Now the serpent waa more nbtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: Why bath God commanded you, t.hat you should not eat of every . tree of paradise? And the woman answered him, saying-: Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat: and that we thereof, your eyes shall be opened: should not touch. it, lest perhaps and you shall be as gods, knowinc we die. And that serpent said to good and evil. the woman: No, you shall not die And the woman saw that tbe the death. For God doth know that tree was good to Jeat, and fair to in what day soever you shall eat ·the eyes, and delightful to behold; and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened: and when they percefved themselves to be naked, they sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves aprons. And when they beard the vofoe of the Lord God walking in paradise at the afternoon air, Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God, amidst the trees of paradise. And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him: Where art thou? And he said: I heard thy voice in paradise; and I was afraid because I was naked, and I bid myself. And he said to him: And who bath told thee thou wast naked, but that thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat? And Adam said: The woman, whom thou g.avest me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said to the woman: Why hast thou done this? And she auswered: The serpent deceived me, and I did eat. And the Lord God said to the serpent; Beoause thou ha:d done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle and beasts of the earth. Upo• thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel. To the woman also he said: I will multJply thy sorrows, and thT conceptions. In sorrow shalt thou brine forth children, and thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over thee. And to Adam he said: Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten' of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work: with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles sha:t it brine forth to thee; and tho-.1 shall eat the herbs of the ear( 1. '1n the sweat of thy face shalt tho "t eat bread till thou return to tho earth, out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return. And Adam called the name of his wife Eve: because she was the mother of all the living. And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife, garments of skins, and clothed them. And he said: Behold Ad.am is become as one of us, knowing good and evil: now, therefore, lest perhaps he put forth. his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever. And the Lord God sent him out of the paradise of pleasure, to till the earth from which he was taken. And he cast out .t.dam; and placed before the paradise of pleasure Cherubims, and a flaming sword, tnrning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (Genesis, Ch.apt. 3)


A U-Pb zircon LAM-ICP-MS age of 549 ± 11 Ma from the Stinkbank granite in the south Central Zone of the Damara belt represents the first robust age for the crystallization of a member of the regionally widespread suite of syntectonic Salem-type granites. This age confirms previous assertions that suggest that the main phase of crustal shortening related to the collision between the Congo and Kalahari Cratrons occurred between 550 and ~540 Ma in the south Central Zone, the leading edge of the Congo Craton. Ages from syntectonic granites reported in the literature from the north Central and the Northern Zone record progressively younger ages of ~530 to ~515 Ma and late-stage folding in the Northern Zone is suggested to have occurred between ~510 to ~500 Ma. The younging of ages that date the main collisional phase towards the north is interpreted to track the northward propagation of the deformation and metamorphic front from the main suture zone to the northern foreland of the Damara belt. Geochronological data are sparse, and the lack of detailed structural data precludes the retrodeformation of the fold-and-thrust belt along this 250 km long section. However, the age brackets suggest a migration of the orogenic front at a rate of at least 5 to 7 mm/a, but more likely in the order of several centimetre per year, if the internal strain is removed.


Many investors rely on market experts and forecasters when making investment decisions, such as when to buy or sell securities. Ranking and grading market forecasters provide investors with metrics on which they may choose forecasters with the best record of accuracy for their particular market exposure. This study develops a novel ranking methodology to rank the market forecaster. In particular, we distinguish forecasts by their specificity, rather than considering all predictions and forecasts equally important, and we also analyze the impact of the number of forecasts made by a particular forecaster. We have applied our methodology on a dataset including 6,627 forecasts made by 68 forecasters.


In the harsh environment where node density is sparse, the slow-moving nodes cannot effectively utilize the encountering opportunities to realize the self-organized identity authentications, and do not have the chance to join the network routing. However, considering most of the communications in opportunistic networks are caused by forwarding operations, there is no need to establish the complete mutual authentications for each conversation. Accordingly, a novel trust management scheme is presented based on the information of behavior feedback, in order to complement the insufficiency of identity authentications. By utilizing the certificate chains based on social attributes, the mobile nodes build the local certificate graphs gradually to realize the web of "Identity Trust" relationship. Meanwhile, the successors generate Verified Feedback Packets for each positive behavior, and consequently the "Behavior Trust" relationship is formed for slow-moving nodes. Simulation result shows that, by implementing our trust scheme, the delivery probability and trust reconstruction ratio can be effectively improved when there are large numbers of compromised nodes, and it means that our trust management scheme can efficiently explore and filter the trust nodes for secure forwarding in opportunistic networks.


Objectives To investigate the visual outcomes of patients with gliomas of the anterior visual pathway and the clinical features associated with prognosis. Materials and Methods During retrospective review, demographic and clinical data were abstracted from medical records of patients seen at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute between January 1, 1970 and December 31, 1998. Results Of the 42 patients identified, 68% were female, and 55% had neurofibromatosis (NF) type I. There was no substantial difference in presenting signs, symptoms, and visual acuity between the NF(+) and NF(−) groups except for nystagmus, which was more common in the NF(−) group (p = 0.014). Throughout follow-up evaluation, vision in the better eye remained stable in both groups, independent of treatment or NF status. Vision in the worse eye often declined, despite treatment. However, binocular visual status, measured as average weighted logMAR (MAR, minimum angle of resolution) vision, did not change significantly over time, regardless of treatment or NF status. Conclusions In the NF(+) and NF(−) groups, vision in the better eye remained stable, regardless of treatment, and vision in the worse eye often declined, despite treatment. Binocular visual acuity (measured as weighted logMAR) did not change significantly over time, regardless of NF status or treatment modality.


Object-Oriented Programming with Java was developed for students in the science, engineering, and business fields where knowledge of programming is thought to be essential. This text, on modern software development, contains material that is typically covered in a CS1 course. In addition to traditional introductory programming concepts, object-oriented concepts and techniques such as inheritance and polymorphism are presented in a student-friendly manner. Java-related topics such as exception handling and the Java I/O models are carefully treated, and an entire chapter is devoted to Java applets.


This is the story of two great sports. One is "America's game," while the other is "the world's game." Baseball and soccer are both beloved cultural institutions. What draws fans to one game is often a mystery to fans of the other. Despite superficial differences, however, the business and culture of these sports share more in common than meets the eye. This is the first in-depth, cross-cultural comparison of these two great pastimes and the megabusinesses that they have become. In National Pastime , Stefan Szymanski and Andrew Zimbalist illustrate how the different traditions of each sport have generated different possibilities for their commercial organization and exploitation. They pay special attention to the rich and complex evolution of baseball from its beginnings in America, and they trace modern soccer from its foundation in England through its subsequent expansion across the world. They illustrate how Victorian administrators laid the foundation for Major League Baseball (MLB) and soccer leagues such as the English Premier League, Italy's Serie A, and the European Champions League. The authors show how the organizers of baseball and soccer have learned from each other in the past and how they can continue to do so. Both sports are rich in tradition. In some cases, however, these traditions --often arbitrary rules established by long-defunct administrators --have obstructed the healthy development of the sport. By studying the experiences of other sports, it might be possible to develop new and better ways to operate. For example, soccer might benefit from greater cooperation among teams as in baseball. On the other hand, MLB could learn from soccer's relegation rules and more open system of ownership, thus avoiding some of the excesses (competitive imbalance, uneven team resources) associated with monopoly. National Pastime does not advocate the jettisoning of all tradition to adopt wholesale the approach of another sport, of course. In an era of globalization, where business interests are increasingly looking to transplant organizational ideas in order to maximize profits, the authors argue that fan-friendly reforms may be necessary in order to avoid something worse. Ultimately, they propose no simple solutions, instead suggesting specific reforms to the organization of baseball and soccer, drawing on each other's experiences. Lively and accessibly written, this book is essential reading for business analysts, journalists, policymakers, and managers of both sports. Most of all, however, it will appeal to baseball and soccer aficionados, whether they root for the New York Yankees, Manchester United, or Real Madrid.


Summary Veno-occlusive disease (VOD) is a common and serious complication associated with stem cell transplant regimens. Risk factors for VOD include chemotherapy and irradiation used in pre-transplant conditioning. Certain transplant conditioning regimens including drugs such as cytarabine, cyclophosphamide, and busulfan, as well as total body irradiation increase the risk of VOD. Because of the serious, often fatal, outcomes associated with VOD in transplant patients, strategies have been proposed to prevent it without consensus, some including the use of heparin. Ursodiol, studied in the past for the prevention or treatment of veno-occlusive disease, is thought to increase biliary flow, decrease biliary viscosity, and protect hepatocytes from harmful hydrophobic bile acids. Methods: Twenty-five patients admitted between February and December 2007 were identified as having received ursodiol as part of their transplant regimens. Seventeen of the twenty-five patients received at least one of the treatment regimens including cytarabine, cyclophosphamide, busulfan, and/or total body irradiation. None of the patients received prophylactic heparin for VOD. The records of each patient were screened retrospectively for documentation of veno-occlusive disease. Results: None of the twenty-five patients who received Ursodiol as part of their stem cell transplant regimen developed VOD. Conclusion: Stem cell transplant patients are at risk for VOD, based on their conditioning regimens. Ursodiol was used as VOD prophylaxis in twenty-five patients, none of whom developed VOD. Ursodiol should be further studied as a prophylactic part of stem cell transplant regimens.


