A new reality is emerging in the public sector: state governments are spending an untold amount of tax dollars on public contracts that are performed overseas. Although the private sector has offshored jobs for decades, state governments have only recently become part of the offshoring bandwagon. As media reports of government offshoring increased during the 2004 election, lawmakers in virtually every state introduced legislation to restrict state contractors from performing work outside of the United States. While only few states have imposed restrictions, state lawmakers continue to introduce such legislation today. This Note argues that state offshore contracting restrictions are unconstitutional. In short, the Foreign Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution prohibits state governments from regulating international trade and burdening foreign commerce. Through these offshore contracting restrictions, states are discriminating against foreign commerce, thus impairing the federal government's ability to speak with "one voice" in international trade relations. Further, state offshore contracting restrictions intrude on the federal government's exclusive power to conduct foreign relations. Application of these constitutional provisions leads to a curious result: once a state puts a contract in the stream of commerce, it is unable to prevent its contractors from offshoring the contract. After reviewing the costs and benefits of offshore contracting, this Note concludes that the nation must engage in a serious debate about whether to permit states to restrict offshore contracting, given the potential challenges offshoring poses for state governments. Before this debate can occur, however, this Note calls on both the federal and state governments to make a serious commitment to study and identify the issues and implications of offshoring because policy solutions, if any, depend on the availability of offshoring data.


We propose a simple way to design a fully integrated and passive all-optical pulse reshaper in the aim of reamplifying and reshaping (2R) regeneration of optical digital signals. The device could be achieved from a coupled microresonator structure with Kerr nonlinearity. By using time-domain simulation, we show that we can obtain a clear nonlinear power transfer that is capable of improving signal-to-noise ratio and reducing bit error rate for digital signals. The reshaping performances are estimated by calculating Q-factor enhancement. Since we take benefit from field enhancement at resonance, this integrated reshaper could be much smaller than other gates based on nonlinear fibers or waveguides.


Centralized targeting registries are increasingly used to allocate social assistance benefits in developing countries. There are two key design issues that matter for targeting accuracy: (i) which households to survey for inclusion in the registry and (ii) how to rank surveyed households. The authors attempt to identify their relative importance by evaluating Indonesia's Unified Database for Social Protection Programs (UDB), among the largest targeting registries in the world, used to provide social assistance to over 25 million households. Linking administrative data with an independent household survey, they find that the UDB system is more progressive than previous, program-specific targeting approaches. However, simulating an alternative targeting system based on enumerating all households, they find a one-third reduction in undercoverage of the poor compared to focusing on households registered in the UDB. Overall, there are large gains in targeting performance from improving the initial registration stage relative to the ranking stage.


Bone morphogenic proteins (BMPs) are part of a large family of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) morphogens. Despite the large number of ligands (19 BMPs in mammals), there are only three BMP type I receptors (BRIs) and three BMP type II receptors (BRIIs)--all receptors are serine-threonine kinases and BRII receptors are constitutively active. Oligomerization and preformed receptor clustering contribute to signaling specificity, such that a single BMP can stimulate smad-dependent and -independent pathways. Nohe et al. used image-correlation spectroscopy (IMS) to analyze how expression of these receptors influenced overall density of receptor clusters ("cluster density"), which, in cells with similar numbers of receptors, inversely correlates with the number of receptors per cluster (at high cluster density, the clusters are smaller with fewer receptors; at low cluster density there are many receptors per cluster). In transfected cos7 cells, BRIa receptors had a low cluster density, and expression of catalytically active forms of BRII, but not catalytically inactive forms, led to an increase in cluster density, interpreted to reflect dispersal of preformed BRIa receptor clusters. Constitutively active mutants of BRIa (BRI-ca) also dispersed upon BRII expression, which suggests that BRII was not simply stimulating BRI catalytic activity to cause the redistribution. The addition of BMP-2 to the transfected cells decreased cluster density in cells coexpressing the BRIa (or BRI-ca) and BRII, which suggests that the ligand stimulates cluster formation. Similar rearrangements were observed in A341 cells, which constitutively express BRI1a and increase BRII expression in response to serum deprivation. Thus, clusters of BRIa were dispersed upon serum starvation and reformed upon treatment of the serum-starved cells with BMP-2. Finally, experiments with reporter genes in transfected primary limb mesenchymal cells or A431 cells suggested that smad signaling required expression of BRII and BRI1a and that BRIa-ca could not independently activate smad signaling in the absence of BRII. Together, these results suggest that receptor reorganization contributes to the downstream signaling output of BMP stimulation. A. Nohe, E. Keating, T. M. Underhill, P. Knaus, N. O. Petersen, Effect of the distribution and clustering of the type I A BMP receptor (ALK3) with the type II BMP receptor on the activation of signalling pathways. J. Cell Sci. 116, 3277-3284 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]


We consider a base-station broadcasting a set of order-insensitive packets to a user population over packet-erasure channels. To improve efficiency we propose a relay-aided transmission scheme using instantaneously-decodable binary network coding. Our proposed scheme ensures that a coded packet can be immediately decoded at the user side without delay. Moreover, only binary operations are required in the encoding and decoding processes, which decrease the computational complex. We further analyze the performance of the resulting broadcast scheme, and show that significant improvements in transmission efficiency are obtained as compared to previously proposed ARQ and network-coding- based schemes.


The need for maintaining gateway connectivity in an ad hoc access network is vital considering the 80/20 ratio of Internet traffic. There are several proposals of how to integrate gateway forwarding strategies but they all rely on the route discovery procedure of reactive routing protocols. We propose a proactive approach to avoid the delay of the route discovery process. Mobile IP is often suggested to handle macro mobility and we use the advertisements periodically sent by the gateway to update routing tables in the ad hoc network. Since advertisements may arrive to a mobile host through multiple paths, it is important to keep track of the best path to each gateway. We demonstrate the use of a proposed dynamic metric and how to handle location of correspondent hosts. A simulation study demonstrates the usefulness and efficiency of our approach


The production of Nile tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus ) has good technological development; however, today, it is still necessary to make it more efficient. One way to increase efficiency is to prevent disease and improve the food conversion factor. Since previous investigations of tilapia microbiota detected a high proportion of organisms belonging to the order Actinomycetes, this study was to isolate, identify, and describe the species of bacteria microbiota belonging to the cultured Nile tilapia. These were done with Nile tilapia grown in a warm sub-humid climate during spring and summer seasons. The biopsy of different organs was performed for bacteriological culture and 16S rRNA sequencing analysis. From the 180 tissue samples, 49 isolates of the order Actinomycetes were obtained, representing ten species from seven genera: Microbacterium , Brevibacterium , Cellulomonas , Corynebacterium , Kocuria , Actinomyces , and Micrococcus . In spring, Microbacterium dominated, accounting for 74% of the total population. In the summer, lower diversity was observed, with 39% represented by Microbacterium . 16S rRNA sequencing analysis enabled the classification of Actinomyces neuii and Microbacterium lacticum as Kocuria varians and Agromyces indicus ; the classification of Microbacterium imperiale as Rhodococcus and Micrococcus luteus was confirmed. No sequences of K. varians have been reported in fish. Microbacterium dextranoliticum showed high similarity to environmental samples. Here is the first study that analyzes the bacteria population in tilapia at the genetic level with an ecosystem approach, present in healthy cultured tilapia, indicating their beneficial associations with the host, making them candidates as probiotics, among other possible functions, applicable in tilapia cultivation.


The primary focus of this thesis is the installation and characterization of an electron bombardment ion source for a Space Simulation Chamber (SSC). The goal is that the chamber can be used to test satellite and sounding rocket instrumentation, thus be capable of producing ionospheric plasma conditions, along with an ion beam that can simulate the velocity of a rocket or satellite relative to the atmosphere. The plasma also need to be reproductive. First, the plasma source was prepared for operation after years in storage. This included changing the filaments and checking the conditions of the electrical connections and magnetic field. A new setup of power sources for the different components was also done. Second, the source was installed and characterized in the Space Simulation Chamber. Some hang ups were encountered and solved. Two different electrostatic probes were used to analyse the plasma. A basic Langmuir probe, useful for finding parameters like the plasma potential, electron temperature and plasma density, and a retarding field energy analyzer (RFEA) for finding the ion saturation current and ion energy distribution. Some inconsistency was found in the plasma potential between the two probes, seemingly indicating the presence of an ion beam. The plasma density is in the order of 10 cm and the electron temperature is in the range 3-5 eV and can be varied using the neutralizing filament.


From abstract: The origin of the gneissic rocks on the eastern border of the Idaho batholith in the Bitterroot Range, near Hamilton, Mont., has long been in dispute. Lindgren regarded these rocks as the product of stresses related to a normal fault along the front of the range with an eastward dip of about 150. He thought both the hanging wall and the footwall had moved, with a total displacement along the fault plane of at least 20,000 feet. The faulting was believed to have been so recent as to be a major factor in the present topography. Langton appears to accept the concept of faulting but to regard the gneissic rocks as formed much earlier from a granitic rock that was more silicic and older than the Idaho batholith.


