By processing Census micro data from 10 countries in the region, we answer several questions that can be categorized under the following three main topics: a) spatial distribution trends of indigenous peoples in Latin America, with emphasis on the urbanization process and the spatial pattern of this population within selected cities; b) internal migration of indigenous peoples, with emphasis on rural to urban flows; and c) living conditions of indigenous peoples, with emphasis on inequalities between urban and rural areas.Our results confirm both an increasing proportion of the indigenous population residing in urban areas and the propensity to settle in urban centres close to their home territory rather than in the big metropolises. Within cities, high concentrations of indigenous people are typically found in geographical areas that have higher than average poverty levels. Regarding the second topic we find indigenous people have strong incentives to migrate to cities, and the fact that they have been making that move in recent years will only serve to strengthen the networks that feed back into more migration. The downside is that indigenous peoples have lower socio-economic status in cities, the cost of living is higher than in their places of origin, and sometimes migrants suffer marginalization from their origin communities. Finally, our results on conventional indicators on education, health and access to basic services indicate that living conditions of urban indigenous people are more favourable than those of indigenous people in rural areas. Nevertheless, ethnic inequities in cities persist and in some cases are intensified, reflecting the discrimination and social exclusion that affect indigenous people who live in cities.


The Caspian Sea forms the southern limit of the distribution range of the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), but little is known about its life history in this area. A total of 362 specimens were collected from the Gomishan wetland (southeast Caspian Sea, Iran) to describe the stickleback's life history characteristics. Samples were taken monthly between February and July of 2008. The maximum ages of the population observed were 2+ years for males and 3+ years for females. The length-weight relationship (LWR) was estimated as W = 0.0042TL3.711 for immature specimens, W = 0.0095TL3.1328 for males, and W = 0.0057TL3.4678 for females. The sex ratio was 1:2.63, in favor of females. Reproduction of the three-spined stickleback in the wetland occurred around March-June, with the highest average value of 2.82 for males and of 17.12 for females in April. Two kinds of eggs were found in the ovary: small white opaque eggs with a mean diameter of 0.549, and large yolk-filled eggs with a mean diameter of 1.317. The number of small eggs ranged from 311 to 4709, and of large eggs from 128 to 885. The mean absolute fecundity was 1241.69 eggs, while the mean relative fecundity was 535.24 eggs/g of body weight.


Introduction: Atherosclerosis, hypertension, ischemic diseases, Alzheimerrs disease, Parkinson disease, cancer and inflammation emerge from imbalance between antioxidant and oxidants. Cancer is a most important public health problem in both developed and developing countries. Natural antioxidants such as polyphenols are being used for prevention and treatment cancer. Polyphenols include phenolic acids, flavonoids, stilbenes, lignanas and tannins. This article explains different activities of polyphenols in prevention of cancer and discusses the multiple approach which these phytochemicals merit proper position in therapeutic of cancer. In cancer, these compounds induce apoptosis, reduction the number of tumors, inhibition angiogenesis, modulation of multidrug resistance and antiproliferat- ive activity. In tumor cells, signal transduction cause proliferation in cancer cells. Polyphenols inhibit signal transduction such as protein kinase C, tyrosine kinase and serine/ threonine kinase. Diverse anticancer mechanisms of some polyphenols like resveratol, epigallo catechin gallate, curcumin and genestin are discussed in this article.


The aim of this paper is to explore the possibilities of using 'agonistic' engagement with controversial issues as a pedagogy for global citizenship education. Educating for Global Citizenship (EfGC) has been on the educational agenda since the turn of the 21st century. Internationally, global citizenship education is specifically targeted in the new United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNESCO, 2015). Some countries have been relatively resistant to this global orientated approach to citizenship education. In USA, for instance, the dominant nationalist approach has not yet been replaced for a model that consider the changing nature of citizenship in the context of globalization (Myers, 2006). But other territories (e.g. Colombia, Hong Kong) have explicitly included EfGC in the national curriculum (see Davies et al., 2017. In England, where this research took place, EfGC is not explicitly mentioned in the national curriculum, but it has driven policy and practice (Marshall, 2009, 2011). Two key agendas are emphasized: a) preparing students with knowledge and skills to be competitive in the global market, and b) fostering students' values, particularly empathy and an orientation towards social justice. However, these two approaches are likely to undermine the roots underlying 'global' inequalities (Marshall, 2011). To overcome this challenge, a significant amount of scholarship has promoted a "critical" approach to EfGC which explicitly aims to expose and challenge power relations (e.g., Andreotti, 2006; Lapayese, 2003; al. et au., 2016). Within this later framework, this project aims to engage (rather than ignore) with discussions of power and conflict. Our question is, is 'agonistic' controversial issues a potential pedagogical approach for critical EfGC? The paper draws upon empirical data collected during and after a workshop conducted in an English university. The workshop involved undergraduate and postgraduate education students, primary students, researchers and practitioners interested in global citizenship (44 participants). In the workshop, participants were presented with controversial questions related to global citizenship. Participants were required to debate (but not to reach consensus) on these controversies. Data was collected during the workshop activity via field notes and afterwards via diaries and comments written by the participants. The objective was to examine the possibilities of this approach for democratic citizenship in education. In this paper, we first examine the theoretical and pedagogical grounds of our 'agonistic' approach to controversial issues. We then present the pedagogical and research method, followed by some preliminary findings and a discussion in scholarly significance.


The problem we tackle deals with testing responsiveness of Web applications across different user platforms, which are combinations of browsers, operating systems, devices and device orientation. Because of the variety of such environmental conditions, the behavior of the Web application (the application under test, AUT) can differ widely. Failure modes such as buttons not being visible, feedback boxes located in the wrong position, user interface (UI) components not behaving properly are very common and may affect only some of the platforms. Even when practitioners adopt services such as Browserstack that provide virtualization of user platforms, identification of such defects is very demanding, and as a consequence it is seldom performed in a continuous integration fashion. Unfortunately, layout requirements of UIs tend to change very frequently, and the result is that changes are often not tested well enough. What is needed is a software test automation solution. We tackled this problem by adopting a model-based approach, centered on models that represent the data manipulated by the UI and its behavior. A compiler reads these models, integrates model annotations providing details about UI implementation and about test oracles, and produces Java source code of a test harness. The test harness hides details about the Document Object Model (DOM), about the particular test driver that is used to drive the AUT, and details about the oracles that can be used to check if the AUT satisfies certain properties, such as those dealing with its layout. The test engineer can write high level code for jUnit/TestNG test cases, which can then be run on all the desired platforms, using Selenium as a driver.


Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder which is characterised by hyperglycaemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action or both. The long-term specific effects of DM include the development of retinopathy, nephropathy and neuropathy. Cardiac disease, peripheral arterial and cerebrovascular disease are also known to be linked with DM. Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) accounts for approximately 10% of all individuals with DM, and insulin therapy is the only available treatment. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) accounts for 90% of all individuals with DM. Diet, exercise, oral hypoglycaemic agents and occasionally exogenous insulin are used to manage T2DM. The diagnosis of DM is made where the glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) percentage is greater than 6.5%. Pattern-reversal visual evoked potential (PVEP) testing is an objective means of evaluating impulse conduction along the central nervous pathways. Increased peak time of the visual P100 waveform is an expression of structural damage at the level of myelinated optic nerve fibres. This was an observational cross sectional study. The participants were grouped into two phases. Phase 1, the control group, consisted of 30 healthy non-diabetic participants. Phase 2 comprised of 104 diabetic participants of whom 52 had an HbA1c greater than 10% (poorly controlled DM) and 52 whose HbA1c was 10% and less (moderately controlled DM). The aim of this study was to firstly observe the possible association between glycated haemoglobin levels and P100 peak time of pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (PVEPs) in DM. Secondly, to assess whether the central nervous system (CNS) and in particular visual function is affected by type and/or duration of DM. The cut-off values to define P100 peak time delay was calculated as the mean P100 peak time plus 2.5 X standard deviations as measured for the non-diabetic control group, and were 110.64 ms for the right eye. The proportion of delayed P100 peak time amounted to 38.5% for both diabetic groups, thus the poorly controlled group (HbA1c > 10%) did not pose an increased risk for delayed P100 peak time, relative to the moderately controlled group (HbA1c ≤ 10%). The P100 PVEP results for this study, do however, reflect significant delay (p < 0.001) of the DM group as compared to the non-diabetic group; thus, subclincal neuropathy of the CNS occurs in 38.5% of cases. The duration of DM and type of DM had no influence on the P100 peak time measurements.


