P. Stone & J. A. Evans write: Hutchison & Oliver (1998) present a compelling interpretation for detrital garnet in late Ordovician turbidites from the Southern Uplands terrane as being of Barrovian type, derived by erosion of the Dalradian Supergroup. As the authors justifiably claim, the regional implications of their results are considerable, bearing on the timing of Caledonian terrane amalgamation across the Grampians, Midland Valley and Southern Uplands of Scotland. One of the lines of evidence cited by Hutchison & Oliver in support of their conclusion derives from Nd isotope investigations. They consider that the average Nd composition of the quartzo-feldspathic, basement-derived Kirkcolm Formation sandstone in the Southern Uplands is the same as the average value from Dalradian rocks. This was used to support a Dalradian provenance for the Kirkcolm Formation. It contradicts earlier assertions that the comparative Nd isotope compositions were sufficiently different to preclude derivation of the Southern Uplands sandstones from a mainly Dalradian provenance (O'Nions et al. 1983; Evans et al. 1991; Stone & Evans 1995). In view of that apparent contradiction, and the regional tectonic importance of the terrane relationships in question, we should like to explore further the implications of the Nd data. Two papers have published Nd isotopic data for Dalradian rocks from the Scottish outcrop and these provide the database against which comparisons are made. O'Nions et al. 1983 published seven data points and Frost & O'Nions (1985) published a further five (Table 1). They can be subdivided into three of the main


Present day developments in international space activities in a way provide many opportunities for private entities to become more involved therein. One interesting phenomenon which seems to arise on the horizon in relation to these developments concerns the possibility of leasing a spacecraft. Questions arising in this regard focus on such issues as ownership, whether state or private, in view of the registrationobligation, and liability for damage and its close link to the launching of the spacecraft in question. An effort will be made in the paper to briefly analyze the legal ramifications of leasing a spacecraft. Hence, firstly a factual introduction into the issue of the lease of spacecraft and an attempt to define "lease" will be made. Secondly, a short survey of relevant elements of the corpus juris spatialis will be made, such as Articles VI, VII and VIII of the Outer Space Treaty, and parts of the Liability and Registration Conventions. As a preliminaty conclusion it will be submitted that those provisions of outer space law create a link between launching and liability which in some respects is rather illogical, especially as far as private enterprise is involved, and therefore to a certain extent already bodes ill for any occurrence of leasing. By way of an illustration in the third part of the paper a short overview will be given of the ways in which especially the United States and France, as the two prime launching states of the capitalist world, cope with this illogical link through national provisions concerning liability. Finally, in the fourth part the leasing-phenomenon will be entered into the equation. The result will be, inter alia, that the illogicality of especially the link between launching and liability comes to the fore more clearly and strongly, making for a perhaps unnecessarily complicated framework for private Copyright © 1993 by F. G. von der Dunk. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. with permission. Released to AIAA to publish in all forms. 349 activities in space. Hence, the notion of leasing seems to provide an interesting argument for amending or at least reinterpreting the relevant parts of space law.


This study evaluates the welfare impacts of jatropha ( Jatropha carcus ) cultivation measured as consumption expenditure per adult-equivalent for smallholders in southern Malawi. Household survey data from the southern region of Malawi collected in 2014 from 303 smallholders using purposive and random selection strategies were used. Propensity score matching and endogenous switching regression methods were employed to address the selection bias problem and to control for observed and unobserved covariate effects. The analysis suggests that when selection bias and endogeneity were accounted for, jatropha cultivating farmers' welfare was lower as compared to their counterparts. In the absence of tangible empirical evidence on welfare benefits to smallholder jatropha feedstock producers, this study concludes that jatropha is unlikely to bring meaningful welfare benefits to smallholders. As such, further research should consider pursuing other potential biofuel options like 'moringa" for biodiesel in the future Malawi biofuels policy. These findings also show that biofuels are not a panacea to the rural development and welfare of smallholders. Rather, the results suggest that programme initiatives which build household assets need to be encouraged to improve the plight of rural households largely dependent on agriculture.


The widespread adoption of biomass as an energy fuel is hindered by a number of its significant drawbacks, such as low heating value, low ash melting point, low bulk density etc. Technological solutions that allow to fully overcome these shortcomings and ensure high economic performance have not yet been proposed, although there is a significant demand for them. A new technology for thermal processing of biomass into gas fuel, based on the pyrolysis process, has been developed at the Joint Institute for High Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences (JIHT RAS). The degree of energy conversion of the processed raw materials in the proposed technology is about 75%. The gas fuel yield is ∼1.3 m3/kg of biomass, and its heating value, on average, is 11 MJ/m3. The content of the liquid phase in the energy gas obtained by the developed technology is not more than 50 mg/m3. The gas produced by the technology under consideration on average consists of 90% hydrogen and carbon monoxide. According to existing standards, this gas can be used as a fuel for mini-CHP with gas-piston engines. A promising direction for using this gas is the production of liquid motor fuels.


Photograph of children's art class at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Narrative by Junebug Clark: I might be in this photo. I spent many hours and days in classes and wandering the DIA. I sat for hours studying the Dutch Master paintings there trying to figure out the different light sources the painters used to light their subjects and where they came from and how they hid those lights so they were not in the painting. I still do. Photo by Bernice Clark. Signed by: Bernice Clark Clark PhotoFile: 7069-0020-4


In 1925, the Child Welfare Act was passed. The Act introduced the idea of the Children's Court as a space "separate from the premises in which another Court usually exercises jurisdiction" (s28). In 1927, an amendment to the Act provided further elaboration, clarifying that: "persons attending any sittings of a Children's Court shall not be brought into contact with persons in attendance at any other Court." To achieve this the amendment stipulated that: "for this purpose the sittings of the Children's Court shall not, except in cases where no other suitable room is available, be held in any room in which any other Court ordinarily exercises jurisdiction; nor shall a sitting of the Children's Court, if held in the same premises as any other Court, be held at a time when such other Court is sitting, if other arrangements can reasonably be made" (s18(1)). This paper investigates the locations, and interior architectures of Children's Courts in New Zealand in the 1930s. It aims to establish whether or not the interior architecture of Children's Courts, with their legislated requirement to be physically distinct from the rest of the court system, was also distinct, and in what ways children were specifically accommodated for in this interior architecture.


The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the rates of grade 2 or worse late effects in patients treated for prostate cancer on Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 9406. The authors previously have reported the results of patients treated on the first 2 dose levels of this study with respect to grade 3 or greater late toxicity. This analysis examines the incidence of grade 2 toxicity in this study. From August 1994 to September 1999, 424 patients were entered on this dose escalation trial of 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D CRT) for localized adenocarcinoma of the prostate at doses of 68.4 Gy (level I) and 73.8 Gy (level II). All radiation prescriptions were a minimum dose to a planning target volume. Patients were stratified according to clinical stage and risk of seminal vesicle invasion based on Gleason score and presenting prostate-specific antigen. Average time at risk after completion of therapy ranged from 33.1 to 40.1 months for patients treated at dose level I and 15.6 to 34.2 months for patients at dose level II. The frequency of late effects > or = grade 2 was compared with a similar group of patients treated on RTOG studies 7506 and 7706 with adjustments made for the interval from completion of therapy. The RTOG toxicity scoring scales for late effects were used. The rate of grade 3 or greater late toxicity continues to be low compared with RTOG historical controls. No grade 4 or 5 late complications were reported in any of the 406 evaluable patients during the period of observation. Interestingly, the incidence of grade 2 late toxicity was increased relative to historical controls in all groups and dose levels. In group 1, level I and group 3, level II, the increase in grade 2 complications was statistically significant; 16 complications were observed in group 1, level I when 9.2 were expected (P =.026) and 22 were observed in group 3, level II when 7.6 were expected (P <.0001). When examining all late effects > or = grade 2, there were no significant differences in the rate of late effects in both groups and both dose levels with the exception of group 1, level II. This, in combination with the statistically significant decrease in late effects > or = grade 3, suggests that in most circumstances there has been a shift of grade 3 complications to grade 2. In group 1, dose level II there was a statistically significant reduction in > or = grade 2 late effects, suggesting there was no shift from grade 3 to grade 2 in these patients. In this circumstance there may have been a global reduction in all complications or a shift to late effects less severe than grade 2. In group 2, dose level II there is a trend (P =.085) toward this same result. It is important to continue to examine late effects closely in patients treated on RTOG 9406. The primary objective of dose escalation without an increase rate of > or = grade 3 complications has been achieved. However, the reduction in grade 3 complications may have resulted in a higher incidence of grade 2 late effects. Because grade 2 late effects may have a significant impact on a patient's quality of life, it is important to reduce these complications as much as possible. Improved conformal treatment delivery with intensity-modulated radiation therapy or the use of radioprotective agents could be considered. Clinical trials should use quality-of-life measures to determine that trade-offs between severity and rates of toxicity are acceptable to patients.