The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of three different kinds of oligosaccharides (a fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) formulation consisting of 95% FOS (FOS95); a galacto-oligosaccharide (GOS) formulation consisting of 90% GOS (GOS90) and an isomalto-oligosaccharide (IMO) formulation consisting of 90% IMO (IMO90)) at dosages of 0.8, 4 g per d per kg bw and 8 g per d per kg bw on the composition and activity of the microbiota in the gut of mice with constipation induced by loperamide. Oligosaccharides were intragastrically administered to specific pathogen-free BALB/c mice once per day for 17 days. Feces were collected during a feeding trial and subjected to 16S rDNA amplicon analysis. Constipation indices, changes in gut microbiota and metabolic activity were measured to evaluate the effects of the oligosaccharides. The results show that oligosaccharides treated constipation by increasing both the water content of the feces and the small intestinal transit rate. The dosage required to treat constipation was different for different oligosaccharides. High-dose GOS90 was the most effective in relieving constipation, followed by medium-dose FOS95 and IMO90. The fecal samples were investigated after the oligosaccharide treatment. All three oligosaccharides increased the ratio of acetic acid and decreased the ratio of propionic and butyric acids in the feces. The increase in the ratio of acetic acid and the concentration of butyric acid were found to have relatively larger effects on constipation. After treatment with oligosaccharides, the gut microbiotas of the mice were dominated by Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria. At the genus level, oligosaccharide treatment increased the levels of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium and decreased the levels of Odoribacter, Alistipes and Bacteroides. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that oligosaccharides administered as a dietary supplement increase the water content of feces, reduce intestinal transit time, modulate the composition of the gut microbiota and increase the concentration of short-chain fatty acids in the feces of mice with constipation.


Potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) recently emerged as a next-generation energy storage technology, utilizing abundant and inexpensive potassium as the charge carrier cation. PIBs operate by an analogous mechanism to lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), with reversible potassium intercalation in anode and cathode through an inorganic salt - organic solvent electrolyte medium. Despite its larger size, potassium exhibits several electrochemical advantages over sodium, including a higher affinity for intercalation into graphitic (carbonaceous) anodes, forming a stage-one KC8 structure in graphite for a specific capacity of 279 mAh g-1. This thesis aims to provide a thorough foundation for PIB carbon anodes, through a comprehensive experimental approach combining electrode synthesis, advanced material characterization and electrochemical-analytical techniques.Safety concerns have consistently plagued LIBs despite almost three decades of widespread commercialization. Thermal runaway of LIBs can initiate as early as 80°C from exothermic breakdown of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer that covers the carbon anode surface. The subsequent reaction of lithiated carbon with electrolyte solvent leads to cathode decomposition and oxygen release for cell gassing and combustion. This thesis investigates the thermal runaway behavior of graphite anode for PIBs via differential scanning calorimetry analysis, determining the effect of electrode material, state-of-charge, and cycling history on heat generation. Notably, the PIB system emits significantly less heat overall than for LIBs, albeit an earlier and more intense onset reaction at 100°C raises safety concerns. Strategies to mitigate this exothermic reaction are presented, including electrode binder manipulation to improve graphite particle coverage and enhance SEI layer stability.To further evaluate the practicality of PIBs, the electrochemical behavior of graphite anode was investigated from 0 - 40°C operating temperature, in comparison to standard LIBs. The poor rate capability of potassium is attributed to sluggish solid-state diffusion and augmented cell impedance, where 3-electrode studies revealed dramatic polarization of the potassium metal counter electrode at low temperatures. Accelerated cell aging at elevated temperatures is attributed to SEI layer growth induced by the 61% volumetric expansion of graphite during potassiation, as well as the extreme reactivity of potassium metal. A full-cell system with a Prussian blue nanoparticle cathode and graphite anode showed enhanced rate performance at low temperatures by removing potassium metal counter electrode. These results provide valuable mechanistic insight for potassium intercalation in graphite and offer a practical evaluation of temperature dependent electrochemical performance for PIBs.Supplementary research includes the exploration of carbon nanofi bers electrospun from polyacrylonitrile precursor with subsequent pyrolysis as PIB anode. The design of an amorphous, low density carbon with a nanoscale one dimensional morphology enables mitigation of the 61% volumetric expansion of graphite during potassiation. Remarkable stability (2000 charge-discharge cycles) is thus achieved by preventing electrode pulverization, SEI layer growth, and impedance rise during cycling. Electrochemical analysis revealed a pseudo-capacitance mechanism, enabling rapid charging through surface storage of potassium that could be enhanced by surface functionalization via plasma oxidation treatment. Moreover, two dimensional MXene transition carbonitride sheets were explored as PIB anode with X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy used to study structural changes during potassium insertion.Finally, the effect of particle morphology was investigated for LIB carbon anodes, wherein commercial graphite is compared with synthesized spherical and spiky carbons. Intercalation dynamics, side reaction rates (e.g. SEI growth), self-heating, and thermal runaway behavior were studied through a combination of electrochemical analysis and modeling by a fi nite volume method. Spherical particles outperform irregular commercial graphite by eliminating unstructured inhomogeneities that lead to non-uniform current distributions. Interestingly, spiky particles offer a nontrivial response, where the ordered irregularities enhance intercalation dynamics to prevent degradation at extreme operating conditions. These fi ndings emphasize the importance of tailoring particle morphology and structure in promoting desired LIB behavior and suppressing unwanted problems.


A single-phased tunable color conversion phosphor for WLED was prepared by coactivating Ca9Y(PO4)7 with Eu2+ and Sm3+ ions. The structure, UV-visible and photoluminescence spectra of the phosphor were studied as a function of annealing atmosphere and concentration ratio of Eu2+/Sm3+. The coexistence of Eu2+ and Sm3+ was achieved by annealing the phosphor in a reducing atmosphere. The as-obtained phosphors showed a blended emission of blue-green and orange-red light upon near-UV excitation. White light emission was realized by adjusting the concentration ratio. Energy transfer and dominant interaction between Eu2+ and Sm3+ was also studied.


Tree automata with one memory have been introduced in 2001. They gener- alize both pushdown (word) automata and the tree automata with constraints of equality between brothers of Bogaert and Tison. Though it has a decidable emptiness problem, the main weakness of this model is its lack of good closure properties. We propose a generalization of the visibly pushdown automata of Alur and Madhusu- dan to a family of tree recognizers which carry along their (bottom-up) computation an auxiliary unbounded memory with a tree structure (instead of a symbol stack). In other words, these recognizers, called Visibly Tree Automata with Memory (VTAM) define a subclass of tree automata with one memory enjoying Boolean closure properties. We show in particular that they can be determinized and the problems like emptiness, member- ship, inclusion and universality are decidable for VTAM. Moreover, we propose several extensions of VTAM whose transitions may be constrained by different kinds of tests be- tween memories and also constraints a la Bogaert and Tison. We show that some of these classes of constrained VTAM keep the good closure and decidability properties, and we demonstrate their expressiveness with relevant examples of tree languages.


Purpose: Dietary intake of long-chain ω-3 (LC n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids may reduce inflammation and in turn decrease risk of prostate cancer development and progression. This potential effect may be modified by genetic variation in cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), a key enzyme in fatty acid metabolism and inflammation. Experimental Design: We used a case-control study of 466 men diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer and 478 age- and ethnicity-matched controls. Diet was assessed with a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire, and nine COX-2 tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) were genotyped. We used logistic regression models to estimate odds ratios (OR) for association and interaction. Results: Increasing intake of LC n-3 was strongly associated with a decreased risk of aggressive prostate cancer (Ptrend ≤ 0.0001). The OR (95% confidence interval) for prostate cancer comparing the highest with the lowest quartile of n-3 intake was of 0.37 (0.25-0.54). The LC n-3 association was modified by SNP rs4648310 (+8897 A/G), flanking the 3′ region of COX-2 (Pinteraction = 0.02). In particular, the inverse association was even stronger among men with this variant SNP. This reflected the observation that men with low LC n-3 intake and the variant rs4648310 SNP had an increased risk of disease (OR, 5.49; 95% confidence interval, 1.80-16.7), which was reversed by increasing intake of LC n-3. Conclusions: Dietary LC n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids appear protective for aggressive prostate cancer, and this effect is modified by the COX-2 SNP rs4648310. Our findings support the hypothesis that LC n-3 may impact prostate inflammation and carcinogenesis through the COX-2 enzymatic pathway.


Epithelia form an essential barrier protecting the body's surfaces from the outside. Trauma or infection that damages this barrier stimulates the epithelia to undergo processes that promote tissue repair and recruit inflammatory mediators to the site of injury. Li et al. examined the response of mice deficient for MAT, the gene encoding the matrix metalloproteinase MMP-7 (also known as matrilysin), in response to bleomycin instillation in the lung, which in wild-type animals causes alveolar epithelial damage, inflammation, fibrosis, and eventually death. Unexpectedly, bleomycin caused less tissue damage and less mortality in the MAT-/- mice as compared to the wild type. This was due to defective transepithelial migration of neutrophils into the alveolar lumen. Addition of a chemoattractant with bleomycin resulted in increased mortality and inflammation in the MAT-/-mice, suggesting a defect in chemoattractant signaling. Indeed, lung lavage from the bleomycin-treated MAT-/- mice had less KC--the mouse homolog of interleukin 18 (IL-18), a potent neutrophil chemoattractant--despite having similar overall levels of KC in total lung extracts as wild-type mice. IL-18 requires heparan sulfate for chemoattraction activity. A soluble form of syndecan-1, a heparan sulfate proteoglycan of the epithelial surface, was produced in lungs of wild-type mice treated with bleomycin but not in the MAT-/- mice. Thus, activation of MMP in response to epithelial injury triggered the release of cofactors (syndecan-1) that can control the activity of ligands (chemoattractants such as IL-18), allowing localized signaling at the site of epithelial injury. Q. Li, P. W. Park., C. L. Wilson, W. C. Parks, Matrilysin shedding of syndecan-1 regulates chemokine mobilization and transepithelial efflux of neutrophils in acute lung injury. Cell 111, 635-646 (2002). [Online Journal]


This paper proposes and demonstrates a methodology for modeling correlated systemic solvency and liquidity risks for a banking system. Using a forward looking simulation of many risk factors applied to detailed balance sheets for a 10 bank stylized United States banking system, we analyze correlated market and credit risk and estimate the probability that multiple banks will fail or experience liquidity runs simultaneously. Significant systemic risk factors are shown to include financial and economic environment regime shifts to stressful conditions, poor initial loan credit quality, loan portfolio sector and regional concentrations, bank creditors' sensitivity to and uncertainties regarding solvency risk, and inadequate capital. Systemic banking system solvency risk is driven by the correlated defaults of many borrowers, other market risks, and inter-bank defaults. Liquidity runs are modeled as a response to elevated solvency risk and uncertainties and are shown to increase correlated bank failures. Potential bank funding outflows and contractions in lending with significant real economic impacts are estimated. Increases in equity capital levels needed to reduce bank solvency and liquidity risk levels to a target confidence level are also estimated to range from 3 percent to 20 percent of assets. For a future environment that replicates the 1987-2006 volatilities and correlations, we find only a small risk of U.S. bank failures focused on thinly capitalized and regionally concentrated smaller banks. For the 2007-2010 financial environment calibration we find substantially elevated solvency and liquidity risks for all banks and the banking system.


