The current debate about flood management in the UK involves the notion of making space for water, recognising the fact that it is impractical to defend large floodplains to a standard which excludes any possibility of flooding. Coupled with development controls to discourage new building in the floodplain is the desire to encourage
inhabitants of the floodplain to render themselves less vulnerable to flood damage by building resilience into their homes. Advice on resilience is available via flood forums and insurers but historically take up has been low. In a bid to increase the installation of individual flood
protection measures there are nascent grant schemes underway or proposed in England and Wales. A review of the international literature relating to flood proofing of homes and the attitudes of floodplain residents reveals that there are many barriers to overcome in encouraging the installation of resilient measures. Financial concerns
are of course a primary factor, the presence of almost universal flood insurance cover for UK residents detracts from motivation to take individual responsibility. However it emerges from this review that other considerations should not be disregarded. Any proposed scheme must
contend with the preference for community measures, informational barriers, emotional constraints, aesthetic considerations and timing issues. The provision of finance for resilient schemes could be more effective if incorporated within the reinstatement process in order to
minimise cost, distress and disruption to the home owner.


In a brilliant synthesis of genetic, archaeological, linguistic and climatic data, Oppenheimer challenges current thinking with his claim that there was only one successful migration out of Africa. In 1988 Newsweek headlined the startling discovery that everyone alive on the earth today can trace their maternal DNA back to one woman who lived in Africa 150,000 years ago. It was thought that modern humans populated the world through a series of migratory waves from their African homeland. Now an even more radical view has emerged, that the members of just one group are the ancestors of all non-Africans now alive, and that this group crossed the mouth of the Red Sea a mere 85,000 years ago. It means that not only is every person on the planet descended from one African 'Eve' but every non-African is related to a more recent Eve, from that original migratory group. This is a revolutionary new theory about our origins that is both scholarly and entertaining, a remarkable account of the kinship of all humans. Further details of the findings in this book are presented at www.bradshawfoundation.com/stephenoppenheimer/


abstract Isolation-by-distance models are part of the institutional creed of antiracialism used to critique claims of biological race concepts (BRCs). Proponents of antiracialism appeal to isolation-by-distance models to describe patterns of human genetic differences among and between groups as a function of distance. Isolation by distance has been referred to as the pattern that human genetic variation fits, distributing the differences we see as race throughout geographic space as a series of Gaussian gradients. Contemporary scientific critiques of BRCs fuse social constructionist race concepts with a description of the distribution of proportions of human genetic variation in geographic space as a function of distance. These two points are often followed by statements noting that there is only one human race. How these two concepts connect to each other, and whether or not they connect at all, is unclear in both academic and nonacademic spaces. Consequently, scientists and the public lack an understanding of human population structure and its relationships to varying systems of human interactions. This article reviews isolation-by-distance models in population genetics and the use of these models in the modern problem of human difference. The article presents a historical and conceptual review of isolation-by-distance models and contemporary scientific critiques of BRCs, followed by examples of the use of isolation-by-distance models in studies of human genetic variation. To address the shortcomings in the scientific critique of race, the author proposes combining Du Boisian demography with Darwinian evolutionary biology. From a Du Boisian demographic perspective, race is a product of racism, or race/ism, and is a heredity and inheritance system based on rules of partus sequitur ventrem and hypodescent. Race marks individuals and groups them to reproduce unequal relationships into which Europeans co-opted them. This synthesis propounds a new racial formation theory to understand the more general consequences of racism on genes and health outcomes.


An intuitive way for a human to write paraphrase sentences is to replace words or phrases in the original sentence with their corresponding synonyms and make necessary changes to ensure the new sentences are fluent and grammatically correct. We propose a novel approach to modeling the process with dictionary-guided editing networks which effectively conduct rewriting on the source sentence to generate paraphrase sentences. It jointly learns the selection of the appropriate word level and phrase level paraphrase pairs in the context of the original sentence from an off-the-shelf dictionary as well as the generation of fluent natural language sentences. Specifically, the system retrieves a set of word level and phrase level paraphrase pairs derived from the Paraphrase Database (PPDB) for the original sentence, which is used to guide the decision of which the words might be deleted or inserted with the soft attention mechanism under the sequence-to-sequence framework. We conduct experiments on two benchmark datasets for paraphrase generation, namely the MSCOCO and Quora dataset. The automatic evaluation results demonstrate that our dictionary-guided editing networks outperforms the baseline methods. On human evaluation, results indicate that the generated paraphrases are grammatically correct and relevant to the input sentence.


SALES AND EARNINGS FOR THE world's major drug producers have been taking a severe beating from competing generic drugs. According to IMS Health, generics account for nearly 45% of all prescriptions and are enjoying an annual growth rate of 13%. Meanwhile, beginning in the first quarter of this year, brand-name drug producers saw their earnings growth fall into the single digits, then slow to zero, and, in the most recent quarter, actually decline. Combined third-quarter sales for 15 global pharmaceutical producers rose to $68.8 billion, up 4.0% compared with the same period last year. However, overall earnings for the group declined 2.8% to $14.0 billion. The situation was only slightly better for the first nine months of 2002—sales were up 4.7% to nearly $204 billion, while earnings slipped 0.9% to $43.1 billion. Roche is not included because it reported only nine-month sales, which were flat at $14.8 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb led ...


A common reason for changing the chosen service provider is the users' perception of service. Quality of Experience (QoE) describes the end user's perception of service while using it. A frequent cause of QoE degradation is inadequate traffic routing, where, other than throughput, selected routes do not satisfy minimum network requirements for the given service or services. In order to enable QoE-driven routing, per traffic type defined routing criteria are required. Our goal was to obtain those criteria for relevant services of a telecom operator. For the purpose of identifying services of interest, we first provide short results of user traffic analysis within the telecom operator network. Next, our work presents testbed measurements which explore the impact of packet loss and delay on user QoE for video, voice, and management traffic. For video services, we investigated separately multicast delivery, unicast HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), and unicast Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) traffic. Applying a threshold to QoE values, from the measured dependencies we extracted minimum network performance criteria for the investigated different types of traffic. Finally, we provide a comparison with results available in the literature on the topic.


This Article responds to changes proposed by Congress and the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules to restrict civil lawsuits by reforming procedure. It argues that while these changes are purported to be based on empirical studies, there is no reference to actual government statistics about whether the civil caseload has grown, whether the median disposition time has increased, or whether the most prevalent types of civil cases have changed. Based on statistics published by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, this Article shows that the civil docket has actually stagnated, not exploded. It first looks at trends in the overall volume and duration of federal civil litigation since 1986, suggests a proper methodology for measurement, and shows that the rate of increase of civil filings is less than the growth in the country's population and the increase in judicial resources in civil cases, noting that any increase must be attributable to the criminal docket. Next, this Article studies the rates at which cases are terminated by various methods, noting today's primary method is before pretrial with court action due to dispositive motions and judicial management. Third, this Article tracks and explains changes in the "Big Six" categories of civil litigation. Finally, this Article emphasizes the need to look at the government's caseload statistics to note that the federal civil caseload has been relatively stable for twenty-five years.


While much is known regarding the effects of immigration for objective outcomes, relatively little is known regarding the effects for perceived well-being. By exploiting spatial and temporal variation in the net-inflows of foreign-born individuals across local areas in England, we examine the relationship between immigration and natives' subjective well-being as captured by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). We find small negative effects overall but that an analysis of the main effects masks significant differences across subgroups, with relatively older individuals, those with below-average household incomes, the unemployed and finally those without any formal educational qualifications experiencing much more substantive well-being losses than others. These observed well-being differentials are congruent with voting patterns evident in the recent UK referendum on EU membership. We put forward perceived as opposed to actual labour market competition and social identity as two potential explanations for the negative well-being impacts of immigration for natives.


The effectiveness of influenza vaccination in reducing hospitalization of people with diabetes for influenza, pneumonia, or diabetic events during influenza epidemics was assessed in a case control study in Leicestershire, England. Cases were 80 patients on the Leicestershire Diabetes Register who were admitted and discharged from hospital with International Classification of Disease codes for pneumonia, bronchitis, influenza, diabetic ketoacidosis, coma and diabetes, without mention of complications, during the influenza epidemics of 1989–90 and 1993. One hundred and sixty-controls, who were not admitted to hospital during this period, were randomly selected from the Register. Immunization against influenza was assessed in 37 cases and 77 controls for whom consent was obtained to access their clinical notes and for whom notes were available. Significant association was detected between reduction in hospitalization and influenza vaccination during the period immediately preceding an epidemic. Multiple logistic regression analysis estimated that influenza vaccination reduced hospital admissions by 79% (95% CI 19–95%) during the two epidemics, after adjustment for potential confounders.


