Research has clearly established that culture affects the application of management theories and practices. Work values, in particular, are an important part of cross-cultural understanding in that they are themselves measures of cultural dimensions, and also have strong implications for many areas of management, from employee motivation to organizational communication. In order to successfully implement management practices originating in a different culture, it is necessary to first identify domestic needs, values, and behaviors, and then adapt the management practices before implementation. In order to illustrate these traits, work value preferences of Croatians and Americans were tested. Similarities, but also significant differences were found between the two groups. 1. INTRODUCTION The field of management is constantly changing and evolving, and with it new ideas about how best to manage organizations and employees are emerging (Adler, 1997). Myriad theories and methods of management have been developed in order to increase the operational efficiency of organizational systems and employees. However, the majority of modern management theories has emerged from, and necessarily reflects, the culture of the United States (Adler, 1997; Haire, Ghiselli, & Porter, 1963; Hofstede, 1980). These theories have been designed and developed according to what will maximize the productivity and success of American organizations, managers, and employees. What occurs, then, when these management theories and ideas, which have developed naturally in and reflect the cultural identity of American managers and employees, are applied in a non-American culture? When applying American management principles outside of the United States, culture cannot be ignored. Research has clearly shown the culture does affect the application of management principles outside of the United States (Alavi & McCormick, 2004; Haire, et al. 1963; Hofstede, 1993; Hui, et al. 2004; Laurent, 1983; Zander and Romani, 2004). According to Michael (1997), whose research focused on how cultural differences influenced managers' behaviors, attempts to import western management practices without considering the host country's culture leads to the frequent failure of these practices. Similar findings have been found for such common management practices as participative management (Singh & Pandey, 1986), Management by Objectives (MBO) (Hofstede, 1984), and empowerment (Hui, et al., 2004). Although American management theories still have merit and can be successfully applied outside of the United States, it is naive to assume that culture, a profound influencer of human values, attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors, plays no role (Hofstede, 1980). As businesses operating in Southern and Eastern Europe continue to refine and improve their management practices, it is imperative that the culture of the country of operation be taken into account. In order to successfully implement management practices originating in a different culture, it is necessary to first identify domestic needs, values, and behaviors, and then adapt the management practices before implementation (Hofstede, 1980; Hoppe, 1990; Ronen & Shenkar, 1985). Determining the work values of each culture is an important part of this process. According to Hofstede (2001), work values are significant for two different reasons. First, they are an excellent measure of culture in that they are shaped more by sociological and cultural factors than individual psychological differences. Secondly, the work values of an organization's employees will affect that organization in many ways, from conflict resolution, to its ability to change, to communication, to employee motivation. This paper will present the results of a cross-cultural analysis of work values between Croatian and American undergraduate students, and will attempt to answer the question of what, if any, differences exist between these two cultures. …


We construct a catalogue for filaments using a novel approach called SCMS (subspace constrained mean shift; Ozertem & Erdogmus 2011; Chen et al. 2015). SCMS is a gradient-based method that detects filaments through density ridges (smooth curves tracing high-density regions). A great advantage of SCMS is its uncertainty measure, which allows an evaluation of the errors for the detected filaments. To detect filaments, we use data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which consist of three galaxy samples: the NYU main galaxy sample (MGS), the LOWZ sample and the CMASS sample. Each of the three dataset covers different redshift regions so that the combined sample allows detection of filaments up to z = 0.7. Our filament catalogue consists of a sequence of two-dimensional filament maps at different redshifts that provide several useful statistics on the evolution cosmic web. To construct the maps, we select spectroscopically confirmed galaxies within 0.050 < z < 0.700 and partition them into 130 bins. For each bin, we ignore the redshift, treating the galaxy observations as a 2-D data and detect filaments using SCMS. The filament catalogue consists of 130 individual 2-D filament maps, and each map comprises points on the detected filaments that describe the filamentary structures at a particular redshift. We also apply our filament catalogue to investigate galaxy luminosity and its relation with distance to filament. Using a volume-limited sample, we find strong evidence (6.1$\sigma$ - 12.3$\sigma$) that galaxies close to filaments are generally brighter than those at significant distance from filaments.