This dissertation focuses on computing high-quality solutions for the NP-hard balanced hypergraph partitioning problem: Given a hypergraph and an integer $k$, partition its vertex set into $k$ disjoint blocks of bounded size, while minimizing an objective function over the hyperedges. Here, we consider the two most commonly used objectives: the cut-net metric and the connectivity metric.

Since the problem is computationally intractable, heuristics are used in practice - the most prominent being the three-phase multi-level paradigm: During coarsening, the hypergraph is successively contracted to obtain a hierarchy of smaller instances. After applying an initial partitioning algorithm to the smallest hypergraph, contraction is undone and, at each level, refinement algorithms try to improve the current solution.

With this work, we give a brief overview of the field and present several algorithmic improvements to the multi-level paradigm. Instead of using a logarithmic number of levels like traditional algorithms, we present two coarsening algorithms that create a hierarchy of (nearly) $n$ levels, where $n$ is the number of vertices. This makes consecutive levels as similar as possible and provides many opportunities for refinement algorithms to improve the partition. This approach is made feasible in practice by tailoring all algorithms and data structures to the $n$-level paradigm, and developing lazy-evaluation techniques, caching mechanisms and early stopping criteria to speed up the partitioning process. Furthermore, we propose a sparsification algorithm based on locality-sensitive hashing that improves the running time for hypergraphs with large hyperedges, and show that incorporating global information about the community structure into the coarsening process improves quality. Moreover, we present a portfolio-based initial partitioning approach, and propose three refinement algorithms. Two are based on the Fiduccia-Mattheyses (FM) heuristic, but perform a highly localized search at each level. While one is designed for two-way partitioning, the other is the first FM-style algorithm that can be efficiently employed in the multi-level setting to directly improve $k$-way partitions. The third algorithm uses max-flow computations on pairs of blocks to refine $k$-way partitions. Finally, we present the first memetic multi-level hypergraph partitioning algorithm for an extensive exploration of the global solution space.

All contributions are made available through our open-source framework KaHyPar. In a comprehensive experimental study, we compare KaHyPar with hMETIS, PaToH, Mondriaan, Zoltan-AlgD, and HYPE on a wide range of hypergraphs from several application areas. Our results indicate that KaHyPar, already without the memetic component, computes better solutions than all competing algorithms for both the cut-net and the connectivity metric, while being faster than Zoltan-AlgD and equally fast as hMETIS. Moreover, KaHyPar compares favorably with the current best graph partitioning system KaFFPa - both in terms of solution quality and running time.


Economic theory offers competing hypotheses about how the cost and availability of finance influence labor market outcomes. Making use of the U.S. banking reforms between the 1970s and the 1990s as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper studies the impact of credit market development on employment. This paper documents the significant effects of these reforms on employment growth. Potential channels between finance and employment are also investigated. Changes in the growth of the number of self-employed individuals, the entry and exit of firms, and investment growth do not explain most of the employment growth following the reforms. The reforms had a substantially higher impact in industries with higher labor intensity, which is consistent with the idea that labor has fixed costs that need to be financed.


Current problems on the interaction of complex liquids (i.e. droplets or foams) with complex surfaces (i.e. soft deformable or porous surfaces) are addressed in the following areas: (1) wetting of deformable substrates and surface forces, (2) kinetics of wetting and spreading of non-Newtonian liquids over porous substrates, (3) kinetics of spreading of non-Newtonian solutions over hair, (4) free drainage of foams produced from non-Newtonian solutions, and (5) foam drainage placed on porous substrates.
Equilibrium of liquid droplets on deformable substrates was investigated and the effect of disjoining pressure action in the vicinity of the apparent three phase contact line was taken into account. It was proven that the deformation of soft solids is determined by the action of surface forces inside the transition zone.
Spreading/imbibition of blood, which is a power law shear thinning non-Newtonian liquid, over a dry porous layer was investigated from both theoretical and experimental points of view. It was found that blood droplet spreading/imbibition over porous substrates shows two different behaviours: (i) partial wetting case with three subsequent stages: initial fast spreading, constant maximum droplet base and the shrinkage of the droplet base; (ii) complete wetting case with only two stages: initial fast spreading and the shrinkage of the droplet base.
The wetting of hair tresses by aqueous solutions of two commercially available polymers, AculynTM 22 (A22) and AculynTM 33 (A33) was investigated experimentally. Both A22 and A33 solutions demonstrate well pronounced shear thinning behaviour. Initial contact angle of the A22 and A33 solutions on hair tresses was about 100o. The A22 droplets remained on the hair tress after spreading for at least half an hour. However, a fast penetration of the A33 droplets inside the hair tresses was observed when advancing contact angle in the course of spreading reached a critical value of about 60o. This could be explained by Cassie−Wenzel wetting transition which is caused by filling the pores inside the porous media by liquid.
The influence of non-Newtonian rheology of A22 and A33 solutions on foam drainage was also investigated experimentally and a new theory of foam drainage was presented for the case of free drainage. For lowly viscous polymeric solutions and under the assumption of rigid surface of the Plateau border, the predicted values of the time evolution of the foam height and liquid content were in good agreement with the experimental data. However, in the case of highly viscous solutions an interfacial mobility at the surface of the Plateau border has to be taken into account.
A completely new theory of foam drainage placed on porous substrate was developed. It was found that there are three different regimes of the process: (i) a rapid imbibition, the imbibition into the porous substrate dominates as compared with the foam drainage; (ii) an intermediate imbibition, that is, the imbibition into the porous substrate and the rate of drainage are comparable; (iii) a slow imbibition, the rate of drainage inside the foam is higher than the imbibition into the porous substrate for a period of time and a free liquid layer is formed over the porous substrate.


Shift invariance associated with good directional selectivity is important for the use of a wavelet transform (WT) in many fields of image processing. Generally, complex wavelet transforms, e.g., the double-tree complex WT (DTCWT), have these useful properties. In this paper, we propose the use of a recently introduced implementation of such a WT, namely, the hyperanalytic WT (HWT), in association with filtering techniques already used with the discrete WT (DWT). The result is a very simple and fast image denoising algorithm. Some simulation results and comparisons prove the performance obtained using the new method.


Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe is considered as the most important precursor of the English Novel or even as the first English Novel. Literary critics have discussed the character of Robinson Crusoe from different literary perspectives. The purpose of this paper is to examine Crusoe's attitude towards business, religion arid non-Europeans in its historical context. These three elements of Crusoe's character are inseparably linked to each other and are therefore essential to an appreciation of Crusoe's mind and character. His attitude towards business and religion is motivated by practical considerations. He exploits non-Europeans for his own advantage and in his discriminating treatment he is supported by religious beliefs. The following discussion of three principal traits of Crusoe's character will help us to understand Crusoe's mind and character and enlighten us about the prevailing trends of the Eighteenth-Century.


Mine abandonment and the discharge of contaminated mine water is recognised globally as a major source of surface water and groundwater pollution. Contamination generally arises from the oxidation of sulphide minerals, principally pyrite, by the mining process, and the subsequent chemical reactions can lead to the discharge of mineralised, often acidic, iron, and sulphate rich waters. In many historically mined river catchments, mine water discharge is the main cause of poor water quality. Within the UK, managing the legacy of abandoned mines is one of the principal challenges presented by modern environmental legislation, particularly the EU Water Framework Directive, a challenge that is exacerbated by the diverse and widespread nature of historical mining. The impact and hazard associated with abandoned mining in one of the UK's most intensively mined regions, the Almond River Catchment, Scotland, was examined via: 1) a detailed GIS mapping and investigation of historical mining processes in the catchment, 2) mine site discharge sampling, 3) detailed site investigations, 4) geochemical modelling of four mine waste sites and 5) analysis of temporal and spatial river water quality in the catchment. The results are then brought together to produce a catchment scale mine water hazard map. Mapping has identified over 300 mine sites in the catchment including coal, oil shale and ironstone mine wastes and flooded coal and oil shale mines. The historical development of oil shale retort methods has been shown to have an impact on potential hazard. Sampling of discharge waters from the different mining activities, in conjunction with detailed mineralogical analysis and geochemical modelling at the four mine waste sites has characterised the main hazards. Ironstone and pyrite bearing coal mine wastes discharge waters with highly elevated Fe and sulphate concentrations, up to 160mgl -1 and 1900mgl -1 respectively, due to extensive pyrite oxidation and acid generating salt dissolution (principally jarosite). Coal mine wastes show variable mineralogy, due to the diverse nature of coal bearing strata, and discharge waters with variable chemistry. Oil Shale mine wastes are generally depleted in pyrite due to historic processing and discharge low sulphate waters with moderately elevated Fe concentrations, up to 5mgl -1 . Flooded coal mines discharge sulphate dominant alkaline waters, due to the availability of carbonate minerals in the mine complex, with elevated Fe concentrations, up to 50mgl -1 , while flooded oil shale mines discharge waters with moderately elevated Fe concentrations, up to 4mgl -1 , due to lower pyrite content in mine strata and reduced availability of oxygen related to mine abandonment age. Once in the surface water environment iron and sulphate display significant concentrationflow dependence: iron increases at high flows due to the re-suspension of river bed iron precipitates (Fe(OH)3); sulphate concentrations decrease with increased flow as a result of dilution. Further examination of iron and sulphate loading at low flows indicates a close correlation of iron and sulphate with mined areas; cumulative low flow load calculations indicate that coal and oil shale mining regions contribute 0.21 and 0.31 g/s of iron, respectively, to the main Almond tributary. Decreases in iron loading on river sections demonstrate the deposition and diffuse storage of iron within the river channel. This river bed iron is re-suspended with increased flow resulting in significant transport of diffuse iron downstream with load values of up to 50 g/s iron. Based on this hazard classification, a catchment scale mine water hazard map has been developed. The map allows the prioritisation of actions for future mine water management.


