The time evolutions of the three-dimensional temperature profiles in a superconducting bulk disc have been calculated after applying a pulse field in the pulse field magnetization (PFM) by use of a finite element method (FEM). The total generated heat Q, experimentally estimated using the maximum temperature rise ΔTmax and specific heat C of the bulk, used in the analysis and the distribution of Q in the periphery region of the bulk, is suitably supposed in order that the calculated time evolutions of temperatures T(t) reproduce the measured ones on the bulk surface. From the analysis, the heat generation during PFM takes place under adiabatic conditions because the total Q value is about one or two orders of magnitude larger than the cooling power of the cryocooler used. The enhancement of the total heat capacity by setting a stainless steel ring onto the bulk as a heat reservoir is one of the effective methods to reduce the temperature rise and to enhance the trapped field.


This book provides a thorough and authoritative review of European community law and procedure in the field of state aid. Written in a concise and readable style it offers helpful guidance on available automatic exemptions under Article 92(2) EC or discretionary exemptions under Article 92(3). Guidance on 'de minimis' aid is also provided. The various policy frameworks for the different types of aid including regional, sectoral and horizontal are clearly explained. The work also details the relevance of Article 90 EC in relation to aid to public sector undertakings. * Contains information on the regulation under Article 94 EC and on new procedural regulation * Also includes details on the proposed new training code and the new multisectoral framework


This paper presents a two-dimensional optical code division multiple access (2-D-OCDMA) scheme using multiwavelength pulse modulation (MWPM), double optical hard limiters (DHL), and modified carrier-hopping prime sequences (MCHP) to increase the achievable system capacity. Design criteria to reduce multiaccess interference (MAI) are established and indicate that suitable signature sequences for 2-D-OCDMA/MWPM must have good cross-correlation property in terms of both time shift and wavelength shift. Performance analysis of 2-D-OCDMA/MWPM/DHL systems in the presence of MAI and photo detector shot noise is developed. Simulation and analytical results are in very good agreement and indicate that the proposed 2-D-OCDMA/MWPM/DHL systems using MCHP sequences can offer a much larger capacity than others, suitable for applications in broadband fiber-optic access networks.


Ever since 2012, the EU ETS (European Union's Emission Trading Scheme), which is the EU's climate policy was extended to include the ESD (Effort Sharing Decision) sectors' (agriculture, transport, building) regulations. As its name implies, this mechanism is based off of shared interests and efforts, all in order to reach the climate goals. Therefore, analysing the agriculture sector from an environmental viewpoint requires the analysis of related sectors as well, since their performances will have an impact on determining the requirements to be met by the agriculture. Seeing that those primarily present in said sectors are not various firms, but people and public utility management institutions instead, the level of regulations draws from the economic state of the various countries in question (GDP per capita). Therefore, member states like ours did not receive difficult goals until 2020, due to our performance being lower than the average of the EU. However, during the program phase between 2021 and 2030, all nations are to lower their GHG (greenhouse gases) emission, and have to make developments to restrict GHG emission level growth within the ESD, which means we already have to estimate our future possibilities. During the analyses, we will see that analysing agriculture from an environmental viewpoint, without doing the same to their related sectors and their various related influences is impossible. The GHG emission goals determined by the EU have to be cleared by the agriculture sector, but the inputs from transport, waste management and building are required nonetheless.


Cracking is a common type of damage in structural beams. Existing methods for the detection of cracks in beams are most commonly based on representing a crack by a reduction of the bending stiffness over a certain segment. While such representation may be acceptable for slender beams, it can be problematic for relatively thick beams which are typical in civil engineering structures. In the present study an explicit cracked beam element model is adopted, in which the effect of the crack is comprehensively described by a cracked stiffness matrix relating to the crack location and the crack depth. The cracked beam element model is implemented in a finite element model updating framework for the identification of the crack parameters. This paper provides an overview of this new crack identification approach and the verification of the effectiveness of the method from laboratory experiments. In the experimental verification, cracked beam specimens have been tested to extract the modal frequency and mode shape data, and these are compared with the predictions using the cracked beam element model. The measured modal data are also employed to carry out (inverse) crack identification to further verify the effectiveness of using the cracked beam element model for crack damage identification.


Climate models indicate that the climate of the south-eastern US will experience increasing temperatures and associated evapotranspiration in the 21st century. The current study found that conditions in the south-eastern US will likely become drier overall, given a warmer environment during future winter and spring seasons. This study examined the potential effects of a warmer climate in the 21st century on relevant meteorological fire parameters (e.g. total and convective precipitation, 500-hPa geopotential heights, near-surface relative humidity) and popular fire indices (e.g. Haines and Keetch–Byram Drought Indices) in the south-eastern US. Although the results offered conflicting implications in portions of the study domain, the southern half of the south-eastern US (including the Deep South, the southern Piedmont and Florida) exhibited the highest potential for increasing fire activity in the mid-21st century, given maximum warming and drying in these areas, especially in the spring season.


This is the first comprehensive overview of the present state of research in art therapy and music therapy in the UK. It challenges assumptions about research in these areas, and makes use of research models from art history and music analysis as well as the more orthodox psychological and medical models used in clinical work. Informative and reassuring for those interested in undertaking research, the book gives lively accounts of the personal process of the art therapy and music therapy researcher. It presents the reader with many original ideas and strategies, and will be an invaluable reference book for practitioners and students of art therapy and music therapy, as well as for health professionals who work with them.


This paper explores the ethical issues identified by a research ethics committee (REC) over a three-year period. The REC is situated in a medium-sized university in the north west of England and deals exclusively with proposals for pedagogic research. The purpose of the research was to identify the nature and frequency of ethical concerns expressed by the REC, in order to improve guidance for future applicants. The most common concern was the lack, or inaccuracy, of the information provided to potential participants by which they were expected to make an informed decision about participation. Other concerns included the potential for bias, the lack of information provided to the REC, the provision for fair access by vulnerable groups and undue influence on voluntary participation. The paper concludes that the potential risks of practitioners researching their own students are not given due consideration by many applicants. In particular the potential threats to valid informed consent are identified.  Implications  for  improving  the  relationship between researchers and RECs are discussed, as is the guidance for applicants.


Counterfeit detection in RFID-based supply chains aims at preventing adversaries from injecting fake products that do not meet quality standards. This paper introduces CHECKER, a new protocol for counterfeit detection in RFID-based supply chains through on-site checking. While RFID-equipped products travel through the supply chain, RFID readers can verify product genuineness by checking the validity of the product's path. CHECKER uses a polynomial-based encoding to represent paths in the supply chain. Each tag T in CHECKER stores an IND-CCA encryption of T's identifier ID and a signature of ID using the polynomial encoding of T's path as secret key. CHECKER is provably secure and privacy preserving. An adversary can neither inject fake products into the supply chain nor trace products. Moreover, RFID tags in CHECKER can be cheap read/write only tags that do not perform any computation. Per tag, only 120 Bytes storage are required.


OBJECTIVES
To assess the self-reported levels of competency among public health nurses (PHNs) in Idaho.

DESIGN AND SAMPLE
A cross-sectional descriptive design was used. The sample consisted of 124 PHNs, including 30 in leadership roles, currently practicing in Idaho's official public health agencies.

MEASURES
Structured interviews were conducted with participants who provided self-ratings in the 8 domains of public health competency as developed by the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice and the Quad Council of Public Health Nursing Organizations.

RESULTS
The findings indicated that the overall level of competency was most strongly associated with the duration of professional experience. No major differences in the competency levels were found in relation to nurses' level of education or licensure. Nurses in leadership positions reported the highest levels of competency. Rurality, as measured by district population density, was not significantly correlated with competency levels, except in relation to community dimensions of practice skills.

CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest that PHNs' self-perceived levels of competence are most strongly influenced by their years of professional experience, particularly in leadership roles. Professional development efforts should focus on the domains with the lowest perceived competency: policy development/program planning skills, analytic assessment skills, and financial planning/management skills.


We present an accurate and efficient method of modeling second-harmonic generation in two-dimensional structures by use of eigenmode expansion. By using the undepleted-pump approximation we uncouple the calculations for the fundamental and second harmonic. Expansion of the field in eigenmodes gives rise to a linear matrix formalism. The method includes reflections and is especially suited for periodic structures. Several examples, including a two-dimensional photonic-crystal-cavity device, are studied.


ABSTRACT Blind people face significant challenges when using smartphones. The focus on improving nonvisual mobile accessibility has been at the level of touchscreen access. Our research investigates the challenges faced by blind people in their everyday usage of mobile phones. In this article, we present a set of studies performed with the target population, novices and experts, using a variety of methods, targeted at identifying and verifying challenges; and coping mechanisms. Through a multiple methods approach we identify and validate challenges locally with a diverse set of user expertise and devices, and at scale through the analyses of the largest Android and iOS dedicate forums for blind people. We contribute with a prioritized corpus of smartphone challenges for blind people, and a discussion on a set of directions for future research, which tackle the open and often overlooked challenges.