The benefits brought about by the emergence of e-commerce, e-business and other Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) applications have not been fully explored in the developing economies of the world. The less developed economies are still struggling to catch up with ICT application as opposed to its heavy deployment in the developed economies. Empirical evidence suggests that ICTs and other related technologies are increasingly emerging in the communities of the developing economies such as Nigeria. Rural actors engaged in the Agricultural industries (Agribusiness) feel that the implementation of ICTs can influence the development of new business processes and the way existing processes are organised. In the Southeast of Nigeria, which is a typical example of a less developed community, the impact of e-business technologies has yet to be determined. This paper identifies two classical traditional agribusiness supply chains and hence reports on the impact of e-commerce technology diffusion along the equilibrium of the supply chains, focusing on the elimination of intermediary actors from the chain. It provides an assessment of the Governments' policies and strategies on e-commerce adoption for the sustainability of small-scale agricultural businesses. The paper examines the politics surrounding ICT implementations by actors engaged in the agribusiness sector. This research has motivated The South East State Government, in collaboration with the Federal Government, to give closer attention to their earlier policy of making Nigeria an ICT-enabled country.


Abstract Prevailing batch Bayesian optimisation methods allow all control variables to be freely altered at each iteration. Real-world experiments, however, often have physical limitations making it time-consuming to alter all settings for each recommendation in a batch. This gives rise to a unique problem in BO: in a recommended batch, a set of variables that are expensive to experimentally change need to be fixed, while the remaining control variables can be varied. We formulate this as a process-constrained batch Bayesian optimisation problem. We propose two algorithms, pc-BO(basic) and pc-BO(nested). pc-BO(basic) is simpler but lacks convergence guarantee. In contrast pc-BO(nested) is slightly more complex, but admits convergence analysis. We show that the regret of pc-BO(nested) is sublinear. We demonstrate the performance of both pc-BO(basic) and pc-BO(nested) by optimising benchmark test functions, tuning hyper-parameters of the SVM classifier, optimising the heat-treatment process for an Al-Sc alloy to achieve target hardness, and optimising the short polymer fibre production process.


The improvement of collision avoidance for vessels in close range encounter situations is an important topic for maritime traffic safety. Typical approaches generate evasive trajectories or optimise the trajectories of all involved vessels. The idea of this work is to validate these trajectories related to guaranteed motion safety, which means that it is not sufficient for a trajectory to be collision-free, but it must additionally ensure that an evasive manoeuvre is performable at any time. An approach using the distance and the evolution of the distance to the other vessels is proposed. The concept of Inevitable Collision States (ICS) is adopted to identify the states for which no evasive manoeuvre exist. Furthermore, it is implemented into a collision avoidance system for recreational crafts to demonstrate the performance.


We describe two cases of open user experience (UX) design using the Firefox web browser and OpenOffice.org office suite as case studies. Open UX design refers to activities and practices surrounding designing for the user experience in open source contexts. We analyze the socio-technical complexity of integrating UX activities into the two open source projects using activity awareness, a theoretical framework for understanding team performance in collective endeavors of significant scope, duration, and complexity. The facets of activity awareness are common ground, communities of practice, social capital, and human development. We found differences with the following dynamics in the two open source projects: community building, UX status in the community, decision making, and ways of sharing design information.


The purpose of this study is to examine the attitudes and perceptions of current undergraduate tourism and hospitality students towards careers in the industry. For this study, a sample of 132 undergraduate students from hospitality and tourism management programs in Northern Cyprus was surveyed. SPSS Version 21 was used to explore the data. Results shows that the career factor items students have concerns over include job security, pay and promotion, reasonable workload, and job-family balance offered within the industry. Surprisingly, the most alarming finding to come out of this study is that more than 40% of the tourism students are undecided and not willing to work in the industry, which means the industry lose more than one third of the qualified graduates. Implications for hospitality and tourism educators and industry employers are discussed.


Model checking has been successfully used for detailed formal verification of instrumentation and control (I&C) systems, as long as the focus has been on the application logic alone. In safety-critical applications, fault tolerance is also an important aspect, but introducing I&C hardware failure modes to the formal models comes at a significant computational cost. Previous attempts have led to state space explosion and prohibitively long processing times. In this paper, we present an approach to model and formally verify protection functions allocated to one or several I&C systems, accounting for hardware component failures and delays in communication within and between the systems. Formal verification is done with model checking, whose feasibility on such complex systems is achieved by utilizing the symmetry of I&C systems: the components of the overall model that do not influence the checked requirements are eliminated, and the failing components are fixed. Generation of such abstracted models, as well as subsequent verification of their requirements and symmetry with the NuSMV symbolic model checker, is handled by a software tool. In addition, we explore how to specify formal requirements for systems of the considered class. Based on a case study built around a semi-fictitious nuclear power plant protection system that achieves reliability by means of redundancy, we demonstrate how failure tolerance of even detailed system designs can be formally verified.


The goal of this project is to summarize what sort of benefits and costs the mortgage interest deduction creates for the economy and society in the United States, and to research how lawmakers have treated the deduction in light of these effects. Ultimately, this project found that scholars and commentators of all economic and political stripes are virtually unanimous in their opposition to the deduction. In fact, they contend it has myriad negative effects on the economy and society, serving only to help some taxpayers buy bigger and more expensive homes. Congress for the most part has ignored these facts. Legislators of both parties from states with high home prices predominantly oppose any changes, casting the deduction in hyperbolic terms as a gift to the entire nation when in fact it mostly serves to please their own constituents and fund their own campaigns. While the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 includes much needed reforms to the deduction, the nation's tax code is still a long way from treating home ownership in a sensible manner.


The paper discusses a survey of British academic human geographers enquiring about change and diversification within personal research activities, their nature, motivations and impacts. It argues that this is widespread and a significant aspect of the production of contemporary geographical knowledge. The findings highlight the range of motivations underpinning research change, its impacts and mediation through the institutional context of British human geography. It concludes that despite a more prescriptive institutional context geographers have a degree of autonomy, albeit somewhat fettered, to shape their own research trajectories to some extent. This provides some important capacity with which to engage with imminent challenges facing the discipline in the UK). The paper complements recent critical histories of geography and sociological accounts of the discipline.


Purpose: Parents often experience moderate to severe levels of stress due to the challenges of raising a child with special needs. Previous research has proven that excessive parental stress negatively impacts both the parent and child's health. However, few organizations have been identified which offer intervention programs focusing directly on decreasing parental stress. This pilot study investigates the effectiveness of a 6-week online mindfulness-based course in reducing stress experienced by parents of children with special needs. Method: A pre-test, post-test pilot design, as well as a participatory action approach, were employed to determine the impact of the online mindfulness-based course in reducing perceived stress experienced by parents of children with special needs. Eleven parents participated in the pilot study. The course was facilitated by an occupational therapist (the first author) trained and experienced in mindfulness practices and a parent of two children with special needs. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale - Stress subscale (DASS-SS), The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire-15 (FFMQ-15), and author-generated measures were administered pre- and post-intervention to determine changes in perceived stress levels, as well as, the impact and application of mindfulness practices. Results: The DASS-SS measuring the parents' perceived stress level revealed a 30% mean reduction in stress when comparing pre-and post-intervention scores. The PSS revealed a 21% mean reduction in perceived stress score post-intervention. The FFMQ-15 (used to measure changes in the integration of mindfulness practices into the parent's daily routine) indicated a 4% increase in the groups' mindfulness practices comparing pre- and post-intervention scores. Responses to the author-generated measure revealed that 82% of parents believed they could better handle challenging situations post-intervention; 100% of the parents agreed that the course made them more mindful of their thoughts. Conclusion: Results indicate that an introductory online mindfulness-based parenting program can be an effective intervention for reducing the stress experienced by parents of children with special needs.


With the continuous improvement and development of current socio-economic, China's economic investment amounts in venture project that has core position in today's economic market presents an increasing trend. In addition, domestic venture project has made rather obvious progress on the number and specific size. It is a rather complex form in specific socio-economic structure and its production mode, whose key lies in the quality and safety index, project schedule, economic investment of the project, project cost and other comprehensive aspects. There are some problems in the implementation process of venture projects as well as the doubt and uncertainty in the relevant links. The presence of these characteristics impairs the venture project in the implementation process to some extent, and as a result, the risk evaluation and management of venture projects are indispensable. This paper conducts further analysis research on risk management method of venture project and comprehensive analysis research on its own characteristics, establishes risk evaluation model of gray fuzzy theory with the combination of the doubt and uncertainty in the venture project, and does comprehensive evaluation on the risk existing in the venture project. The crux of this study is to undertake a comprehensive risk evaluation and further clarify the specific evaluation process of the venture project by using the gray fuzzy theory.


Cooper and Willis (2003) is the latest in a sequence of criticisms of our methodology for estimating aggregate nonlinearities when microeconomic adjustment is lumpy. Their case is based on reproducing' our main findings using artificial data generated by a model where microeconomic agents face quadratic adjustment costs. That is, they supposedly find our results where they should not be found. The three claims on which they base their case are incorrect. Their mistakes range from misinterpreting their own simulation results to failing to understand the context in which our procedures should be applied. They also claim that our approach assumes that employment decisions depend on the gap between the target and current level of unemployment. That is incorrect as well, since the gap approach' has been derived formally from at least as sophisticated microeconomic models as the one they present. On a more positive note, the correct interpretation of Cooper and Willis's results shows that our procedures are surprisingly robust to significant departures from the assumptions made in our original derivations.