Abstract A method is presented to compute sensitivity coefficients for the eigenvalue of a critical assembly, including implicit effects associated with changes in resonance-shielded multigroup cross sections. Two alternative approaches, based on a forward and an adjoint solution, respectively, are developed to determine the effect of perturbations on the weight function used in group averaging of resonance cross sections. The forward method uses an automated methodology to compute the flux derivative with respect to various cross-section processing parameters. The adjoint method introduces adjoint equations for a multigroup cross-section functional and presents adjoint slowing-down equations for two common methods of resonance self-shielding. Expressions are presented for sensitivity coefficients of self-shielded group cross sections. These sensitivity coefficients are combined with conventional eigenvalue sensitivity coefficients to obtain a general perturbation expression for the multiplication factor. An example application determines the sensitivity of the critical eigenvalue to hydrogen density changes in a homogeneous sphere containing low-enriched uranium. It is shown that changes in 238U-shielded cross sections caused by perturbations in hydrogen concentrations are important components in the overall eigenvalue sensitivity coefficient, which is predicted well by the developed method.


Different host proteins play a central role in cell response during bacterial infections, the Bcl-2-Associated X protein (BAX) and Vascular Cell Adhesion Protein 1 (VCAM-1) are often reported in infective primary events during cell injury.

 The aim of this study is to evaluate the predictive value of these two proteins as biomarkers of oral bacterial infection, with particular emphasis on the tongue, which plays an important role in microbial homeostasis in the mouth.

 Twenty-nine patients were recruited and divided according to the Periodontal Index (CPI), 4 of them were severely compromised periodontal patients. Oral hygiene, gingival tissues and plaque presence were evaluated clinically. The laboratory analysis carried out on tongue tissue included: total bacterial genomes, proportion of specific periopathogens and BAX -VCAM-1 expression rate, while Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) were measured in saliva.

 Neither tongue microbiological status nor salivary ROS level corresponded with the state of disease. VCAM-1 mRNA expression rate was comparable in all patients but, on the contrary, BAX expression resulted high in periodontally-compromised patients and appears related to periodontal status in the analyzed subjects.

 This preliminary work suggests that the BAX protein is a possible candidate in a prognostic marker study for oral diseases started by periodontal bacteria. For example, none of the evaluated clinical and microbiological parameters could predict the presence, prognosis or recurrence of periodontal diseases. This biomarker could be a valuable tool in determining the risk, diagnosis and prognosis of this human illness.


In Ingenious Citizenship Charles T. Lee centers the daily experiences and actions of migrant domestic workers, sex workers, transgender people, and suicide bombers in his rethinking of mainstream models of social change. Bridging cultural and political theory with analyses of film, literature, and ethnographic sources, Lee shows how these abject populations find ingenious and improvisational ways to disrupt and appropriate practices of liberal citizenship. When voting and other forms of civic engagement are unavailable or ineffective, the subversive acts of a domestic worker breaking a dish or a prostitute using the strategies and language of an entrepreneur challenge the accepted norms of political action. Taken to the extreme, a young Palestinian woman blowing herself up in a Jerusalem supermarket questions two of liberal citizenship's most cherished values: life and liberty. Using these examples to critically reinterpret political agency, citizenship practices, and social transformation, Lee reveals the limits of organizing change around a human rights discourse. Moreover, his subjects offer crucial lessons in how to turn even the worst conditions and the most unstable positions in society into footholds for transformative and democratic agency.


Deep-sea sponge grounds are hotspots of benthic biomass and diversity. To date, very limited data exist on the range of environmental conditions in areas containing deep-sea sponge grounds and which factors are driving their distribution and sustenance. We investigated oceanographic conditions at a deep-sea sponge ground located on an Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge seamount. Hydrodynamic measurements were performed along Conductivity-Temperature-Depth transects, and a lander was deployed within the sponge ground that recorded near-bottom physical properties as well as vertical fluxes of organic matter over an annual cycle. The data demonstrate that the sponge ground is found at water temperatures of −0.5°C to 1°C and is situated at the interface between two water masses at only 0.7° equatorward of the turning point latitude of semi-diurnal lunar internal tides. Internal waves supported by vertical density stratification interact with the seamount topography and produce turbulent mixing as well as resuspension of organic matter with temporarily very high current speeds up to 0.72 m s −1 . The vertical movement of the water column delivers food and nutrients from water layers above and below toward the sponge ground. Highest organic carbon flux was observed during the summer phytoplankton bloom period, providing fresh organic matter from the surface. The flux of fresh organic matter is unlikely to sustain the carbon demand of this ecosystem. Therefore, the availability of bacteria, nutrients, and dissolved and particulate matter, delivered by tidally forced internal wave turbulence and transport by horizontal mean flows, likely plays an important role in meeting ecosystem-level food requirements. phytoplankton


This study analyzes and evaluates the social thought of Dai Zhen. It interprets Dai's thought in terms of a critique of ideology that problematizes Song dynasty Neo-Confucian moral vocabulary. Dai thinks that social critique is the ultimate goal of scholarship and he was explicit about this belief. This study will show that he analyzes the negative social consequences of Song Neo-Confucian moral discourse in sociologically sophisticated ways, and that he has developed this understanding through a series of works that began with Yuanshan (The Origin of Goodness) and ended with Mengzi Ziyi Suzheng (Commentaries on the Meaning of Terms in Mencius). Contemporary social theorist and cultural critics should find Dai's work relevant because his deconstruction of the reified moral vocabulary of his times is postmodern in spirit and he elucidated how discourses can concretely impact on society.


In this thesis an investigation into the behaviour of light when passing through photonic crystals was carried out using numerical methods. Photonic crystals are expensive and difficult to fabricate so there is a requirement for computer simulations that can quickly and accurately model how the crystal structure will affect the behaviour of light. A finite difference method was written to model two-dimensional photonic crystals. The results from the finite difference method modelling agreed with known results for standard photonic crystal structures created by the plane wave expansion method. Once validated the finite difference method was used in a genetic algorithm optimisation. It found that novel shaped rods can increase the size of photonic band gaps when compared with cylindrical rods. A new meshless method algorithm was developed to solve Maxwell's equations. Simulations were carried out using an equation with known analytical solutions; how the accuracy of the results was affected by different designs of experiment and different radial basis functions was recorded. The meshless method was developed further to model photonic crystals. The meshless method requires the creation of large dense matrices and then forms a generalised eigenvalue problem. A new set of algorithms were developed that can model photonic crystals accurately. Exploration of alternative technologies was carried out to try to obtain a speed up in the modelling process. A graphics processing unit was used to do general purpose computation. Graphics processing units generally show significant speed up when compared to central processing unit for filling the matrices required for the meshless method. For accelerating numerical methods a heterogenous approach is preferable to a strict graphics processing unit implementation. Nature has evolved complex nanostructures that provide very specific and often very special optical effects, at present these are not well understood and cannot be replicated. In this thesis a new meshless method has been developed which will enable the development of complex crystal geometries.


BACKGROUND: Somatostatin analogues effectively control flushing and diarrhoea in patients with the carcinoid syndrome. The octapeptide lanreotide is available in slow release form, which could eliminate the necessity of twice a day injections as with octreotide. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 39 patients with carcinoid syndrome were included in a prospective multicentre study. Patients received lanreotide 30 mg intramuscularly every 14 days for six months. The number and intensity of flushing episodes and bowel movements, urinary 5 hydroxy-indolacetic acid (5 HIAA) concentrations, and variations of tumour mass were recorded. RESULTS: After one month of treatment, flushing episodes (median (range)) decreased significantly (3 (0.3-24) episodes per day v 1 (0-15), p = 0.04) and completely resolved in 39% of the patients. A significant decrease was seen in the number of bowel movements and discomfort related to diarrhoea. Urinary 5 HIAA concentrations were unchanged in 57% of the patients and decreased in 18%. After six months of treatment, the actuarial proportions of patients with at least a 50% decrease in the number of flushing episodes and bowel movements were 54% and 56%, respectively. Forty two per cent of the patients who were treated for six months had at least a 50% reduction in 5 HIAA values. No clear signs of regression of tumours were seen in any of the patients. Lanreotide was well tolerated despite transient mild pain or erythema at the injection site in 25% of the patients. Biliary lithiasis appeared in two patients after six months of lanreotide. CONCLUSION: Lanreotide, 30 mg intramuscularly every other week, is an effective and convenient treatment in patients with the carcinoid syndrome.


