphysis, comparing emergency surgical interventions with elective. Material and methods: The study was conducted at the Clinic for Orthopedics and Traumatology of the Clinical Center of Sarajevo University during 2015 and 2016, with a total of 68 patients. Results: The age of the patient as risk factor is evident in our study, because deeper infections have had patients at the age over 60 with accompanying diseases such as Diabetes mellitus. Most of the hospitalized patients had a good health status prior to surgery, or they had ASA 1 or ASA 2 score. Surgical field infections were more common in men than in women, but the difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Patients who are operated as an elective surgery have longer hospitalization and more frequent surgical field infection. Also, infections are more common among smokers.


This article challenges some common assumptions in comparative corporate law. It argues that differences in the degree of shareholder protection between common law and civil law countries are often overestimated, while some more fundamental corporate law differences remain overlooked. A milestone publication in this regard is the article by La Porta et al. entitled Law and Finance. The authors introduced an index to measure investor protection statistically and found that common law countries performed better on average than civil law countries. A broad array of legal sources, however, reveal many mechanisms that interfere with, or substitute for, the mechanisms for shareholder protection used to construct the index. A recoding of the index to include these sources yields no significant differences between common law and civil law jurisdictions. This finding casts doubt on the received premise of recent research that common law jurisdictions offer better shareholder protection than civil law jurisdictions. It highlights instead the existence of a fundamentally different distribution of legal powers between U.S. and Continental European corporations. This article shows that this difference shapes the functioning of the shareholder protection mechanisms that comprise the index of La Porta et al. Furthermore, the difference in power distribution undermines the relationship they allege between shareholder protection and ownership structures and better explains the differences in ownership structures, as well as many other aspects of corporate life.


The L2 acquisition of Chinese aspect markers has been investigated by many researchers (Sun, D. 1993; Zhao, L. 1996; Wen, X. 1997; Teng, S. 1999; Li, D. and Duff 1998, Duff and Li, D. 2002; Jin, L. and Hendriks 2005; Ma, L. 2006). Their studies show two main findings, one is the acquisition order of the aspect markers, and the other is the accuracy in using the aspect markers. Among those, only Duff and Li, D. (2002) mentioned the effect of teaching on the accuracy of using Chinese aspect. However, it is unknown what impacts teaching methods/approaches could have on learners' use of the aspect markers. This thesis aims to contribute to filling that gap. It explores whether a specific teaching framework assists the learning of Chinese aspect markers by L2 learners. We designed a session of Chinese aspect following the acquisition order of the Chinese aspect markers suggested by previous studies. The session was delivered to two groups of beginner level learners in a UK university using different teaching approaches. One is the Grammar-Translation approach, which focuses on learning of aspectual forms, and the other is a communicative approach, which focuses on comprehension. The learners took a pre-test assessing their general knowledge of Chinese, an immediate test after the teaching session on aspect to compare the immediate impact of teaching approaches, and a post-test after two months to trace the lasting effect the teaching approaches. The results show that the Grammar-Translation approach leads to better accuracy levels than communicative approach in using aspects in grammatical tasks, whereas the communicative approach does not necessarily lead to learners' better use of aspect than the grammar-translation approach in comprehension tasks.


A three-dimensional regional chemical transport model (CTM) with detailed aerosol microphysics, PMCAMx-UF, was applied to the European domain to simulate the contribution of direct emissions and secondary formation to total particle number concentrations during May 2008. PMCAMx-UF uses the Dynamic Model for Aerosol Nucleation and the Two-Moment Aerosol Sectional (TOMAS) algorithm to track both aerosol number and mass concentration using a sectional approach. The model predicts nucleation events that occur over scales of hundreds up to thousands of kilometers especially over the Balkans and Southeast Europe. The model predictions were compared against measurements from 7 sites across Europe. The model reproduces more than 70% of the hourly concentrations of particles larger than 10 nm ( N 10) within a factor of 2. About half of these particles are predicted to originate from nucleation in the lower troposphere. Regional nucleation is predicted to increase the total particle number concentration by approximately a factor of 3. For particles larger than 100 nm the effect varies from an increase of 20% in the eastern Mediterranean to a decrease of 20% in southern Spain and Portugal resulting in a small average increase of around 1% over the whole domain. Nucleation has a significant effect in the predicted N 50 levels (up to a factor of 2 increase) mainly in areas where there are condensable vapors to grow the particles to larger sizes. A semi-empirical ternary sulfuric acid-ammonia-water parameterization performs better than the activation or the kinetic parameterizations in reproducing the observations. Reducing emissions of ammonia and sulfur dioxide affects certain parts of the number size distribution. © 2012 Author(s).