Wound healing rate remains an interesting and important issue, in which modern imaging techniques have not yet given a definitive answer. In order to guide better therapeutic interventions, a better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms driving tissue repair are required. The wound healing rate is primarily quantified by the rate of change of the wound's surface area. The objective of this work is to establish a standardized and objective technique to assess the progress of wound healing in wounds appearing on patient's feet, by means of texture image analysis. Image pre-processing, segmentation, texture and geometrical analysis together with visual expert's evaluation were used to assess the wound healing process. A total of 77 digital images from 11 different subjects with foot wounds were taken every third day, for 21 days, by an inexpensive digital camera under different lighting conditions. The images were intensity normalized, and wounds were automatic segmented using a segmentation system based on snakes. From the segmented wounds, 56 different texture features and 4 different geometrical measures were extracted in order to identify features that quantify the rate of wound healing. Texture features that may indicate the progression of wound healing process were identified. More specifically, certain texture features increase (mean, contrast, roughness and radial sum), while some other texture features decrease (sum of squares variance, sum variance, sum average, entropy, coarseness, EE-laws texture energy measures and the Hurst coefficients for fractal dimension one and two analysis) with the progression of the wound healing process. These features were found to be significantly different at an observed time point during the wound healing process, when compared to previous different time points, and this could be used to indicate the rate of wound healing. No significant differences were found for all geometrical measures extracted from the wounds between different time points. Based on the results of this study, it is suggested that some texture features might be used to monitor the wound healing process, thus reducing the workload of experts, provide standardization, reduce costs, and improve the treatment quality for patients. The simplicity of the method also suggests that it may be a valuable tool in clinical wound evaluation. A larger scale study is needed to establish the application in clinical practice and for computing texture features and geometrical measures that may provide information for better and earlier differentiation of the wound healing process. Future work will incorporate additional texture features and geometrical measures for assessing the wound healing process in order to be used in the real clinical practice.


Nulling interferometry is an important technique under development for the DARWIN planet finding mission which enables the detection of the weak infrared emission lines of an orbiting planet. This technique requires the use of single mode optical fibers transmitting light as far as possible in the infrared. Tellurium based glasses transmit infrared light far beyond the second atmospheric window but are usually not stable enough toward crystallisation to be drawn into optical fiber. It was recently shown that the GeTe4 initial glass composition could be stabilized by the introduction of few percents of Se. In this paper, we report the development and the optical characterisation of far-infrared transmitting step index optical. The evolution of the refractive index of the glass versus the ratio Se/Te was measured in order to design a multi mode step index fiber. Its core diameter was 200 μm therefore permitting to easily characterise its optical properties. This multimode fiber transmitted light from 4 to about 15 μ m with losses near 20 dB.m-1. Despite these significant losses, the fiber was efficiently used to detect the broad absorption band of the CO2 located at 15 μm. These results are very promising in the context of the DARWIN mission of the European Space Agency.


The observation of X-ray flares due to a stellar disruption is one of the ways we can indirectly observe a black hole. These events are characterized by a light curve that falls off as the power law t-5/3 at large t. However, as argued by Lodato et al, the early part of the light curve bears an imprint of the interior of the disrupted star. In this paper, we extend the work of Lodato et al by calculating the structure of polytropic stars and their expected tidal disruption light curves. As expected, all of their light curves display the t-5/3 proportionality at late times, but differ at early times. Stars with stiffer equations of state are characterized by higher peak luminosities and earlier onsets of the peak luminosity.


Milagrito was an extensive air-shower observatory that served as a prototype for the larger Milagro instrument. Milagrito operated from 1997 February to 1998 May. Although it was designed as a very high energy (few hundred GeV threshold) water-Cerenkov gamma-ray observatory, it could also be used to study solar energetic particles (SEPs). By recording scaler data, which correspond to photomultiplier tube singles rates, it was sensitive to muons and small showers from hadronic primary particles with rigidities above ~4 GV. Milagrito simultaneously recorded air-shower trigger data of primary particles with energies greater than ~100 GeV that provide the data to help reconstruct event directions. The Milagrito scalers registered a ground-level enhancement associated with the 1997 November 6 SEP event and X9 solar flare. At its peak, the enhancement was 22 times the background rms fluctuations. Based on comparisons to neutron monitor and satellite data, we find evidence that the rigidity power-law spectrum for the differential flux of energetic protons steepened above ~4 GV and that the acceleration site was high in the corona (at ~3 R☉ above the photosphere), assuming that a CME-driven shock was responsible for the ground-level enhancement.


ALPR based applications are more and more used today. Besides the OCR part, the vehicle registration plate detection in real world images represents the main challenge in LPR. This paper presents a simple, yet quite general, fast and effective method for license plate (LP) segmentation. It is based on the evaluation of a local contrast (high gradient) measure at the level of image blocks, binarization of the downscaled contrast map obtained with these values, and analysis of connectivity between its runs, requiring modest CPU and memory resources. It provides as output not only the locations of detected LPs, but also associated bitmaps, black on white, containing only their constituent alphanumeric characters, aligned horizontally, with no slope, slant or tilt, and free of other parasitic noise. Such black on white bitmaps are directly suitable for further OCR, the correctness and completeness of final LPR strongly depending on the quality of the bitmap provided. Extended experiments carried out on own image set, as well as on other (public) data sets, showed good performance and results of the implemented method in the vast majority of situations, even on certain difficult, poor quality images. Comparison with state-of-the-art (based on deep neural networks, and high-end GPU parallel computing), also proved average good performance on public data sets complying with the minimal requirements of our method.


Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is defined as a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by early-emerging and pervasive impairments in social interaction, communication and repetitive and stereotyped behaviours (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Despite their impairments, research has established that young children with ASD display clearly discriminated, and frequently secure attachments to caregivers. Existing research has primarily focussed on comparing rates of attachment classifications between groups (i.e. ASD vs non-ASD) however the meaning of this attachment quality remains poorly understood in ASD. Recently, there has been renewed interest in better understanding the correlates and consequences of attachment quality in ASD, and this comes with increasing recognition within contemporary attachment literature of the importance of early attachment experiences in shaping core social and emotional capacities. The central aim of this thesis was to examine the attachment quality of cognitively high-functioning primary-school aged children with ASD, and the relationship of attachment quality to child social, emotional and behavioural characteristics, and caregiver emotional and relational characteristics. Three empirical studies were undertaken, using both quantitative and qualitative methodology. There were a total of 26 children with ASD and 24 typically developing children, who each participated with their primary caregiver. A majority of participating caregivers were mothers (n = 45, 90%). Children completed self-report questionnaires assessing for their perceived attachment security, use of insecure coping strategies within the attachment relationship, and anxiety symptoms. Caregivers participated in a semi-structured interview regarding their child's attachment behaviours, and completed parent-report questionnaires assessing their child's autism symptoms, anxiety symptoms and externalising problems, and self-report questionnaires assessing their own psychological distress, parenting stress, and romantic attachment style. The first study aimed to describe the qualitative features of the child-caregiver attachment relationship in children with ASD, and contrast this with typically developing dyads. Children with ASD were described as displaying a range of normative attachment behaviours, however there were impairments in more affectively and cognitively complex aspects of the attachment relationship such as the consistent use of the caregiver as a secure base and co-regulating agent. The caregiver's experience was important in understanding that attachment relationship in ASD. The unique impacts of ASD impairments (i.e. emotion processing, intersubjectivity) on the attachment relationship during middle childhood are discussed. The second study aimed to examine self-reported child attachment security and insecure coping strategies in ASD, alongside the caregivers' experience in terms of psychological distress, parenting stress and romantic attachment style. Children with ASD were no less secure, however their caregivers reported more psychological distress, parenting stress and attachment-related anxiety compared to typically developing dyads. Child attachment security was related to less caregiver psychological distress and less caregiver attachment-related anxiety, but only amongst typically developing dyads. No such association was found amongst ASD dyads. The possible impact of emotion processing impairments in ASD on the attachment relationship is discussed, as well as implications for understanding the intergenerational transmission of attachment. The third study aimed to examine the relationships between self-reported child attachment security and insecure coping strategies, and child autism symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and externalising problem behaviours, in children with ASD and typically developing children. Lower levels of attachment security were associated with more severe autism symptoms and more problems with defiance/aggression. The use of insecure-preoccupied coping strategies was associated with higher levels of anxiety. Problems with inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity were not associated with attachment quality. Associations were not moderated by group (i.e. ASD vs typically developing), suggesting a similar profile of attachment correlates in ASD as in typically developing children. Implications for understanding the meaning of attachment quality in ASD are discussed. Taken together, results of the current thesis highlight the child-caregiver attachment relationship in ASD as a complex, bi-directional, and clinically important aspect to the presentation of a child with ASD. Results suggest that there is a reciprocal interplay between ASD impairment, the caregiver experience, and normal attachment processes, which warrants closer study. The current thesis contributes to a broadening of the clinical conceptualisation of ASD, and advocates for the need to better understand the correlates, consequences, and trajectories of attachment quality in ASD.


We present a visual simulation technique called appearance manifolds for modeling the time-variant surface appearance of a material from data captured at a single instant in time. In modeling time-variant appearance, our method takes advantage of the key observation that concurrent variations in appearance over a surface represent different degrees of weathering. By reorganizing these various appearances in a manner that reveals their relative order with respect to weathering degree, our method infers spatial and temporal appearance properties of the material's weathering process that can be used to convincingly generate its weathered appearance at different points in time. Results with natural non-linear reflectance variations are demonstrated in applications such as visual simulation of weathering on 3D models, increasing and decreasing the weathering of real objects, and material transfer with weathering effects.