Cortisol is metabolized to 6 beta-hydroxycortisol by the human cytochrome P-450 3A4, an enzyme implicated in the critical epoxidation reactions of aflatoxin B1 and certain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. A method has been developed to measure the 6 beta-hydroxycortisol:cortisol ratio in human urine by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography using diode-array detection. This method permits measurement of both cortisols in a single chromatographic run and has the potential to measure other metabolites useful for the determination of other human cytochrome P-450 activities. Using the 6 beta-hydroxycortisol:cortisol ratio as a marker of cytochrome P-450 3A4 activity adjusts for the circadian fluctuation in cortisol levels, providing a determination that is consistent over a 24-h period, obviating the need for 24-h urine collections. This high-performance liquid chromatography technique was used for the analysis of 14 different human urines and a range of ratios of 1.6 to 21.7 (mean +/- SE, 6.2 +/- 1.6) was found. These values are consistent with those reported in the literature. This method should be useful in molecular epidemiological studies investigating relationships between the susceptibility from environmental carcinogen exposure and cancer risk.


Amidst city concrete and suburban sprawl, Americans are discovering new ways to reconnect with the natural world. From community gardens in New York's Lower East Side to homeless shelters in California, the search for a more sustainable future has led grassroots groups to a profound reconnection to place and to the natural world.Studies of the health consequences of renewing a connection with nature support the urgency of providing green surroundings as cities expand and the majority of the earth's population lives in urban areas. Medical research results, from groups as diverse as healthy volunteers, surgery patients, and heart attack survivors, suggest that contact with nature may improve health and well-being. Engagement with nearby natural places also provides restoration from mental fatigue and support for more resilient and cooperative behavior. Aspects of stronger community life are fostered by access to nature, suggesting that there are significant social as well as physical and psychological benefits from connection with the natural world.This volume brings together research from anthropology, sociology, public health, psychology, and landscape architecture to highlight how awareness of locale and a meaningful renewal of attachment with the earth are connected to delight in learning about nature as well as to civic action and new forms of community. Community garden coalitions, organic market advocates, and greenspace preservationists resist the power of global forces, enacting visions of a different future. Their creative efforts tell a story of a constructive and dynamic middle ground between private plots and public action, between human health and ecosystem health, between individual attachment and urban sustainability.


How individual wages change with time, and how they are expected to change as individuals grow older, is one of crucial determinants of their behaviour on the labour market including their decision to retire. The profile of individual hourly wages has for a long time been assumed to follow an "inverse-U" path, although there has been little work specifically concerning the age-wage profile and documenting it convincingly. The focus of this paper is the relationship between age and wages with special attention given to individuals close to retirement. The analysis is presented in a comparative context for Britain and Germany looking at two longitudinal datasets (BHPS and GSOEP respectively) for years 1995-2004. It stresses the importance of cohort effects and selection out of employment which seem crucial in determining the downward-sloping part of the "inverse-U" profile observed in most cross-sections. There seems to be little evidence that wages fall with age.


Plants release rosmarinic acid, which mimics bacterial quorum-sensing signals, to interfere with bacterial communication. Plants send out a bacterial mimic Plants and microbes have evolved mechanisms to communicate. Corral-Lugo et al. determined that a plant compound, rosmarinic acid, bound to a protein in the bacterial quorum-sensing pathway, which bacteria use to regulate "community" interactions, such as the formation of biofilms. In vitro analysis showed that rosmarinic acid bound to RhlR, a transcriptional regulator in the quorum-sensing pathway of the plant and human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Both reporter gene analysis and in vivo analysis of quorum-sensing responses showed that rosmarinic acid stimulated RhlR activity, thereby functioning as a mimic of the bacterial ligands. Identification of this molecular mimic has both agricultural and biomedical implications by enabling strategic disruption of bacterial communication. Quorum sensing is a bacterial communication mechanism that controls genes, enabling bacteria to live as communities, such as biofilms. Homoserine lactone (HSL) molecules function as quorum-sensing signals for Gram-negative bacteria. Plants also produce previously unidentified compounds that affect quorum sensing. We identified rosmarinic acid as a plant-derived compound that functioned as an HSL mimic. In vitro assays showed that rosmarinic acid bound to the quorum-sensing regulator RhlR of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 and competed with the bacterial ligand N-butanoyl-homoserine lactone (C4-HSL). Furthermore, rosmarinic acid stimulated a greater increase in RhlR-mediated transcription in vitro than that of C4-HSL. In P. aeruginosa, rosmarinic acid induced quorum sensing–dependent gene expression and increased biofilm formation and the production of the virulence factors pyocyanin and elastase. Because P. aeruginosa PAO1 infection induces rosmarinic acid secretion from plant roots, our results indicate that rosmarinic acid secretion is a plant defense mechanism to stimulate a premature quorum-sensing response. P. aeruginosa is a ubiquitous pathogen that infects plants and animals; therefore, identification of rosmarinic acid as an inducer of premature quorum-sensing responses may be useful in agriculture and inform human therapeutic strategies.


This paper presents a novel frequency reconfigurable phase shifter using the RF microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. The phase shifter is based on the triple-stub circuit topology composed of three stubs that are connected by two transmission lines that are all implemented as distributed MEMS transmission lines. The insertion phase of the circuit is controlled by changing the electrical lengths of the stubs and the connecting transmission lines, while having ideally zero reflection coefficient at all times. The phase shifter has theoretically no specific limits on the frequency; in other words, it can be reconfigured to work at any frequency between 15-40 GHz, with adjustable phase steps, while providing a constant time delay within a 2%-3% instantaneous bandwidth around any selected center frequency in the above-mentioned band. The phase shifter is fabricated monolithically using a surface micromachining process on a quartz substrate and occupies 10.8 mm × 5.9 mm. Measurement results show that the phase shifter has average phase error of 1.6 °, 3.7 °, and 4.7 °, average insertion loss of 3.1, 5, and 8.2 dB and average return loss of 19.3, 15.8, and 13.7 dB at 15, 30, and 40 GHz, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this paper demonstrates the first phase shifter in the literature that can work at any given frequency in a targeted band with adjustable phase steps.


This is a staff development workshop conducted at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in February 2013. Presentation details are: Brown, G. T.
L. (2013, February 10). Keys
to Successful Student Outcomes Assessments. Keynote
presentation to the 2nd Annual Forum for University Teaching:
Learning Outcomes Assessment, King Saud University, Riyadh, KSA.Goals for the workshop were:•Participants will appreciate and
understand:

–that
the validity of assessments depends on their alignment with curricular goals,
targets, and outcomes.

–the
value of the Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes Taxonomy as a tool for
ensuring coverage of surface and deep cognitive processes in the design of
assessment tasks and curricular goals

–the
importance of quality characteristics of assessment task as an essential
component of validity

–the
role that student beliefs concerning assessment and motivations for learning
play in achieving learning outcomes

–the
importance of quality, over style, in teaching practices

–the
importance of feedback from assessment practices during instruction towards
improved learning outcomes


Abstract This paper proposes a novel approach for lossless coding of light field (LF) images based on a macro-pixel (MP) synthesis technique which synthesizes the entire LF image in one step. The reference views used in the synthesis process are selected based on four different view configurations and define the reference LF image. This image is stored as an array of reference MPs which collect one pixel from each reference view, being losslessly encoded as a base layer. A first contribution focuses on a novel network design for view synthesis which synthesizes the entire LF image as an array of synthesized MPs. A second contribution proposes a network model for coding which computes the MP prediction used for lossless encoding of the remaining views as an enhancement layer. Synthesis results show an average distortion of 29.82 dB based on four reference views and up to 36.19 dB based on 25 reference views. Compression results show an average improvement of 29.9% over the traditional lossless image codecs and 9.1% over the state-of-the-art.


Watching nanomaterials transform in time Real-time analysis of chemical transformations of nanoparticles is usually done with electron microscopy of a few particles. One limitation is interference by the electron beam. Sun et al. monitored the oxidation of iron nanoparticles in solution by using small- and wide-angle x-ray scattering and molecular dynamics simulations (see the Perspective by Cadavid and Cabot). These methods revealed the formation of voids within the nanoparticles, diffusion of material into and out of the nanoparticles, and ultimately the coalescence of the voids. Science, this issue p. 303; see also p. 245 Transformation of iron nanoparticles into hollow iron oxide structures through the Kirkendall effect is observed using x-rays. Real-time tracking of the three-dimensional (3D) evolution of colloidal nanoparticles in solution is essential for understanding complex mechanisms involved in nanoparticle growth and transformation. We used time-resolved small-angle and wide-angle x-ray scattering simultaneously to monitor oxidation of highly uniform colloidal iron nanoparticles, enabling the reconstruction of intermediate 3D morphologies of the nanoparticles with a spatial resolution of ~5 angstroms. The in situ observations, combined with large-scale reactive molecular dynamics simulations, reveal the details of the transformation from solid metal nanoparticles to hollow metal oxide nanoshells via a nanoscale Kirkendall process—for example, coalescence of voids as they grow and reversal of mass diffusion direction depending on crystallinity. Our results highlight the complex interplay between defect chemistry and defect dynamics in determining nanoparticle transformation and formation.