Traditionally the principles of protein folding in vivo have been obtained largely from molecular chaperone studies. Through extensive studies on molecular chaperones, it becomes clear that most proteins can fold without their assistance in vivo, suggesting the existence of other chaperone types and mechanisms. Since all nascent polypeptides are linked to the ribosomes, protein folding in vivo should be understood in the context of vectorial protein synthesis and linkage of nascent chains to ribosome whose major components and basic structural frames are RNAs. Here we introduce a novel RNA-mediated chaperone type and a possible molecular basis for how RNAs can exert chaperoning effect on their linked aggregation-prone polypeptides. Extending potential chaperoning role of ribosome on the bound nascent polypeptide in a cis-acting manner, the findings further suggest a novel function of RNA molecules for protein folding inside cells. RNA interaction-mediated stabilization of folding intermediate against aggregation provides new insights into de novo protein folding in vivo and further extends the functional diversity of RNA molecules.


INTRODUCTION During the week 7th to 12th June, 1971 opportunity was taken of accompanying members of the I.B.P. team based at the Tjeukemeer, the Netherlands, on a boat journey through the Friesland lakes. The main aim of the author was to collect Turbellaria (Tricladida and Microturbellaria) from the vegetation and stones in the littoral zone of 16 lakes (see Table 1). However, any specimens of Gasteropoda and Hirudinea obtained in samples were also noted. METHODS In the reed beds, mostly Phragmites (see Table 1), an F.B.A. net (60 meshes/inch = approx. 23.6 meshes/cm) mounted in a square frame on a 5 ft. (1.524 metres) pole was used to sweep through the vegetation and top layers of substratum for a given period of time (minimum 15 minutes). The contents of the bag net were emptied periodically into white polythene basins containing a little lake water; after sampling was completed large pieces of vegetation etc. were picked out of the basins before their contents were poured into glass jars. In the laboratory on the boat the relevant animals were removed and identified (for details see Young, 1970). On stony littoral areas (see Table 1), when these were present in the vicinity of the landing area, stones were examined for the relevant taxa and washed in a little water contained in white polythene basins. Again collections continued for a given length of time (minimum 15 minutes). The samples were then treated in the same way as for the vegetation samples. Irrigation/drainage ditches adjacent to the Brandemeer, Heegermeer and Tjeukemeer were also sampled for Microturbellaria using the same


Across the globe, from established tourist destinations such as Venice or Prague to less traditional destinations in both the global North and South, there is mounting evidence that points to an increasing politicization of the topic of urban tourism. In some cities, residents and other stakeholders take issue with the growth of tourism as such, as well as the negative impacts it has on their cities; while in others, particular forms and effects of tourism are contested or deplored. In numerous settings, contestations revolve less around tourism itself than around broader processes, policies and forces of urban change perceived to threaten the right to 'stay put', the quality of life or identity of existing urban populations.

This book for the first time looks at urban tourism as a source of contention and dispute and analyses what type of conflicts and contestations have emerged around urban tourism in 16 cities across Europe, North America, South America and Asia. It explores the various ways in which community groups, residents and other actors have responded to – and challenged – tourism development in an international and multi-disciplinary perspective. The title links the largely discrete yet interconnected disciplines of 'urban studies' and 'tourism studies' and draws on approaches and debates from urban sociology; urban policy and politics; urban geography; urban anthropology; cultural studies; urban design and planning; tourism studies and tourism management.

This ground breaking volume offers new insight into the conflicts and struggles generated by urban tourism and will be of interest to students, researchers and academics from the fields of tourism, geography, planning, urban studies, development studies, anthropology, politics and sociology.


Macroscopic analysis plays an important role in failure analysis, which cannot be replaced by other analyzing methods. In recent years, with the development of characterization techniques, more and more engineers and technicians rely on the advanced analytical testing methods in the process of failure analysis, ignoring the methods and means of macroscopic analysis. This can easily lead to some wrong judgments. Therefore, this chapter will combine with the cases to explain the position and role of macroanalysis in the failure analysis of rail fastening clips and to offer references for engineers and technicians in relevant fields.


This history covers modern computing from the development of the first electronic digital computer through the advent of the World Wide Web. The author concentrates on four key moments of transition: the transition of the computer in the late 1940s from a specialized scientific instrument to a commercial product; the emergence of small systems in the late 1960s; the beginning of personal computing in the 1970s; and the spread of networking after 1985. Within this chronological narrative, the book traces several overlapping threads: the evolution of the computer's internal design; the effect of economic trends and the Cold War; the long-term role of IBM as a player and as a target for upstart entrepreneurs; the growth of software from a hidden element to a major character in the story of computing; and the recurring issue of the place of information and computing in a democratic society. The focus is on the United States (though Europe and Japan enter the story at crucial points), on computing per se rather than on applications such as artificial intelligence, and on systems that were sold commercially and installed in quantities. The author balances stories of individuals with those of institutions and emphasizes those factors that conspired to bring about the decisive shifts in the story.


Energy efficiency of RF Frontends (RFFE), especially transmitters, continues to gain greater prominence. Meeting the efficiency challenge is increasingly difficult at higher operating frequencies and bandwidths, such as those proposed for 5G. There is a group of transmitter RFFE architectures whose signal output is constructed from two, or more, efficiently generated components. This signal construction in effect, means that such architectures use predictive, post-correction linearization. Their predictive nature enables distortion to be completely eliminated. The capabilities of multi-channel signal synthesis setups with R&S®SMW200A, in combination with the R&S®FSW analyzer enable measurement, hence development, of these types of transmitters. The document focusses on devices for the 3.5 GHz NR (5G New Radio) candidate band, but its findings are equally applicable to developments and measurements for, for example, K-band satellite applications or mmW NR candidate bands, where efficiency is an even more crucial design target.


This article explores various types of feedback control—position feedback, which was shown to be equivalent to force feedback, rate feedback, and integral feedback—for the purpose of improving instrument performance for single-molecule experiments. The ability of each of each types of feedback to lower the measurement signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is evaluated and compared to the open-loop case. While position feedback does not result in any improvement in the SNR, the cases of rate feedback and integral feedback both resulted in improvements in the measurement's SNR. Rate feedback is shown to effectively "cool" the beads held in the optical trap, thereby limiting the effect that Brownian disturbances have on the beads' motion. Integral feedback is shown to improve the SNR of the measured signal of interest and is robust and easy to implement. It is also shown that integral feedback acts as an exogenous force estimator. Ultimately, feedback does not provide better resolution as measured by SNR than an open-loop filtering approach can but does provide other advantages, including the ability to control other variables and to make a more robust instrument that can be easily adapted to changes in experimental conditions or the environment.


By bringing love to the fore as an unfixed category, this article analyses the highly complex lives of female Thai migrants who sell sex in Denmark. In doing so, the article challenges the static and rather normative binary categories of "sex work" versus "prostitution" and "empowered woman" versus "victim of human trafficking" that are produced in the literature on sex work and prostitution. This binary approach is likely to portray the lives and subject positions of female migrants who sell sex in a rather one-sided way. The article argues that the category of love is highly relevant in studies of transnational sex work if we want to grasp the complexity of the lives of female migrants who sell sexual services.


In this global world, the business environment has changed with intense pressure on organizations to become competitive. Organizations that wish to be successful should confront with increased competition resulting from economic environments, changes in technology and globalization. The survival of an organization thus lies with its ability to train and develop its human resource to be innovative, creative and inventive for enhancement of organization performance. For training and development to be effective in an organization, it must be aligned to the overall business strategy leading to the concept of strategic training and development. Training and development needs assessment is also imperative towards the success of an organization. Strategic training and development thus focuses on the design and implementation of training and development systems to successfully impact organizational performance. Critical review of literature shows that little if any is known about the relationship of strategic training and development on organization performance. Most of the studies have isolated training and development thus relating them to either employees' performance or organizational performance. This study therefore critically examined the existing gap which necessitated a further study on the relationship between strategic training and development on organization performance. The study reviewed existing literature on training and development using desktop research design.


This dissertation focuses on a variety of African-American musical expressions of the later twentieth century, situating them along a continuum of musical modernism that constitute various modes of survival technology, inextricably connected to the cultures from which they arise. My application of the term survivaltechnologies denotes two primary aspects: musical "technologies" in the sense that the term is commonly understood to refer to the construction of musical instruments and recording instruments both old and new, but also "technologies" in the sense of the term employed by Murray and Dinerstein: as modes of knowledge and strategies of resistance. My use of survival technologiesas the conceptual underpinning that unifies my research entails bringing these two aspects together, and the two senses of the term converge especially when African-American musicians use musical instruments and tools in new, unexpected ways, as frequently happens throughout the history of African-American music in the twentieth century. I analyze how African-American musicians' use of electric guitars, amplification, synthesizers, analog sequencers, studio effects, turntables, samplers, drum machines, and digital audio workstations constitute a uniquely African-American mode of musical knowledge and practice that is improvisational, heuristic, non-linear, and constantly aware of the past while simultaneously re-imagining the future. I link this analysis to works by twentieth-century literary authors and theorists in order to examine how African-American musicians' modus operandi, varied and distinct as they are, are nonetheless consistent not only across divergent musical styles and eras, but also function inseparably from other arts and broader cultural contexts.Throughout this project, written words interact with musical recordings. I strive to "hear" written texts (literature and literary criticism) and to "read" sound texts (recordings), highlighting the resonances between "literary texts" and "sound texts." The Chicago blues style of Muddy Waters interacts with Richard Wright's literary documentary of life on Chicago's South Side, 12 Million Black Voices,to highlight how old rural black vernacular "folk" expressions could serve as the basis of a new urban African-American modernism. Likewise, the electronic experiments of Herbie Hancock, which innovatively combined European modes of music creation and African diasporic musical concepts, interacts with Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s The Signifying Monkey to highlight how African-American modernism entails Signifyin(g) on European precedents as well as precedents in African-American art. Additionally, the historically informed jazz of Wynton Marsalis interacts with T. S. Eliot's ideas of tradition in order to highlight how artistic conceptions of the past inform African-American modernist expressions today, such as jazz and sampled electronic music. Finally, Detroit techno music interacts with the musical and cultural criticism of Theodor Adorno to highlight how African-American modernism uses survival technologies to construct visions of the future that resist what Adorno called the "culture industry."