The U.S. government is the world's largest financial institution, providing credit and assuming risk through diverse activities. But the potential cost and risk of these actions and obligations remain poorly understood and only partially measured. Government budgetary and financial accounting rules, which largely determine the information available to federal decision makers, have only just begun to address these issues. However, recently there has been a push to rethink how these programs are valued and accounted for, and some progress has been made in applying modern valuation methods—such as options pricing, risk-adjusted discount rates, and value at risk—to these types of obligations. This book contains new research, both empirical and methodological, on the measurement and management of these costs and risks. The analyses encompass a broad spectrum of federal programs, including housing, catastrophe insurance, student loans, social security, and environmental liabilities. Collectively, the contributions gathered in Measuring and Managing Federal Financial Risk demonstrate that the logic of financial economics can be a useful tool for studying a range of federal activities.


An experimental and numerical analysis of a low-angle annular expander nozzle is presented to observe the variance in shock structure within the flow field. A RANS-based axisymmetric numerical model was used to evaluate flow characteristics and the model validated using experimental pressure readings and schlieren images. Results were compared with an equivalent converging-diverging nozzle to determine the capability of the wake region in varying the effective area of a low-angle design. Comparison of schlieren images confirmed that shock closure occurred in the expander nozzle, prohibiting the wake region from affecting the area ratio. The findings show that a low angle of deflection is inherently unable to influence the effective area of an annular supersonic nozzle design.


Voting Rights of Refugees develops a novel legal argument about the voting rights of recognised 1951 Geneva Convention refugees. The main normative contention is that such refugees should have the right to vote in the political community where they reside, assuming that this community is a democracy and that its citizens have the right to vote. The book argues that recognised refugees are a special category of non-citizen residents: they are unable to participate in elections of their state of origin, do not enjoy its diplomatic protection and consular assistance abroad, and are unable or unwilling, owing to a well-founded fear of persecution, to return to it. Refugees deserve to have a place in the world, in the Arendtian sense, where their opinions are significant and their actions are effective. Their state of asylum is the only community in which there is any realistic prospect of political participation on their part.


AbstractThe purpose of paragraphing is to make text understandable and easy to read, and to help you tell your story effectively. Paragraphing is difficult because the purpose of the documents we produce and their readership are diverse. To make matters worse, little guidance is given in school and during higher education. Paragraphing is not governed by standard rules; some conventions apply but often are – or have to be – ignored in scientific and medical texts. This is the first of two articles on paragraphing and deals with basic issues that face medical writers and editors. The second article will look at developing paragraphs from ideas when you plan a document.


Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is an enveloped partial double-stranded DNA virus that can cause acute and chronic hepatitis. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 257 million people are living with HBV. Moreover, 20,900 acute hepatitis B cases were reported in 2016. Hepatitis B is highly prevalent in the African, Western Pacific, Eastern Mediterranean, South-East Asia, and European regions, respectively. Due to the high mutational rate of HBV and lack of reverse transcriptase proofreading activity, ten different genotypes with different geographical distributions have been identified. HBV pathogenesis and severity of infection depend on several host and viral factors, particularly, the genetic variability of both the host and virus. Although HBV infection is a global health concern, there is a lack of adequate studies and reports in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Here, we provide a review on HBV epidemiology, pathogenesis, host–pathogen interactions, coinfection with selected viruses, and laboratory diagnosis, focusing on studies conducted in the MENA region to determine the current situation of the HBV infection and outline the future study areas.


Using a cluster randomized control trial, we study the role of women's social networks in improving female labor force participation. In the first treatment arm, a hyper-local digital job search platform service was offered to a randomly selected group of married couples (non-network treatment) in low-income neighborhoods of Delhi, India. In the second treatment arm, the service was offered to married couples and the wife's social network (network treatment), to disentangle the network effect. Neither couples nor their networks were offered the service in the control group. Approximately one year after the intervention, we find no increase in the wife's likelihood of working in either treatment group relative to the control group. Instead, there is a significant improvement in their husbands' labor market outcomes, including the likelihood of working, work hours, and monthly earnings, while in contrast home-based self-employment increased among wives – both in the network treatment group. We argue that our findings can be explained by the gendered structure of social networks in our setting, which reinforces (conservative) social norms about women's (outside) work. JEL classification: J16, J21, J24, O33


The ultimate guide to cryptography, updated from an author team of the world's top cryptography experts. Cryptography is vital to keeping information safe, in an era when the formula to do so becomes more and more challenging. Written by a team of world-renowned cryptography experts, this essential guide is the definitive introduction to all major areas of cryptography: message security, key negotiation, and key management. You'll learn how to think like a cryptographer. You'll discover techniques for building cryptography into products from the start and you'll examine the many technical changes in the field. After a basic overview of cryptography and what it means today, this indispensable resource covers such topics as block ciphers, block modes, hash functions, encryption modes, message authentication codes, implementation issues, negotiation protocols, and more. Helpful examples and hands-on exercises enhance your understanding of the multi-faceted field of cryptography. An author team of internationally recognized cryptography experts updates you on vital topics in the field of cryptography Shows you how to build cryptography into products from the start Examines updates and changes to cryptography Includes coverage on key servers, message security, authentication codes, new standards, block ciphers, message authentication codes, and more Cryptography Engineering gets you up to speed in the ever-evolving field of cryptography.


Medicinal plants are a source of naturally active compounds used extensively by tribal people worldwide for many ailments. Withania somnifera(WS) is one such plant used to treat many ailments from the time of Ayurveda. The dried roots of Withania somnifera are widely used in the treatment of many disorders, the current investigation aimed at extraction and detection or screening of active phytochemical compounds from different extracts of Withania somnifera root. From chemistry point of view, the drug contains group of biologically active constituents known as withanolides. The chemical structures of withanolides have been studied and they are widely distributed in family Solanacae. Phytochemical screening of different extractions revealed the presence of phenols, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, alkaloids, steroids, terpenoids, and glycosides  which could account for its varied medicinal properties like anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-analgesic. The root samples of Withania somniferaare used to examine the anti-bacterial activity against some pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. The anti-bacterial activity of the powder extract was done with Chloroform, methanol and petroleum ether. Petroleum ether extract showed minimum anti-bacterial activity followed by aqueous, chloroform and methanolic extract.  In the present study, the free radical scavenging potential of three extracts of the root of Withania somnifera was assessed by measuring its capability for scavenging 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). Our study demonstrated that the three different extracts of Withania somnifera root showed different level of antioxidant activity and is a potential source of antioxidants and thus could prevent many radical related diseases. In the present study, withaferin A (active component of Withania somnifera), a steroid lactone was examined for its analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties employing different experimental models in mice. The study was done to evaluate the analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity of the aqueous, methanolic, choloroform and petroleum ether extract of the roots of Withania somnifera . The analgesic activity was studied using Eddy's Hot Plate method in swiss albino mice and for anti-inflammatory investigation Carrageenan-Induced Paw Edema method was applied.


This article analyzes the dialectic of fast and slow mobilities as a continuous tension, since the mid-twentieth century, characterized by three evolutions of the functional, phenomenological, and social dimensions of mobility infrastructure and practices in Brussels, Belgium. It is based on the content analysis of diverse "embodiments" of social imaginaries: mobility infrastructures, narratives and sensory-motor behaviors, and images, movies, and photographs. It casts light on the great triple evolution of (1) the scale of the designed city; (2) the limits between spaces devoted to speed, slowness, and overlaps; and (3) the promoted aesthetics in terms of atmospheres and urban experience. These developments strongly relate to the changing meaning of slow and fast mobilities and to a broader change in the societal relationship to space and time.


This paper extends prior studies on the chemoprotective effect of indole-3-carbinol (I3C) on mammary and endometrial tumors in rodent models and focuses on the interplay between standard laboratory chow (Purina Lab Chow 5001), a high omega 6 fatty acid diet (AIN76A), and I3C on the incidence of mouse mammary tumor virus-induced (MMTV) mammary tumors in mice. While the protective effect of I3C was observed in mice maintained on the AIN76A diet from conception, a marked decrease in tumor incidence was observed, which was found to be directly related to the extent of time the mice were maintained on the Purina 5001 diet prior to the switch to the AIN76A control diet. This protective effect of the chow diet against MMTV-induced tumors has not been previously reported. The effects of the chow diet and I3C do not appear to be additive or synergistic.


We show how to compute efficiently with nominal sets over the total order symmetry, by developing a direct representation of such nominal sets and basic constructions thereon. In contrast to previous approaches, we work directly at the level of orbits, which allows for an accurate complexity analysis. The approach is implemented as the library Ons (Ordered Nominal Sets). Our main motivation is nominal automata, which are models for recognising languages over infinite alphabets. We evaluate Ons in two applications: minimisation of automata and active automata learning. In both cases, Ons is competitive compared to existing implementations and outperforms them for certain classes of inputs.