According to Quantum Function Follows Form Theory, the Big Bang was the evaporation and splitting of a former Big Crunch black hole nucleus of compressed Axion Higgs particles into the oscillating Axion /Higgs field vacuum lattice respectively chunky nuclei of dark matter black holes. The vacuum Lattice is supposed to represent a dynamic reference frame and the so called Dark Energy or Zero Point Energy acting as the motor for all Fermion spin and as the transfer medium for all photon information, leading to local lightspeed and local time. The energetic vacuum lattice is also assumed to act as a Gravity Quantum Dipole Repeller because gravitons do not supposed to attract- but repel Fermions with less impulse than the vacuum dark energy particles. So, Feynman diagrams become more complex than before.. Recent measurements by Yehuda Hoffman et al. did show the large scale repelling effect of "empty space" in opposition of the "attracting gravity effect" of super clusters which he called "Dipole Repeller" effect. This seems to be a great support for the dual Quantum gravity proposal of Quantum FFF Theory, as opposing quantum push effects between vacuum particles and gravitons on Fermion around massive objects. Recently I found that the merging of galaxy clusters itself show dynamic observational signs of a contraction of the vacuum inside the merging galaxy clusters by the anomalous central clustering of the dark matter black hole content which seems to be stripped from the individual galaxy clusters located at the borders of the new super cluster. ( see Abell 520 and bullet cluster: "no inertia effect of dark matter black holes".) If there is vacuum absorption inside galaxy clusters, (Black Holes EAT the vacuum (Axion Higgs Field) then we also may assume that the universal vacuum between galaxy clusters should be also subjected to this absorption process, ( which surpass the redshift of relative speed) as a sign for universal contraction and negative entropy, leading to a cyclic universe. All Black holes EAT the dark energy Axion-Higgs vacuum lattice supposed to be the origin of the Hubble redshift and universal contraction.


This seminar will provide an overview of 18 months of Ph.D dissertation research on the interplay of gender and horticultural production in Meru District, Kenya. The significance of this project is that horticulture "traditionally" the domain of women, has become rapidly intensified and commercialized for export production. My research examines the implications of horticultural exports for women's rights to land and labor by focusing on the district's most important horticultural export crop, French beans. While French beans remain widely grown throughout the District, both production and sales have dropped dramatically since 1993. Thus, this project explores how the fluctuation of multinational capital is restructuring social life, transforming domestic relations and precipitating new class configurations. My tentative findings include a host of social crises: a staggering population growth rate (3.9 percent) that has incited acute pressures on constricting land resources and catalyzed an escalation of clan and court cases related to land disputes; an exacerbation of domestic violence and deviant social behavior such as prostitution, rape and incest; ubiquitous occurrences of alcohol abuse; and finally, the transformation of French bean market centers into loci of corruption and duplicity. These social dynamics underscore the tensions that emanate in an atmosphere of financial disintegration that is coupled with an absence of prospects for economic amelioration. As the panacea of French bean wanes women have turned to Christ to cope with the economic plights of their households. The omnipresence of Christianity powerfully shapes all aspects of social change, as the convictions of female submission and male dominance are propagated through variant Christian ideologies and men face the backlash of such indoctrination by women bewitching or poisoning them. Thus the material and ideational reconstruction that has taken root invokes significant queries on the gender dimensions of power and raises important questions for the gender implications of agrarian change in the horticultural sector.


Recent research into migration in Bangladesh has highlighted that people migrate for better livelihoods, not necessarily in response to climatic stresses and shocks. If facilitated appropriately, internal and international migration can help build adaptive capacity to future environmental and climatic hazards. In this framing, migration happens in the context of a growing city-centred economy that promotes remittances to villages. However, a textual analysis of current and recent policies concerning climate change, development and poverty alleviation, and disaster management shows that the economic and adaptive roles of internal migration are often not included in policy framing. We argue that if migration works as a positive step towards adaptation, then the key challenge is to align the policies with this new understanding.


We propose a new scheme of designing a vector quantizer for image compression. First, a set of codevectors is generated using the self-organizing feature map algorithm. Then, the set of blocks associated with each code vector is modeled by a cubic surface for better perceptual fidelity of the reconstructed images. Mean-removed vectors from a set of training images is used for the construction of a generic codebook. Further, Huffman coding of the indices generated by the encoder and the difference-coded mean values of the blocks are used to achieve better compression ratio. We proposed two indices for quantitative assessment of the psychovisual quality (blocking effect) of the reconstructed image. Our experiments on several training and test images demonstrate that the proposed scheme can produce reconstructed images of good quality while achieving compression at low bit rates.


This paper reviews the biodiversity and habitat preferences of living sharks in the Southeast Asian region accumulated from published literatures including journals, books, proceedings, unpublished technical papers, and technical reports as well as authors' knowledge and experiences working in this field. A total of 196 species of sharks from nine orders and 30 families have been recorded inhabiting from fresh water to deep ocean in this region. Indonesia recorded the highest diversity with 114 species from 27 families followed by the Philippines with 96 species (27 families), Thailand 76 species (21 families), Vietnam 70 species (23 families), Malaysia 68 species (19 families), Myanmar 64 species (19 families), Brunei Darussalam 45 species (15 families), and Cambodia with 26 species from 10 families. Many species still need to be confirmed and are most probably new species. In term of habitat preferences, 83 species of sharks (42.3%) inhabit continental/insular shelves (SHL) followed by continental/insular slopes (SLO) with 48 species (24.5%), shelf to slope (SHS) with 26 species (13.3%), and shelf to oceanic (SHO) with 16 species (8.2%). Only nine species (4.6%) inhabit oceanic and six species (4%) obligate freshwater and euryhaline freshwater/shelves.


? 2018 The Cochrane Collaboration. This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: The primary objectives are to summarise the evidence from Cochrane Reviews that assessed the effect of behavioural interventions designed to support smoking cessation attempts, and address the following two questions: How do modes of delivery, person delivering the intervention, and the behavioural and motivational components of behavioural interventions for smoking cessation compare with each other in achieving abstinence at follow-up of six months or longer? Do the effects of behavioural interventions vary by other characteristics, including population, setting, and length of intervention? The secondary objective of this review is to summarise the availability and principal findings of economic evaluations of behavioural interventions for smoking cessation, in terms of comparative costs and cost-effectiveness, in the form of a brief economic commentary.


1 Although the empathy-aggression relationship has been well documented, research has yet to 2 establish whether emotions mediate and gender moderates this relationship in athletes, under 3 conditions of low and high provocation. In this experiment, we assigned team-sport athletes 4 to either a high (n = 40) or a low (n = 40) empathy group, and asked them to compete in a 5 reaction-time task against a (fictitious) opponent, under conditions of low and high 6 provocation. Empathy reduced aggression (i.e., intensity of electrical shock administered to 7 the opponent) at low provocation in men, and at both low and high provocation in women. 8 Guilt mediated the effect of empathy on aggression at low provocation in men; anger did not 9 mediate any effects of empathy on aggression. Our findings indicate that the inhibitory effect 10 of empathy on aggression and the mediating role of guilt are moderated by provocation and 11 gender. 12 13


Systems pharmacology reveals a combination of GPCR-targeted drugs that prevent retinal degeneration. Preventing blindness Loss of photoreceptors in the retina results in visual impairment and eventually blindness. Light can damage the retina through processes that involve G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs). Chen et al. took a systems pharmacology approach to identify combinations of drugs that activate or inhibit specific GPCRs to prevent light-induced retinal damage in a mouse model of progressive retinal degeneration. This approach identified a photoreceptor-protecting combination of FDA-approved drugs that activated the Gi/o-coupled dopamine receptors D2R and D4R, inhibited the Gs-coupled dopamine receptor D1R, and inhibited the Gq-coupled α1A-adrenergic receptor. This study not only provides a potential therapeutic strategy for preventing blindness due to retinal degeneration but also suggests that systems pharmacology approaches could lead to the discovery of new combinations of available drugs to promote therapeutic changes in signaling networks. Photoreceptor cell degeneration leads to visual impairment and blindness in several types of retinal disease. However, the discovery of safe and effective therapeutic strategies conferring photoreceptor cell protection remains challenging. Targeting distinct cellular pathways with low doses of different drugs that produce a functionally synergistic effect could provide a strategy for preventing or treating retinal dystrophies. We took a systems pharmacology approach to identify potential combination therapies using a mouse model of light-induced retinal degeneration. We showed that a combination of U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved drugs that act on different G protein (heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide–binding protein)–coupled receptors (GPCRs) exhibited synergistic activity that protected retinas from light-induced degeneration even when each drug was administered at a low dose. In functional assays, the combined effects of these drugs were stimulation of Gi/o signaling by activating the dopamine receptors D2R and D4R, as well as inhibition of Gs and Gq signaling by antagonizing D1R and the α1A-adrenergic receptor ADRA1A, respectively. Moreover, transcriptome analyses demonstrated that such combined GPCR-targeted treatments preserved patterns of retinal gene expression that were more similar to those of the normal retina than did higher-dose monotherapy. Our study thus supports a systems pharmacology approach to identify treatments for retinopathies, an approach that could extend to other complex disorders.


It is believed that structures and actuation systems should be tightly integrated together in the future to create lightweight dynamic machines. This requires actuators to be distributed through the structure. A tensegrity structure is a very promising candidate for this future integration due to its potentially excellent stiffness and strength-to-weight ratio, and the inherent advantage of being a multi-element structure into which actuators can be embedded. In this paper, an antagonistic multiaxis control of a tensegrity structure is achieved, using a dead band controller. The controller is studied by the describing function technique, and a condition to guarantee stability is derived. The stability condition is illustrated with simulation and experimental results, and is used as a general rule to achieve stable control of the structure.


