Complex networks exist for a number of purposes. The neural, metabolic and food networks ensure our survival, while the social, economic, transportation and communication networks allow us to prosper. Independently of the purposes and particularities of the physical embodiment of the networks, one of their fundamental functions is the delivery of information from one part of the network to another. Gossip and diseases diffuse in the social networks, electrochemical signals propagate in the neural networks and data packets travel in the Internet. Engineering networks for robust information flows is a challenging task. First, the mechanism through which the network forms and changes its topology needs to be defined. Second, within a given topology, the information must be routed to the appropriate recipients. Third, both the network formation and the routing mechanisms need to be robust against a wide spectrum of failures and adversaries. Fourth, the network formation, routing and failure recovery must operate under the resource constraints, either intrinsic or extrinsic to the network. Finally, the autonomously operating parts of the network must be incentivized to contribute their resources to facilitate the information flows. This thesis tackles the above challenges within the context of several types of networks: 1) peer-to-peer overlays – computers interconnected over the Internet to form an overlay in which participants provide various services to one another, 2) mobile ad-hoc networks – mobile nodes distributed in physical space communicating wirelessly with the goal of delivering data from one part of the network to another, 3) file-sharing networks – networks whose participants interconnect over the Internet to exchange files, 4) social networks – humans disseminating and consuming information through the network of social relationships. The thesis makes several contributions. Firstly, we propose a general algorithm, which given a set of nodes embedded in an arbitrary metric space, interconnects them into a network that efficiently routes information. We apply the algorithm to the peer-to-peer overlays and experimentally demonstrate its high performance, scalability as well as resilience to continuous peer arrivals and departures. We then shift our focus to the problem of the reliability of routing in the peer-to-peer overlays. Each overlay peer has limited resources and when they are exhausted this ultimately leads to delayed or lost overlay messages. All the solutions addressing this problem rely on message redundancy, which significantly increases the resource costs of fault-tolerance. We propose a bandwidth-efficient single-path Forward Feedback Protocol (FFP) for overlay message routing in which successfully delivered messages are followed by a feedback signal to reinforce the routing paths. Internet testbed evaluation shows that FFP uses 2-5 times less network bandwidth than the existing protocols relying on message redundancy, while achieving comparable fault-tolerance levels under a variety of failure scenarios. While the Forward Feedback Protocol is robust to message loss and delays, it is vulnerable to malicious message injection. We address this and other security problems by proposing Castor, a variant of FFP for mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs). In Castor, we use the same general mechanism as in FFP; each time a message is routed, the routing path is either enforced or weakened by the feedback signal depending on whether the routing succeeded or not. However, unlike FFP, Castor employs cryptographic mechanisms for ensuring the integrity and authenticity of the messages. We compare Castor to four other MANET routing protocols. Despite Castor's simplicity, it achieves up to 40% higher packet delivery rates than the other protocols and recovers at least twice as fast as the other protocols in a wide range of attacks and failure scenarios. Both of our protocols, FFP and Castor, rely on simple signaling to improve the routing robustness in peer-to-peer and mobile ad-hoc networks. Given the success of the signaling mechanism in shaping the information flows in these two types of networks, we examine if signaling plays a similar crucial role in the on-line social networks. We characterize the propagation of URLs in the social network of Twitter. The data analysis uncovers several statistical regularities in the user activity, the social graph, the structure of the URL cascades as well as the communication and signaling dynamics. Based on these results, we propose a propagation model that accurately predicts which users are likely to mention which URLs. We outline a number of applications where the social network information flow modelling would be crucial: content ranking and filtering, viral marketing and spam detection. Finally, we consider the problem of freeriding in peer-to-peer file-sharing applications, when users can download data from others, but never reciprocate by uploading. To address the problem, we propose a variant of the BitTorrent system in which two peers are only allowed to connect if their owners know one another in the real world. When the users know which other users their BitTorrent client connects to, they are more likely to cooperate. The social network becomes the content distribution network and the freeriding problem is solved by leveraging the social norms and reciprocity to stabilize cooperation rather than relying on technological means. Our extensive simulation shows that the social network topology is an efficient and scalable content distribution medium, while at the same time provides robustness to freeriding.


The next steps in health reform, like all such efforts before it, will have to engage the issue of American health care federalism – the relationship between the federal and state governments in the realm of health law and policy. Since its enactment in 2010, the Patient Protection andAffordable Care Act (ACA) has offered a robust example of modern federalism and revealed new complexities. This article recounts the findings of our five-year study of the federalist and nationalist features of ACA implementation. Contrary to the claims of ACA opponents that the law marked a federal "takeover," the ACA's governance structures have advanced rather than suppressed state power. But we also found that the advances in state power occurred seemingly independently of the statute's structural arrangements; that is, the ACA's nationalist and federalist features both enhanced state power over health policy. These findings raise questions about whether cherished American federalism values are unique to federalist structures; they also raise the question of what exactly health care federalism is for, and why we continue to design health policy with federalism front and center. It is not clear that enhanced state power has brought better health policy. If it has not, is federalism for its own sake worth the trade-off?


Essay included in Labours of Curation, the first Circuit of the five-month curatorial platform Take Care at the Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto.

The essay introduces the work of exhibiting artists Lisa Busby, Claire Fontaine, Deborah Ligorio,Paul Maheke, Raju Rage, Amie Siegel, Laura Yuile, and provides a critical context for the exhibition and its public events programme.

It discusses how In a contemporary context in which many individuals and groups feel under-valued and uncared for, the exhibition addresses the links between the care of the self and collective care, asking where they overlap, and where they diverge and conflict. Recalling the etymological roots of the word "curating" in the Latin word for "caring," Habits of Care is prompted by concerns with how the rhetoric of care plays out in and beyond the fields of art and culture. The exhibition points to where care is typically invested, and where it falls short. Looking to earlier practices of caretaking and ethics in the light of current urgencies, the show raises questions about how we might develop new habits of care that encompass both human and nonhuman others.

Various artworks in the exhibition depict rituals of care and conservation, which in turn raise questions about the value accorded to cultural custodianship versus that placed on domestic and janitorial labour. Several artworks reflect on the political dimensions of self and collective care, fragility, and sustenance, and creative resistance, in relation to feminist writers including Shulamith Firestone and Audre Lorde. A thread linking the practice of several artists in the show links to the proposition that water acts as a medium for holding memories and conveying emotions, as well as storytelling and archive. Looking beyond strictly human concerns, the art of Deborah Ligorio points to the prospect that heterodox life forms might grow from uncanny technological/'natural' fusions. The work of Claire Fontaine is discussed as presenting contradictory positions on the care of the self and others, from the aggressively individualistic to objects that evoke forms of gathering and assemblage in which the presence of foreigners strengthens the collective body. Proposals for improving the conditions under which curatorial and cultural labour occurs are highlighted in relation to documents presented in the exhibition, and transformed into scores by Lisa Busby and performed by the Element Choir.

Various artworks in the exhibition play with the format of the self-help manual, the guided meditation, and the manifesto, the essay notes, while also foregrounding activities of caretaking, maintenance, and conservation. The exhibition, argues the essay, aims to prompt thoughts about new habits that are needed to allow us to take better care of others, and ourselves.


As many U.S. metropolitan areas expect unprecedented growth in population and travel in the next 20 to 30 years, rail transit agencies are faced with the challenges of replacing their aging fleets and procuring new vehicles to keep up with ridership increases. As funds become increasingly scarce, many operators are exploring ways of increasing car capacity by considering interior configurations (to maximize loading efficiency) and door configurations (to minimize the effect of increased loads on station dwell times). Few studies address the design and evaluation of interior and door configurations as a system. Typically, seating configurations are designed separately from door configurations. Furthermore, interior configuration evaluations or maximum vehicle loading quoted by car manufacturers assume a uniform loading density applied throughout the car. Loading on transit vehicles, however, varies greatly within a car. This affects practical vehicle capacity and its impact controlling dwell time at the busiest door. The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, a heavy rail rapid transit system in California, recently conducted an evaluation of interior and door configurations based on a methodology that used variable loading densities and resulting impact on door loads for dwell time estimation. Variable loading density is more realistic in simulating actual passenger loading experience. This research shows that depending on the interior and door configuration, applying uniform loading density may misrepresent actual car capacity and door loads and thus waste valuable resources or underestimate actual needs.


Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) constitute a research eld whose motivation is to help disabled individuals to communicate with the environment around them directly through the electrical activity of their brain rather than by the usual muscular output mechanism of the human body. The idea of non-invasive BCI is based on collecting brain signals using medical electrodes placed on the scalp of the patient and then trying to understand what the patient is trying to do/say by automatically analysing the collected signals. In other words, BCI can be imagined as a way to compensate the damaged internal nerves that used to carry signals from the brain, by using external cables connected with the computer. Although extensive research continues to be carried out in the eld of BCI, still BCI is working only inside laboratories. This is due to the weakness of the brain signals that are acquired. It is impossible to understand always the meaning of the signals without error. The existence of errors in such systems means that it is impossible to depend totally on them to control the life of disabled individuals. One of the well-known BCI types is called the P300 paradigm. It provides individuals with a method to choose any target only by concentrating on this target while it is ashing. The ash on the screen is considered as a stimulus for the brain, and the brain's response to this stimulus is known as the P300 signal and can be detected in the acquired signals from the brain. P300-BCI is one of the most well-known paradigms in the BCI eld. One way to reduce the number of errors in any BCI system in general, and in P300 paradigms in particular, may be by using Error-related Potentials (ErrP). These ErrP signals are generated when the subject detects an error in the system. Therefore, these signals could be used as a feedback for the BCI system to verify its last response. If the BCI system, for example, generates a wrong output, then an ErrP will be generated from the subject's brain which could be exploited to generate a message that the last output generated is not correct. Another way to reduce the number of errors, in the context of P300 paradigms, may be by making the neighbour non-target items have the same job of the target item. By using this idea, whether the subject gives attention to these non-target items or not, the output will be as the subject expects. In this research, we have experimentally examined two di erent scenarios for generating ErrP signals. Having ErrP signals from two di erent scenarios makes it possible for us to see if the ErrP signals have the same characteristics under di erent scenarios. In addition, we have implemented a new P300 paradigm motivated by a BCI-based robotic control application, in which the target's neighbour items have the same job of the target itself. In this new implementation, we get better classi cation performance through an analysis that compensates for the change in the number of classes.