The age of an alleged criminal offender undoubtedly affects his or her ability to appreciate the consequences of confessing to criminal behavior. Courts have long accepted that youth and inexperience impact an individual's ability to make a voluntary confession. Accordingly, this Article addresses whether Miranda v. Arizona -- the seminal Fifth Amendment decision providing procedural rights to those enduring custodial interrogation -- should apply to students interrogated by school officials during school hours. To answer this difficult question, this Article first provides a brief overview of the law of minors and confessions. Next, it considers the increasing law enforcement presence on our school campuses and evaluates how this presence affects the role of school officials. Finally, the high level of cooperation between law enforcement and school officials in criminal law enforcement is considered to determine whether Miranda should apply in the principal's office.


The effect of thermal noise and avalanche photodiode (APD) noise in a code division multiple access (CDMA) system using generalized optical orthogonal codes (GOOC) are investigated for the first time. The modulations used are pulse position modulation (PPM) and overlapping PPM (OPPM). Double optical hardlimiter receiver structure is selected because of its efficient performance. We show that, in a system with all mentioned noise sources, known parameter values, and a bit error rate of 10-7, GOOC codes with cross correlation (λ) equal to 2 support 20 more users compared to strict OOC. We have also analyzed the spectral efficiency of the GOOC OPPM system and compared it with GOOC PPM. The results demonstrate that GOOC OPPM has a better spectral efficiency. Using the obtained results, we have provided a parameter selection procedure that can be used to choose a good set of signaling parameters for GOOC OPPM modulation systems.


A complicating factor in any analysis of migration and policy is that virtually any policy can have some impact on the movement of people. Policies designed for some other specific purpose might have a profound influence on migration. Some of these impacts appear obvious even if the outcomes were not entirely foreseen. It would seem quite clear that policies to improve access to a particular region by extending the road network will have an effect on human mobility. For example, such an extension might ultimately lead to the depopulation of an area under certain circumstances or to a repopulation and resultant ethnic conflict between native and immigrant groups under other circumstances. Equally, the construction of a dam for water control will have fairly clear implications for migration: it might displace large numbers of long-established villagers while at the same time bringing into the area large numbers of construction workers on a temporary basis. However, the impact on migration of other policies such as trade policy or international agreements on trade might not be so obvious. The termination of the Multi Fibre Agreement at the end of 2004, for example, is likely to expose some textile-producing countries such as Bangladesh or South Africa to greater competition from more efficient producers such as China. Closure of factories is likely to have some impact on migration as some displaced workers return to their villages or seek to move overseas legally or illegally to continue some form of employment. The full impact of policies such as these on population movement is not well understood and it seems appropriate to suggest that a 'migration impact statement', similar to environmental impact statements, should be incorporated into most large-scale developments. The suggestion is not made simply to create yet another layer in the bureaucratic process but to make policy makers more sensitive to the fact that most development policies do have an impact on migration and that governments need to be forewarned what these might be so that they are able to take action appropriately.

Accepting that virtually any policy can have some impact on the movement of people, one can also recognize that a series of policies exist that have been developed specifically to deal with migration and migrants. This paper will be concerned primarily with these direct migration policies rather than with the overall impact that indirect policies may or may not have on migration. It might be hypothesized that indirect policies might have their greatest impact on internal migration but, given 5 close links between internal and international systems of mobility, such a conclusion might be too speculative. However, a difference between policies that are designed to deal with movement within the borders of a single country and those designed to 'manage', to use the current word of choice, migration into (or out of) a sovereign state can be sustained. Direct policies, too, can be identified for internal migration and these will be discussed after an assessment of those designed for international migration.