Last years the system of electronic education is more and more popular in Russia. It'sassociated with development of information-telecommunication technology, using of electronic sources economical effectiveness, possibility of sharing information for large auditory, with unlimited distances between source and recipients (students).
The distance education system in the Russian Federation has its own characteristics and is based on the fundamental principles. The characteristics may include, such as: flexibility, modularity, coverage, efficiency, adaptability and social equality. The principles on which is based distance learning on naked view are: the principle of adaptability, interactivity principle, the principle of flexibility, modularity principle and the principle of efficiency and objectivity of assessment of educational achievements of students.
On the territory of the Russian Federation and outside it quite an efficient system for remote business education (SDB). SDB is a joint project of the National business partnership "Alliance Media", International Institute of management LINK, created in 2000 with the support of the Moscow Government. Currently in sdbo more than 130,000 registered users of 3580 cities, and their number is increasing daily.
 According to data of Federal service of state statistics of the Russian Federation for the period from 2001 to 2014, it is safe to say that the demand for distance education in Russia over the years only grows.
Currently, the Russian system of distance education offers students a wide range of educational programs of different thematic content, timing, training, forms, and learning technologies. In the educational community realized that distance learning good prospects associated with the implementation of learning through life. Therefore, the distribution of training using distance learning technologies will also provide entrance into the international information and communication space.


PURPOSE
Diethyldithiocarbamate (DDTC) blocks cisplatin-induced toxicities in animal models without inhibiting antitumor effects. DDTC chemoprotection was tested in a randomized, multicenter, double-blind comparison versus placebo (PB) in patients with lung or ovarian cancer. Primary end points were nephrotoxicity, ototoxicity, neuropathy, and completion of therapy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Between April 1990 and February 1992, 221 patients were registered with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), or ovarian cancer. Cisplatin (100 mg/m2) and cyclophosphamide (in ovarian cancer) or etoposide (in lung cancer) were administered with either DDTC (1.6 g/m2 over 4 hours) or PB intravenously, every 4 weeks for a planned six cycles.

RESULTS
At an interim safety analysis, data were available for 195 patients from the combined lung and ovarian cancer populations (PB, 99 patients; DDTC, 96 patients). Withdrawal for chemotherapy-induced toxicities occurred in 9% of PB-treated patients and 23% of DDTC-treated patients (P = .008). The mean cisplatin delivered dose-intensity (DDI) was 23 mg/m2/wk on both arms. However, the mean cisplatin cumulative dose delivered (CDD) was 379 mg/m2 on the PB arm, compared with 247 mg/m2 on the DDTC arm (P = .0001). At the time of interim analysis, 28% of PB-treated patients had completed all six cycles of therapy, compared with only 6% of DDTC-treated patients (P < .001). Although, clinical hearing loss, neuropathy, emesis, and myelosuppression were equivalent in the two treatment arms, DDTC-treated patients had more nephrotoxicity as determined by changes in serum creatinine concentration. Toxicities related to DDTC infusion included transient hypertension, flushing, and hyperglycemia. DDTC did not compromise response rates in either tumor type.

CONCLUSION
This study did not demonstrate a significant chemoprotective effect against cisplatin-induced toxicities with the DDTC dose schedule tested. Patients who received DDTC received lower cumulative doses of cisplatin, but were more likely to be withdrawn from treatment early due to chemotherapy-related toxicities.


We start with a brief description of the Alpha Centauri system and its main characteristics. Afterwards, we carry out calculations of several habitability metrics, such as the Π biological productivity and photosynthesis rates, in the oceans of the hypothetical exoplanets orbiting around Alpha Centauri B. By including a function of the temperature in a photosynthetic model, we describe the behavior of the metrics mentioned above for organisms with prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells that could potentially live in these exoplanets.


In this work is presented a method that allows proper control of the nanoscale curvature of the external surface in multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), and shown its effect on the properties of Ni/MWCNT catalyst. After removal of residual nickel by treatment with HNO3 the external surface of parent CNT's was decorated with 15-17 nm nanoparticles of CaCO3 (25 wt.%) by carbonization of deposited Ca-nitrate. The followed partial catalytic aircombustion of CNT's at conversions 30-50% modified the morphology of their walls. After removal of CaCO3 catalyst by treatment of the CNT's surface with HNO3 the modified nanotubes were decorated with metallic nickel by sonochemical deposition. The partial combustion of carbon constituting the CNT walls catalyzed by CaCO3 nanoparticles converts their structure from parallel grapheme layers to aggregates formed by grapheme onions with diameter of 5-12 nm. The nickel nanoparticles were located exclusively at the onions tops due to increasing the energetic barrier for metal adatoms (clusters) surface diffusion. It decreased the Ni crystal size from 8 to 2 nm at similar loadings of 50-60 wt.% and increased the catalytic activity in hydrogenation of chloroacetophenone more than twice.


Do we court disaster by stretching the bounds of judicial authority to address problems of massive scale and complexity? Or does disaster lie in refusing to engage the jurisgenerative potential of courts in a domain of such vast significance? This Article examines global climate change adjudication to shed light on these questions, focusing particularly on cases that seek to invoke the norm articulation and enforcement functions of courts. The attempt to configure climate-related harms within such substantive frameworks as tort and constitutional law is fraught with analytical and practical difficulties. Yet the exercise, we argue, is essential. Against the backdrop of a potentially existential threat, judges redeem the very possibility of law when they forthrightly confront the merits of climate lawsuits. Conversely, when they use weak preliminary and procedural maneuvers to avoid such confrontation, judges reinforce a sense of law's disappearance into the maw of normative rupture.


Obama a Lefty, Not a Reformer The first serious negative biography of Senator Barack Obama casts the Democratic nominee as a fake reformer and a real liberal. The Case Against Barack Obama by National Review's David Freddoso, blasts Obama for failing to take on the Chicago machine, for listening to "radical advisors," and for backing "doctrinaire liberal" causes from teachers unions to abortion rights. It does not, however, compare him to Paris Hilton, or dwell at length on his religion or race - making the substance of The Case Against Barack Obama sound a bit unfamiliar amid a campaign cacophony of hyperbolic web ads, alleged race cards, and viral smears. Freddoso says John McCain's campaign and Republicans at large are making the wrong case against the Illinois senator. "I don't think you beat Obama by saying that he's Paris Hilton," said Freddoso, a reporter for the conservative magazine National Review, referring to McCain's latest advertising campaign. "The more important thing is really to look at is he who he says he is? Is he really this great reformer?" Freddoso's book, released today by the conservative publishing house Regnery and provided exclusively to Politico by the publisher, occupies a small island in the often-shrill sea of criticism of Obama. As a range of conservatives suggest that Obama is a closet radical, and as McCain's campaign aims to disqualify him from the White House on the grounds of his international fame, Freddoso makes a case that conservatives should look at the presumptive Democratic nominee's record. His thesis: "It's not that Obama is a bad person. It's just that he's like all the rest of them. Not a reformer. Not a Messiah. Just like all the rest of them in Washington. And just like all the other liberals too." Freddoso's is one of two new books harshly attacking Obama. The other, by Jerome Corsi, reportedly covers some of the same territory as the viral emails that have plagued the Democratic candidate, making much of his slender connections to Islam and his teenage drug use. Freddoso opts largely for a fact-based critique, and writes that the viral and overt smears have allowed Obama to evade substantive criticism. "Too many of those criticizing Obama have been content merely to slander him," he writes. False rumors about Obama's religion and ancestry have produced, Freddoso writes, "an intellectual laziness among the very people who should be carefully scrutinizing Obama." His book comes with Republican popularity at a historic low, amid widespread disenchantment with Republican ideals of limited government and hawkish foreign policy. Many - including, apparently, McCain's strategists - doubt a Republican can win a policy face-off. But as the real campaign hones in on the character of the candidates, Freddoso's book attempts to build an alternate case against Obama. Freddoso's argument begins in Chicago...Though Obama's first political steps were in Hyde Park's reformist politics, Freddoso focuses on the smooth accommodation he made to the machine...


The pFC plays a key role in flexible, context-specific decision making. One proposal [Machens, C. K., Romo, R., & Brody, C. D. Flexible control of mutual inhibition: A neural model of two-interval discrimination. Science, 307, 1121–1124, 2005] is that prefrontal cells may be dynamically organized into opponent coding circuits, with competitive groups of cells coding opposite behavioral decisions. Here, we show evidence for extensive, temporally evolving opponent organization in the monkey pFC during a cued target detection task. More than a half of all randomly selected cells discriminated stimulus category in this task. The largest set showed target-positive activity, with the strongest responses to the current target, intermediate activity for a nontarget that was a target on other trials, and lowest activity for nontargets never associated with the target category. Second most frequent was a reverse, antitarget pattern. In the ventrolateral frontal cortex, opponent organization was strongly established in phasic responses at stimulus onset; later, such activity was widely spread across dorsolateral and ventrolateral sites. Task-specific organization into opponent cell groups may be a general feature of prefrontal decision making.