We conducted a longitudinal study to assess the continuing influence of developmental coordination disorder (DCD) on quality of life and participation. Ninety-six participants (25 in the DCD group, 30 in the borderline group, and 41 in the control group) ages 22-29 yr who had been screened for DCD 3-4 yr previously completed the Participation in Every Day Activities of Life, the Life-Satisfaction Questionnaire, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) instrument. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed a significant between-groups difference, F(7, 95) = 2.89, p = .001, η = 0.173, and post hoc analyses revealed that participants in the DCD and borderline groups scored lower overall on participation, quality of life, and life satisfaction. Linear regression found the Psychological Health domain of the WHOQOL-BREF to be a significant predictor of life satisfaction (B = 0.533; p = .001).


Problem statement: Glassy carbon electrode GCE was modified with different microparticles to increase the efficiency of analysis Mn2+ in blood samples by cyclic voltammetry and applied for the detection of trace Mn(II) by oxidation process. Approach: The structure and composition of the modified GCE processed by using Carbon Nanotubes CNT and C60 to produce two modified electrodes CNT/GCE and C60/GCE, to detect a trace Mn2+ by cyclic voltammetry for mouse blood with comparison the best modified electrode for detection the ion by the sensitivity and values of Relative Standard Deviation (RSD) in calibration curve. Results: A wide linear range and good repeatability were obtained for Mn2+ detection by CNT/GCE in aqueous KCl as supporting electrolyte at different ratio of KCl: Blood using CNT/GCE and C60/GCE, the relative standard deviation of two modified electrodes are good on CNT/GCE than C60/GCE. Conclusion: The two modified electrodes CNT/GCE and C60/GCE depending on the redox current of Mn(II) ions were evaluated by the determination of low concentration of Mn(II) in blood samples by cyclic voltammetric method, the most modified electrode to detect the Mn(II) in blood is CNT/GCE.


The intricate legal framework governing the admission of out-of-court statements in American trials is premised on increasingly outdated communication norms. Nowhere is this more apparent than with the hearsay exception for "present sense impressions." Changing communication practices typified by interactions on social media web sites like Facebook and Twitter herald the arrival of a previously uncontemplated – and uniquely unreliable – breed of present sense impressions. This Article contends that the indiscriminate admission of these electronic present sense impressions (e-PSIs) is both normatively undesirable and inconsistent with the traditional rationale for the present sense impression exception. It proposes a reform to the exception that would exclude unreliable e-PSIs while simultaneously realigning the modern rule with its historical rationale. In so doing, the Article sounds an early warning to courts and legislators regarding similar challenges on the horizon, as modern communication norms continue to evolve beyond the contemplation of the drafters of the hearsay rules.


Multiple myeloma (MM) is characterized by almost exclusive tropism of malignant cells for the bone marrow (BM) milieu. The survival and proliferation of malignant plasma cells have been shown to rely on interactions with nonmalignant stromal cells, in particular mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), in the BM microenvironment. However, the BM microenvironment is composed of a diverse array of cell types. This study examined the role of macrophages, an abundant component of BM stroma, as a potential niche component that supports malignant plasma cells. We investigated the proliferation of MM tumour cell lines when cultured alone or together with MSCs, macrophages, or a combination of MSCs and macrophages, using the carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester assay. Consistently, we observed increased proliferation of MM cell lines in the presence of either MSCs or macrophages compared to cell line‐only control. Furthermore, the combined co‐culture of MSCs plus macrophages induced the greatest degree of proliferation of myeloma cells. In addition to increased proliferation, MSCs and macrophages decreased the rate of apoptosis of myeloma cells. Our in vitro studies provide evidence that highlights the role of macrophages as a key component of the BM microenvironment facilitating the growth of malignant plasma cells in MM.


Microbial methanogenesis, carried out by methanogens, and methane oxidation, carried out by methanotrophs, are integral parts of the carbon cycle and global climate change. These two processes have received attention in recent years in aquatic systems including major rivers, lakes, wetlands, and oceans. However, far less attention has been paid to flowing waters, especially low order streams, and to the potential impact of methane cycle processes in these environments. Streams are important to carbon cycling because as connectors to terrestrial ecosystems they are sites of organic matter processing, and important to biogeochemical cycling across the landscape. Twelve streams in the piedmont of North Carolina, consisting of three stream types: forested, urban unrestored, and urban restored, were sampled seasonally. Genomic DNA from seston, sediment, and epilithon samples was extracted and real-time PCR performed to analyze the abundance of methanogens and methanotrophs using group specific primers. Water samples were taken to measure methane concentration. There were significant differences in methanogen DNA abundance in late fall and methanotroph DNA abundance in late summer between stream types superimposed on a background of seasonal differences. The differences may be explained by the timing and magnitude of organic matter and inorganic matter inputs in forested versus urban streams. Urban unrestored streams receive a large pulse of input in late fall and little through the winter because stormwater is piped in directly to the streams from impervious surfaces; in contrast forested streams receive organic input over time because it enters the stream through subsurface flow.


Abstract A numerical model is presented in order to modelize the bright ring that appears in backlit optical shadowgraphy on a transparent hollow sphere with a solid deuterium-tritium layer inside. This novel model is based on computational calculations applied to the problem of the targets used in inertial confinement fusion. The model takes into account the influences of the optical imaging system (numerical aperture, source divergence, camera resolution, etc.) and the effect of the capsule itself, diameter, thickness, and refractive index, and allows one to analyze the inner surface of a capsule in terms of thickness and roughness.


This paper reviews the recent work by Australian labour lawyers that has embraced the 'new regulation' and in particular the idea of law as regulation. This approach has recast the academic study of labour law as being concerned with regulation of the labour market. While much of this work has concentrated on expanding the field of labour law to include many areas of law affecting the labour market (beyond the employer-employee relationship), the work has also developed the view of law as a mechanism of state regulation. The paper examines how the 'regulatory turn' in Australian labour law has affected the accounts it provides, and assesses the connection between seeing the labour market as the field of study and the adoption of a regulatory perspective to the study of labour law.


Expectations of the role of the audit professional in Canada and the United States have significantly changed in recent years. In the wake of Enron's collapse and the advent of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the U.S., there has been a new focus on the independence of the audit function. American legislative and regulatory reforms in 2002 and 2003 did much to clarify the independence issues surrounding auditors. However, whether auditing firms should be permitted to provide tax services to their audit clients remains unresolved. While the approach in the United States has been to permit the dual provision of audit and tax services, Canadian regulators continue to consider their response. This paper reviews the legislative history of Sarbanes-Oxley and the history of tax services themselves. The author concludes that the U.S. Congress never intended to prevent auditors from providing non-audit services. This conclusion is substantiated by the final rule adopted in April 2006, which allows auditors to provide some tax services. The author finds merit in the U.S. response, because auditors have provided tax services for many years without any evidence of impaired independence and because the safeguards imposed by the new rule limit the possibility for abuse. However, because Canada uses a more principles-based approach to auditing and audit standards, the author concludes only that some of the U.S. rules are appropriate or necessary in the Canadian context. The tax services debate illustrates the challenges in resolving issues of auditor independence. The five-year history of the debate reveals many of the considerations behind the need to balance efficient capital markets and investor protection. It also reveals the "expectations gap" between the reality of audit service provision and market conceptions of an auditor's role, which make it more difficult to find the appropriate balance. The author concludes that the U.S. result strikes an appropriate balance which enhances regulatory scrutiny yet maintains freedom in corporate choice of professional service providers.