A novel formulation of acoustic multipath is proposed for estimation of the room acoustic using recordings of unknown concurrent speech sources at unknown locations. The framework exploits sparsity and low-rank structures characterized by the Image method for estimation of the geometry and the absorption factors of the reflective surfaces. The experiments conducted on real data recordings demonstrate the effectiveness of the method for modeling the room acoustic and its application for speech separation and dereverberation.


Volatiles Versus Vegetation Plants act as both global sources and sinks of highly reactive volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Models typically treat the uptake and degradation of these compounds as if they are mostly unreactive, like other more commonly studied biogenic gases such as ozone. A study by Karl et al. (p. 816, published online 21 October) suggests that VOCs may be more reactive than expected. By monitoring six field sites representing a range of deciduous ecosystems, several oxidized VOCs were found to have high deposition fluxes. Fumigation experiments in the laboratory confirmed that leaves are capable of oxidizing these compounds, and do so through an enzymatic detoxification or stress-response mechanism. Budgets for VOC flux in the atmosphere suggests that, on a global scale, plants may take up significant levels of VOCs in polluted regions, especially in the tropics. Deciduous trees enzymatically remove oxygenated volatile organic compounds from the atmosphere. The biosphere is the major source and sink of nonmethane volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere. Gas-phase chemical reactions initiate the removal of these compounds from the atmosphere, which ultimately proceeds via deposition at the surface or direct oxidation to carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide. We performed ecosystem-scale flux measurements that show that the removal of oxygenated VOC via dry deposition is substantially larger than is currently assumed for deciduous ecosystems. Laboratory experiments indicate efficient enzymatic conversion and potential up-regulation of various stress-related genes, leading to enhanced uptake rates as a response to ozone and methyl vinyl ketone exposure or mechanical wounding. A revised scheme for the uptake of oxygenated VOCs, incorporated into a global chemistry-transport model, predicts appreciable regional changes in annual dry deposition fluxes.


Much of the debate surrounding the impact of faith schools on wider society has focused on the extent to which they promote social cohesion in urban communities. Yet, much of the faith-based sector in both England and Wales actually consists of small, rural, Anglican primary schools. This article takes a closer look at these schools to further investigate their influence on social cohesion and community relations, as well as wider questions concerning the significance of religion for contemporary rural life. With reference to an in-depth case study comparison of two Anglican primary schools in western England and southern Wales, the article draws on qualitative data from staff, pupils, parents and local villagers to explore different approaches to community engagement and their consequences for social cohesion. In so doing, the article makes important contributions to the literatures on faith-based schooling, rural education, social cohesion, and religion in rural contexts.


We develop an open-source Python software integrating flexibility needs from Variable Renewable Energies (VREs) in the development of regional energy mixes. It provides a flexible and extensible tool to researchers/engineers, and for education/outreach. It aims at evaluating and optimizing energy deployment strategies with higher shares of VRE, assessing the impact of new technologies and of climate variability and conducting sensitivity studies. Specifically, to limit the algorithm's complexity, we avoid solving a full-mix cost-minimization problem by taking the mean and variance of the renewable production–demand ratio as proxies to balance services. Second, observations of VRE technologies being typically too short or nonexistent, the hourly demand and production are estimated from climate time series and fitted to available observations. We illustrate e4clim's potential with an optimal recommissioning-study of the 2015 Italian PV-wind mix testing different climate data sources and strategies and assessing the impact of climate variability and the robustness of the results.


One of the most important directions of the cooperation between public and private sector is the implementation of the state innovation policy in the organizations. Innovation policy has to contribute to form the innovation field, which would be favourable for the constant renewal of the enterprise. The methodical issues of the analysis of the organization's innovation field and the factors of the innovation fields of the enterprises are discussed in this article. 70 enterprises of different size (micro, small, medium and big enterprises) participated in the research conducted. The research was conducted by stages and it was based on such methods as the analysis of resources, expert evaluations, questionnaire survey, analysis of results. The most important external and internal factors of innovation stimulation and innovation stopping in the enterprises innovation fields were identified during the research. The most significant public (external) factors promoting the innovations are the changes in the market, progress of science, training system, decrease of labour resources while the stopping factors are the competition in the market, expensive new technologies, lack of specialists, problems of qualification raising. The results of the research are relevant in making public innovation policy, in preparing the strategies and programmes for the creation of innovation system.


Gut colonization by the pathogen Klebsiella pneumoniae (Kp) is consistently associated with subsequent Kp disease1-5, and patients are predominantly infected with their colonizing strain1,2. However, colonizing strains likely vary in their potential to cause infection. We previously identified the plasmid-encoded tellurium resistance (ter) operon as highly associated with infection when compared to asymptomatic colonization in hospitalized patients1. The ter operon bestows resistance to the toxic compound tellurite oxide (TeO3−2), but this is unlikely to be its physiological function, as tellurium and TeO3−2 are exceedingly rare. Here we show that terC is necessary and terZABCDEF is sufficient for phenotypic TeO3−2 resistance. Next, we demonstrate that ter is encoded on a diverse group of plasmids without known plasmid-encoded virulence genes, suggesting an independent role in infection. Finally, our studies indicate that ter is a gut fitness factor, and its fitness advantage is conferred only when specific gut microbiota constituents are present. Collectively, these data reveal the Kp ter operon that is highly associated with human infection likely acts early in pathogenesis as a horizontally-transferrable fitness factor promoting robust gut colonization in the presence of the indigenous microbiota.


Angiogenesis is essential for solid tumour growth, whilst the molecular profiles of tumour blood vessels have been reported to be different between cancer types. Although presently available anti-angiogenic strategies are providing some promise for the treatment of some cancers it is perhaps not surprisingly that, none of the anti-angiogenic agents available work on all tumours. Thus, the discovery of novel anti-angiogenic targets, relevant to individual cancer types, is required. Using Affymetrix microarray analysis of laser-captured, CD31-positive blood vessels we have identified 63 genes that are upregulated significantly (5–72 fold) in angiogenic blood vessels associated with human invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) of the breast as compared with blood vessels in normal human breast. We tested the angiogenic capacity of a subset of these genes. Genes were selected based on either their known cellular functions, their enriched expression in endothelial cells and/or their sensitivity to anti-VEGF treatment; all features implicating their involvement in angiogenesis. For example, RRM2, a ribonucleotide reductase involved in DNA synthesis, was upregulated 32-fold in IDC-associated blood vessels; ATF1, a nuclear activating transcription factor involved in cellular growth and survival was upregulated 23-fold in IDC-associated blood vessels and HEX-B, a hexosaminidase involved in the breakdown of GM2 gangliosides, was upregulated 8-fold in IDC-associated blood vessels. Furthermore, in silico analysis confirmed that AFT1 and HEX-B also were enriched in endothelial cells when compared with non-endothelial cells. None of these genes have been reported previously to be involved in neovascularisation. However, our data establish that siRNA depletion of Rrm2, Atf1 or Hex-B had significant anti-angiogenic effects in VEGF-stimulated ex vivo mouse aortic ring assays. Overall, our results provide proof-of-principle that our approach can identify a cohort of potentially novel anti-angiogenic targets that are likley to be, but not exclusivley, relevant to breast cancer.


Many studies can be found successfully applying sophisticated and powerful pedestrian simulation packages for crowd management at public transport stations. However, there are gaps in understanding the ripple effect of crowding and passenger demands at a station to the crowdedness at stations further down a transit line. This paper reports a computational framework that links crowd simulations at transit stations of an urban network. Inherently the framework allows for the simulation of the transferring of mobility characteristics of passengers along a transit line as they travel from one station to another and its impacts on crowdedness at these stations. We also report on a proof of concept demonstrating the application of the framework to a small hypothetical train network. The crowd simulation software used in this study is MassMotion. However, the framework should be adaptable to any crowd simulation package.


The issue of 'knife crime' is examined in this paper. A review of the recent Australian data indicates an increase in the use of knives for homicide offences, while their use decreased or remained steady in relation to robbery, sexual assault and kidnapping/ abduction. The limited academic research on this issue reveals two discrete groups — young people who carry knives and generally 'grow out of it'; and an older cohort who are evidenced in crime and hospitalisation data. There were also differences between the knife carriage and use patterns of 'school' and 'street' youth. A detailed analysis of recent and proposed legislative and policy responses to knife crime in each Australian jurisdiction is presented; this demonstrates a diversity of approaches, especially in relation to penalties. By way of international comparison, the responses in the United Kingdom are considered and the evidence on the effectiveness of interventions aimed at tackling knife crime reviewed. The limited information available on the nature, extent, cause, motivation and possible growth of knife carriage, highlights the need for improved data collection, along with the development of clearer evidence for what works to reduce knife carrying and knife offences. Accordingly, the paper concludes by calling for better data collection, program evaluation and education campaigns.