In 1896, Robert Jones submitted the first publication reporting a radiograph of a bullet seen inside the human body. A 12-year-old boy shot himself in the left hand ''just above the left palmar arch''. The bullet, a lead pellet, could not be found on enlarging the wound and it was ''thought injudicious to prolong the search'' given the ''important structures in the vicinity''. Professor Oliver Lodge used Roentgen rays to image the wrist and the bullet was clearly identified at the base of the 3rd metacarpal. It was thought to be sitting in the articular surface between the base of the 3rd metacarpal and the capitate, or ''os magnum'' as it was referred to. At the time it was quoted as being the first radiograph, or photograph, of a bullet embedded in a wrist. Before the Roentgen ray, this child would have either required extensive exploration or the foreign body would have been left in situ. The chosen imaging technique and outcome would not differ between what was published in the Lancet on 22 February 1896 and what happens currently in 2014, 118 years on. The absorbed radiation dose of the Roentgen ray in this case in 1896 was 12,500–25,000 times greater than it is today.


Distributed sensing refers to the solution which enables the real-time, continuous measurement at multiple sensing locations (typically, more than 100 sensing nodes). Due to many of its unique advantages, such as small size, light weight, low cost, electromagnetic immunity, high-temperature survivability, and chemical stability, optical fibers have been well accepted as one of the most promising candidates as the platform for distributed sensing applications. Among different fiber distributed sensing methods, optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) represents a particular promising candidate. Based on the frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) method, OFDR method is capable of measuring the spatial-continuous weak Rayleigh scattering patterns along the entire length of the fiber under test, with high spatial resolution (~μm) level and moderate interrogation distance (~ km). To extract the structural information from the unmodified communication grade single mode fiber, large interrogation bandwidth is needed. However, this resource of optical bandwidth is very expensive. The external cavity laser is the state-of-the-art frequency sweep laser source for OFDR system, which costs at least $ 20,000. The cost has rendered the OFDR interrogation technique expensive and limits its applications. This dissertation focused on the improvement of OFDR interrogation system by reducing the total system cost. First, a series of sub-terahertz range fiber sensors, including Fabry-Perot cavity sensors and terahertz fiber grating sensors were symmetrically investigated. Fabricated using femtosecond laser micromachining techniques, these sensors allow the OFDR system for low bandwidth interrogation while maintaining the high accuracy measurement. In addition, a sensor fabrication method without stripping the fiber polymer buffer was developed. This is the first time that an in-line grating structure has been fabricated within the core of an optical fiber with an intact buffer coating, allowing the fiber to retain optimal mechanical properties. Second, a series of low cost sweep laser sources were developed as high-linear coherent sweep laser source, suitable for the sub-terahertz range fiber sensor interrogation. Based on current injection modulation methods, the semiconductor lasers were used as the sweep laser sources and the output wavelength was feedback controlled using optical phase locked loop techniques. The method of using VCSEL laser was also investigated to increase the sweep bandwidth. In addition, an all-digital optical phase locked loop system was implemented using the field programmable gate array, which increases the system design flexibility.


Development of the musculoskeletal system requires precise integration of muscles, tendons and bones. The molecular mechanisms involved in the differentiation of each of these tissues have been the focus of significant research; however, much less is known about how these tissues are integrated into a functional unit appropriate for each body position and role. Previous reports have demonstrated crucial roles for Hox genes in patterning the axial and limb skeleton. Loss of Hox11 paralogous gene function results in dramatic malformation of limb zeugopod skeletal elements, the radius/ulna and tibia/fibula, as well as transformation of the sacral region to a lumbar phenotype. Utilizing a Hoxa11eGFP knock-in allele, we show that Hox11 genes are expressed in the connective tissue fibroblasts of the outer perichondrium, tendons and muscle connective tissue of the zeugopod region throughout all stages of development. Hox11 genes are not expressed in differentiated cartilage or bone, or in vascular or muscle cells in these regions. Loss of Hox11 genes disrupts regional muscle and tendon patterning of the limb in addition to affecting skeletal patterning. The tendon and muscle defects in Hox11 mutants are independent of skeletal patterning events as disruption of tendon and muscle patterning is observed in Hox11 compound mutants that do not have a skeletal phenotype. Thus, Hox genes are not simply regulators of skeletal morphology as previously thought, but are key factors that regulate regional patterning and integration of the musculoskeletal system.


During the economic boom of the late nineties and early noughties, the last Labour government identified paid employment obtained from the competitive labour market as a realistic goal for people disabled by mental illness. Despite the effects of the financial crash of 2008 and the consequent recession, its successors have continued to argue this is the case.
One of the foundation stones of the policies they have used to pursue this goal is a biopsychosocial model of health, which sides with medicine in the longstanding dispute about the validity of the concept of mental illness. This model was used by the UK government to identify paid employment obtained from the competitive labour market as evidence of recovery in and recovery from mental illness. It did this by drawing on the belief recovery is an individual journey, the outcomes of disabled people's lives are determined by acts of agency; the language, but not the thinking, used by the disability movement to draw a distinction between disability and impairment; and research arguing people with a history of mental illness want to work and that they can obtain work from the competitive market when they are provided with appropriate support.
Another one is neoclassical economics: a static, deductive and utilitarian theory-driven economic model that has dominated UK policy since the late seventies. Like the government's preferred approach to recovery, neoclassical economics prioritises agency over structure. It argues labour market activity is a risk-driven endeavour and that economies have natural rates of unemployment, which can only be reduced by the state dismantling institutions preventing scarce resources such as labour from being distributed via price competition. As with medical thinking about mental distress, the neoclassical idealisation of the labour market has its critics. Amongst them are the old institutional economics, the new institutional economics, stratification economics and the new economic sociology. Different mixtures of empiricism, inductive thinking, theorising and attitudes towards neoclassicism ranging from relative enthusiasm to outright hostility, have for different reasons, led them to conclude to various degrees that institutions are necessary to impose order on uncertainty, unemployment can be a consequence of their influence and the state has to take this on board when taking policy initiatives.
The disputes within economics and between economics and sociology about the role of agency, structure and the state in the labour market raise doubts about the efficacy of the UK government's welfare to work policies regarding people disabled by mental illness. Doubts that have been echoed in comments made by the OECD in 2014, which voiced concern about the UK governments marginalisation of structural influences on the labour market. Surprisingly, the literature on disability and employability has not engaged with this dispute. This study starts to address this failure by drawing on the above models mental illness and the labour market activity to analyse how the UK government's welfare to work policies have affected demand from private sector employers in Scotland for labour from jobless people who have been disabled by mental illness. The analysis was conducted in two stages. First, it used evidence about the financial crisis of 2008 and statistics from the Westminster and Holyrood governments to paint a macroeconomic picture of the Scottish labour market for the period between 2008 and 2013. Then it conducted semi-structured interviews with thirty private sector employers about their understanding of mental illness and the labour market.
The initial part of the analysis argues rational price competition between private financial organisations caused the flow of money through western economies to dry up and that this caused the global financial crisis of 2008 and the deepest worldwide recession since the 1930's. Then it shows the UK government's adherence to neoclassicism led it to respond to these developments by directing government spending away from redistribution and service provision towards facilitating market competition and that the current tranche of welfare to work policies are part of this response. Finally, it uses figures from the Scottish and UK government for the period between March 2008 and March 2013 to look at the challenges facing these policies. Here it is shown that although the rise in unemployment has been relatively small given the depth of the recession. However it is also shown that there has been a sharp rise in underemployment, a significant drop in the number of vacancies and that private sector demand for labour will have to grow by as much as a third if the Scottish labour market is to successfully absorb those people with a history of mental illness the UK government hopes to move off disability benefits.
The second part found employers tend to link mental illness with strange and unpredictable behaviour; hold stigmatising beliefs about people with a history of these conditions; only hire them when information, which has been obtained independently of any vacancy, suggests they possess the technical and social skills necessary to fit in with how they do business; and they can discount the value of their labour. It then goes on to demonstrate five things. The first is that employers think workplace teams are different from the sum of their parts and that this has led them to believe the outcomes of recruitment decisions are always uncertain. The second is they protect themselves against uncertainty by taking a sequential approach to recruitment, one that involves ranking the sources of information they use to make recruitment decisions in terms of cost and reliability. In order of preference, these are personal experience, the experience of people they trust, recruitment agencies and open competition. The third is that their behaviour as they descend this hierarchy initially mirrors the thinking of the new economic sociology and stratification economists, then the new institutional economics until finally, it comes to bear its closest resemblance to neoclassical economics. The fourth is that employers descend the hierarchy for as long as their desire for profit outweighs their fear of harm.
The implications of this sequential multifaceted approach to recruitment for the ability of the UK governments welfare to work policies to improve the employability of people disabled by mental illness are identified by drawing on Zelizer's ideas about the role of connected worlds, circuits of commerce and media of exchange in economic activity. These ideas emerged in response to the under and over socialised thinking about the economy such as that offered by the new neoclassical economics, the new institutional economics and the new economic sociology. They form a line of thought that resonates strongly with the heterodox approach to economic analysis of the old institutional economics and stratification economics. They also provide a theoretical framework - that does not automatically blame the jobless for being unemployed - to hang the findings of this study about employers' multifaceted approach to recruitment; the co-existence of large numbers of vacancies and high rates of unemployment; the peripheral role played by human resources professionals in most recruitment decisions; the ignorance of employers about the UK government's welfare to work policies; and employers' hostility towards welfare to work contractors.
Taken together, the findings of this study indicate the people with a history of mental illness who will benefit most from the UK government's welfare to work policies will be those who inhabit the same social circles as private sector employers or those who have access to them. They also suggest these policies will be unlikely to increase the demand for their labour to anything like the degree necessary to absorb the numbers of them that will be moving off disability benefits. However, by using Zelizer's thinking about circuits of commerce and connected worlds to frame them, they offer hope welfare to work policies can be developed that recognise the importance of paid employment to recovery without conflating them. A set of policies that acknowledge the influence of impairments, social structures, job-related skills, and competition on employability, which accepts people diagnosed with mental illnesses will often need to be provided with rights and access to resources over and above those that support them to look for work.
Realising this possibility will require researchers in disability studies to engage with the economic and sociological debates about the labour market and build relationships with businesses, economists and other branches of sociology that are conducive to investigating how the economic and social lives of employers influence their targeting of pools of labour; clarifying when it is possible to include people with a history of mental illness in these pools, establishing how to go about doing this, determining when it is in their interests to do so and identifying what to do when it is not.