The experiment was conducted to evaluate the carcass yield, organ characteristics and economics of production of West African Dwarf (WAD) goats fed cassava root sieviate-cassava leaf meal (CRSCLM) based diets as supplement to Panicum maximum using 36 WAD goats of about 8 to 10 months of age. Four diets T1, T2, T3, and T4, were formulated at the levels of 0%, 20%, 40% and 60% CRSCLM respectively, in a completely randomized design. Each animal received a designated treatment diet in the morning for 97 days. Feed offered was based on 3.5% body weight per day; the animals in addition were fed a kg wilted chopped Panicum maximum later in the day as basal diet to enhance rumination and chime chewing. Result on  carcass indices showed significant (p<0.05) influence on live weight at slaughter, empty carcass weight, warm carcass weight, dressing percentage, shoulder, leg, lion, end and shank with T4 having relatively best results. The dressing percentage was numerically (49.59%) best at T4. On the offal weights, head and full guts were significantly (p<0.05) improved for T4 and T1 goats. The organ characteristic proved the safety of using CRSCLM through the significantly (p<0.05) lower organ weights at T4 goats. Cost per kg feed, feed cost/weight gain and cost/benefit ratio were positive influenced (p<0.05) at T4 with expected income of ^4.79 per ^1 invested. It could therefore be concluded that WAD goats fed 60% CRSCLM had the best carcass and organ yields at a reduced feed cost.Keyword: WAD goat, Cassava leaf meal, cassava root sieviate, cost/benefit ratio


Block iterative methods are extremely important as smoothers for multigrid methods, as preconditioners for Krylov methods, and as solvers for diagonally dominant linear systems. Developing robust and efficient smoother algorithms suitable for current and evolving GPU and multicore CPU systems is a significant challenge. We address this issue in the case of constant-coefficient stencils arising in the solution of elliptic partial differential equations on structured 3D uniform and adaptively refined block structured grids. Robust, highly parallel implementations of block Jacobi and chaotic block Gauss-Seidel algorithms with exact inversion of the blocks are developed using different parallelization techniques. Experimental results for NVIDIA Fermi/Kepler GPUs and AMD multicore systems are presented.


Most state-of-the-art methods for action recognition rely on a two-stream architecture that processes appearance and motion independently. In this paper, we claim that considering them jointly offers rich information for action recognition. We introduce a novel representation that gracefully encodes the movement of some semantic keypoints. We use the human joints as these keypoints and term our Pose moTion representation PoTion. Specifically, we first run a state-of-the-art human pose estimator [4] and extract heatmaps for the human joints in each frame. We obtain our PoTion representation by temporally aggregating these probability maps. This is achieved by 'colorizing' each of them depending on the relative time of the frames in the video clip and summing them. This fixed-size representation for an entire video clip is suitable to classify actions using a shallow convolutional neural network. Our experimental evaluation shows that PoTion outperforms other state-of-the-art pose representations [6, 48]. Furthermore, it is complementary to standard appearance and motion streams. When combining PoTion with the recent two-stream I3D approach [5], we obtain state-of-the-art performance on the JHMDB, HMDB and UCF101 datasets.


This study investigates the implications of the gap between International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and New Zealand International Financial Reporting Standards (NZIFRS) on financial reporting transparency, accountability and corporate fraud. Content analysis of IFRS and NZIFRS was carried out to determine if there are differences between IFRS and NZIFRS. Four IFRS, namely IAS 12, IFRS 13, IFRS 15, IAS 17 and IFRS 16 were analysed on the basis of adoption concessions and Reduced Disclosure Regime (RDR) for tier 1 and 2 entities. The findings from these standards led to a review of the associated IFRS to further understand the implications of the standards on financial reporting transparency and decline in incidences of corporate fraud. We found that the difference between IFRS and NZIFRS lies in the financial reporting framework for tier 2 entities. However, we did not find a difference between IFRS and NZIFRS for entities in tier 1 but we identified a decline in incidences of corporate fraud after IFRS was adopted. We further identified the presence of information asymmetry for tier 2 which is capable of retaining Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAPs). These differences may increase the incidence of corporate fraud among the entities in tier 2 of External Reporting Framework. This is due to an excessive concession from IFRS implementation in New Zealand.


The first line of the new national curriculum states: "Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected subject". This event is a chance to engage actively in some of the work of a research project that, for the last three years, has been tackling underachievement in primary mathematics through a focus on creativity. The project is a collaboration between the University of Bristol and 5x5x5=creativity.

We have had some striking successes with our research together and in this session we will share what we have learnt. We will offer our thoughts on how and why students can get engaged through creative processes in mathematics,
show how these need not be in conflict with curriculum coverage and can in fact help with the need to work on complex ideas with young children. Participants will engage in one or more of the activities from the project, we will look at some students' work, hear the teachers' stories and open up a discussion of issues raised.


The origin and spread of agriculture have been central questions in archaeology for the last 75 years and are increasingly being addressed by a multidisciplinary approach involving biologists, ecologists, geographers and anthropologists as well as archaeologists. Molecular genetics has the potential to make an important contribution, especially by enabling the number of times that a crop or animal was domesticated to be determined. Molecular genetics can also assign approximate dates to domestication events, identify the wild progenitor of a domesticate, and provide new forms of evidence relevant to agricultural spread. With wheat, molecular genetical studies of modern plants have suggested that einkorn was domesticated just once but that emmer might have been domesticated more than once. Ancient DNA studies of animal remains have benefited from progress made with equivalent analyses of human bones, and with plant material there have been clear demonstrations of DNA preservation in desiccated seeds. Charred remains have also been shown to contain ancient DNA but this finding is unexpected in view of the high temperatures to which these seeds have supposedly been exposed. Ancient DNA studies of wheat remains have been used in taxonomic identification and in assessment of the possible bread–making quality of the wheat grown at an Early Bronze Age site in Greece.


Smell is one of the five human senses. It is fundamental to people and to many living creatures and by extension it is of great importance for the quality control of online production processes in many mass-production industries. G. Dodd and K. Persaud published the first work regarding the artificial sensing of smells and odours and a few years later Gardner defined the technological solution to an electronic nose as: 'an instrument, which comprises an array of electronic chemical sensors with partial specificity and an appropriate patternrecognition system, capable of recognising simple or complex odours.' In agreement with the definition, a competent electronic nose should be capable of working continuously providing useful information of the samples under test and presenting no fatigue over the measurements. Two key elements should be the base of every electronic nose: a sensor array of cross-selective electrodes and a pattern recognition tool to statistically analyze the samples, which has to be able to point out the similarities and dissimilarities among all the measured samples. These statistical methods are known as chemometrics, which combined with sensors arrays has been recognized by many as a method to enhance the results of sensor systems. One of the most classic sensor arrays with which the first electronic noses were built, and that are still in use, is based on metal oxides. However they present some problems and soit has been necessary to investigate and develop new technologies. These will permit the characterisation of gases, vapours and aromas in a fast, economic and, if possible, online manner, in order to generalise the use of electronic noses in many distinct areas and applied technologies. Sensors using semiconducting polymers have been used since the 1970s due to their favourable features. Recently, there have been a number of further developments in the field of organic semiconductors, which suggests that devices based on these may become even more relevant in the near future. This chapter discusses about semiconducting polymers, organic polymers used in gas sensors, their recognition principles and about adsorbent organic conducting polymer composites. Three configurations are used for organic sensors: chemiresistors, transistors (and diodes) and optodes. Some applications in which these sensors are used are also described, such as humidity, ammonia, nitrogen oxide, hydrogen chloride and nitroaromatic explosives.


Ni/CeO2-ZrO2 catalysts were prepared via co-precipitation and characterized by N2 adsorption–desorption, XRD, SEM, and TPR techniques. The effects of reaction temperature, carbon-equivalent space velocity (GC1HSV), and steam-to-carbon ratio (S/C) on the performance of the catalysts for ethanol steam reforming (ESR) were investigated. It was found that the best catalytic performance was obtained over the Ni/Ce0.75Zr0.25 catalyst with GC1HSV=345 h-1 and S/C=9.2. Under these conditions, H2 selectivity reached its highest value of 98% at T=725 °C, and carbon conversion reached 100% at T=825 °C. The performances of Ni/Ce0.75Zr0.25 and Ni/Ce0.5Zr0.5 were also compared at S/C ranging from 2.5 to 9.2. The results showed a higher carbon conversion for the Ni/Ce0.75Zr0.25 catalyst than for Ni/Ce0.5Zr0.5.


Global production of aluminium and copper has steadily increased over recent decades, while lead production has been fairly stable. Recycling has also been increasing, reducing the growth rate of primary production of aluminium and copper, and reducing primary production of lead. Despite depletion of the richest ores and a shift to less concentrated ores, advances in mining technologies have lead to generally declining, though fluctuating, metal prices. Supplies of these metals are sustainable for the foreseeable future. Sustainable development issues relate rather to energy consumption, revenue reductions for exporting countries, and health and environmental impacts. 1 Trends in Consumption and Production: Selected Minerals


Abstract Ion heating experiments have been intensively carried out in high- and low-Zeff conditions of Large Helical Device plasmas. In high-Zeff plasmas utilizing neon or argon gus puffing, the ion heating power normalized by ion density (Pi/ni) increases with ZeffL and the central ion temperature increases with Pi/ni without saturation. The central ion temperature of 13.5 kV was achieved in an argon-seeded plasma, strongly suggesting the capability of the helical configuration to confine high-performance plasmas. In low-Zeff experiments, improvement of ion heat transport was realized in the core plasmas heated by high-power neutral beam injections. The ion temperature has a peaked profile with steep gradient in the core region (ion internal transport barrier). The transport analysis indicates that the anomalous transport is reduced in the core region, where the negative radial electric field is predicted by the neoclassical ambipolarity. Improvement of ion heat transport with positive radial electric field was also successfully demonstrated utilizing strongly focused electron cyclotron resonant heating, suggesting further improvement of ion heat transport in reactor-relevant plasmas.


Abstract : Why are beneficial software engineering practices not being used effectively in the development of software systems? This question has intrigued researchers in software engineering for many years Pamas 85. Billions of dollars per year are spent, and a large proportion wasted, on building and maintaining software systems that are either never completed or, if completed, are of poor quality. This state of software development has led to the introduction of innovative tools and techniques to support the software development process. Initial evidence from use of these tools and techniques shows significant improvements in development productivity and software quality. However, many of these potentially beneficial tools and techniques have not been widely adopted or diffused. This research seeks to examine the reason why this is so: What factors explain the successful diffusion of new software development techniques into practice?