In Maphango v Aengus Lifestyle Properties (Pty) Ltd 2012 5 BCLR 449 (CC) the question before the Constitutional Court was when a landlord may legally cancel contracts of lease and evict tenants. In answering this question the court had to consider the constitutional protection against arbitrary evictions in section 26(3) and the provisions of the Rental Housing Act 50 of 1999. The applicants sought a declaratory order that the landlord had terminated their leases unlawfully, because the termination had been intended to double (and in some instances more than double) the rent. The applicants argued that this escalation violated contractual and legislative provisions governing the procedure and conditions under which a landlord can increase the amount of a rental. The Constitutional Court found in favour of the tenants and postponed the appeal to allow any of the parties to lodge a complaint at the Gauteng Rental Housing Tribunal. The narrow focus of this note is the manner in which the Constitutional Court in the Maphango case interpreted the concept of "practice" in the Rental Housing Act and how this in turn corresponds to perceptions of urban spaces. The inquiry is informed by the spatial justice turn and relies on the works of Michel de Certeau, Henri Lefebvre and Doreen Massey


In this paper fundamental definitions and properties of formal networks with capacity of edges and arcs are presented. There are definitions of: capacity network, standard capacity network, flow, maximum flow and satisfactory flow. Some methods of constructing of maximal flow in special cases are described. Computational complexity of these methods is taken under consideration. An idea of implementation of so-called dynamical equivalent of the capacity network for construction maximum flow is discussed. Examples of applications of flows in capacity networks in logistic processes modeling and solving related optimization problems are presented.


This article draws from and advances urban studies literature on 'creative city' policies by exploring the contradictory role of queer arts practice in contemporary placemarketing strategies. Here I reflect on the fraught politics surrounding Radiodress's each hand as they are called project, a deeply personal exploration of radical Jewish history programmed within Luminato, a Toronto-based international festival of creativity. Specifically, I explore how Luminato and the Koffler Centre, a Jewish organisation promoting contemporary art, regulated Radiodress's work in order to stage marketable notions of ethnic and queer diversity. I also examine how and why the Koffler Centre eventually blacklisted Radiodress and her project. However, I also consider the ways Radiodress and Toronto artists creatively and collectively responded to these tensions. I maintain that bringing queer arts practice into discussions about contemporary creative city policies uncovers sites of queer arts activism that scale up to shape broader policies and debates. Such disidentificatory interventions, acts of co-opting and re-working discourses which exclude minoritarian subjects, challenge violent processes of colonisation and commodification on multiple fronts, as well as fostering more collective and relational ways of being.


The study of the relationships between identity and multilingualism is more timely than ever in view of the fact that most of the world's population is multilingual and that globalization of economies and intensification of migration have facilitated a mixture of languages, cultures and identities to an unprecedented degree. This chapter shows how at both the macro- and micro- sociolinguistic level language has probably always played and will continue to play a critical role not simply in articulating identities, but also in actively constructing them as speakers make choices in their social interactions in favor of some varieties over others (and likewise, within those varieties, of some variant forms over others). Macro-level processes such as language maintenance and shift are the long-term, collective consequences of consistent patterns of language choices (both conscious and unconscious) made by speakers at the micro-level. Thus, the everyday forces that shape people's linguistic repertoires are the same ones that drive language change and the evolution of language more generally. The chapter concludes with some reflections on why identities matter and identifies some of the challenges ahead.
 We live in a world where identity matters. It matters both as a concept, theoretically, and as a contested fact of contemporary political life. The word itself has acquired a huge contemporary resonance, inside and outside the academic world (Gilroy 1997: 301).


Abstract—Monitoring the distribution of electric power consumption in the technological process of ore grinding is conducted. As a result, the impacts of the mill filling rate, the productivity of the ore supply, the volumetric density of the grinding balls, the specific density of the ground ore, and the relative speed of the mill rotation on the specific consumption of electric power have been studied. The power and technological factors affecting the reactive power generated by the synchronous motors, operating within the technological scheme are studied. A block diagram for evaluating the power consumption modes of the technological process is presented, which includes the analysis of the technological scheme, the determination of the place and volumetric density of the ore-grinding mill, the evaluation of the technological and power factors affecting the energy saving process, as well as the assessment of the electric power standards.


NGN architecture reused several standards from the IP world, as exemplified by the Session Initiation Protocol SIP, which is ubiquitous in the majority of these network components. However, the NGN management architecture simply presented a very generic management model that follows TMN. Several management technologies are proposed, such as Web services, CORBA and SNMP, to implement management solutions. Network and systems management standardizing bodies currently promote newer technologies that aim to solve known shortcomings to these. This paper proposes a management solution for NGNs based on recent IP world technologies. The presented solution was implemented in the form of a middleware to manage NGN elements. This middleware was used in the management of an element belonging to the IP Multimedia Subsystem platform, namely the Policy and Charging Rules Function. Keywords-component NGN management; Middleware; technology integration; NETCONF; WBEM.


Molecular phylogeographic studies have revealed the genetic patterns and glacial–interglacial history of many plant and animal species. To infer the Quaternary history of alpine plants in the Japanese archipelago, which is poorly known, we investigated 203 individuals of Potentilla matsumurae and its varieties from 22 populations. We found 11 haplotypes based on approximately 1400 bp of two intergenetic spacers in chloroplast DNA (trnT‐L and rpl20–rps20). The distribution of these haplotypes was geographically structured, which was supported by haplotype composition, principal component analysis, and unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA), and NST (0.71) was significantly greater than GST (0.68). In addition to the positive correlation between genetic and geographic distance (Mantel test, r = 0.497, P < 0.001), an abrupt genetic change was detected between mountains in central Honshu and the Tohoku region. This genetic boundary was further supported by analysis of molecular variance (amova), and high variation (54.0%) was explained by differences on either side of this boundary. Moreover, haplotypes in central Honshu were thought to have diverged, based on an outgroup comparison. These results suggest that mountains in central Honshu served as refugia during the Quaternary climatic oscillation, although the results could not reveal the history of most mountains in the Tohoku region and Hokkaido. Nevertheless, following floristic studies, our results indicate that alpine plants in Japan experienced a history different from that in Europe; i.e. they retreated into refugia during warm periods to avoid forest development, rather than glaciers.


We demonstrate a compact all-solid-state yellow laser source based on Q-switched dual-wavelength Nd:YAG laser and periodically-poled LiTaO(3) crystal. 589-nm yellow light was generated by single-pass sum-frequency generation of the fundamental IR waves at 1064 and 1319 nm. The maximum output power of yellow light was 506 mW and the corresponding conversion efficiency was approximately 5.5% [W(-1)cm(-1)].


The author argues that a feminist theory of harm is necessary if law is to respond effectively to the experiences of women. She builds on developments in feminist scholarship which have identified the ways in which women experience harm and on the inadequacy of law's response. To advance the general argument her focus is on societies that are characterized by violent conflict or that are in process of emerging from such conflict. Such societies offer unique forums for exploring the scale and depth of harms to women and highlight novel legal responses. To advance the arguments concerning the gendered nature of harms the author explores a developing psychological and psychoanalytical literature on gender differentials in the experience of harms. The research broadly affirms that women experience and process harm differently than men. In particular, studies have shown that being a woman is per se a risk factor for developing post-traumatic stress disorder. Although trauma analysis of conflicted and post-conflict societies remains limited, it is suggested that women in these societies experience harm more acutely and their capacity to recover is more limited.As the author moves to address the processing of harm by law she notes much time and effort has been spent to ensure that international criminal law recognizes women's experiences of sexual violation. This legal dimension has been critical to conflicted and post-conflict societies. Despite these strides there is ongoing skepticism about the success of this endeavor. Moreover, the international community's emphasis on crimes involving sexual violence has led to the neglect of the psychological and socio-economic trauma suffered by women every day in conflicted and transitioning societies, and to the neglect of 'private' violations occurring within the home. The author introduces the concept of connected harms, which is grounded in the idea that individual violations create communities of harm which include not only the victim herself but also those people who are closely tied to her emotionally or who are in a relationship of codependency with her. These explorations further ground and extend the notion that the harms women and men experience may be different and require new conceptualization as well as novel legal solution to ensure the adequacy of accountability, redress and compensation by law.