Chapter 1 of Performing Music Research considers how to develop effective research questions, outlining ways of formulating them so that they are clear and answerable. Different assumptions about the world underlie different research questions, which in turn seek different kinds of knowledge. Therefore, when designing research, it is essential to understand the nature of the knowledge that is to be generated. The chapter explores some of the ways in which this understanding can be framed in a study and shows how it feeds into and shapes the whole process of research design.


This article investigates the performance determinants of accountability institutions in new democracies. Current scholarship on accountability has identified a distinct mechanism through which the introduction of political competition may affect such institutions: the electoral connection or vertical accountability mechanism. This connection is not expected to be effective in new democracies, because political competition is found to be volatile and nonprogrammatic. Another strand of the literature focuses on the effect of power alternation. Government turnover is expected to generate incentives for the creation and strengthening of autonomous institutions. By exploring a unique data set on 33 state audit institutions, the authors bring together these distinct claims and provide systematic empirical tests for them. They find a negative effect of volatility on their institutional activism and a positive (direct and indirect) influence of power alternation on their levels of autonomy and sanctioning patterns.


Plasma doping (PLAD) is increasingly applied in microelectronic device manufacture to produce high throughput, high fluence implants. In this medium energy ion scattering (MEIS) study of the PLAD process, Si(100) wafers were exposed to an As containing plasma while pulse biased negatively to 7 kV to cause (recoil) implantation and deposition of As. Quantitative MEIS depth profiling analysis in conjunction with energy spectrum simulation was applied to characterize the near-surface layer changes of the Si wafer following (i) the PLAD process, (ii) two types of chemical wet clean (oxidizing and nonoxidizing), and (iii) spike annealing in an N2 atmosphere. MEIS analysis showed that the PLAD process produced an intermixed As/Si layer, with a near-surface As content of ∼40% that decayed almost linearly to near-zero at a depth of ∼17 nm. This mixed As/Si layer was unstable in air and the initially recorded 1.2 nm thick oxide cap layer grew over a period of four months to 3.5 nm with a concurrent 25% As loss by sublimation. The application of the industry standard, oxidizing wet chemical clean removed the top As and concurrently produced a ∼14 nm thick Si oxide above the remaining implanted As profile, which matched the tail of original As implant profile. As depth profiles measured for the 7 kV PLAD process after a wet clean and spike annealing showed solid phase epitaxial regrowth of the disordered layer. A detailed comparison of the random and aligned MEIS spectra yielded depth profiles of substitutional As with a concentration in excess of 1 × 1021 As cm−3 over a depth greater than 10 nm. The retained dose of 1.35 × 1015 cm−2 represents a ∼70% increase in substitutional As compared to that recorded after a nonoxidizing clean. Such an alternative wet chemical clean, in which Si reoxidation did not occur, was applied to determine the depth of the mixed As/Si layer removed. Found to be 7 nm, the analysis indicated that the etching process ceased when the Si concentration reached 4 × 1022 cm−3. After spike annealing, part of the remaining As had segregated in a thin layer under a 1.6 nm thick surface oxide. The retained As dose in this case was 8 × 1014 cm−2, equivalent to a 1% As substitutional dopant concentration to a depth of ∼14 nm. Different substitutional As doses measured with MEIS were found to correlate closely with sheet resistance measurements, confirming that equating the substitutional As with the active As dose remains correct for these ultrashallow profiles, typically 10 nm deep.Plasma doping (PLAD) is increasingly applied in microelectronic device manufacture to produce high throughput, high fluence implants. In this medium energy ion scattering (MEIS) study of the PLAD process, Si(100) wafers were exposed to an As containing plasma while pulse biased negatively to 7 kV to cause (recoil) implantation and deposition of As. Quantitative MEIS depth profiling analysis in conjunction with energy spectrum simulation was applied to characterize the near-surface layer changes of the Si wafer following (i) the PLAD process, (ii) two types of chemical wet clean (oxidizing and nonoxidizing), and (iii) spike annealing in an N2 atmosphere. MEIS analysis showed that the PLAD process produced an intermixed As/Si layer, with a near-surface As content of ∼40% that decayed almost linearly to near-zero at a depth of ∼17 nm. This mixed As/Si layer was unstable in air and the initially recorded 1.2 nm thick oxide cap layer grew over a period of four months to 3.5 nm with a concurrent 25% As loss by ...