Many insurance companies refuse to insure homeowners who own certain breeds of dog, claiming that some breeds are inherently more dangerous than others. This practice, known as breed discrimination, is without a basis in science. No study has accurately counted or estimated the number of bites per breed, in part because a national reporting system does not exist for dog bites. People are unable to notice the subtle distinctions between breeds, which calls into question the reports that are made. Mixed breed dogs add further confusion to the problems of identification and collection of dog bite data. Likewise, there is an absence of data on the number of dogs per breed. Without accurate data on the number of bites per breed and the number of dogs per breed, it is scientifically impossible to conclude that one breed is more dangerous than another. Breed discrimination is having a profound effect on American families, who are being forced to choose between home ownership and their pets. Although pets are considered mere property under the law, there is some indication that courts and legislatures have realized what every pet owner already knows: that pets are beloved, four-legged members of many American families. Where, as here, the insurance industry makes underwriting or rate-setting decisions without a rational basis in fact or science, legislatures have the right and the duty to correct the problem. Breed discrimination violates the public interest and is cause for regulation.


Time dependence of undrained stress-strain and strength behavior of a natural sensitive marine clay has been investigated with particular reference to the effects of strain rate, strain rate history, aging, and thixotropy. Triaxial samples, identically consolidated, were sheared under a variety of time-loading histories in order to simulate various deformation rate histories. The stress-strain and strength results from these tests were correlated using the hypothesis that stress is a function of current strain and strain rate only. It is illustrated that a stiffer stress-strain response and an increase in undrained strength result from an increase in rate of strain, length of aging, and thixotropic hardening. However, the failure in terms of effective stresses is found to be independent of time effects of any kind whatsoever.


This paper investigates the drivers and dynamics of livelihood and landscape change over a 30-year period in two sites in the communal drylands of Zimbabwe (Marwendo) and South Africa (Tshivuhulani). Of particular interest to us was how access to social protection and a wider range of options may mitigate increased vulnerability under a changing climate. A mixed methods approach (using household surveys, focus group discussions, life history interviews, transect walks and secondary sources of data) was applied to develop human–environment timelines for each study site. Findings indicate that prolonged periods of droughts, unreliable rainfall, changing socioeconomic policies and development-related projects were among the major drivers of both positive and negative change in both villages. Marwendo, in particular, experienced a suite of negative drivers in the last 10 years that increased vulnerability and forced households to diversify into potentially maladaptive activities. In contrast, the expansion in social grants in Tshivhulani provided an important safety net that reduced vulnerability, but also led to a decline in farming and a narrowing of livelihood activities for some households. We demonstrate that rural development initiatives such as electrification and road construction can strengthen local people's capacity to respond to drivers of change, while new methods of farming and diversification of the livelihood portfolio can make them more climate-resilient. However, long-term changes in landscapes and ecosystem services and feedbacks on livelihoods could reverse some of the benefits of development by eroding the natural capital many households still depend on.


An enormous amount of dredged soils was generated from Malaysian rivers, lakes and seas.
These dredged soils have poor geotechnical properties and are generally classified as "useless materials" [I].
However dredged soils can be recycled and reused as a potentially usehl geo-material by solidification.
This paper presents the study exploring the reuse potential of Malaysian dredged marine soils via the
solidification technique, i.e. by using ordinary Portland cement and Class F fly ash. The dredged sample was
essentially a high plasticity clay with a natural moisture content of approximately 166 %. As determined from
standard compaction tests, the maximum dry density and the optimum moisture content were 1.49 Mg/m3
(equivalent to14.62 kN/m3) and 24, % respectively. XRF (X-ray fluorescence) analysis showed that the material
contained high concentrations of SiO, and A1,0,, This was supported by the XRD (X-ray diffractometry) results,
showing presence of quartz, halite, calcite and kaolinite as the primary compounds in the sample. The dredged
soil was solidified with 10 % of additives by dry mass of soil with various ratios of cement: fly ash, i.e. lO:0, 7:3,
55, 3:7 and 0:lO. The specimens were then subjected to curing times of 3, 7 and 28 days. pH of the solidified
specimens showed an increment with increased cement content as well as curing time. Observations with
FESEM (Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy) revealed effective sealing of voids within the
original soil mass through the solidification process, evidence of the formation of ceinentitious products.
These cementitious gels, such as calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) and calcium aluminium silicate hydrate (CASH),
would play a crucial role in strength development of the treated dredged soil. As a general conclusion,
solidification using cement-fly ash could revive the otherwise discarded dredged marine soils for reuse as a
sound geo-material in various civil engineering applications, especially as a backfill material.


The exploding popularity of 802.11 Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) has drawn intense research interest in the optimization of WLAN performance through channel assignment to access points (AP), AP-client association control, and transmission scheduling-we refer to any combination of the three approaches as WLAN management. No matter what degrees of freedom are enabled in WLAN management for performance optimization in a particular WLAN setting, a fundamental question is the corresponding maximum achievable system throughput. We show that for a particular network setting, the derivation of the system throughput (where system throughput is aggregate throughput of all clients or max-min throughput), for any combination of channel assignment, association control and transmission scheduling, is NP-hard and hard to approximate in polynomial time.


The palaeo-Pacific margin of Gondwana in the present-day south–central Andes is marked by tectonic activity related to subduction and terrane accretion. We present detrital zircon U–Pb data encompassing the Palaeozoic era in northern Chile and northwestern Argentina. Cathodoluminescence images reveal dominantly magmatic zircon barely affected by abrasion and displaying only one growth phase. The main age clusters for these zircon grains are Ediacaran to Palaeozoic with an additional peak at 1.3–0.9 Ga and they can be correlated with 'Grenvillian' age, and the Brasiliano, Pampean, and Famatinian orogenies. The zircon data reveal main transport from the nearby Ordovician Famatinian arc and related rocks. The Silurian sandstone units are more comparable with Cambrian units, with Brasiliano and Transamazonian ages (2.2–1.9 Ga) being more common, because the Silurian deposits were situated within or east of the (extinct) Famatinian arc. Hence, the arc acted as a transport barrier throughout Palaeozoic time. The complete suite of zircon ages does not record the accretions of exotic terranes or the Palaeozoic glacial periods. We conclude that the transport system along the palaeo-Pacific margin of Gondwana remained stable for c. 0.3 byr and that provenance data do not necessarily reflect the interior of a continent. Hence, inherited geomorphological features must be taken into account when detrital mineral ages are interpreted. Supplementary material: U–Pb data, CL images, and detailed geological maps are available at www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18796.


This article discusses how the position of independent regulatory agencies harmonizes with the doctrine of separation of powers, what the characteristic features of independent agencies are and how they can be distinguished from the executive agencies. There are several reasons why scholars who dedicate their interest to independent regulatory agencies usually start their research from the American experience. First, independent regulatory agencies are an American invention (the very first independent regulatory agency was created more than one hundred years ago). Second, the existence of U.S. independent agencies influences European countries' public administration institutions system. Third, the knowledge of American independent agencies and of mechanisms of their functions can stimulate improvement of the pattern of independent agencies in a number of European countries.


Quantitative empirical analyses of a population of interest usually aim to estimate the causal effect of one or more independent variables on a dependent variable. However, only in rare instances is the whole population available for analysis. Researchers tend to estimate causal effects on a selected sample and generalize their conclusions to the whole population. The validity of this approach rests on the assumption that the sample is representative of the population on certain key characteristics. A study using a non-representative sample is lacking in external validity by failing to minimize population choice bias. When the sample is large and non-response bias is not an issue, a random selection process is adequate to ensure external validity. If that is not the case, however, researchers could follow a more deterministic approach to ensure representativeness on the selected characteristics, provided these are known, or can be estimated, in the parent population. Although such approaches exist for matched sampling designs, research on representative sampling and the similarity between the sample and the parent population seems to be lacking. In this article we propose a greedy algorithm for obtaining a representative sample and quantifying representativeness in Stata.


Understanding the factors that drive geographic variation in life history is an important challenge in evolutionary ecology. Here, we analyze what predicts geographic variation in life-history traits of the common lizard, Zootoca vivipara, which has the globally largest distribution range of all terrestrial reptile species. Variation in body size was predicted by differences in the length of activity season, while we found no effects of environmental temperature per se. Females experiencing relatively short activity season mature at a larger size and remain larger on average than females in populations with relatively long activity seasons. Interpopulation variation in fecundity was largely explained by mean body size of females and reproductive mode, with viviparous populations having larger clutch size than oviparous populations. Finally, body size-fecundity relationship differs between viviparous and oviparous populations, with relatively lower reproductive investment for a given body size in oviparous populations. While the phylogenetic signal was weak overall, the patterns of variation showed spatial effects, perhaps reflecting genetic divergence or geographic variation in additional biotic and abiotic factors. Our findings emphasize that time constraints imposed by the environment rather than ambient temperature play a major role in shaping life histories in the common lizard. This might be attributed to the fact that lizards can attain their preferred body temperature via behavioral thermoregulation across different thermal environments. Length of activity season, defining the maximum time available for lizards to maintain optimal performance, is thus the main environmental factor constraining growth rate and annual rates of mortality. Our results suggest that this factor may partly explain variation in the extent to which different taxa follow ecogeographic rules.