Radiation effect on the natural convection flow of an optically thin viscous incompressible fluid near a vertical plate with ramped wall temperature in a porous medium has been studied. The exact solution of momentum and energy equations is obtained by the use of Laplace transform technique. The variations in fluid velocity and temperature are shown graphically whereas the numerical values of shear stress and the rate of heat transfer at the wall are presented in tabular form for various values of flow parameters. The results show that the fluid velocity increases with increase in Grashof number, Darcy number and time parameters whereas the fluid velocity decreases with increase in the radiation parameter and Prandtl number for ramped temperature as well as isothermal wall temperature. It is found that an increase in radiation parameter leads to rise the temperature for both ramped wall temperature as well as isothermal wall temperature. Further, it is found that an increase in Prandtl number leads to fall the temperature for both ramped wall temperature as well as isothermal wall temperature. The shear stress at the wall decreases with increases in either Prandtl number or porosity parameter while the result shows reverse in the case of radiation parameter. Finally, the rate of heat transfer is increased with increases in the radiation parameter for both ramped wall temperature as well as isothermal wall temperature.


ABSTRACT China has amassed a large arsenal of regional ballistic missiles capable of ranging all of Asia-Pacific. The Chinese People's Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) has also developed detailed doctrines articulating the use of these missiles to deny the United States and allied nations' freedom of action during a regional contingency. The PLARF practices many of its exercises based on these doctrines and under realistic conditions that mimic adversary counter-tactics. In response, the U.S. and allied states deploy significant ballistic missile defense assets to deter and defend against the use of missiles. In this paper, an empirical evaluation of the performance of these regional missile defenses is conducted. The results indicate that regional missile defense remain robust and effective against small coercive signaling strikes. Against a limited suppression strike campaign aiming to delay and disrupt military movements, missile defenses remain robust if an early warning is available. Finally, against a large-scale coordinated missile campaign, missile defense assets are spread thin, and marginal cost to the defense is substantially high. If China can launch multiples waves of large-scale missile salvos or if critical missile assets are rendered nonfunctional, it could cause severe damage to military capabilities.


Purpose: The survey aimed to identify common strengths and weaknesses regarding the characteristics, management and implementation of Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) training in the undergraduate curriculum of Schools of Physical Therapy in the Philippines, and make recommendations for improvement. Method: A survey was conducted with the academic heads of CBR departments in 10 Physical Therapy schools. The institutions were selected through cluster sampling according to regional location. Nine of these were private institutions. Data was collected through a 24-item self-assessment survey distributed to the heads of the participating colleges /departments. Results: A number of strengths and weaknesses were identified. The strengths were:  all schools had a 1 to 2-month clinical CBR course integrated into their undergraduate curriculum; CBR courses were supported by a course syllabus, learning outcomes, student assessment and clinical training manual; 80% of institutions had implementing policies and guidelines governing management of the CBR programme(s); at least one physiotherapist was involved in the management of the CBR programme(s); and, CBR activities were delivered in coordination with key stakeholders management, with emphasis on delivery of physical therapy services, disability prevention, health education, participation of persons with disabilities and community awareness. The weaknesses were: no head/programme coordinator for 30% of CBR programmes; 40% did not have clinical coordinators as designated management positions in the CBR programme; only 50% of academic staff received formal CBR training, of which 80% was provided through CBR summits and professional interaction with other physical therapists; and, only 50% of schools adopted a multidisciplinary approach to service delivery which was focused on the Health domain of the CBR Matrix. Conclusion:  The CBR component of the undergraduate physical therapy curriculum in the Philippines can be improved. A shift in the teaching to transdisciplinary care and inter-professional learning is recommended. Regular review of the CBR indicators should be done by the schools, including the key stakeholders.  Challenges for CBR implementation were recruitment of community volunteers as CBR workers, availability of indigenous resources and finances to support CBR activities, and family participation in the rehabilitation of a relative with a disability. Each school should determine whether current human resources and training are adequate. Schools must be encouraged to jointly identify common problems in CBR education and share solutions.


INTRODUCTION
Immune system dysregulation has been demonstrated to occur during and immediately following spaceflight. If found to persist during lengthy flights, this phenomenon could be a serious health risk to crewmembers participating in lunar or Mars missions.

METHODS
A comprehensive postflight immune assessment was performed on 17 short-duration Space Shuttle crewmembers and 8 long-duration International Space Station (ISS) crewmembers. Testing consisted of peripheral leukocyte subset analysis, early T cell activation potential, and intracellular/secreted cytokine profiles.

RESULTS
For Shuttle crewmembers, the distribution of the peripheral leukocyte subsets was found to be altered postflight. Early T cell activation was elevated postflight; however, the percentage of T cell subsets capable of being stimulated to produce IL-2 and IFN gamma was decreased. The ratio of secreted IFN gamma:IL-10 following T cell stimulation declined after landing, indicating a Th2 shift. For the ISS crewmembers, some alterations in peripheral leukocyte distribution were also detected after landing. In contrast to Shuttle crewmembers, the ISS crewmembers demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in early T cell activation potential immediately postflight. The percentage of T cells capable of producing IL-2 was reduced, but IFN gamma percentages were unchanged. A reduction in the secreted IFN gamma:IL-10 ratio (Th2 shift) was also observed postflight in the ISS crewmembers.

CONCLUSION
These data indicate that consistent peripheral phenotype changes and altered cytokine production profiles occur following spaceflight of both short and long duration; however, functional immune dysregulation may vary related to mission duration. In addition, a detectable Th2 cytokine shift appears to be associated with spaceflight.


This paper presents the results of tests performed to study the effect of slurry solids concentration on the behavior of gas dispersion in industrial-scale mechanical flotation cells. The experiments were conducted at five concentrator facilities run by a Mexican mining company, specifically in the rougher bank of the lead/zinc flotation circuits. Those mechanical cells having significant contribution to the performance of the circuit, that is, the cells that enable high recovery, were characterized. The measurement protocol enables measurement of the superficial gas velocity, gas holdup and bubble size, and sampling of the mineral slurry. The measured data indicate that bubble size and gas holdup decreases as the concentration of solids increases.


This report describes various applications of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) for image generation, image-to-image translation, and vehicle control. With this, we also investigate the role played by the computed latent space, and show various ways of exploiting this space for controlled image generation and exploration. We show one pure generative method which we call AstroGAN that is able to generate realistic images of galaxies from a set of galaxy morphologies. Two image-to-image translation methods are also displayed: StereoGAN, which is able to generate a pair of stereo images given a single image; Underwater GAN, which is able to restore distorted imagery exhibited in underwater environments. Lastly, we show a generative model for generating actions in a simulated self-driving car environment.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * Although they have been criticized for high associated fees, reverse mortgages can provide cash for qualifying homeowners (62 or older) to meet immediate needs, in a lump sum, as fixed monthly payments for the lives of the owners, or as a line of credit. * The leading product, the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM), is insured by the federal government and limits the payback amount to the value of the home at the time the loan is due. * A newer version of HECMs, the HECM Saver loan, features lower upfront costs, including a lower initial mortgage insurance premium. * Alternatives to reverse mort gages should be explored by clients with their financial advisers, including a home equity loan, second mortgage, and selling the residence. The latter option might include a leaseback arrangement. ********** The recent recession left no age group untouched, but baby boomers were hit especially hard. High unemployment and an uncertain stock market have caused older Americans to realize that their retirement funds might not support their desired lifestyle. Many seniors are facing foreclosure, while others are unable to meet their basic needs, such as paying medical, energy, and other daily living expenses. A reverse mortgage can enable homeowners who are at least 62 years old and have sufficient equity in their homes to receive enough cash to live more comfortably throughout retirement. A reverse mortgage is a loan against home equity that requires no repayment until the home is sold or the last surviving borrower dies or no longer occupies it as a principal residence. At that point, the home may have to be sold to repay the loan. The loan amount is designed to be no more than the home's value. But if sale proceeds are insufficient to repay the mortgage, the borrower's estate is not liable for the difference. Reverse mortgages have been criticized for having high fees, as well as for forcing borrowers to remain in the home for an extended period and preventing borrowers' heirs from obtaining a valuable estate asset, the home. For these reasons, reverse mortgages have been looked upon by many CPAs and financial advisers as a last resort. However, recent changes to reverse mortgage instruments are making them more attractive for qualifying individuals. This article takes an in-depth look at reverse mortgages, highlighting recent changes and discussing the advantages, disadvantages, and alternatives. The article focuses on reverse mortgage instruments insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program. HECMs are the lowest-cost reverse mortgage products on the market and make up about 90% of current reverse mortgages. All CPA financial advisers should be aware of the options and be ready to discuss whether these instruments are viable choices to help qualifying clients remain in their homes while obtaining necessary cash. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] MUST BE A FIRST MORTGAGE An HECM must be a first mortgage. However, reverse mortgage proceeds may be used to pay off an existing mortgage on the primary residence. The loan can be taken in a variety of payment options: a lump sum, fixed monthly payments for life or a fixed term, a line of credit, or some combination. Borrowers never have to make principal or interest payments during their lifetime. The loan can be repaid at any time, but as long as the homeowner does not move or vacate the primary residence for longer than 12 months (for any reason, including going into a nursing home), allow the property to deteriorate, or default on property taxes or hazard insurance, the loan does not have to be repaid until all of the homeowners are deceased. At that time, the principal and accrued interest is paid back by the homeowner's estate. …


