Abstract Belgium was established in 1830 as a unitary state with a bicameral parliament, with symmetrical powers for the upper and the lower house. While federalism and bicameralism are often considered a pair, the Belgian system shows an inverse relationship. The Senate gradually turned into a house representative of the sub-states, but its powers declined inversely proportional to the level of decentralisation of the Belgian state. This paper inquires how the dismantling of the Belgian Senate fits in the increasingly devolutionary nature of the Belgian state structure. First, it nuances the link between bicameralism and federalism: bicameralism is an institutional device for federalism, but not by necessity, and only under specific conditions. The official narrative is that the Belgian Senate was reformed to turn it into a house of the sub-states in line as a federal principle, but in reality the conditions to fulfil this task are not fulfilled. Instead, the paper holds that bicameralism in Belgium is subordinate to the needs of multinational conflict management, and that complying with the federative ideal of an upper house giving voice to the collective needs of the sub-states would stand in the way of the evolution of the Belgian system towards confederalism based on two major linguistic groups.


The diffusion coefficient, D, is an important physico-chemical property of the proteins. While it can be measured using various analytical techniques, capillary electrophoresis (CE) is widely used for this purpose. CE is particularly effective in combination with whole column imaging detection (WCID) technology has enabled the CE approach to measure the diffusion coefficient in shorter time. Thus far, however, WCID has rarely been used for monitoring diffusion processes. The purpose of this study was to optimize the application of capillary electrophoresis, coupled with imaging detection, to the problem of protein diffusion coefficient measurement. This optimization addressed both experimental and data analysis aspects of the method. For data analysis, we explored the use of Fourier transformation (FT), which offers a non-parametric, shape-independent evaluation of the raw data. FT was compared with two other common methods, both of which operate in the time domain and, unlike FT, operate in the time domain and make assumptions about the fundamental shape of the signal. As part of exploring FT data analysis, we performed simulations, in which parameters such as resolution and measurement time were systematically varied in order to find the optimal experimental conditions. Moreover, a new experimental approach is introduced for fast and simple measurement of diffusion coefficients, and which we refer to as imaging plug flow (iPF). This technique combines capillary electrophoresis, in which proteins are pre-concentrated under the membrane by electrokinetic injection, with a dynamic imaging detection. The concentration gradient detection method based on Schlieren optics is a universal, inexpensive, and efficient dynamic imaging technology for high-throughput moving boundary electrophoresis. A prototype multi-channel chip has been implemented for such measurements, and the effect of channel dimensions was investigated. The simultaneous measurement of the diffusion coefficients in the channels of this microfluidic device has improved the throughput of the experiment. The proposed approach addresses the limitation of single channel detection associated with UV whole column imaging detection. The implementation of a multi-channel CE chip, coupled with Schlieren imaging detection and an improved scheme for data analysis based on FT, provides a simple, fast, and high-throughput approach to the analysis of proteins diffusion coefficients.


Recurrent neural networks, and in particular long short-term memory networks (LSTMs), are a remarkably effective tool for sequence modeling that learn a dense black-box hidden representation of their sequential input. Researchers interested in better understanding these models have studied the changes in hidden state representations over time and noticed some interpretable patterns but also significant noise. In this work, we present LSTMVis a visual analysis tool for recurrent neural networks with a focus on understanding these hidden state dynamics. The tool allows a user to select a hypothesis input range to focus on local state changes, to match these states changes to similar patterns in a large data set, and to align these results with domain specific structural annotations. We further show several use cases of the tool for analyzing specific hidden state properties on datasets containing nesting, phrase structure, and chord progressions, and demonstrate how the tool can be used to isolate patterns for further statistical analysis.


Given a set $S$ of vertices in a graph, the cocycle determined by $S$ is the set of edges joining a vertex in $S$ to a vertex not in $S$. A bond is a minimal non-empty cocycle. We characterise graphs that admit an orientation under which every bond of even cardinality has a prescribed directed parity.


Waste is a wealthy resource in the city of Boras in Sweden. The city has developed a sustainable waste management mechanism by reducing landfill, recovering fuel from the waste and recycling in collaboration with University of Boras, local municipality and other private partners. The system was designed back in 1986 to convert waste into value- added products such as biogas, electricity and heat. Hardly less than 1% of waste ends in landfills, thus Boras has given a new model of utilizing waste in a useful and economical way for a better environment. In most of the countries the waste is thrown away in the landfills which leads to health hazards, safety issues and loss of valuable resources. The Boras model emphasizes on ''reduce, recycle and recover energy'' before dumping. Before 1996 more than 40% of waste was landfilled in Sweden and today it has approached to zero landfill. The household waste is sorted in 30 fractions and then used. In a city of 100,000 population through using waste more than 3 million m3 biogas is produced every year which runs the buses, garbage trucks and around 300 CNG vehicles in the city. 960 MWh heat and electricity is also generated everyday. More than 90% recycling of PET and aluminum bottles is done in Sweden. The University of Boras actively conducts research and workshops in the sector. This public, private partnership model has made Boras a zero waste city.


Abstract Budburst is regulated by temperature conditions, and a warming climate is associated with earlier budburst. A range of phenology models has been developed to assess climate change effects, and they tend to produce different results. This is mainly caused by different model representations of tree physiology processes, selection of observational data for model parameterization, and selection of climate model data to generate future projections. In this study, we applied (i) Bayesian inference to estimate model parameter values to address uncertainties associated with selection of observational data, (ii) selection of climate model data representative of a larger dataset, and (iii) ensembles modeling over multiple initial conditions, model classes, model parameterizations, and boundary conditions to generate future projections and uncertainty estimates. The ensemble projection indicated that the budburst of Norway spruce in northern Europe will on average take place 10.2 ± 3.7 days earlier in 2051–2080 than in 1971–2000, given climate conditions corresponding to RCP 8.5. Three provenances were assessed separately (one early and two late), and the projections indicated that the relationship among provenance will remain also in a warmer climate. Structurally complex models were more likely to fail predicting budburst for some combinations of site and year than simple models. However, they contributed to the overall picture of current understanding of climate impacts on tree phenology by capturing additional aspects of temperature response, for example, chilling. Model parameterizations based on single sites were more likely to result in model failure than parameterizations based on multiple sites, highlighting that the model parameterization is sensitive to initial conditions and may not perform well under other climate conditions, whether the change is due to a shift in space or over time. By addressing a range of uncertainties, this study showed that ensemble modeling provides a more robust impact assessment than would a single phenology model run.


In this paper we consider the question of how to improve the efficacy of strategies designed to capture factor premiums in equity markets and, in particular, from the value, quality, low risk and momentum factors. We consider a number of portfolio construction approaches designed to capture factor premiums with the appropriate levels of risk controls aiming at increasing information ratios. We show that information ratios can be increased by targeting constant volatility over time, hedging market beta and hedging exposures to the size factor, i.e. neutralizing biases in the market capitalization of stocks used in factor strategies. With regards to the neutralization of sector exposures, we find this to be of importance in particular for the value and low risk factors. Finally, we look at the added value of shorting stocks in factor strategies. We find that with few exceptions the contributions to performance from the short leg are inferior to those from the long leg. Thus, long-only strategies can be efficient alternatives to capture these factor premiums. Finally, we find that factor premiums tend to have fatter tails than what could be expected from a Gaussian distribution of returns, but that skewness is not significantly negative in most cases.


Every day thousands of decisions are made by all kinds of committees, parliaments, councils and boards by a 'yes-no' voting process. Sometimes a committee can only accept or reject the proposals submitted to it for a decision. On other occasions, committee members have the possibility of modifying the proposal and bargaining an agreement prior to the vote. In either case, what rule should be used if each member acts on behalf of a different-sized group? It seems intuitively clear that if the groups are of different sizes then a symmetric rule (e.g. the simple majority or unanimity) is not suitable. The question then arises of what voting rule should be used. Voting and Collective Decision-Making addresses this and other issues through a study of the theory of bargaining and voting power, showing how it applies to real decision-making contexts.


Although keratoacanthomas (KA) are not rare in the head and neck area, patients with this type of tumor rarely consult an otolaryngologist for treatment. Keratoacanthoma is a common, benign cutaneous neoplasm that displays rapid growth on sun-exposed skin. Keratoacanthomas usually involute spontaneously after several months but rarely progress to squamous cell carcinoma. The majority of the cases is treated by surgical excision. The aim of this article is to report a case of keratoacanthoma in the helix of the left auricle in patient with chronic renal failure.


A significant set of challenges to the use of large, source ontologies in the medical domain include: automated translation, customization of source ontologies, and performance issues associated with the use of logical reasoning systems to interpret the meaning of a domain captured in a formal knowledge representation. SNOMED-CT and FMA are two reference ontologies that cover much of the domain of clinical informatics and motivate a better means for re-use. In this paper, we present a method for segmenting and merging modules from these ontologies for a specific domain that preserve the meaning of the anatomy terms they have in common.


 —The M-Bus protocol (EN13757) is in widespread use for metering applications within home area and neighborhood area networks, but lacks a strict specification. This may lead to incompatibilities in real-life installations and to problems in the deployment of new M-Bus networks. This paper presents the development of a novel testbed to emulate physical Metering Bus (M-Bus) networks with different topologies and to allow the flexible verification of real M-Bus devices in real-world scenarios. The testbed is designed to support device manufacturers and service technicians in test and analysis of their devices within a specific network before their installation. The testbed is fully programmable, allowing flexible changes of network topologies, cable lengths and types. It is easy to use, as only the master and the slaves devices have to be physically connected. This allows to autonomously perform multiple tests, including automated regression tests. The testbed is available to other researchers and developers. We invite companies and research institutions to use this M-Bus testbed to increase the common knowledge and real-world experience.