Physicians are faced with ever increasing quantities of information. Providing easy access to relevant medical information will improve the quality of care received by patients. Current medical agent programs serve as either expert systems or simple search engines. This article proposes a new agent-based methodology for improving medical information retrieval via the world-wide-web.


– Caching is the behaviour in which an animal stores food for later consumption. The most likely functions of caching are that it ensures food availability when conditions are severe, and it allows storage of energy in a form other than fat. The South Island robin (Petroica australis australis) is an endemic songbird that caches food items (such as insects) for later consumption. In this study, I examined caching in robins to address three questions. Firstly, I determined whether caching is related to prey size. I provided robins with mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) larva and recorded whether their propensity to cache was determined by prey size. As caching takes energy, robins should be selected to cache only the largest mealworms in which the energy return exceeds the costs of caching. I found that robins were significantly more likely to cache large mealworms while small mealworms were eaten immediately. However, there was no significant difference in the distance, height, or time taken to cache for caches of differentsized mealworms. Secondly, I determined how robins responded when their cached mealworms were pilfered by a human observer. After birds made 10 caches, I stole the three nearest caches while in sight of the caching bird. If birds perceived me as a pilferer, this should lead to future caches being stored higher up and further away from the observer. As expected, I found that robins stored food further away and more often out of sight when caching the next day in my presence. Lastly, I determined whether robins altered their caching behaviour in relation to the attentional gaze of an observer. To reduce the risk of pilfering, robins should alter their caching behaviour if being observed directly. I tested this hypothesis by altering my direction of gaze while birds cached. However, no differences were found in time taken to cache, caching distance or caching height in relation to my attentional gaze. Overall, my results indicate that caching food is dependent on food size and previous experience of cache pilferage but that more subtle cues, such as direction of gaze, are not used when robins decide on cache location. This work highlights the key roles of both prey size and risk of pilferage in the decision making process of whether or not a robin decided to cache a particular prey item, and if a cache is made, the location of these caches.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the effects of an Iyengar yoga program (IYP) on patients with chronic respiratory diseases.

METHODS
Patients attending lung transplant clinics in a tertiary institution were invited to participate in a two-phase, 12-week IYP that included 2 h biweekly classes. Doctors completed a formal physical and clinical assessment on candidates before enrollment. Patients with New York Association Class III or IV, or dyspnea grade IV were excluded. At baseline and at the end of 12-weeks, patients completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ) and Health Utilities Index (HUI). Medication(s), 6 min walk test results and other clinical parameters were also recorded. Patients recorded the effects of the IYP on their daily living in journals. Nonparametric and qualitative methods were used to analyze the data.

RESULTS
Twenty-five patients diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (mean age 60 years) were invited to participate. At the end of the 12-week period, changes in HADS anxiety and CRQ fatigue scores were statistically significant (P<0.05) and changes in HUI ambulation, pain, emotion and overall score were clinically important. The content of the journals revealed patients' improvement in breathing capacity, mobility, energy, sleep and included positive feedback such as: "increased tidal volume with slowing expiration", "I have an overall feeling of wellbeing" and "excellent amount of energy".

CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest that yoga has significant potential to produce benefits. Potential benefits will be further explored in a national multisite study.


Permafrost cannot be directly detected from space, but many surface features of permafrost terrains and typical periglacial landforms are observable with a variety of EO sensors ranging from very high to medium resolution at various wavelengths. In addition, landscape dynamics associated with permafrost changes and geophysical variables relevant for characterizing the state of permafrost, such as land surface temperature or freeze-thaw state can be observed with spaceborne Earth Observation. Suitable regions to examine environmental gradients across the Arctic have been defined in a community white paper (Bartsch et al. 2014, hdl:10013/epic.45648.d001). These transects have been revised and adjusted within the DUE GlobPermafrost initiative of the European Space Agency.

The ESA DUE GlobPermafrost project develops, validates and implements Earth Observation (EO) products to support research communities and international organisations in their work on better understanding permafrost characteristics and dynamics. Prototype product cases will cover different aspects of permafrost by integrating in situ measurements of subsurface and surface properties, Earth Observation, and modelling to provide a better understanding of permafrost today. The project will extend local process and permafrost monitoring to broader spatial domains, support permafrost distribution modelling, and help to implement permafrost landscape and feature mapping in a GIS framework. It will also complement active layer and thermal observing networks. Both lowland (latitudinal) and mountain (altitudinal) permafrost issues are addressed.

The status of the Permafrost Information System and first results will be presented. Prototypes of GlobPermafrost datasets include:

 Modelled mean annual ground temperature by use of land surface temperature and snow water equivalent from satellites
 Land surface characterization including shrub height, land cover and parameters related to surface roughness
 Trends from Landsat time-series over selected transects
 For selected sites: subsidence, ground fast lake ice, land surface features and rock glacier monitoring


Objective: The aim of the study is to compare the randomly selected obese patients from the endocrinology outpa-tient clinic of a university hospital and the randomly selected non-obese patients from the general internal diseases outpatient clinic of the same hospital in the sense of self-esteem, body perception, body weight perception and some other sociodemographic features. Methods: The study included a total of 350 patients, of whom 175 were obese (147 female patients, 84%) and 175 were non-obese (115 female patients, 65.7%). The body mass indexes of the patients who were included in the study were measured. While the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale was used to assess self-esteem, the body perception scale was used to assess the body perception of these patients. The consistency between the body mass index classifications and the self-body weight perceptions of the patients was also assessed. Results: The obese patients were found to have lower self-esteem and be less pleased about their bodies, and tend to perceive their body weights lower than their actual body weight when compared with the non-obese group. The non-obese patients in our study were found to be more pleased about their bodies whereas they showed higher levels of self-esteem and perceived their body weights more accurately. Discussion: In the light of these findings, obese patients should be evaluated in terms of psychiatry and get psychiatric help if needed. Eventually, obesity is an important issue which should be addressed multidisciplinary.


Cardiovascular complications are common after traumatic brain injury (TBI) and are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. In this study, we investigated the possible role of the immune system in mediating cardiac dysfunction post-TBI in mice. Adult male C57BL/6J mice were subjected to a TBI model of controlled cortical impact (CCI) with or without splenectomy (n = 20/group). Splenectomy was performed immediately prior to induction of TBI. Cardiac function was measured using echocardiography prior to and after TBI. Neurological and cognitive functional tests and flow cytometry and immunostaining were performed. TBI mice exhibited significant cardiac dysfunction identified by decreased left ventricular ejection fraction and fractional shortening at 3 and 30 days post-TBI. In addition, these mice exhibited significantly increased cardiomyocyte apoptosis, inflammation, and oxidative stress at 3 and 30 days post-TBI, as well as cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis and ventricular dilatation at 30 days after TBI. TBI mice subjected to splenectomy showed significantly improved cardiac function, and decreased cardiac fibrosis, oxidative stress, cardiomyocyte apoptosis, and infiltration of immune cells and inflammatory factor expression in the heart compared with TBI control mice. TBI mice exhibited severe neurological and cognitive function deficits. However, splenectomy did not improve neurological and cognitive functional outcome after TBI compared with the TBI control group. TBI induces immune cell infiltration and inflammatory factor expression in the heart as well as cardiac dysfunction. Splenectomy decreases heart inflammation and improves cardiac function after TBI. Immune response may contribute to TBI-induced cardiac dysfunction.