Background: Myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) precipitate the shoulder pain severity and disability in patients with shoulder adhesive capsulitis (SAC). This study aims to compare the effectiveness of intramuscular electrical stimulation (IMES) combined with therapeutic exercises versus dry needling (DN) combined with therapeutic exercises in improving the clinical outcomes in patients with SAC. Methods and Materials: In this randomized controlled trial, IMES (n = 45) and DN (43) groups had received respectively IMES, and DN twice weekly for three consecutive weeks. Both groups received therapeutic exercises 1520 minutes, five days in a week during the second and third week. Pain, disability, kinesiophobia, number of active and latent MTrPs, shoulder abduction and external rotation range of motion were assessed at baseline, week-1, week-2, week-3 and follow-up at 3 months. A repeated measures ANOVA performed to find out the significant differences in the clinical outcomes between the groups. Results: The results of repeated measures of ANOVA shows that the post intervention timelines assessment scores of VAS, DASH, shoulder abduction and external rotation ROM, number of active and latent MTrPs and kinesiophobia were significantly (p. < 0.05) improved in both groups. However, IMES group had achieved a greater improvement over DN group (p. < 0.05) on the shoulder pain severity and disability, shoulder range of motion, number of active and latent MTrPs and kinesiophobia. Despite the significant statistical differences between the groups, IMES group did not achieve the minimal clinically important differences of 1.5cm and 11-points respectively for the VAS and DASH scores. No serious adverse effects occurred during the three weeks of treatment. Conclusion: IMES combined with therapeutic exercises is an effective treatment to reduce the shoulder pain severity and upper limb disability by deactivating the active and latent MTrPs and improving the shoulder abduction and external rotation range of motion in patients with SAC.


A large body of research is currently investigating on the connection between machine learning and game theory. In this work, game theory notions are injected into a preference learning framework. Specifically, a preference learning problem is seen as a two-players zero-sum game. An algorithm is proposed to incrementally include new useful features into the hypothesis. This can be particularly important when dealing with a very large number of potential features like, for instance, in relational learning and rule extraction. A game theoretical analysis is used to demonstrate the convergence of the algorithm. Furthermore, leveraging on the natural analogy between features and rules, the resulting models can be easily interpreted by humans. An extensive set of experiments on classification tasks shows the effectiveness of the proposed method in terms of interpretability and feature selection quality, with accuracy at the state-of-the-art.


Cosine-Gaussian-correlated Schell-model sources whose degree of coherence (DOC) is of circular symmetry have been introduced just recently [Opt. Lett. 38, 2578 (2013)]. In this Letter, we propose a model for a source whose DOC is the superposition of two 1D cosine-Gaussian-correlated Schell-model sources, i.e., possesses rectangular symmetry. The novel model sources and beams they generate are termed rectangular cosine-Gaussian Schell-model (RCGSM). The RCGSM beam exhibits unique features on propagation, e.g., its intensity in the far field (or in the focal plane) displays a four-beamlet array profile, being qualitatively different from the ring-shaped profile of the CGSM beam whose DOC is of circular symmetry. Furthermore, we have carried out experimental generation of the proposed beam and measured its focusing properties. Our experimental results are consistent with the theoretical predictions.


In this work, automatic analysis of themes contained in a large corpora of judgments from public procurement domain is performed. The employed technique is unsupervised latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA). In addition, it is proposed, to use LDA in conjunction with recently developed method of unsupervised keyword extraction. Such an approach improves the interpretability of the automatically obtained topics and allows for better computational performance. The described analysis illustrates a potential of the method in detecting recurring themes and discovering temporal trends in lodged contract appeals. These results may be in future applied to improve information retrieval from repositories of legal texts or as auxiliary material for legal analyses carried out by human experts.


In situ Measurement of Trace Metals in Coastal waters Kate Ann Howell This thesis describes the use of in situ and laboratory techniques for monitoring of trace metals and master variables in the environment. Chapter 1 presents a general overview of trace metals, their sources, sinks and roles in estuaries and near coastal zones, their general characteristics and the importance of their behaviour in estuaries. Filtration and commonly used analytical methods for trace metals detemriinations in natural waters are also discussed. Chapter 2 highlights the importance of colloids (in the size range 0.2 to 0.4 \im) to membrane clogging and concludes that cojloids account for a significant part of clogging of membrane filters. The aim of this study was to extend earlier studies by examining the trends of filtrate concentrations as a function of filtration volume in riverine and estuarine waters with contrasting matrix composition, over two different seasons. Based on the findings presented in this chapter some metal specific filtration protocols are suggested. Chapter 3 provides an overview of developments in instrument automation that have led to miniaturisation and resulting in manufacture of portable electrochemical instrumentation. Such instrumentation has been used for continuous trace metal measurements from the banks of estuaries and on-board ships. The most recent developments in flow-through cells with a gelcoated Iridium (Ir) micro-electrode array have resulted in submersible in s/Yu voltammetric probes which allow long-term trace metal measurements at sub-nanomolar concentrations in coastal waters. Such In situ probes hold great promise for water quality monitoring. Chapter 4 presents the optimisation and validation of a Voltammetric In situ Profiling (VIP) system for the simultaneous determinations of Cd(ll), Cu(ll) and Pb(ll) in estuarine and coastal waters. The trace metal faction measured by the VIP system is termed 'dynamic' and includes and includes these free ions and small complexes with size smaller than a few nm. Systematic studies in NaNOa and seawater were conducted and these showed that variations in ionic strength, pH and dissolved oxygen did not affect the response of the instrument, whereas an Arrhenius type temperature response was observed. During the work, physical and voltammetric settings of the VIP system were considered and tested in detail in order to achieve the analytical requirements to perform measurements in the laboratory and during in situ deployments^ The VIP instrument has a detection limit (defined as 3cj) in seawater for Cd(II) of 23 pM, Cu(ll) 1.13 nM, and Pb(ll) 23 pM. The accuracy of the VIP system was determined with certified reference material (CRM), showing good agreement. Chapter 5 discusses the results of an international laboratory inter-comparison exercise, in order to verify precision and accuracy of measurements made by 4 laboratories that operate VIP systems located in Plymouth, U.K; Geneva, Switzeriand and Ancona, Italy, using laboratory reference methods as a comparison. Inter-comparison included analysis of Tamar Estuary samples and in situ VIP system measurements in the coastal waters of the Gullmar Fjord, Sweden. Chapter 6 presents the results of field deployment of the automated Voltammetric In situ Profiling (VIP) system for the simultaneous determinations of dynamic Cd(ll), Cu(ll) and Pb(ll) in three estuaries located in the Southwest of England, UK. The VIP instrument allowed the In situ determination of 2-4 samples h'\ In addition, the VIP system measured total filterable (0.4 pm pore size filter) concentrations of Gd(ll) and Pb(ll) in discrete estuarine water samples. Through a series of tidal surveys lasting 7-12 h each and totalling 7 surveys a high resolution data set including speciation information was built up that enabled an interpretation of geochemical processes in the studied estuaries. Chapter 7 shows the results of In situ determination of VIP dynamic metal concentrations in the Po plume arid Adriatic Sea. Concentrations were similar to those previously reported for this coastal sea system. The correlation of the metals with salinity was presented and highlighted the importance of local effluent inputs close to the river mouth for Cd(ll). The data demonstrated that the Adriatic was not heavily contaminated with trace metals. Chapter 8 presents the overall conclusions from the research and makes suggestions for future work.


In PGA Tour, Inc. v. Casey Martin, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the right of the professional golfer Casey Martin to use a golf cart while playing in professional golf tournaments, despite the PGA rule requiring walking. In concluding that the Americans With Disabilities Act required such an accommodation to Martin, who has a serious circulatory disorder, the Supreme Court, by the specific words of the Act, was required to determine that the accommodation did not "fundamentally alter" the nature of the activity. Yet in determining that riding rather than walking did not fundamentally alter the nature of professional tournament golf, the Court was required to make determinations as to which it had little information and even less expertise. In this respect, however, the case was more typical than unusual, for increasingly the appellate courts are compelled to get their own information and expertise in a relatively unconstrained manner. Whether such dabbling well outside of any plausible domain of judicial comparative advantage is desirable, however, presents an important issue of judicial policy that the Court's confident assertions about golf expertise did more to obscure than illuminate.


This study seeks to explain changes in the proportion of 16 year olds, 17 year olds and 18 year olds who decide to participate in post-compulsory education. Four countries are considered; Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and England, over as much of the period from 1960 to the present day as data will allow. An initial inspection of the data reveals non-stationarity in virtually all of the series under consideration, so that a cointegration framework is appropriate. The analysis therefore proceeds using the two-stage procedure proposed by Engle and Granger. The results suggest that the key variable that explains the growth in post-compulsory education participation is the increase in prior academic attainment before the end of compulsory schooling. This is the case particularly for females, males being also influenced by the returns available to offering a higher level of education, and the level of real income available to 'spend' on education. The level of youth unemployment seems to play only a small part in the decision as to whether to remain in education.