An extensive seismic database covering an area of 100,000 km2 (38,610 mi2) and 16 wells are integrated to define a sequence-stratigraphic framework for the Lower Cretaceous succession in the southwestern Barents Sea. Seven sequences (S0–S6) are defined, and the geometry, trajectory, and lateral variability of decompacted seismic clinoforms are described to elucidate the depositional history of the basin and to better understand coarse-grained sediment transport from the shelf to basin. Three different clinoform scales are recognized: (1) clinoform sets with 35–60 m (115–197 ft) height, interpreted as deltaic or shoreline clinoforms; (2) clinoform sets with 60–110 m (197–361 ft) height, interpreted as sediments prograding on a continental shelf; and (3) clinoforms with greater than 150 m (>492 ft) height, which represent shelf-margin clinoforms. Furthermore, clinoforms are grouped into two main progradation directions: (1) clinoforms prograded to the southeast in sequences 2–3, in the Fingerdjupet Subbasin and the western Bjarmeland platform, indicating a source of sediments located in the west-northwestern Barents Sea, and (2) clinoforms prograded to the southwest in sequences 1–6, in the eastern part of the Bjarmeland platform, Nordkapp Basin, and Finnmark platform, indicating a second source of sediments located in the east-northeast. Additionally, in the Hammerfest Basin, clinoforms prograded to the southeast off the Loppa high in sequences 5–6. Low-relief (35–60 m [115–197 ft]), high-gradient, and oblique clinoforms are observed within sequence 2 in the western Bjarmeland platform. The high-gradient foresets are interpreted as potential coarse-grained deposits or as a result of clinoforms prograding to progressive deeper waters, resulting in steeper foresets. Clinoforms located in the eastern part of the study area are interpreted as sourced by a mud-rich system, reflecting a long transportation distance. However, thin, heterolithic patterns in the gamma-ray log possibly reflect thin, sheetlike sands. The height of the clinoforms seems to be a factor controlling the sediment bypass to deep water in the study area. When the height is more than 200 m (656 ft), bottomset deposits are common. This study contributes to a better understanding of the paleogeography and the evolution of the frontier southwestern Barents Sea during the Early Cretaceous and to comprehending the variables increasing the bypass of coarse-grained sediments to deep-water settings.


We consider the problem of multicast routing in a large single domain network with a very large number of multicast groups with small number of receivers. Such a case occurs, for example, when multicast addresses are statically allocated to mobile hosts, as a mechanism to manage Internet host mobility. For such networks, existing dense or sparse mode multicast routing algorithms do not scale well with the number of multicast groups. We introduce an alternative solution called Distributed Core Multicast (DCM). DCM is based on an extension of the centre-based tree approach. It uses several core routers, called Distributed Core Routers (DCRs) and a special control protocol among them. The objectives are: (1) to avoid multicast group state information in backbone routers, (2) to avoid triangular routing across expensive backbone links, (3) to scale well with the number of multicast groups. We describe how our approach can be used to support mobile hosts. We argue that, when DCM is used to route packets to mobile hosts, good performance can be achieved during handoffs.


By using suitable parameters, we present a uni¯ed aproach for describing four methods for representing categorical data in a contingency table. These methods include:
correspondence analysis (CA), the alternative approach using Hellinger distance (HD),
the log-ratio (LR) alternative, which is appropriate for compositional data, and the
so-called non-symmetrical correspondence analysis (NSCA). We then make an appropriate comparison among these four methods and some illustrative examples are given.
Some approaches based on cumulative frequencies are also linked and studied using
matrices.
Key words: Correspondence analysis, Hellinger distance, Non-symmetrical correspondence analysis, log-ratio analysis, Taguchi inertia


There are relatively few reports concerning carbon and nitrogen partitioning into secondary metabolism in plants grown in elevated atmospheric CO(_2). This thesis investigates the effects of changes in atmospheric CO(_2) and soil nitrogen availability on compatible solute accumulation and resource allocation in Plantago maritima and Armeria maritima. It was hypothesised that contrasting metabolic responses to abiotic stress cause a species-specific response in P. maritima and A. maritima in resource allocation. In response to drought, P. maritima accumulates the carbon based compatible Solute sorbitol, whilst A. maritima accumulates the nitrogen based solutes betaine and proline. Over ten weeks, A. maritima was more responsive to changes in C and N availability than P. maritima, especially in the amount of C fixed into leaf matter. After elevated CO(_2) exposure for one year, the biomass of P. maritima increased and of A. maritima decreased, compared to the respective plants at ambient CO(_2). Compatible solute concentrations were increased by drought at ambient CO(_2) but decreased in droughted plants at elevated CO(_2). This was hypothesised to be due to lower transpiration rates. Rates of transpiration in P. maritima decreased in response to elevated CO(_2) but A. maritima did not. Tissue water-potential was also lowered in response to elevated CO(_2). This thesis also examines resource allocation to other major C and N sinks. In P. maritima grown at elevated CO(_2) for one year, total soluble phenolic concentrations increased and the concentration of soluble protein decreased. In A. maritima, phenolic concentrations decreased and protein concentrations increased. The effect of enhanced CO(_2) on the secondary metabolism of P. maritima was investigated in greater detail. Six phenolics were identified using metabolite profiling, namely p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, caffeic acid, verbascoside, plantamajoside and luteolin. P. maritima exposed to elevated CO(_2) had higher concentrations of some of these individual phenolic compounds and histochemical analysis identified increases in the number of lignified vessels and a decrease of lignified vessel-wall thickness.


Drafters of complex contracts often face a thorny dilemma – determining whether to retain "magic words" included in form documents, especially when considering the advice of current contract style scholars advocating for the removal of all traditional contract prose. But the drafter need not remove all terms that serve as elegant shorthand for more convoluted legal concepts, particularly where the inclusion of the term advances client interests. The application of rhetorical criticism – the analysis of methods of communicating ideas – to drafters' use of the term "time is of the essence" sheds light on the dominant motivations of drafters who choose to retain traditional terms, and illustrates the potential benefits of doing so. Exploration of the development of drafting scholarship, along with empirical studies and literary theory, support the retention of certain "magic words" in complex contracts between sophisticated parties, particularly where beneficial to client advocacy.


Position-dependent gene expression is a critical aspect of the development and behaviour of multicellular organisms. It requires a complex series of interactions to occur between different cell types in addition to intracellular signalling cascades. We used Escherichia coli to study the properties of an artificial signalling system at the interface between two expanding cell populations. We genetically engineered one population to produce a diffusible acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) signal, and another population to respond to it. Our experiments demonstrate how such a signal can be used to reproducibly generate simple visible patterns with high accuracy in swimming agar. The producing and responding cassettes of two such signalling systems can be linked to produce a symmetric interface for bidirectional communication that can be used to visualise molecular logic. Intracellular feedback between these two cassettes would then create a framework for self-organised patterning of higher complexity. Adapting the experiments of Basu et al. (Basu et al., 2005) using cell motility, rather than a differential response to AHL concentrations as a way to define zones of response, we noted how the interaction of sender and receiver cell populations on a swimming plate could lead to complex pattern formation. Equipping highly motile strains such as E. coli MC1000 with AHL-mediated auto-inducing systems based on Vibrio fischeri luxI/luxR and Pseudomonas aeruginosa lasI/lasR cassettes would allow the amplification of a response to an AHL signal and its propagation. We designed and synthesised codon-optimised auto-inducing luxI/R and lasI/R cassettes as optimal gene expression is crucial for the generation of robust patterns. We still have to complete and test the entire genetic circuitry, although by modelling the system we were able to demonstrate its feasibility.


Handbook of Cancer Control and Behavioral Science is an expert synthesis of what is known, what is suspected, and what is still unknown about core behavioral and sociocultural aspects of cancer control. Editors Suzanne Miller, Deborah Bowen, Robert Croyle, and Julia Rowland present a thought-provoking overview of the key areas of research, from primary prevention, to early cancer detection, to the clinical treatment of cancer, to survivor experience and bereavement, to future directions for research.Senior researchers provide jargon-free descriptions of current approaches while identifying the most effective behavioral interventions in use for preventing and treating cancer. Yet, the focus is not limited to cancer patients; the relationship between doctor and patient, and the effects of cancer on families are also examined. In its broad scope and detailed examination of the entire continuum of cancer incidence, the Handbook is an essential, cross-disciplinary resource that will be of great use for researchers, health care providers, and mental health professionals in the fight against cancer.