Aging is considered as a major risk factor for Parkinson's disease (PD) and can be defined as a gradual decline in the ability of biological systems to efficiently renew structural and functional components, which may lead to perturbations in energetic homeostasis. AMPK is a heterotrimeric enzyme that is both a critical sensor and regulator of the energetic status of the cell. The activity of AMPK may progressively decline with age, therefore contributing to the metabolic perturbations that underlie neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we explore the mutual interplay between I±-synuclein (I±-syn), a key factor in PD patholo-gy, and AMPK, using a genetic rat model based on overexpression of human I±-syn. More specifi-cally, we explore how the expression of various genetic variants of the catalytic AMPK I± subunit determines the effects of I±-syn overexpression, both in vitro and in vivo. We show that overex-pression of either AMPK I±1 and I±2 to increase AMPK activity, have partial neuroprotective effects against human I±-syn toxicity in the nigrostriatal system. Remarkably, chronic, low level of AMPK activity, induced via overexpression of a mutated form of AMPKI± (T172D AMPKI±1), most effec-tively prevents the loss of dopamine neurons as well as the motor impairments caused by I±-syn accumulation. Furthermore, only T172D AMPKI±1 leads to the significant clearance of aggregated I±-syn in the dopamine axonal fibers. In vitro results indicate that I±-syn accumulation in primary cortical neurons leads to increased autophagic activity and a decline in the number of mitochondrial DNA copies. When AMPKI± subu-nits are overexpressed simultaneously with I±-syn, an increased in the mitochondrial mass is ob-served, together with a rescue of the autophagic response caused by I±-syn overexpression. Re-markably, neurons overexpressing the T172D AMPKI±1 variant show an intermediate phenotype, where I±-syn-induced autophagy is still observed, although there is no more changes in mitochondrial parameters caused by I±-syn overexpression. Finally, using the same human I±-syn genetic model of PD, we show neuroprotective effects us-ing a diet supplemented with urolithin, a polyphenolic compound known to activate AMPK. Nigro-striatal dopaminergic neurons are significantly rescue from I±-syn toxicity in rats fed with urolithin, underlining the importance of AMPK signaling in prospective PD therapy.


Summary When an earthquake occurs, the surrounding soil and the structural elements can exhibit non-linear behaviour. In common practice, only non-linear behaviour of structural elements is evaluated. But, actually, the soil reaches the limit of its elastic behaviour before the structural elements. In general, the soil-structure interaction effects are assumed beneficial and thus ignored. Nevertheless, a more precise knowledge of the expected structural seismic response can allow to reduce the cost of the structure and to improve the earthquake engineering practice. This paper concerns the assessment of the effects of non-linear soil behaviour on the structural seismic demand evaluation. For this purpose, non-linear dynamic analyses are performed in order to study the role of several parameters on the seismic performance evaluation. This paper presents a summary of the main findings.


In this paper, we report the electrical characteristics and reliability studies on tunnel oxides fabricated by "wet N2O" oxidation of silicon in an ambient of water vapor and N2O at a furnace temperature of 800 degC. Tunnel oxides that have an equivalent oxide thickness of 67 A are subjected to a constant-current stress (CCS) amount of -100 mA/cm2 using a MOS capacitor to obtain information on stress-induced leakage current (SILC), interface, and bulk trap generation. The obtained results clearly demonstrate the superior performance features of the present tunnel oxides with reduced SILC, lower trap generation, minimum change in gate voltage, and higher charge-to-breakdown during CCS studies. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy depth profile studies of the tunnel oxide interfaces have shown that the improved performance characteristics and reliability can be attributed to the incorporation of about 8.5% nitrogen at the oxide-silicon interface of the samples formed by the "wet N2O" process that involves low-temperature oxidation and annealing at 800 degC.


This Commentary by CEPS Chief Executive Karel Lannoo examines the draft directive issued for consultation by Commissioner Charlie McCreevy in July 2008, which proposes very detailed and prescriptive regulation of the activities of rating agencies in the EU. While acknowledging that policy-makers had no choice but to take action, Lannoo asserts that the draft raises fundamental questions about the form of the regulation and its impact on the industry and the markets. Namely: 1) Confronted with a globally concentrated industry, can the EU act alone? 2) Considering the fragmentation of the EU market, how will the regulation be applied? 3) Is functional regulation, as proposed by the European Commission, appropriate, or is more objective-based regulation needed? 4) What side effects may be caused by statutory regulation of CRAs?


Religious extremism—especially when unhindered by the state—can result in unimaginable harm to individuals. That is not to suggest that the only extremism is religious extremism.

That would be patently incorrect and a profound misrepresentation of history; secular extremism - Communism, Fascism, Nazism, Pol Pot, Mao to name but the most obvious - has exacted an unimaginable price on hundreds of millions of people over the ages. While our examination will focus exclusively on religious extremism that is not intended - in any way - to minimize the extraordinary harm inflicted on innocent individuals by extremism not based on religion. To suggest otherwise would be an unacceptable combination of revisionist history, disrespectful of the memories of millions of victims. As we move forward, it is important to recall that in this chapter our focus is religious extremism and its impact on the individual. In doing so, we analyze the cost to the individual impacted by extremism and argue that state complicity in the face of extremism exacerbates individual vulnerability.

In focusing on individual vulnerability, the working assumption is that the state fails to protect the individual member of a closed religious extremist group. The obligation, and the consistent failure, to protect individuals in the face of religious extremism - particularly in the context of "closed communities" - has significant consequences. This chapter will focus specifically on the effect specific closed communities have on vulnerable individuals. Not only does it put individuals "at risk", it manifests state complicity in the face of extremism, the consequences of which are profound. While religious extremism is harmful to greater society, it is especially harmful to vulnerable individuals. With respect to the impact on larger society, specific examples will be provided illuminating the consequences of state complicity, regardless of its motivation or cause.


Music is built from sound, ultimately resulting from an elaborate interaction between the sound-generating properties of physical objects (i.e. music instruments) and the sound perception abilities of the human auditory system. Humans, even without any kind of formal music training, are typically able to extract, almost unconsciously, a great amount of relevant information from a musical signal. Features such as the beat of a musical piece, the main melody of a complex musical arrangement, the sound sources and events occurring in a complex musical mixture, the song structure (e.g. verse, chorus, bridge) and the musical genre of a piece, are just some examples of the level of knowledge that a naive listener is commonly able to extract just from listening to a musical piece. In order to do so, the human auditory system uses a variety of cues for perceptual grouping such as similarity, proximity, harmonicity, common fate, among others. This dissertation proposes a flexible and extensible Computational Auditory Scene Analysis framework for modeling perceptual grouping in music listening. The goal of the proposed framework is to partition a monaural acoustical mixture into a perceptually motivated topological description of the sound scene (similar to the way a naive listener would perceive it) instead of attempting to accurately separate the mixture into its original and physical sources. The presented framework takes the view that perception primarily depends on the use of low-level sensory information, and therefore requires no training or prior knowledge about the audio signals under analysis. It is however designed to be efficient and flexible enough to allow the use of prior knowledge and high-level information in the segregation procedure. The proposed system is based on a sinusoidal modeling analysis front-end, from which spectral components are segregated into sound events using perceptually inspired grouping cues. A novel similarity cue based on harmonicity (termed "Harmonically-Wrapped Peak Similarity") is also introduced. The segregation process is based on spectral clustering methods, a technique originally proposed to model perceptual grouping tasks in the computer vision field. One of the main advantages of this approach is the ability to incorporate various perceptually-inspired grouping criteria into a single framework without requiring multiple processing stages. Experimental validation of the perceptual grouping cues show that the novel harmonicity-based similarity cue presented in this dissertation compares favourably to other state-of-the-art harmonicity cues, and that its combination with other grouping cues, such as frequency and amplitude similarity, improves the overall separation performance. In addition, experimental results for several Music Information Retrieval tasks, including predominant melodic source segregation, main melody pitch estimation, voicing detection and timbre identification in polyphonic music signals, are presented. The use of segregated signals in these tasks allows to achieve final results that compare or outperform typical and state-of-the-art audio content analysis systems, which traditionally represent statistically the entire polyphonic sound mixture. Although a specific implementation of the proposed framework is presented in this dissertation and made available as open source software, the proposed approach is flexible enough to be able to utilize different analysis front-ends and grouping criteria in a straightforward and efficient manner.


The United States is in the midst of an unprecedented mass incarceration crisis. It imprisons more of its citizens than any other country – and by a considerable margin. It is now widely acknowledged that there is no community dividend stemming from an overly punitive sentencing system. Over-incarceration does not make the community safer and diverts billions of dollars annually from productive social services, such as health and education. Lawmakers have failed to find overarching solutions to this crisis. This Article proposes to change that paradigm by offering concrete reforms to remedy a key short-coming of the sentencing system. Emerging evidence suggests that one of the main reasons for the mass incarceration crisis relates to the dysfunctional plea bargaining process, in which the prosecution has the stronger negotiating power and often uses it to press for harsh penalties. The reality is that most defendants in the United States do not receive a trial, let alone a fair one. Their fate is determined by a negotiation with a prosecutor. More than ninety per-cent of all criminal matters in the United States are finalized in this manner. There is a wide-ranging consensus that this process is flawed. It results in a large portion of defendants receiving harsher penalties than is commensurate with the seriousness of their offense. Sometimes it also leads to defendants, who are innocent, pleading guilty in order to avoid the uncertainty of a trial. The process is especially unfair to minority groups, with evidence establishing that African Americans, in particular, receive harsher penalties than similarly situated white defendants. This Article proposes reforms to the plea bargaining process that will demonstrably and profoundly reshape the framework for plea negotiations. The central plank of the proposed reform is to shift more discretion and power from prosecutors, who invariably agitate for tougher sentences, into the hands of (impartial) sentencing judges. This can be achieved by conferring a discount to offenders who plead guilty. The size of the discount should be up to thirty percent. A similar system already operates effectively in Australia. In addition to this, defendants who plead guilty in circumstances when there is a weak prosecution case (and who are tenably innocent) should receive a discount of up to seventy-five percent. This proposal would considerably reduce incarceration numbers in a way that does not compromise community safety and preserves the cost-saving benefits of the current plea bar-gaining process. The reform will also reduce the discriminatory operation of the sentencing system against offenders who come from socially and economically deprived backgrounds.