A nanohybrid material containing carbon-supported molybdenum carbide and nitride nanoparticles of size ranging from 8 to 12 nm exhibits excellent HER catalytic activity. This molybdenum based catalyst (MoCat) is designed as a highly efficient, low-cost (precious-metal-free), highly stable electrocatalyst for water electrolysis in acidic media, and synthesized using a simple methodology. These nanoparticles (β-Mo2C and γ-Mo2N) were produced in situ using a metal precursor and C/N source via a controlled solid state reaction. An overpotential of 96 mV for driving a current density of 10 mA cm−2 was measured for the MoCat catalyst, which is very close to that of commercially available Pt/C catalysts (61 mV).


Large quantities of nutrients in aquatic environment, such as nitrates and phosphates can lead
to eutrophication. Two important sources of those nutrients are wastewater effluent and
untreated sewage. The contribution of nitrogen and phosphorous per person is approximately
10.8 g/day N and 2.2 g/day P.
Nitrogen is one of the most important water pollutants, creating problems of toxicity to
aquatic organisms in addition to environmental changes.
Phosphorus can be found in various chemical forms in urban wastewater, which represents
about 30‐50% of the its total discharge. Phosphorus in wastewater discharged in the aqueous
natural environment leads to an excessive development of algae and, generally, to a pH
increase, thus corresponding to eutrophication. It represents a significant renewable source,
contributing to both agricultural and industrial development. This is the reason why it is not
eliminated but recovered, in order to use it as a fertiliser.
The following paragraph explains the process of eutrophication, to show the effect of nitrogen
and phosphate in wastewater effluent. The high level of nutrients in the run‐off
causes phytoplankton to grow and reproduce more rapidly, resulting in algal blooms. This
bloom of algae disrupts normal ecosystem functioning and causes many problems. The algae
may use up all the oxygen in the water, leaving none for other marine life, which results in the
death of many aquatic organisms such as fish, which need the oxygen in the water to live.
Since they are in the surface, this bloom of algae may also block sunlight from other
photosynthetic marine plants under the water surface. Some algae even produce toxins that
are harmful to higher forms of life. This can cause problems along the food chain and affect
any animal that feeds on them.


Based on the super-exchange (SE) model and first-principles computations, we demonstrate that donor–acceptor copolymers can intrinsically possess an ultra-small effective mass due to the SE effect, rationalizing the recent experimental demonstration of ultra-high charge mobility. With the increase of the SE coupling, the effective mass decreases correspondingly. For the first time, we report that the SE coupling for holes is determined by the dihedral angle between the donor and the acceptor moiety, HOMO charge density at the linkage site and the HOMO–LUMO gap of the bridge fragment. Thereby, we put forward a molecular design strategy for large SE coupling so as to obtain an ultra-small effective mass. Finally, by combining a variety of donor and acceptor groups, we predict that several D–A copolymers can potentially possess an ultra-low effective mass due to the long range SE effect, and are expected to be high charge mobility polymers.


This presentation focuses upon conceptualizations of languages and identities in the specific institutionalized arena that emerged in the post-world war II period with the specific intention of teaching Swedish language to adult immigrants in the nation-state of Sweden. The study presented here draws upon empirical material from the Project KIK, Categorization of Identities and Communication that is interested in both the social practices and the discourses that frame a tailored education for adult immigrants in Sweden. In this text we present a study that focuses upon the development of the educational system 'Swedish for immigrants' over time. Our specific interest here relates to accounting for how categorizations are used and what, if any, kinds of categories – pertaining to literacies, languages and identities – emerge in national and local policy documents since the 1960s. Taking ethnomethodological and post-colonial points of departure, we are currently analyzing how categorizations account for and simultaneously shape (i) the content of language education, (ii) membership into the education system, (iii) future possibilities in the labor market and studies, and (iv) membership in the nation state as a citizen. The education for adult immigrants and new citizens can be understood both as a demand by the modern state as well as an immigrants' or a new citizens' right for developing literacy and language skills required in the new society of residence. Focusing upon categories from sociohistorical perspectives allow for understanding the social organization and institutional means that enable society to process citizenship issues. The complex relationship between empowerment of the immigrants, on the one hand, and the need for integration or assimilation into society on the other, becomes visible though the analysis of empirical data that spans over half a century.


In recent years, social media has become a huge and integral component of how people spend their time online; from wikis to blogs and from Facebook to Twitter, people are spending enormous amounts of time on websites used to share information and connect with people. New forms of relationship building and social capital occur through social networking sites. Within Cooperative Extension, it is imperative to keep up with evolving forms of communication to connect with an ever changing audience. Interviews were conducted throughout New York and Wisconsin with educators in both rural and urban counties, with varying amounts of social media experience, and varying ages and backgrounds. A cross state study was conducted to determine if results were consistent in unique areas. Questions asked determined how Cooperative Extension is utilizing social media to connect with people in different ways, if social media was an effective communication platform, and if it is worth it for Cooperative Extension to utilize this resource. Data was collected about the uses of social media and its perceived opportunities, risks, and barriers for use. Conclusions drawn indicate people are excited about a new, free, and easy opportunity to connect with others. Concerns include time spent using social media, a perceived lack of privacy and control of the websites, and a lack of training opportunities for extension educators. As technology continues to evolve, Cooperative Extension needs to evolve as well in order to most effectively communicate with constituents.


——————————————————————————————————— Quantitative results from a large class of structural gravity models of international trade depend critically on a single parameter governing the elasticity of trade with respect to trade frictions. We provide a new method to estimate this elasticity and illustrate the merits of our approach relative to the estimation strategy of Eaton and Kortum (2002). We employ this method on data for 123 developed and developing countries for the year 2004 using new disaggregate price and trade flow data. Our benchmark estimate for all countries is approximately 4.5, nearly 50 percent lower than the alternative estimation strategy would suggest. This difference implies a doubling of the measured welfare costs of autarky across a large class of widely used trade models. —————————————————————————————————————————JEL Classification: F10, F11, F14, F17


This review done by empirical surveillance observes the significances of a number of the explicit factors of the bank that are matching to bank governance, financial market configuration on one hand, and macroeconomic aspects of the Kosovo bank's performance on another hand. The Management and assessment of Kosovo's bank effectiveness were accomplished through two indicators return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE). To recognize this assessment, the OLS, and Arellano-Bond (GMM) regression method will be applied with the data used from the financial statements of Kosovo banks on a periodical basis over the period 2006-2019. Based on the challenging environments in which the banking system of Kosovo has passed, we have carefully chosen some specific determinants of the banking industry, as well as some of the macroeconomic determinants. The outcomes propose that upcoming studies may contain diverse dynamic models as well as altered dependent and independent features to elucidate the performance of Kosovo banks.  Keywords: Bank's profitability, time series, OLS regression, GMM.


OBJECTIVE
  To describe a protocol for the examination of free-living raptors and report the ophthalmic examination findings of seven raptor species native to central Illinois, namely the barred owl, Cooper's hawk, eastern screech owl, great horned owl, American kestrel, red-tailed hawk, and turkey vulture and to determine if the findings relative to visual prognosis affected eligibility for future release.

ANIMALS STUDIED
  Seventy-nine free-living raptors.

PROCEDURES
  Under manual restraint, complete ophthalmic examination including slit-lamp biomicroscopy and indirect funduscopy, applanation tonometry, rebound tonometry, ocular morphometrics, B-mode ultrasound, and electroretinography (ERG) were performed on each bird. Histopathology of enucleated globes was performed after euthanasia or death in selected cases.

RESULTS
  The examination protocol was easily performed using manual restraint alone on all birds. Ocular lesions were detected in 48.1% of birds, with 47.3% affected unilaterally and 52.6% affected bilaterally. Ocular lesions were considered to be vision threatening in 29.0% of the unilaterally affected birds and 29.0% of the bilaterally affected birds. The most common case outcomes were discharge from hospital to rehabilitation facility (45.6%) followed by euthanasia (43.0%). The presence of an ocular lesion or a vision-threatening ocular lesion was not significantly associated with outcome. Reference ranges are reported for B-mode ultrasound, ocular morphometrics, and horizontal corneal diameter in all species.

CONCLUSION
  Complete ophthalmic examination can be supplemented by the use of ocular morphometrics, ultrasound, and ERG in the manually restrained raptor. These advanced diagnostic techniques may be useful in developing more objective criteria for evaluating eligibility for release following rehabilitation of free-living birds of prey.


Multimodal language analysis often considers relationships between features based on text and those based on acoustical and visual properties. Text features typically outperform non-text features in sentiment analysis or emotion recognition tasks in part because the text features are derived from advanced language models or word embeddings trained on massive data sources while audio and video features are human-engineered and comparatively underdeveloped. Given that the text, audio, and video are describing the same utterance in different ways, we hypothesize that the multimodal sentiment analysis and emotion recognition can be improved by learning (hidden) correlations between features extracted from the outer product of text and audio (we call this text-based audio) and analogous text-based video. This paper proposes a novel model, the Interaction Canonical Correlation Network (ICCN), to learn such multimodal embeddings. ICCN learns correlations between all three modes via deep canonical correlation analysis (DCCA) and the proposed embeddings are then tested on several benchmark datasets and against other state-of-the-art multimodal embedding algorithms. Empirical results and ablation studies confirm the effectiveness of ICCN in capturing useful information from all three views.


It is an open question whether or not one can always lift Galois extensions of smooth algebraic curves in characteristic p to Galois extensions of smooth relative curves in characteristic 0. In this thesis we study some of the available techniques and partial solutions to this problem. Our studies include the techniques of Oort, Sekiguchi and Suwa where the lifting problem is approached via a connection with lifting group schemes. We then move to the topic of singular liftings and for this we study the approach of Garuti. Thereafter, we move to the wild smooth setting again where we study the crucial local − global principle, and apply it by illustrating how Green and Matignon solved the p2-lifting problem.