The first part of the book reviews the recent developments that are taking place in the international power sector across the world. It discusses the impact of strategic decisions and where they have adversely affected the development and performance of the sector. It discusses policy and market developments and the reaction of the industry and investors and the developing engagement with customers.


Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer III Malaysia and is
currently the commonest cancer in males. Genetics, experimental and
epidemiological data suggest that CRC develops from complex interaction between
inherited susceptibility and environmental factors. Accumulating evidence suggests
that the Wnt and PI3K (phosphoinositide-3-kinase)/Akt signalling pathways playa
causative role in tumorigenesis of colorectal cancer.
By employing immunohistochemical method, the expressIOn and correlation of
several key regulators or related biomolecules of the Wnt and PI3K1Akt signalling
pathways in 47 archival formalin fixed, paraffin embedded tissues of surgically
resected colorectal cancer (CRC) specimens performed at Kuala Lumpur Hospital
(KLH) between 1999 and 2000, were studied. Laser captured microdissection technique, polymerase chain reaction and direct sequencing were used to investigate
mutations in exon 3 of the p-catenin gene. Mutations in the mutation cluster region
(MCR) of adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene were also investigated. The
expressions of Wnt-l, WISP-l and FRAT-l mRNA were determined by
reverse-transcription and real-time polymerase chain reaction method.
The results showed that: The expressions ofWnt-l, FRAT-I, APC, nuclear p-catenin,
cytoplasmic p-catenin, membrane p-catenin, membrane E-cadherin, cytoplasmic
E-cadherin, WISP-I, cyclin-Dl, p-Aktl (Ser473), p-Akt1l2/3 (Thr308), p-BAD
(Ser136), p-GSK 3p(Ser9) and survivin were found in 55.3%, 36.2%, 51.1% 44.6%,
95.7%,30.6%,46.8%,95.7%,31.9%, 10.6%,34%,44.7%,57.4% 44.7% and 59.6%
of CRC tissues, respectively and 17.5%, 5% 100%, 0%, 75%, 100%, 100%, 50%,
12.5%, 0%, 5%, 12.5%, 22.5%, 22.5% and 32.5% of apparently normal adjacent
tissues, respectively. The sum of scores for all biomolecules except APC, membrane
p-catenin and membrane E-cadherin staining was significantly higher in CRC tissues
in comparison to apparently normal adjacent tissues (p < 0.05). The sum of score for
APC, membrane p-catenin and membrane E-cadherin staining was significantly
lower in CRC tissues in comparison to apparently normal adjacent tissues (p < 0.05).
The expression of Wnt and PI3K1Akt signalling pathway-related biomolecules was
interrelated. The results ofnucleotide sequencing showed that no mutations at exon-3
of p-catenin were found. However, point mutations in the mutation cluster region of
the APC gene leading to the formation of truncated APC protein, were found in four out eleven CRC tissues examined. A 1.43 to 21.26-foid and 1.11 to 109.14-fold
increase in the level of expression of Wnt-l and FRAT-1 mRNA was found in eight
out of eleven CRC tissues relative to apparently normal adjacent tissues. On the other
hand, a 1.94 to 46.69-fold increase in the level of WISP-I mRNA was found in all
the CRC tissues.
This study has provided important information for researchers and clinicians in terms
of clinical evidence of the involvement of the Wnt signalling pathway and PI3K1Akt
signalling pathway in colorectal tumorigenesis. In addition, the present study also
provided crucial information on the elucidation of the relationship between the
biomolecules of these signalling pathways towards understanding their roles in
colorectal tumourigenesis and the identification of potential targets for advance
therapeutic intervention ofCRe. Based on our current results, we propose that Wnt-I,
FRAT-1 and WISP-I could be served as potent therapeutic target for the treatment of
CRe.
On the basis of our present study, we conclude that the Wnt and PI3K1Akt signalling
pathways are involved in tumourigenesis of CRC in Malaysia. These pathways are
interrelated although they might also act independently in promoting tumour growth
and inhibition of apoptosis. This study has also provided useful information for the
search or design of better antitumour interventions.


TanDEM-X (TerraSAR-X add-on for digital elevation measurements) is an innovative spaceborne radar interferometer that is based on two TerraSAR-X radar satellites flying in close formation. The primary objective of the TanDEM-X mission is the generation of a consistent global digital elevation model (DEM) with an unprecedented accuracy, which is equaling or surpassing the HRTI-3 specification. Beyond that, TanDEM-X provides a highly reconfigurable platform for the demonstration of new radar imaging techniques and applications. This paper gives a detailed overview of the TanDEM-X mission concept which is based on the systematic combination of several innovative technologies. The key elements are the bistatic data acquisition employing an innovative phase synchronization link, a novel satellite formation flying concept allowing for the collection of bistatic data with short along-track baselines, as well as the use of new interferometric modes for system verification and DEM calibration. The interferometric performance is analyzed in detail, taking into account the peculiarities of the bistatic operation. Based on this analysis, an optimized DEM data acquisition plan is derived which employs the combination of multiple data takes with different baselines. Finally, a collection of instructive examples illustrates the capabilities of TanDEM-X for the development and demonstration of new remote sensing applications.


Knowledge graphs (KGs) are widely used for modeling scholarly communication, informing scientometric analysis, and supporting a variety of intelligent services to explore the literature and predict research dynamics. However, they often suffer from incompleteness (e.g., missing affiliations, references, research topics), which ends up reducing the scope and quality of the resulting analysis. This issue is usually tackled by computing knowledge graph embeddings (KGEs) and applying link prediction techniques. However, only a few KGE models are capable of taking weights of facts in the knowledge graph into account. Such weights can have different meanings, e.g. describe the degree of association or the degree of truth. In this paper we propose Weighted Triple Loss, a new loss function for KGE models that takes full advantage of the additional numerical weights on facts. We also extend the Rule Loss, a loss function that is able to exploit a set of logical rules, in order to work with weighted triples. The evaluation of our solutions on several knowledge graphs indicates significant performance improvements with respect to the state of the art. Our main use case is the large-scale AIDA knowledge graph, which describes 21 million research articles. Our approach enables to complete information about affiliation types, countries, and research topics, greatly improving the scope of the resulting scientometrics analysis and providing better support to systems for monitoring and predicting research dynamics.


Nowadays, around 1.1 billion people in rural and remote areas of developing countries remain without electricity. Stand‐alone projects that combine the wind and photovoltaic generation technologies as well as microgrids and individual supplies for the distribution network are an adequate strategy to reach such isolated regions. However, the design of electrification projects is complex, having to define the best combination of generation and distribution technologies, under a challenging social context and tight technoeconomic resources. In order to ease decision‐making, several tools have been developed in the literature and are here reviewed, grouped into three main categories: optimization processes, aiming to minimize project costs subject to technical constraints, through exact or heuristic algorithms; multicriteria processes, using different methods to select the best among a set of predefined scenarios according to economic, technical, social, and environmental criteria; and systematized tools, that have been developed to provide user‐friendly interface for their larger dissemination in different regions and contexts. Hence, this paper aims to provide researchers and practitioners an analysis of the advantages and limitations of approaches used over the last decade when addressing the designing of wind and/or photovoltaic electrification projects for extremely poor and isolated areas in developing countries, as well as some areas for further research.


We consider the problem of probabilistic topic modeling for query-focused multi-document summarization. Rather than modeling topics as distributions over a vocabulary of terms, we extend the probabilistic latent semantic analysis (PLSA) approach with a bigram language model. This allows us to relax the conditional independence assumption between words made by standard topic models. We present a unified topic model which evolves from sentence-term and sentence-bigram co-occurrences in parallel. Sentences and queries are represented as probability distributions over latent topics to compute thematic and query-focused sentence features in the topic space. We find that the inclusion of bigrams improves the descriptive quality of the latent topics, and substantially reduces the number of latent topics required for representing document content. Experimental results on DUC 2007 data show an improved performance compared to a standard term-based topic model. We further find that our method performs at the level of current state-of-the art summarizers, while being built on a considerably simpler model than previous topic modeling approaches to summarization.


With the standardization of XML as an information exchange language over the net, a huge amount of information is formatted in XML documents. In order to analyze this information efficiently, decomposing the XML documents and storing them in relational tables is a popular practice. However, query processing becomes expensive since, in many cases, an excessive number of joins is required to recover information from the fragmented data. If a collection consists of documents with different structures (for example, they come from different DTDs), mining clusters in the documents could alleviate the fragmentation problem. We propose a hierarchical algorithm (S-GRACE) for clustering XML documents based on structural information in the data. The notion of structure graph (s-graph) is proposed, supporting a computationally efficient distance metric defined between documents and sets of documents. This simple metric yields our new clustering algorithm which is efficient and effective, compared to other approaches based on tree-edit distance. Experiments on real data show that our algorithm can discover clusters not easily identified by manual


The open source environment R isf the most widely used software to statistically explore biological data sets including sequence alignments. BAM is the de facto standard file format for sequence alignment. With rbamtools, we provide now a full spectrum of accessibility to BAM for R users such as reading, writing, extraction of subsets and plotting of alignment depth where the script syntax closely follows the SAM/BAM format. Additionally, rbamtools enables fast accumulative tabulation of splicing events over multiple BAM files.