Background Mobile technologies are steadily replacing traditional assessment approaches for the recognition and assessment of a sports concussion. Their ease of access, while facilitating the early identification of a concussion, also raises issues regarding the content of the applications (apps) and their suitability for different user groups. Aim To locate and review apps that assist in the recognition and assessment of a sports concussion and to assess their content with respect to that of internationally accepted best-practice instruments. Methods A search of international app stores and of the web using key terms such as 'concussion', 'sports concussion' and variants was conducted. For those apps meeting the inclusion criteria, data were extracted on the platform, intended users and price. The content of each app was benchmarked to the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 2 (SCAT2) and Pocket SCAT2 using a custom scoring scheme to generate a percentage compliance statistic. Results 18 of the 155 apps identified met the inclusion criteria. Almost all (16/18) were available on an iOS platform and only five required a payment to purchase. The apps were marketed for a wide range of intended users from medical professionals to the general public. The content of the apps varied from 0% to 100% compliance with the selected standard, and 'symptom evaluation' components demonstrated the highest level of compliance. Conclusions The surge in availability of apps in an unregulated market raises concerns as to the appropriateness of their content for different groups of end users. The consolidation of best-practice concussion instruments now provides a framework to inform the development of future apps.


In this paper, we analyze the coding delay and the average coding delay of Chunked network Codes (CC) over line networks with Bernoulli losses and deterministic regular or Poisson transmissions. Chunked codes are an attractive alternative to random linear network codes due to their lower complexity. Our results, which include upper bounds on the delay and the average delay, are the first of their kind for CC over networks with such probabilistic traffics. These results demonstrate that a stand-alone CC or a precoded CC provides a better tradeoff between the computational complexity and the convergence speed to the network capacity over the probabilistic traffics compared to arbitrary deterministic traffic. The performance of CC over the latter traffic has already been studied in the literature.


In recent years, scholars have made great strides in measuring the extent of partisan gerrymandering. By and large, though, they have not yet tried to answer the questions that logically come next: What are the causes of district plans' partisan skews? And what consequences do these skews have for democratic values? Using a unique dataset of state house and congressional plans' partisan tilts from 1972 to the present, this Article addresses precisely these issues. It finds that single-party control of the redistricting process dramatically benefits the party in charge, while other mapmaking configurations have small and inconsistent effects. It also shows that greater black representation and greater urbanization have a modest proRepublican impact, albeit one that fades when Democrats are responsible for redistricting. It concludes as well that the harm of gerrymandering is not limited to divergences between parties' seat and vote shares. The injury extends, rather, to the distortion of the representation that legislators provide to their constituents.


Mr. F. is a fifty-year-old father of two school-aged daughters. Six years ago, he received a double lung transplant because he was suffering from interstitial lung disease, a fatal illness that causes suffocation by progressive scarring of the lungs. He is now experiencing chronic rejection of the transplant and is being considered to receive another. Without it, he is expected to survive only a year and a half. With it, his prognosis will improve, but the numbers are still not good.

Three years after his lung transplant, Mr. F. stopped attending his office visits. For a period of sixteen months he went without the studies and attention essential to posttransplant care. He stopped performing the required daily self-monitoring of his lung function about eight months after his transplant, but he has maintained a regular exercise regimen. While lost to follow-up, he continued to take his immunosuppressant medications, but he stopped taking medicine to control his high blood pressure because of its expense.


Recent developments like the rising trend in crude oil price, the international economic crisis, the civil revolts in Northern Africa and the Middle East, the nuclear threat in Japan after the tsunami, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the economic growth of emerging countries like China and India have a direct relation to the security of energy supply anywhere in the world. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of energy risks, energy scenarios and energy policies with special reference to the European Union and its member states, emphasizing the economic and geopolitical dimensions of energy security. The book assesses both quantitatively and qualitatively the socioeconomic and political risks related to the European energy supply, together with the EU's energy relations with other countries. Two innovative indicators have been developed to estimate geopolitical energy risks and energy-related relations with other countries. The book also examines the process of convergence of member states' energy security policies, the path towards a common European energy policy, and the process of Europeanization projected towards the energy corridors through which the EU receive energy imports. In addition, alternative strategic scenarios related to energy risk are assessed. Finally, guidelines for the EU's energy policy and new strategies using energy corridors are suggested in order to maximize EU's energy security. The book should be of interest to students and researchers across a wide range of subjects, including energy economics and policy, energy and foreign policy in the EU, energy policies in EU member states and several aspects related to international political economy.


Despite robust scholarship on the digital divide, little attention has been paid to its spatiality: how does the organization of physical space, especially the status of the built environment, affect digital access? These questions are especially neglected with regard to Asian Americans, who are thought to have consistently high levels of technological attainment. Nonetheless, certain Asian American communities, particularly those that are poor, working-class, or from refugee backgrounds, remain disproportionately disconnected from the Internet. In this paper, I examine the relationships between digital, racial, and environmental inequalities in San Francisco's Chinatown. I show that historic disinvestment in Chinatown's building stock, combined with campaigns led by ethnic Chinese people themselves to preserve historic structures and prevent displacement, have created a physical landscape that cannot support broadband Internet. As a result, many residents depend on inferior connections that diminish their life outcomes. I conclude that digital inaccess is the most recent manifestation of historical place-based racism through which Asian Americans have been constructed as outsiders and perpetual foreigners.


Background: U.S. Latinos experience high rates of cardio-metabolic diseases and have high rates of physical inactivity and sedentary behavior. Understanding the environmental factors associated with physical activity and sedentary behaviors among Latinos could inform future interventions. The purpose of this study is to explore the neighborhood environment correlates of physical activity and sedentary behavior in a sample of U.S. Latino adults. Methods: Cross-sectional study of 602 Latino adults in Lawrence, MA. Survey assessments of physical activity, sedentary behavior, and neighborhood environment were verbally administered. The neighborhood environment scale assessed violence, safety, aesthetic quality, walkability, availability of healthy foods, social cohesion, and activities with neighbors. Results: After controlling forage, gender, education, body mass index (BMI), and smoking status, two variables were associated with the outcomes of interest. Living in more walkable neighborhoods was associated with an increased likelihood of engaging in adequate levels of physical activity (>150 min per week, as recommended by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)) (OR = 1.403, p = .018); and greater frequency of activities with neighbors was associated with greater sedentary behavior ( β = .072, p = .05). Conclusions: There were different neighborhood environment correlates of physical activity and sedentary behavior in this Latino community. Focusing on a greater understanding of the distinct social and physical environmental correlates of physical activity and sedentary behavior may provide important insights for reducing CVD risk and health disparities among Latinos.


Background In Western countries the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection may be declining but there is a lack of recent longitudinal population studies. We evaluated the changing epidemiology over a 23-year period in Sweden. Materials and methods In 1989, the validated Abdominal Symptom Questionnaire (ASQ) was mailed to a random sample of inhabitants (ages 22–80 years) in a Swedish community, and 1097 (87%) responded. H. pylori serology was analysed in a representative subsample (n = 145). Twenty-three years later, the ASQ was mailed again using similar selection criteria, and 388 out of 1036 responders had an upper endoscopy with assessment of H. pylori and corpus atrophy status. Results The prevalence of positive H. pylori serology decreased from 37.9% (1989) to 15.8% (2012), corresponding to a decrease in odds of 75% per decade (odds ratio (OR): 0.25; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.11–0.59, p = 0.001) independent of age, gender, body mass index (BMI) and level of education, with a pattern consistent with a birth cohort effect. The prevalence increased with increasing age (p = 0.001). The prevalence of H. pylori on histology in 2012 was 11.4% (95% CI 8.6–15.0). The prevalence of corpus atrophy on serology and/or histology in 2012 was 3.2% (95% CI 1.8–5.5); all cases were ≥57 years old. Conclusion The stomach is healthier in 2012 compared with 1989. H. pylori prevalence in adults has decreased over the last two decades to a level where clinical management might be affected.


Brilliantly written, compelling and highly original, "The Looming Tower" is the first book to tell the full story of Al Qaeda from its roots up to 9/11. Drawing on astonishing interviews and first-hand sources, it investigates the extraordinary group of idealogues behind this organization - and those who tried to stop them. There is the tormented, resentful Egyptian Sayyid Qutb, who was horrified by the godlessness and decadence he perceived in America in 1948, and whose subsequent writings turned him into a martyr for Islamic extremists. There is Ayman al-Zawahiri: a devout student who, by the age of fifteen, had already helped to form an underground jihadist cell. There is the deeply contradictory Osama bin Laden: Saudi multimillionaire turned muhajideen commander, whose interests merged with al-Zawahiri's to form a global terror coalition. And there is the FBI's counterterrorism chief, the flamboyant, cigar-smoking John O'Neill, who found his warnings that 'something big' was coming continually ignored, and would finally meet his fate in the shadow of the Twin Towers. Interweaving this extraordinary story with events including the Israeli-Palestine conflict, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the first attack on the World Trade Center, Lawrence Wright takes us into training camps, mountain hideouts and top secret meetings to explore how it all fed into the planning and execution of 9/11 - and reveals the real, complex origins of Al Qaeda's hatred of the West. Wright's brilliantly acclaimed book now includes a new Afterword which covers events that have unfolded since publication, including the death of Osama Bin Laden.