These lectures, delivered by Professor Mumford at Harvard in 1963-1964, are devoted to a study of properties of families of algebraic curves, on a non-singular projective algebraic curve defined over an algebraically closed field of arbitrary characteristic. The methods and techniques of Grothendieck, which have so changed the character of algebraic geometry in recent years, are used systematically throughout. Thus the classical material is presented from a new viewpoint.


The aim of the present study was to assess sensitivity and specificity of McDonald criteria 2010 revision for primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS),1 since this was not done in previous studies. In addition, the performance of MRI guidelines for dissemination in space (DIS) demonstration proposed in 2016 by the MRI in multiple sclerosis (MAGNIMS) group was evaluated.2

The study was approved by the ethics committee of participating institutions as required.

Patients who were seen at University of California San Francisco and University of Verona multiple sclerosis (MS) centres for suspected PPMS after 1997 were retrospectively identified from existing databases. Data were obtained from review of charts with adequate documentation of clinical, MRI and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) status to determine the fulfilment of 2010 McDonald criteria. Cases with less than 1-year interval between clinical onset and last follow-up visit were excluded. One-year disease progression demonstration as required by diagnostic criteria was based on documented worsening of neurological disability unrelated to relapse. First available brain and spinal cord MRI of adequate quality performed after symptom onset was used to determine criteria fulfilment at time of initial visit. MRI scans were reviewed by a single experienced reader (AG) who was not blinded to clinical data. CSF data were taken from the lumbar puncture performed by the time of first visit if available. Exclusion of a …


Metastasis to the brain is a clinical problem in patients with breast cancer (1-3). We mined published microarray data (4, 5) to compare primary and metastatic tumor transcriptomes to discover genes associated with brain metastasis in patients with metastatic breast cancer. We found that alcohol dehydrogenase 1B, encoded by ADH1B, was among the genes whose expression was most different in the metastatic tumor tissues of patients with metastatic breast cancer, both in metastases to brain and to the lymph nodes when compared to primary tumors of the breast or normal breast tissue, respectively. We observed significant down-regulation of ADH1B in metastasis to the brain. Molecular functions and down-regulation of alcohol dehydrogenase 1B may be important for metastasis of primary tumor-derived cancer cells to the lymph nodes and to the brain in humans with metastatic breast cancer and suggests some level of common origin for metastases that reside in the lymph nodes and colonize the brain.


From the early decades of the twentieth century onward, the level of equity achieved in Uruguay, and the sophistication of its social welfare institutions, set the country apart from the rest of Latin America. In the second half of the century, this heritage of democracy and equity survived the severe tests to which it was subjected without fracturing too badly. The strength of the country's sociocultural foundations was convincingly demonstrated after the restoration of democracy in 1985, when Uruguay succeeded in maintaining the position it had traditionally held as the regional leader in social development, this leadership being manifested at this time in the country's indices of poverty and inequality as measured by income distribution, which were low by the standards of other Latin American nations. The authors contend that in the last fifteen years of the twentieth century, Uruguay succeeded in coping with these challenges by maintaining a good balance between the political, social and economic aspects of development. They analyse the subject by placing the position of Uruguay in a Latin American context. Using the same type of indicators, they then describe how the country evolved in the closing fifteen years of the twentieth century, after which they discuss some of the most important processes underlying these trends in the market, in households and in the State. Lastly, they offer some reflections on the main challenges that the country will have to address if it is to retain or improve the level of national integration already achieved, on a basis of equity.