Hydrogen peroxide and water react with tetraacetylethylenediamine (TAED) to form consecutively triacetylethylenediamine and diacetylethylenediamine with the release of two molecules of peracetic acid or acetic acid. The effect of pH, specific buffers and temperature on the rates of hydrolysis and perhydrolysis are compared. Peracetic acid reacts with TAED very slowly. The ratio of the second-order rate constants for the reaction of TAED with hydroperoxide and peracetate anions is exceptionally large after taking into account the difference in pKa values of their conjugate acids. The relative reactivity of various nucleophiles with TAED is discussed in terms of its performance as a bleach activator.


Local governments across the U.S. are striving to improve public safety and optimize criminal justice investments. The Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) supports these efforts by convening justice system decision-makers to devise data-driven approaches to criminal justice reform that will generate savings that can be reinvested in evidence-based public safety strategies. The Urban Institute has monitored the progress of the 17 local jurisdictions currently engaged in JRI. This brief summarizes interim findings on the activities of those sites, including major contributors to system costs and corrections populations, policy options to address those issues, and expectations for savings and reinvestment of resources.


ID: 18793 Title: Three-Dimensional Dose/MU Verification Tool for Cyberknife Radiotherapy Plans Purpose: To improve independent dose/MU verification for Cyberknife treatment plans based on three-dimensional dose calculation including DVH and isodose display and DVH statistics. Methods: Independent voxel-based dose calculation application was developed on MATLAB platform based on DICOM CT images, DICOM RT structures, DICOM RT dose and Cyberknife treatment plan XML file imported from Cyberknife dedicated TPS (Multiplan) for a given case. Dose calculation algorithm reproduces standard RayTracing algorithm used in MultiPlan including body surface consideration and water-equivalent depth density scaling. To speed up performance only voxels of preselected volume structures are calculated. In addition, voxels forming three major planes through normalization/reference point are calculated for isodose comparison on background of corresponding CT images and selected volume structures. Results: The application displays three integral DVHs per preselected structure: original from DICOM dose file, recalculated based on original DICOM dose and DICOM structures, and calculated based on independent dose and DICOM structures. DVH statistics table shows statistically robust Dmin, Dmax and Dmean and their percentage deviations for all three modalities above. In addition, percentage dose difference histograms are displayed for every preselected structure. Conclusions: Independent plan dose/MU check is recommended or even mandatory in some countries. Conventional Cyberknife dose/MU check procedure is based on a beam dose/MU list export from Multiplan with individual beam contributions to a single reference point. This approach can not handle well plans with multiple-lesions and/or non-isocentric beam geometries in general due to frequent dose-outside a field situations. Newly developed application is voxelbased and handles well multiple-lesion cases. Unlike conventional approach, it is also more independent as it verifies parameters such as depth, equivalent depth and off-axis distance i.e. key parameters for dose/MU calculation. As a 3D tool it also presents results in clinically relevant patient-specific metrics.


Wireless acoustic communications methods have been demonstrated. These include both electro-acoustic and acoustooptic communications. The communications methods are intended for use by autonomous robotic agents in the Non- Destructive Evaluation (NDE) of structures containing a distributed acoustic emission sensor network. The acoustic emission sensors can be based on either piezoelectric or optical fibre sensors. The communications channel comprises of a piezoelectric transducer as the transmitter, an aluminium panel as the transmission medium, and either a second piezoelectric transducer or an optical fibre sensor as the receiver. Distributed acoustic emission sensors are used in Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) for the detection of impacts and/or strain, in real time. Secondary damage may result from the initial impact or strain. This damage may include surface pitting, erosion, or cracking. These types of secondary damage may not be detectable, and hence may not be able to be monitored by the SHM system; specifically in optical fibre based sensing systems. The integration of NDE by robotic agents into a SHM sensor network enables the detection and monitoring of a wider variety of damage. Acoustic communication represents a wireless communication method that does not require any additional hardware, as piezoelectric transducers are commonly used in the NDE of materials. Various modulation methods were investigated for the communications channel. These include Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK), Frequency Shift Keying (FSK), and Phase Shift Keying (PSK). Successful communication was achieved using both the piezoelectric and optical fibre receivers. The optical fibre sensor used was a Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG).


This Companion provides a timely and engaging treatment of Hyman Minsky's approach to economics, which is enjoying a renewed appreciation because of its prescient analysis of the slow but sure transformation of the capitalist economy in the post-war period. Many have called the global financial crisis that began in the United States in 2007 a 'Minsky crisis', and these original contributions demonstrate precisely why both academic economists as well as policymakers have turned to Minsky for guidance. The book brings together the foremost Minsky scholars to provide a comprehensive overview of his approach, with extensions to bring the analysis up to date.


Many studies have attributed plagiarism to the temptations of the Internet, teachers� reluctance to enforce the rules, belonging to a culture where academic plagiarism is condoned, or non-native speakership. In this paper, it is first argued that none of these can be considered direct causes of plagiarism, and other studies are cited that support this position. It is further argued that non-native student plagiarism is caused by ignorance of the rules and/or authorial problems. Further support for this claim is provided by an empirical study involving inappropriate use of source texts by eight non-native speaker graduate students. This study confirms the findings in Pecorari (2003, 2006) where it is claimed that plagiarizing non-native speakers have personal, idiosyncratic views of plagiarism that demonstrate their ignorance of the generally accepted rules. This study also confirms the findings in Abasi et al. (2006) where it is claimed that authorial problems are a root cause of plagiarism by ESL students. Finally, it is investigated what the relationship is between ignorance of the rules of plagiarism and authorial problems.


Recent discussions of whether gifts to section 501(c)(4) organizations that engage in candidate-related activity are subject to the federal gift tax have failed to make clear an important distinction. This important distinction is whether the contributor is making the gift to the organization as a whole or making the gift for its candidate-related activities and, in particular, for its candidate-related advertisements. The distinction can matter not only for gift tax liability, but also for disclosure obligations under campaign finance laws. Contributors of large sums close to an election are caught between the proverbially rock and hard place: the more that they position themselves to avoid gift tax liability, the more likely that they may become obliged to disclose their contributions under the campaign finance laws, and vice versa. As this short piece explains, if donors take the position that their gifts are for particular candidate-related activities rather than to the organization in support of its activities generally, they have a good argument that the gift tax does not apply, but a weaker argument for avoiding disclosure obligations under campaign finance laws. It is possible to have the best of both worlds, however, and a determination from the FEC this past spring makes it clear how best to achieve that outcome even for contributions used for mass media advertising close to an election.


The pharmaceutical industry is important because it is a major source of medical innovation. The U.S. research-based industry invests about 17 percent of sales in R and D, and R and D drives performance of individual firms and industry structure. It is also a heavily regulated industry. Drugs are evaluated for safety, efficacy, and manufacturing quality as a condition of market access, and promotional messages must adhere to approved product characteristics. Drug prices also are regulated in most countries with national health insurance systems. My research on the pharmaceutical industry has examined issues related to R and D performance and industry structure, and the effects of regulation on prices, availability, and utilization of drugs, and on productivity. R and D, Firm, and Industry Structure Regulation of market access and promotion derives from uncertainty about drug safety and efficacy. These product characteristics can only be determined from accumulated experience over large numbers of patients in carefully designed trials or observational studies. The design, monitoring, and evaluation of these studies are public goods that in theory can be efficiently produced by an expert regulatory agency. (1) The 1962 Amendments to the FDA Act extended the powers of the FDA to review safety, efficacy, manufacturing quality, and promotion. Subsequent studies concluded that the safety and efficacy requirements added to the intrinsically high cost of R and D, led to launch delay of new drugs and favored large over small firms. However, more recently the biotechnology revolution has transformed the nature of drug discovery and the structure of the industry. Increasingly, new drugs originate in small firms, which often out-license their products to more experienced firms for later-stage drug development, regulatory review, and commercialization. In any year the biotechnology industry may comprise a couple of thousand firms, but the identity of these firms changes, as new start-ups are formed and established firms grow, merge, or are acquired by other established companies. Although larger firms have grown in market share, because of mergers, their performance has lagged that of smaller firms, on whom the large firms increasingly rely for new products. In a series of papers, I and my coauthors have examined the effects on R and D productivity of firm experience and alliance relationships; the nature of the market for alliances between small and large firms; and the effects of mergers and acquisitions. In a study of the determinants of drug success in clinical trials, (2) we find that returns to a firm's overall experience (number of drugs developed across all therapeutic categories) are small for the relatively simply phase 1 trials, but significantly positive (with diminishing returns) for the larger and more complex phase 2 and phase 3 trials that focus on efficacy and remote risks. We find some evidence that focused experience is more valuable than broad experience ("diseconomies of scope across therapeutic classes"). Products developed in an alliance have a higher probability of success in the more complex late stage trials, particularly if the licensee is a large firm. Thus although larger firms enjoy economies of scale in experience for the complex trials, smaller firms can tap into this expertise through licensing agreements. Product development deals thus define the sharing of responsibilities and rewards between large and small firms. q-he small firm typically gets cash and/or equity up front, plus contingent milestone and royalties payments, and may choose to participate in late-stage development and co-marketing, in order to gain experience. In return, the large firm obtains rights to develop and market the new product, retaining the majority of product revenues, with specifics depending on the stage of the deal. The efficiency of the market for deals is important because it allocates rents between the smaller and originator firm, as opposed to the larger developer/marketer, and hence influences incentives. …


ABSTRACT Bilingual education has become popular in many countries in the last two decades. It is generally acknowledged that learning a second language (L2) through subject content has a positive impact on students' L2 learning, but there is less agreement on whether this also applies to learning subject content knowledge in and through L2. This cross-sectional study compared Dutch pre-university mainstream and bilingual education students in grades 7 and 9 on a history knowledge test, taking into consideration the language of instruction and testing. Students were also tested on their motivation to learn and affinity with history, because of the alleged higher motivation bilingual education students bring to the classroom. Multilevel analyses showed that bilingual education students in grade 7 lagged behind in the English part of the test but performed at the same level in the Dutch part. 9th bilingual education graders on the other hand performed significantly better on the knowledge test than 9th mainstream graders in both L2 and L1, thus providing evidence for the non-detrimental effect of bilingual education on the acquisition of subject content knowledge.