The diametral expansion and elongation rates of Zr-2.5Nb pressure tubes in CANDU™ (CANada Deuterium Uranium) nuclear reactors are important properties that limit their useful life and the maximum power level for reactor operation. For a given set of operating conditions there is considerable variability in the deformation rates because of the variations in as-fabricated microstructure and chemistry from tube-to-tube — specifically grain size, crystallographic texture, and oxygen content. The as-fabricated microstructure also varies within a given tube, the largest variation occurring along the length, and this is a result of cooling of the tube during the extrusion process. During service in a nuclear reactor, the microstructure evolves further, and this additional change in microstructure is primarily dependent on the rate of radiation damage (determined by the fast neutron flux), the temperature, and the time. Both the fast neutron flux and temperature vary at all points within the pressure tube. For a given material microstructure, the deformation is a function of the operating conditions: coolant pressure (stress), temperature, and neutron flux. In principle, the deformation rate is a linear function of fast neutron flux, and this is mostly true for fast neutron fluxes of the order of 1017 n.m−2.s−1. Recent analyses of data from pressure tubes measured over long periods of operation in reactor have shown that the steady-state diametral creep rates are not linear with fast neutron flux for fluxes up to about 0.5 × 1017 n.m−2.s−1. A qualitative model has been developed to account for the observed behavior based on the modifying effects of neutron flux and temperature on the microstructure. The model describes the suppression of thermal creep and the transition from thermal to irradiation creep with increasing neutron flux.


In recent years, there has been a tremendous proliferation of quantitative evaluative social measures in the field of law as well as society generally. One of these measures, the U.S. News & World Report rankings of law schools, has become an almost obsessive concern of the law school community, generating a great deal of speculation about the effects of these rankings on legal education. However, there has been no attempt to systematically ascertain what, if any, effects these rankings have on the decisionmaking of students and schools in the admission process. This article documents some of these effects by conceptualizing rankings as a signal of law school quality, investigating (1) whether students and schools use this signal to make decisions about where to apply and whom to admit, and (2) whether the creation of this signal distorts the phenomenon-law school quality-that it purports to measure. Using data for U.S. law schools from 1996 to 2003, we find that schools' rankings have significant effects on both the decisions of prospective students and the decisions schools make in the admissions process. In addition, we present evidence that the rankings can become a self-fulfilling prophecy for some schools, as the effects of rank described above alter the profile of their student bodies, affecting their future rank. Cumulatively, these findings suggest that the rankings help create rather than simply reflect differences among law schools through the magnification of the small, and statistically random, distinctions produced by the measurement apparatus. Over the last 15 years, there has been a great increase in the number of rankings of educational institutions published by widely circulating magazines and newspapers both in the United States and internationally.1 Part of a general trend toward increased accountability and transparency through the development of social measures,2 this proliferation of rankings has generated much concern about their validity, how students use them, and how the behaviors of schools are changed in reaction to them. Nowhere is this concern more palpable than in the field of legal education. Perhaps because there is a single publication that dominates the field of law school rankings-U.S. News & World Report (hereafter, USN)-or because every accredited law school (as opposed to just the top 25 or top 50 schools in most other fields) is ranked on a single dimension, law schools and their governing organizations3 have made very public efforts to caution their constituencies about and discredit the rankings. But while this concern about the rankings has created a substantial amount of speculation and debate about the methodology, validity, and appropriateness of the rankings of education institutions (e.g., Klein & Hamilton 1998; Berger 2001; Schmalbeck 2001), there have been few studies-and none that have focused on the field of legal education4-that have attempted to determine whether or not these rankings actually affect the decisionmaking of the prospective students who are the primary audience of these publications or the behavior of the schools that the rankings evaluate. The question of the effect of these rankings, however, is an important one, and the implications of the answer stretch beyond the boundaries of education. Rankings, in the language of economists, act as signals-observable indicators, such as price (Milgrom & Roberts 1986), advertising (Ippolito 1990), or warranties (Boulding & Kirmani 1993), of the underlying quality and properties of that which is being represented (Nelson 1970; Spence 1974). Signals, according to this view, are especially valuable in markets such as legal education, where quality is hard to measure and information is difficult for outsiders to gather themselves. Thus, rankings are especially useful to prospective law students because they provide clear (although, as we will discuss below, not necessarily accurate) indications of the underlying quality of law schools, a function that both proponents of rankings (e. …


The turnover of high school science teachers is an especially troubling problem in urban schools with economically disadvantaged students. Because high teacher turnover rates impede effective instruction, the persistence of teacher attrition is a serious concern. Using an online survey and interviews in a sequential mixed-methods approach, this study investigates the perceptions of high school science teachers regarding factors that contribute to their employment decisions. The study also compares first-career and second-career science teachers' perceptions of retention and attrition factors and identifies conditions that urban school leaders can establish to support the retention of their science teachers. A purposeful sample of 138 science teachers from urban area New England public high schools with 50% or more Free and Reduced Price Lunch-eligible students participated in the survey. Twelve survey respondents were subsequently interviewed. In accord with extant research, this study's results suggest that school leadership is essential to fostering teacher retention. The findings also reveal the importance of autonomy, professional community, and adequate resources to support science instruction. Although mentoring and induction programs receive low importance ratings in this study, career-changers view these programs as more important to their retention than do first-career science teachers. Secondcareer interviewees, in particular, voice the importance of being treated as professionals by school leaders. Future research may examine the characteristics of mentoring and induction programs that make them most responsive to the needs of first-career and second-career science teachers. Future studies may also investigate the aspects of school leadership and professional autonomy that are most effective in promoting science teacher retention.


With Agile now becoming mainstream, what's happening on the topic of "Clean Code?" What patterns are being revealed, and what does this mean to teams responsible for that final lap (the testing one!)? Industry research from QSM Associates reveals varying degrees of success. Some of the best teams – whether they be XP, SCRUM, Lean, etc. – are finding significant quality implications that are literally redefining the economics of software. Others are not. What factors can make a meaningful difference? With the latest industry analysis of velocity, burndown, and quality data, we discuss productivity, time-tomarket, quality, and cost patterns as this community matures. Serving as a comparison framework is the QSM SLIM industry database, with more than 10,000 completed projects (waterfall, agile, offshore, onshore) collected worldwide. This talk will describe findings that can help accelerate your success. Join us for an overview of this approach, and find out how you can assess your own patterns that could be applied to your development, and informing your executive teams.


Embedded Librarianship in Colleges and Universities

Traditionally, librarians have been confined to library buildings. Embedded librarianship is a current trend where librarians and information professionals take their services out of the library building and embed themselves into academic departments, which in turn facilitates collaboration with faculty. Embedded librarians can teach more faculty and students how to use library collections and services.

Technology facilitates embedded librarianship. For example, Duke University libraries have added a chat reference module in Duke's course management system. For many classes, students are required to use this software to complete and submit assignments, check grades, etc. This library chat service allows librarians to answer reference questions and offer information literacy instruction. This is one example where embedded librarians can use existing technologies to reach out to students who might not frequently visit the library.

Librarians can: Become liaisons between academic departments and the library; Sit in during classes and faculty meetings; Set up help desks in campus buildings (near classrooms, labs, etc.); Offer Internet chat reference services and use other technologies to develop new strategies.

Further Reading.

Created by: Justin Rajkowski; LIS 693, Academic Librarianship; Summer 2010; Dr. Mark Tucker.


Introduction Institutional economics is a unique way of looking at the economy and the processes that influence its development. The uniqueness refers mostly to its difference from neoclassical economics. Starting from the mid-1990s, Poland witnessed an active interest in heterodox economics, including many other economic trends, apart from mainstream economics. The reasons behind this interest are related to the practical economics on the macroeconomic level. One of the reasons for the development of heterodox economic research was that the theses about the end of the transformation process in Poland, which appeared before the end of the 1990s, were inconsistent with the statistical data illustrating the state of the Polish economy. The development of a few branches of economy and of a few markets does not equal the development of social institutions, better welfare of people, or better access to social services. The state of the Polish economy after 20 years of transformation brought an increased interest in the alternative approaches of the economy that could be useful in explaining economic phenomena and pointing to the proper changes in economic policy. Apart from a number of trends in heterodox economics, currents in institutional economics (IE) are also of great interest. After 1989, orthodox economics was dominant in Poland both in teaching and practical economics. During the late 1990s, the renewed interest in IE turned out to be essential for the understanding and explanation of the current socioeconomic situation, as it exerted a strong influence on the market and on the implementation of new economic reforms. The socioeconomic situation of that time involved the privatization of State Treasury assets, and its consequences, illegal employment and the development of the gray economy. Papers, published mostly in Poland, explained economic processes by the means of the methods of institutional economics. However, it has to be noted that those papers presented the methods of new institutional economics (NIE). A number of them failed to include the historical context and descriptive studies that are characteristics of traditional institutionalists. NIE is an attempt to fuse mainstream economic theory with the traditional institutional economics (TIE) and shows several trends. Those trends include: the new theory of the firm (Coase 1990, 1992, 1998), social and public choice theory (Buchanan and Yoon 2003, 2008), the theory of international regimes, a new economic history, and the theory of transaction costs (North 1994, 2003). What seems to be important is that NIE always seeks to set economic phenomena within the institutional environment. Due to the fact that NIE has an exploitative attitude toward institutions, one can postulate that it does not refer to IE at all. Moreover, it does not fully resemble neoclassical economics, as it ahnost entirely rejects the neoclassical theory of the firm, the neoclassical perception of market mechanism, and the construction of the homo oeconomicus model. Still, taking into consideration its explanatory values, the IE, with its holistic character and historical and evolutionary outlook on socioeconomic phenomena, was overlooked in scholarly works. NIE, on the other hand, is still dominant in the published theses and articles. Due to the fact that IE, and especially NIE, have been the fields of scholarly interest for a relatively short time, the works published in Poland point to the application of the selected institutional arguments, rather than to the full and complete implementation of the institutionalist method of traditional institutionalism and NIE. Many authors (1) make occasional and indirect references to institutionalism, not wishing to implement the theory in its entirety. The aim of the article is to present a number of selected social and economic phenomena that are of great interest to the scholars investigating the TIE and NIE. …


In this study of arthropod predador-prey systems Michael Hassell shows how many of the components of predation may be simply modeled in order to reveal their effects on the overall dynamics of the interacting populations. Arthropods, particularly insects, make ideal subjects for such a study because their generation times are characteristically short and many have relatively discrete generations, inviting the use of difference equation models to describe population changes. Using analytical models framed in difference equations, Dr. Hassell is able to show how the detailed biological processes of insect predator-prey (including host-parasitoid) interactions may be understood. Emphasizing the development and subsequent stability analysis of general models, the author considers in detail several crucial components of predator-prey models: the prey's rate of increase as a function of density, non-random search, mutual interference, and the predator's rate of increase as a function of predator survival and fecundity. Drawing on the correspondence between the models and field and laboratory data, Dr. Hassell then discusses the practical implications for biological pest control and suggests how such models may help to formulate a theoretical basis for biological control practices.