Slow performance costs e-commerce Web sites as much as $4.35 billion annually in lost revenue. Perceived latency-the amount of time between when a user issues a request and receives a response-is a critical issue. Research into improving performance falls into two categories: work on servers and work on networks and protocols. On the server side, previous work has focused on techniques for improving server performance. Such studies show how Web servers behave under a range of loads. These studies often suggest enhancements to application implementations and the operating systems those servers run. On the network side, research has focused on improving network infrastructure performance for Internet applications. Studies focusing on network dynamics have resulted in several enhancements to HTTP, including data compression, persistent connections, and pipelining. These improvements are all part of HTTP 1.1. However, little work has been done on common latency sources that cause the overall delays that frustrate end users. The future of performance improvements lies in developing additional techniques to help implement efficient, scalable, and stable improvements that enhance the end-user experience.


We aim to provide a suite of publicly available spectral data reduction software to facilitate rapid scientific outcomes from time-domain observations. For time resolved observations, an automated pipeline frees astronomers from performance of the routine data analysis tasks to concentrate on interpretation, planning future observations and communication with international collaborators. The project consists of two parts: data processing (ASPIRED) and a graphical user interface (gASPIRED).ASPIREDis written in python 3, and was intentionally developed as a self-consistent reduction pipeline with its own diagnostics and error handling. The pipeline can reduce2D spectral data from raw image to wavelength and flux calibrated 1D spectrum automatically without any user input.gASPIREDis a cross-platform software developedwithElectronon a single code base. It brings interactivity to the software with a well-maintained and user-friendly environment.


Background/Aims: Recent studies have shown that thymoquinone (TQ) exerts protective effects against ionizing radiation-induced cataracts in lens after total cranium irradiation of rats. Nevertheless, there is no published work investigated the effects of TQ on T cell development and biology in animal models exposed to gamma radiation. Therefore, in the present study we focused on determining the effects of TQ on radiation damage in the thymus, radiation-induced T cell imbalance, and on immune dysfunction induced by gamma-rays. Methods: Three groups of rats were used: a control group, a gamma-irradiated group, and a gamma-irradiated group that was orally supplemented with TQ. Serum lipid profiles, malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, and pro-inflammatory cytokine levels were measured to assess gamma irradiation-induced oxidative stress and inflammatory capacity. T cell apoptosis was evaluated by annexin V/propidium iodide staining followed by flow cytometry analysis. The expression of pro-apoptotic proteins such as Bax and caspase-3, the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2, and an exhaustion marker of T cells (PD-1) in CD4+ and CD8+ T cell populations was evaluated using flow cytometry analysis. The T cell architecture of the thymus gland was evaluated by histological analysis. Results: Exposure to gamma radiation increased triglyceride, cholesterol, LDL-C, MDA, TNF-α and IL-6 levels and decreased HDL-C levels. The altered lipid profile and MDA and pro-inflammatory cytokine (TNF-α and IL-6) levels induced by exposure to gamma radiation were significantly restored in TQ-treated gamma-irradiated rats. Rats exposed to gamma radiation exhibited increased exhaustion of T lymphocytes via down-regulation of Bcl-2 expression and upregulation of PD-1, Bax, and caspase-3 expression, which sensitized these cells to apoptosis. Interestingly, treatment of gamma-irradiated rats with TQ decreased T cell exhaustion and apoptosis by modulating the expression of Bcl-2, PD-1, Bax, and caspase-3. Conclusions: Our results provide evidence for the beneficial effects of TQ as an effective radioprotective candidate that enhances cellular immunity.


In The Finite State Fantasia an invisible, theoretical machine is simulated moving around a space. Using a simple algorithm, comparable to that of domestic robot vacuum cleaners, it moves through the space generating a point-cloud map of the space when it hits a wall. However, the machine is invisible. The only things visible to humans are its infrared senses and a point cloud of data where the machine has hit the walls and built the map so far.

This digital landscape is complimented by the ultrasonic markers where it has hit artefacts that intrude on its simulation - humans. These distortions break the model of the room, shifting the model and forcing the machine to recalibrate its calculation of the space.

The Finite State Fantasia invites its audience to experience the sensorium of a theoretical machine. By putting the audience 'inside' the machine sensorium and removing the human perspective of seeing it as a plastic black box, it reveals the cognitive differences between human and machine. Based on the algorithm of a robotic vacuum cleaner but able to move through 3D space, the invisible machine builds a map of its captive space over time, highlighting the difference in the way that humans and machines interact with physical reality.