Recently, Broido & Clauset (2019) mentioned that (strict) Scale-Free networks were rare, in real life. This might be related to the statement of Stumpf, Wiuf & May (2005), that sub-networks of scale-free networks are not scale-free. In the later, those sub-networks are asymptotically scale-free, but one should not forget about second-order deviation (possibly also third order actually). In this article, we introduce a concept of extended scale-free network, inspired by the extended Pareto distribution, that actually is maybe more realistic to describe real network than the strict scale free property. This property is consistent with Stumpf, Wiuf & May (2005): sub-network of scale-free larger networks are not strictly scale-free, but extended scale-free.


Kaunas Biennial, Mykolas Žilinskas Art Gallery, Lithuania
(18 September — 1 January 2016)

Commissioned by Crafts Council UK and developed as part of a Leverhulme Artist Residency at the Printworks Trust
An investigation into direct communicative artworks for the blind and visual impaired. The textile based scores are tactile sound generating surfaces that celebrate the braille music notation system of Louis Braille and the graphic scores of Cornelius Cardew.

Each score is composed of numerous cells of braille and haptic notations that form an overall composition. These cells can be explored by touch (using capacitive sense technology), with the tactile and textural patterns varying based upon the sound material they represent.

The composition does not operate under any particular time signature or linear arrangement allowing for a dynamic recombination of rhythmic and harmonic score material and a flexibility in exploration by touch.

The sound material heard within the composition is derived from studio recordings of scored material composed for the tactile score. When a certain patterning of the tactile score is touched, related sound patterns are triggered from the sound score and heard back instantly across a spatial array of twenty speakers embedded behind the score.

With thanks to;
Leverhulme Foundation,
Havva Basto,
Arron Smith (Artists & Engineers),
Daniel Jones,
Faye McNulty,
Keir Vine,
Simon Hewitt-Jones,
Alex Eichenberger.


In work-poverty has become a pressing social issue in Europe. The self-employed remain relatively uncharted terrain in this context. With about 15 percent of European workers in self-employment this group can no longer be ignored, especially since self-employment is on the rise in many countries, particularly own-account self-employment. Drawing on EU-SILC data this paper provides a systematic mapping exercise of poverty and living standards among the self-employed in the European Union. We find that the self-employed in Europe generally face significantly higher income poverty risks than contracted workers. Looking in more detail at the drivers of income poverty among the self-employed we find that in addition to lower reported earnings, lower overall work-intensity at the household level appears to be an important driver. However, while income poverty levels are quite significant among the self-employed, material deprivation rates are generally much lower. The discrepancy between income poverty measures and material deprivation measures is much larger for the self-employed than it is for employees. One possible explanation is that the self-employed can more often draw on assets accumulated over the life cycle or on business assets they control. The self-employed constitute a very mixed segment of the workforce and within-group inequality is quite significant. One group emerges as being particularly at-risk of poverty are own-account workers, substantiating worries about the rise of this form of self-employment. While the paper offers extensive descriptive analysis and some tentative explanations, an important and sizable research agenda remains.


Data mining is a field which searches for interesting knowledge or information from existing massive collection of data. In particular, algorithms like Apriori help a researcher to understand the potential knowledge, deep inside the data base. But due to the large time consumed by Apriori to find the frequent item sets and generate rules, several applications cannot use this algorithm. In this paper, we describe the modification of Apriori algorism, which will reduce the time taken for execution to a larger extent.


Recent work has established an empirically successful framework for adapting learning rates for stochastic gradient descent (SGD). This effectively removes all needs for tuning, while automatically reducing learning rates over time on stationary problems, and permitting learning rates to grow appropriately in non-stationary tasks. Here, we extend the idea in three directions, addressing proper minibatch parallelization, including reweighted updates for sparse or orthogonal gradients, improving robustness on non-smooth loss functions, in the process replacing the diagonal Hessian estimation procedure that may not always be available by a robust finite-difference approximation. The final algorithm integrates all these components, has linear complexity and is hyper-parameter free.


Family systems counseling is a powerful and beneficial counseling technique that has been effective in treating families of children with learning disabilities. Family counseling has been effective in many settings, but has not been explored as a school counselor intervention. This research is a qualitative study exploring school counselors' experiences and perceptions while providing family counseling to families of children with learning disabilities. This counseling included a minimum of eight counseling sessions per family.

The results of this study indicate that school counselors must begin to incorporate family counseling into their regular school counseling programs in order to most effectively help children. If family counseling becomes a standard practice for school counselors, counselor education programs will need to incorporate family counseling courses into their school counseling program curricula. School counselors may also obtain family counseling training through workshops, consultation and clinical supervision.

Findings from this study suggest that school systems may need to implement the following changes: 1) provide flexibility in scheduling that allows counselors to meet with families during evenings, Saturdays, and summer months, 2) arrange for accessibility of counselors to families requesting family services, 3) provide availability of counselors as 12-month employees in order to maintain a consistent family counseling program, 4) reduce the counselor-to-pupil ratio by hiring more school counselors, 5) redefine the counselor's role and job description to include providing more counseling services, specifically family counseling, 6) increase opportunities for training and clinical supervision in family counseling, 7) provide appropriate facilities for family counseling in the schools and 8) provide training of family systems for school administrators and personnel.

The results of this study show that counselors may need to engage in public relations activities so that children and families may be better informed of the variety of counseling services available, including family counseling. Since school counselors spend much of their time working with children with learning disabilities and family counseling is necessary to bring about lasting changes in children and families, school counselors must work with family systems. The results of this study indicate that family counseling needs to be incorporated in school counseling programs.


Through secondary data and open-ended questionnaire, the study examines the Ethio-China economic cooperation by focusing on trade and investment from the Ethiopian side. Drawing on the concept of South-South Cooperation, the paper argues that despite the socio-economic and technological variation between Ethiopia and China, both countries benefit from their economic cooperation. To understand the issue, the study focused on two main issues: the current situation of Ethio-China economic cooperation, and possible challenges the cooperation could face. The various agreements on technological cooperation between the two governments show that the Ethio-China cooperation is strongly substantiated by the two governments' political relationship. The study also indicated that despite in Ethiopia trade balance favors China and most of the investment projects are solely owned by Chinese investors, Ethiopia is still benefiting from FDI, transfer of knowledge, as well as different Chinese loan and aids. The result from gravity model shows that Chinese population and distance between the two countries affect trade between Ethiopia and china negatively, whereas both indicators have no significant effect on trade facilitation. Without generalization, the research to some extent can be considered as explanatory to other South-South Cooperation particularly in connection with China and other developing countries that share similar conditions as Ethiopia.


Preeminent
teachers, the public-received example in the modern teacher cultivation system
for this new era, represent the specific pursuit of educational value and the
significance of value education. This paper focuses on the goal of the education
value of "preeminence" as a key theme. It analyzes the generation,
reconstruction, and conceptual reshaping of educational values, based on which
to illustrate the nature of the ecosystem of educational and cultural values
for teachers with multi-value orientation as the foundation and with teachers
as the major participants. It provides a "non-instilling" and goal-orientating
surviving strategy for the learning and practical subjects and a discovering mechanism
for core educational value so as to consider the value-oriented growth and
cultivation of future teachers from the perspective of values.


Significance Nanoscale magnetic resonance imaging enabled by quantum sensors is a promising path toward the outstanding goal of determining the structure of single biomolecules at room temperature. We develop a technique, which we name "quantum interpolation," to improve the frequency resolution of these quantum sensors far beyond limitations set by the experimental controlling apparatus. The method relies on quantum interference to achieve high-fidelity interpolation of the quantum dynamics between hardware-allowed time samplings, thus allowing high-resolution sensing. We demonstrate over two orders of magnitude resolution gains, and discuss applications of our work to high-resolution nanoscale magnetic resonance imaging. Recent advances in engineering and control of nanoscale quantum sensors have opened new paradigms in precision metrology. Unfortunately, hardware restrictions often limit the sensor performance. In nanoscale magnetic resonance probes, for instance, finite sampling times greatly limit the achievable sensitivity and spectral resolution. Here we introduce a technique for coherent quantum interpolation that can overcome these problems. Using a quantum sensor associated with the nitrogen vacancy center in diamond, we experimentally demonstrate that quantum interpolation can achieve spectroscopy of classical magnetic fields and individual quantum spins with orders of magnitude finer frequency resolution than conventionally possible. Not only is quantum interpolation an enabling technique to extract structural and chemical information from single biomolecules, but it can be directly applied to other quantum systems for superresolution quantum spectroscopy.


Abstract The article aims to illustrate through a case study the contingencies, complexities and paradoxes which characterize the external borders of the European Union. The study focuses on the only cross‐border urban area along the Finnish‐Russian border region, that of Imatra and Svetogorsk. Firstly, the peculiarities of this region are described by comparing it to other cooperating border communities in the EU. Next, the twin‐town initiative by the local governments is analyzed, the development potential of the cross‐border region is evaluated, and the motives for and obstacles to cooperation are examined for assessing the prospects of cooperation in a wider European context. It is concluded that the distinctive features of this highly asymmetric case have been taken into account by the local actors when they have defined the aim and scope of their cooperation strategy. Due to these contextual factors, it is also understandable that the concrete results of the twin city initiative have remained limited thus far. Although integrated cross‐border structures are nearly nonexistent, the local cooperation activities provide an interesting laboratory for observing and assessing the objectives and practices of a "Wider Europe" at a local scale.