The framework for judicial review of agency statutory interpretations is based on a legal fiction – namely, that Congress intends to delegate interpretive authority to agencies. Critics argue that the fiction is false because Congress is unlikely to think about the delegation of interpretive authority at all, or in the way that the Court imagines. They also contend that the fiction is fraudulent because the Court does actually care about whether Congress intends to delegate interpretive authority in any particular instance, but applies a presumption triggered by statutory ambiguity or a particularized analysis involving factors unrelated to congressional delegation. In this Essay, I argue that critics have misjudged the fiction. First, there is direct evidence that Congress attends to the delegation of interpretive authority and is likely to view the delegation of regulatory authority as sufficient to convey a delegation of interpretive authority. Second, there is indirect evidence that the Court's framework tracks how Congress decides to delegate. The Court is employing a fiction in the sense that it is not looking for actual legislative intent but is imputing legislative intent. But that fiction is no different in kind than the one that the Court employs in other contexts. By viewing the fiction of congressional delegation as worse than it is, critics have had license to disregard it in evaluating how to allocate interpretive authority between courts and agencies. My argument would bring that issue back to how Congress designs statutes.


This Essay, a contribution to a symposium on censorship and the media, explores the legal history of the censorship of antiwar speech. It devotes particular attention to postmodern techniques for chilling the production of pacifist content, or reducing the total output of it. Pacifist speech is defined broadly, as speech advocating peaceful alternatives to war or militarism, articulating doctrines or principles which urge forswearing war or violence in international disputes, or expressing reasons to oppose specific military episodes or entire wars. A fundamental assumption of democratic governance is that the public keeps informed of important news and points of view by exposure in the press, whether print or electronic. Yet the public is often denied complete information by governments and private media conglomerates acting in close concert. While legal scholars frequently condemn direct censorship by the federal government, they too often neglect the extent to which private parties may be mobilized by the government to foment false beliefs and propagate misleading portraits of vital public policy issues. This Essay explores postmodern censorship of pacifist expression. Postmodern censorship is distinguishable from its pre-modern or modern counterparts by its immaterial, seemingly nonviolent ways of watching and influencing apparently private activity, in contrast to a modern way of censoring speech by using violence as an ostentatious tyrant would. While still sculpting citizens' beliefs and behaviors, postmodern power applies itself to private technologies and the enjoyment of what seems to be leisure time or tools such as television or radio. Postmodern regulation directs itself at privatized implementation of governmental objectives, including the lies and crimes of governments. It simulates real events in spectacles of illusion and artifice. In the postmodern era, everything is increasingly artificial, real events are excluded from the public spectacle, and the meaning of words and concepts is lost.


A new cohort of Turkish- and Arab-background public intellectuals in Germany locate the root of problems of migrant communities in a resemblance between Islamic culture and Nazi ideology. Islam critics promote the idea that if, like the children of Nazis before them, children of Muslims can rebel against their fathers sexually liberate themselves, they will also be able to embrace the democratic values of German society. In their best-seller books, Islam critics aim to include migrants in the German national temporal framework and also enable a new interpretation of German history not as an anomaly, an evolutionary modernization story gone terribly wrong, but as an historical model that other nationalities should also pass through and come out of. By studying how highly popular Islam critics position Muslims in relation to memory of National Socialism in Germany, this article asks what kind of transformation (and reproduction) is German Holocaust memory and public political culture is undergoing in its perception of its relationship with its Nazi past on one hand and its multi-ethnic present and future on the other hand. It also asks what role Muslims and other minorities play in shaping, reacting to, and corresponding with these transformations. By focusing on the unlikely promise of inclusion of the Muslim minority in the German national temporality through path-dependent repetition, it argues that national memory cultures are formed in relation to and with the help of minorities who are being simultaneously incorporated and excluded from the present at once.


Hybrid FRP-concrete-steel double-skin tubular columns (hybrid DSTCs) are a new form of hybrid columns recently developed at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. A hybrid DSTC consists of an inner steel tube, an outer FRP tube and a concrete infill between the two tubes. Hybrid DSTCs possess many important advantages over existing column forms, including their excellent corrosion resistance and excellent seismic resistance. While a large amount of research has been conducted on the monotonic behavior of this novel form of columns, only a limited amount of work has been conducted on their behavior under cyclic loading. This paper presents the first experimental study on hybrid DSTCs under cyclic axial compression, with a particular emphasis on the effect of different cyclic loading schemes and on the behavior of the confined concrete. Hybrid DSTCs are shown by these tests to be very ductile under cyclic axial compression, with an envelope axial load-strain curve being almost the same as the axial load-strain curve of a corresponding DSTC under monotonic compression. It is also shown that repeated unloading/reloading cycles have a cumulative effect on the permanent strain and the stress deterioration of the confined concrete in hybrid DSTCs.


Abstract. Large part of the project manager's work can be described in terms of retrieving, processing, analysing and synthesizing various types of data from different sources. The types of information become more and more diverse (including participants, task and financial details, and dates) and data volumes continue to increase, especially for large international collaborations. In this paper we explore the possibility of using the python programming language as a tool for retrieving and processing data for some project management tasks. python is a general-purpose programming language with a very rich set of libraries. In recent years python experienced explosive growth leading to development of several libraries that help to efficiently solve many data related tasks without very deep knowledge of programming in general and python in particular. In this paper we present some of the core python libraries that can be used to solve some typical project management tasks and demonstrate several real-world applications using a HORIZON 2020 type European project and as example.


A critical analysis of the foundations of standard vector calculus is proposed. The methodological basis of the analysis is the unity of formal logic and of rational dialectics. It is proved that the vector calculus is incorrect theory because: (a) it is not based on a correct methodological basis – the unity of formal logic and of rational dialectics; (b) it does not contain the correct definitions of "movement", "direction" and "vector"; (c) it does not take into consideration the dimensions of physical quantities (i.e., number names, denominate numbers, concrete numbers), characterizing the concept of "physical vector", and, therefore, it has no natural-scientific meaning; (d) operations on "physical vectors" and the vector calculus propositions relating to the "physical vectors" are contrary to formal logic.


Purpose To review the antimicrobial possibilities for limb-sparing due to infectious complications after surgery in patients diagnosed with osteosarcoma and with implantation of prosthetic devices. Patients and Progress After several episodes of relapsing infection or even re-infection and failure of previous therapies, 5 patients (2 young, female / 1 young, male / 2 middle-aged, female) were subject to a long-term ambulatory regimen consisting of intravenous administration of daptomycin. Results Showed improved outcome with preservation of the limbs or devices involved. Conclusion Five patients with post-operative gram-positive suspected infections of prosthetic devices that were unresponsive to a variety of other antibiotics and combinations appeared to respond to compassionate use of daptomycin. Its effectiveness is probably due to its activity against biofilm-producing microorganisms. Controlled, double-blind randomized trials are needed to confirm the potential of daptomycin in such patients.


With rising frequencies involved in electronics, losses and dispersion exhibited by dielectrics become important to consider in electromagnetic modeling. The Partial Element Equivalent Circuit (PEEC) method is suitable for a mixed electromagnetic and circuit setting, forming equivalent circuits that can be interconnected with circuit elements. In this paper, a descriptor form representation of PEEC models incorporating dispersive and lossy dielectrics is developed. By representing the electrical permittivity with a Debye-Lorentz model equivalent circuits can be synthesized. The synthesized circuits for the permittivity are included in the PEEC equations by formulating the circuit equations for the additional circuit unknowns. This yields an input/output formulation that can handle an arbitrary number of finite dielectrics and be integrated by any kind of integration scheme. Furthermore, it offers a straightforward way to incorporate lossy and dispersive dielectrics into a PEEC solver compared to using recursive convolution. The proposed descriptor form representation is tested for a setup consisting of three microstrips over a ground plane, separated by a dielectric substrate. Both the ideal and the lossy and dispersive case are tested and compared. Furthermore, the proposed formulation is verified against an existing implementation in the frequency-domain. Good agreement between the proposed formulation and the existing frequency-domain PEEC formulation is obtained.


This remarkable collection gathers a breathtakingly diverse selection of primary texts from the vast repertoire of Islamic stories about holy men and women - also known as Friends of God - who were exemplary for their piety, intimacy with God, and service to their fellow human beings. Translated from seventeen languages by more than two dozen scholars of Islamic studies, these texts come from the Middle East, North and sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South Asia, and China and Southeast Asia. Historically, they begin with the eighth century and include samples from medieval, early modern, and modern Muslim societies. Expertly edited and introduced by John Renard, "Tales of God's Friends" serves as a companion volume to "Renard's Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood".