The project elicits feelings of overwhelming alienation in its audience by making the normally invisible and inaudible infrared and ultrasonic senses of the machine human-legible and show how little we are able to comprehend the universe modelled by devices and machines increasingly given their own agency and control over our world. The project alludes to the theories of computation, where applied models fail when faced with the messy and organic world of humans and the struggle of science and the machines to reconcile reality with the model.


Heat transport and ice sublimation in comets are interrelated processes reflecting properties acquired at the time of formation and during subsequent evolution. The Microwave Instrument on the Rosetta Orbiter (MIRO) acquired maps of the subsurface temperature of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, at 1.6 mm and 0.5 mm wavelengths, and spectra of water vapor. The total H2O production rate varied from 0.3 kg s–1 in early June 2014 to 1.2 kg s–1 in late August and showed periodic variations related to nucleus rotation and shape. Water outgassing was localized to the "neck" region of the comet. Subsurface temperatures showed seasonal and diurnal variations, which indicated that the submillimeter radiation originated at depths comparable to the diurnal thermal skin depth. A low thermal inertia (~10 to 50 J K–1 m–2 s–0.5), consistent with a thermally insulating powdered surface, is inferred.


Abstract. The upper ocean heat budget (0–300 m) of the North Atlantic from 20°–60° N is investigated using data from Argo profiling floats for 1999–2005 and the NCEP/NCAR and NOC surface flux datasets. Estimates of the different terms in the budget (heat storage, advection, diffusion and surface exchange) are obtained using the methodology developed by Hadfield et al. (2007a, b). The method includes optimal interpolation of the individual profiles to produce gridded fields with error estimates at a 10°×10° grid box resolution. Closure of the heat budget is obtained within the error estimates for some regions – particularly the eastern subtropical Atlantic – but not for those boxes that include the Gulf Stream. Over the whole range considered, closure is obtained for 13 (9) out of 20 boxes with the NOC (NCEP/NCAR) surface fluxes. The seasonal heat budget at 20–30° N, 35–25° W is considered in detail. Here, the NCEP based budget has an annual mean residual of −55±35 Wm−2 compared with a NOC based value of −4±35 Wm−2. For this box, the net heat divergence of 36 Wm−2 (Ekman=−4 Wm−2, geostrophic=11 Wm−2, diffusion=29 Wm−2) offsets the net heating of 32 Wm−2 from the NOC surface heat fluxes. The results in this box are consistent with an earlier evaluation of the fluxes using measurements from research buoys in the subduction array which revealed biases in NCEP but good agreement of the buoy values with the NOC fields.


In the current design of international climate change policy, a narrow application of social costbenefit analysis with emphasis of short-term efficiency of resource allocation appears to be the leading criterion. This explorative study sets out to integrate from a societal perspective in cost-benefit analyses of climate policy measures long-term impacts to the extent possible. Externalities such as favourable impacts on air pollution problems and energy supply security risks are included in the proposed analysis framework. The objective of this explorative study is to compare different greenhouse gas abatement options on the basis of a social cost-benefit analysis with a view to inform the policy-making process. The numerical application of the proposed analysis framework focuses on ten technical measures in three different sectors: energy and industry, transportation and buildings. Quantification of externalities of air pollution is based on literature approaches and for impacts on energy security of supply risk a novel approach is suggested. The results are given in monetary value ranges and show that taking into account ancillary externalities can significantly change the net social cost of certain mitigation options and the net social cost of a given climate change programme.


Talk about food at work is typically overlooked as peripheral, just like other relationally-oriented discourse (e.g. small talk and humor). Drawing on a data set of workplace interactions recorded in formal and informal settings, we demonstrate how food talk erodes and troubles formality boundaries. The distinctive distribution of food talk at the boundaries of workplace interaction creates a duality: because it occurs at boundaries, food talk is regarded as irrelevant; when it occurs in non-boundary positions, it has the interactional effect of reducing formality, regardless of its legitimacy as a business topic. In practice, food talk "indexes" boundaries and informality. Each time it occurs at boundaries, or creates informality, this indexicality is reinforced. We demonstrate just how food talk indexes informality in meeting talk.