Jung, Psychology, Postmodernity explores points of confluence and, more often, contradictions between Jungian and postmodern ideas.

Throughout the book Raya Jones examines how personal meaning emerges in human activity. Jung addressed this in terms of symbol formation, with particular attention to dreams, myths, art and other fantasy productions. Postmodern psychologists tend to address issues of meaning in terms of peoples self-understanding and identity construction, with a focus on self-positioning in actual conversation or on autobiographical narratives. Jones draws a line of critical comparison between postmodern psychology and Jung's descriptions of the symbolic dimension, myth, and the structure of the psyche. The book culminates with an evaluation of Jung's psychic energy concept, for which there is no direct counterpart in postmodern psychology.

Jung, Psychology, Postmodernity is an original critique of two key moments in the history of psychology. It will be welcomed by Jungians, as well as psychotherapists, and students of psychology.


sleep programme with specific behavioural management techniques has been used, as have sedative medications as trimeprazine, which caused deterioration in concentration daytime sleepiness. Should she be tried on melatonin? clinical a preschool child with visual impairment and mild to learning difficulties, in whom conventional have failed [patient] is melatonin [intervention] her sleep pattern


This article analyzes the complete historical performance of Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS portfolio from 2001 through 2017, which includes many of the stock recommendations made on Cramer's TV show, Mad Money. Both since inception of the portfolio and since the start of Mad Money in 2005 (when the portfolio was converted into a charitable trust), Cramer's portfolio has underperformed the S&P 500 total return index both on an overall returns basis and in Sharpe ratio. Being the first to analyze Cramer's post-crisis return history, these findings contrast with previous studies, which analyzed Cramer's outperformance in short windows before the 2008 financial crisis. Using factor analysis, we find that Cramer's portfolio returns are primarily driven by underleveraged exposure to market returns and, in some specifications, tilting toward small-cap stocks, growth stocks, and stocks with poor earnings quality.


EXPRESSIVE PERFORMER MOVEMENTS IN MUSICAL performances represent implied levels of communication and can contain certain characteristics and meanings of embodied human expressivity. This study investigated the contribution of ancillary body movements on the perception of musical performances. Using kinematic displays of four clarinetists, perceptual experiments were conducted in which participants were asked to rate specific music-related dimensions of the performance and the performer. Additionally, motions of particular body parts, such as movements of the arms and torso, as well as motion amplitudes of the whole body were manipulated in the kinematic display. It was found that manipulations of arm and torso movements have fewer effects on the observers9 ratings of the musicians than manipulations concerning the movement of the whole body. The results suggest that the multimodal experience of musicians is less dependent on the players9 particular body motion behaviors than it is on the players9 overall relative motion characteristics.


It has been argued that the structural conditions of poverty and inequality have influenced the persistence of patronage politics in the country. However, the manner in which patronage relations are expressed, especially in local-level politics, has changed because of the numerous developments in the political economy of the country. In this regard, the dynamic impact of urbanization, capital penetration and state expansion have to be carefully assessed in order that we can arrive at a more profound reading of contemporary local politics.


An under-emphasized but crucial variable of success in systemic design is the perspective through which a problem system is understood and from which interventions are conceptualized and implemented. While rooted in design (a consciously empathetic discipline; cf. Kimbell, 2011), it is easy for systemic designers to use research practices that may fail to capture and use the perspectives of their stakeholders. ftese approaches risk misrepresenting the stakeholders who contribute to projects and, in turn, they are a danger to the potential impact of these mis-researched problem systems. In this research, I propose an assessment framework to check whether a project effectively deploys research tools and processes that strengthen stakeholders' perspectives, and I provide a proof of concept of this framework in use through hermeneutic case study analysis.

Systemic design processes that are not executed with the direct and explicit engagement of stakeholders—to the extent of achieving an emic (from within) understanding of the system—may be flawed at their foundation. By fostering recognition of the importance of an emic perspective, and by providing a framework of principles, practices, and processes to accomplish systemic design with this perspective, I hope to ensure that systemic design processes are as accurate and valid as possible with respect to the stakeholders of the system.

ftis is not to suggest that systemic design practice is "too etic" (from outside). In fact, with roots in design, systemic design is often deliberately emic. Systemic designers make use of designerly tools that help the researcher to build empathy with system stakeholders (e.g., soft systems methodology, critical systems heuristics, appreciative inquiry; Jones, 2014). ftey often seek to engage stakeholders in the systemic design process and include reflective analysis of what has been learned in order to assess where deeper engagement with the system is required (Ryan, 2014). ftat said, with the advent of crowdsourcing (the facilitated involvement of the general public in problem solving, usually using online tools; Lukyanenko & Parsons, 2012) and data science (the use of computational tools to analyze and understand large quantities of data; Scepanovic, 2018), data-driven methods may increasingly influence systemic design practice. One recent example sought input from hundreds of people to identify opportunities for change in Canadian post-secondary systems through an iterative online survey (Second Muse, Intel, & Vibrant Data, 2016). ftis data-driven direction is a powerful opportunity, of course, but it underscores the need to develop principles and best practices for assessing and supporting emic understanding as we gain more data from these tools.

In the first phase of this research, I look to the principles and theorists of ethnography to develop a framework for assessing the emic/etic perspective of a given research project. Namely, Geertz' "ftick Description: Toward an Interpretive fteory of Culture" (found in The Interpretation of Cultures, 1973, chapter 1) provides a foundation for the process of emic research in the form of four iterative steps: (1) acknowledge initial impressions; (2) capture speech, behaviours, events, and artifacts; (3) construct meaning; and (4) self-appraise sufficiency of capture and construction of meaning. Meanwhile, Creswell and Miller (2000) provide a set of five procedural principles for emic validity: (1) triangulation; (2) disconfirming evidence; (3) prolonged engagement; (4) member checking and collaboration; and (5) researcher reflexivity. Taken together, I generate a critical research framework which can be used to assess a given research project's emic/etic perspective.

In the second phase, I provide a proof-of-concept of this framework (and its theoretical underpinnings) via a case-based assessment of three systemic design projects. Case studies provide an effective venue for learning about the context- dependent manifestations of the phenomena being studied (Flyvbjerg, 2006). One of these case studies is one I have developed through my experience in participating and contributing to the development of the Canadian National Youth Leadership and Innovation Strategy framework, which convened hundreds of youth and youth-serving organizations in order to understand the youth leadership and innovation system in Canada (MaRS Studio Y, 2017). fte second and third case studies are those profiled by Ryan and Leung (2014). In each case, I use identify phenomena representing the practice of emic (or etic) understanding in the research orientation of the work, as acknowledged by the above framework. I examine the step-by-step procedure and any associated notes about the experience of the researchers and participants involved. In each step or experience, I look for evidence of the four steps of emic understanding or the six techniques of emic validation reported above.

In order to interpret and analyze the chosen case studies, I turn to the methodology of phenomenological hermeneutics (Eberle, 2014, p. 196; cf. Wernet, 2014). Phenomenological hermeneutics are appropriate as I have access to the described phenomena of the systemic design projects captured by the chosen cases, but these phenomena are not explicitly captured with reference to emic or etic perspectives—thus some construction of the inherent emic or etic data is necessary in order to make judgments about the perspectives found in the projects.

ftis hermeneutical analysis provides comparative evidence for the emic and etic perspectives used by the researchers in each case. It becomes possible to contrast and critique the principles, practices, and processes employed in each project in order to make a judgment about the project's resulting emic/etic orientation. From these analyses, a metaphor emerges. Systemic design projects with etic orientations adopt an intensivist approach. Akin to intensive care in medicine, the systemic designers attempt to artificially suspend a system in a room. (Consider board room systems mapping as a trivial example of this practice.) Attempts are made to "get the whole system in the room", but the system is therefore removed from its context. fte status of inaccessible elements of the system are guessed at and assumed, while other elements are placed in stasis and augmented by facilitation and technology. fte resulting interventions are spun up in this artificial space, but implemented in the system's context—the systemic design team simply hopes that their assumptions hold and that the artificial suspension didn't cause too much damage. System design projects with an emic orientation adopt an extensivist approach. fte designers themselves extend into the system. ftey sit with it for a while in order to acclimatize to its culture and learn its patterns. ftey interact with stakeholders and phenomena in context and capture these interactions as they are, as an ethnographer would. fte interventions they develop are (co-) created in place, built into the system's real networks and activities.

Of course, the challenge with these dueling approaches is that there are important trade-offs. fte extensivist approach takes time and personal investment. What's more, the intensivist approach can have other valuable outputs: stakeholders of a system see one another and the parts of the system they interact with as a cohesive whole. fte result of this analysis, then, is not an obvious set of best practices. Instead, the emic/etic assessment framework can be used to judge how a research project effectively captures the perspectives of its stakeholders. It breaks down a project into components, each of which provides an intervention point for enhanced emic understanding. Finally, it provokes a reflective conversation, forcing us to ask ourselves where we can do better.