This essay presents a marketing problematic along with a way of solving it with the help of statistical tools. Precisely, a Recommender System is built to address a marketing problem for a supermarket in Germany. Both the theoretical and the practical aspects of the use of Machine Learning methods are underlined. Our focus is oriented in two parts. First, we define precisely a problem, from the conceptual meaning to its natural mathematical translation. Second, we provide an analysis that is anchored to business constraints, on top of being an academic paper. Highlight is made on unifying notations for this specific problem, and on comparing different methods before and after their implementation. This work is designed to fulfill the Master's thesis requirements with advanced statistical approach. Mathematical background is emphasized in parallel with hands-on implementation using the open source software R.


The purpose of this research was to identify best practices in online mentoring used in an online doctoral program to mentor doctoral students through their dissertation. During semi-structured interviews, students (n=9) reflected on the challenges faced communicating with their mentors, and the online technologies, online mentoring strategies, and their own best practices that had been instrumental in the successful completion of their dissertations. Themes in the findings that are specific to the online mentoring of dissertations are discussed in the context of prior research on best practices in dissertation supervision in traditional environments.


Recent corporate scandals have highlighted abuses by firms overstating profits to capital markets. In a related but less noticed vein, the reporting of profits to tax authorities has come under increased scrutiny with heightened concerns over the spread of tax avoidance activities. How could firms simultaneously be inflating profits reported to the capital markets and understating profits reported to tax authorities? The practical answer is that American firms keep two sets of financial statements: a financial statement that reports "book profits" to the capital markets and a separate financial statement that reports "tax profits" to the government. These two profit reports can bear little resemblance to each other and follow distinct rules. This paper argues that the latitude afforded managers by the dual nature of corporate profit reporting has contributed to the simultaneous degradation of profit reporting to capital markets and tax authorities. The distinction between book and tax profits allows managers the ability to mischaracterize tax savings to capital markets and to mischaracterize profits to tax authorities. Examination of three high-profile cases of managerial misreporting of profits and tax avoidance—at Enron, Tyco and Xerox—reveals how the drive to improve reported book profits fosters tax avoidance and how the drive to limit taxes gives rise to the manipulation of accounting profits and managerial malfeasance.


Radiosurgery serves an important function in the treatment of patients with intraocular tumors and preserves visual function via organ conservation. Therefore, it is important to ensure the safety and precision of GK-SRS as a primary treatment for intraocular tumors. The present case study described a 57-year-old female with uveal melanoma treated with GK-SRS. Retrobulbar anesthesia following fixation of the treated eye, via the suture of two of the extraocular muscles to the stereotactic frame, was performed to immobilize the eye during treatment. Computed tomography (CT) scans were performed following eye fixation, immediately prior to and following GK-SRS, to validate the accuracy of the tumor localization. The eye movement analysis revealed that the gravity center point deviations of the tumor and lens during treatment were <0.110 mm. At least 95% of the tumor volume was covered by the prescription dose according to three sets of CT images. The patient underwent a trans pars plana vitrectomy owing to a right eye vitreous hemorrhage. A 37-month follow-up assessment revealed tumor shrinkage, and the disappearance of the serous retinal detachments was noted on the basis of ophthalmoscopy and orbital magnetic resonance imaging. No major complications developed during the follow-up period. Using our treatment protocol, GK-SRS is a non-invasive procedure which is used as a brief single fraction treatment for intraocular tumor. The eye fixation method used in the present study has high accuracy.


Poverty is known to deleteriously affect children's experience of, and success in, education. One facet of this relationship is the financial costs associated with full participation in education in what has become known as the 'cost of the school day'. This paper draws on a small-scale longitudinal qualitative study of families living in poverty, drawn from a wider study called the 'Early Warning System', carried out in collaboration with the Child Poverty Action Group Scotland. The paper explores the experiences of parents in out-of-work and in-work poverty, and cycling between the two, in relation to school costs for their children and the effects this has on their wider financial situation. The findings show that families experiencing in-work poverty, especially those who have recently moved from receipt of out-of-work benefits, face the financial hurdle of not being entitled to passported benefits such as free school meals, school clothing grants, and initiatives such as schools' subsidies of activities and trips. The longitudinal aspects of the study design allow the impacts that changes in entitlement to benefits have on families. The paper concludes that the costs of the school day can be unseen and not well understood by educators but keenly felt by children and families living in low-income and makes recommendations to mitigate this.


ABSTRACT Increasing access to university for those currently under-represented is a UK government priority. Understanding the views of under-represented students can help direct widening participation activities. In recent years, a positive trend finds increasing numbers of Black students attending university, but it is not clear why White disadvantaged student numbers have not increased. Thus, we aimed to explore the student viewpoint on barriers and facilitators to university access in disadvantaged adolescents and how this might differ by ethnicity. We used an online semi-structured interview with questions about applying to university. Seventy adolescents (mean 16.9 yr.) were recruited who are currently under-represented at university level, based on various measures of disadvantage. Black, Asian, and ethnic minority students (BAME) reported similar barriers and facilitators to applying to university as White disadvantaged students. However, there were some differences, for example, BAME participants stated 'having no choice' was a reason to apply to university while White participants did not mention this. Also ~60% of BAME students said they would prefer to study close by compared to far away, while only 46% of White participants said this. Our results support previous findings that financial issues are a key barrier to university access and that outreach activities can act as facilitators to increase university access. However, we compare the unique viewpoints on the barriers and facilitators to university access in Black, Asian and White under-represented students. Based on these views we also make recommendations for future widening participation events targeted at different ethnicities.


Chapter 1: The dediazoniations of the diazonium ion 1 of 4-aminopyrimidine and of the tautomeric cytosinediazonium ions 2 and 3 are facile and result in the formations of cations 4, 5, and 6. The pyrimidine ring-opening of 4, 5 and 6 form their acyclic isomers 7 – 9, respectively. The stability of (E)and (Z)-isomers is studied. Chapter 2: The results are discussed of mass-spectrometric studies of the nucleobases adenine 1h (1, R = H), guanine 2h, and cytosine 3h. The protonated nucleobases are generated by electrospray ionization of adenosine 1r (1, R = ribose), guanosine 2r, and deoxycytidine 3d (3, R = deoxyri-bose) and their fragmentations are studied with tandem mass spectrometry. Possible NH3 elimination fragmentation paths for all the ions are given. Chapter 3: The conformational and isomer preferences of cyanoamine 1 and carbodiimide 2, their conjugate acids and the formation of isoguanosine are discussed. Possible NH3 elimination paths from the protonated cyanoamine 1 and carbodiimide 2 are studied.


The Invisible Cage uncovers the hidden history of the cycle of labor migration and return of hundreds of thousands of un- and semi-skilled Syrian workers in Lebanon. It traces how Syrians came to comprise a significant proportion of Lebanon's workforce during the 1950s and 1960s, the ways in which these Syrians lived through Lebanon's civil wars, and their prolonged unsettlement and exile through both the reconstruction of the 1990s and instability since 2005. Offering both social history and ethnography, John Chalcraft challenges the commonly held view that a more benign form of economic labor migration, one based on personal choice, emerged with the end of slavery and forced labor in the region. Instead, he shows how both coercion and consent, unintended consequences, and hegemonic forms influence the ongoing rotation of migrant workers. This captivating account of the labor market as 'invisible cage' breaks new ground in Middle East and migration studies alike.


During the past decade global politics has changed fundamentally in two ways. First, it has been substantially reconfigured along cultural and civilizational lines, as I have highlighted in the pages of this journal and documented at length in The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order Second, as argued in that book, global politics is also always about power and the struggle for power, and today international relations is changing along that crucial dimension. The global structure of power in the Cold War was basically bipolar; the emerging structure is very different. There is now only one superpower. But that does not mean that the world is unipolar. A unipolar system would have one superpower, no significant major powers, and many minor powers. As a result, the superpower could effectively resolve important international issues alone, and no combination of other states would have the power to prevent it from doing so. For several centuries the classical world under Rome, and at times East Asia under China, approximated this model. A bipolar system like the Cold War has two superpowers, and the relations between them are central to international politics. Each superpower dominates a coalition of allied states and competes with the other superpower for influence among nonaligned countries. A multi polar system has several major powers of comparable strength that cooperate and compete with each other in shifting patterns. A coalition


Developing a sense of autonomy in teacher trainees can be considered as a goal itself; and to this end, instructors' expectations that can help them become autonomous need to be identified through the perspectives of teacher trainees rather than accepting directly what is true for instructors. This paper aims to explore the trainee teacher perceptions of instructor expectations leading them to become autonomous in an EFL teacher training context. The participants were 170 senior teacher trainees attending the ELT Department at Pamukkale University, Turkey. A mixed method was employed in the study. Firstly, a five-point Likert questionnaire was designed based on the students' replies to two open-ended questions covering in-class and out-of-class instructor expectations. Secondly, 10 senior students taking the School Experience course were asked to give their written opinions related to the instructor expectations leading to learner autonomy and they were classified under a set of themes. Based on the findings of the study, the participants seem to reflect a positive tendency towards in-class and out-of-class instructor expectations. The written views of the participants also offer significant hints for achieving autonomy within class practices and outside the class hours. One can say that instructors need to be as sensitive and selective as possible about their in-class and out-ofclass expectations of teacher trainees in order to assist them in becoming autonomous as they try to find their own way independently of the instructors with relevant, carefully selected and meaningful tasks, activities and assignments.