Abstract Ensuring global food security requires a sound understanding of climate and environmental controls on crop productivity. The majority of existing assessments have focused on physical climate variables (i.e., mean temperature and precipitation), but less on the increasing climate extremes (e.g., drought) and their interactions with increasing levels of tropospheric ozone (O3). Here we quantify the combined impacts of drought and O3 on China's crop yield using a comprehensive, process-based agricultural ecosystem model in conjunction with observational data. Our results indicate that climate change/variability and O3 together led to an annual mean reduction of crop yield by 10.0% or 55 million tons per year at the national level during 1981–2010. Crop yield shows a growing threat from severe episodic droughts and increasing O3 concentrations since 2000, with the largest crop yield losses occurring in northern China, causing serious concerns in food supply security in China. Our results imply that reducing tropospheric O3 levels is critical for securing crop production in coping with increasing frequency and severity of extreme climate events such as droughts. Improving air quality should be a core component of climate adaptation strategies.


Kinabalu Park is a Type II protected area according to the IUCN Protected Area management category system. It is also the Malaysia's first UNESCO World Heritage Site for natural category. Since its establishment in 1964, the park h~s been one of the most visited protected areas in the country among the domes~lc and international visitors. Popular tourism activities include nature trails exploring, hot spring bathing and mountain climbing. These tourism activities have not only brought in substantial inco!l1e to the park to economically justify its presence but also to support its nature conservation in an integrated manner including financial revenue generation, sharing of scientific research findings as well as environmental education. These activities also benefit the local communities living in the surrounding area by diversifying the job opportu~iti:s in the rural area. Over the years, the park has witnessed several changes m Its governance with the involvement of private sector and local community in its tourism management. This series of changes have impacted both the park management and the tourism development. This paper reveals some rese.arch findings on these developments and the subsequent issues based on the nmeseries study conducted in the park between 2005 and 2014. This research employs a pragmatic approach combining both the quantitative and qualitative methods in data collection and analysis. Questionnaire survey and interviews were conducted on the park visitors, mountain guides, porters and the park staff. The research reveals that, while the changes in governance support the guiding principles of sustainable tourism in long run in terms of local participation, capacity building and multi-stakeholders involvement the issues pertaining to the profit-oriented nature of the private sector and the increasing expectation among the visitors for better educational experience required better attention by the park authority in ~rder to meet its society's objectives and nature conservation through tounsm development.


This article explores the aesthetic elements of sovereignty. Building on the anthropological literature on sovereignty and on contemporary work on the politics of aesthetics, the article analyzes contemporary appearances of Batman symbols and figures in Rio de Janeiro. Despite political debate and academic discussion about the Batmen appearing in mafia-like militias and popular street protests in Rio, the question of what these appearances tell us about the relations between popular imagery and political contestation has remained untouched. This article supports the work of writers who argue that superhero comics and movies present fierce figures that operate in the zone of indistinction, at the crossroads of lawful order and its exception. However, it adds to this literature an analysis that shows in what kind of sociopolitical contexts these figures operate and how that plays itself out. To understand the contemporary appearances and force of fi gures of the entertainment industry better, this article proposes the concept "popular culture of sovereignty."


The European Union (EU) is an area without internal frontiers in which goods, services and people can move freely. The absence of internal frontiers is an important prerequisite for the establishment of the internal market. At the same time, it sets major challenges for EU policy maker as it requires them to formulate smart legislation that pursues two goals concurrently. That is to say, policy makers are asked to formulate legislation that restrict free movement in order to prevent irregular migration and transfers from occurring, but that also obstruct the development of the internal market as little as possible. Particularly in the area of the equal treatment of EU citizens this balancing exercise has proved to be everything but straightforward. This becomes clear from case law of the European Court of Justice determining the content of and limitations to the right to equal treatment of EU citizens. In this paper this is illustrated by studying the issue of reverse discrimination and by focusing particularly on the difficulties arising from the legality of reverse discrimination in family reunification cases. In this article it is explained what reverse discrimination entails and why it is still accepted in the EU. Consquently, it is discussed that whilst many commentators have advocated abolishing the legality of reverse discrimination in order to allow EU citizens to fully enjoy their right to equal treatment, this may not be the panacea.


9 781920 677923 Edited by Johan Muller, Nico Cloete & François van Schalkwyk " Castells in Africa: Universities and Development collects the papers produced by Manuel Castells on his visits to South Africa, and publishes them in a single volume for the first time. The book also publishes a series of empirically-based papers which together display the multi-faceted and far-sighted scope of his theoretical framework, and its fecundity for fine-grained, detailed empirical investigations on universities and development in Africa. Castells, in his afterword to this book, always looking forward, assesses the role of the university in the wake of the upheavals to the global economic order. He decides the university's function not only remains, but is more important than ever. This book will serve as an introduction to the relevance of his work for higher education in Africa for postgraduate students, reflective practitioners and researchers.


In this study, I estimate a causal effect of increased billing frequency on consumer behavior. I exploit a natural experiment in which residential water customers switched exogenously from bimonthly to monthly billing. Customers increase consumption by 3.5-5 percent in response to more frequent information. This result is reconciled in models of price and quantity uncertainty, where increases in billing frequency reduce the distortion in consumer perceptions. Using treatment effects as sufficient statistics, I calculate consumer welfare gains equivalent to 0.5-1 percent of annual water expenditures. Heterogeneous treatment effects suggest increases in outdoor water use.


Using school leave legislation as the focus for analysis, this article proposes 'empowerment identity' approach to work-family legislation as an alternative or complement to the commonly used accomodation and antidiscrimination approaches. In many households, working parents struggle to meet routine demands of parenting, such as caring for a sick child or attending a child's school activity. Interestingly, one of the most common forms of state-level legislation designed to address the routine demands of parenting is school involvement leave legislation. Although state school involvement leave statutes vary widely in how and for what reasons they permit time away from work for parents to attend a child's school functions, they represent the common view that the purpose of work-family legislation is to (1) accomodate episodic parenting needs when those needs interfere with work obligations or (2) prohibit discrimination by an employer when a worker-parent requires time away from work to attend to those caregiving needs. After analyzing exisiting school involvement leave legislation and demonstrating that this legislation takes both accomodation and antidiscrimination approaches to regulating school involvement leave, this article suggests that an alternative approach to critiquing and crafting work-family legislation, particularly school involvement leave legislation, is the empowerment identity approach. An empowerment identity apprach, adapted from organizational communication theory, frames legislation as a discursive structure in which worker-parents should be empowered to construct individualized worker-parent identities through language related action. Accordingly, after explaining the empowerment identity approach, this article concludes that school involvement leave statutes, fall short of full empowerment but have the potential to empower parents to accomplish plural, individualized, and authentic identities as both worker-parents and as important stewards of their children's educations.


BACKGROUND
The risks associated with percutaneous vertebroplasty (PV) are low. Patients show marked improvement and are able to rapidly resume normal activities after PV. The sudden development of postoperative vertebral compression fracture (VCF) is a common complication, and additional PV is frequently performed in these cases. However, there have been no studies reporting acute compression fractures of an adjacent vertebra immediately after PV.

OBJECTIVE
This case report presents a rare case in which the patient had to undergo a second PV because of PV-induced adjacent VCF. Further, we review previous studies and discuss the possible pathogenesis of this rare complication.

STUDY DESIGN
Case report.

SETTING
Pain management clinic.

METHODS
A 62-year-old woman presented with a severe pain in the lower back, which started after she slipped. A radiograph showed severe vertebral collapse with a vertebral vacuum cleft in the T12 vertebral body. T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging showed low signal intensity in T12, suggesting acute VCF, but the signals from the other vertebrae were normal.

RESULTS
The patient underwent PV at T12. When the cannula was inserted into the fracture line of the vertebral body, reduction of the collapsed T12 was developed. Although the postoperative course was uneventful, the patient's pain did not resolve. Postoperative radiographic image obtained 4 hours after the PV showed reduction of T12 and adjacent acute VCF in T11. We performed a second PV at T11. However, 2 weeks later, adjacent acute VCF in L1 was developed and PV was performed.

LIMITATIONS
This report describes a single case.

CONCLUSION
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of adjacent VCF that developed almost immediately after PV. Although the exact mechanism underlying this rare complication remains unclear, we assume that the VCF was induced by PV, although this was not proven. However, we suggest that the insertion of the cannula into the fracture line induced the iatrogenic dynamic mobility of the fractured vertebra. Reduction was caused by the cannula and positional gravity. The upward reduction may have had an effect on the upper and adjacent vertebrae.