Newer concepts of jurisprudence such as the "right to die," or the "right not to suffer" may negatively affect those dealing with gender related trauma. The biological and demographical profiles of males and females reveals myriad differences which shape behavior in dealing with trauma and illness. The result may be a distortion of reality, doom mentality, depression, even ultimate despair. This article examines the women who were assisted in their suicides by Dr. Jack Kevorkian, and analyzes a growing vulnerability among certain women to acquiesent suicide, and ultimately highlights women's susceptibility to euthanasia. Economic, education and marital status, along with health care, and biological and emotional factors are all considered in an analysis of these specific suicides. The analysis offers some alarming evidence that must be considered in the jurisprudence of the right to die in light of a gender analysis. It suggests empowerment of individuals through strong families, and a strong and caring society to avoid ultimate victimization for those most vulnerable.


Although extant research supports the notion that college- and university-sponsored mentoring programs are effective in academically transitioning and retaining postsecondary students from a variety of sociocultural backgrounds (Gershenfeld, 2014), no research examines how mentoring programs solicit, recruit, and evaluate the potential "mentorability" (Reddick, 2014) of their mentees. Employing Riffe, Lacy, and Fico's (2016) quantitative content analysis, this study augments Crisp et al.'s (2017) recent work, examining postsecondary mentoring program websites (n = 187) at public, four-year institutions in Texas (n = 44). Findings suggest only 19% of all mentoring programs address "mentorability" by outlining mentee reciprocity and defining mentee characteristics and expectations, compared to 37% of all mentoring programs which define mentor characteristics and expectations. Furthermore, mentoring programs are four times more likely to address their mentors (1,023 occurrences) than "mentees/proteges" (237 occurrences), speaking to the lack of focus on mentee "mentorability." Implications for practitioners and future research are addressed.


The authors describe an evolving theoretical framework that has been called one of the best kept secrets of academia: cultural-historical activity theory, the result of proposals Lev Vygotsky first articulated but that his students and followers substantially developed to constitute much expanded forms in its second and third generations. Besides showing that activity theory transforms how research should proceed regarding language, language learning, and literacy in particular, the authors demonstrate how it is a theory for praxis, thereby offering the potential to overcome some of the most profound problems that have plagued both educational theorizing and practice.


A fantastic collection of much-loved, classic stories for all the family! Mrs Pepperpot can't choose when she will shrink to the size of a pepperpot - it just happens! But whatever she encounters, whether it be a monstrous mousetrap, a crafty fox or a gigantic mountain of ice cream, little Mrs Pepperpot will always come out on top.


Due to limited budgets and manpower, most elementary schools in Taiwan do not plan or provide library instruction for students. Although students can use libraries, they typically lack the knowledge needed to use library resources effectively. Consequently, students have difficulty finding the books they need and can easily become overwhelmed by the massive amount of information in libraries. Computer-assisted instruction for teaching basic library skills to large numbers of students is an appealing method. Particularly, game-based learning has garnered considerable attention in education research. Many researchers and scholars believe that integrating teaching and games enhances student learning performance and motivation. This work develops an educational gaming system based on situated learning theory, and applies innovative augmented reality interactive technology to a library's learning environment. Student library knowledge can be enhanced via the proposed game-based augmented reality library instruction system (GARLIS). Experimental results demonstrate that student learning performance is improved significantly by using the proposed GARLIS. Moreover, this work demonstrates that using the proposed GARLIS for library instruction results in the same learning performance as conventional librarian instruction. The proposed library instruction system overcomes shortcomings of personal teaching skills of librarians that may adversely affect student learning performance by conveying the same learning content to all students. Additionally, the proposed system results in better learning performance for learners with the field-dependent cognitive style than learners with the field-independent cognitive style. Further, the proposed system provides more benefits in terms of library skills training than conventional librarian instruction.


It is not known whether impacts of climate change may grow so intense as to threaten permanently the economic sustainability of countries. In this article, the mid-term impact of climate change was modeled for countries ranked amongst the most vulnerable to climate change. The Gross National Income (GNI) growth rates of three countries highly vulnerable to climate change (Pakistan, Somalia and Burkina Faso) were compared with expected economic losses from disasters, using a dataset that spanned from 1980 to 2010. It was found, in average, that GNI have doubled each decade, while economic losses to disaster have doubled every three decades. The results suggest that the impact is likely to be smaller in the future than it is now, as long as growth rates of both GNI and climate-related losses are maintained. Given the current scenario, localized regions and economies are the ones that seem to be most likely to be affected by climate change.


1-(4-Fluorophenyl)propan-2-amine (4-fluoroamphetamine, 4-FA) underwent a critical review in November 2015 at the 37th meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence. The Committee recommended that 4-FA not be placed under international control at that time due to insufficiency of data regarding dependence, abuse and risks to public health but be kept under surveillance. This review represents an update. 4-FA is a psychomotor stimulant first synthesized in the early 1940s. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) received the first formal notification of the detection of 4-FA in Europe in December 2008 although its presence has been noted since at least 2007. In Europe, it has been found in tablets sold as 'ecstasy'/MDMA, paste or powder sold as amphetamine. It has also been detected as an adulterant present in other illicit controlled substances. The EMCDDA has been notified of seizures from various locations in Europe since 2008. In the Netherlands, 4-FA has recently established itself as a drug of choice (powdered form, tablets and capsules) in a subpopulation of recreational drug users associated with clubs and music festivals. 4- FA appears to be most commonly administered orally or by nasal insufflation (snorting). Data indicate that 4-FA may be able to inhibit monoamine oxidase and that it functions as a substrate-type releasing agent of dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin. It has been shown to display amphetamine-like features in vivo and in vitro, which suggests that abuse liability might extend to humans. Further research is warranted to investigate the extent to which 4-FA displays a potential dependence in both animals in humans. Case report data in the scientific literature that unambiguously confirm a causal relationship between adverse effects of 4-FA and its presence in biofluids are limited to only a relatively small number of cases. In cases where this information is available, reported clinical features were associated with those of a sympathomimetic toxidrome. Information about a global perspective is missing. However, reports received from data monitoring systems in the Netherlands indicate increased use and popularity alongside increased numbers of notifications associated with severe adverse drug effects including serious cardiovascular toxicity. Following a risk assessment carried out by the Dutch Centre for the Assessment and Monitoring of new drugs (CAM), it was concluded that the risk to individual health was small to moderate but with high risk for acute toxicity especially in subpopulations associated with clubbing. The risk to public health was deemed moderate to large based on rising trends in use number of health incidents. The overall risk score of 4-FA was considered high, which led to 4-FA being placed under legislative control.


Over the last decades, the study of climate variability has attracted ample attention. The observation of structural climatic change has led to questions about the causes and the mechanisms involved. The task to understand interactions in the complex climate system is particularly di±cult because of the lack of observational data, spanning a period of time typical for natural climate variability.
One way around this problem is to represent the earth s climate in a computer model, as a set of prognostic equations. A disadvantage of this approach is that, if the model under consideration is to faithfully represent the climate system, it has to be large in terms of the number of degrees of freedom. This puts it out of reach of the ordinary analysis of dynamical systems theory. Alternatively, we can impose symmetries, consider limits of physical parameters, exploit perturbation theory and use Galerkin approximation to obtain simplified models of the earth s climate. Such models should highlight some isolated aspects of climate dynamics.
A feature these simplified models have in common is the presence of widely different time scales. Throughout this thesis the emphasis is on the question to what extent the slow time scales play a role in the model s dynamics. The slow time scales are related to ocean dynamics and the fast time scales to atmospheric dynamics.
The atmosphere model, studied here, was introduced by Edward Lorenz (1984). In chapter 2 a derivation of this model is given and it is shown that the Lorenz-84 model describes the jet stream in the mid-latitude atmosphere, and planetary waves, which can grow if the jet stream becomes dynamically unstable.
The Lorenz-84 model is coupled to two different low-order ocean models. In chapter 3, it is coupled to Stommel s two box model. Stommel s model mimics the thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic ocean. The typical time scale of variability of this circulation is of the order of centuries. This will be the longest time scale in the coupled models.
In chapter 4, the Lorenz-84 model is coupled to an ocean model formulated by Leo Maas (1994). A physical description of the coupling is given. Apart from the overturning circulation, Maas model represents a wind driven gyre. There is coupling through exchange of heat at the surface and through wind shear forcing. The latter acts on a time scale of about one year, in between the fast atmospheric time scale and the slow overturning time scale.
The simplified models are sets of coupled, nonlinear, ordinary differential equations. These can be analysed with the aid of dynamical systems theory. The emphasis will be on bifurcation analysis. Also, the time scale separation leads to the presence of small parameters in the equations. The consequences for the behaviour of the coupled models are explored by means of singular perturbation theory.
In both coupled models, intermittent behaviour is observed. The slow subsystem, i.e. the ocean model, repeatedly pushes the fast subsystem, i.e. the atmosphere model, through a sequence of bifurcations. Thus, the ocean model plays an active role in the coupled system. Secondly, in the Lorenz-Maas model a periodic solution is shown to exist, with a period on the slow, overturning time scale. Along this solution the behaviour of the coupled model is dictated by internal ocean dynamics. Both these phenomena occur near a critical point of the coupled system, in agreement with the general idea that in climate models the slow components can play an active role near such critical points and are passive otherwise.