Online marketplaces, such as Amazon, or online travel agencies, such as Booking.com, greatly expand consumer information about market offers, but also raise firms' marginal costs by charging high commissions. To prevent show-rooming, platforms adopted price parity clauses, which restrict sellers' ability to offer lower prices in alternative sales channels. Whether to uphold, reform, or ban price parity has been at the center of the policy debate, but so far little consensus has emerged. In this paper, we investigate a natural alternative to lifting price parity; namely, we study how to optimally cap platforms' commissions. The optimal cap reflects the Pigouvian precept according to which the platform should not charge fees greater than the externality that its presence generates on other market participants. Employing techniques from extreme-value theory, we are able to express the optimal cap in terms of observable quantities. In an application to online travel agencies, we find that current average fees are welfare increasing only if platforms at least double consumers' consideration sets (relative to alternative ways of gathering information online). This suggests that, in some markets, regulation capping commissions should bind if optimally set.


In a complementary field study, the concentrations of some metals (Cu, Ag, Pb, Zn, Ni, Co, Mn, Fe, As, Cd, Cr, Mg and Ba) were measured in clam Solen dactylus, sediments and water collected at two stations (Park-e-Qadir, 56 ° 20 / E, 27 ° 11 / and Nakhl-e-Nakhoda, 56 ° 23 / E, 27 ° 10 / N) of Bandar Abbas coastal waters of the Persian Gulf in November 2008 and February 2009 showing different contamination levels. Although there is little information on metal concentrations in macro-benthic animals in this area, this study, for the first time, reports the accumulation of some metals in S. dactylus in order to introduce this species as a bioindicator for this area. Results indicated that Mg and Fe were the two most abundant metals in clams and sediments. The maximum and minimum metal concentrations in clams belonged to Mg (3850-5040 μgg -1 dry wt) and Ag (0.30-0.40-0.58 μgg -1 dry wt), respectively. There was a significant relationship between the accumulation of metals in clams, sediment and water samples. A significant relationship between clam lengths and concentrations of Cu (positive) and Mg (negative) were observed. Our study also showed that variable metal concentrations were related to different sampling stations, seasons and their interactions as well. Bioaccumulation of metals in clams was significantly different for eight metal elements between start of the gametogenesis and ripeness stages. Our investigation indicated that the clam S. dactylus could be a useful bioindicator for Zinc.


Motivations. Large-scale screenings allow linking the function of poorly characterized genes to phenotypic readouts. According to this strategy, genes are associated to a function of interest if the alteration of their expression perturbs the phenotypic readouts. However, given the intricacy of the cell regulatory network, such screenings often provide mostly qualitative results, as it is difficult to identify the molecular mechanisms underlying the observed phenotype. In recent years computational modeling has emerged as a powerful tool to investigate biological signaling. In general these model are necessarily limited in size due to their complexity. Conversely large-scale perturbation screenings provide a higher-level view of a larger number of proteins. In this work we aim to bridge the gap between these two worlds in order to obtain a higher-detail mapping of gene products onto complex pathways on a large scale. This strategy was applied to map the poorly characterized family of human phosphatases on pathways related to cell growth. Methods. The strategy we have developed is based on two complementary datasets, which are conceptually linked by "sentinel proteins". These are defined as a number of molecular readouts that define the state of the cell, given specific experimental conditions. The datasets we used are: 1) A detailed mechanistic model describing a pathway of interest. The model includes as entities the sentinel proteins. This is constructed starting from low/medium-throughput experiments. 2) A high-throughput perturbation screening where the molecular readout is defined by the sentinel proteins. The core of the strategy is to use the signaling model to simulate the result of up/down regulating each protein in the signaling pathway. Each perturbation results in a predicted cell state defined as the calculated activity of the sentinel proteins. By matching this signature with the experimental profile obtained in the high-throughput screening it is possible to infer the target and effect (activating/inhibitory) of each protein screened, thus defining its "entry-point" in the network. For instance, if the silencing of a gene results in the same cell state obtained when protein A is up-regulated in the simulation, we can infer that the gene modulates the activity of protein A. The biological modeling was performed using CellNetOptimizer. This software allows the construction of boolean logic models which are represented as signed direct graphs, representing activating/inhibitory relationship between proteins. CNO then optimizes the topology of the model against a dataset of experimental data in order to remove connections that are not relevant in the specific cell system and to integrate using AND/OR logic gates multiple stimuli acting on the same protein. The optimization procedure is repeated 1000 times both because of its stochastic nature and also because the training data are generally not sufficient to fully constrain the model. By performing subsequent simulations on this family of 1000 models it is possible to average out the inconsistencies present in any single model. Moreover by this approach one obtains quantitative predictions even though a given node can only be on (1) or off (0) in any single model. We also extended this strict boolean approach to allow the simulation of three different states for a protein, i.e. control, up and down regulation. Results. We assembled from the literature a network describing cell growth pathways. This model includes 34 species and 59 stimulatory or inhibitory interactions and was optimized using CNO against a dataset of experimental data obtained in HeLa cells. The model also includes five sentinel proteins, whose activation status defines the "cell state". We used the results of a siRNA screening of the human phosphatase family that yielded 58 proteins whose silencing affect the activity of one of the sentinel proteins. The interference of 35 of the 58 phosphatase hits (60%) results in a profile that matches one of those inferred by inactivating or activating in silico one of the nodes of the model. The correctness of this mapping, and thus the predictive capabilities of the model, was demonstrated in a number of experiments. In particular one experiment confirmed that the over-expression of four phosphatases, which were mapped to different positions of the signaling network (i.e. upstream and downstream of AKT and ERK), differentially affect the activity of two readouts (RAF1 and AKT activation) that were not considered in the mapping procedure. In conclusion in this study we developed a novel strategy to map perturbations screening onto complex pathways. The proposed mapping strategy is general and could be used in combination with the results of such large screenings to achieve a more detailed mechanistic description of the molecular mechanisms by which genes or small molecules determine phenotype modulation.


The objective of this innovative technique is to use Total Quality Management concepts in the design and implementation of an MIS course such that students focus on Information Systems content while developing attitudes and behaviors implementing TQM process principles. The result expands the learning process beyond the traditional barriers. Student outcomes indicated a high level of effectiveness and benefit; specifically, active vs . passive attitudes, demonstrated creativity and lateral thinking, improved degree of self-satisfaction, acceptance of individual responsibility, enhanced colleague interaction, communication, and understanding of consequences of behaviors and actions, as well as ownership in both content and process. Students developed greater self awareness of strengths and weaknesses in resourcefulness in finding and discerning information from the perspective of both the source and content.


Islands present significant technological and ecological challenges for long-term human settlement, with archaeological investigations of islands globally able to shed light on the adaptive plasticity of cultural groups to changing climatic regimes. The Massim islands of eastern New Guinea significantly reduced in size throughout the Holocene (⩽11.7 kya), providing a unique opportunity to investigate the long-term adaptive capabilities of humans to changing island ecosystems. Here, we report a 2500-2300 year cultural sequence on Nimowa Island in the Louisiade Archipelago of the Massim region which began with the arrival of a late Lapita population during initial beachfront development. Sediment analyses indicate earlier settlement on the island would not have been possible as the coastline was unstable until near-modern sea levels were reached. The island was abandoned from 1290 to 530 cal. BP during a period of unusually dry conditions ('Medieval Climate Anomaly') and probable freshwater shortages. Re-settlement coincided with wetter climatic conditions ('Little Ice Age'), associated with the establishment of large villages, the earliest expression of local pottery traditions and the onset of large-scale regional exchange networks. Import of non-local obsidian reflects two pulses of interaction followed by periods of increased isolation. With the absence of high-quality lithic resources, shell, coral and bone were used as a locally available alternative for tool production. Increased cyclone frequency from ~500 cal. BP greatly increased beach volume in the island and coastal New Guinea, which facilitated the movement of populations onto smaller islands. A late prehistoric shift in settlement patterns had a profound impact on regional social dynamics.