A cold-water fish with a warm heart Mammals and birds warm their entire bodies above the ambient temperature. Generally, this ability is lacking in other vertebrates, although some highly active fish can temporarily warm their swim muscles. Wegner et al. show that the opah, a large deepwater fish, can generate heat with its swim muscles and use this heat to warm both its heart and brain. This ability increases its metabolic function in cold deep waters, which will help the fish compete with other, colder-blooded species. Science, this issue p. 786 Unlike other fish, opah distribute warmed blood throughout their bodies, enhancing physiological performance in the deep ocean. Endothermy (the metabolic production and retention of heat to warm body temperature above ambient) enhances physiological function, and whole-body endothermy generally sets mammals and birds apart from other animals. Here, we describe a whole-body form of endothermy in a fish, the opah (Lampris guttatus), that produces heat through the constant "flapping" of wing-like pectoral fins and minimizes heat loss through a series of counter-current heat exchangers within its gills. Unlike other fish, opah distribute warmed blood throughout the body, including to the heart, enhancing physiological performance and buffering internal organ function while foraging in the cold, nutrient-rich waters below the ocean thermocline.


In their paper 'Why It Matters That Some Are Worse Off Than Others: An Argument against the Priority View', Michael Otsuka and Alex Voorhoeve argue that prioritarianism is mistaken. I argue that their case against prioritarianism has much weaker foundations than it might at first seem. Their key argument is based on the claim that prioritarianism ignores the fact of the 'separateness of persons'. However, prioritarianism, far from ignoring that fact, is a plausible response to it. It may be that prioritarianism disregards the fact of the 'unity of the individual'. But even if this is true, that doesn't straightforwardly tell against prioritarianism as a view about distributive justice. In the end, Otsuka and Voorhoeve's argument relies on a non-decisive intuition that they appeal to early in their paper. Their conclusion, as a result, is not compelling.


The tendencies of development and peculiarities of agribusiness enterprises activity are established within this research framework. Globalization and liberalization processes have spread rapidly over the past two decades, attracting more and more countries and linking their economies to the world economy. The agro-industrial sector of the economy deserves special attention in international cooperation, characterized by a particular feature, linking geopolitical, economic, social, environmental, sanitary, hygienic norms and rules. Therefore, the experience gained by countries that have long been members of the WTO and have passed certain stages of development and regulation of the tax policy of agribusiness enterprises is worth studying, analyzing, and implementing. The comparative analysis of the results of the realization of the state policy in the field of taxation of agribusiness is carried out during recent years. This research paper analyzes the generalized experience of economically developed countries in the formation of tax policy in the field of agribusiness regulation and identifies opportunities for its application in Ukraine. The study results determine the practical significance of the article, which is determined by the possibility of using the proposed mechanisms to improve the tax policy in the field of agribusiness regulation and identify opportunities for its application in Ukraine.


Abstract: Development of AAC theory and practice has contributed to a powerful change of professional consciousness among AAC experts, bringing new requests and requirements to more complex issues among which ethics has been lifted up and mainstreamed. The aim of the present research is to enter the analysis of the core issues of fundamental professional ethical codes in the light of alternative and augmentative communication; to bring contribution into the "normative" integrated interdisciplinary fundamental ethical principles from the perspective of "meeting with unique AAC-user context". The research methodology is built upon the study of scientific sources, systematized by international electronic data bases and includes an interdisciplinary approach to its collection. Phenomenology is the basic research methodology to analyzed data. A case study of the family context, where deaf parents are upbringing blind child, is taken as a representative part for the discussion. The primary determinant for the intervention strategy was defined as family-centered, based on conceptual principles of Enabling and Empowering Families and Effective help-giving in the early intervention program. Badiou's theory of ethics and its dimensions of 'truth' as a 'truth' of the Event were used for the interpretation of ethics of a unique AAC context and developing a minimal model of a 'basic values'. It has been shown that each professional community forms its own unique structure of minimal values. The structure of the values forms a meaningful basis for mutual understanding between professionals, family members and professional community in a wider perspective. The success of the AAC implementation as a new discipline is dependent on how all together researchers, professionals and the AAC-users could act ethically developing common understandings, beliefs and values.


Anti-infection drugs target vital functions of infectious agents, including their ribosome and other essential non-coding RNAs. One of the reasons infectious agents become resistant to drugs is due to mutations that eliminate drug-binding affinity while maintaining vital elements. Identifying these elements is based on the determination of viable and lethal mutants and associated structures. However, determining the structure of enough mutants at high resolution is not always possible. Here, we introduce a new computational method, MC-3DQSAR, to determine the vital elements of target RNA structure from mutagenesis and available high-resolution data. We applied the method to further characterize the structural determinants of the bacterial 23S ribosomal RNA sarcin–ricin loop (SRL), as well as those of the lead-activated and hammerhead ribozymes. The method was accurate in confirming experimentally determined essential structural elements and predicting the viability of new SRL variants, which were either observed in bacteria or validated in bacterial growth assays. Our results indicate that MC-3DQSAR could be used systematically to evaluate the drug-target potentials of any RNA sites using current high-resolution structural data.


Desertification monitoring as a main portion for understand desertification, have been conducted by many scientists. However, the stage of research remains still in the level of comparison of the past and current situation. In other words, monitoring need to focus on finding methods of how to take precautions against desertification. In this study, Vegetation Temperature Condition Index (VTCI), derived from Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Land Surface Temperature (LST), was utilized to observe the distribution change of vegetation. The index can be used to monitor drought occurrences at a regional level for a special period of a year, and it can also be used to study the spatial distribution of drought within the region. Techniques of remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) were combined to detect the distribution change of vegetation with VTCI. As a result, assuming that the moisture condition is the only main factor that affects desertification, we found that the distribution of vegetation in Bulgan, Mongolia could be predicted in a certain degree, using VTCI. Although desertification is a complicated process and many factors could affect the result. This study is helpful to provide a strategic guidance for combating desertification and allocating the use of the labor force.


This article summarizes the findings from a two-year research project, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, which explored the impact of a criminologist presenting factual information on crime and criminal justice through a weekly column in a local newspaper. The research included a natural quasi-experiment, the impact of which was assessed through a large-scale survey and in-depth interviews with members of the public. The key finding from the research was that readership of the column was low (although not as low as survey responses initially indicated), and that the column had no measurable impact on readers. The findings suggest that interest in, take-up, and retention of factual information on crime and criminal justice is not as high as previous empirical research has suggested.


We investigate the conventional tight-binding model of L π electrons on a ring-shaped molecule of L atoms with nearest-neighbor hopping. The hopping amplitudes t(w) depend on the atomic spacings w with an associated distortion energy V(w). A Hubbard-type on-site interaction as well as nearest-neighbor repulsive potentials can also be included. We prove that when L =4k +2 the minimum energy E occurs either for equal spacing or for alternating spacings (dimerization); nothing more chaotic can occur. In particular, this statement is true for the Peierls-Hubbard Hamiltonian, which is the case of linear t(w) and quadratic V(w), i.e., t(w)=t o−αw and V(w)=k(w −a)2,but our results hold for any choice of couplings or functions t (w) and V(w). When L =4k we prove that more chaotic minima can occur, as we show in an explicit example, but the alternating state is always asymptotically exact in the limit L→∞. Our analysis suggests three interesting conjectures about how dimerization stabilizes for large systems. We also treat the spin-Peierls problem and prove that nothing more chaotic than dimerization occurs for L =4k +2 and L =4k.


Keritang subdistrict has a wide enough area of coconut farming, but it's production is susceptible to fluctuations that tends to decrease and it's productivity is low. This coconut farming still not use the right cultivation techniques. This can be seen from the behavior of farmers. Most of them do not use fertilizer, pesticides, and the farmer did not make the plants maintenance with good. This study aims to determine the efficiency of production activity of coconut farming in Keritang subdistrict, Indragiri Hilir Municipality. Methods of analysis is Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), it is non parametrik methods based on linear programming. Based on the results of the efficiency of production showed that most of the coconut farming is inefficient technically, namely the use of labour has been more than capacity should be. Most coconut's farmers also inefficient in allocation, because the price of inputs that paid by farmers greater than the output that they have received. If this coconut farming is inefficient in technical and it's allocation, then the coconut farming also inefficient in the economy. According to these findings in economic, then (1) need any help from the government and the participation of farmers to bring out coconut farming being appropriate with the right technique of coconut culvitation (2) efforts of the government is needed to control the input price and increase the output price (3) government intervention in terms to eliminate practice of monopsonic.


Trypanosoma equiperdum primarily parasitizes the genital organs and causes dourine in equidae. We isolated a new T. equiperdum strain, T. equiperdum IVM-t1, from the urogenital tract of a horse definitively diagnosed as having dourine in Mongolia. ABSTRACT Trypanosoma equiperdum primarily parasitizes the genital organs and causes dourine in equidae. We isolated a new T. equiperdum strain, T. equiperdum IVM-t1, from the urogenital tract of a horse definitively diagnosed as having dourine in Mongolia. Here, we report the whole-genome sequence, the predicted gene models, and their annotations.


The Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) network is, where the battery-powered vehicles provide energy to the power grid, is highly emerging. A robust, scalable, and cost-optimal mechanism that can support the increasing number of transactions in a V2G network is required. Existing studies use traditional blockchain as to achieve this requirement. Blockchain-enabled V2G networks require a high computation power and are not suitable for micro-transactions due to the mining reward being higher than the transaction value itself. Moreover, the transaction throughput in the generic blockchain is too low to support the increasing number of frequent transactions in V2G networks. To address these challenges, in this paper, a lightweight blockchain-based protocol called Directed Acyclic Graph-based V2G network (DV2G) is proposed. Here blockchain refers to any Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and not just the bitcoin chain of blocks. A tangle data structure is used to record the transactions in the network in a secure and scalable manner. A game theory model is used to perform negotiation between the grid and vehicles at an optimized cost. The proposed model does not require the heavy computation associated to the addition of the transactions to the data structure and does not require any fees to post the transaction. The proposed model is shown to be highly scalable and supports the micro-transactions required in V2G networks.