This is a book of stories about sports persons: sports stars, less-known athletes and relatively unknown physical education teachers and sports scientists. More exactly, these 13 essays all deal with problems associated with writing sport biographies - how does an author navigate among myths and truths? Why do some athletes live on in the public mind while others, whose achievements may have been greater, fade from memory? Are sports biographies different from those dealing with people from the non-sporting realm? The subjects range from direct theoretical explorations of writing sport biographies to discussions of biographies themselves. Topics include the following: The German-American sports- and physiology scientist Professor Ernst Jokl; Danish gymnastics pedagogue Niels Bukh; two studies of physical education teachers, including Martti Silvennionen's work on autoethnographical pedagogy in PE teacher training; women's sport in Denmark's intermediary period of 1920-1950; writing about women and sport, and the Finnish worker sports movement experience from a woman's viewpoint. Another essay observes the contrasts in the legends of two sports stars in twentieth century Britain, the English footballer Jackie Milburn and the Olympic athlete, Godfrey Brown. Other topics include the English sports hero from the 1940s and '50s, Denis Compton, the Swedish footballer Lennart "Nacka" Skoglund and the Danish cyclist Niels Fredborg. Writing Lives in Sports provides lively discussions of individual sporting lives as well as important methodological and conceptual questions for writers and biographers of sport figures and other genres.


The IAEA Technical Report Series (TRS) handbook on transfer of radionuclides to human foodstuffs from terrestrial and freshwater systems has recently been revised during the EMRAS I programme [1]. The document updates the previous handbook (TRS 364) and constitutes an important source of information for transfer parameters for the human foodchain. Quantification of the rates of transfer of radionuclides through foodchains to humans has long been a key focus of radiation protection. More recently, there has been a move away from radiation protection being solely anthropogenic to one which also considers protection of the environment as recognised by both the IAEA [2] and the ICRP [3] in their Fundamental Safety Principles and revised Recommendations, respectively, both of which now include the need to protect the environment. To address these recommendations and safety principles, the consequences of radiological releases need to be considered in part by estimating an internal dose. To do this, the transfer of radionuclides to wildlife of interest needs to be quantified.
 In response to the need for a reference source of information on radionuclide transfer to wildlife, the IAEA initiated the development of a TRS handbook, which has been supported by interaction with the EMRAS II Working Group 5, (http://www-ns.iaea.org/projects/emras/emras2/working-groups/working-group-five.asp). The TRS handbook has been finalised and is currently going through the IAEA approval process. The TRS handbook provides equilibrium concentration ratio values for wildlife groups in terrestrial, freshwater, marine and estuarine environments. Wildlife is considered to include all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms including feral species (i.e. non-native self-sustaining populations). The TRS handbook provides IAEA Member States with transfer data for use in the radiological assessment of wildlife as a consequence of planned and existing exposure situations [3]. As an equilibrium approach is presented, these data are not directly applicable to emergency situations.


Walking the Cowpastures and beyond A personal reflection of a visit to Baragil Lagoon at Menangle and the ground that Governor Macquarie walked on in 1810. The historian is advised to walk the ground of their studies and subject matter. When it happens it can be a real eyeopener. It challenged my view of these colonial stories and myths when I visited Baragil Lagoon in 2015 (see Blog post). The visit to the locality was organised by John and Edwina Stanham to EMAI and Baragil Lagoon for the Camden Park Nursery Group. I was touched in 2015 by visiting the spot where Governor Macquarie camped above Baragil Lagoon. The camp site is very similar to 1810 on Macquarie's visit and how he would have found the site.


This is an attempt to outline the legal and economic framework within which trade unions have functioned and developed in the island of Newfoundland. -- The paper begins with a brief account of the economic, social and political background of the island. Thereafter, it is divided basically into two parts. The first part outlines the labour laws in the island before and after Newfoundland became the Tenth Province of Canada. The pre-1949 labour laws were patterned on British labour legislation. However, after 1949, it became necessary to either enact new laws or revise the old ones so as to make them conform substantially with those of other parts of Canada. -- The Labour Legislative Committee which advised the government of Newfoundland was comprised mainly of trade unionists. It was therefore not surprising that the immediate post-1949 labour laws of Newfoundland heavily favoured the trade unions. The result was that the labour movement in Newfoundland was able to make great strides in the years immediately following the island's union with Canada. -- After the bitter International Woodworkers of America (I.W.A.) strike in 1958/59, the government of Newfoundland passed two labour acts, the effect of which was to sever the "friendly" links between organized labour and the Newfoundland government. These two acts in question tended to weaken the labour movement. -- The first part ends with a comparison of labour legislation in Newfoundland and other parts of Canada, especially that of the Atlantic Provinces. An attempt is also made to appraise, critically, the Newfoundland labour laws. -- The second part of the paper tries to trace the development of the labour movement in Newfoundland. An attempt is also made, in this part, to explain how the structure and nature of the labour force in the island - namely, its heavy reliance on the seasonal fishing and logging industries - did not favour the growth of trade unions. This second part of the paper outlines the formation of the first Newfoundland trade union, that is the Seal Skinners' Union of St. John's in 1854. However, the real foundation of the labour movement in Newfoundland can be traced to the building of the trans-island railway, as well as to the establishment of the pulp and paper industries in the island. -- The formation of the Newfoundland Federation of Labour in 1937, its growth and subsequent affiliation to the Canadian Labour Congress is outlined. -- An attempt is made to suggest reasons why the Newfoundland Federation of Labour is not as strong a movement as it was before the I.W.A. strike and the possible ways by which the Federation can increase its membership and effectiveness in the province. -- The thesis concludes with a detailed account concerning the causes and development of the bitter 1958/59 International Woodworkers of America (I.W.A.) strike which made headline news all over North America, and the implications of this dispute for the labour movement in the province.


Termination is an important but undecidable program property, which has led to a large body of work on static methods for conservatively predicting or enforcing termination. One such method is the size-change termination approach of Lee, Jones, and Ben-Amram, which operates in two phases: (1) abstract programs into "size-change graphs," and (2) check these graphs for the size-change property: the existence of paths that lead to infinite decreasing sequences. We transpose these two phases with an operational semantics that accounts for the run-time enforcement of the size-change property, postponing (or entirely avoiding) program abstraction. This choice has two key consequences: (1) size-change termination can be checked at run-time and (2) termination can be rephrased as a safety property analyzed using existing methods for systematic abstraction. We formulate run-time size-change checks as contracts in the style of Findler and Felleisen. The result compliments existing contracts that enforce partial correctness specifications to obtain contracts for total correctness. Our approach combines the robustness of the size-change principle for termination with the precise information available at run-time. It has tunable overhead and can check for nontermination without the conservativeness necessary in static checking. To obtain a sound and computable termination analysis, we apply existing abstract interpretation techniques directly to the operational semantics, avoiding the need for custom abstractions for termination. The resulting analyzer is competitive with with existing, purpose-built analyzers.


This article describes the use of an extended case that simulates the front-office management of a National Basketball Association franchise during the off-season. Undergraduate students in an introduction to sport management course are tasked with making a series of sequential and interconnected decisions over a semester related to hiring a coach, producing a press release and press conference, analyzing player performance, creating a turnaround plan, managing a roster, establishing a culture following change, and relaunching the team's brand. The benefits of this approach include the application of knowledge to practice, an understanding of a sport sector, making decisions in teams, adapting to new organizational environments, understanding how to make sequential decisions, and understanding how decisions are interconnected over time and across departments.


Using law and evidence to achieve fair and accurate decisions in numerous legal cases requires a complex multiagent system. This paper discusses a framework based on many-valued, predicate, default logic that successfully captures legal knowledge, integrates and evaluates expert and non-expert evidence, coordinates agents working on different legal problems, and evolves the knowledge model over time. The graphical syntax and the semantics of this framework allow the automation of key tasks, and the emergence of dynamic structures for integrating human and non-human agents. The logical basis of the framework ensures its applicability to knowledge and problem domains of similar complexity to


Six field trials were conducted over three growing seasons to evaluate both pre-and post-emergence applications of the recently developed herbicide mesotrione, for weed control in maize. As a pre-emergence treatment it provided excellent control of broadleaf weeds (>99% reduction in dry matter) but was poor on grass weeds (ca 80% reduction). However, its combination with atrazine, s-metolachlor or acetochlor provided >93% reduction in grass and broadleaf weed dry matter. Applications of mesotrione post-emergence were very effective on broadleaf weeds (>94%) but less so on grass weeds (ca 85%) although several adjuvant combinations improved the efficacy against annual grass weeds. A number of herbicide combinations were demonstrated to be effective for postemergence weed control. Mesotrione did not cause any apparent damage to maize crops in any trial and grain yields were not significantly different from the standard treatments. Recommended rates for post-emergence use of mesotrione will be 72–96 g/ha depending on soil type.


The purpose of this book is to provide a picture of ongoing research at Malardalen University in order to create a point of departure for future research on industrial renewal. Many aspects of industrial renewal are dealt with by the researchers who contributed to this book. Some of them focus on functional aspects such as distribution channels and management accounting and control. Others deal with broad perspectives such as strategies and entrepreneurship, and still others consider specific empirical fields such as the institutions of society, and the energy sector.Our exposition identifies a need for further research into classical problems such as how to best exploit new ideas in established firms, as well as how to infuse new approaches and attitudes into going concerns, the role of the characteristics of industrial networks, geographical distance, the labour market, and the institutions of society in such renewal processes, and the need for more in-depth process research in order to further develop theory and practice.