Today, cellular networks rely on fixed collections of cells (tracking areas) for user equipment localisation. Locating users within these areas involves broadcast search (paging), which consumes radio bandwidth but reduces the user equipment signalling required for mobility management. Tracking areas are today manually configured, hard to adapt to local mobility and influence the load on several key resources in the network. We propose a decentralised and self‐adaptive approach to mobility management based on a probabilistic model of local mobility. By estimating the parameters of this model from observations of user mobility collected online, we obtain a dynamic model from which we construct local neighbourhoods of cells where we are most likely to locate user equipment. We propose to replace the static tracking areas of current systems with neighbourhoods local to each cell. The model is also used to derive a multi‐phase paging scheme, where the division of neighbourhood cells into consecutive phases balances response times and paging cost. The complete mechanism requires no manual tracking area configuration and performs localisation efficiently in terms of signalling and response times. Detailed simulations show that significant potential gains in localisation efficiency are possible while eliminating manual configuration of mobility management parameters. Variants of the proposal can be implemented within current (LTE) standards. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Manuscript type: Research paper.
Research aims: This study examines the impact of cross-cultural differences on capital budgeting systems.
Design/ Methodology/ Approach: Drawing on the contingency theory, 67 non-financial firms listed in Indonesia and Australia were analysed on a comprehensive range of capital budgeting systems.
Research findings: The findings support our predictions that relative to Australian firms, the Indonesian firms were found to emphasise more on sophisticated capital budgeting systems (e.g. real options). The results seem to be driven by Indonesia's higher level of perceived environmental uncertainty coupled with Sharia governance rules that aim to mitigate risky transactions. This study also provides evidence to show that the emphasis on sophisticated capital budgeting systems was driven by firm size and finance managers' level of education attainment.
Theoretical contributions/ Originality: Prior research has docu- mented an incomplete picture of the link between national culture and capital budgeting systems. This is attributed to the lack of the development of contextual foundations for looking at cross-cultural differences followed by the narrow range of capital budgeting systems being considered in research.
Practitioner/ Policy implications: The findings of this study reflect the  capital  budgeting  practices  of  Indonesia  and  Australia.  The findings are important for practitioners who wish to evaluate project investments in these two countries.
Research limitation: Future research should consider looking into how Sharia impacts the use of capital budgeting systems and the performance effects of using different approaches.
Keywords: Capital Budgeting Systems, National Culture, Indonesia, Australia, Environmental Uncertainty
JEL Classification: M41


In this study, we attempt to determine the bank-specific and macroeconomic determinants of commercial banks in Turkey over the period 2005-2015. A balanced panel data set has been formed covering 43 periods between the dates of January 2005 and September 2015. Each period is of 1-year length. According to the empirical results, bank-specific characteristics such as, the ratio of interest on loans to the interest on deposits (ILID), used as a proxy for net interest margin, the ratio of net fees and commissions revenues to total operating expenses (FCE), and relative size (SIZE) have positive and significant impact on profitability represented by return on assets and return on equity. On the other hand, the ratio of nonperforming loans to total loans (NPL) used as a proxy for credit risk, and capital adequacy (ESA) and the ratio of other operating expenses to total operating revenues (OEI), are negatively related to profitability. The most striking result is the fact that among all the bank-specific variables OEI has the strongest impact on profitability. This finding is consistent with the fact that since banks are limited in the determination of interest rates, they do not have control on the level of net interest revenues. Thus economising on the operating expenses is a more feasible option in increasing the profits. With respect to macroeconomic variables, real GDP and interest rate have positive impact on profitability whereas the exchange rate has a negative impact.


The next generation of e-commerce will be conducted by digital agents, based on algorithms that will not only make purchase recommendations, but will also predict what we want, make purchase decisions, negotiate and execute the transaction for the consumers, and even automatically form coalitions of buyers to enjoy better terms, thereby replacing human decision-making. Algorithmic consumers have the potential to change dramatically the way we conduct business, raising new conceptual and regulatory challenges. This game-changing technological development has significant implications for regulation, which should be adjusted to a reality of consumers making their purchase decisions via algorithms. Despite this challenge, scholarship addressing commercial algorithms focused primarily on the use of algorithms by suppliers. This article seeks to fill this void. We first explore the technological advances which are shaping algorithmic consumers, and analyze how these advances affect the competitive dynamic in the market. Then we analyze the implications of such technological advances on regulation, identifying three main challenges.


This paper explores secular changes in women's pay relative to men's pay. It shows how the human capital model predicts a smaller gender wage gap as male-female lifetime work expectations become more similar. The model explains why relative female wages rose almost unabated from 1890 to the early-1990s in the United States (with the exception of about 1940-1980), and why this relative wage growth tapered off since 1993. In addition to the US, the paper presents evidence from nine other countries using data gleaned from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS).


In this paper I study the extent to which the 15-M or Spanish Indignados movement has transformed the discourses of social movements, not only in terms of their content, but also in the way their communicative practices are produced and circulate. Thus, this paper firstly explores how changes in the conditions of production and circulation of linguistic practices contribute to the "deterritorialisation" and "reterritorialisation" of space, by means of which protestors replace the traditional organisation and uses of space with their own beliefs, ideologies and communicative practices. Secondly, I examine the extent to which this "reterritorialisation" leads to an in-depth transformation of the forms of communication, which could be, in their turn, not only transforming public spaces, but also social movements themselves, and the way of doing politics. The paper addresses whether these practices, in projecting themselves onto a public space which they transform, prefigure in the present moment the kind of society being proposed and fought for. Keywords: Linguistic landscapes; communication practices; sociolinguistic market; deterritorialisation; reterritorialisation; production/circulation of linguistic practices


The known moss flora of Terra Nova National Park, eastern Newfoundland,
comp~ises 210 species. Eighty-two percent of the moss species occurring in Terra
Nova are widespread or widespread-sporadic in Newfoundland. Other
Newfoundland distributional elements present in the Terra Nova moss flora are
the northwestern, southern, southeastern, and disjunct elements, but four of the
mosses occurring in Terra Nova appear to belong to a previously unrecognized
northeastern element of the Newfoundland flora.
The majority (70.9%) of Terra Nova's mosses are of boreal affinity and are
widely distributed in the North American coniferous forest belt. An additional
10.5 percent of the Terra Nova mosses are cosmopolitan while 9.5 percent are
temperate and 4.8 percent are arctic-montane species. The remaining 4.3 percent
of the mosses are of montane affinity, and disjunct between eastern and western
North America. In Terra Nova, temperate species at their northern limit are
concentrated in balsam fir stands, while arctic-montane species are restricted to
exposed cliffs, scree slopes, and coastal exposures. Montane species are largely
confined to exposed or freshwater habitats. Inability to tolerate high summer
temperatures limits the distributions of both arctic-montane and montane species.
In Terra Nova, species of differing phytogeographic affinities co-occur on
cliffs and scree slopes. The microhabitat relationships of five selected species from
such habitats were evaluated by Discriminant Functions Analysis and Multiple
Regression Analysis. The five mosses have distinct and different microhabitats on
cliffs and scree slopes in Terra Nova, and abundance of all but one is associated with variation in at least one microhabitat variable. Micro-distribution of
Grimmia torquata, an arctic-montane species at its southern limit, appears to be
deterJ]lined by sensitivity to high summer temperatures. Both southern mosses at
their northern limit (Aulacomnium androgynum, Isothecium myosuroides)
appear to be limited by water availability and, possibly, by low winter
temperatures. The two species whose distributions extend both north and south or
the study area (Encalypta procera, Eurhynchium pulchellum) show no clear
relationship with microclimate.
Dispersal factors have played a significant role in the development of the
Terra Nova moss flora. Compared to the most likely colonizing source (i .e. the
rest of the island of Newfoundland), species with small diaspores have colonized
the study area to a proportionately much greater extent than have species with
large diaspores. Hierarchical log-linear analysis indicates that this is so for all
affinity groups present in Terra Nova. The apparent dispersal effects emphasize
the comparatively recent glaciation of the area, and may also have been enhanced
by anthropogenic influences. The restriction of some species to specific habitats,
or to narrowly defined microhabitats, appears to strengthen selection for easily
dispersed taxa.


Early in Tod Machover's opera Death and the Powers, the main character, Simon Powers, is subsumed into a technological environment of his own creation. The theatrical set comes alive in the form of robotic, visual, and sonic elements that allow the actor to extend his range and influence across the stage in unique and dynamic ways. This environment must compellingly assume the behavior and expression of the absent Simon. In order to distill the essence of this character, we recover performance parameters in real time from physiological sensors, voice, and vision systems. These gesture and performance parameters are then mapped to a visual language that incorporates cognitive and semantic models informed by modal relationships. This language allows the off-stage actor to express emotion and interact with others on stage. Our Disembodied Performance system takes a new direction in augmented performance by employing a non-representational abstraction of a human presence that fully translates a character into an environment.


A number of interventions to prevent and address violence against women and girls have been found to be effective, but little is known about their costs, value for money, and how to take them to scale. With a focus on evidence in low and middle-income countries, this review summarises evidence on the costs and value for money of interventions to prevent violence against women and girls, as well as on approaches for scaling up..