The aim of this ongoing study is to identify and analyze former pupils relationship to the labor market after the graduation from the Swedish upper secondary school for pupils with intellectual disabilities. The study includes 10,517 former pupils who graduated between 2001-2010 and describes the former pupils relation to the labor market as it was in 2010. The study is based on the cross classification of a newly created register combined with two Swedish national registers from Statistics Sweden and the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare. One of the preliminary results from this study is that the assumption, presented in media as well as in previous research that the majority of the current pupils are going directly from school to the municipal or private organized daily activities do not seem to match reality. Our results indicate that 48% of the total population were in daily activities in 2010 and 20% of the total population were defined as "in paid work" during the same year and the actual picture of what the former pupils do after they have graduated from upper secondary school for pupils with intellectual disabilities is much more complex than the assumed. Analyses on the current data that are carried out at the moment will be presented at the NNDR-conference.


Distributed databases, which rely on redundant and distributed storage across multiple servers, are able to provide mission-critical data management services at large scale. Parallelism is the key to the scalability of distributed databases, but concurrent queries having conflicts may block or abort each other when strong consistency is enforced using rigorous concurrency control protocols. This thesis studies the techniques of building scalable distributed databases under strong consistency guarantees even in the face of high contention workloads. The techniques proposed in this thesis share a common idea, conflict mitigation, meaning mitigating conflicts by rescheduling operations in the concurrency control in the first place instead of resolving contending conflicts. Using this idea, concurrent queries under conflicts can be executed with high parallelism. This thesis explores this idea on both databases that support serializable ACID (atomic, consistency, isolation, durability) transactions, and eventually consistent NoSQL systems. First, the epoch-based concurrency control (ECC) technique is proposed in ALOHA-KV, a new distributed key-value store that supports high performance read-only and writeonly distributed transactions. ECC demonstrates that concurrent serializable distributed transactions can be processed in parallel with low overhead even under high contention. With ECC, a new atomic commitment protocol is developed that only requires amortized one round trip for a distributed write-only transaction to commit in the absence of failures. Second, a novel paradigm of serializable distributed transaction processing is developed to extend ECC with read-write transaction processing support. This paradigm uses a newly proposed database operator, functors, which is a placeholder for the value of a key, which can be computed asynchronously in parallel with other functor computations of the same or other transactions. Functor-enabled ECC achieves more fine-grained concurrency control than transaction level concurrency control, and it never aborts transactions due to read-write or write-write conflicts but allows transactions to fail due to logic errors or constraint violations while guaranteeing serializability. Lastly, this thesis explores consistency in the eventually consistent system, Apache Cassandra, for an investigation of the consistency violation, referred to as "consistency spikes". This investigation shows that the consistency spikes exhibited by Cassandra are strongly correlated with garbage collection, particularly the "stop-the-world" phase in the Java virtual machine. Thus, delaying read operations artificially at servers immediately after a garbage collection pause can virtually eliminate these spikes. All together, these techniques allow distributed databases to provide scalable and consistent storage service.


The proliferation of plastics in consumer products results in the release of countless tons of plastic waste into the environment. Because of their chemical composition, plastics take hundreds of years to decompose. The world today is overrun by plastic waste that occupies landfills, makes its way into rivers and oceans, and overwhelms several ecosystems. Current methods of handling the waste namely recycling, landfills and incineration, are inadequate, ineffective or harmful. In recent years, scientists have discovered that certain bacteria can degrade and assimilate polyethylene. Microbes have been shown to have the ability to "eat" petroleum-based products like natural gas and light sweet crude oil from oil spills. The ability of bacteria to decompose certain types of plastic makes them a potential bioremediation option. Current research indicates that the bacterium Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) is proficient at degrading polyethylene utilizing a biosurfactant called surfactin. Studies show that the bacterium is versatile and can thrive in various environments, while surfactin can withstand high concentrations of salinity. The aim of this study is to test the ability of B. subtilis to degrade high-density and low-density polyethylene in aquatic environments. Rates of degradation were studied and compared across fresh water, brackish water, and ocean water samples. Degradation occurred across all samples, although it was the highest in fresh water and lowest in ocean water. This study supports the hypothesis that B. subtilis can potentially be used to help degrade plastic in aquatic environments.


For the purposes of space flight, reconnaissance field geologists have trained to become astronauts. However, the initial forays to Mars and other planetary bodies have been done by purely robotic craft. Therefore, training and equipping a robotic craft with the sensory and cognitive capabilities of a field geologist to form a science craft is a necessary prerequisite. Numerous steps are necessary in order for a science craft to be able to map, analyze, and characterize a geologic field site, as well as effectively formulate working hypotheses. We report on the continued development of the integrated software system AGFA: automated global feature analyzerreg, originated by Fink at Caltech and his collaborators in 2001. AGFA is an automatic and feature-driven target characterization system that operates in an imaged operational area, such as a geologic field site on a remote planetary surface. AGFA performs automated target identification and detection through segmentation, providing for feature extraction, classification, and prioritization within mapped or imaged operational areas at different length scales and resolutions, depending on the vantage point (e.g., spaceborne, airborne, or ground). AGFA extracts features such as target size, color, albedo, vesicularity, and angularity. Based on the extracted features, AGFA summarizes the mapped operational area numerically and flags targets of "interest", i.e., targets that exhibit sufficient anomaly within the feature space. AGFA enables automated science analysis aboard robotic spacecraft, and, embedded in tier-scalable reconnaissance mission architectures, is a driver of future intelligent and autonomous robotic planetary exploration.


Teacher-student relationships are vital for academic and social development of students, for teachers' professional and personal development, and for having a supportive learning environment. In the digital age, these relationships can extend beyond bricks and mortar and beyond school hours. Specifically, these relationships are extended today while teachers and students communicate via social networking sites (SNS). This paper characterizes differences between teachers (N=160) and students (N=587) who are willing to connect with their students/teachers via Facebook and those who do not wish to connect. The quantitative research reported here within is based on data collection of personal characteristics, attitudes towards Facebook, and perceptions of teacher-student relationship. Findings suggest differences in characteristics of the two groups (willing to connect vs. not willing to connect) within both populations (teachers and students). Also, in both populations, those who were willing to connect, compared to those who were not willing to connect, present more positive attitudes towards using Facebook for teaching/learning and are more opposed to a banning policy of student-teacher SNS-based communication. We also found that students who were willing to connect showed a greater degree of closeness with their teachers compared to those who were not willing to connect. This study may assist policymakers when setting up regulations regarding teacher-student communication via social networking sites.


Motivated by the intellectual historian Shahab Ahmed's observation that "the history of Islamic paideia has yet to be written," Islam as Education explores multiple forms that the search for knowledge and the transmission of wisdom have taken in Islam, focusing on the classical period (800–1500 CE). Ghiloni draws on a wide range of Islamic primary source material, ranging from sacred texts and parables to neglected pedagogical literature and paintings. He depicts three Islamic religious practices—pilgrimage, prophecy, and jihad—as modes of pedagogy: embodied ways of defining, defusing, and defending sacred knowledge.

Islam as Education's educational heuristic not only aids in understanding Islam, but also provides guidance for intercultural and interreligious relations. Ghiloni argues that Islam's grand ʿilm (knowledge) tradition serves as a bridge between Muslims and non-Muslims, and compares it with the educational theory of John Dewey, the celebrated American pragmatist. Based on this discussion, a final chapter develops practical tools for learning from cultural and religious difference.


Varying domains and biased datasets can lead to differences between the training and the target distributions, known as covariate shift. Current approaches for alleviating this often rely on estimating the ratio of training and target probability density functions. These techniques require parameter tuning and can be unstable across different datasets. We present a new method for handling covariate shift using the empirical cumulative distribution function estimates of the target distribution by a rigorous generalization of a recent idea proposed by Vapnik and Izmailov. Further, we show experimentally that our method is more robust in its predictions, is not reliant on parameter tuning and shows similar classification performance compared to the current state-of-the-art techniques on synthetic and real datasets.