This article analyses the effects of the bank restructuring process performed in Spain between 2010 and 2016. First, we create a unique dataset by combining information from Bankscope and the Table of Public Financial Assistance released by the Bank of Spain. Second, we investigate whether these reforms affected (i) the stability, (ii) the degree of competition, and (iii) lending and liquidity supply of the Spanish banking industry. The main results suggest that the restructuring process reduced the degree of competition but increased financial stability in the Spanish banking industry. In particular, we find that two divergent forces affected the Spanish financial stability. On the one hand, the bail out dampened financial instability. On the other hand, the increasing bank market power fostered financial stability (i.e., lower risk-taking behaviour). Furthermore, we demonstrate that the restructuring process: (i) increased the Lerner index, (ii) did not increase the collusion among banks (iii) diminished the gap in cost efficiency between weak and healthy banks. Finally, we find that there are not improvements in lending and liquidity supply.


BACKGROUND
The majority of children who present with their first episode of nephrotic syndrome achieve remission with corticosteroid therapy. Children who fail to respond may be treated with immunosuppressive agents including calcineurin inhibitors (cyclosporin or tacrolimus) and with non-immunosuppressive agents such as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi). Optimal combinations of these agents with the least toxicity remain to be determined.

OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the benefits and harms of interventions used to treat idiopathic steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS) in children.

SEARCH STRATEGY
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were identified from the Cochrane Renal Group's specialised register, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE and reference lists of articles.

SELECTION CRITERIA
RCTs and quasi-RCTs were included if they compared different immunosuppressive agents or non-immunosuppressive agents with placebo, prednisone or other agent given orally or parenterally in children aged three months to 18 years with SRNS.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two authors independently searched the literature, determined study eligibility, assessed quality and extracted data. For dichotomous outcomes, results were expressed as risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Data were pooled using the random effects model.

MAIN RESULTS
Fourteen RCTs (449 children) were included. Cyclosporin when compared with placebo or no treatment significantly increased the number of children who achieved complete remission (three studies, 49 children: RR 7.66, 95% CI 1.06 to 55.34). Cyclosporin significantly increased the number with complete or partial remission compared with IV cyclophosphamide (one study, 32 children: RR 3.40, 95% CI 1.12 to 10.28). There was no significant difference in the number who achieved complete remission between oral cyclophosphamide with prednisone versus prednisone alone (two studies, 91 children: RR 1.06, 95% CI 0.61 to 1.87), IV versus oral cyclophosphamide (one study, 11 children: RR 3.13, 95% CI 0.81 to 12.06), IV cyclophosphamide versus oral cyclophosphamide with IV dexamethasone (one study, 49 children: RR 1.13, 95% CI 0.65 to 1.96), tacrolimus versus cyclosporin (one study, 41 children: RR 0.86, 95% CI 0.44 to 1.66) and azathioprine with prednisone versus prednisone alone (one study, 31 children: RR 0.94, 95% CI 0.15 to 5.84). ACEi significantly reduced proteinuria (two studies, 70 children). No studies were identified comparing high dose steroids and cyclosporin with single agents, placebo or no treatment.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
Further adequately powered, well designed RCTs are needed to confirm the efficacy of cyclosporin and to evaluate other regimens for idiopathic SRNS including high dose steroids with cyclosporin.


Abstract In this study, I provide evidence that the educational achievement of second- generation immigrants in German-speaking Switzerland is greater than in Germany. The impact of the first-generation immigrants' destination decision on their offspring's educational achievement seems to be much more important than has been recognized by the existing literature. I identify the test score gap between these students that cannot be explained by differences in individual and family characteristics. Moreover, I show how this gap evolves over the test score distribution and how the least favorably endowed students fare. My results suggest that the educational system of Switzerland, relative to the German system, enhances the performance of immigrants' children substantially. This disparity is largest when conditioning on the language spoken at home, and prevails even when comparing only students whose parents migrated from the same country of origin.


One of the most effective molecular design strategies in organic electronics is fluorination. In our research program of benzobisthiadiazole (BBT)-based semiconducting polymers, this strategy was employed for the first time to obtain fluorinated (F)-polymers, namely, pBBT-PhF4 and pSNT-PhF4. The fluorination effects on the optical, electrochemical, molecular assembling and charge-transport properties of these polymers were comprehensively studied. While the fluorination hardly affected the optical band gap, the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels significantly decreased, leading to the inversion of charge carrier polarity from p-type to n-type in the case of pBBT-PhF4. Further studies of the thin film microstructures, evaluated by their grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS) patterns and atomic force microscopy (AFM) images, demonstrated that pSNT-PhF4 adopted an edge-on orientation, while its non-F-counterpart adopted a face-on orientation. Due to its very high crystallinity, shorter π–π stacking distance and edge-on backbone-orientation, pSNT-PhF4 showed a hole mobility as high as 1.15 cm2 V−1 s−1. This simple and effective design strategy will guide the way to developing versatile semiconducting polymers for transistor applications with a tunable charge carrier polarity.


The self and the other. Totality and the infinite. In other words, totality as the discourse of the self which erases the other; and the infinite as the discourse of the other, which constrains and imposes reservations on the discourse of totality. I encounter the other in a face-to-face relationship, who thereby starts to exist within me, becomes part of me, constitutes me. This is the path whereby we fall in love, and can also be the path of compassion and solidarity. But the relationship with the other is not exhausted in the encounter. The encounter with the other is often followed by erasure, assimilation, and even domination of the other. Strictly speaking, we can say that the other can never be reduced to the self, i.e. may never be erased within me. And if the issue at stake is to ignore the other, or segregate, discriminate and dominate him, this implies exerting a form of violence over him. This is my starting point and my focus on discussing the "refugee crisis" in Europe.


ABSTRACT This literature review seeks to portray the scholarship on the feminist critique and women's activism vis-à-vis religion-based family law in India. The key question is: Which aspects of the Indian family law system are problematic from a women's rights perspective and how can these aspects be addressed and reformed? The scholarship on this topic stems from three broad strands of literature: The first looks at family law and jurisprudence from a feminist perspective. It points to discriminatory aspects and suggests particular measures for reform. The second strand comprises studies of legal anthropologists on how women "on the ground" manoeuvre through the intricacies of state law, religious and cultural norms and claims for gender justice. It acknowledges that the Indian State practically shares its authority over law-making and adjudication with various other stakeholders. The third strand of literature is situated in the area of gender studies and deals with the Indian women's movement's activism vis-à-vis the personal laws.


Introduction
The aim of the study was to compare the construct validity and the predictive validity of three instruments to measure intention to quit smoking: a Stages of Change measure, the Motivation To Stop Scale (MTSS), and a Likert scale. We used the Theory of Planned Behavior as theoretical framework.

Methods
We used data from the International Tobacco Control Netherlands Survey. We included smokers who participated in three consecutive survey waves (n = 980). We measured attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control in 2012, intention to quit with three instruments in 2013, and having made a quit attempt in the last year in 2014. We conducted Structural Equation Modeling with three models for the instruments of intention separately and with one model that included the three instruments simultaneously.

Results
All three instruments of intention were significantly and positively related to attitude and perceived behavioral control but none was related to subjective norm. All three instruments were significantly and positively related to making a quit attempt. The relation of the Likert scale with making a quit attempt (β = 0.38) was somewhat stronger than that of the Stages of Change measure (β = 0.35) and the MTSS (β = 0.22). When entering the three instruments together into one model, only the Likert scale was significantly related to making a quit attempt.

Conclusions
All three instruments showed reasonable construct validity and comparable predictive validity. Under the studied conditions, the Likert scale performed slightly better than the Stages of Change measure and the MTSS.

Implications
An assessment of the Stages of Change, the Motivation To Stop Scale, and a Likert scale showed comparable predictive and construct validity as measures for intention to quit smoking. All three instruments can be used in future research; however, under the studied theoretical framework, that is, the Theory of Planned Behavior, the Likert scale performed slightly better than the other two instruments.


Inflation is a monetary phenomenon. While this statement is widely accepted in terms of a long-run relationship, the quantity theory has been made operational also for the short-run dynamics of inflation by so-called Pstar models. An error correction model with quarterly data for the Euro Area is estimated to test whether the price gap has an impact on consumer price inflation. The response of the HICP is strongly positive. Other factors such as raw material prices and unit labor costs also have some explanatory power. The model is used for shock analysis and out-of-sample forecasts. All in all, the Pstar model can be a useful tool for predicting inflation also in Euroland.


This thesis examines speeches made by Irish members of the British House of Commons concerning the Government of Ireland Bill (1912). The most significant source use was the Parliamentary Debates of the House of Commons, 1912 to 1914. The organization of the Irish political parties is outlined in Chapter One. The next two chapters deal with their view of Irish history during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The fourth chapter focuses upon the bill in committee, and the fifth chapter examines the more general debate on the bill. The conclusions of the final chapter suggest that advocates of the bill were motivated by Irish nationalism, while opponents were motivated by economic ties to Great Britain.