We examine the impact of accounting quality, used as a proxy for information risk, on the behavior of equity implied volatility around quarterly earnings announcements. Using US data during 1996–2010, we observe that lower (higher) accounting quality significantly relates to higher (lower) levels of implied volatility (IV) around announcements. Worse accounting quality is further associated with a significant increase in IV before announcements, and is found to relate to a larger resolution in IV after the announcement has taken place. We interpret our findings as indicative of information risk having a significant impact on implied volatility behavior around earnings announcements.


Over the past few years quantum control has proven to be very successful in steering molecular processes. By combining theory with experiment, even highly complex control aims were realized in the gas phase. In this topical review, we illustrate the past achievements on several examples in the molecular context. The next step for the quantum control of chemical processes is to translate the fruitful interplay between theory and experiment to the condensed phase and thus to the regime where chemical synthesis can be supported. On the theory side, increased efforts to include solvent effects in quantum control simulations were made recently. We discuss two major concepts, namely an implicit description of the environment via the density matrix algorithm and an explicit inclusion of solvent molecules. By application to chemical reactions, both concepts conclude that despite environmental perturbations leading to more complex control tasks, efficient quantum control in the condensed phase is still feasible.


A Kaizen event is a focused and structured improvement project, using a dedicated crossfunctional team to improve a targeted work area, with specific goals, in an accelerated timeframe. Kaizen events have been widely reported to produce positive change in business results and human resource outcomes. However, it can be difficult for many organizations to sustain or improve upon the results of a Kaizen event after it concludes. Furthermore, the sustainability of Kaizen event outcomes has received limited research attention to date. This research is based on a field study of 65 events across eight manufacturing organizations that used survey data collected at the time of the event and approximately nine to eighteen months after the event. The research model was developed from Kaizen event practitioner resources, Kaizen event literature, and related process improvement sustainability and organizational change literature. The model hypothesized that Kaizen Event Characteristics, Work Area Characteristics, and Post-Event Characteristics were related to Kaizen event Sustainability Outcomes. Furthermore, the model hypothesized that Post-Event Characteristics would mediate the relationship between Kaizen Event and Work Area Characteristics and the Sustainability Outcomes. The study hypotheses were analyzed through multiple regression models and generalized estimating equations were used to account for potential nesting effects (events within organizations). The factors that were most strongly related to each Sustainability Outcome were identified. Work Area Characteristics learning and stewardship and experimentation and continuous improvement and Post-Event Characteristics performance review and accepting changes were significant direct or indirect predictors of multiple Sustainability Outcomes and these findings were generally supported by the literature. There were also some unanticipated findings, particularly regarding the modeling of Sustainability Outcomes result sustainability and goal sustainability, which appear to illustrate potential issues regarding how organizations define and track the performance of Kaizen events over time and present areas for future research. Overall, this study advances academic knowledge regarding Kaizen event outcome sustainability. The findings also present guidelines so that practitioners may better influence the longer-term impact of Kaizen events on their organizations. The research findings may also extend to other improvement activities, thus presenting additional areas for future work.


The development of successful new products is today of challenge to most consumer product companies. They have to short their response time, pushing their development processes to move faster while keeping on competitive prices and quality. These caused companies are forced to find effective and innovative approaches as work methods to overcome to pressures. Concurrent Engineering (CE) is one of the approaches to address these managerial and manufacturing dilemmas in new product projects. The basic premise of CE revolves around team working. However, most of the managers especially project managers face with problems when they want to promote teamwork culture, especially in conditions that the project faces with complicated problems. In this condition, a creative team consists of members from different levels of the organizational hierarchy must be shaped. There are always barriers in group meetings that influence growth and diffusion of creative solutions and would be reduced by using creativity and innovation techniques. The first purpose of this study is to identify the effective criteria in success of creative meetings in CE projects. Next, the prioritization of each factor has been analyzed and ranked respectively. Finally, based on the results of previous research of the authors, the useful group creativity and innovation techniques related with team work meetings in CE projects have been ranked by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach.


In vivo fluorescence studies of Cyanidium caldarium mutants grown in the dark in dextrose-containing media have shown that these organisms accumulate protoporphyrin IX. In the dark the accumulated protoporphyrin IX is gradually turned into a metalloporphyrin, Zn protoporphyrin. In the light, in the chlorophyll-lacking mutant GGB, both compounds are degraded and phycobiliproteins are formed. These results implicate protoporphyrin IX in situ as the general precursor to tetrapyrrole pigments and Zn protoporphyrin IX as a possible intermediate or regulator in the biosynthesis of phycobilins.


The following discussion focuses on the question of whether a terrorist organization or a threshold state could make use of plutonium recovered from light-water-reactor fuel to construct a nuclear explosive device having a significantly damaging yield. Questions persist in some nonproliferation policy circles as to whether a bomb could be made from reactor-grade plutonium of high burn-up, and if so, whether the task would be too difficult for a threshold state or terrorist group to consider. Although the information relevant to these questions is in the public domain, and has been for a considerable time, it is assembled here for use by policy makers and members of the public who are concerned about preventing the spread of nuclear explosives.


Construction delays are a common phenomenon in the history of hydropower projects in the world generally and in Pakistan particularly. This research presents the case study of Diamar Basha Dam, one of the most delayed hydropower projects with a checkered history in Pakistan. Feasibility studies of Diamar Basha Dam have been carried out over the last 26 years and there seem to be no signs of its construction to date because of financial issues and territorial disputes with neighbors. It has also given a bird's eye view of unfathomable political conditions of the Kashmir dispute after the British colonization that gave rise to a new political identity to Gilgit Baltistan. The peaceful and fair solution to this political quagmire has been presented in this paper by employing Hall's Tri-Dimension Model. If all three nuclear powers agreed on the given solution then this could ultimately lead to a healthier economic future of the entire region and could play a pivotal role in changing the face of South Asia because a country can make significant economic progress by harnessing adequately its water resources. The progressive economic future of the country largely hinges on hydropower plants because their advantages outweigh their disadvantages.


Background: Evidence for a relationship between trihalomethane (THM) or haloacetic acid (HAA) exposure and adverse fetal growth is inconsistent. Disinfection by-products exist as complex mixtures in water supplies, but THMs and HAAs have typically been examined separately. Objectives: We investigated joint exposure at the individual level to THMs and HAAs in relation to birth weight in the multi-ethnic Born in Bradford birth cohort. Methods: Pregnant women reported their water consumption and activities via questionnaire. These data were combined with area-level THM and HAA concentrations to estimate integrated uptake of THMs into blood and HAA ingestion, accounting for boiling/filtering. We examined the relationship between THM and HAA exposures and birth weight of up to 7,438 singleton term babies using multiple linear regression, stratified by ethnicity. Results: Among Pakistani-origin infants, mean birth weight was significantly lower in association with the highest versus lowest tertiles of integrated THM uptake (e.g., –53.7 g; 95% CI: –89.9, –17.5 for ≥ 1.82 vs. < 1.05 μg/day of total THM) and there were significant trends (p < 0.01) across increasing tertiles, but there were no associations among white British infants. Neither ingestion of HAAs alone or jointly with THMs was associated with birth weight. Estimated THM uptake via showering, bathing, and swimming was significantly associated with lower birth weight in Pakistani-origin infants, when adjusting for THM and HAA ingestion via water consumption. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the largest DBP and fetal growth study to date with individual water use data, and the first to examine individual-level estimates of joint THM–HAA exposure. Our findings demonstrate associations between THM, but not HAA, exposure during pregnancy and reduced birth weight, but suggest this differs by ethnicity. This study suggests that THMs are not acting as a proxy for HAAs, or vice-versa. Citation: Smith RB, Edwards SC, Best N, Wright J, Nieuwenhuijsen MJ, Toledano MB. 2016. Birth weight, ethnicity, and exposure to trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids in drinking water during pregnancy in the Born in Bradford cohort. Environ Health Perspect 124:681–689; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1409480


Abstract Using molecular-assisted alpha taxonomy, we have uncovered two new pseudocryptic species of Champia in Bermuda, as well as have demonstrated that the European C. parvula, a name previously applied to historical Bermuda collections, and C. farlowii recently described from southern New England, USA, are not part of the island flora. We present COI-5P and rbcL, as well as morphological, evidence to describe two endemic species for the islands, C. hasselbringii sp. nov. and C. insularis sp. nov. They are similar species with compressed but variable axes and a wealth of overlapping anatomical characteristics. However, the two species are distinguished not only by their genetics, but also by reproductive features that are commonly found in the small prostrate, epiphytic species. It is possible that C. hasselbringii could be the correct name for species reported in warm waters of the western Atlantic as C. compressa or C. vieillardii, species with type localities in South Africa and New Caledonia, respectively.


The author suggests that the full significance of Clare's contribution to English literature is found not in his social criticism, but in his refusal to dissociate himself from his past or to become assimilated into the mainstream of English culture at the expense of his class-identity. She argues that a clear set of aesthetic principles informs his finest work and provides the first thematic and structural classification of his poetry. Focussing on the major vocational poems and selected passages from the prose, she shows how Clare formulated the creative ideas and rhetorical techniques that allowed him to give unified expression to both his social and literary concerns. Clare's deep involvement with nature and rural England was not only the basis for his poetry, but also enabled him to articulate beliefs which opposed the inhumane values of his time.