This article undertakes an empirical test of the proposition that natural disasters increase the risk of violent conflict. Climate change is expected to increase the risk of natural disasters, and India has been pointed to as being particularly at risk. State-level data from India for the period 1956-2002 are used to assess quantitatively whether climate-related natural disasters in India have contributed to increased rates of riots and politically motivated violence. The results indicate that disasters increase the risk of riots where literacy levels are high, and politically motivated violence where literacy levels are low. However, although statistically significant, the effect in both cases is so weak that it requires exceptional circumstances for disasters to have any substantially important impact.


A constant theme weaving through the history of science, technology, and medicine is that the law consistently lags behind innovation. By the time we understand the science and technology involved, there is already another more advanced and complex product in the pipeline or entering the market. One area where this is proving particularly acute is nanotechnology. Nanotechnology and nanoscience have facilitated breakthroughs in the pharmaceutical and medical device realms, enabling cutting-edge treatments. Not surprisingly, innovations at the intersection of nanotechnology and medicine have inundated the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) with patent applications. The USPTO has implemented a nanotechnology classification system for review and categorization purposes. However, problems of overlapping claims and complicated scientific aspects will largely be left to courts to sort out – a clumsy forum for determination of complex patent law issues that arise based on scale, size, and interactions at the nanoscale that transcend previously envisioned physical and chemical boundaries. As nanopatenting continues, the USPTO and courts will increasingly face three core problems: (1) limitations of and inconsistencies among current definitions of nanotechnology; (2) uncertainty and lack of uniformity in measurement capabilities regarding critical aspects of size, properties, and characteristics at the nanoscale; and (3) the role of patent claims to accurately and consistently encapsulate and distinguish the scope of nanotechnology inventions. Given the Supreme Court's recent interest in questions of patentability and appropriate claim scope of genetic inventions, the time is ripe for the USPTO to extract lessons for nanotechnology. This article will utilize the recent district court case Elan Pharma v. Abraxis Bioscience involving the blockbuster nanotechnology cancer treatment Abraxane to illustrate inherent problems with the USPTO nanotechnology classification system and will suggest a research agenda of steps that might be taken to assist the USPTO in fulfilling its mission to foster and reward innovation while also assisting in broader efforts to gather nanotechnology information.


Domestic workers form one of the most vulnerable and exploited sectors of the workforce in the world economy. In 2002 South Africa became one of relatively few countries to promulgate special legislation aimed at extending protection to domestic workers in the form of Sectoral Determination 7: Domestic Worker Sector, South Africa. In the context of current debate about setting international standards for the domestic employment sector by means of a Convention and/or Recommendation of the International Labour Organisation, the article examines what has been achieved in South Africa over the past decade in extending legal protection to domestic workers, problems that have been encountered and possible ways in which those problems may be addressed.


Two analytical methods for computing ionization by high-frequency fields are compared. Predicted ionization rates compare well, but energy predictions for the onset of ionization differ radically. The difference is shown to arise from the use of a transformation in one of the methods that alters the zero from which energy is measured. This alteration leads to an apparent energy threshold for ionization that can, especially in the stabilization regime, differ strongly from the laboratory measurement. It is concluded that channel closings in intense-field ionization can occur at high as well as low frequencies. It is also found that the stabilization phenomenon at high frequencies, very prominent for hydrogen, is absent in a short-range potential.


Long chain omega-3 fatty acids such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) are essential for the regulation of critical biological functions in humans and other mammals. EPA production via solid state fermentation of sunflower press cake was investigated using eight fungal strains representing the genus Mortierella. During this study the effect of supplementing the sunflower press cake substrate with 10% (w/w) linseed oil was studied with regard to the supplement's impact on EPA production and the polyunsaturated fatty acid profile of the fermented substrate. The addition of the linseed oil improved the EPA yield of most strains, leading to a reduction in the average arachidonic acid:EPA ratio from 50.68 to 3.66. The ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids was increased significantly (t=5.75, p=0.05) by the addition of linseed oil, with higher desaturation levels among the 20-carbon fatty acids. The strains that produced the highest levels of EPA on sunflower press cake supplemented with linseed oil were Mortierella alpina Mo 46 and Mortierella basiparvispora Mo 88, which produced 6.4 mg and 5.8 mg EPA per g of sunflower press cake, respectively.


Substructural logics, such as linear logic and ordered logic, have an inherent notion of state and state change. This makes them a natural choice for developing logical frameworks that specify evolving stateful systems. Our previous work has shown that the so-called forward reasoning fragment of ordered linear logic can be used to give clear, concise, and modular specifications of stateful and concurrent features of programming languages in a style called Substructural Operational Semantics (SSOS). This report is discusses two new ideas. First, I discuss a re-orientation of existing logics and logical frameworks based on a presentation of logic as a state transition system. Second, utilizing this transition-based interpretation of logic, I present a safety proof for the SSOS specification of a simple sequential programming language, and discuss how that proof can be updated as the language is extended with parallel evaluation and exception handling. This report is derived from my thesis proposal [35], which was certified on July 7, 2010. This material is based upon work supported under a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.


To understand why all new light rail transit (LRT) projects under development in Canada are carried out in public-private partnership (P3) rather than through the traditional mode (public administration) that prevailed in the past, this research explores three light rail projects currently underway in Edmonton, Ottawa and Toronto. We study the arguments surrounding each decision leading to the choice of the P3 governance model. We show that in all cases, it is possible to observe the mechanisms of policy transfer, whether voluntary or coercive. Moreover, the argument used by local actors to justify the choice of P3, although similar in several respects, still forms a unique combination of justifications for each case, which leads us to believe that P3s are a versatile policy instrument. These findings demonstrate the importance of taking into account policy transfer at the municipal level and not only transfers that take place between national states.


The mass media expanded intrusion of cameras into the public and private lives of celebrities has contributed to the public's fascination with Hollywood celebrities. Specifically, this cultural obsession has been increasingly centered on female celebrity's increased deviancy and criminal behaviours. Although numerous studies have been completed discussing the cultural fixation of Hollywood celebrity culture and the audience's attachment to these celebrities, few have provided insight into the media construction of cultural narratives surrounding Disney celebrities. To fill the gap in the literature, I will assess how female celebrity deviance and sexuality is constructed in the media by examining the media portrayal of three Disney celebrities Lindsay Lohan, Miley Cyrus, and Selena Gomez as either victims or villains (Loseke, 2003). Using Charmaz (2006) constructivist grounded theory approach, I will analyze how the media has constructed social boundaries outlining the appropriate / inappropriate behaviours of women.


For decades, progress in the field of optical (including solar) energy conversion was dominated by advances in the conventional concentrating optics and materials design. In recent years, however, conceptual and technological breakthroughs in the fields of nanophotonics and plasmonics combined with a better understanding of the thermodynamics of the photon energyconversion processes reshaped the landscape of energy-conversion schemes and devices. Nanostructured devices and materials that make use of size quantization effects to manipulate photon density of states offer a way to overcome the conventional light absorption limits. Novel optical spectrum splitting and photon-recycling schemes reduce the entropy production in the optical energy-conversion platforms and boost their efficiencies. Optical design concepts are rapidly expanding into the infrared energy band, offering new approaches to harvest waste heat, to reduce the thermal emission losses, and to achieve noncontact radiative cooling of solar cells as well as of optical and electronic circuitries. Light–matter interaction enabled by nanophotonics and plasmonics underlie the performance of the thirdand fourth-generation energy-conversion devices, including upand down-conversion of photon energy, near-field radiative energy transfer, and hot electron generation and harvesting. Finally, the increased market penetration of alternative solar energy-conversion technologies amplifies the role of costdriven and environmental considerations. This roadmap on optical energy conversion provides a snapshot of the state of the art in optical energy conversion, remaining challenges, and most promising approaches to address these challenges. Leading experts authored 19 focused short sections of the roadmap where they share their vision on a specific aspect of this burgeoning research field. The roadmap opens up with a tutorial section, which introduces major concepts and terminology. It is our hope that the roadmap will serve as an important resource for the scientific community, new generations of researchers, funding agencies, industry experts, and investors.