A debate about whether all children are entitled to an "equal" or an "adequate" education has been waged at the forefront of school finance policy for decades. In an era of budget deficits and harsh cuts in public education, I submit that it is time to move on. Equality of educational opportunity has been thought to require equal spending per pupil or spending adjusted to the needs of differently situated children. Adequacy has been understood to require a level of spending sufficient to satisfy some absolute, rather than relative, educational threshold. In practice, however, many courts interpreting their states' constitutional obligations have fused the equality and adequacy theories. Certain federal laws express principles of both doctrines. And gradually, more advocates and scholars have come to endorse hybrid equality-adequacy approaches. Still, the debate persists over seemingly intractable conceptual precepts and their political and legal ramifications.Tracking the philosophical origins and evolution of equality and adequacy as legal doctrines, I explain the significance of their points of convergence and argue that the few points of divergence are untenable in practice. Equality of educational opportunity should not be interpreted as pursuing equal chances for educational achievement for all children, because that ideal is infeasible. Nor should educational adequacy be interpreted as completely indifferent to objectionable inequalities that can be feasibly curtailed. Properly conceived, equality and adequacy are not merely congruent but reciprocal. That is, children are owed an education that is adequately equal and equally adequate.


Issues of wealth and poverty in the Third Gospel and Acts have attracted a great deal of scholarly interest since the rise of redaction criticism. This essay provides a survey of the most important readings of these issues from the mid 1960s to the present. Readings from a variety of critical perspectives (e.g. redaction, social-scientific, literary, and reader response) are considered. The authors examined in detail are D. Sweetland, D. Kraybill, L.T. Johnson, J. York, M. Prior, R.J. Cassidy, H.-J. Degenhardt, W. Schmithals, W. Stege mann, D.P. Seccombe, T.E. Schmidt, J. Koenig, K.-J. Kim, and S. Garrett.


Abstract– In this investigation, characteristics of vertical drops with subcritical flow at the upstream channel and sloping aprons at the downstream channel have been studied experimentally. Flow characteristics such as pool depth, downstream depth, and energy loss have been measured. Two physical models of 0.41 and 0.21 m height were built and the inverse slope was set at 5°, 10° and 15° degrees. Experimental data were compared with the previous investigators' results for horizontal downstream channels. A method is presented to estimate flow characteristics. It was shown that the values of the relative pool depth for sloping aprons are larger than those with a horizontal downstream channel. It was found that the values of the relative downstream depth for sloping aprons are slightly larger than those with a horizontal downstream channel. Experimental results show that the relative energy loss increases by increasing the angle of the invert and the maximum increase is for the 5° degree slope. Predictions for the pool and downstream depths agree with the experimental data, but the differences between the predictions and the experimental results of the relative energy loss are significant.


A dynamic and large‐scale network simulator was developed to simulate the rate‐controlled immiscible displacement of two fluids in long, undisturbed soil columns. The simulator is a fast method for upscaling the hydraulic properties of heterogeneous soils and is an alternative to the conventional method where a system of partial differential equations is solved in a numerical grid. The pore space is regarded as a cubic network. Each node represents a pore network, the permeability of which is chosen randomly from a density distribution function. The macroheterogeneity of the large‐scale network is quantified by the width of the node permeability distribution. The capillary pressure and relative permeability functions are obtained from either the quasistatic simulation of the displacement of water by oil in a pore‐and‐throat network or the inverse modeling of soil column flow tests by using the approximate multiflowpath model (MFPM). At each time step, the fluid saturation and pressure of each node are calculated, formulating mass balances at each node, accounting for capillary, viscous and gravity forces, solving the system of coupled and linear equations, calculating the instantaneous flow rates, and updating the local fluid saturations. The inlet pressure is adjusted to keep the total flow rate of injected fluid constant. Sensitivity analysis revealed that the transient responses of the axial distribution of fluid saturation, total pressure drop across the network, and sample averaged (upscaled) relative permeability functions depend on the variability of permeability distribution, spatial correlations of permeability field, capillary number, and viscosity ratio. When the microheterogeneity at the pore network scale of nodes strengthens, the flow of oil through preferential pathways is enhanced, and the upscaled water and oil relative permeabilities change drastically.


Evidence-based wound care knowledge comprises both the knowledge and skills gained from clinical experience, and the attitudes and values that individuals bring to the practice. This article focuses on the practical implementation of the Wound Bed Preparation Guideline that was launched at the Wounds International Conference in February 2011, Cape Town. This guideline is supported and endorsed by the Wound Healing Association of Southern Africa (WHASA), UBUNTU Wound Healing, the World Alliance for Wound and Lymphedema Care (WAWLC), Wounds International, and the World Union of Wound Healing Societies (WUWHS).


The air leakage characteristics of eight methods of sealing, or otherwise treating, the rough openings (R/O) found around window and door frames were evaluated under laboratory conditions. The eight methods studied were no treatment (empty), conventional (fiber glass), densely packed, fiber glass, backer rod, casing tape, poly-return, poly-wrap, and foamed-in-place urethane. The untreated R/O (Method 1) displayed the greatest leakage while the second largest occurred using the conventional practice of packing fiber glass into the R/O space (Method 2). In contrast, Methods 5, 6, 7 and 8 were able to reduce R/O leakage to negligible levels. To relate these results to the overall building leakage, an estimate was made of the percentage of the total building leakage which would occur through the R/Os in a typical 97 m{sup 2} (1,040 ft{sup 2}) bungalow. Two levels of total house airtightness were assumed: 1.5 air changes per hour at 50 Pa (ac/h{sub 50}) representing tight construction and 5.0 ac/h{sub 50} (representing loose construction). For the tight house with Method 1 (no treatment), the R/O leakage accounted for 39% of the total house leakage; with Method 2 (conventional), this figure dropped to 14%. With each of Methods 5 to 8, the contribution ofmore » R/O leakage to total house leakage was less than 1%. For the loose house and Method 1, the R/O leakage was 12% of the total; with Method 2, it dropped to 4% and with Methods 4 to 8, it was less than 1%. The incremental builder cost of each technique (i.e., exclusive of mark-up for overhead, profit, etc.) was estimated assuming Method 2 as conventional practice with a base cost of zero. Incremental costs ranged from a low of $18 per house for the urethane approach (Method 8) to $84 per house for the poly-wrap technique (Method 7).« less


PERSPECTIVES ON PRO-REVIVALISM: THE CHRISTIAN HISTORY AND THE GREAT AWAKENING Lisa Thurston Brown Department of History Master of Arts The Christian History was a pro-revivalist magazine printed in Boston from 17431745 during what is known as the Great Awakening. It contained accounts of revivalism written by pro-revivalist ministers from throughout the American colonies, England and Scotland. These ministers believed that the Holy Spirit was being poured out upon the land in a shower of grace, causing unprecedented numbers of people to convert to Christ. In The Christian History, pro-revivalist ministers expressed their support for the revivals and shared their experiences. Thus the magazine has typically been viewed as religious propaganda advocating a single, polemical viewpoint. However, in spite of its prorevival stance, The Christian History contains a spectrum of ideas pertaining to theology, religious history and the controversial issues that surfaced during the Awakening. For instance, although revival supporters sought to defend the Awakening as an authentic outpouring of God's grace, they did not all agree on how to handle the revivals. When it came to the "errors of doctrine" and "disorders of practice" that surfaced during the Awakening—things like Antinomianism, bodily manifestations and itinerancy— Christian History ministers responded differently. Though they sought to form a more uniform policy regarding these issues and others in a pro-revival ministerial meeting, in the end their opinions and reactions were shaped by their personal experiences with the revivals. In spite of their differing views regarding errors and disorders, Christian History ministers evaluated and contextualized the revivals similarly. In their revival narratives they frequently drew upon the Bible to explain and support their pro-revival stance. Some also used historical precedents as tropes for demonstrating that aspects of revivalism were perhaps unusual, but not thoroughly new. Most, however, sought to legitimize the revivals by describing their positive social qualities. For example, they wrote how tavern-going and neighborly contentions decreased, whereas occasions for religious worship multiplied. These "good fruits" of revivalism, asserted Christian History contributors, showed that the Awakening had changed the "face" of society for the better and was therefore an authentic outpouring of God's grace. .