The aim of this study was to explore within-group patterns of variability in the home literacy environments (HLEs) of low-income Latino families using latent profile analysis. Participants were (N = 193) families of Latino preschoolers enrolled in a larger study. In the fall of 2012, mothers filled out a family literacy practices inventory, a literacy beliefs inventory, and a socio-demographic questionnaire. Results revealed three psychometrically distinct HLE profiles. Profile 1 (37%), labelled Low Beliefs, Low Practices (LBLP), was characterized by very low incomes, low caregiver education, reading infrequently to children, primarily speaking Spanish and reported lowest literacy beliefs and practices. Profile 2 (16%), labelled Moderate Beliefs, Moderate Practices (MBMP), was also low income, had few books in the home, read in both English and Spanish to their children, and held moderately facilitative literacy beliefs and practices. Profile 3 (47%), labelled High Beliefs, High Practices (HBHP), reported the highest literacy beliefs and practices, highest percentage English-speaking, read more often to children, and had more books in the home. These findings highlight considerable variability in terms of literacy beliefs and practices among Latino families. The profiles have practical relevance in terms of children's readiness at school entry and working with their families.


There may be no other fundamental right of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights (ECFR) that raises more questions on the precise object and concept of protection than the right to data protection in Article 8 ECFR. A prominent example is the principle of purpose limitation. The preceding first part of this three-parted series has shown how this ambiguity creates various problems both on the conceptual level of fundamental rights as well as on the level of ordinary law (esp. the GDPR). However, it has also been shown how a re-connection of data protection law to concepts of risk regulation may help clarify these ambiguities. On this basis, the second part of this series demonstrates in detail why data protection laws apply a risk-based approach and why this protection strategy is more effective than a harmbased approach. Further, it is possible to assess whether data protection laws apply certain concepts of the precautionary principle and/or the risk-based approach (in the Anglo-Saxon meaning), and if both, which elements of the law may belong to which strategy. The concept proposed in this chapter will promote, focusing on the principle of purpose limitation, a combination of both strategies leading not only to more effective but also more proportionate protection. The last chapter of this second part will demonstrate why all this makes the fundamental right to data protection in Article 8 ECFR indispensable with respect to the other fundamental rights.


Abstract This article explores issues of identity, exile, and performance in 1962 (1998) and Babel Taxi (2004), two foundational plays by the Algerian-born author Mohamed Kacimi. 1962 is an autobiographical play written during Algeria's "black decade" about the effects of Algeria's independence on two particular characters, while Babel Taxi allegorically retells the legend of the Tower of Babel in modern-day Iraq at the start of the Iraq War. In these plays, the characters' pasts and memories are full of gaps (trous). The article argues that the characters' attempts to fill in these trous with performance illuminate their experience of exile as a permanent psychological state. This endeavor not only applies to Arabic-speaking, Islamic characters, but also to those from Argentina, Israel, France, China, India, and beyond. Further, both plays highlight the transformative power of performance. However, whereas the characters in 1962 use performance to elevate their personal narratives of the past and resist the domination of official History, the resurrection of biblical legend through performance in Babel Taxi ends in violence and disunity. Performing the past can facilitate connection and offer solace from the confusion of exile, but it can just as easily sow discord in the present.


This work presents new results on the arsenic distribution in the groundwater from the SW of Uruguay.
This preliminar y study is based in 28 samples from the Aquifer Systems Chuy, Raigon and Mercedes. The
arsenic concentrations observed exceed some thresholds of the Uruguayan and other (e.g., WHO)
regulations of water quality. The median, maximum and minimum determined have been 16.9, 58.0 and
0.1 �Eg/l, respectively). There is a horizontal and vertical variation of the concentrations considering all
together the studied aquifers and also within them. The higher values have been observed in the Mercedes
Aquifer in areas near the Uruguay River.


Rorschach pre-treatment protocols from 32 first-time psychotic patients were correlated to outcome levels five years later (GAF). Human content responses (HR) were found to be positively related to future functioning level, when they appear in emotionally loaded contexts. Possible ways of understanding these results are discussed from a psychodynamic perspective.


Future optical systems will require electro-optic (EO) modulators with bandwidths of 100 GHz. For high-speed modulation, a photonic crystal (PhC) waveguide modulator using a ferroelectric thin film has been proposed. Here we report on the design, fabrication and properties of optical intensity modulator and its microwave frequency dependence. The 1.5 mm long BaTiO3 PhC modulator has a figure-of-merit of 2.1 V·cm drive voltage-length product, >50 GHz 3 dB bandwidth at an operating wavelength of 1560 nm.


This thesis describes research in the computational analysis of harmony in western art music, focussing particularly on improving the accuracy and information-richness of key and chord extraction from digital score data. It is argued that a greater sophistication in automatic harmony analysis is an important contribution to the field of computational musicology. Initial experiments use hidden Markov models to predict key and modulation from automatically labelled chord sequences. Model parameters are based on heuristically formulated chord and key weightings derived from Schönberg's harmonic theory and the key and chord ratings resulting from perceptual experiments with listeners. The music theory models are shown to outperform the perceptual models both in terms of key accuracy and modelling the precise moment of key change. All of the models perform well enough to generate descriptive data about modulatory frequency, modulatory type and key distance. A robust method of classifying underlying chord types from elaborated keyboard music is then detailed. The method successfully distinguishes between essential and inessential notes, for example, passing notes and neighbour notes, and combines note classification information with tertian chord potential to measure the harmonic importance of a note. Existing approaches to automatic chord classification are unsuitable for use with complex textures and are restricted to triads and simple sevenths. An important goal is therefore to recognise a much broader set of chords, including complex chord types such as 9ths, 11ths and 13ths. This level of detail is necessary if the methods are to supply sophisticated information about the harmonic techniques of composers. Testing on the first twenty-four preludes of J. S. Bach's Well Tempered Clavier, hand annotated by the author, a state of the art approach achieves 22.1% accuracy; our method achieves 55% accuracy.


With the rise of transnational security threats such as terrorism, weapons of mass destruction (WMD), international crime, drug trafficking and illegal immigration, the comprehensive defense of the Continental United States (CONUS) takes on increasing importance. The constant possibility of environmental disasters, both man-made and natural, also emphasizes domestic security issues. The term "national defense" resumes its true meaning and focuses on protecting core US values-those political, economic, social and cultural interests and activities that represent our nation. The US homeland's distance from potential adversaries has long protected its core interests and activities, which form the center of gravity for US security. This luxury no longer exists because of global security threats since the Cold War's end that can target and reach the US mainland. This potential danger requires the military to prepare to defend the US homeland from a multitude of unconventional threats. Given this security situation, homeland defense (HLD) is high-priority for the United States. Because the United States has a dominant position in the Western Hemisphere and no conventional military threat on its borders, the HLD mission generally excludes the combat role and instead encompasses several nontraditional activities that fall under the aegis of military operations other than war (MOOTW). Because the Department of the Defense (DOD) and individual services have not officially defined the missions with this function, MOOTW activities mentioned in this article are a small indication of missions required to support HLD. The final product may be much more comprehensive as this concept evolves over the next few years but will generally exclude conventional warfighting activities. Given these parameters and considering the land power nature of this HLD mission, the main responsibility for its execution will fall on the US Army, in particular the US Army National Guard (ARNG). Although DOD has not pinpointed HLD responsibility, the assumption that the ARNG will play a lead role is based on its presence in all states and territories, its historical involvement in MOOTW missions within CONUS and its constitutional obligations to maintain the security and well being of each state. Currently, domestic support for MOOTW missions constitutes the majority of ARNG requirements.1 Although the US Army Reserve (USAR) may play a role in HLD, its involvement will be diminished by the following: * Its combat support (CS) or combat service support (CSS) functions for the active force. * Its increasing overseas deployment cycle to Bosnia- and Kosovo-like support missions. * Its overall integration into Active Component (AC) missions. Unfortunately, this environment does not bode well for the ARNG's continued ability to maintain its training readiness for the combat role in today's force structure. Rather, there is a distinct danger that a focus on HLD would degrade the ARNG's ability to perform in combat. This possible loss of warfighting readiness stems from three things: * The nontraditional nature of the HLD mission and the ARNG's unique suitability for this task. * Spending limited and valuable training time on nontraditional missions rather than combat training missions stressing unit-level combined arms proficiency. * Building habitual planning and staff relationships with civilian and law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) rather than AC combat formations. Solving this predicament means restructuring Army Reserve Components (RC) to place the bulk of reserve combat formations in the USAR and reserve CS and CSS units in the ARNG.2 This reorganization would align ARNG unit functionalities with their most common and likely mission requirements while serving under either state or federal control for the HLD role. Classifying MOOTW Activities In analyzing the HLD mission, US Army Field Manual (FM) 100-5, Opr erations, provides a framework for classifying MOOTW activities and a guide for identifying those that pertain to HLD. …