For successful commerce with the world, it is essential that we remember objects that we encounter within the proper contexts. Consistent with this, visual long-term memory is known to be context dependent. However, the way in which these context dependent memories manifest has been relatively unexplored. Here, we measured the degree to which visual object memory is tied to spatial location. We manipulated the retention interval to explore how spatially specific memories emerged over time. During an initial encoding phase, we presented two placeholders on the screen (one on the left, one on the right), and we presented a series of 200 face stimuli. To associate each face stimulus with specific spatial context, half of them appeared inside the left placeholder and the other half appeared inside the right placeholder. Participants were instructed to discriminate each face's gender, regardless of its location. Subsequently, participants began the recognition phase. Critically, for one group of participants (No Retention Group), the recognition phase began immediately after encoding was finished, while for the other group (Retention Group), the recognition phase began after a 15 min retention interval in which a visual search task was performed. During the recognition phase, we presented one previously viewed (old) face and one novel face on each of 200 trials. Participants had to discriminate the side of the display containing the old face. To manipulate context dependency, we presented half of the faces inside the same placeholder as during encoding ("matching" condition) and the remaining faces inside the other placeholder ("nonmatching" condition). Results showed that the Retention group's recognition memory was significantly better in the matching condition than the nonmatching condition, while the No-Retention group's performance was equivalent in the two conditions. These results implicate a key role of consolidation in the genesis of context-specific visual memory. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


Objectives This study aims to evaluate the differences in the cumulative benefit costs of public long-term care [LTC] insurance services, using a risk assessment scale score, which predicts incident functional disability among older people.Methods A baseline survey was conducted in 2010 involving individuals aged 65 and above from 12 municipalities in Japan who were not eligible for public LTC insurance benefits (response rate: 64.7%). Using public LTC claim records, we followed LTC service costs among 46,616 individuals over a period of about six years (up to 76 months). We used risk assessment scales to assess incident functional disability (0-48). We adopted a classical linear regression model, Tobit regression model, and linear regression with multiple imputation for missing values.Results Overall, 7,348 (15.8%) of the participants had used LTC services during the follow-up period. The risk assessment score for incident functional disability was positively associated with the cumulative costs of LTC services per person, length of usage period of LTC services, and proportion of people certified for long-term care/support need and for over long-term care level 2. After adjusting for confounding variables, the six-year cumulative costs of LTC services were around JPY 31.6 thousand higher per point of risk score (95% confidence interval [CI]: 28.3 to 35.0). The costs were around JPY 8.9 thousand (95%CI: 6.5 to 11.3) higher in the low score group (risk score ≤ 16), and JPY 75.3 thousand (95%CI: 67.4 to 83.1) higher in the high score group (risk score ≥ 17). When we adopted other estimated models, the major results and trends were not largely different.Conclusions In this study, the risk assessment scale score could estimate subsequent LTC benefit costs. Community interventions to improve and maintain variable aspects of risk assessment scores may help contribute to a reduction in public LTC benefits within municipalities.


In 2014 the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia embarked upon a redisplay of its Italian fifteenth and sixteenth century holdings. Inspired by recent art historical scholarship exploring the materiality of family life in the Renaissance casa the new displays depart from the traditional museum ordering principles of geography and chronology in favour of groupings of artworks structured around themes like marriage, domestic devotion and the Humanist scholar. Such thematic displays not only make best use of the museum's collections which, whilst including many works of great distinction, are by no means comprehensive in scope, but also open up new avenues of audience engagement. By replacing the interpretive apparatus of traditional connoisseurship with an interest in the role of objects in performing and memorialising the rituals surrounding key life events of fifteenth and sixteenth century Italian families, as well as exploring the role of consumption in self-representation, connections are forged with the lives and interests of the contemporary visiting public.