In the second half of the past century two important Tertiary land-vertebrate fossil sites were discovered in Southern Italy, the first located in Western Gargano near Apricena and the second situated in Abruzzi in the outskirts of Scontrone. The vertebrate fossil assemblages of the two sites, which are characterized by the same remarkable endemic attributes, include small and large land mammals, a lutrine carnivore, testudines, crocodiles and birds of prey. The Scontrone bonebeds have a Tortonian age. The Gargano fossil vertebrates, which are contained in karstic fissure fillings, have been attributed to a time interval spanning from the Tortonian to the Messinian-early Pliocene, but their exact age remains still undefined. The characters of the faunal assemblage of both sites, showing no affinity with West-European or African Neo-gene faunas, suggest a possible provenance from the Balkan region. This paper is aimed at providing information on the migration path followed by the forerunners of the Gargano and Scontrone land mammals when they spread over Apulia. Our results are mostly based on the seismostratigraphic analysis of more than 6000 kilometers of reflection seismic profiles from the Adriatic offshore, tied to several tens of deep wells. The conclusion of this study is that, moving from the Balkan region, the terrestrial vertebrates crossed the present Central Adriatic Sea during the Oligocene (most likely around the early/late Oligocene boundary, i.e. around 29-30 Ma), when a severe sea-level fall exposed a landbridge connecting Dalmatia and Gargano via the Tremiti Islands. The seismostratigraphic investigation clearly indicates that the Dalmatia-Gargano landbridge was set up owing to three favourable circumstances: - the growth of prominent structural highs in the Central Adriatic area, mostly related to salt tectonics, which interrupted the continuity of the middle Liassic basinal domain. Vertical movements peaked between the late Liassic and the early Cretaceous, but the tectonics has continued, though less intense, until the Quaternary; - the occurrence of an important sea-level fall around the end of the early Paleocene, which caused in the whole Central Adriatic area a generalized absence of lower Paleocene deposits, as well as a widespread seaward progradation of upper Paleocene/Eocene shallow-marine carbonates over older deeper-marine deposits. Consequently, a wide shallow-water plateau spread between Gargano and the Dalmatian Islands, separating a Northern Adriatic Basin from a Southern Adriatic Basin; - the occurrence, finally, of a further particularly strong sea-level fall in Oligocene times (likely coincident with the well-known mid-Oligocene global sea-level fall), which caused a generalized exposure of the Central Adriatic area. The results of this study suggest a possible common origin of the giant insectivore Deinogalerix, recovered both at Scontrone and Gargano, and mainland counterparts distributed in the Balkan region during the second half of the Oligocene.


We have investigated the demagnetization of a ferrimagnetic substrate, Bi, Al-substituted dysprosium iron garnet (Bi0.8Dy2.2Fe4.3Al0.7O12), based on selective pulsed laser irradiation of a molecular thin film consisting of μ-oxo-bis[hydroxyl{2,9(or 10),16(or 17),23(or 24)-tetra-tert-butylphthalocyanato}silicon] ((SiPc)2) and poly(vinylidene fluoride), and succeeded in reproducing photothermal energy transfer from a molecular thin film to an inorganic magnetic substrate in a submicrometer-order and a submicrosecond time scale using numerical analysis. After the instant temperature rise due to nanosecond pulsed laser irradiation of the (SiPc)2-based film, followed by heat transfer from the film to the neighboring magnetic substrate, demagnetization of the magnetic substrate was spectroscopically monitored by the decrease in its magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) intensity. The MCD intensity decreased with increasing pulsed laser energy, which reflects the fact that the submicrometer-order region of the substrate was demagnetized as a result of temperature rise reaching high Curie temperature. This heat transfer phenomenon resulting in the demagnetization of the magnetic substrate was numerically analyzed in a submicrometer-order and a submicrosecond time scale using the finite difference method: the demagnetized regions were calculated to be the same order of magnitude as those experimentally evaluated. These results would provide a more detailed understanding of photothermal energy transfer in organic-inorganic hybrid materials, which would be useful for developing photofunctional materials.

publisher-specific, author manuscript: http://rsc.li/journals-terms-of-use


Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUAS) wants to create close links between education, research and industry. To support this policy, knowledge and knowledge products are made as widely available as possible to business and government, BUAS employees, and other interested parties. BUAS uses Pure, a research information and registration system. An up-to-date overview of all knowledge output of BUAS employees in this system can be found in this portal.


Tropical forests have the highest carbon density and cover more land area than forests in any other biome. They also serve a vital role as a natural buffer to climate change ― capturing 2.2–2.7 Gt of carbon per year. Unfortunately, tropical forests, mangroves, and peatlands are also subjected to the highest levels of deforestation and account for nearly all net emissions from Forestry and Other Land Use (FOLU) (1.1–1.4 Gt C/year). Net emissions from FOLU accounted for only 11% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions or 14% of total carbon emissions in 2010, though these figures are somewhat misleading and do not reflect the full potential of tropical forests to mitigate climate change. First, net FOLU emissions have reduced only slightly while emissions from all other sectors have skyrocketed. Secondly, the FOLU net flux is made up of two larger fluxes — deforestation emissions (2.6–2.8 Gt C/year) minus sequestration from forest regrowth (1.2–1.7 Gt C/year). Additionally, intact tropical forests also appear to be capturing at least 1.0 Gt C/year. Gross deforestation, therefore, accounts for over a quarter of all carbon emissions, and tropical forests have removed 22–26% of all anthropogenic carbon emissions in the 2000s. If deforestation were halted entirely, forests were allowed to regrow, and mature forests were left undisturbed, tropical forests alone could have captured 25–35% of all other anthropogenic carbon emissions. On the other hand, if climate change continues unabated, forests could turn from net sinks to net sources of carbon. Forestrelated activities are among the most economically feasible and cost-effective mitigation strategies, which are important for both short- and long-term mitigation strategies. Action is needed immediately to utilize these natural mitigation solutions, and we need coordinated and comprehensive forest-related policies for mitigation. An international mechanism such as REDD+ is essential to realize the great natural potential for tropical forests to stabilize the climate.


Continua Health Alliance developed a scenario in which elderly people could live independently, in their homes, with the aid of technology. Included in that scenario was a list of issues requiring expansion of the scenario. We have addressed each of those issues with an extension to the original scenario. This extended scenario is being used to drive some of our current research.


Manicassamy et al. (Reports, 13 August 2010, p. 849) deleted β-catenin in intestinal immune cells using a CD11c-driven Cre recombinase, which decreased anti-inflammatory mediators and increased inflammatory bowel disease. However, the deletion of β-catenin in macrophages remains a caveat to their interpretation that Wnt signaling programs dendritic cells into a tolerogenic state. Development of strains expressing Cre in a more finely lineage-restricted pattern may help resolve this issue.


The term bullying is often used to denote an individual acting aggressively, harmfully or disrespectfully towards another, often repeatedly. This paper explores the concept of bullying from the subjective views of employees, gathered in interviews and stories collected in agencies of the Australian Public Service. We did not define bullying, rather our interest was in how employees perceived it. We found bullying is perceived to go beyond the common image in many ways: it may be indirect, unintentional or practiced by a group, and may be a single act. Standard management activities may be perceived as bullying, and it may emanate from standard business concerns rather than anti-social individuals. It may involve a lack of action, communication or care rather than specific actions. We conclude that separating bullying from legitimate management is a complex issue, and that simplistic interventions such as policies, rules and training may have only limited impact in ameliorating it. Public discussions of bullying may be improved by acknowledging the intricacies arising from standard views of management power in workplaces.


Ultrabroadband near-IR (NIR) emission has been realized in bismuth-embedded sodalite nanocrystals. Steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence and Raman results suggest that Bi(+) active centers contribute to the NIR emission. This study demonstrates that sodalite nanocrystals can serve as excellent hosts for bismuth NIR active centers, thus paving the way for their wide applications in nanophotonics.


A simple imaging method for direct determination of single-molecule orientations is presented that uses a wide-field epifluorescence microscope and a sensitive CCD camera. Imaging is performed with slight defocusing of the optics, allowing for direct determination of single-molecule orientation based on the characteristic intensity distribution of the defocused images. Exact wave-optical calculations of these defocused images are presented and are in good agreement with the measurements. These calculations represent what is to the authors' knowledge the first complete wave-optical modeling of defocused imaging of dipole emitters at an interface; the peculiarities of dipole emission at an interface and the vector effects of that emission and of imaging with a high-numerical-aperture objective are taken into account.


Background and Objective: Cinnamon is a spice used over the years in cooking to impart aromatic, flavor and taste properties to food and beverages. Moreover, cinnamon has been used for its medicinal properties due to its potential phenolic content, which can protect against cardio-metabolic diseases. Previous studies reported an improvement of postprandial glycemia after addition of cinnamon powder to a high-sugar meal. The study aims at investigating the effect of adding cinnamon powder to a Portuguese custard tart (Pastel de Nata) on the postprandial glycemic response in healthy subjects.
Subjects and Methods: After review board and Ethic Committee of the State approval, thirty-two healthy human subjects were assigned in a controlled study and randomly allocated into 2 groups: 16 subjects ingested a custard tart with cinnamon powder (cinnamon group) and 16 subjects ingested a custard tart alone (control group). Blood glucose concentrations were measured before interventions and after 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes. Chemical analysis was performed to quantify the total phenolic content and antioxidant activity.
Results: The postprandial blood glucose (PBG) area under the curve (AUC) was significantly lower (p = 0.0005) in the cinnamon group (599.2 ± 9.1) compared to the AUC of the control group (645.7 ± 7.7). The administration of cinnamon powder to the custard tarts slightly decreased PBG mean values compared to custard tart without cinnamon powder, although it did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.273). Cinnamon addition to custard tart improved the total phenolic content (1278.7 ± 0.7 compared to 253.7 ± 22.8 mg/L gallic acid) and antioxidant properties, increasing 4.4 times the capacity of free-radical scavenger compared with custard tart without cinnamon (IC50).
Conclusion: The addition of cinnamon powder to custard tart could be beneficial to glycemic control.