ABSTRACT This article provides an Asia-Pacific perspective on biological weapons and their relevance to nuclear deterrence in the pandemic era. The entire class of biological weapons is banned by international law; however, biological weapons are generally less costly and less technically challenging to develop than nuclear weapons. Conversely, nuclear weapons are openly possessed by multiple countries in the Asia-Pacific despite their corresponding cost and technical complexity. These two types of weapons of mass destruction – biological and nuclear – do not exist in isolation but in a multifactorial geopolitical environment where the threat and control of one impacts that of the other. A third factor that holds the potential to influence this dynamic is the increasing likelihood of natural outbreaks and pandemics. This paper explores potential intersections of biological and nuclear weapons in the pandemic context. First, it describes the threat of biological weapons, including history, threat assessment methodology, and specific threats in the Asia-Pacific region. Next, it reviews options for biological weapons control. Finally, it discusses nuclear deterrence and escalation in the context of both natural and deliberate biological events. It concludes with a summary of key points and recommendations for regional security and stability.


Abstract In this study, Dutch and Australian planning regimes are examined to determine whether they are ready to face climate extremes. Five different "cultural" facets of spatial planning determine the differences between the two regimes. These planning characteristics are first confronted with current climate change. The Dutch planning regime performs better under these conditions than the Australian. Secondly, a suite of spatial scenarios is confronted with both current change and a changed risk landscape, in which climate extremes are introduced. Again, the performance of planning characteristics to deal with these new vulnerabilities is tested. For type-1 impacts, exaggerating current change, a limited number of Dutch planning characteristics still hold, where the majority of Australian planning properties is likely to lose functionality. Under type-2 impacts, surprising climate events, the Dutch approach is no longer sufficient, while some Australian characteristics suddenly imply opportunities. The sectored planning approach, together with culturally determined individual responses, might prove to offer solace, under the condition that dealing with extreme events is made priority. Overall, current regimes face difficulties in dealing with surprising climate events and a fundamentally different planning approach is required. Swarm Planning, which dynamically deals with uncertainty, is proposed as a beneficial new planning method.


A new dinosaur Chuxiongosaurus lufengensis gen. et sp. nov. is erected based on a nearly complete skull. The taxon is characterized by the lacrimal perpendicular to the ventral margin of the upper jaw, which is similar to that of Thecodontosaurus; a depression present on the dorsal profile of the snout behind the naris; the rostral profile of the maxilla slopes continuously towards the rostral tip; and the presence of 25 dentary teeth. It also displays prosauropod characters such as a relatively long skull, the slope of the maxillary rostral profile, and teeth that do not have basically constricted crowns. The new specimen is more basal than Anchisaurus and represents the first basal sauropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of China.


Wireless Underground Sensor Networks (WUSNs) are active and emerging area of application of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), whereby sensor nodes are located under the ground environment. The communication between the nodes is done underground, with the aim of sensing events to transmit the sensed events to the sink, which is normally in the terrestrial environment. The most challenging issue in the design of wireless sensor networks for the application of localization in the underground environment, mostly for miner's location, is the sensor nodes' placement problem. In this paper, we formulate a nonlinear program to determine the optimal information extraction in a grid based wireless underground sensor network. We then carefully study the cost of transmitting a bit of sensed information in the underground environment, were we then analyse the average transmission cost (energy consumed in joules per unit distance) for both variation in transmission distance between nodes, packet size (bits), and number of nodes in the network (network node density). The result shows that through optimal node placement approach, energy consumed in the network can be minimized if nodes are selectively placed using the minimum transmission cost. This work provides an insight on average transmission cost for deploying wireless underground sensor networks for the application of underground miners' localization and protection.


In multi-user (MU) downlink beamforming, a high spectral efficiency along with a low transmit power is achieved by separating multiple users in space rather than in time or frequency using spatially selective transmit beams. For streaming media applications, multi-group multicast (MGM) downlink beamforming is a promising approach to exploit the broadcasting property of the wireless medium to transmit the same information to a group of users. To limit inter-group interference, the individual streams intended for different multicast groups are spatially separated using MGM downlink beamforming. Spatially selective downlink beamforming requires the employment of an array of multiple antennas at the base station (BS). The hardware costs associated with the use of multiple antennas may be prohibitive in practice. A way to avoid the expensive employment of multiple antennas at the BS is to exploit user cooperation in wireless networks where multiple single-antenna users act as relays and take over the role of antenna elements in a virtual distributed antenna array.

In both downlink beamforming and distributed relay beamforming, several approaches to design the transmit beams exist. In many scenarios, minimizing the transmit power has a higher priority than maximizing throughput. This is the case, e.g., in downlink beamforming, when operators aim at reducing their operational expenditures and their carbon footprint, or in distributed beamforming when users are only willing to cooperate when the battery consumption of their devices is kept at a minimum level. Then, the transmit beams are designed as the solution of a quality-of-service-constrained (QoS-constrained) power minimization problem. The goal of this optimization approach is to minimize the total transmitted power (at the BS or at the relays) while guaranteeing a predefined QoS at the destination users. In many scenarios with a high relevance in practice such as MGM downlink beamforming and MU peer-to-peer (MUP2P) relay beamforming, the QoS-constrained power minimization problem is a nonconvex optimization problem which cannot be solved optimally in polynomial time. In state-of-the-art methods, the nonconvex problem is therefore approximated by a convex one which is easier to solve. As the number of users increases, however, these approximations become more and more inaccurate leading to severe performance degradation and problem infeasibility.

In this dissertation, we therefore propose a novel framework of iterative optimization schemes where a convex approximation of the original problem is successively improved. In each iteration of the proposed schemes, a convex approximation of the original problem is solved and then adapted to the solution obtained in this iteration. We prove that by this means, the approximate solution is improved from iteration to iteration. In this way, an approximate solution which is much closer to the optimal solution of the original problem than in state-of-the-art methods is usually obtained. Moreover, the convex approximation may be infeasible in state-of-the-art methods even if the original problem is feasible. The proposed iterative scheme is therefore extended such that it can also be used to find a feasible initial approximation of the original problem. Simulations results reveal that in relay beamforming scenarios with a moderate to a large number of destination users, the proposed scheme substantially outperforms state-of-the-art methods in terms of total transmitted relay power and problem feasibility. In MGM downlink beamforming scenarios with a large number of users, the proposed technique achieves the same performance as the state-of-the-art methods at a substantially reduced computational complexity.

Several extensions of this basic iterative convex approximation technique are proposed in this dissertation: The feasibility search is extended to an admission control scheme where a minimum number of destination users is determined for which service has to be denied in case of shortage of spectral resources. Furthermore, a non-trivial extension of our iterative method is proposed to maintain its applicability in the case where only limited information about the state of the channels in the network is available. Finally, a complexity reduction is proposed to turn the proposed algorithms into computational efficient ones which are suitable for real time application in practice.

Due to its wide-ranging applicability, we also consider filter-and-forward (FF) relay beamforming where the relays are equipped with finite impulse response (FIR) filters and single-carrier (SC) transmission over frequency selective channels is performed. In this scenario, the signal received at the destination nodes is contaminated by inter-symbol interference (ISI). Using the FIR filters at the relays, the frequency selective channels are equalized to some extent such that the ISI at the destination nodes can be mitigated. In previous works, the FF relay networks have been assumed to be perfectly synchronized. Perfect timing synchronization is, however, not possible in MU FF relay networks as there exists no single point of reference. This synchronization issue has barely been addressed in the literature. In this dissertation, we consider FF beamforming in asynchronous MUP2P and MGM relay networks and extend the FF scheme by incorporating individual adaptive decoding delays at the destinations. Using these decoding delays, the destination users can individually adapt to the different link delays in the asynchronous network and thereby mitigate residual ISI. We again consider the QoS-constrained power minimization problem where now the filter coefficients at the relays, which are continuous variables, and the individual decoding delays at the destinations, which are discrete variables, are jointly optimized. This optimization problem is a nonconvex mixed-integer programming (MIP) problem which is generally hard to solve optimally. We propose (i) a customized branch-and-cut (BnC) method yielding a lower bound on the total transmitted relay power as a benchmark and (ii) a low-complexity deflation algorithm providing an approximate solution for implementation in practice. The deflation method is based on the proposed iterative convex approximation approach mentioned above. Our simulation results show that the approximate solution obtained using the proposed deflation scheme is close to optimal and outperforms the solutions obtained by state-of-the-art schemes which do not make use of adaptive decoding delays.