Inherited genetic variations in the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) responsible for human red hair color (RHC-variants) are associated with impaired DNA damage repair and increased melanoma risk. MC1R signaling is critically dependent on palmitoylation, primarily mediated by the protein acyltransferase ZDHHC13. A better understanding of how ZDHHC13 is physiologically activated could help identify approaches to prevent melanomagenesis in red-heads. Here we report that AMPK phosphorylates ZDHHC13 at S208 to strengthen the interaction between ZDHHC13 and MC1R-RHC, leading to enhanced MC1R palmitoylation in red-heads. Consequently, phosphorylation of ZDHHC13 by AMPK increased MC1R-RHC downstream signaling. AMPK activation and MC1R palmitoylation repressed UVB-induced transformation of human melanocytes in vitro and delayed melanomagenesis in vivo in C57BL/6J-MC1R-RHC mice. The importance of AMPK to MC1R signaling was validated in human melanomas where AMPK upregulation correlated with expression of factors downstream from MC1R signaling and with prolonged patient survival. These findings suggest AMPK activation as a promising strategy to reduce melanoma risk, especially for individuals with red hair.


Abstract The present work focuses on an ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants in the Belezma National Park (BNP), which is located in Batna city. It was conducted to precise on the medicinal plants in the park and gathers all the information on the therapeutic practice used by the local inhabitants of the study area. Using 300 questionnaire cards, ethnobotanical surveys of BNP were conducted during two campaigns (2017 and 2018). The obtained results allowed us to identify 50 medicinal plants used by the population of the region, which are divided into 27 families and 46genus. The obtained results show both leaves and stems are mostly used for diseases' treatment in the form of a decoction with a rate of 42.34%. For the treated diseases, the digestive disorders occupy the first place with a rate of 34.01%, followed by uro-genital diseases with a rate of 17.56%, 11.20% for respiratory diseases, 11.84% for orthopedic diseases and 6.23% for cardiovascular. The founded results could be a database for research on phytochemistry and pharmacology for the national medicinal flora and the population of the BNP region. Also, they constitute a very valuable source of information.


A number of feasible alternative Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMSs) configurations are available when a manufacturer seeks for it. However, determining the best configuration from the feasible ones is a critical issue because the improper selection of the FMSs may adversely affect profitability. To effectively select an FMS, several factors have to be considered. The Multicriteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach is often used to solve various decision making and/or selection problems. This approach often requires the decision makers to provide qualitative and/or quantitative assessments to determine the performance of each alternative with respect to each criterion and the relative importance of evaluation criteria with respect to the overall objective. In the past, the contexts of research covered the spectrum of managerial issues from focusing on cost management system to the application of advanced mathematical models to understand the FMS and its characteristics. The conventional methods of FMS selection are inadequate in dealing with the vague nature of linguistic assessment. To overcome this difficulty, a fuzzy MCDM approach based on area method is being proposed to systematically evaluate alternative FMSs by considering both subjective and objective criteria. A numerical example is used to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed approach.


The recent inability of states to obtain drugs for use in executions has led to de facto moratoria in a number of states, as well as gruesomely botched executions in states that have resorted to dangerous and unreliable means to obtain these drugs. The refusal of some pharmaceutical companies to provide drugs to U.S. prisons has significantly impeded the imposition of the death penalty in a number of states. Despite this, it is the anti-death penalty activists who tend to draw the attention of the media, state officials, and politicians charged with carrying out executions. The media focuses particular attention on advocates in Europe who have campaigned to pressure European drug companies to stop distribution of their products to U.S. prisons for use in executions. This paper challenges that narrative and posits instead that it is the drug companies that have long sought to avoid the use of their products in executions, for moral and financial reasons, as well as to comply with European law. When we look back on the fourth decade of the modern era of capital punishment in the United States, we may consider it the decade that marked the beginning of the end. If so, it will not be the result of a handful of activists successfully thwarting the administration of capital punishment. Rather, it will be the consequence of U.S. states imposing the death penalty in the context of a modern world that generally abhors the practice, using a method of execution that is very much dependent on major players in that world.


The structure of low-latitude continuous pulsations termed Pc3, which are naturally occurring MHD waves in the Earth's magnetosphere, were studied by comparing ground and satellite magnetic field measurements. Data from two induction magnetometers, located at Hermanus and Sutherland in South Africa were used in conjunction with Challenging Minisatellite Payload (CHAMP) satellite observations to study a Pc3 event observed on 15 February 2003, at a time when CHAMP was passing over the ground stations. We observed a number of discrete frequency oscillations for the fast mode wave, one of which drives a field line resonance (FLR) at characteristic latitude as detected by both ground and satellite measurements. Consequently, our observations confirmed the compressional wave as being the driver of the field line resonance. The toroidal mode frequency observed on CHAMP experienced a Doppler frequency shift due to the rapid motion across the resonance region. Polarization hodograms in the resonance region clearly showed the expected 90° rotation of the field line resonant magnetic field components.


This memo updates RFC 4733 to add event codes for modem, fax, and text
telephony signals when carried in the telephony event RTP payload. It
supersedes the assignment of event codes for this purpose in RFC 2833,
and therefore obsoletes that part of RFC 2833. [STANDARDS-TRACK]


Bioactive signals can be incorporated in hydrogels to direct encapsulated cell behavior. Design of experiments methodology methodically varies the signals systematically to determine the individual and combinatorial effects of each factor on cell activity. Using this approach enables the optimization of three ligands concentrations (RGD, YIGSR, IKVAV) for the survival and differentiation of neural progenitor cells.


Abstract Introduction: Scalp plays an important role in individual's identity because of the hair at the same time it is prone for injury as it is exposed. Restoring a hairy scalp is a challenge. Rotation flaps are local option for medium defects reconstruction. However larger defects will need transposition flaps which leave big donor site defects. We modified the traditional method of rotation flap to cover large defects with either minimal or no donor site defect. Materials and methods: 10 cases of scalp defects were operated with modification of rotation flaps. Results: All flaps healed well. Donor site defect was completely closed or covered with minimal skin graft. Conclusion: Minor changes in planning of rotation flap helped to cover large defects with less or no donor site defect.


Advance health care directives and informed consent remain the cornerstones of patients' right to self-determination regarding medical care and preferences at the end-of-life. However, the effectiveness and clinical applicability of advance health care directives to decision-making on the use of life support systems at the end-of-life is questionable. The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) has been revised in 2006 to permit the use of life support systems at or near death for the purpose of maximizing procurement opportunities of organs medically suitable for transplantation. Some states have enacted the Revised UAGA (2006) and a few of those have included amendments while attempting to preserve the uniformity of the revised Act. Other states have introduced the Revised UAGA (2006) for legislation and remaining states are likely to follow soon. The Revised UAGA (2006) poses challenges to the Patient Self Determination Act (PSDA) embodied in advance health care directives and individual expression about the use of life support systems at the end-of-life. The challenges are predicated on the UAGA revising the default choice to presumption of donation intent and the use of life support systems to ensure medical suitability of organs for transplantation. The default choice trumps the expressed intent in an individual's advance health care directive to withhold and/or withdraw life support systems at the end-of-life. The Revised UAGA (2006) overrides advance directives on utilitarian grounds, which is a serious ethical challenge to society. The subtle progression of the Revised UAGA (2006) towards the presumption about how to dispose of one's organs at death can pave the way for an affirmative "duty to donate". There are at least two steps required to resolve these challenges. First, physicians and hospitals must fulfill their responsibilities to educate patients on the new legislations and document their preferences about the use of life support systems for organ donation at the end-of-life. Second, a broad based societal discussion must be initiated to decide if the Revised UAGA (2006) infringes on the PSDA and the individual's right of autonomy. The discussion should also address other ethical concerns raised by the Revised UAGA (2006), including the moral stance on 1) the interpretation of the refusal of life support systems as not applicable to organ donation and 2) the disregarding of the diversity of cultural beliefs about end-of-life in a pluralistic society. which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


E.C.G is the most widely used test for both the diagnosing and estimating the prognosis of CAD. ST segment and T wave changes are most commonly evaluated parameters of E.C.G. Atorvastatin have found to decrease ischemic events apart from its hypolipidemic effect. The main objective of this open prospective randomized, controlled study was to evaluate the effect of addition of atorvastatin to conventional antianginal treatment on ST segment and T wave changes on E.C.G. The study was conducted for duration of 2 months in 30 patients of CAD (15 in each group). Group A was started on conventional antianginal treatment and group B was started on Atorvastatin 20 mg once a day at night in addition to conventional treatment. The ECG changes were recorded after 15, 30, 45 and 60 days using 12 lead E.C.G. At the end of the study, no significant difference was found in E.C.G changes between the group A and group B. A slight improvement in ST segment changes in group B patients was observed but the effect was statistically not significant. So, addition of atorvastatin to conventional antianginal treatment did not have a significant effect on reversal of ischemic changes on ECG in patients of CAD.


This report analyzes recent proposals suggesting that the government buy up or guarantee bad mortgage debt in an attempt to slow the increasing number of foreclosures the nation has seen in the wake of the housing market's meltdown. The study, which focuses on the plan put forth by the Office of Thrift Supervision, shows that banks and mortgage holders end up being the true beneficiaries of such plans at the expense of taxpayers and with few gains for the majority of homeowners currently facing foreclosure.