Public procurement is a pillar in the Europe 2020 strategy and one of the core policies derived from the Single Market Acts I and II. Majoritarian views advocate for an interventionist approach and instrumental utilisation of procurement for the promotion of horizontal policies seen as deeply embedded in the Europe 2020 strategy. Conversely, public procurement can only make such a contribution by promoting the maximum degree of competition and being open to market-led innovation, instead of trying to mandate or 'drive' such innovation or 'greening' of procurement.This paper takes the view that the principle of competition is the main tool in the post-2014 procurement toolkit and the moderating factor in the implementation of any horizontal (green, social, innovation) policies under the new rules — that is, that competition remains the main consideration in public procurement and that the pursuit any horizontal policies, including those aimed at delivering the Europe 2020 strategy, need to respect the requirements of undistorted competitive tendering. To substantiate that claim, the paper focuses on the interpretation of Article 18(1) of Directive 2014/24, which consolidates the principle of competition, and proposes a strict proportionality test applicable to the promotion of horizontal procurement policies where such 'strategic' or 'smart' use of public procurement can generate market distortions.


This remarkable lizard was first described by Mr. John E.
Gray, in 1827, and published in the appendix to the "Narrative
of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of
Australia", by Captain P. P. King, R.N. He considers it
closely allied to the Agamae, but differing from them in the
peculiar frill that is appended to the neck, and named it
Chlamydosaurus kingii. This interesting lizard was found
by Mr. Allan Cunningham, who accompanied Captain King's
expedition as His Majesty's Botanical Collector for Kew
Gardens, on the branch of a tree in Careening Bay, at the
bottom of Port Nelson.


In legal discourse and practice, concerns regarding the appearance of text focus almost exclusively on questions of legibility. There is little analysis of law's textual form beyond matters of practical readability, indicating an underlying assumption that printed words are merely a vehicle for the transmission of law's intellectual content. However, the UK's Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 (SI No 561) (the '2001 Regulations') prescribe the detailed regulation of the visual appearance of registration marks (or number plates) beyond that required for their practical operation. Through analysis of these regulations, this paper overturns the assumption that the significance of textual appearance is purely pragmatic by demonstrating the widespread importance of the visual form of writing within the regulatory praxis of the modern state—of which registration marks are a part. When we read the law, when we encounter a regulatory text, we are not just decoding intellectual content but are witnessing the appearance and repetition of sovereign power.


The comparative herbage production and persistence of 7 chicory cultivars and 14 accessions collected from diverse regions of the world were evaluated over 3 years in 5 agro-ecological environments across New South Wales (NSW), Victoria (Vic.) and South Australia (SA). Results showed that all cultivars had higher herbage yields than the accessions, but varied greatly among sites. Averaged across all cultivars, total herbage yields were up to 24.6 t DM/ha over 3 years at the Hamilton, Vic. site, but as low as 6.9 and 5.7 t DM/ha at the Wagga Wagga and Bookham, NSW sites, respectively, where chicory only persisted for 2 years. In contrast, the average herbage yield of all accessions was only one-half of that produced by the cultivars at the Hamilton site and about one-third of that at the other 4 sites. All cultivars and accessions persisted well under the favourable climate conditions experienced at the Hamilton site. In contrast, severe drought in 2006 resulted in the death of chicory swards at the Wagga Wagga and Bookham sites, and substantial declines in persistence at the Manilla, NSW and Willalooka, SA sites. Nevertheless, accessions collected from Australia and Asia were more persistent than some of the cultivars and may provide opportunities to select genotypes better adapted to intermittently dry mixed farming systems in south-eastern Australia. Our findings indicated that the current cultivars were best suited to sites similar to the Hamilton site in the winter-dominant, higher rainfall zone of south-eastern Australia. Under these conditions chicory was likely to be productive and persistent for 4 years or longer. In the drier mixed farming zone, chicory may be more suitable in shorter (2–3-year) pasture phases. Further research is required to identify those factors contributing to poor persistence.


Concurrent with increasing prostate cancer incidence and declining prostate cancer mortality in the United States, the prevalence of obesity has been increasing steadily. Several studies have reported that obesity is associated with increased risk of high-grade prostate cancer and prostate cancer mortality, and it is thus likely that the increase in obesity has increased the burden of prostate cancer. In this study, we assess the potential effect of increasing obesity on prostate cancer incidence and mortality. We first estimate obesity-associated relative risks of low- and high-grade prostate cancer using data from the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial. Then, using obesity prevalence data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and prostate cancer incidence data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program, we convert annual grade-specific prostate cancer incidence rates into incidence rates conditional on weight category. Next, we combine the conditional incidence rates with the 1980 prevalence rates for each weight category to project annual grade-specific incidence under 1980 obesity levels. We use a simulation model based on observed survival and mortality data to translate the effects of obesity trends on prostate cancer incidence into effects on disease-specific mortality. The predicted increase in obesity prevalence since 1980 increased high-grade prostate cancer incidence by 15.5% and prostate cancer mortality by between 7.0% (under identical survival for obese and nonobese cases) and 23.0% (under different survival for obese and nonobese cases) in 2002. We conclude that increasing obesity prevalence since 1980 has partially obscured declines in prostate cancer mortality. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(3):808–15)


Actors are said to bring a play to life, but what about the garments that they wear? Like set production, light design, and direction, the role of the costume plays an important part in informing and enchanting the audience. However, this is not all that they do. This paper acts as an in-depth examination of the culture of costume creation and destruction at Gettysburg College, researching their roles as garments, as well as how the garments themselves "act" around others. Imbued with their own set of responsibilities, the costumes are expected to behave certain ways, perform specific functions, and put on a show of their own. Through 20 hours of ethnographic research, this paper seeks to show that the costumes are not just as single component of the theatrical experience, but instead an integral performer in the social construction of the story itself.


It is widely accepted that the struggle over media representation within the Palestinian-Israeli struggle is no less important than the struggle on the ground (Wolfsfeld, 1997). Although the role of the media in this struggle has been a focal interest for researchers, the vast majority of studies are based on content analyses (see Kempf & Shinar, 2014). They mostly adopt top-down approaches with macro-level tools of analysis which lead to a dichotomous positive 'Self' and negative 'Other' representation. This study, in contrast, is a qualitative language-based analysis of three Israeli and three Palestinian online newspapers and news websites during the 2014 Gaza war. The study analyses a limited number of news articles from newspapers and news websites that are indicative of the media landscape on each side. The choice of these outlets is intended to present a range of possible views. The study adds to the effort which approaches media discourse to detect fissures and dissonances rather than identifying stabilities and symmetries.To achieve its aims, the study adopts Critical Discourse Analysis as a general framework and adheres to the dialectical-relational approach (Fairclough, 1995a, b, 2000, 2003) as an overarching approach. It takes account of transitivity (Halliday, 1985; Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004), the social actor model (van Leeuwen, 2008) and referential strategies (Reisigl & Wodak, 2009) to conduct its bottom-up analysis.The results of this study reveal that marginal ideologies at both ends of the ideological spectrum in Israel compete with a hegemonic Zionist discourse. The study also shows that Palestinian news websites subtly exploit representations of actions and actors in their struggle for power, representativeness and legitimacy. More interestingly, the study reveals some similarities between hegemonic ideologies on the one hand and marginal ideologies on the other, in both societies. While the former depend on common public knowledge, thus backgrounding much contextual information, the latter mainly function via the extensive contextualization of events.


This chapter is an attempt to think further about the notion of syncopolitics, a neologism coined by the author. This term points not so much to the syncope as spasm, convulsion or even collapse of political representation, but to the very conception of politics as syncope. Catherine Clement paves the way in her book Syncope: the Philosophy of Rapture (1994) by urging her readers to take time to experience and think the in-between, the time lag, the "radical surprise [where] one remains syncopated."(Clement 1994, 125) Syncopolitics calls thus for a rupture, a fracturing of thought. However the thinking here is first and foremost framed by an image, or rather by the recess of an image – "an image that must be unimagined, that is, thought, if thought is considered a commotion, a syncope, and a bedazzlement."(Nancy, 2005, 79) This recess of the image is considered as a condition for thinking politics. The chapter draws on performance and visual arts examples to address the unpresentable and how the syncope of the image can inform the transitory nature of thought.


The principal aim of the work is to explore ideas connected to our visual and physical relationships with technology and ways in which we as viewers, and consumers of media, engage with digital technologies.

The project asks questions concerning our idea of vision and the act of seeing or visualization altered through the influence and reliance on (digital) technological apparatus? Through practical application and presentation, how might it be possible to re-conceptualize our notion of vision and 'seeing' via material and technological mediation?

The exhibition derived from work produced for MOSI 'Art-Machine-Vision' exhibition (2007). The representation and refinement of the works further developed ideas about the relationship between art and technology and included 'live' video interaction, single and multi-screen video, and adapted commercial technologies. Works aimed to provoke ideas, responses and reactions to the way we engage with digital technologies as well as the notions of 'seeing'.

Two works were completed, aligning with the exhibition's central investigation and theme.

1. Magnification:
Magnification asked visitors to consider the way in which we as viewers, understand and interact with digital technologies as objects/artefacts. Viewers were invited to observe a series of 3-D CGI animations, presented on small digital displays, via glass magnification lens. Through the reinvention of everyday technologies and the re-presentation of familiar materials, the aim was to generate a disharmony between material and expectation.

2. Interactive Eyes
Interactive eyes responded to perceived notions of artificial intelligence and our desire to connect with the digital machine. Using the distorted form of the human eye to track movement, these eight separate works create a pseudo- interconnected community, parodying the concept of artificial life and the intelligent machine.