Article history: Received 6 October, 2016 Accepted 3 February 2017 Available online 6 February 2017 Aluminium alloy AlMg4.5Mn has got comprehensive acceptance in the manufacturing of light weight frames, marine structures which require high strength and worthy corrosion revulsion. The present investigation work focuses on friction stir welding process in which influences of operating parameters have been studied on friction stir welded butt joints. The FSWed joints specimens have been produced by experimentation at three levels of tool traverse speed and tool rotational speed keeping input force and tool tilt angle constant. Mechanical properties and microstructure of welded joints have been investigated in the present study. Change in the microstructure at different zones which transforms the mechanical properties of welded joints was due to the asymmetrical flow of material and thermal cycles around the pin. The second phase beta grains are formed as the very high temperature reached due to input parameters combinations. Traverse speed (TS) and tool rotational speed (TRS) are taken in a range of 1640 mm/min and 500-1400 rpm, respectively. The best combination of parameters results in higher tensile strength which is well supported by the micro-hardness curve and the compact grains microstructure profile. Microstructure at different points and physical properties exhibited by the welded joint are well brought into line to summarize the effects of different parameters. © 2017 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.


- T22 low alloy steel is represented as one of the best alloy using to production oil pipe, patrol valves, high temperature applications. This alloy has good mechanical properties, a satisfaction corrosion resistance and acceptable thermal conductivity at nature conditions. At high pressure applications with rapid flow of a fluid stream, T22 alloy is suffered severe degradation or corrosion. Though in an attempt to reduce the damage caused by corrosion, it has been resorting to the addition of La3O2, that is working on created a composition phase and a protective layer of corrosion. Where they were mixing alloy elements powders with different amount of La3O2 nanoparticles. mixed powder was prepared by powder metallurgy PM method and using a press at compression strength 175 MPa in mold steel cylindrical shape die, mold diameter is 20 mm and a height of 100 mm, sintering process has been done at a temperature 1200 °C and using Argon gas as inert gas. X-ray diffraction examination was used to identify the phases formed and microscopic structure of samples after sintering was also examined using scanning electron microscope, Archimedes method was examined to measured density and porosity of sintered samples. The examination of erosion corrosion has used a private system and thus adopted the corrosive sea water as a medium. Erosion corrosion test results showed clearly increased corrosion resistance with increasing of La3O2 amount, due to existence resistance to corrosion phase. 10 vol.% of La3O2 nanoparticles is the best nanoadditives amount which support a good resistance to erosion corrosion. at a high pressure, powder metallurgy method.


The Visible Human Slice Server started offering its slicing services at the end of June 1998. From that date until the end of May, more than 280,000 slices were extracted from the Visible Man, by layman interested in anatomy, by students and by specialists. The Slice Server is based one Bi-Pentium PC and 16 disks. It is a scaled down version of a powerful parallel server comprising 5 Bi-Pentium Pro PCs and 60 disks. The parallel server program was created thanks to a computer-aided parallelization framework, which takes over the task of creating a multi-threaded pipelined parallel program from a high-level parallel program description. On the full blown architecture, the parallel program enables the extraction and resampling of up to 5 color slices per second. Extracting 5 slice/s requires to access the disks and extract subvolumes of the Visible Human at an aggregate throughput of 105 MB/s. The publicly accessible server enables to extract slices having any orientation. The slice position and orientation can either be specified for each slice separately or as a position and orientation offered by a Java applet and possible future improvements. In the very near future, the Web Slice Server will offer additional services, such as the possibility to extract ruled surfaces and to extract animations incorporating slices perpendicular to a user defined trajectory.


The use of quantitative metrics to gauge the impact of scholarly publications, authors, and disciplines is predicated on the availability of reliable annotation data. Citation and download counts are widely available from digital libraries. However, current annotation systems rely on proprietary labels, refer to journals or articles but not authors, and are manually curated. To address these limitations, we present a social framework based on crowdsourced annotations of scholars, designed to keep up with the rapidly evolving disciplinary and interdisciplinary landscape. The crowdsourcing approach has the added advantage that when combined with citation information about the authors, it enables the computation of discipline-specific statistics and disciplineneutral impact metrics. In turn, these impact metrics create an incentive for users to provide disciplinary annotations of authors.