Livestock grazing in riparian areas is an important management issue on both private and public lands. A study was initiated in northeastern Oregon to evaluate the economic and ecological impacts of different cattle management practices on riparian areas. The effect of off-stream water and salt on livestock distribution and subsequent impact on riparian use, water quality, and livestock production was evaluated. A multi-period bioeconomic linear programming model is used to evaluate the long-term economic feasibility of this management practice with a riparian utilization restriction of 35% for a 300 cow-calf operation. The utilization restriction resulted in economically optimal herd sizes 10% smaller than the baseline herd size. With the management practice, cattle were distributed more evenly, consumed more upland forage before maximum riparian utilization was reached, and gained more weight. The economic impacts of these outcomes were increased with expected annual net returns to the ranch for the project ranging between $4,500 and $11,000 depending on cattle prices and precipitation levels.


Rejex-it® bird repellents are used to repel birds and reduce bird predation. Rejex-it® represents a long-needed, logical alternative to inhumane bird control methods such as poisoning and shooting. Its effectiveness as a nuisance bird repellant is based on a common, naturally-occurring, com lly recognized as safe" food and ponent of food that has been designated by the FDA as a "genera fragrance additive. Methyl Anthranilate (MA), the active ingredient in Rejex-it® Bird Repellents, acts as a sensory repellent by irritating the bird's taste buds, skin, and trigeminal chemoreceptors in the beaks, gizzards, eyes, and mucous membranes. Irritation occurs as a result of exposure to or ingestion of the formulation similar to how people react to chili pepper extract. Stimulation of the trigeminal chemoreceptors leads to a wide variety of protective, but not adverse, physiological reflexes. These reflexes are an important part of the common chemical sense to prevent exposure to irritants (Parker 1912, Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences 15: 221-224). As a result, birds modify their behavior by avoiding places where they have been exposed to this stimulus. Significantly, they cannot habituate to these reflexes. Indeed, they remember and avoid the geographic location where this experience took place. However, because the impact on the olfactory nerves (odor) is minimal, subsequent visits by other, more welcomed birds are possible. So far, no bird species is to be unaffected by Rejex-it®. Furthermore, birds do not habituate to this action. Rather, they become more sensitized with repeated exposure. The exposure to the birds can be either in the form of a dry fog to their eyes and mucous membranes or through the ingestion of treated food. Food sources treated with Rejex-it® in sufficient quantities are unpalatable to all species of birds. Even if they swallow larger quantities, the birds will unwillingly regurgitate the treated food and thus will not gain any energy benefit and will look elsewhere for other sources of nourishment.


To investigate the effect of gas-phase chemical schemes and aerosol mechanisms on the reconstruction of the concentrations and optical properties of aerosols in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and adjacent regions, two simulation experiments using the mesoscale Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) meteorological model with the chemistry module (WRF-Chem) were performed in 2013. The RADM2 gas-phase chemical mechanism and the MADE/SORGAM aerosol scheme were selected in the first configuration, whereas the CBMZ gas and MOSAIC aerosol reaction schemes were included in the second simulation. The comparison demonstrated that chemical mechanisms play a key role in affecting the evolution of gas-phase precursors and aerosol processes. Specifically, compared with RADM2, CBMZ revealed lower O3 and higher NO2 surface concentrations, because of more efficient O3-NO titration, and higher HNO3 concentrations owing to more effective NO2 + OH reaction. SO2 could easily form particulate sulfate through cloud oxidation in RADM2. The MADE/SORGAM module presented higher surface PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations than did the MOSAIC module over the TP and in surrounding regions, because of the difference in aerosol compounds and the distribution of computed aerosol concentrations between modes and bins. The aerosol optical depth at 550 nm indicated a potential correlation with surface secondary inorganic aerosols concentrations. Higher surface sulfate and nitrate concentrations appeared to determine higher AOD values in MADE/SORGAM than in MOSAIC. Finally, the comparison with observations suggested that, the simulation performed using the CBMZ gas-phase chemical mechanism and MOSAIC aerosol module could be suitable for the efficient reconstruction of aerosols and their optical depth over the TP.


Moscow's ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran underwent dramatic fluctuations following Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's triumphant return to Tehran in 1979. After a prolonged implosion, they fitfully expanded, shaped not only by the rush of current events but by centuries of ingrained practices and prejudices. By summer 2006, as Iran forged ahead with its nuclear program and Shia-based forces flexed their muscles across the Middle East, Russian-Iranian relations again appeared to be on the threshold of an entirely new dynamic. Drawing on firsthand interviews as well as primary and secondary sources, John Parker delineates Moscow's motives and approaches to dealing with the resurgent Tehran, weaving into the public record the recollections and analyses of Russian politicians, diplomats, and experts who dealt directly with Iran both under the Pahlavi monarchy and after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Parker also emphasizes other touchstones of relations between the two countries, including their complex dealings in 1992 immediately after the Soviet Union's collapse and when they backed opposing sides in the civil war in Tajikistan yet nourished mutual interests on other issues. The depth of his analysis sheds light on the more recent repercussions of the September 11 terrorist attacks for Afghanistan and Iraq, for the Middle East as a whole, and for Iran's accelerating nuclear program.


Academics and business professionals are currently showing a significant interest in understanding the management of knowledge and the roles to be played therein by information and communication technology (ICT). This paper takes a closer look at one of the primary issues raised when supporting the management of knowledge: how to understand the role of knowledge classification and codification as means for further organizational learning and innovation. Two manufacturing cases are analysed using particular perspectives from current theories on classification, namely the management of knowledge and organizational innovation. It is concluded that a more complex understanding of the interplay between cognitive and community models for knowledge management as informed by research on the social processes of classification can inform our understanding of both the role of classification of knowledge for organizational innovation and the viability of providing ICT support based on codified knowledge.


The question of the temporal effect of a finding that a statute is unconstitutional has arisen in a number of common law jurisdictions. In any legal system that allows its superior courts to strike down legislation, certain practical problems will inevitably emerge. This article explains this aspect of Irish constitutional interpretation and compares the manner in which these difficulties have been addressed under the Canadian and Irish constitutions. It notes that the Supreme Court of Canada was required to address these practical problems directly at an early stage and thus developed a more doctrinally coherent approach to findings of constitutional invalidity than the Irish Supreme Court. The article goes on to analyze a recent decision of the Irish Supreme Court that has highlighted the difficulties with the approach adopted in that legal system and concludes with some reflections on the relative merits of the Canadian approach to findings of invalidity.


Background. Our objective was to estimate the lifetime prevalence of psychopathology in a sample of youth with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) through young adulthood using contemporaneous diagnostic and analytic techniques. Method. We conducted a case-control, 10-year prospective study of ADHD youth. At baseline, we assessed consecutively referred male, Caucasian children with (n=140) and without (n=120) DSM-III-R ADHD, aged 6–18 years, ascertained from psychiatric and pediatric sources to allow for generalizability of results. At the 10-year follow-up, 112 (80%) and 105 (88%) of the ADHD and control children, respectively, were reassessed (mean age 22 years). We created the following categories of psychiatric disorders: Major Psychopathology (mood disorders and psychosis), Anxiety Disorders, Antisocial Disorders (conduct, oppositional-defiant, and antisocial personality disorder), Developmental Disorders (elimination, language, and tics disorder), and Substance Dependence Disorders (alcohol, drug, and nicotine dependence), as measured by blinded structured diagnostic interview. Results. The lifetime prevalence for all categories of psychopathology were significantly greater in ADHD young adults compared to controls, with hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals of 6·1 (3·5–10·7), 2·2 (1·5–3·2), 5·9 (3·9–8·8), 2·5 (1·7–3·6), and 2·0 (1·3–3·0), respectively, for the categories described above. Conclusions. By their young adult years, ADHD youth were at high risk for a wide range of adverse psychiatric outcomes including markedly elevated rates of antisocial, addictive, mood and anxiety disorders. These prospective findings provide further evidence for the high morbidity associated with ADHD across the life-cycle and stress the importance of early recognition of this disorder for prevention and intervention strategies.


In this paper we present a novel model for governing societies based on modern information technology, which neither relies on manual bureaucratic labour, nor depends on process-based e-government services. We analyse the flaws of the latter and argue that e- government is not feasible for sustainable governance due to permanently changing regulation; instead we propose a model in which people can govern themselves in a self-service manner by relying on constellations of data stored in a network of governmental databases to which citizens and government agents have read- and write access under conditions defined by then- valid regulation.


Rudy Koshar constructs a powerful framework in which to examine the subject of German collective memory, which for more than a half century has been shaped by the experience of Nazism, World War II, and the Holocaust. Finding the assumptions of many writers and scholars shortsighted, Koshar surveys the evidence of postwar German memory in the context of previous traditions. "From Monuments to Traces" follows the evolution of German 'memory landscapes' all the way from national unification in 1870-71 through the world wars and political division to reunification in 1990. The memory landscapes of any society may incorporate monuments, historical buildings, memorials and cemeteries, battlefields, streets, or natural environments that foster shared memories of important events or personalities. They may also be designed to divert public attention from embarrassing or traumatic histories. Koshar argues that in Germany, memory landscapes have taken shape according to four separate paradigms - the national monument, the ruin, the reconstruction, and the trace - which he analyzes in relation to the changing political agendas that have guided them over time. Despite the massive ruptures of Germany's history, we see that significant continuities have served to counterbalance the traumas of the German past.