This dissertation consists of three chapters where the first two chapters study models ofbargaining over decision rights and the third chapter studies a model of contests.In the first chapter, "Selling Authority," I consider bargaining over decision-making authorityin which an informed but self-interested agent makes a price offer to buy decision-makingauthority to an uninformed principal who then decides either to accept or to rejectthe offer. No matter how large the difference between parties' preferences, there exists acontinuum of perfect Bayesian equilibria, each of which yields an ex-post efficient action forany realization of the state. In these equilibria, delegation takes place with probability one and no information is transmitted, even though the informed agent's price offers could have been used as a signaling device. However, I also construct an infinite sequence of informative equilibria that approximates ex-post efficiency in the limit.The second chapter, "Communication in Bargaining over Deicison Right," develops a model of bargaining over decision-rights between an uninformed principal and an informed but self-interested agent. The uninformed principal makes a price offer to the agent who then decides either to accept or to reject the offer. Contrary to the prediction the Coase Theorem provides, actions induced in the unique perfect Bayesian equilibrium do not always satisfy ex-post efficiency. Once we introduce explicit communication into the model, however, there exists a truth-telling perfect Bayesian equilibrium, even when the conflict of interest isarbitrarily large. The truth-telling equilibrium outcome is ex-ante Pareto superior to that ofseveral dispute-resolution schemes studied in the framework of Crawford and Sobel (1982).The third chapter, "Contests with a stochastic number of players," studies the Tullock's(1980) n-player contest where each player has an independent probability p in [0,1] to participate. A unique symmetric equilibrium is found for any n and p and its properties are analyzed. In particular, we show that for a fixed n > 2 the individual equilibrium spending is non-monotonic whereas the total equilibrium spending is monotonically increasing in p and n. We also show that the ex-post over-dissipation is a natural feature of the equilibrium in our model.


The scope of this work is to develop an instrument for the economic evaluation of agricultural research in the productive chain of wheat and its impact in the profitability of agricultural cooperatives. A conceptual model was developed using the balanced scorecard and system dynamics methodologies. In the development of the model all processes involved in the productive chain of wheat agricultural research were initially mapped. Furthermore, a BSC strategic map was developed, explaining the objectives and indicators of the cooperative. Finally, using the system thinking approach, a modeling was driven seeking enlargement of the problem systemic vision. The resulting model developed in this work allowed a better understanding of the complex relationships between research and agricultural production, making it easier to analyze the process and the decision of new investments in research on the part of managers and analysts of agricultural cooperatives.


Improving water efficiency is a growing challenge for the Common Agricultural Policy. In this article, we test whether social comparison nudges can promote water-saving behavior among farmers. We report on a pilot Randomized Controlled Trial, in which information on individual and group water consumption were sent every week to farmers equipped with smartmeters. We do not detect an effect of nudges on average water consumption. We however find that the nudge decreases water consumption at the top of the distribution while it increases consumption at the bottom. This study highlights the potential of nudges as an agricultural policy tool.


This Comment analyzes whether the First Amendment associational rights of the major political parties should include candidate replacement and argues that the rights of parties to define who votes in the primary logically should be extended to include a right to replace candidates on the ballot after a withdrawal. Based on the more recent Supreme Court cases finding greater freedom of association for political parties, this Comment will focus on the 2002 replacement of Robert Torricelli in the New Jersey U.S. Senate election and the 2006 failure to replace Tom DeLay in the Texas 22nd Congressional District U.S. House of Representatives election. Although Torricelli and DeLay withdrew under similar circumstances, the courts came to markedly different results, showing the unequal impact of the different candidate replacement laws and their effect on elections for federal office.19 This Comment recommends a federal standard that will ensure political parties retain their First Amendment associational rights, while still allowing the states to efficiently manage the election process. Part I.A of this Comment traces the Supreme Court's jurisprudence on the associational rights of political parties from the restrictive White Primary Cases to the more recent trend of greater associational freedoms. Part I.B discusses the different state candidate replacement laws and illustrates their disparate effect on the ability of political parties to replace withdrawn candidates through discussion of the Torricelli and DeLay withdrawals. Part II.A This comment is available in American University Law Review: http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/aulr/vol56/iss6/4 analyzes the associational rights of political parties in the context of the candidate replacement process, and argues that political parties should have broad powers to replace withdrawn candidates. Finally, Part II.B of this Comment recommends a national standard for candidate replacement in federal elections that is narrowly tailored and preserves the associational freedoms of the political parties.


About the Author Malcolm Gladwell is the author of five New York Times bestsellers — The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath. He is also the co-founder of Pushkin Industries, an audio content company that produces the podcasts Revisionist History, which reconsiders things both overlooked and misunderstood, and Broken Record, where he, Rick Rubin, and Bruce Headlam interview musicians across a wide range of genres. Gladwell has been included in the TIME 100 Most Influential People list and touted as one of Foreign Policy's Top Global Thinkers.


&NA; Figure. No caption available. BACKGROUND: Oncology nurse practitioners (ONPs) are advanced practice RNs prepared at the graduate level with high‐level knowledge and skills in oncology. Because of challenges in educational programs and variability in the scope of practice at the state and institutional level, many ONPs are challenged to practice to the full extent of their education, certification, and licensure. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this article is to review issues affecting the education and practice patterns of ONPs and to identify solutions to address the challenges that exist for ONPs. METHODS: Members of the Oncology Nursing Society's Nurse Practitioner Summit summarized the challenges faced by ONPs related to education, training, practice, and professional development. FINDINGS: Efforts to promote ONP practice at the fullest extent of licensure and across various settings should be prioritized. Resources must be devoted to education, onboarding, and retention to integrate and retain ONPs as leaders of the interprofessional team.


Citizenship is fast emerging as a central concern for transgender politics. This article approaches the topic of transgender citizenship by investigating empirically how the practice of blogging has served as a way of claiming, or practicing, intimate citizenship for transgendered people. Theorization of intimate citizenship helps us to further our understanding of the ways in which our most private decisions and practices are inextricably linked with public institutions, law and state policies. Significantly, this development is also tied up with other characteristically late modern technological advancements, ranging from new reproductive technologies to new Information and Communication Technologies. In the case of transgender politics, such interlacings become particularly perspicacious, not only due to modern discourses concerning diagnosis and treatment, but also because the presence of social media resources affords new possibilities for the sharing of personal and political narratives about 'being transgendered'. In this article, I investigate an event in the Swedish blogosphere, namely the way in which the national celebration of Swedish Mother's Day became a site for the contestation of the current limitations of the reproductive legal rights for transgendered people, providing an opening for a more general debate on transgender reproductive rights.


ABSTRACT One STEAM (STEM + Arts) strategy is to supplement traditional STEM instruction with music. Using music could provide the dual benefits of (1) making STEM content more accessible and (2) enhancing students' engagement in the learning process. Here we explore the extent to which music-oriented high school students achieve these two benefits when they participate in 'Songwriting To Learn', a possible variation on the Writing To Learn (WTL) model of instruction. We analysed 81 artist statements, collected over 12 years at an annual science fair, in which students described their music compositions and the compositions' connections to science. Rather than simply reporting scientific facts in song lyrics, these students used an impressive variety of musical elements (Genre, Instruments, Lyrics, and Structure [i.e. chords, dynamics, melody, rhythm]) as metaphors or symbols for science-related elements (Scientific Topic, Conveying Information, Affect, Personal Story, Scientific Story). Many students demonstrated a sophisticated attention to musical details and nuances, consistent with their frequent self-identification as musicians and/or music fans. Moreover, in composing and performing songs, these students fulfilled some of the key criteria by which scientific identities are developed, including the forging of personal connections to science. By writing songs about science, students may use their practice-linked identities in the domain of music to express their growing understanding in the domain of science.


Following the recent interest in the teaching of pragmatics and the recognition of its importance for both cross-cultural communication and new speakers of an additional language, the authors carried out an action research project to evaluate the effectiveness of a new approach to the teaching of pragmatics. This involved the use of semiauthentic discourse samples of New Zealand English to raise the pragmatic awareness of trainee interpreters in an undergraduate course taught by the first author. The researchers analysed qualitative data from learner blogs, written during instruction as part of the course requirements, for evidence that the learners noticed paralinguistic features used for pragmatic effect in conversations they overheard or took part in outside the classroom. The class teacher also kept a reflective journal recording her observations on learner progress and the usefulness of the materials. The researchers found there was a growth in the number of learners noticing pragmatic features during tuition, suggesting that the semiauthentic samples were effective as learning tools. Use of these samples also facilitated the noticing and discussion of cross-cultural differences and enabled more learner-centered methodology to be used.


We present the latest results on the experimental generation of the position and momentum (x-p) entanglement for bright optical beams [1]. Spatial entanglement of light is a direct demonstration of entanglement of the momentum and position of laser beam as envisioned in the original publication by Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen [2]. Spatial entanglement has potential applications in quantum imaging systems and for quantum communication protocols. The position-momentum entanglement was observed in the form of the degree of inseparability, which was measured to be no larger than 0.76.


The individual and household sector generates roughly 30 to 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and is a potential source of prompt and large emissions reductions. Yet the assumption that only extensive government regulation will generate substantial reductions from the sector is a barrier to change, particularly in a political environment hostile to regulation. This Article demonstrates that prompt and large reductions can be achieved without relying predominantly on regulatory measures. The Article identifies seven "low-hanging fruit:" actions that have the potential to achieve large reductions at less than half the cost of the leading current federal legislation, require limited up-front government expenditures, generate net savings for the individual, and do not confront other barriers. The seven actions discussed in this Article not only meet these criteria, but also will generate roughly 150 million tons in emissions reductions and several billion dollars in net social savings. The Article concludes that the actions identified here are only a beginning, and it identifies changes that will be necessary by policymakers and academicians if these and other low-hanging fruit are to be picked.