The shortage of housing in remote communities, and their deteriorated condition, has long been associated with high levels of crowding, homelessness and serious health and social problems affecting the wellbeing of Indigenous Australians. A contributing factor to poor housing standards was the diversity of housing providers and grants as well as complex and confusing land tenure arrangements. To address these problems, the Commonwealth, states and the Northern Territory established the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing, (NPARIH) in 2008. NPARIH was a 10-year, $5.5b Commonwealthfunded tenancy management and capital works program of new housing and refurbishment of existing housing (DSS 2013a). Under NPARIH, remote Indigenous housing came under a single regime managed by the state and territory governments, through their public housing agencies, The aim was to introduce robust and standardised tenancy management consistent with public housing standards and a repairs and maintenance program that increased the life cycle of housing, improved housing conditions and expanded housing options in remote Indigenous communities (COAG 2008a: 5). This divestment of historical Commonwealth responsibility to the states and territories was an audacious policy change, involving an attempt to mainstream remote Indigenous housing that was formerly mostly managed by the Indigenous community housing sector. With NPARIH now ending, it is timely to review how tenancy management arrangements are working given the substantial investment and the need to ensure arrangements are sustainable over the long term. This project builds on research undertaken in 2013 that investigated the tenancy management arrangements that followed the introduction of NPARIH in the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia (Habibis, Phillips et al. 2014). It is not a review of NPARIH itself, and includes some consideration of non-NPARIH communities. This second phase of the study commenced in mid-2014 and investigates how well tenancy management arrangements are working under NPARIH, the appropriateness and effectiveness of the tenancy management policy and service delivery approaches, and the efficiency and value for money of the service delivery models. It aims to identify and share across jurisdictions, and nationally, the policy and practice lessons gained from the NPARIH experience.


AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
A systematic review of published studies on service user involvement in undergraduate, preregistration general nursing education (excluding mental health-specific programmes). The objective is to examine how students are exposed to engagement with service users.

BACKGROUND
The requirement of service user involvement in all nurse education is policy expectation of health professional education providers, in response to the increased public and political expectations. Previous literature reviews have focused solely on mental health.

DESIGN
Systematic review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines; timeframe 1997-2014; published in English.

METHODS
Search of CINAHL, Cochrane Review, Education Research Complete, Internurse, MEDLINE, PsychINFO, Scopus, SocINDEX and Web of Science yielded 229 citations; 11 studies met the review eligibility criteria.

RESULTS
Seven studies used qualitative methodology, two quantitative and two mixed methods. Studies from the United Kingdom dominated (n = 9), the remainder from South Africa and Turkey. The results are described using four themes: benefits and limitations of service user involvement; nursing student selection; education delivery; practice-based learning and assessment. Most studies were small scale; nine had less than 30 participants. Overall the evidence suggests that student, lecturers and service users valued service user involvement in nurse education, to provide an authentic insight into the illness experience. Logistical considerations around support and student cohort size emerged.

CONCLUSIONS
This is the first systematic review to focus on service user involvement in general nurse education. It reveals that service user involvement commenced later and is more limited in general programmes as compared to equivalent mental health education provision. Most of the evidence focuses on perceptions of the value of involvement. Further research is required to more clearly establish impact on learning and clinical practice.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
Service user involvement in nurse education is valued by stakeholders but preparation and support for those involved, including mentors is underestimated.


This paper describes work in progress on a tool for component-based design of embedded real-time software. The tool supports graphical modeling of software systems using concurrent reactive objects and components, as well as generation of C code from the model. The resulting application code can then be combined with a lightweight kernel for execution on bare metal.


We investigate the effects of input device latency and spatial jitter on 2D pointing tasks and a 3D movement. First, we characterize jitter and latency in a 3D tracking device and an optical mouse used for baseline comparison. We present an experiment based on ISO 9241-9, which measures performance of pointing devices. We added latency and jitter to the mouse and compared it to a 3D tracker. Results indicate that latency has a stronger effect on performance than small spatial jitter. A second experiment found that erratic jitter "spikes" can affect 3D movement performance.


Previous studies have examined various factors that influence the implementation of the Last Planner System (LPS) in construction projects. However, there is limited documented evidence on the influence of procurement methods on the implementation of
the LPS. The aim of this study, therefore; is to understand the influence of some selected procurement methods on the implementation of the LPS using case study approach. Three
in-depth case studies were conducted on building and highways projects in the UK. The projects were managed with the LPS principles with dissimilar procurement methods. In addition to document analysis and physical observation, 28 in-depth-interviews were conducted.
The investigation shows that the prevailing traditional mindset exhibited by the designers in the traditional design bid build (DBB) influences the quality of promises and commitments that could be made during the lookahead planning. From the study, it seems
no single procurement method is a sure way to the full application of the LPS process on a project. The study observes that irrespective of the procurement route used, a mindset change towards collaboration among the different stakeholders on the project is fundamental to successful LPS implementation. For instance, on projects where DBB was used and the subcontractors were in framework agreement, the LPS implementation worked well among the subcontractors. The study recommends that the procurement approach to be used on LPS projects should not be too firm, but lithe enough to integrate collaborative working among the different stakeholders on the project for a smooth
workflow.


New easily accessible 1,1'-bi-2-naphthol- (BINOL-) and biphenanthrol-based chiral pincer complex catalysts were prepared for selective (up to 85% enantiomeric excess) allylation of sulfonimines. The chiral pincer complexes were prepared by a flexible modular approach allowing an efficient tuning of the selectivity of the catalysts. By employment of the different enantiomeric forms of the catalysts, both enantiomers of the homoallylic amines could be selectively obtained. Both allyl stannanes and allyl trifluoroborates can be employed as allyl sources in the reactions. The biphenanthrol-based complexes gave higher selectivity than the substituted BINOL-based analogues, probably because of the well-shaped chiral pocket generated by employment of the biphenanthrol complexes. The enantioselective allylation of sulfonimines presented in this study has important implications for the mechanism given for the pincer complex-catalyzed allylation reactions, confirming that this process takes place without involvement of palladium(0) species.


One of the aims of using Turnitin as a formative assessment tool centres on trying to shift habits of practice in respect of developing academic writing. The use of Turnitin is promoted as a means of shifting practice, for students and tutors, by challenging existing habits in respect of academic writing. Therefore we have investigated Turnitin as a support for the development of new approaches to engaging students with their writing. A significant aspect that emerged in our research was use of the software to promote its developmental advantages, and to shift student perceptions away from plagiarism detection toward supporting and developing their academic writing skills. Also we found that the lack of understanding about the implications of originality and similarity reports has meant a need to engage in more discussion around student writing development, their responsibility for that writing and how the tool enables opportunities for formative feedback. In these respects it is useful to consider the use of Turnitin as a means to question particular habits of practice and develop a more student-focused tool to support and enhance academic writing skills.
This presentation shows how we have worked as a team to encourage staff and students to use Turnitin as a formative tool to support academic writing. We will review and synthesise our data from the fellowship staff development series' seminars and suggest practical and innovative ways to inspire staff and students in the use of Turnitin.


With so much of our lives digital, online, and not entirely under our control, we risk losing access to our communications, reputation, and data. Recent years have brought a rash of high-profile account compromises, but account hijacking is not limited to high-profile accounts. In this paper, we report results of a survey about people's experiences with and attitudes toward account hijacking. The problem is widespread; 30% of our 294 participants had an email or social networking account accessed by an unauthorized party. Five themes emerged from our results: (1) compromised accounts are often valuable to victims, (2) attackers are mostly unknown, but sometimes known, to victims, (3) users acknowledge some responsibility for keeping their accounts secure, (4) users' understanding of important security measures is incomplete, and (5) harm from account hijacking is concrete and emotional. We discuss implications for designing security mechanisms to improve chances for user adoption.


Many users benefit from decision support systems (DSS), but sometimes they can't readily comprehend the nature or meaning of the outcome from DSS. In general, interpretation of data is much more intuitive if the results from the DSS are translated into charts, maps, and other graphical displays because visualization exploits our natural ability to recognize and understand visual patterns. In this paper we discuss the concept of visualization user interface (VUI) for decision support systems on commerce (CDSS). An information visualization model for CDSS is proposed, which consists of three elements. In addition, a visualized information retrieval engine based on fuzzy control is proposed.


This study analyzed the impact of school poverty levels on variances in elementary math achievement and preparation-based teacher effects. The research was conducted using data from the Gaston County School District, the seventh largest district in North Carolina with over 32,000 students and 2,000 teachers. For this study, math achievement was determined as the mean academic change, or achievement growth, for each class of students assigned to a particular math teacher. Using an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) this study examined whether significant differences in student math achievement existed when comparing levels of teacher experience, teacher education, and National Board certification. Factorial analyses were utilized in order to determine any effect from school socioeconomic level.