Background: Studies in humans as well as in animal models suggest that interleukin-18 (IL-18) plays a crucial role in vascular pathologies. IL-18 is a strong predictor of cardiovascular death in angina and is involved in atherotic plaque destabilization. Higher IL-18 plasma levels are also associated with restenosis after coronary artery angioplasty performed in patients with acute myocardial infarction. We investigated the effective role of IL-18 in neointima formation in a rat model of vascular injury, known as balloon angioplasty.
Methods and Results: Endothelial denudation of the left carotid artery was performed by using a balloon embolectomy catheter. Increased expression of IL-18 and IL-18Rα/β mRNA was detectable in carotid arteries from day 2 to 14 after angioplasty. The active form of IL-18 was highly expressed in injured arteries. Strong immunoreactivity for IL-18 was detected in the medial smooth muscle cells at day 2 and 7 after balloon injury and in proliferating/migrating smooth muscle cells in neointima at day 14. Moreover, serum concentrations of IL-18 were significantly higher among rats subjected to vascular injury. Rats treatment with neutralizing rabbit anti-rat IL-18 IgG significantly reduced by 27% (P<0.01) neointima formation. In addition, IL-18 neutralization reduced number of proliferating cells, inhibited IFN-γ, IL-6, IL-8 mRNA expression and nuclear factor-κB activation in injured arteries.
Conclusions: These results identify for the first time a critical role for IL-18 in neointima formation in a rat model of vascular injury and suggest a potential role for IL-18 neutralization in reduction of neointima development and progression.


The Lubanga decision, despite procedural missteps further anchors the prohibition of child soldiers and child auxiliaries under international law. Feminist criticisms of Lubanga misapprehend the potential of Lubanga to attain the types of legal victories feminists strive for. While one can criticize Lubanga as a matter of procedure, Lubanga methodically strengthens the prohibition of child soldiery. The prohibition of child soldiers, like the prohibition of wartime rape, forced prostitution, and child sex-tourism are or are becoming jus cogens norms. Lubanga contributes to this coherence of jus cogens and sets the stage for extension of its logic into other wrongs committed to children.


Soil moisture is widely recognized as a state variable governing the mass and energy balance between the land surface and the atmosphere. For that, its knowledge is of upmost importance for many applications including flood and landslide prediction. In alpine catchments, soil moisture estimation is a very difficult task, because of complex topography, high vegetation density, and presence of snow and outcrops. In this study, the possibility to estimate soil moisture for these areas by using modeled and satellite data is investigated. Specifically, an updated version of a soil water balance model, which takes the snowmelt process into account, is employed. Moreover, satellite‐derived soil moisture observations obtained by the Advanced SCATterometer (ASCAT) sensor onboard the MetOp satellite are tested by considering two products: the Surface Soil Moisture (SSM) and the Soil Water Index (SWI). The latter is obtained through the application of an exponential filter and it is aimed to reduce the differences in the layer depth of in situ measurements (10 cm) and satellite data (∼2–3 cm). Quality‐checked in situ soil moisture measurements collected at four continuous monitoring sites in Valle d'Aosta (North Italy) are used to test the accuracy of modeled and satellite estimates. Notwithstanding the above issues, results indicated the potential not only of modeling approaches but also, unexpectedly, of satellite data to retrieve soil moisture in high elevation regions (>1000 m a.s.l.). Indeed, by estimating correctly the snowmelt contribution, the agreement between modeled and observed data is quite good, with correlation coefficient values, r, in the range 0.795–0.940. In addition, the ASCAT‐derived SWI product provides satisfactorily results with r = 0.635–0.869. Based on these findings, in situ, modeled, and satellite soil moisture data will be used for improving flood and landslide risk prediction at the Valle d'Aosta Functional center to improve the Civil Protection Alert System.


In this paper possible improvements in the performance of adaptive Linear Equalizer (LE) and Decision Feed Back Equalizer (DFE) are reported. A modified Least Mean Square (LMS) algorithm incorporating a recursively adjusted adaptation step size based on rough estimate of the performance surface gradient square is proposed. The first proposed algorithm was called Adjusted Step Size LMS (ASSLMS) which used single adjusted step size for all weight coefficients. The second proposed algorithm was called Distributed Step Size LMS algorithm (DSSLMS). This algorithm (i.e. DSSLMS) will distribute the resultant variable step size in an exponential form among all weights of the adaptive filter such that each weight coefficient has its own step size. These proposed algorithms through computer simulation results shows favorable performance than traditional LMS algorithm and another Variable Step Size LMS (called VSSLMS) algorithm in terms of fast convergence time, less miss-adjustment in steady state, and good tracking ability.


Early detection of reading problems is important to prevent an enduring lag in reading skills. We studied the relationship between speed of word recognition (after six months of grade 1 education) and four kindergarten pre-literacy skills: letter knowledge, phonological awareness and naming speed for both digits and letters. Our sample consisted of 178 pupils divided over seven classes. In agreement with the literature, we found that all four kindergarten tests were related to speed of word recognition in grade 1. We also performed a multiple regression analysis with a set of background variables and the four kindergarten tests. The model explained 53% of the variance in speed of word recognition. However, only letter knowledge and naming speed for digits had a significant direct effect. Our conclusion is, nevertheless, that all four kindergarten tests should be used to identify children at risk for reading problems.


The random waypoint model is a commonly used mobility model in the simulation of ad hoc networks. It is known that the spatial distribution of network nodes moving according to this model is, in general, nonuniform. However, a closed-form expression of this distribution and an in-depth investigation is still missing. This fact impairs the accuracy of the current simulation methodology of ad hoc networks and makes it impossible to relate simulation-based performance results to corresponding analytical results. To overcome these problems, we present a detailed analytical study of the spatial node distribution generated by random waypoint mobility. More specifically, we consider a generalization of the model in which the pause time of the mobile nodes is chosen arbitrarily in each waypoint and a fraction of nodes may remain static for the entire simulation time. We show that the structure of the resulting distribution is the weighted sum of three independent components: the static, pause, and mobility component. This division enables us to understand how the model's parameters influence the distribution. We derive an exact equation of the asymptotically stationary distribution for movement on a line segment and an accurate approximation for a square area. The good quality of this approximation is validated through simulations using various settings of the mobility parameters. In summary, this article gives a fundamental understanding of the behavior of the random waypoint model.


The p73 gene located at 1p36.3 encodes for a protein with significant similarity to p53. To investigate the penetrance of p73 in gastric carcinogenesis, we analyzed the expression, allelotype, and mutation of p73 in five cell lines and 75 tissues. Although extremely low levels of p73 expression were observed in all noncancerous gastric tissues and four of five cell lines, a significant elevation of p73 was detected in 37 of 39 (94.9%) carcinoma tissues. Furthermore, a tumor-specific increase of p73 was identified in 14 of 16 (87.5%) matched sets. Allelotyping analysis using a StyI or BanI polymorphism revealed that 5 of 21 (23.8%) informative carcinomas, but none of 19 noncancerous cases, express p73 biallelically, suggesting the transcriptional activation of a silent allele in a subset of cancers. Whereas the transcription of an active allele was markedly induced by serum starvation or clump formation of the cells, treatment with 5-aza-2'deoxycytidine activated a silent allele with a subsequent up-regulation of an active allele, supporting the genomic imprinting and autoregulation of the gene. Allelic deletion or mutation of the gene was not found, and no association of p73 expression with the mutational status of p53 or expression of p21Waf1 was recognized. Taken together, this study argues that p73 is not a target of genetic alteration in gastric carcinogenesis and suggests that overexpression of p73 might be triggered by physiological stresses accompanied with outgrowth of tumors, such as hypoxia or nutrient deprivation.


Split-pit in peach fruit is a problematic disorder. Split-pit fruit cannot be detected based on external appearance, and contamination of fruit by split-pit reduces its reliability in the marketplace. Here, we demonstrate that split-pit fruit can be identified by a nondestructive acoustic vibration method and a unique approach based on the ratio of the third (f3) to the second (f2) resonant frequency. The response-resonant frequency spectra showed that the peaks of f2 frequencies in split-pit fruit were shifted to much lower values than those in normal fruit, whereas those of f3 frequencies showed only small shifts. The calculated f3/f2 ratios in most normal fruit were in the range of 1.35–1.4, whereas those in split-pit fruit were 1.45–2.0. Analysis of more than 300 fruit samples revealed that by setting the f3/f2 cut-off value at >1.45, 95% of split-pit fruit in the fruit samples were detected, whereas only 1.5% of normal fruit were missorted as split-pit fruit. A model for simulating the vibration properties of peach fruit was developed by using the finite element method. The simulated vibration patterns showed that f3/f2 values were increased by the insertion of split pit, indicating that, at least partially, the observed high f3/f2 values in split-pit fruit directly reflected split-pit occurrence. These results clearly demonstrate that the use of f3/f2 ratios obtained using an acoustic vibration method can effectively detect fruit with split-pit. The possibility of installing acoustic vibration devices in peach sorting lines and the application of portable devices to unpicked fruit on the tree are discussed.