The purpose of this study was to examine educator's perceptions regarding the quality of student learning during the implementation of a one-to-one computing program in a private secondary school in central Illinois. The sample of the study consisted of 26 teachers, administrators, and counselors who worked with 320 students during one-to-one technology implementation program . First a Likert type scale was administered and then interviews were conducted with the participants to find out their observations, perceptions, and opinions with regard to student learning. The results show that most educators believe that student learning has slightly improved with the implementation of one-to-one technology program


California needs a new guiding narrative for shared understanding and for directing public decisions about threats and opportunities in the state. Misleading and counterproductive guidance is provided by narratives that are no longer supported by recent trends. Ongoing changes related to two specific guiding narratives are described. In the first, support for Proposition 13 was founded on explosive increases of house prices in the 1970s, along with assumptions of continued migration of newcomers willing to pay higher prices and the higher taxes needed to offset discounts for oldtimers. A second narrative of demographic change reacts negatively to rapid population growth, soaring immigration and racial change. Remarkably, virtually all the premises in these two narratives have been overturned by events. Instead, a different set of urgent problems and opportunities have emerged that require a new guiding vision. In place of exploding house prices, tax assessments have collapsed and we struggle to revive the housing market. Young buyers are asked to pay the highest taxes, but today it is the young not the old who are vulnerable and threatened. While before it was a struggle to keep up with migration from outside California, immigration has declined and today the growth is homegrown. Meanwhile, the aging baby boomers are about to create a crisis of replacement workers, taxpayers and home buyers. Cultivating the new homegrown generation is our paramount need. Today the story of California is completely reversed, yet adherence to the old narratives blocks recognition of the path to a brighter future.


Produced by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), Choosing the Right College is the most informative, incisive, and independent assessment available of America's 100 best colleges and universities. Based on in-depth research presented in essays averaging over 3,000 words each, this comprehensive guide brings to light the intellectual, political, and social conditions at each institution. Hundreds of professionals with firsthand experience in academic life assess the integrity and rigor of each institution's curriculum, report on its state of academic freedom, list the best professors and departments as well as the most politicized elements of each school, and offer a broad picture of the traditions, student organizations, and settings that make each institution unique. A useful list of facts about each college, including tuition costs, size, and important phone numbers, also accompanies each essay.


The tear test is widely used to measure the fracture toughness of thin rubber sheets and polymer films. More recently, the tear test has been applied to polymer materials produced by melt extrusion additive manufacturing to measure the fracture toughness of a single weld between two printed (extruded) filaments. This paper presents a finite element modeling study of the tearing of a weld between two printed filaments to investigate the mechanics of the tear test and the effects of geometry and material properties on the measured tear energy. The mechanical behavior of the printed filaments was described by a viscoplastic model for glassy polymers and the weld was represented using cohesive surface elements and the Xu-Needleman traction-separation relationship. The geometric model and the material parameters were chosen based on experimental measurements. The tear energy varied with the specimen dimensions, the curvature of the printed filaments, the yield stress relative to the cohesive strength of the weld, and the post-yield stress drop. The effects of the hardening modulus were small. These factors altered the viscoplastic dissipation in the material ahead of the propagating crack tip. The results showed that viscoplastic dissipation could constitute a large fraction of the tear energy and is strongly affected by the specimen dimensions and the geometry and material properties of the printed filament. There was also considerable mode mixty in the tear energy. The findings can be used to design tear tests to measure the intrinsic fracture toughness of the weld.


The use of electromagnetic waves as a nondestructive evaluation technique to
evaluate Portland cement concrete (PCC) structures is based on the principle that the
change in structure, composition, condition, or basic properties of PCC results in a
change in its electromagnetic properties. The near field open-ended rectangular
waveguide is one of the few devices that can make accurate measurements of the
electromagnetic properties ofPCC in the frequency range of7.0 GHz to 13.0 GHz. A
microwave measurement system using open-ended rectangular waveguide developed
at Universiti Teknologi MARA was used to measure the electromagnetic properties
of PCC. Also, a study was conducted to investigate the effect of the basic properties
and conditions of PCC, namely, curing time, water cement ratio (w/c), moisture
content, curing type, compressive strength, cement type, cement content, aggregate
type, aggregate ratio and maximum aggregate size on the electromagnetic properties
ofPCC.
Measurements were conducted in the frequency domain. The research found that, the
electromagnetic properties decrease with increasing curing age. The electromagnetic
properties of PCC with lower w/c ratio is lower than the PCC with higher w/c ratio at
early age of curing, this is reversed after hydration (curing) is completed. The
electromagnetic properties of PCC increase with increasing moisture content. There
is a significant difference in the electromagnetic properties of PCC cured using
different type of curing methods such as, submerged in water, cover by wet cotton
and cured in air and ambient humidity. The microwave nondestructive testing using
near field open-ended rectangular waveguide can be used for determination of w/c
ratio, compressive strength and moisture content from the measurement of reflection
coefficients, dielectric constants, loss factors and conductivity. There is no
significant difference between the electromagnetic properties of PCC mixes using
different type of Portland cement (Type I and Type II). Mixes containing limestone
aggregate had a lower reflection coefficient than those containing granite. Also,
mixes containing limestone had a greater dielectric constant and loss factor than
those containing granite.


We present the novel grammar language CGA++ for the procedural modeling of architecture. While existing grammar-based approaches can produce stunning results, they are limited in what modeling scenarios can be realized. In particular, many context-sensitive tasks are precluded, not least because within the rules specifying how one shape is refined, the necessary knowledge about other shapes is not available. Transcending such limitations, CGA++ significantly raises the expressiveness and offers a generic and integrated solution for many advanced procedural modeling problems. Pivotally, CGA++ grants first-class citizenship to shapes, enabling, within a grammar, directly accessing shapes and shape trees, operations on multiple shapes, rewriting shape (sub)trees, and spawning new trees (e.g., to explore multiple alternatives). The new linguistic device of events allows coordination across multiple shapes, featuring powerful dynamic grouping and synchronization. Various examples illustrate CGA++, demonstrating solutions to previously infeasible modeling challenges.


Point clouds provide a flexible geometric representation suitable for countless applications in computer graphics; they also comprise the raw output of most 3D data acquisition devices. While hand-designed features on point clouds have long been proposed in graphics and vision, however, the recent overwhelming success of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for image analysis suggests the value of adapting insight from CNN to the point cloud world. Point clouds inherently lack topological information, so designing a model to recover topology can enrich the representation power of point clouds. To this end, we propose a new neural network module dubbed EdgeConv suitable for CNN-based high-level tasks on point clouds, including classification and segmentation. EdgeConv acts on graphs dynamically computed in each layer of the network. It is differentiable and can be plugged into existing architectures. Compared to existing modules operating in extrinsic space or treating each point independently, EdgeConv has several appealing properties: It incorporates local neighborhood information; it can be stacked applied to learn global shape properties; and in multi-layer systems affinity in feature space captures semantic characteristics over potentially long distances in the original embedding. We show the performance of our model on standard benchmarks, including ModelNet40, ShapeNetPart, and S3DIS.


OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this research was to demonstrate the effectiveness of hydroperoxide ion-phase transfer catalyst (HPI-PTC) cleaners and disinfectants for maintaining dental unit waterlines free of planktonic organisms.

METHOD AND MATERIALS
Water samples were taken from 117 sites, which included a variety of dental units and samples from the sink faucets of most operatories. Samples were plated on appropriate bacteriologic media and incubated. The presence or absence of biofilms was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. Twenty-two of the dental units were retrofitted with independent water systems; the cleaning procedure involved an overnight application of an HPI-PTC cleaner followed by a 2-minute water rinse.

RESULTS
Water from both the air-water syringe and the high-speed handpiece lines from all untreated units contained at least 6 x 10(2) colony-forming units per milliliter of planktonic or free-floating bacteria; the average was 1.4 x 10(5) CFU/mL. An initial 5% solution of HPI-PTC successfully cleared the lines of any apparent biofilm when applied for 3 consecutive days. Thereafter, once weekly use of the cleaner maintained the dental unit water supplies free of significant numbers of planktonic organisms.

CONCLUSION
Routine weekly use of an HPI-PTC cleaner controlled dental unit waterline biofilm and reduced, with minimum effort, the microbial contamination level of water used for patient treatment to less than 200 CFU/mL.


PURPOSE
To compare the effects of respiratory motion by calculating four-dimensional (4D) dose accumulation on proton and photon radiotherapy plans for a stage III lung cancer cohort.

METHODS AND MATERIALS
This study used passively scattered proton therapy (PSPT) and photon intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plans designed to meet the same criteria for an ongoing clinical trial. For 20 patients, 4D dose evaluation was calculated on both the PSPT and IMRT plans by accumulating individual phase dose using an intensity-based in-house deformable image registration algorithm. The resulting 4D dose accumulation method was compared against current standard of three dimensional (3D) dose as calculated on the average CT.