ABSTRACT Gaming simulations (games) for policy and decision making have been the neglected "sibling" of educational and training games. The latter have experienced a widespread usage by practitioners and researchers, while the former have had limited, yet slowly increasing, adoption by organisations. As a result, various issues developing and using these games remain unaddressed. This includes the design of games, their validation, the actual game sessions, and applying the resulting knowledge from games in organisations. In this paper, solutions for issues identified in these four areas of gaming simulations are proposed. Solutions vary from purely analytical to purely social, stressing the interdisciplinary approach required to tackle the issues associated with them. The result consists of several theoretical and practical contributions as well as philosophical considerations regarding games for policy and decision making.


Abstract Secondary and university students are perennially bombarded with confusing historic theories regarding celestial mechanics. Most textbook discussions are guided by either strict historic chronology or conceptual frameworks and are generally devoid of the historic philosophical and theological developments which accompanied the work of the respective scientists. Without an understanding of theological and philosophical debates concurrent with scientific hypotheses and discoveries, the significance of the scientific discussions becomes hollow. In the form of a play, this paper seeks to provide an understanding of the science, philosophies, and theological viewpoints which surrounded scientists in their historic work. This fictitious dialog seeks to open the investigation of the history of celestial mechanics by allowing seminal historic participants to discuss their ideas with others who may have predated or postdated them by a millennium or more. ********** Play Development and Purpose Writing Play Plays have had a fertile heritage within the history of mathematics and science. Arguably, one of history's most influential plays may have been Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World--Ptolemaic and Copernican (1632) by Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). Publications from mathematics and science education reform efforts repeatedly promote the pedagogical and epistemological value of writing for both learning and assessment (NCSE, 1995; NCTM, 2000, 1995, 1991, 1989). The approach to teaching and learning through both role playing and play writing is not novel; both practices have been touted as valuable activities for the learning of mathematics and science ideas (Bonnet, 2000; Duveen & Solomon, 1994; Francis & Byrne, 1999; Harwood, McKinster, Cruz & Gabel; 2002). Play writing and role-play may be particularly valuable in assisting students to learn more esoteric concepts. Recently, both methodologies have been used to make mathematics and science more understandable to students (Bosse & Nandakumar, 1998; Duveen & Solomon, 1994; Francis & Byrne, 1999). The Experience of This Project The following play was written as a collaboration between five students and the instructor in a college History of Mathematics course. The assignment was initially intended to assist those students master the morass of culture, science, mathematics, religion and philosophy within the development and evolution of theories of celestial mechanics. Group planning and delineation of individualized investigatory tasks led each student to study people, ideas, and events associated with the topic; thus, each student wrote individual reports and became expert in certain aspects of the study. Through frequent group meetings, students hashed out hypothetical dialogs constructed upon their findings. Although the student-authors found this task much more challenging than they had anticipated, they took great pleasure as they saw separate components and ideas become integrated. The participating student-authors reported the process of collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing data into the usable, coherent, and user-friendly form of a play to have been instrumental in assisting them to master the complex material. Prompted by the instructional success of this endeavor, the play was later used to teach the historical development of celestial mechanics in sections of History of Mathematics and Liberal Arts Mathematics in a novel and fresh manner. Herein, the play was used as both a read-only homework assignment and acted out as a play by student actors. The play writing process was found to have two primary uses. First, the development of the play required the synthesis of great volumes of scientific, mathematical, philosophic, theological, and biographical information. This allowed students to construct a thorough understanding of salient factors affecting the historic development of the topic. …


This paper presents a novel Multi-message Ciphertext Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (MCP-ABE) technique, and employs the MCP-ABE to design an access control scheme for sharing scalable media based on data consumers' attributes (e.g., age, nationality, or gender) rather than an explicit list of the consumers' names. The scheme is efficient and flexible because MCP-ABE allows a content provider to specify an access policy and encrypt multiple messages within one ciphertext such that only the users whose attributes satisfy the access policy can decrypt the ciphertext. Moreover, the paper shows how to support resource-limited mobile devices by offloading computational intensive operations to cloud servers while without compromising data privacy.


Body weight is an important measurement parameter towards management of obesity, diabetes and overall health. Previous research and society at large has primarily focused on long-term fluctuation in body weight to describe and quantify weight gain or loss. Meanwhile, little emphasis has been placed on the potential benefit of monitoring short-term body weight changes. Activities of daily living including food intake, excretion, and physical activities have a direct and measurable impact on short-term body weight in a day. Therefore, understanding the effect of these activities can provide insight towards development of a wearable system capable of detecting and quantifying daily intake, excretion and physical activities. In this study, body weight, intake, and physical activities were monitored intermittently for 7–8 hours on two separate days (sedentary and high activity). Results show that dietary intake always resulted in a positive change in body weight (mean error between measured body weight and amount of intake was ±0.24 feg). Meanwhile, high intensity physical activities (i.e. cardio) and excretion resulted in a negative change in body weight.


Little is known about open access publishing in educational technology journals that employ a hybrid model which charges authors only if they wish to publish via gold open access. In this study we sought to address this gap in the scholarly understanding of open access publishing in hybrid journals that publish research into the intersection of education and technology. We analysed three categories of article access types: gold, green, and limited access, and collected data on their prevalence in the seven-year period from 2010-2017 across 29 journals. Data was gathered from Scopus, Unpaywall, Sherpa RoMEO, and via manual searches of the journal websites, resulting in a dataset comprising the metadata of 8,479 articles. Our findings highlight that most research remains locked behind paywalls, that open access publishing through legal means is a minority activity for the scholars involved, and that the complexity and costs of legal open access publishing in these journals may be inhibiting the accessibility of research to readers.


Image fusion is a process of blending the complementary as well as the common features of a set of images, to generate a resultant image with superior information content in terms of subjective as well as objective analysis point of view. The objective of this research work is to develop some novel image fusion algorithms and their applications in various fields such as crack detection, multi spectra sensor image fusion, medical image fusion and edge detection of multi-focus images etc. Image Fusion is such a technique of producing a superior quality image from a set of available images. It is the process of combining relevant information from two or more images into a single image wherein the resulting image will be more informative and complete than any of the input images. A lot of research is being done in this field encompassing areas of Computer Vision, Automatic object detection, Image processing, parallel and distributed processing, Robotics and remote sensing.


This paper demonstrates eccentric one-dimensional (1-D) core–shell photonic crystal balls (PCBs) with self-displaying structural colours and responsiveness to both the direction and strength of the external magnetic field (H), and a controllable and versatile light intensity-guided morphology-controllable polymerization method. In this protocol, the irradiation of unidirectional UV light on photopolymerizable magnetically responsive photonic crystal (MRPC) droplet templates in a vessel with a reflective bottom substrate enables the light intensity within the droplets to decrease from the outside to the inside in a noncentrosymmetric manner, generating PCBs with an MRPC liquid core eccentrically encapsulated in the 1-D PC hydrogel shell under H by controlling the light irradiation time. Besides the magnetic rotation, the resulting PCBs are capable of collectively self-displaying structural colours without input energy due to the inner-eccentric 1-D PC hydrogel shells. Furthermore, they display dynamically tunable bi-photonic band-gaps under H benefiting from the coexistence of the PC hydrogel shell and the MRPC liquid core. When dispersed in viscous media suppressing the magnetic rotation, they may also exhibit orthogonal bi-photonic band-gaps, enabling a wide-angle display characteristic of 1-D photonic crystals with different colour patterns. These unique modulations in optical properties promise important applications of the as-developed PCBs in bionic chromatic materials, energy-saving displays, switchable signage and anti-counterfeiting coatings.


This study aims to determine if Facebook , when used as an online teacher portfolio (OTP), could contribute meaningfully to pre-service teachers' professional development (PD) and in what ways the OTP can be meaningful. Pre-service teachers ( n = 91) were asked to develop OTP using Facebook and engage in learning and professional development (PD) activities for 14 weeks. Questionnaires, open-ended items and reflective reports were used to collect data and it was found that many of the pre-service teachers benefitted quite significantly in terms of their development as future teachers through these five facets: (i) community of practice; (ii) professional learning and identity; (iii) relevant skills; (iv) resources; and (v) confidence.


Objective: While many system mapping approaches (SMAs) have been broadly used in safety‐critical industries, few have so far been employed in the healthcare field to assist in the identification of patient safety risks. In this study, we evaluated a set of system modelling approaches to assess their potential contribution to the identification of risks affecting patient safety. The aim was to gain a greater understanding of the practical application of system modelling approaches with the help of the risk categorization framework developed in this study. Setting: We conducted this study in a newly established Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) service at Cambridge and Peterborough Foundation Trust. Study participants: Eight key stakeholders of the chosen service, including clinicians, managers and administrative staff, were individually asked to evaluate a set of pre‐defined six SMAs according to their usefulness in identifying patient safety risks through interview‐based questionnaires. Results: It was found that each SMA could be useful in the chosen healthcare service in different ways. Further, specific types of diagrams were selected by stakeholders as more useful than others in identifying different sources of risks within the given system. Conclusions: The results of the evaluation showed that the system diagram is the most useful SMA in risk identification within the given system, while limited time, resources and experience of stakeholders with SMAs may present possible obstacles for their potential use in the healthcare field in future.