This paper is an inquiry into the scientific roots and the 'normative' justification of comparative law, moving from the historical consciousness of the inextricable bond that grasps human behaviours and human sciences. The research path – chosen at this aim – leads through the complex and not univocal paradigms of philology, emphasizing their proper structure open to multiple uses and different declensions. The Author studies the inherent essence of philology, that reflects the range of meanings and interpretative activities included under the notion of λόγος, so to offer a more deep explanation both of its various branches and of its structural relation to theology. A parallel analysis discovers the reasons behind the success of comparative literature as a critical scholarship and as an intellectual tool fitted to the persuasive construction of cultural icons and identity narratives. As a consequence - and in conclusion of the investigation carried out - the innermost coherence of humanities testifies what is at the stake: the cultural legitimation of the 'normative' function of comparative law, insofar as it turns into a geopolitical project mapping the historical sense of 'belonging' and 'otherness'.


We describe a novel class of periodically grafted amphiphilic copolymers (PGACs) that could serve as nonionic functional mimics of ionenes, the primary difference being that the periodically occurring charged units along the backbone of ionenes are replaced by hydrophilic oligoethylene glycol segments. The synthesis and properties of this new class of segmented polymers that carry a hydrophobic alkylene polyester backone with periodically placed hydrophilic oligo(oxyethylene) pendant units are presented. When the length of the intervening alkylene segment is adequately long, 22-carbons in this case, and the pendant unit is a hexaethylene glycol monomethyl ether (HEG) segment, the polymer chain appears to adopt a folded zigzag conformation, reminiscent of the accordion-type structure formed by cationic ionenes. This transformation is driven by the intrinsic immiscibility of the alkylene and HEG segments and is reinforced by the strong tendency for long chain alkylene segments to crystallize in a paraffinic lattice. Evidence of the formation of such structures comes from the AFM images, which reveal the formation of remarkably flat pancake-like aggregates that are formed by the lateral aggregation of individually collapsed polymer chains; importantly, the heights of these structures match well with the lamellar layer-spacing obtained from SAXS studies of bulk samples. DSC studies further confirm the crystallization of the intervening alkylene segments, especially when they are long (C22), suggesting the formation of the folded zigzag structures. In a suitably designed PGAC that carries diacetylene units symmetrically placed within the alkylene segment, attempts were made to cross-polymerize the diacetylene units and generate PEGylated nanoparticles. However, these attempts were unsuccessful demonstrating the very stringent geometric requirements for the topotactic polymerization of diacetylenes.


This article discusses the sources of competitive advantage in the interwar British radio industry. Specifically, it examines why sections of the industry that reaped substantial monopoly rents from the downstream value chain failed to dominate the industry. During the 1920s Marconi (which controlled the fundamental UK patents) had a key cost advantage, as had other members of the 'Big Six' electrical engineering firms which formed the BBC and were granted preferential royalties. Meanwhile the valve manufacturers' cartel was also able to extract high rents from set manufacturers. The vertical integration literature suggests that input monopolists have incentives to control downstream production. Yet—in contrast to the gramophone industry, which became concentrated into two huge companies following market saturation in the 1930s—radio retained a much more competitive structure. The Big Six failed to capitalize fully on their initial cost advantages owing to logistical weaknesses in supplying markets subject to rapid technical and design obsolescence. Subsequently, during the 1930s, marketing innovations are shown to have played a key role in allowing several independents to establish successful brands. This gave them sufficient scale to provide strong bargaining positions with input suppliers, negating most of their initial cost disadvantage.


The record of sea-level oscillations during the last interglacial highstand comes from different geological archives around the world and from the marine oxygen-isotope record from deep-sea cores. In this study, tidally influenced ooid shoals of the Miami Limestone and coeval deposits in the Bahamas were chosen for to document the record of sub-orbital sea-level oscillations within the last interglacial highstand, Marine Isotope Stage 5e (MIS 5e). This study combines detailed sedimentological and stratigraphic investigations of cores and outcrops of the Pleistocene Miami Limestone with a LIDAR-based digital elevation model (DEM) to relate the facies of the ooid sand body to the geomorphologic structure and depositional geometries. The oolitic facies of the Miami Limestone is approximately 300 km2. Using the precise LIDAR-based DEM, two morphologically distinct areas are observed in this ooid sand body: (1) Tidal bar and channel system and (2) a prograding barrier bar. Two main facies, mottled and cross-bedded, are identified within the oolitic facies and related to the depositional environment. In several cores, characteristic features of subaerial exposure are found, such as dissolution, red staining, caliche crusts, and burrow-filling quartz. Two U/Th age dates, <155.2 ± 1.1 kyrs and 126.9 ± 0.9 kyrs, respectively, indicate that this exposure horizon formed during the last sea-level highstand (MIS 5e), thus documenting a sea-level oscillation within MIS 5e. It is likely that the seaward accretion of the prograding barrier bar to the tidal bar and channel system is related to the MIS 5e sea-level oscillation. Thus, the oscillating sea level during MIS 5e is largely responsible for sedimentological complexity and stratigraphic heterogeneity within the Miami Limestone. The surface morphology of the Pleistocene Miami Limestone is very similar to portions of the modern ooid shoal systems in the Bahamas. In addition, comparison of the elevations of the shoal crests from the Miami Limestone with time-equivalent oolitic grainstone shoals in the Bahamas (Ocean Cay and New Providence Island) yielded several meters of difference. These shoal crest elevations provide an estimation of the amplitude of sea-level oscillation during MIS 5e, which is up to 17 meters. The implications of these high-frequency sea-level oscillations of several meters amplitude during MIS 5e are twofold. First, it indicates that rapid climate changes and concomitant waxing and waning of ice sheets can occur within warm periods. Secondly, the depositional heterogeneity and stratigraphic complexity observed in the Miami Limestone are likely a combined result of syndepositional topography and the sea-level oscillations during MIS 5e.


If the powder bed laser melting process is now widely used, the fusion process is not clearly understood yet. Particularly, it is important, formation of spatters and melt pool stability has not been analyzed.From previous works, thermo convective effects have evidenced but should be more investigated. In this article, we present new experiments to tackle these issues. First, we present the experimental setup.A high speed camera can register videos from different point of view around the laser spot and melt pool. Different process parameters can be changed: laser power, speed, gas type, material, granulometry…The fusion of the powder is registered along the track. Video analyses evidence the way the powder is fusion depending of the process paramters. They allow exhibiting the stabilization effect of a reduction of the granulometry and the decrease of speed travel. The spatters formation is discussed with the observation of a gas type or a lower power change..If the powder bed laser melting process is now widely used, the fusion process is not clearly understood yet. Particularly, it is important, formation of spatters and melt pool stability has not been analyzed.From previous works, thermo convective effects have evidenced but should be more investigated. In this article, we present new experiments to tackle these issues. First, we present the experimental setup.A high speed camera can register videos from different point of view around the laser spot and melt pool. Different process parameters can be changed: laser power, speed, gas type, material, granulometry…The fusion of the powder is registered along the track. Video analyses evidence the way the powder is fusion depending of the process paramters. They allow exhibiting the stabilization effect of a reduction of the granulometry and the decrease of speed travel. The spatters formation is discussed with the observation of a gas type or a lower power change..


Fungi of the Conidiobolus group belong to the family Ancylistaceae (Entomophthorales, Entomophthoromycotina, Zoopagomycota) and include over 70 predominantly saprotrophic species in four similar and closely related genera, that were separated phylogenetically recently. Entomopathogenic fungi of the genus Batkoa are very close morphologically to the Conidiobolus species. Their thalli share similar morphology, and they produce ballistic conidia like closely related entomopathogenic Entomophthoraceae. Ballistic conidia are traditionally considered as an efficient tool in the pathogenic process and an important adaptation to the parasitic lifestyle. Our study aims to reconstruct the phylogeny of this fungal group using molecular and genomic data, ancestral lifestyle and morphological features of the conidiobolus-like group and the direction of their evolution. Based on phylogenetic analysis, some species previously in the family Conidiobolaceae are placed in the new families Capillidiaceae and Neoconidiobolaceae, which each include one genus, and the Conidiobolaceae now includes three genera. Intermediate between the conidiobolus-like groups and Entomophthoraceae, species in the distinct Batkoa clade now belong in the family Batkoaceae. Parasitism evolved several times in the Conidiobolus group and Ancestral State Reconstruction suggests that the evolution of ballistic conidia preceded the evolution of the parasitic lifestyle.


Mangroves of the Indo-West Pacific have remained poorly explored, so even the diversity of the onchidiid slugs, which are some of the most abundant animals in mangroves of the Indo-West Pacific, is not well known. Thanks to several years spent exploring mangroves in the Indo-West Pacific (more than 260 stations), especially in South-East Asia, the diversity of mangrove gastropods can now be addressed through revisions following an integrative taxonomy approach (nomenclature, field observations, comparative anatomy and DNA sequences). A new genus of onchidiid slugs is described, Paromoionchis Dayrat & Goulding gen. nov., which includes five species, three of which are new: Paromoionchis boholensis Dayrat & Goulding gen. et sp. nov., P. daemelii (Semper, 1880) com. nov., P. goslineri Dayrat & Goulding gen. et sp. nov., P. penangensis Dayrat & Goulding gen. et sp. nov. and P. tumidus (Semper, 1880) comb. nov. Paromoionchis gen. nov. is distributed from western India to the subtropical waters of Japan (33° N) and southeastern Australia (33° S). The creation of new taxon names is supported by rigorous nomenclature: the types of all existing species names in the family were examined, the original descriptions carefully studied and nomenclatural issues addressed. The diversity and biogeography of this new genus is discussed in a broader context.