Background Pain-relieving effects of dienogest against endometriosis are comparable to leuprolide acetate for 24 weeks. We assessed whether long-term dienogest administration reduces recurrence after endometrioma excision. Methods In this retrospective cohort study, 568 women with MRI-based diagnosis of ovarian endometrioma, who underwent laparoscopic stripping between 2008 and 2013, were studied. Recurrence rates and side effects over 5 years were investigated in 417 without postoperative medication and 151 who received dienogest postoperatively at 2 mg. Transvaginal sonography was performed every 3 months, and when cystic lesions ≥2 cm were observed, diagnostic MRI was conducted. Recurrence was defined as a lesion previously diagnosed as endometrioma by MRI, equal in size or larger 3 months later on ultrasonography. Cumulative recurrence rates were calculated with the Kaplan-Meier method, and group comparison involved log-rank tests. Blood examinations were completed every 3 months, and bone mineral density was measured with DEXA every 6 months. Results Cumulative recurrence rates at the 5th postoperative year in the no-postoperative-medication and 2-mg dienogest groups were 69 and 4%, respectively, showing significant decreases (odd ratio [OR] = 0.09, 95% confidence interval, 0.03-0.26). Anemia occurred in 4% due to metrorrhagia directly after administration, metrorrhagia including spotting was observed in 20% at 1 year and decreases in bone mineral density and depression were observed in 4 and 2.6%, respectively, in the dienogest group. Conclusions Dienogest significantly prevented postoperative endometrioma recurrence. However, side effects such as metrorrhagia and a decreased bone mineral density were observed. Therefore, careful long-term follow-up is necessary.


A quality teacher is one who has a positive effect on student learning and development through a combination of content mastery, command of a broad set of pedagogic skills, and communications/ interpersonal skills. The perception toward the teacher's vital role in the success of learning is reasonable as, in case there is an insufficient learning facility, we do still have a hope if the teacher has standard competence to do so. At least three problems of teachers faced by Indonesia, i.e. teacher quality, teacher welfare, and teacher politicization This paper is a deductive and inductive descriptive analysis writing using secondary data from literature. A number of facts related to teachers are then analyzed qualitatively to gain comprehensive descriptive of teachers' condition in Indonesia. The teachers' quality as one of education problems is influenced by many factors. To deal with this, the authority needs to keep socializing all standards of regulations out teacher's qualification and competence, to build teachers' self-awareness to always develop their ability and skills through workshops, education qualification upgrade, and independent learning to enhance their quality of teaching. Teacher's welfare is one of motivation to boost teachers' quality and performance to improve and to better the quality of education development in Indonesia. To overcome this problem, the government should attempt to eliminate problems of big wealthy gap and injustice rights among the teachers with different wages, to increase stipend for honorary teachers who's under minimum regional payment, and to realize other teacher's allowances on time. Teacher politicization problem is unavoidable since it is realistic effect of regional autonomy practice and education decentralization policy. The teachers are used by the local ruler for their political interest. Or reversely the teachers take advantages of the political situation to get compensation or certain political benefits.


An often unacknowledged yet foundational problem for design is how 'futures' are recruited for design practice. This problem saturates considerations of what could or should be designed. We distinguish two intertwined approaches to this: 'pragmatic projection', which tries to tie the future to the past, and 'grand vision', which ties the present to the future. We examine ubiquitous computing as a case study of how pragmatic projection and grand vision are practically expressed to direct and structure design decisions. We assess their implications and conclude by arguing that the social legitimacy of design futures should be increasingly integral to their construction.


Transformation optics asks, using Maxwell's equations, what kind of electromagnetic medium recreates some smooth deformation of space? The guiding principle is Einstein's principle of covariance: that any physical theory must take the same form in any coordinate system. This requirement fixes very precisely the required electromagnetic medium. The impact of this insight cannot be overestimated. Many practitioners were used to thinking that only a few analytic solutions to Maxwell's equations existed, such as the monochromatic plane wave in a homogeneous, isotropic medium. At a stroke, transformation optics increases that landscape from 'few' to 'infinity', and to each of the infinitude of analytic solutions dreamt up by the researcher, there corresponds an electromagnetic medium capable of reproducing that solution precisely. The most striking example is the electromagnetic cloak, thought to be an unreachable dream of science fiction writers, but realised in the laboratory a few months after the papers proposing the possibility were published. But the practical challenges are considerable, requiring meta-media that are at once electrically and magnetically inhomogeneous and anisotropic. How far have we come since the first demonstrations over a decade ago? And what does the future hold? If the wizardry of perfect macroscopic optical invisibility still eludes us in practice, then what compromises still enable us to create interesting, useful, devices? While three-dimensional (3D) cloaking remains a significant technical challenge, much progress has been made in two dimensions. Carpet cloaking, wherein an object is hidden under a surface that appears optically flat, relaxes the constraints of extreme electromagnetic parameters. Surface wave cloaking guides sub-wavelength surface waves, making uneven surfaces appear flat. Two dimensions is also the setting in which conformal and complex coordinate transformations are realisable, and the possibilities in this restricted domain do not appear to have been exhausted yet. Beyond cloaking, the enhanced electromagnetic landscape provided by transformation optics has shown how fully analytic solutions can be found to a number of physical scenarios such as plasmonic systems used in electron energy loss spectroscopy and cathodoluminescence. Are there further fields to be enriched? A new twist to transformation optics was the extension to the spacetime domain. By applying transformations to spacetime, rather than just space, it was shown that events rather than objects could be hidden from view; transformation optics had provided a means of effectively redacting events from history. The hype quickly settled into serious nonlinear optical experiments that demonstrated the soundness of the idea, and it is now possible to consider the practical implications, particularly in optical signal processing, of having an 'interrupt-without-interrupt' facility that the so-called temporal cloak provides. Inevitable issues of dispersion in actual systems have only begun to be addressed. Now that time is included in the programme of transformation optics, it is natural to ask what role ideas from general relativity can play in shaping the future of transformation optics. Indeed, one of the earliest papers on transformation optics was provocatively titled 'General Relativity in Electrical Engineering'. The answer that curvature does not enter directly into transformation optics merely encourages us to speculate on the role of transformation optics in defining laboratory analogues. Quite why Maxwell's theory defines a 'perfect' transformation theory, while other areas of physics such as acoustics are not apparently quite so amenable, is a deep question whose precise, mathematical answer will help inform us of the extent to which similar ideas can be extended to other fields. The contributors to this Roadmap, who are all renowned practitioners or inventors of transformation optics, will give their perspectives into the field's status and future development.


In five studies, the authors examine the impact of an independent (vs. interdependent) mindset on consumer adoption of new products. Study 1 demonstrates that consumers in a predominantly independent (vs. interdependent) culture are more willing to adopt really new products, whereas consumers in a predominantly interdependent (vs. independent) culture are more willing to adopt incrementally new products. Studies 2 and 3 conceptually replicate these findings using situationally activated mindsets and demonstrate that this effect is driven by the perceived fit between the product's newness level and the optimal level of distinctiveness consumers want. Finally, Studies 4a and 4b show that the presence of distinctiveness-dampening cues (i.e., popularity cues) and distinctiveness-enhancing cues (i.e., scarcity cues) can reverse the effect of self-perspective such that the independent self becomes less willing to adopt really new products and more willing to adopt incrementally new products than does the interdependent self. These findings offer practical implications for managing innovation adoption in both domestic and international marketplaces.


This paper proposes methods that make it possible to use a scanning hemispherical radiometer (wavelength range 8–13 ?m) to determine the height of the lower limit, the direction, and the speed of motion of clouds in the daytime and nighttime at various heights of the troposphere. Experimental results are presented concerning the variability of the structure of the radiation fields and of various speeds and directions of motion of the clouds. A transition is designated to an improved measurement system using an IR array.


Automated traffic-speed surveys have been applied on the English Strategic Road Network since 2000, under the Traffic-speed Condition Surveys (TRACS) specification, which employ image and laser-based equipment to measure surface condition at trafficspeed. The original requirements for TRACS surveys were based on research carried out by TRL for the Highways Agency. However, there have been significant advances in the technologies for the measurement of surface condition since 2000. The introduction of a new contract in 2012 has provided the opportunity enhance the requirements. This paper focuses on the developments undertaken in two areas – rutting and surface disintegration. Rutting is a key indicator of condition, but the laser-based transverse profile systems used to quantify rutting can be adversely affected by features such as road markings. An approach has been developed to use high resolution transverse profile in combination with surface intensity measurements to remove the influence of such features. Surface disintegration is becoming a major source of deterioration on the SRN. This has required the development of an improved assessment method, which utilises multiple laser texture measurements to identify disintegration over the full survey width. The research has lead to the publication of a revised survey specification for TRACS.