RESULTS
Both proton and photon plans demonstrated dosimetric differences when accounting for respiratory motion using 4D dose calculation methods. Reported 4D-3D values are mean plus one standard deviation. 4D-3D difference in PTV 95% dose coverage was >2% for 5 IMRT (0.5±1.1Gy) and 4 PSPT plans (0.5±0.8Gy). The structural doses most affected by respiratory motion were normal structures distal to the tumor, such as esophagus V65 (IMRT: -0.5±1.2Gy, PSPT: -0.4±1.4), mean heart (IMRT: - 0.4±0.6 Gy, PSPT: -0.3±0.9 Gy) and spinal cord maximum (IMRT: 0.0±0.2Gy, PSPT: 1.5±2.9Gy). No correlations were found between tumor motion and the change in 4D dose difference for any lung, heart, or spine dose-volume index.

CONCLUSIONS
The use of 4D dose evaluation techniques at time of treatment planning revealed small but significant respiratory motion induced deviations from the 3D planned dose for both photon and proton therapy. In both modalities, differences between 3D and 4D dose distributions are patient dependent; no population trends were found correlating dose differences to the extent of tumor motion. The implementation of 4D dose calculation methods for proton and photon lung cancer radiotherapy plans may help identify patients for whom respiratory motion alters the planned dose distribution. This project is supported by grant P01CA021239 from the National Cancer Institute.


Excerpted from Introduction by Gene Daniels] The story of Rath Packing Company of Waterloo, Iowa, is alternately a model of the American Dream and the story of a dream turned nightmare. Started in Iowa in 1891 with a work force of 22, Rath employed 8,000 people at its peak. In 1944, workers at Rath slaughtered 12,000 hogs, cattle and sheep a day. It was the largest and most modern packing house in the world. In the 1950s and early 1960s, however, Rath's management failed to make several strategic moves. They failed to market Rath's products to supermarkets, thinking "Mom & Pop" stores would remain the backbone of community grocery shopping. Little attention was paid to the growing conglomeration within the meatpacking industry itself And, management failed to re-invest in new machinery and processes and failed to build a new facility like the single-story buildings being constructed by competitors. All these factors combined to provide Rath with short-term prof its and long-term headaches. By the 1970s the company was in deep trouble.


Facebook use is pervasive in developed countries where computers, smartphones, high-bandwidth Internet, and electricity are ubiquitous. In this paper, we examine Facebook use in a country where social media participation is growing, but less developed technological infrastructures and uneven access to technology limit use. We conducted observations and 24 interviews at Internet cafés in rural Kenya. Our findings reveal how costs associated with using the Internet, limited access to computers and smartphones and unreliable electricity hinder online participation. We draw on these results to discuss the critical role of constraints in understanding social media use, to raise questions about broadening online participation and to highlight ethical issues researchers must consider when studying Facebook use in developing regions.


The presence of millions of interconnected personal computing devices has given rise to a new class of decentralized networking applications, which are loosely labeled as peer-to-peer (P2P) applications. These P2P applications leverage resources such as processing cycles, storage, content, and network bandwidth available to the user devices, which are also known as peers. A number of current systems - SETI@home, Napster, BitTorrent, and Pastry - are examples of these emerging P2P systems. To fully realize the potential of the peer-to-peer technology, there is a need to define and provide a set of core competencies, serving as the basic services upon which various peer-to-peer applications can be built on. Among these core competencies, this dissertation focuses on two fundamental services, which are search and delivery.
In the first part of the dissertation, delivery techniques to support video-on-demand services in wireline and wireless P2P networks are investigated. Video services are considered due to two reasons. First, video services are the pivotal basis for many other multimedia applications. Second, it is challenging to provide on-demand video services due to asynchronous playback progresses at peers. The proposed techniques enable efficient video sharing between peers with asynchronous playback progresses, and maximize peer bandwidth utilization.
In the second part of the dissertation, the problem of supporting continuous moving range queries in wireless mobile peer-to-peer networks is studied. Continuous moving range queries have a number of applications when a moving object wants to monitor its surrounding environment for a period of time. When a fixed network infrastructure is not available, wireless mobile peer-to-peer networks become a viable option to support the continuous query system. The proposed distributed solution ensures the accuracy of the query results under realistic assumptions, and incurs much less overhead than alternative solutions.


The aim of this work is to investigate analytical and experimental vibration of
composite beam. The composite beam is used as composite footbridge model
prototype which is assumed. For the dynamic test, hammer excitation is used to
excite the beam at fixed locations. The modal parameters are extracted from the
time response using a time domain analysis, i.e. the stochastic subspace
identification technique. Finite element models for different boundary
conditions are constructed using the commercial finite element software package
ANSYS for natural frequencies of the beam to support and verify the dynamic
measurements. The result obtained from analytical solution, dynamic tests and
the FEM are presented and analysed.


This lushly illustrated book examines the cross-cultural influences and unique artistic dialogue between Hispano and Native American arts in the Southwest over the past 400 years since Spanish colonisation. Insightful essays by historians, artists, and scholars including Estevan Rael-Galvez, Lane Coulter, Enrique R Lamadrid, Marc Simmons, and others, explore the impact of cultural interaction on various art forms including painting, sculpture, metalwork, textiles, architecture, furniture and performance and ceremonial arts. Over 150 art works and photographs gathered from museums across the country are testimony to the unique South-western aesthetic that developed from this dynamic cultural exchange.


Dark Tourism, including visitation to places such as murder sites, battlefields and cemeteries is a growing phenomenon, as well as an emergent area of scholarly interest. Despite this interest, the intersecting domains of dark tourism and place identity have been largely overlooked in the academic literature and this book aims to fill this void. The three main themes of Visitor Motivation, Destination Management and Place Interpretation are addressed in this book from both a demand and supply perspective by examining a variety of case studies from around the world. This edited volume takes the dark tourism discussion to another level by reinforcing the critical intersecting domains of dark tourism and place identity and, in particular, highlighting the importance of understanding this connection for visitors and destination managers. Written by leading academics in the area, this stimulating volume of 19 chapters will be valuable reading for postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students in a range of discipline areas; researchers and academics interested in dark tourism; and, other interested stakeholders including those in the tourism industry, government bodies and community groups. [Book Synopsis]


Dual-field-of-view Raman lidar measurements, detecting Raman-scattered light with two fields of view simultaneously, are used for the first time to retrieve cloud microphysical properties. The measurements are performed with the Multiwavelength Atmospheric Raman Lidar for Temperature, Humidity, and Aerosol Profiling (MARTHA) at the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research in Leipzig, Germany. Light that is scattered in forward direction by cloud droplets and inelastically backscattered by N2 molecules is detected. A forward iterative algorithm uses the measured signals to derive profiles of the effective cloud droplet radius, extinction coefficient, and liquid-water content of the investigated clouds. The setup, algorithm, error analysis, and a measurement example are presented. The obtained liquid-water path is validated by observations with a microwave radiometer. With the capability to retrieve aerosol properties as well as cloud microphysical properties, the Raman lidar MARTHA is an ideal tool for studies of the aerosol indirect effect.


A number of authors have reported filaments con- necting bright structures in high-resolution X-ray images, and in some cases these have been taken as evidence for a physical connection between the structures, which might be thought to provide support for a model with non-cosmological redshifts. In this paper I point out two problems which are inherent in the interpretation of smoothed photon-limited data of this kind, and develop some simple techniques for the assessment of the reality of X-ray filaments, which can be applied to either simply smoothed or adaptively smoothed data. To illustrate the useful- ness of these techniques, I apply them to archival ROSATobser- vations of galaxies and quasars previously analysed by others. I show that several reported filamentary structures connecting X-ray sources are not in fact significantly detected.


The paper deals with the development of the police personnel training system in Lithuania in the period of 1990‑2010. Assessing cultural and social circumstances of the formation and functioning of police institution, the degree of modernization of police management and personnel policy implemented in the system, the reasons of inefficiency in training police officers have been revealed. The problems discussed in the paper have been revealed investigating the development of personnel training system by conditionally dividing it into two stages in which the prevailing cultural and social environment and the former model of police institution management had determined the implementation of the officers training policy. The findings of the research showed that in Lithuania inefficient implementation of the reforms in the police system and insufficient cooperation between the Ministry of the Interior and universities are the reasons of failure to create a modern police officers training system, which secures the efficient preparation of police officers. http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ppaa.10.3.638


Prosodic factors affect morpheme form. Reduplicative morphemes often take the shape of the prosodic units syllable, foot, or prosodic word, regardless of the size of the base to which they attach. Some reduplicants also vary depending on the shape of the base. McCarthy & Prince's (1986, 1993, 1995) work in Prosodic Morphology argues that such effects follow from the interaction of prosodic and morphological constraints without direct reference to reduplicant size. In this study, I determine the assumptions that are required to produce uniform reduplicative paradigms with the three basic types, syllable, foot and total, from the interaction of constraints in a prosodic system. 'Uniform' refers to a reduplicant that is the same size across reduplicative bases of different lengths. I systematically analyze the ranking structure of three complete factorial typologies of reduplication built on a basic stress system with well-studied properties (nGX, Alber & Prince, in prep.).  Each subsequent system adds a single constraint to CON. A uniform one-syllable reduplicant is obtainable from pure prosody along with the requirement in GEN that morphemes be overtly realized. Total reduplication requires a single constraint referring to the reduplicant and requiring that it be total (BR.Max). Uniform bisyllabic foot reduplication only arises when the system includes a constraint relating prosodic and morphological constituents through alignment of their edges. These reduplication patterns emerge in the typologies along with a variety of non-uniform, base-dependent patterns.