Cone penetration in sands is a complex process: it contains several challenges that geomechanicians face, such as large displacements, large strains, strain localization, and microscale phenomena such as particle crushing and sand fabric evolution. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the penetration process and the mechanisms controlling penetration resistance, capturing these displacement and strain fields and microscale phenomena is necessary. Furthermore, as more sophisticated theoretical models become available for the simulation of the cone penetration problem, the experimental validation of those methods becomes vital.This dissertation presents a multiscale study of the cone penetration process in silica sands. The penetration problem is investigated using a combinational approach consisting of calibration chamber experiments, digital image correlation (DIC) analysis, and X-ray computed Tomography (XCT) scans. Three silica sands with different particle characteristics are used in the experimental program. These three sands have similar particle size distributions; however, they differ in particle morphologies and particle strengths. These differences allow a study of the effect of microscale sand properties on the macroscale response of the sands to the cone penetration process. The three silica sands used in this research are fully characterized using laboratory experiments to obtain particle size distributions, particle morphologies, particle crushing strengths, minimum and maximum packing densities, and critical-state friction angles. Subsequently, both dense and medium-dense samples of the three sands are compressed in a uniaxial loading device placed inside an X-ray microscope (XRM) and scanned at multiple stress levels during uniaxial compression. Results from uniaxial compression experiments indicate that: (1) the compressibility of the sands is closely tied to particle morphology and strength, and (2) the anisotropy in the orientations of interparticle contact normals generally increases with axial stress; however, this increase is limited by the occurrence of particle crushing in the sample.Subsequently, cone penetration experiments are performed under different confinement levels on dense samples of the three sands in aspecial half-cylindrical calibration chamber equipped with DIC capabilities. For each penetration experiment, incremental displacement fields around the cone penetrometer are obtained using DIC analysis, and these incremental displacement fields are further analyzed to compute the incremental strain fields. A novel methodology is developed to obtain the shear-band patterns that develop around the penetrometer automatically. Furthermore, differences in the shear-band patterns in deep and shallow penetration environments are also investigated. Results show that strain fields tend to localize intensely near the penetrometer tip, and the shear bands tend to develop along the inclined face and near the shoulder of the penetrometer. Significant differences in the shear band patterns in deep and shallow penetration environments are also observed.After each cone penetration experiment, a specially developed agar-impregnation technique is used to collect minimally disturbedsand samples from around the penetrometertip. These agar-impregnated sand samples are scanned in the XRM to obtain 3D tomography data, which are further analyzed to quantify particle crushing around the penetrometer tip. The results show that: (1) for a given sample density, the amount of crushing around the cone penetrometer depends on the confinement and the sand particle characteristics, (2) the level of crushing is not uniform around the penetrometer tip, with more severe crushing observed near the shoulder of the penetrometer, and (3) the regions with more severe particle crushing around the penetrometer approximately overlap with regions of high shear strain and volumetric contraction. A framework is also proposed to obtain the ratio of penetration resistance in more crushable sands to penetration resistance in less crushable sands. Furthermore, a novel resin-impregnation technique is also developed to collect undisturbedsand samples from around the penetrometer tip. The resin-impregnated sand sample collected after one of the penetration experiments is scanned in the XRM to obtain the 3D tomography data, which is then analyzed to obtain the distribution of interparticle contact normal orientations at multiple locations around the penetrometer tip. These analyses indicate that the interparticle contact normals tend to orient themselves with the incremental principal strains around the penetrometer: below the penetrometer tip, the interparticle contact normals orient vertically upwards, while closer to the shoulder of the penetrometer, the interparticle contact normals become more radially inclined.Data presented in this dissertation on penetration resistance, incremental displacement fields, incremental strain fields, particle crushing, and interparticle contact normal orientations around the cone penetrometer are aimed to be useful to researchers working on the multiscale modeling of penetration processes in granular materials and aid in the further development of our understanding of penetration processes in sands.


Abstract. We apply a neural network (NN) technique to detect/track Karenia brevis harmful algal blooms (KB HABs) plaguing West Florida shelf (WFS) coasts from Visible-Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) satellite observations. Previously KB HABs detection primarily relied on the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Aqua (MODIS-A) satellite, depending on its remote sensing reflectance signal at the 678-nm chlorophyll fluorescence band (Rrs678) needed for normalized fluorescence height and related red band difference retrieval algorithms. VIIRS, MODIS-A's successor, does not have a 678-nm channel. Instead, our NN uses Rrs at 486-, 551-, and 671-nm VIIRS channels to retrieve phytoplankton absorption at 443 nm (aph443). The retrieved aph443 images are next filtered by applying limits, defined by (i) low Rrs551-nm backscatter and (ii) a minimum aph443 value associated with KB HABs. The filtered residual images are then converted to show chlorophyll-a concentrations [Chla] and KB cell counts. VIIRS retrievals using our NN and five other retrieval algorithms were compared and evaluated against numerous in situ measurements made over the four-year 2012 to 2016 period, for which VIIRS data are available. These comparisons confirm the viability and higher retrieval accuracies of the NN technique, when combined with the filtering constraints, for effective detection of KB HABs. Analysis of these results as well as sequential satellite observations and recent field measurements underline the importance of short-term temporal variabilities on retrieval accuracies.


18O is an ideal tracer for characterizing hydrological processes because it can be reliably measured in several watershed hydrological compartments. Here, we present multiyear isotopic data, i.e. 18O variations (δ18O), for precipitation inputs, surface water and groundwater in the Shingobee River Headwaters Area (SRHA), a well‐instrumented research catchment in north‐central Minnesota. SRHA surface waters exhibit δ18O seasonal variations similar to those of groundwaters, and seasonal δ18O variations plotted versus time fit seasonal sine functions. These seasonal δ18O variations were interpreted to estimate surface water and groundwater mean residence times (MRTs) at sampling locations near topographically closed‐basin lakes. MRT variations of about 1 to 16 years have been estimated over an area covering about 9 km2 from the basin boundary to the most downgradient well. Estimated MRT error (±0·3 to ±0·7 years) is small for short MRTs and is much larger (±10 years) for a well with an MRT (16 years) near the limit of the method. Groundwater transit time estimates based on Darcy's law, tritium content, and the seasonal δ18O amplitude approach appear to be consistent within the limits of each method. The results from this study suggest that use of the δ18O seasonal variation method to determine MRTs can help assess groundwater recharge areas in small headwaters catchments. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


To enhance the drug-like properties of the endogenous opioid peptide endomorphin-1 (1 = Tyr-Pro-Trp-Phe-NH2), the N-terminus of the peptide was modified with 2-aminodecanoic acid, resulting in compound 3. Tyr in compound 1 was replaced with 2,6-dimethyltyrosine yielding compound 2. Derivative 2 was also substituted with 2-aminodecanoic acid producing compound, 4. Lipoamino acid-modified derivatives showed improved metabolic stability and membrane permeability while maintaining high μ-opioid (MOP) receptor binding affinity and acting as a potent agonist. In vivo studies showed dose-dependent antinociceptive activity following intravenous (i.v.) administration of compounds 3 and 4 in a chronic constriction injury (CCI)-rat model of neuropathic pain with ED50 values of 1.22 (±0.93) and 0.99 (±0.89) µmol/kg, respectively. Pre-treatment of animals with naloxone hydrochloride significantly attenuated the anti-neuropathic effects of compound 3, confirming the key role of opioid receptors in mediating antinociception. In contrast to morphine, no significant constipation was produced following i.v. administration of compound 3 at 16 µmol/kg. Furthermore, following chronic administration of equi-potent doses of compound 3 and morphine to rats, there was less antinociceptive tolerance for compound 3 compared with morphine.


Prime ministers have been crucial figures in British politics for nearly three centuries and the media now give them more prominence than ever. Polling data on prime ministerial popularity suggest that there has been an increasing tendency for voters to take a negative view of the incumbent prime minister. Moreover, almost every post-war premier has left office less popular than when he or she took over. This trend has not affected opposition leaders, however. Despite the fact that they dominate media coverage of British politics, voters' reactions to prime ministers are less good predictors of party preferences than appraisals of the general competence of the government. This suggests that while valence theorists are right to draw attention to the role of party leaders as a means of providing voters with a 'short cut' in decision-making, the importance of leader evaluations should not be exaggerated.


By aiming the pump wavelength of the laser diode to the absorption peak at 811 nm of the (Nd0:005Lu0:4975Y0:4975)2SiO5 (Nd:LYSO) crystal, an efficient dual-wavelength operation at 1,075 and 1,079 nm is obtained. The maximum output power is 702 mW when the incident pump power is 2.53 W, corresponding to an optical conversion efficiency of 27.7% and a slope efficiency of 37.0%.


Until his death in 1992, author Isaac Asimov would write more than 120 ingenious tales of detection and deduction, and in 66 of them he would present his armchair detectives, the Black Widowers, with the mind-teasing puzzles that they would strive to solve in often-quarrelsome conversation. The Black Widowers club is meeting again. In a private dining room at New York's luxurious Milano restaurant, the six brilliant men once more gather for fine fare served impeccably by their peerless waiter, Henry. At table, too, will of course be that requisite dinner guest to challenge their combined deductive wit: a man whose marriage hinges on finding a lost umbrella; a woman shadowed by an adversary who knows her darkest secrets; a debunker of psychics unable to explain his unnerving experience in a haunted house; or a symphony cellist accused of attacking his wife with a kitchen knife. In addition to six stories that have never before appeared in any collection, this volume includes the ten best-ever Black Widowers cases, among them the very first to be published, in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, as well as the first brand new Black Widowers story to appear in more than ten years.