Chromatography is increasingly being used for large-scale preparative separation of precious biological components such as recombinant proteins and DNA. Several kinds of mathematical models are used to describe the liquid chromatography process. The aim of this work is investigations of existing empirical models and their numerical simulation in order to approximate experimental results in the domain of Ion-Exchange Chromatography separation. The experimental data have been interpreted according to equations derived from a theoretical model, or alternatively fitted to an empirical relation. The drawback of an empirical model, which has been found to suit a particular system, is that it is likely that the found empirical coefficients vary with the experimental conditions. However, it is important to recognize that an agreement between experiments and theory does not imply, that the theory is correct. In order for the theory to be acceptable, it must be consistent with the general physical knowledge. For this purpose two principal column morphologies were compared for the separation of Cytochrome C and α-Chymotrypsynogen two proteins found in the bovine Heart and bovine Pancreas, respectively. The columns of interest were a column packed with porous particles and a monolith column. Both are strong cation exchangers. Polydiallyl-dimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC), a linear cationic polyelectrolyte was investigated in the purpose of further displacement separation. Different adsorption equilibrium model have been investigated. The Langmuir adsorption equilibrium model was validated for the two cation-exchange columns as well as for the proteins and displacer molecules. A Langmuir model was found to fit well the adsorption protein data on ion-exchangers, but only under fixed elution buffer conditions (the buffer concentration, pH). The model is unable to describe the dependence on salt concentration in the elution buffer. During the displacement separation a high concentration of counter-ions is observed. This induced salt gradient can produce dramatic changes in the behavior of ion-exchange displacement. The Langmuir formalism cannot be explicitly accounted. Other equilibrium adsorption model of the interest was the Steric Mass Action (SMA) model. The SMA formalism is a three-parameter model of ion exchange designed specifically for representation of multicomponent protein-salt equilibrium in ion exchange chromatography. The model has been applied primary to simulate non-linear displacement chromatography of proteins using low molar mass displacers. The values of the SMA parameters were found to be independent of mobile phase compositions. The parameters were determined for two proteins and displacer. Experimental isotherms for the polyelectrolyte and proteins were compared with those simulated by the SMA model. Displacement chromatography, a very delicate mode of separation, was also applied to the particle-based and monolith column. Various separation conditions have been investigated.


In recent years we have demonstrated the ability to analyze Rayleigh scatter in single- and multi-mode fused silica fibers to deduce strain and temperature shifts, yielding sensitivity and resolution similar to that obtained using Fiber Bragg Gratings. This technique employs scanning laser interferometry to obtain high spatial resolution Rayleigh scatter spectral information. One of the promising aspects of using Rayleigh scatter for distributed sensing is that the technique should work for any fiber that exhibits discernable Rayleigh scatter. We now demonstrate that distributed sensing with mm-range spatial resolution in off-the-shelf plastic multi-mode optical fiber is feasible. We report temperature and strain sensitivity, and comment on measurement range and hysteresis level. Distributed Rayleigh scatter sensing in plastic optical fiber may offer a valuable alternative to sensing in fused silica fibers because of plastic's low cost and differing mechanical and chemical properties.


Taking educated Ghanaian English (GhE) as an example, this article considers the place of stylistic and sociolinguistic variation in Schneider's (2003, 2007) Dynamic Model of the evolution of New Englishes. The study examines variation in one phonological and one morphosyntactic variable, investigating t-affrication with regard to variation across the two genders and two speech styles in spoken GhE, and analysing relativizer choice in written texts of differing formality. The results demonstrate that GhE shows robust and consistent stylistic and gender-related variation, although it has only reached Phase 3 of Schneider's Dynamic Model. This is noteworthy on a theoretical level since the emergence of local sociolinguistic norms would not have been expected until Phase 5.


In the last decades, efforts to bridge the digital divide have focused on access, i.e. ensuring that everyone is connected to the internet. Inequalities remain though: over half the world population still doesn't have internet access, mostly underprivileged individuals in both developing countries and industrialised countries. The last few years, in particular with the emergence of e-government initiatives, made it clear that accessibility is as important an issue. In France, 39% of adults are worried about having to undertake administrative procedure online. And above 40% of the young people accompanied by local job centers don't have an email address and don't know how to look for a job online, while 80% of the job offers are now published only and 1 in 3 job offers is solely advertised on the internet.

Building citizens' digital skills is therefore a necessity. Otherwise, we will face growing inequalities and further marginalisation of the most vulnerable populations. Aware of these risks, and aiming at empowering the most fragile individuals through access to information and education, Libraries Without Borders (LWB) has launched, in 2014, "The Digital Travelers", a digital literacy and coding program relying on grassroot initiatives. Volunteers citizens and education and information professionals, among which librarians play a key role, are trained to run digital literacy and coding workshops: free and open to everyone, these workshops aim at providing children, adolescents and adults with the skills they need to fully take their place as citizen in an increasingly digital world. Since 2014, the program has scaled at the national level and has reached more than 5.000 individuals. In our presentation, we will highlight the impacts of the program on academic and professional achievement, cognitive development, but also on social inclusion, empowerment and citizenship, advocating for the inclusion of a digital literacy capacity building strategy for all in e-governments initiatives.


This study examines the impact of cost on the performance of small and medium sized manufacturing firms. Two distinct types of firms were examined: those with lower than average costs for their market, and firms with above average costs. The overall drivers in both sets of firms are examined along with the resultant performance. The study sampled cost structures in SMEs in the engineering and electronics industries. The findings show differences in both sets of firms. Firms with lower than average costs have reduced their employee levels over the past three years, which is reflected in their reduced direct labour costs, arguably as a result of increased contracting out of activities. The lower than average costs translate into the ability to offer competitive pricing and increased market share. On the other hand, firms with above average costs in their market have experienced an increase in costs (other than direct and indirect labour) reduced turnover, have more management levels and tend to focus on specific markets.


This paper examines the relationship between reversals of federal district judges and the votes of the ABA Standing Committee in rating the judges at nomination. The primary sample comprises 94,665 appellate dispositions of 533 judges appointed by Presidents George H.W. Bush, Clinton and George W. Bush. Estimation techniques include hierarchical linear models with random effects, as well as models without random effects. It is hypothesized lack of unanimity within the ABA committee is in part caused by the candidate being perceived as having an ideological bent and such a nominee, if confirmed, is more likely to be reversed. Nominees are, or the nomination process is, qualitatively different following the presidency of George H.W. Bush. Lack of unanimity is much more common in the later period. The relationship between lack of unanimity in the ABA committee voting and likelihood of reversal has changed over time. It has increased for judges appointed starting with President Clinton, primarily in appellate dispositions presenting non-procedural issues. Similar results, albeit with smaller t-statistics, are found estimating the likelihood of a Shepard's warning signal within a sample of 131,931 district court opinions. Potential censoring arising from the ability not to issue a written decision captured in Lexis may account for the decreased significance. Relative to judges rated Qualified, for judges appointed following George H.W. Bush's presidency, there is some evidence of a negative relationship between reversals and judges rated Well Qualified, which appears generally to be confined to appeals involving matters of procedure (as opposed to non-procedural legal doctrine). Somewhat surprisingly, there is some evidence of a negative relationship between the likelihood of reversal and the judge being rated Not Qualified. However, the commissioning of a judge rated Not Qualified is so rare that conclusions concerning the Not Qualified rating may well be unwarranted.


Prior creativity studies have demonstrated the key role of leadership in fostering employee creativity. However, two significant questions remain incompletely understood. Firstly, leadership researchers (such as Liden, Wayne, Zhao, & Henderson, 2008; Sendjaya, Sarros, & Santora, 2008; van Dierendonck, 2011; Walumbwa, Hartnell, & Oke, 2010) have illustrated the importance of leadership behaviors that have a strong emphasis on societal benefits, such as follower empowerment, ethical or moral values. To date, little research has examined whether such leadership behaviors also enhance employee creativity. The only study that has been conducted to examine that relationship is reported by Neubert, Kacmar, Carlson, Chonko and Roberts (2008). Nevertheless, single-source data as theirs possess risks of common method variance and one-level analysis is inadequate because leadership is hierarchical by its nature. It is therefore important to examine such a relationship using multi-source data and multi-level analysis to understand the process by which leaders generate outcomes not only from the individuals but also from the collective. The second omission is that we know little about whether these behaviors also apply in different indigenous contexts. This in itself has been labeled an urgent priority by influential scholars (e.g., Avolio, Walumbwa, & Weber, 2009; Gardner, Lowe, Moss, Mahoney, & Cogliser, 2010) and academic bodies (e.g., 2011 Academy of Management Annual Meeting Theme). In addition, we know very little about leadership models, such as paternalistic leadership, that are ubiquitous across other cultural value systems, such as the Asia Pacific region, the Middle East and Latin America, let alone their potential in fostering employee creativity. Thus far, a study reported by Wang and Cheng (2010) is the first and only one of its kind. In view of that, there is an equally reasonable argument that paternalistic leadership provides a foundation for creativity; therefore it would be interesting to examine its processes in fostering it. The purpose of these studies is to develop and examine two multi-level relationships between servant and paternalistic leadership and employee creativity in Eastern contexts. The first study examines the process by which servant leaders influence employee creativity and team innovation simultaneously and the conditions under which the effect of such leadership is strongest. The second study examines the positive role of paternalistic leadership in employee creativity and the conditions where its effect is the most positive. Self-concept and team climate research underpin these studies. To test the hypotheses, 154 matched teams, comprised of 154 team leaders and 425 team members from 61 firms in Indonesia and China, were obtained. These studies offer at least three contributions to the literature and to leaders or managers in practice. First, these studies provide notable insights into the leadership practices in Eastern contexts because of their uniqueness: (1) they are cross-national studies involving Indonesia and China as exemplars from these contexts; and (2) they are also controlled for cultural values, such as vertical collectivism, to take into account potential cross-cultural variation in employees' values. Second, by integrating self-concept and team climate research, the processes by which each leadership approach positively influences employee creativity are identified and understood. In addition, the conditions under which each leadership approach influences employee creativity the strongest are also identified. In the case of servant leadership, for example, it is the team climate signposts support for innovation that plays the key role to boost its effect on employee creativity. But for paternalistic leadership, regardless of the conditions of employees' competence, such effects are still positive. These are probably the most significant contributions of these studies to the literature. From leaders' or managers' points of view, these studies show that it is important to develop trusting personal and team relationships between the leader and his or her followers and between the leader and the team he or she leads. When such relationships are stronger, the leader is more likely to channel these to foster employee creativity and team innovation. Finally, in Eastern contexts in particular, leaders or managers need to take into account employees' perceptions of their own competencies. As demonstrated by one of the studies, competent employees perceive paternalistic behaviors as indications of a leader's recognition of their proactive efforts as exemplary and valuable employees. Even though such findings are somewhat conflicting, it is understandable that, in these contexts, obedience to an authoritative figure (specifically, the leader or the manager) is embedded in the participants' cultural values.