The project enhances understanding of how we use digital technologies to augment our activity of viewing and reexamine the role that technology plays in visualizing the world around us. Workshops associated with the exhibition were held to discuss the ideas and explain the processes undertaken during the production.


In this paper we present a modification to a latent topic model, which makes the model exploit supervision to produce a factorized representation of the observed data. The structured parameterization separately encodes variance that is shared between classes from variance that is private to each class by the introduction of a new prior over the topic space. The approach allows for a more eff{}icient inference and provides an intuitive interpretation of the data in terms of an informative signal together with structured noise. The factorized representation is shown to enhance inference performance for image, text, and video classification.


Dental Disease is one of globally affecting diseases. Oral bacteria involved within the bloodstream are linked to coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis and stroke. Oral hygiene plays an important role within the prevention of oral diseases, including periodontitis, cavity and oral candidiasis. Consequently, the utilization of both chemical and mechanical plaque control is suggested for optimal oral hygiene. Sodium hypochlorite it's not only irritant to the periapical tissues but also possesses disadvantages such of instruments, blazing of surrounding tissues, undesirable taste, high toxicity, corrosive to instruments, inability to get rid of the smear layer, reduction in coefficient of elasticity and flexible strength of dentin. As well as Antibiotics like tetracycline, penicillin, amoxicillin, metronidazole and antiseptics like chlorhexidine which are commonly used in dentistry, but they have many side effects. While herbal medicine is so effective in oral diseases and has less side effects. The present study is aimed at reviewing various extracts of herbal products and their effects on dental health. The articles were collected from pubmed, scopus and google scholars. The outcome is predicted on the previous studies which debate the role of herbal products in dentistry and this collected data is analyzed by using appropriate statistical tools. The use of herbal medicine in dentistry is helpful in reducing inflammation and controlling plaque formation. From this review study, it is evidenced that Ginger, Garlic, Aloe Vera and Miswak showed better results than conventional denitrificans in dental plaque and gingival inflammation reductions. The disadvantages of using herbal medicine like Clove oil is meant to cause serious problems like pharyngitis, vomiting, cytotoxicity, kidney failures, damage to the liver, seizures, difficulty in breathing and others if used in higher doses. Therefore, the Preclinical and clinical trials are needed to gauge biocompatibility and safety before herbal medicine are often recommended conclusively for oral care.


Neisseria meningitidis is able to translocate the blood-brain barrier and cause meningitis. Bacterial translocation is a crucial step in the onset of neuroinvasion that involves interactions between pathogen surface proteins and host cells receptors. In this study, we applied a systematic workflow to recover and identify proteins of N. meningitidis that may interact with human brain microvascular endothelial cells (hBMECs). Biotinylated proteome of N. meningitidis was incubated with hBMECs, interacting proteins were recovered by affinity purification and identified by SWATH-MS. Interactome of N. meningitidis comprised of 41 potentially surface exposed proteins. These were assigned into groups based on their probability to interact with hBMECs: high priority candidates (21 outer membrane proteins), medium priority candidates (14 inner membrane proteins) and low priority candidates (six secretory proteins). Ontology analysis provided information for 17 out of 41 surface proteins. Based on the series of bioinformatic analyses and literature review, five surface proteins (adhesin MafA1, major outer membrane protein P.IB, putative adhesin/invasion, putative lipoprotein and membrane lipoprotein) were selected and their recombinant forms were produced for experimental validation of interaction with hBMECs by ELISA and immunocytochemistry. All candidates showed interaction with hBMECs. In this study, we present a high-throughput approach to generate a dataset of plausible meningococcal ligands followed by systematic bioinformatic pipeline to categorize the proteins for experimental validation.


"Over the years many transnational labor alliances have succeeded in improving conditions for workers, but many more have not. In The New Politics of Transnational Labor, Marissa Brookes explains why this dichotomy has occurred. Using the coordination and context-appropriate (CCAP) theory, she assesses this divergence, arguing that the success of transnational alliances hinges not only on effective coordination across borders and within workers' local organizations but also on their ability to exploit vulnerabilities in global value chains, invoke national and international institutions, and mobilize networks of stakeholders in ways that threaten employers' core, material interests. Brookes uses six comparative case studies spanning four industries, five countries, and fifteen years. From dockside labor disputes in Britain and Australia to service sector campaigns in the supermarket and private security industries to campaigns aimed at luxury hotels in Southeast Asia, Brookes creates her new theoretical framework and speaks to debates in international and comparative political economy on the politics of economic globalization, the viability of private governance, and the impact of organized labor on economic inequality. From this assessment, Brookes provides a vital update to the international relations literature on non-state actors and transnational activism and shows how we can understand the unique capacities labor has as a transnational actor."


This article presents a critical analysis of seven theses about the Brazilian rural area. In the beginning we explain these entire theses, and after then we wrote a very critical analysis that point out some inconsistent and contradictions that we saw in these theses. Finally, we present some general considerations highlighting the importance of this debate, but with the comprehension that this debate should be done according to the rural complexity situation, and without any exclusion of social segments that live in the rural area.


When Africa stumbled into independence in the 1960s, the blossoming of newspapers of nearly every political persuasion was widely hailed as a critical stepping stone toward true multiparty democracy. However, rather than marking a clean break with an authoritarian past, the era of multiparty politics in Africa has been a time of increased hardship and repression for journalists who dare criticize powerful incumbents. Media repression continues to rise. After decades of retreat, authoritarian regimes are using social media and other sophisticated systems in a new era of repression to thwart democracy and trample human rights. For consecutive decades, the state of freedom has declined ? more people in more places face more repression. While systemic torture in war-torn Somalia and the return of a military dictatorship in Egypt captured headlines, there is also widespread, insidious and 21st-century style surveillance elsewhere with abuse or imprisonment or both of political activists. For the media to play its role as priests of democracy, Tatah Mentan maintains that media freedom must be rigorously defended as integral to the democratic way of life.


This paper situates Students as Partners (SaP) within the broader construct of student engagement so that we can examine the influence of partnership on student and staff participants and how this impacts on student and staff relationships. The findings of interviews carried out with students and staff (n=14), which aimed to capture rich descriptions of the lived experience of individuals, reveal that there was a high level of consensus between students and staff on how they described their lived experiences and the impact that partnership was having on them—particularly in relation to their personal development. Whilst it became apparent that the participants' thinking and behaviours had changed as a result of their involvement in partnership, quite often the catalyst for this change was in relation to how the participants were feeling. Considerations for relevant stakeholders are highlighted to support the scaling up of a SaP approach.


The management of knowledge, i.e. knowing what is known and the ability to exploit it is a burning issue for most organizations. Though knowledge management has a strong social perspective, information technology supports knowledge management strategies by providing tools that store codified knowledge and allow its retrieval. The value of knowledge management derives from the wide use of the stored knowledge, its annotation and refinement as well as its application in business practices. We support this issue of information browsing and retrieval by adapting and applying recommendation technology to reduce access barriers towards corporate knowledge portals. For this purpose we exploit domain heuristics to improve collaborative filtering techniques in order to cope with the problem of low numbers of users the knowledge portals have.


We evaluate the effects of permanently reducing labour tax rates in the euro area (EA) by simulating a large-scale open economy dynamic general equilibrium model. The model features the EA as a monetary union, split in two regions (Home and the rest of the EA REA), the US, and the rest of the world, region-specific labour markets with search and matching frictions, and public employment. Our results are as follows. First, a permanent reduction in labour tax rates in the Home region would have stimulating effects on domestic economic activity and employment. Second, reducing labour tax rates simultaneously in both Home and REA would have additional expansionary effects on the Home region. Third, in the short run the expansionary effects on the EA economy of a EA-wide tax reduction are enhanced if the EA monetary policy is accommodative. JEL classification: E24, E32, E52, E62, F45.


Building interoperation among separately developed software units requires checking their conceptual assumptions and constraints. However, eliciting such assumptions and constraints is time consuming and is a challenging task as it requires analyzing each of the interoperating software units. To address this issue we proposed a new conceptual interoperability analysis approach which aims at decreasing the analysis cost and the conceptual mismatches between the interoperating software units. In this report we present the design of a planned controlled experiment for evaluating the effectiveness, efficiency, and acceptance of our proposed conceptual interoperability analysis approach. The design includes the study objectives, research questions, statistical hypotheses, and experimental design. It also provides the materials that will be used in the execution phase of the planned experiment.


The localization of mRNA encoding preproatrial natriuretic peptide was investigated in tissue sections and cultures of rat heart and in sections of human right atrial appendage using the technique of in situ hybridization with 32P- and 35S-labeled RNA probes. Rat atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) transcripts were demonstrated in numerous atrial myocytes and, to a lesser extent, in ventricular myocytes in both tissue sections and newborn rat heart cultures. These findings are consistent with those obtained by RNA blot analysis of rat heart total RNA, indicating that a single prepro-ANP transcript of approximately 900 nucleotides was present in the ventricles as well as the atria. Using a 35S-labeled RNA probe for human ANP mRNA, ANP transcripts were also localized to the majority of myocytes in the human right atrial appendage. Only background levels of autoradiographic labeling were obtained when RNA probes identical to the coding sequence of rat or human ANP mRNA were used. A close correlation was found between the distribution of ANP immunoreactivity and prepro-ANP mRNA in these preparations. These results provide unequivocal evidence for the expression of the ANP gene in the rat ventricles, as well as the atria, because myocytes in these tissues have been established as the sites of both ANP localization and precursor biosynthesis. The combined use of cardiac cultures and in situ hybridization may be of value in future studies investigating the regulation of ANP synthesis in cardiac myocytes.