This article puts forward the thesis that the contemporary global movement against capitalism, and the post-Fordist regime it is responding to, is best understood in terms of the emergence of 'human nature' as the crux of political struggle. According to Virno, the biological invariant has become the raw material of social praxis because the capitalist relation of production mobilizes to its advantage, in a historically unprecedented way, the species-specific prerogatives of Homo sapiens. Through the concept of 'natural-historical diagrams', the article explores the significance of socio-political states of affairs which directly display key aspects of anthropogenesis, and, making use of Ernesto De Martino's concept of 'cultural apocalypses', considers the different relations that a biological 'background' and a socio-political 'foreground' entertain in traditional and contemporary societies. The attempt to develop a 'natural history' of such diagrams leads Virno to reflecting on the importance of the language faculty, neoteny, non-specialization and the absence of a predetermined natural environment for political action. This reflection on the contemporary importance of political anthropology leads Virno to a set of concluding remarks on the role of ethics and the idea of the 'good life' in the practice of the 'new global' movement.


The cervix uteri is a rigid tube which connects the uterus with the vagina and during most of the time it is firmly closed. During oestrus, late pregnancy and parturition, the morphological appearance in the cervix changes markedly, resulting in a softer cervix, which during parturition can even be stretched open to a diameter that is more than a tenfold larger than before.
During gyneacological interventions, such as artificial inseminations in several animal species, or in women it would be beneficial to penetrate the cervix with ease. Clinical obsterical problems occur when insufficient closure of the cervix during pregnancy causes premature birth, or when the cervix fails to dilate during birth. Collagen is one of the most important components of the cervix that causes the rigidness of the cervix and during softening of the cervix, collagen has been shown to undergo significant changes in its structure. Several hormones are involved in regulating these changes, by stimulating or depressing processes that are mostly associated with the inflammation cascade.
So far studies that aimed to get more insight into the many factors involved in cervical softening have been using cross-sectional study protocols. Ethical and practical considerations in the subjects that are mostly used (women, small laboratory animals or small ruminants) make it almost impossible to perform longitudinal studies in these species. Another limiting factor in these type of studies is the fact that functional changes in the cervix are usually related to the gestational age, rather than the stage of gestation, relative to parturition. The hormonal changes in the maternal blood and the changes that take place in the cervix during parturition are more dramatic compared towhat happens during late pregnancy or the oestous phase of the cycle. It is therefore, logic to assume that during parturition functional changes in the cervix are differently regulated than during the other two stages, that they may differ in several biochemical and cellular aspects, and that timing of these changes relative to the moment of birth is critical.
With the studies described in this thesis we aimed to find out if the cow could be a more suitable model for longitudinal studies of the cervix. By using a newly described biopsy technique to study samples that were repeatedly obtained from cows during different stages of gestation we were able to differentiate the biochemical changes that occur in the collagen of the bovine cervix during cervical ripening and during parturition. By adapting an ultrasound cervimetry technique, previously used in women, combining it with frequent blood-sampling and electromyographic (EMG) measurements of the uterus, we were able to continuosly monitor cervical dilatation during parturition and relate this to temporal changes in hormone levels and myometrial activity. In addition, studies of the cervix of the non-pregnant cow have shown that regional differences exist in biochemical aspects of collagen and expression of oestrogen and progesterone receptors, indicating that it is critical for the interpration of studies on cellular or biochemical changes, to describe in detail the area were samples were obtained.


The VC industry provides an excellent example for an industry that is based on the ability to bring together ideas and high-risk capital in a process that generates value. Of particular interest is the case where the entrepreneurs reside in one country and the investors reside in another country. There are two types of benefits; the benefits to the entrepreneurs and the investors, and the benefits to the country where the investment takes place. The first type of benefits depends on the success of the young innovative technology firms. The second type of benefits depends on the total flow of high-risk capital from the country of the investors to the country where the investment takes place. While the benefits to the entrepreneurs and the shareholders are vastly discussed, the benefit to the hosting country is less explored. We show that the benefits are both direct, in the form of taxes and indirect as higher wages for the local skilled workforce. We use hand-picked database to estimate the total benefit to a small country that was successful in attracting international VC funding. Our main result is that the Income tax collected from VC backed employees is about 1200% higher than the Capital tax gained from exits. This result can be translated into optimal governmental taxation scheme that is set to keep cost-benefit efficient success rate.


While the theory of relative plausibility is presented by Allen and Pardo (2019) as a descriptive theory of the proof process, this commentary discusses their theory as a possible starting point for a prescriptive theory of evidence assessment. Generally, naturalness and simplicity are necessary for the success of such a theory. The theory of relative plausibility is very promising in this respect, as its key concept is the straightforward and intuitive notion of explanation, according to which an explanation is an answer to a "why" question. Still, both the explanatory and the comparative dimensions of relative plausibility are in need of elaboration if one wants to give advice on evidence assessment in terms of Allen and Pardo's framework. For one thing, it is necessary to examine the epistemological status of the various explanatory criteria regarding their potential as guides to truth or likelihood. Only epistemic (i.e., truth-conductive) criteria should be included in recommendations to fact-finders. Moreover, given the author's interpretation of the 'beyond any reasonable doubt' standard, it is unclear what the comparative dimension amounts to in criminal trials. At least a comparison of the kind involved in the author's account of civil trials standards is absent in their interpretation of BARD. If the comparative dimension of relative plausibility is relevant at all in criminal trials, it must be clarified what is to be compared.


[1] The rock product of shallow-crustal faulting includes fine-grained breccia and clay-rich gouge. Many gouges and breccias have a fabric produced by distributed deformation. The orientation of fabric elements provides constraints on the kinematics of fault slip and is the structural record of intrafault strain not accommodated by planar and penetrative surfaces. However, it can be difficult to quantify the deformational fabric of fault rocks, especially the preferred orientations of fine-grained minerals, or to uniquely determine the relationship between fabric geometry and finite strain. Here, we present the results of a fabric study of gouge and breccia sampled from low-angle normal (detachment) faults in the Black Mountains, Death Valley, CA. We measured a preferred orientation of the long axes of the clasts inherited from the crystalline footwall of the fault and compared the shape preferred orientation to the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility of the fault rocks. The two measurements of fabric exhibit systematic similarities and differences in orientation and anisotropy that are compatible with the large-scale kinematics of fault slip. The dominant carriers of the magnetic susceptibility are micron- and sub-micron scale iron oxides and clay minerals. Therefore even the finest grains in the fault rock were sensitive to the distributed deformation and the micro-mechanics of particle interaction must have departed from those assumed by the passive-marker kinematic model that best explains the fabric.


Raman spectra of cobalt hydroxide Co(OH) 2 were recorded to 31 GPa using a diamond anvil cell. In contrast to a previous infrared (IR) spectroscopic study, our Raman data show no sharp change in the O-H stretch peak widthnear 11 GPa, ruling out the possibility of abrupt hydrogen sublattice amorphization at this pressure. This is consistent with neutron diffraction data for Co(OD) 2 to 16 GPa which shows no evidence for such amorphization but instead indicates a possible change in local D ordering in response to D...D repulsion. However, in agreement with the IR work, we find that the peak width of the OH stretch mode increases significantly over a broad pressure interval from 10 to 25 GPa and reaches ∼200 cm - 1 at 25 GPa. An energy dispersive x-ray diffraction study carried out to 48 GPa indicates that Co(OH) 2 remains crystalline to at least this pressure, although evidence for some anomalous broadening of x-ray peaks is observed at ∼26 GPa. The peak widths (>200 cm - 1 ) of both the Raman and infrared stretching vibration of Co(OH) 2 are indicative of a high degree of disorder of the H positions while only minimal disordering of the Co-O substructure is allowed by the x-ray data. Thus, the possibility of substructure amorphization remains viable, but through a process of continuous disordering over a broad pressure interval rather than as a discrete discontinuity. Repulsion between neighboring H atoms is likely to be an important driving force for this disordering as suggested by previous neutron and theoretical studies, but it remains uncertain whether such a model can quantitatively describe the range of observed peak widths at high pressures.


Authors offer a Robotic Psychology and Robotherapy concept based on a new paradigm in robotic sciences that emphasizes 'human-oriented' rather than 'mechano-centric' values of engineering design resulting in user-friendly appearance and increased interactivity of artificial creatures. Robotic Psychology focuses on studying compatibility between people and robotic creatures on sensory-motor, emotional, cognitive, and social levels. Robotherapy is defined as a framework of human–robot interactions aimed at the facilitating a person's positive experiences through technological tools in order to provide a platform for building new coping life skills. A multi–site project involving robotic cats, Max and Cleo serves as an example of how general principles of the Robotic Psychology and Robotherapy approach are applied to the analysis of individual and group differences in interactions between a 'caring' robot with advanced artificial intelligence and synthetic sensory feedback and elderly persons of different gender, mental status, and life experiences.


Critically ill patients are frequently at risk of neurological dysfunction as a result of primary neurological conditions or secondary insults. Determining which aspects of brain function are aff ected and how best to manage the neurological dysfunction can often be diffi cult and is complicated by the limited information that can be gained from clinical examination in such patients and the eff ects of therapies, notably sedation, on neurological function. Methods to measure and monitor brain function have evolved considerably in recent years and now play an important role in the evaluation and management of patients with brain injury. Importantly, no single technique is ideal for all patients and diff erent variables will need to be monitored in diff erent patients; in many patients, a combination of monitoring techniques will be needed. Although clinical studies support the physiologic feasibility and biologic plausibility of management based on information from various monitors, data supporting this concept from randomized trials are still required.