Historical knowledge is fundamentally uncertain. A given account of an historical event is typically based on a series of sources and on sequences of interpretation and reasoning based on these sources. Generally, the product of this historical research takes the form of a synthesis, like a narrative or a map, but does not give a precise account of the intellectual process that led to this result. Our project consists of developing a methodology, based on semantic web technologies, to encode historical knowledge, while documenting, in detail, the intellectual sequences linking the historical sources with a given encoding, also know as paradata. More generally, the aim of this methodology is to build systems capable of representing multiple historical realities, as they are used to document the underlying processes in the construction of possible knowledge spaces.


This paper reports the isolation of cDNAs encoding the protein backbone of two arabinogalactan-proteins (AGPs), one from pear cell suspension cultures (AGPPc2) and the other from suspension cultures of Nicotiana alata (AGPNa2). The proteins encoded by these cDNAs are quite different from the 'classical' AGP backbones described previously for AGPs isolated from pear suspension cultures and extracts of N. alata styles. The cDNA for AGPPc2 encodes a 294 amino acid protein, of which a relatively short stretch (35 amino acids) is Hyp/Pro rich; this stretch is flanked by sequences which are dominated by Asn residues. Asn residues are not a feature of the 'classical' AGP backbones in which Hyp/Pro, Ser, Ala and Thr account for most of the amino acids. The cDNA for AGPNa2 encodes a 437 amino acid protein, which contains two distinct domains: one rich in Hyp/Pro, Ser, Ala, Thr and the other rich in Asn, Tyr and Ser. The composition and sequence of the Pro-rich domain resembles that of the 'classical' AGP backbone. The Asn-rich domains of the two cDNAs described have no sequence similarity; in both cases they are predicted to be processed to give a mature backbone with a composition similar to that of the 'classical' AGPs. The study shows that different AGPs can differ in the amino acid sequence in the protein backbone, as well as the composition and sequence of the arabinogalactan side-chains. It also shows that differential expression of genes encoding AGP protein backbones, as well as differential glycosylation, can contribute to the tissue specificity of AGPs.


The purpose of this study was to measure the fluoride content of several brands of commercially available infant formulas obtained from various geographic locations in the United States. Fluoride determinations were accomplished using a modification of the Tares microdiffusion method. Ready-to-feed infant formulas were found to contain significantly more fluoride as a group than either the concentrate or powder types of infant formulas (P < 0.001). No significant differences in fluoride concentrations were found between the concentrate and powder types of infant formulas. Soy-based infant formulas were found to contain more fluoride than the milk-based formulas for all groups tested. These differences were statistically significant for the concentrate and powder types of infant formulas (P < 0.001). It appears that fluoride concentrations in infant formulas now are controlled at lower levels than has been reported in the past.


SUMMARY We investigated how the socio–political and ecological environment are associated with the conservation management strategies for two rare, endemic and almost identical Australian white-tailed black-cockatoos: Baudin's (Calyptorhynchus baudinii) and Carnaby's black-cockatoo (C. latirostris). Substantially less investment and action has occurred for Baudin's black-cockatoo. Interviews with key informants revealed that this disparity has probably arisen because Baudin's black-cockatoo has long been considered a pest to the apple industry, lives primarily in tall forests and has had little research undertaken on its biology and threats. By contrast, Carnaby's black-cockatoo has been the subject of one of the longest running research projects in Australia, is highly visible within the urban environment and does not appear to affect the livelihoods of any strong stakeholder group. We suggest the social context within which recovery efforts occur could be an important determinant in species persistence. We argue that social research is fundamental to a better understanding of the nature of efforts to conserve particular species, the factors associated with these efforts and their likelihood of success.


Expression of the cyanobacterial DEAD-box RNA helicase, crhR, is regulated in response to conditions, which elicit reduction of the photosynthetic electron transport chain. A combination of electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA), DNA affinity chromatography and mass spectrometry identified that a LexA-related protein binds specifically to the crhR gene. Transcript analysis indicates that lexA and crhR are divergently expressed, with lexA and crhR transcripts accumulating differentially under conditions, which respectively oxidize and reduce the electron transport chain. In addition, expression of the Synechocystis lexA gene is not DNA damage inducible and its amino acid sequence lacks two of three residues required for activity of prototypical LexA proteins, which repress expression of DNA repair genes in a range of prokaryotes. A direct effect of recombinant LexA protein on crhR expression was confirmed from the observation that LexA reduces crhR expression in a linear manner in an in vitro transcription/translation assay. The results indicate that the Synechocystis LexA-related protein functions as a regulator of redox-responsive crhR gene expression, and not DNA damage repair genes.


This paper deals with automatic systems for image recipe recognition. For this purpose, we compare and evaluate leading vision-based and text-based technologies on a new very large multimodal dataset (UPMC Food-101) containing about 100,000 recipes for a total of 101 food categories. Each item in this dataset is represented by one image plus textual information. We present deep experiments of recipe recognition on our dataset using visual, textual information and fusion. Additionally, we present experiments with text-based embedding technology to represent any food word in a semantical continuous space. We also compare our dataset features with a twin dataset provided by ETHZ university: we revisit their data collection protocols and carry out transfer learning schemes to highlight similarities and differences between both datasets. Finally, we propose a real application for daily users to identify recipes. This application is a web search engine that allows any mobile device to send a query image and retrieve the most relevant recipes in our dataset.


Soil biodiversity through its delivery of ecosystem functions and attendant supporting ecosystem services-benefits soil organisms generate for farmers-underpins agricultural production. Yet lack of practical methods to value the long-term effects of current farming practices results, inevitably, in short-sighted management decisions. We present a method for valuing changes in supporting soil ecosystem services and associated soil natural capital-the value of the stock of soil organisms-in agriculture, based on resultant changes in future farm income streams. We assume that a relative change in soil organic C (SOC) concentration is correlated with changes in soil biodiversity and the generation of supporting ecosystem services. To quantify the effects of changes in supporting services on agricultural productivity, we fitted production functions to data from long-term field experiments in Europe and the United States. The different agricultural treatments at each site resulted in significant changes in SOC concentrations with time. Declines in associated services are shown to reduce both maximum yield and fertilizer-use efficiency in the future. The average depreciation of soil natural capital, for a 1% relative reduction in SOC concentration, was 144 (sic) ha(-1) (SD 47 (sic) ha(-1)) when discounting future values to their current value at 3%; the variation was explained by site-specific factors and the current SOC concentration. Moreover, the results show that soil ecosystem services cannot be fully replaced by purchased inputs; they are imperfect substitutes. We anticipate that our results will both encourage and make it possible to include the value of soil natural capital in decisions. (Less)


Ralph H. Sprague Jr. was a leader in the MIS field and helped develop the conceptual foundation for decision support systems (DSS). In this paper, I pay homage to Sprague and his DSS contributions. I take a personal perspective based on my years of working with Sprague. I explore the history of DSS and its evolution. I also present and discuss Sprague's DSS development framework with its dialog, data, and models (DDM) paradigm and characteristics. At its core, the development framework remains valid in today's world of business intelligence and big data analytics. I present and discuss a contemporary reference architecture for business intelligence and analytics (BI/A) in the context of Sprague's DSS development framework. The practice of decision support continues to evolve and can be described by a maturity model with DSS, enterprise data warehousing, real-time data warehousing, big data analytics, and the emerging cognitive as successive generations. I use a DSS perspective to describe and provide examples of what the forthcoming cognitive generation will bring.


The trade balances of the Euro Area (EA) and of the US have improved markedly after the Global Financial Crisis. This paper quantifies the drivers of EA and US economic fluctuations and external adjustment, using an estimated (1999-2017) three-region (US, EA, rest of world) DSGE model with trade in manufactured goods and in commodities. In the model, commodity prices reflect global demand and supply conditions. The paper highlights the key contribution of the post-crisis collapse in commodity prices for the EA and US trade balance reversal. Aggregate demand shocks originating in Emerging Markets too had a significant impact on EA and US trade balances. The broader lesson of this paper is that Emerging Markets and commodity shocks are major drivers of advanced countries' trade balances and terms of trade.