The development of cost-effective proton-conducting materials with high conductivity and water stability is currently of great interest in fuel-cell technology. By using a simple aqueous solution method, a water stable 3D Eu-MOF material, [Me2NH2][Eu(ox)2(H2O)]·3H2O (1), can be easily synthesized from oxalic acid (H2ox) and Eu(NO3)3·6H2O on a large scale. 1 possesses a dia net topology and an extensive hydrogen-bonded network consisting of dimethyl ammonium and water molecules in 1D channels. 1 shows a high proton conductivity of 2.73 × 10−3 S cm−1 at 55 °C and 95% relative humidity, and it is used as a sensitive luminescent sensor for Cu2+ ions in aqueous solutions.


Watson–Crick base pairs are crucial in the formation of double-helical deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and in the storage of genetic information. They comprise two of the most common geometries involving the pairing of deoxyadenosine (dA) with deoxythymidine (dT) and deoxyguanosine (dG) with deoxycytidine (dC) through the formation of two and three hydrogen bonds, respectively. The complementarity of the antiparallel strands forming a double helix is crucial in DNA replication since the complementary strand is synthesised by adding the Watson–Crick complementary bases of the parent strand. The hybridisation of DNA or DNA–RNA (ribonucleic acid) strands is widely used in biotechnology and molecular biology for multiple purposes. The stability of a nucleic acid helix depends on its sequence, conformation, hydration and solution conditions, and it is measured by temperature-dependent techniques, such as UV (ultraviolet) melting. Examples of oligonucleotide helices with chemical modifications are provided to indicate how these modifications affect the overall stability of a DNA molecule.

Key Concepts:

Base pairs are two nucleotide bases interacting via hydrogen bonding.

Bulge is a nonpaired nucleotide base in a double-stranded nucleic acid.

Hybridisation is a process where two complementary strands interact via base pairing.

Nucleic acid conformation is the three-dimensional structural arrangement of a double-helical nucleic acid.

Nucleic acid modification is the incorporation, removal or substitution of a chemical group on the natural occurring nucleic acids.

Melting curves are the optical changes of a nucleic acid or protein-like molecules as a function of temperature.

Stability of nucleic acids is the resistance of nucleic acid duplex to undergo unfolding, proportional to the magnitude of ΔG.

Thermal stability is the ability of a nucleic acid duplex to resist temperature denaturation.

Unfolding thermodynamic profile is the free energy (ΔG∘), enthalpy (ΔH) and entropy (ΔS) parameters associated with the unfolding of a nucleic acid or protein molecule.

Cooperativity refers to the number of base pairs that are broken simultaneously in the unfolding of a nucleic acid or protein.

Keywords:

Watson–Crick base pairs;
hybridisation;
DNA melting curves;
UV spectroscopy;
circular dichroism spectroscopy;
nucleic acid conformation;
unfolding thermodynamic profiles;
transition temperature (Tm);
free energy and stability


The performance of global governance regimes across issue areas is increasingly beset by what scholars have termed the "governance dilemma" (Keohane 2001). As noted in Gridlock (Hale, Held and Young 2013), second-order trends, brought on by deepening global interdependence are combining to undermine international cooperation where it is needed most. The governance dilemma is particularly acute in a human rights domain characterized more by distributive costs than easily resolved cooperation problems. Drawing on the introduction to this book, the chapter surveys the current state of human rights scholarship and practice through an exploration of four potential pathways "through" or even "beyond" gridlock in the human rights domain, with particular attention to: (1) autonomous and adaptive institutions, and (2) plurality and diversity of actors and agencies around common goals/norms. In so doing, it highlights how human rights governance is emblematic of certain exit options from gridlock, especially mobilization of willing and able transgovernmental and transnational networks of non-state actors. This includes both civil society actors, as well as networks of national human rights institutions (NHRIs) and other official regulatory bodies, which have received growing attention of late. The chapter begins with an outline of governance arrangements in the human rights domain, including a survey of the many challenges human rights governance confronts. It then evaluates the extent to which the pathways out of gridlock identified in this project are evident in human rights governance and with what effect. The chapter concludes by reflecting on what the analysis means for advancing human rights policy objectives and overcoming multilateral gridlock more generally.


Itroduction : Cervical cancer is still ranked in the first place of those diseases most commonly developing in Indonesian women. It is predicted that 41 new cases occur every day, and around 20 people every day pass away of it. Cervical cancer keeps increasing because the coverage of screening through pap smear examination is low. Objective : This research aims at discovering the correlation between medical personnel's attitude and practice of pap smear examination at Rumah Sakit Islam Sultan Agung (RISA) Semarang. Methods : The study is observational research using cross sectional design with a sample of 38 medical personnel taken randomly from 273 personnel as its population in RISA Semarang. The data are taken using questionnaire and interview with respondents, and the obtained data are analyzed using univariate and bivariate tests, using chi-square test, at a significance level < 0.05. Result : the percentage of medical personnel having regular pap smear practice is higher in medical personnel with good attitude (66.7%) compared to those with poor attitude (17.6%). The data analysis using Chi Square statistic test indicates a significant difference, p = 0.003. Conclusion : the results of this reseach show that pap smear is more commonly done by those medical personnel with good attitude than those with poor attitude.


INTRODUCTION For years, research studies and journal articles have emphasized the importance of communication skills. Today these communication skills have become that much more essential in obtaining employment and advancing in a business career. What business communication skills are needed by university business graduates? There has been an abundance of literature in recent years concerning needed business communication skills and abilities. What business communication competencies do human resource managers believe are most important? Are colleges and universities providing graduates with the needed business communication competencies required in the business world? OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY Following are the main objectives of this study. 1. To determine human resource managers' perceived value of business communication skills. 2. To determine the rank order of the selected business communication competencies by human resource managers. PROBLEM STATEMENT The problem of this study was to determine which business communication competencies human resource managers perceive as most essential. The business communication competencies studied include: 1. writing and speaking competencies 2. interpersonal/collaborative competencies and 3. global communication competencies. METHODOLOGY Communication skills used for this study were derived from the following sources: various research studies identifying critical management skills, a locally developed College of Business and Technology advisory group listing of skills and knowledge essential for a business major, and from various journals and business communication textbooks. After the business communication skills were identified, a questionnaire was developed and mailed to human resource managers of the 200 largest companies (based on revenue) in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. The following scale was used by human resource managers to evaluate each competency: 4=Extremely Essential, 3=Essential, 2=Needed, but can be learned on the job, 1 =Not Essential. RELATED LITERATURE The importance of communication skills in business has been recognized for years. The following studies are examples of the importance placed on communication skills in today's business world. Curtis, Stephens, and Winsor sent a questionnaire to 1000 personnel managers from a list of members of The American Society of Personnel Administrators. Written and oral communications were the skills that were most useful in helping graduating college students obtain employment. "Clearly, personnel directors are calling for graduates with strong oral and written communication skills" (p. 13). As reported by Gustafson, Johnson, and Hovey a survey was conducted by West Georgia College to determine the skill, abilities, knowledge, and traits important for business students to obtain and advance in employment. BBA and MBA alumni, business leaders, and current senior BBAs were surveyed. "All groups surveyed placed communication skills (writing and speaking) as the two most important general skills" (p. 23). According to Murphy and Hildebrand, many surveys and articles "have confirmed the idea that effective communication is essential for success and promotion in business" (p. 8). When executive, managers and business graduates were asked "What has been the most valuable subject you studied in college?" "Business communication, business letter and report writing, and written and oral expression were consistently among the top three responses ... and executives often credit good communication skills for their advancement" (p. 8). Lesikar emphasizes the importance of communication skills in the present business environment indicating that "business's need for employees with good communication skills is all too often not fulfilled. Most employees, even the college trained, do not communicate well" (p. …


Mechanizing formal systems, given via axioms and inference rules, together with proofs about them plays an important role in establishing trust in formal developments. Over the past decade, the POPLMark challenge popularized the use of proof assistants in mechanizing the metatheory of programming languages. Focusing on the the meta-theory of System F with subtyping, it allowed the programming languages community to survey existing techniques to represent and reason about syntactic structures with binders and promote the use of proof assistants. Today, mechanizing proofs is a stable fixture in the daily life of programming languages researchers. As a follow-up to the POPLMark Challenge, we propose a new collection of benchmarks that use proofs by logical relations. Such proofs are now used to attack problems in the theory of complex languages models, with applications to issues in equivalence of programs, compiler correctness, representation independence and even more intensional properties such as non-interference, differential privacy and secure multi-language inter-operability. Yet, they remain challenging to mechanize. In this talk, we focus on one particular challenge problem, namely strong normalization of a simply-typed lambda-calculus with a proof by Kripke-style logical relations. We will advocate a modern view of this well-understood problem by formulating our logical relation on well-typed terms. Using this case study, we share some of the lessons learned tackling this challenge problem in Beluga, a proof environment that supports higher-order abstract syntax encodings, first-class context and first-class substitutions. We also discuss and highlight similarities, strategies, and limitations in other proof assistants when tackling this challenge problem. We hope others will be motivated to submit solutions! The goal of this talk is to engage the community in discussions on what support in proof environments is needed to truly bring mechanized metatheory to the masses.