Background and Purpose: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is identified as the risk factor for functional difficulties in most of the survivors. The aim of this study was to investigate the current evidence-based literature on the area of self-care and ADL status in the veterans with combat-related PTSD. Methods: This review was conducted on the studies published within 2005-2015. The search was performed using such databases as SID, Iran Medex, Magiran, Science Direct, ProQuest, and PubMed. The searches were initially carried out using single keywords, and then continued with using OR/AND for combining words such as "self-care activity, instrumental activities of daily living, physical functioning, post- traumatic stress disorder in war veterans, etc". Finally, a total of 783 papers were retrieved, out of which only 15 publications were considered relevant to the subject under discussion and investigated in-depth. Results: According to the findings of the reviewed articles, there is a relationship between the self-care status and PTSD severity; as a result, greater PTSD symptoms are accompanied by poorer self-care practices and ADLs. Furthermore, in all the studies, the physical functioning (self-care or ADLs) was lower in the PTSD population in comparison to the non-PTSD population. Conclusion: As the findings of the retrieved articles indicated, it can be conclude that the self-care practices and ADLs were poor among the veterans suffering from PTSD. Therefore, it is necessary that nurses develop a comprehensive care planning for this population to facilitate their achievement of independence in ADLs.


This Article begins the complex dialogue that must take place to address the emerging technologies providing energy storage for our electricity grid. Energy storage has the capacity to be a game-changer for many facets of our grid, providing better integration of renewable energy, enhanced reliability, and reduced use of carbon-intensive fuels. Energy storage faces a number of obstacles, however, including technological, financial, and regulatory uncertainty. This Article focuses on the regulatory uncertainty, and defends the proposition that not all regulatory uncertainty is created equal. It argues for differential treatment of this uncertainty, depending on its context, scope, and source and applies this framework to the uncertainty surrounding the classification of energy storage. It finds that this uncertainty operates against high baseline levels of uncertainty in the energy industry, is limited in its scope, and is intentionally embraced by the federal regulators in an effort to realize the benefits of regulatory uncertainty. This Article asserts that this form of uncertainty is one that can be managed in a way to avoid stifling the development of this important technology. This Article sets forth strategies for regulators and regulated entities to continue to function, even within this zone of regulatory uncertainty.


The recent development of real-time measurements and control tools in JET has enhanced the reliability and reproducibility of the relevant ITER scenarios. Diagnostics such as charge exchange, interfero-polarimetry, electron cyclotron emission have been upgraded for real-time measurements. In addition, real-time processes like magnetic equilibrium and q profile reconstruction have been developed and applied successfully in real-time q profile control experiments using model based control techniques. Plasma operation and control against magnetohydrodynamic instabilities are also benefiting from these new systems. The experience gained at JET in the field of real-time measurement and control experiments operation constitutes a very useful basis for the future operation of ITER scenarios.


This document was developed to provide information on the state of knowledge on disaster recovery. This document includes a list of articles collected in the Fall of 2018. To obtain relevant articles, a list of keywords was used to search Google Scholar and University Library Databases. These keywords were: "community disaster recovery", disaster recovery", "post recovery planning" "pre disaster planning", and "national planning recovery". An additional search of academic journals that are related to the planning field was then undertaken to ensure that articles from these journals were not overlooked. These journals included: Journal of the American Planning Association, Journal of Planning Education and Research, Applied Geography, Land Use Policy, Environment and Planning A, Planning Theory, Progress in Planning. After collecting articles, each article was then systematically reviewed to ensure relevance. The articles needed to address community level recovery (including issues related to housing, economic, infrastructure, planning, etc.) or note issues that affect recovery outcomes (e.g., differences in housing outcomes for rental versus owned housing). Next, we reviewed the reference list of identified articles to determine if any articles had been missed in the initial collection process. If there were additional articles that were missed, we collected the information and searched for the title of the article. After processing each article, the articles were than compiled into the Zotero software.


Abstract : This report presents general computation trends and a particular set of emerging technologies to support the trends for software-reliant systems of systems (SoSs). Software-reliant SoSs now tend to be highly distributed software systems, formed from constituent software systems that are operated and managed by different organizations. These SoSs are moving from a directed management structure (in which constituent systems are integrated and built for a specific purpose) to a virtual one (in which there is no central authority or centrally agreed purpose). This shift is introducing a need for new technologies to deal with the lack of central authority or centrally agreed purpose.


Chronic stress can be either due to many stressors or due to same stressor continuously for a prolonged period, which repeatedly activates autonomic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis without relaxation response, resulting in persistent physiologic effects. Physiologic response causes malfunctioning of HPA axis to release excess cortisol, the principle stress hormone. Studies have shown that acute physical and mental stress can impair milk ejection reflex. If this occurs repeatedly during prolonged stress, it could reduce milk production by preventing full emptying of the breast at each feed. As the effects of chronic emotional stress on lactation are not known, this study was conducted to assess the relation between maternal chronic stress and lactation. Pregnant women were assessed for the level of stress with the help of Holmes and Rahe stress scale, 96 were selected for the study. Objective measurement was done by analyzing serum cortisol levels by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. It was observed that among 96 subjects 36 (37.5%) were mildly stressed, 34 (35.41%) were moderately stressed and 26 (27.08%) were severely stressed. Serum cortisol levels were high in moderately stressed subjects when compared to mildly stressed subjects with p< 0.05. Also high levels of serum cortisol were observed in subjects with severe stress when compared to moderately stressed subjects with p< 0.05. Milk volumes were measured upto 5 days postpartum by test weighing method using digital weighing machine. Daily milk volumes were compared between mildly, moderately and severely stressed subjects. Gradual decrease in the mean milk volumes were recorded with p< 0.05. So chronic stress may hamper the lactation.


This paper presents the results of light and electron microscopy done on iridophores in the dorsal skin of the lizard Anolis carolinensis. New fine-structural details are revealed, and their importance is discussed. Of some interest is the complex of filaments between crystalline sheets in the cell. It is proposed that this complex is involved in the arrangement of crystals into crystalline sheets, and that the crystal arrangement and spacing are critical for the production of the cells' blue-green color. Tyndall scattering and thin-film interference are discussed as possible explanations for iridophore color production in relation to the fine-structural data obtained.


While community-weighted means of plant traits have been linked to mean environmental conditions at large scales, the drivers of trait variation within communities are not well understood. Local environmental heterogeneity (such as microclimate variability), in addition to mean environmental conditions, may decrease the strength of environmental filtering and explain why communities support different amounts of trait variation. Here, we assess two hypotheses: first, that more heterogeneous local environments and second, that less extreme environments, should support a broader range of plant strategies and thus higher trait variation. We quantified drivers of trait variation across a range of environmental conditions and spatial scales ranging from sub-meter to tens of kilometers in montane and alpine plant communities. We found that, within communities, both environmental heterogeneity and environmental means are drivers of trait variation. However, the importance of each environmental factor varied depending on the trait. Our results indicate that larger-scale trait-climate linkages that hold across communities also apply at small spatial scales, suggesting that microclimate variation within communities is a key driver of community functional diversity. Microclimatic variation provides a potential mechanism for helping to maintaining diversity in local communities and also suggests that small-scale environmental heterogeneity should be measured as a better predictor of functional diversity.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Using detailed microdata, we document how migration-dependent households are especially vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. We create pre- and post-COVID panel datasets for three populations in Bangladesh and Nepal, leveraging experimental and observational variation in prior migration dependence. We report 25 per cent greater declines in earnings and fourfold greater prevalence of food insecurity among migrant households since March. Causes include lower migration rates, less remittance income per migrant, isolation in origin communities, and greater health risks. We compile a large set of secondary data to demonstrate the extent of vulnerability worldwide and conclude with recommendations for policy targeted at migrants.


Introduction: Autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity is viewed as a major component of the emotion response in many recent theories of emotion. The aim of this study was to compare the cardiovascular reactivity in patients with cancer and normal subjects under the conditions of the induction of positive and negative emotions. Methods: For this purpose, among the patients with cancer in Urmia and Kermanshah cities, a total of 40 individuals were invited to participate in the study in two groups of patients with cancer (n=20) and normal participants (n=20) using convenience sampling. Informed consent forms were obtained from the subject. Finally, in order to test the hypothesis and the goals of this study, participants in both groups were placed in positive and negative emotional experiences based on counter-balanced manner. After each emotion induction, cardiovascular responses (heart rate, systolic blood pressure and diastolic) were recorded. To evaluate the results of the study, collected data were analyzed by using descriptive, univariate analysis of variance and dependent t test. Results: The results showed that there were significant differences between two groups in cardiovascular reactivity, so that the patients with cancer under emotional conditions, compared with healthy subjects had lower heart rate responses. But there was not found any significant difference in systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Also, comparison within the groups with the patients with cancer showed that these patients under conditions of positive emotional response had higher diastolic blood pressure and heart rate. Conclusion: It seems that emotional reactivity plays an important role in people's vulnerability for developing psychosomatic diseases, especially cancer.