In this article, we demonstrate the application of digital image correlation (DIC) in evaluating the strains and Poisson ratio of a range of soft materials in terms of their spatial and temporal resolutions. Homogeneous samples of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer were used as control substance and were measured to have Poisson ratios of 0.498, 0.503, 0.500, and 0.499, in agreement with the reported incompressible value of 0.50. Two carbon nanotube (CNT) elastomer composites of identical composition, but one of a homogeneous and the other of a highly inhomogeneous CNT distribution, were used to determine the spatial resolution with good results. The relaxation of a polydomain liquid crystal elastomer (3D-LCE), a cholesteric liquid crystal elastomer (CLCE), and a polyacrylamide gel (PAAm) in water, were used to determine the temporal resolution of the technique. A video at 25 fps was used to evaluate the time dependence of the 3D-LCE over which time an increase in the Poisson ratio was observed. The 3D-LCE relaxes from its initial state at 0.42 to 0.50, converging towards incompressibility at equilibrium. The CLCE was found to have a similar initial value of 0.44 but converged to ∼0.60, a consequence of its anisotropic elastic nature. PAAm gel relaxation in water was studied over a time period of 7 hours with digital images taken periodically every minute. Its Poisson ratio was found to decrease smoothly from 0.50 to 0.26, with an accompanying reduction in force. The equilibrium result compares well to the 0.25 value predicted by a theory of the strain-induced swelling of dilute gels. In summary, we find DIC to be a powerful and easy to implement method of accurately measuring local strains in a range of soft materials.


We show, through simulations of a variety of one- and two-dimensional solid-on-solid models, that nonequilibrium surface diffusion processes in the presence of a deposition flux are generically characterized by a nonvanishing inclination-dependent mass current along the surface. The current stabilizes the surface, leading to Edwards-Wilkinson scaling for the surface fluctuations, if it is a decreasing function of inclination, but induces a growth instability otherwise. Both types of behavior generally occur for the same system at different surface orientations.


Krista Andreson: Art and Religion Keywords: sacral art; art and religion; "art as religion" Summary: On October 10th and 11th, the Autumn School "Art and Religion" took place in the Department of Art History at the University of Tartu, in the course of which, art historians, theologians and philosophers spoke about the relations between art and religion, as well as their fields of meaning from the Early Christian period to the present day. The focus of the first day, with the subtitle of "Images and the Church", was on sacral art. The presentations dealt with the "picture question" in the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity, the various functions and possibilities for the interpretation of the works of art in the service of  medieval Catholicism and post-Reformation Lutheranism, as well as the contacts between ritual and religion in the Early Modern period, based on the example of 17th-century portraiture. On the second day of the Autumn School, with the subtitle "Art and/as Religion", the focus was on religious themes in connection with contemporary "autonomous" art. The opposite ends of the axis were examined – the alienation between art and religion, as well as the reinterpretation of the relationship on new bases, including the impact of different religions of the 20th century and the various forms of expressing religiosity on the art world. The presentations showed that Christian art and religious themes have not disappeared, however a significant change has generally occurred in the bases of this art and within the framework of certain works. As one of the main topics of the second day, the trends that have developed inside and adjacent to "mainstream" art emerged. These are on the one hand characterised by the emergence of the artist's "me" – art has become the new religion and the artist has become God. Thus, along with the contrasting, one can also notice a certain analogy, including between the operational mechanisms of art and religion. However, these trends are often marked with the impact of modern "substitute" religions or new forms of religion, including various "secret sciences" with a spiritual background. CV: Krista Andreson is a research fellow in the Department of Art History at the University of Tartu. She has studied in Germany at the University of Kiel, as well as held shorter academic residencies in Leipzig and Greifswald. From 2003 to 2010, Andreson was a research fellow at the Niguliste Museum (branch of the Art Museum of Estonia). Her main area of research is medieval ecclesiastical art and iconography and she has published several research papers on the medieval wooden sculptures and altarpieces in the Baltic Sea Region. The topic of Krista Andreson's doctoral thesis is "The Relations between Art and Culture in Old Livonia Based on the Example of Ecclesiastical Art: Wooden ScuSculptures from the 13th Century to the First Half of the 15th Century".


New approaches towards high reliable thermal stable ohmic and Schottky contacts for GaN/AlGaN-HFETs have been developed and implemented in device structures. The contact technology has been systematically optimized towards i) good electrical properties, ii) superior contact morphology and contour definition and Hi) high reliability and thermal stability. HFETs employing source/drain contacts based on WSiN diffusion barriers sandwiched between an Ti/Al/Ti/Au internal layer system and an overlayer metal as well as WSiN/Au and Ir/Au gate contacts have demonstrated long term stability at 400°C, Even after temperature storage tests at 500°C no significant device degradation could be detected. Ir/Au Schottky gates have found to be stable at the rather high level of Schottky barrier height of about 1.1 eV resulting in dramatically reduced leakage currents as compared to standard Pt/Ti/Au gate contacts to GaN-HFETs.


Context. Short duration gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) are thought to be related to the violent merger of compact objects, such as neutron stars or black holes, which makes them promising sources of gravitational waves. The detection of a kilonova-like signature associated to the Swift-detected GRB 130603B has suggested that this event is the result of a compact object merger. Aims. Our knowledge on SGRB has been, until now, mostly based on the absence of supernova signatures and the analysis of the host galaxies to which they cannot always be securely associated. Further progress has been significantly hampered by the faintness and rapid fading of their optical counterparts (afterglows), which has so far precluded spectroscopy of such events. Afterglow spectroscopy is the key tool to firmly determine the distance at which the burst was produced, crucial to understand its physics, and study its local environment. Methods. Here we present the first spectra of a prototypical SGRB afterglow in which both absorption and emission features are clearly detected. Together with multi-wavelength photometry we study the host and environment of GRB 130603B. Results. From these spectra we determine the redshift of the burst to be z = 0.3565 +/- 0.0002, measure rich dynamics both in absorption and emission, and a substantial line of sight extinction of A(V) = 0.86 +/- 0.15 mag. The GRB was located at the edge of a disrupted arm of a moderately star forming galaxy with near-solar metallicity. Unlike for most long GRBs (LGRBs), N-HX/A(V) is consistent with the Galactic ratio, indicating that the explosion site differs from those found in LGRBs. Conclusions. The merger is not associated with the most star-forming region of the galaxy; however, it did occur in a dense region, implying a rapid merger or a low natal kick velocity for the compact object binary.


We analyze the relationship between greater bank competition and the screening of potential borrowers. Using a large sample of Chinese private firms and China's entry into the WTO as a natural experiment, we find the following. First, the sensitivity of bank credit to prior borrowing-firm performance increases after China's WTO entry. This sensitivity increase is greater in more bank-dependent industries and smaller in Chinese regions with greater financial sector development. Second, the increase in the sensitivity of bank credit to firm performance is much greater for state-owned firms compared to private firms. Third, the effect of bank credit on subsequent firm productivity and performance is greater for loans given after China's WTO entry compared to those given prior to WTO entry. Overall, the results of our empirical analysis suggest that the stringency of bank screening of borrowers in China increased with greater banking sector competition.


This article examines competing and converging discourses on the value of labor in rural Kyrgyzstan. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2006 and 2010, I use case studies of a woman pastoralist, an agricultural entrepreneur, and a Muslim cleric to demonstrate the competing frames of valuation that current work practices are oriented towards. I show how these frames of valuation are situated in the complex history of work in postsocialist Central Asia. The article demonstrates that formally distinct and conflicting ideologies such as socialist and capitalist ideas of labor, concepts of service to kin, and Islamic practice all converge in their emphasis on the moral value of hard work. I show that the main distinction made about different forms and evaluations of work is the kind of collectivity that the labor contributes to. These distinctions allow a greater understanding of the work choices and judgments Kyrgyzstani citizens make, as well as revealing work as an important nexus of personhood. In English, extended summary in Russian .


The federal government along with many state and local governments, has gained painful, firsthand knowledge about how major disasters, such as Katrina or Sandy, can envelop and cripple American cities. Disasters carve in stark relief the characteristics of urban areas that help them endure crisis or rebound quickly from disaster. They serve as a type of x-ray film illuminating a city's "broken bones" — the systems critical to its thriving, but which are missing or mired in dysfunction. Governments at all levels now face the daunting challenges of rebuilding and adapting cities to ensure that they are stronger than before.A common, fundamental question being asked is: How do we develop flexible communities that can withstand disaster but also adapt to the myriad challenges posed by natural hazards, economic crises, dramatic population shifts, and climate change? We suggest that governments develop a City Resilience Index to measure cities' comparative resiliency. This policy tool would employ quantitative metrics that provide critical data to governments, allowing them to identify current problems, track progress, and create more refined incentives for cities to incorporate specific programs and policies into their current and future planning. It would also provide vital, comparative data for the formulation of targeted responses to catastrophic disasters. In this article, we examine two important components of virtually every city: (1) housing and (2) historic resources. We then identify factors that are critical to evaluating resilience in these areas and suggest how these factors might be measured in a City Resilience Index.