Home visiting programs in the United States seek to improve maternal and child health, child development, and family economic self-sufficiency by supporting and educating families with young children. Today, home visiting is seen as an important strategy for high-risk families who may be difficult to engage in other services. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 included $1.5 billion over five years for states to operate the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program. It also required a national evaluation of the programs. This document describes the design of that evaluation — the Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation (MIHOPE). MIHOPE was launched in 2011 by the Administration for Children and Families and the Health Resources and Services Administration within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The evaluation is being conducted by MDRC in partnership with Mathematica Policy Research, James Bell Associates, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Georgia, and Columbia University.MIHOPE will include the following components:-An analysis of state needs assessments will describe the communities that states chose to target with MIECHV program services.-An implementation study will collect information on the services provided by local programs as well as the factors that helped shape those programs.-An impact analysis will estimate the effects of home visiting programs on family outcomes, both overall and for key subgroups of families.-An economic analysis will assess program costs and savings.The study will include approximately 5,100 families with a pregnant woman or a child under 6 months old. Families who enroll in the study will be randomly assigned to a home visiting group or to a comparison group that can use other services available in their community. Families will be spread across about 85 local programs in about 12 states. Sites must be operating one of four national models of home visiting: Early Head Start-Home Visiting Option, Healthy Families America, Nurse-Family Partnership, or Parents as Teachers. These four models were chosen because they are being implemented using MIECHV program funds in at least 10 states.Data for the implementation and impact studies will be collected from a variety of sources, including interviews with parents; observations of the home environment; observed interactions of parents and children; direct assessments of children's development; observations of home visitors in their work with families during home visits; logs, observations, and interviews with home visitors, supervisors, and program administrators; program model documentation from program developers, grantees, and local sites; and administrative data on child abuse, health care use, maternal health, birth outcomes, and employment and earnings.The study will produce a report to Congress in 2015 that includes information on families and sites included in the evaluation as well as information on how states made decisions about how to spend home visiting funds. Later reports will provide more information on program implementation, the effects of home visiting programs for families, and the features of programs that are associated with larger effects.


Improved of maintenance crop varieties developed at agricultural research corporation, Wad median, Sudan is intended for seed foundation which is recently established. This study was undertaken to establish statistical investigation using Bayesian estimation for credible interval or posterior interval as a Bayesian strategy for a maintenance variety. Data on grain yield (kg/ha) on a maize crop variety were used. Bayesian posterior information can be annoying to investigate but are important in maintenance varieties that foundational claims are used to make general recommendations for practice. Half normal informative priors set were used. The heritability of yield (varieties)) was (h = 0.75). Predicted posterior means of varieties were shown with a Bayesian interval for scientific inference in the maintenance maize grain yield. Bayesian approach is useful for reducing uncertainty on decisions based on economic evaluation of new maize varieties in Sudan, the use of credible intervals for grain yield allow for early decisions.Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 5(3): 390-396


The International Centers of Excellence in Malaria Research (ICEMR) projects involve studies to understand the epidemiology and transmission patterns of malaria in different geographic regions. Two major challenges of integrating data across these projects are: (1) standardization of highly heterogeneous epidemiologic data collected by various ICEMR projects; (2) provision of user-friendly search strategies to identify and retrieve information of interest from the very complex ICEMR data. We pursued an ontology-based strategy to address these challenges. We utilized and contributed to the Open Biological and Biomedical Ontologies to generate a consistent semantic representation of three different ICEMR data dictionaries that included ontology term mappings to data fields and allowed values. This semantic representation of ICEMR data served to guide data loading into a relational database and presentation of the data on web pages in the form of search filters that reveal relationships specified in the ontology and the structure of the underlying data. This effort resulted in the ability to use a common logic for storing and display of data on study participants, their clinical visits, and epidemiological information on their living conditions (dwelling) and geographic location. Users of the Plasmodium Genomics Resource, PlasmoDB, accessing the ICEMR data will be able to search for participants based on environmental factors such as type of dwelling, location or mosquito biting rate, characteristics such as age at enrollment, relevant genotypes or gender and visit data such as laboratory findings, diagnoses, malaria medications, symptoms, and other factors. Keywords—standardizing data dictionaries, OBO Foundry, PlasmoDB, ICEMR


This paper is aimed at facilitating the study of Daoism, a collection of Chinese philosophical beliefs and psychospiritual practices with a history of thousands of years and a living community that stretches throughout East Asia, from a transpersonal psychology perspective. Transpersonal psychologists who wish to embark upon a study of Daoist phenomena must first be cognizant of the often nebulous parameters of the Daoist field of inquiry. Therefore, an overview is offered of the two primary Daoist informational sources: the living Daoist tradition as represented predominantly by the Quanzhen and Tianshi traditions, and textual sources in collections such as the Daozang and the Zangwai Daoshu. Some critical issues are highlighted, such as the fact that transpersonal psychologists need to be mindful of various inherent difficulties associated with the study of Daoism (e.g., problems interpreting allegorical and even deliberately encoded texts in the absence of the necessary oral transmissions). Finally, a number of avenues for future research are put forward in the interest of facilitating the transpersonal study of Daoism.


Title of dissertation: NISEI SAMURAI: CULTURE AND AGENCY IN THREE JAPANESE AMERICAN LIVES Toyoshi Kase, Doctor of Philosophy, 2005 Dissertation directed by: Professor Barbara Finkelstein Education Policy and Leadership, College of Education This dissertation, based upon interviews and representation, explores three lives of second generation Japanese Americans and reveals the existence of real cultural complexities among them as well as some of the diverse forms that cross-cultural adaptation might take. Their lives provide a window through which to explore processes of cross-cultural adaptation. These nisei were born and raised on U.S. soil, grew up in a deeply discriminatory society, lived through intractable war, and were deeply and simultaneously connected to Japanese traditions at home and the larger American society. In their experiences, these three lives reveal the continuing interplay of dual cultures but, at the same time, reveal the variety of its forms. All three were invariably steeped in the past through issei parents, actively engaged in an assessment of the present, and inspiringly cast toward the future. In their histories, they were plunged into formidable reality where they acted on the present now by transforming the past as meaningfully usable to their current concern for future imperatives. Throughout this research I will employ one basic paradigm as I explore the interactive relationship between humans and society—human agents as actors and actresses over social demands and forces. The assumption of human agency does not lead to the conclusion that the history of Japanese Americans is a great success story in the face of adversity. It does not portray people as powerless victims of a harsh environment. Rather, this is a study of Japanese American development that pays close attention to the lived human experiences of these nisei samurai moving toward new opportunities and challenges. The ultimate power to determine one's own meaning of being relies upon humans as agents, notwithstanding the power of unalterable circumstances. People are not mindless beings whose actions and reaction have no meaning or bearing on the capacity of renewal. I, then, draw on an anthropological notion of "bricolage" to re-visit their experiences. These nisei of bricolage read or used—or re-read and re-used—a debilitating cultural situation, assigning to it their own meaning and consuming it to their own sense-making. NISEI SAMURAI: CULTURE AND AGENCY IN THREE JAPANESE AMERICAN LIVES


The main objective of this work is to analyse the visual representations (VRs) of the microcosm depicted in nine Greek secondary chemistry school textbooks of the last three decades in order to construct a systemic network for their main conceptual framework and to evaluate the contribution of each one of the resulting categories to the network. The sample comprises a total number of 221 VRs of microcosm, 66 of which are VRs of the 8th grade, 92 of the 9th grade and 63 of the 10th grade. For the qualitative analysis of VRs the phenomenographic method was implemented, whereas a basic quantitative analysis followed. Results provide us with a network that can help science teachers and textbooks designers in identifying the plethora of codes employed in these VRs and the plethora of ways in which VRs can be used, as well as, in determining possible causes of relevant students' misconceptions. Quantitative analysis indicates an effect of grade on the content of VRs and relevant implications for science education are discussed.


Thermal histories are modeled from new apatite (U-Th)/He and apatite fission-track data in order to quantitatively constrain the landscape evolution of the Grand Canyon region. Fifty new samples and their associated thermochronometric ages are presented here. Samples span from Lee's Ferry in the east to Quartermaster Canyon in the west and include four age-elevation transects into Grand Canyon and borehole samples from the Coconino Plateau. Twenty-seven samples are inversely modeled to provide continuous thermal histories. This represents the most extensive and complete dataset on patterns of long-term exhumation in the Grand Canyon region, and it enables us to constrain the timing and magnitude of erosion and also discriminate between canyon incision and broader planation. The new data suggest that the early Cenozoic landscape in eastern Grand Canyon was low in relief and does not indicate the presence of an early Cenozoic precursor to the modern Grand Canyon. However, there is evidence for the incision of a smaller-scale canyon across the Kaibab Uplift at 28–20 Ma. This middle-Cenozoic denudation event was accompanied by the removal of a majority of remaining Mesozoic strata west of the Kaibab Uplift. In contrast, just upstream in the area of Lee's Ferry, ∼2 km of Mesozoic strata remained over the middle Cenozoic and were removed after 10 Ma.


Previous data-driven work investigating the types and distributions of discourse
 relation signals, including discourse markers such as 'however' or phrases such as 'as a
 result' has focused on the relative frequencies of signal words within and outside text
 from each discourse relation. Such approaches do not allow us to quantify the signaling
 strength of individual instances of a signal on a scale (e.g. more or less
 discourse-relevant instances of 'and'), to assess the distribution of ambiguity for
 signals, or to identify words that hinder discourse relation identification in context
 ('anti-signals' or 'distractors'). In this paper we present a data-driven approach to
 signal detection using a distantly supervised neural network and develop a metric, Δs
 (or 'delta-softmax'), to quantify signaling strength. Ranging between -1 and 1 and
 relying on recent advances in contextualized words embeddings, the metric represents
 each word's positive or negative contribution to the identifiability of a relation in
 specific instances in context. Based on an English corpus annotated for discourse
 relations using Rhetorical Structure Theory and signal type annotations anchored to
 specific tokens, our analysis examines the reliability of the metric, the places where
 it overlaps with and differs from human judgments, and the implications for identifying
 features that neural models may need in order to perform better on automatic discourse
 relation classification.