"We have, at long last, a real historian with real historical skills and no intra-professional ax to grind. . . . All these pieces show the virtues one finds missing in . . . nearly all of anthropological history work but [Stocking's]: extensive and critical use of archival sources, tracing of real rather than merely plausible intellectual connections, and contextualization of ideas and movements in terms of broader social and cultural currents. Stocking writes very clearly; attacks important topics-race and evolution, the influence of scientism, the interaction between anthropology and other disciplines; and is methodologically very sophisticated. Though his main theme is the development of racialism and of opposition to it, his book bears on a range of issues very much alive in anthropology. . . . I would think no apprentice anthropologist ought to be pronounced a journeyman until he or she has absorbed what Stocking has to say."-Clifford Geertz, The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton


Among the several applications that will take advantage of the newly available data from the ALOS PALSAR instrument, considerable interest is in the peculiar features that derive from the penetration and polarimetric capabilities of the system. These capabilities, new for a single spaceborne sensor, need specific software tools for the processing of the different acquisition modes. This paper presents a verification processor, developed under ESA contract, for the generation of polarimetric, interferometric and polarimetric-interferometric geocoded products derived from ALOS PALSAR data. The processor, developed with a modular approach, contains the following main elements: Phase-preserving fine resolution processor; Phase-preserving ScanSAR processor; Interference removal tools; Polarimetric calibration tools; Polarimetric analysis tools; Fine resolution interferometric processor; ScanSAR interferometric processor; Polarimetric-interferometric processor; Geocoding; Atmospheric modelling tools. The processor architecture is presented; highlights are given on specific modules and algorithms. Early results are shown, in particular of the processing of polarimetric and polarimetric-interferometric data over different test sites.


Bayesianinterpolationformapping GPS radio occultation data on a sphereis exploredandits performance evaluated. Bayesian interpolation is ideally suited to the task of fitting data randomly and nonuniformly distributed with unknown error without overfitting the data. The geopotential height at dry pressure 200 hPa is simulated as data with theoretical distributions of the Challenging Mini-Satellite Payload (CHAMP) and of the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC). The simulated CHAMP data are found to be best fit with a spherical harmonic basis of 14th degree; the COSMIC data with a spherical harmonic basis of 20th degree. The best regularizer mimics a splinefit, and relaxing the penalty for purely meridional structures or for the global mean yields little advantage. Climatologies are most accurately established by binning in '2-day intervals to best resolve synoptic structures in space and time. Finally, Bayesian interpolation is shown to negate a source of systematic sampling error obtained in binning and averaging highly nonuniform data but to incur another systematic error due to incomplete resolution of the background atmosphere, notably in the Southern Hemisphere.


Background The prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) has increased 10 times over the past half century, while paternal and maternal age at pregnancy has also increased. Studies looking for an association between paternal or maternal age at pregnancy and ASDs in offspring have not been conclusive. Objective To assess for possible associations between paternal and maternal age at pregnancy and ASDs in offspring. Methods This case-control study had 50 case and 100 control subjects, each case was matched for age and gender to two controls. Case subjects were obtained by consecutive sampling of patients aged 18 months to 7 years who visited the Developmental Behavioral & Community Pediatrics Outpatient Clinic and private growth and development centers from January to April 2013, while control group were children of the same age range and same gender who visited pediatric outpatient clinic at Sanglah Hospital mostly due to acute respiratory tract infection, without ASDs as assessed by the DSM-IV-TR criteria. We interviewed parents to collect the following data: maternal and paternal age at pregnancy, child's birth weight, history of asphyxia, hospital admission during the neonatal period, pathological labor, maternal smoking during pregnancy, paternal smoking, and gestational age. Data analysis was performed with Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests. Results Multivariable analysis showed that higher paternal age at pregnancy was associated with ASDs in offspring (OR 6.3; 95%CI 2.0 to 19.3; P 0.001). However, there was no significant association between maternal age during pregnancy and the incidence of ASDs. Asphyxia and paternal smoking were also associated with higher incidence of ASDs in the offspring (OR 10.3; 95%CI 1.9 to 56.5; P 0.007 and OR 3.2; 95%CI 1.5 to 6.9; P 0.003, respectively). Conclusion􀀃􀀳􀁄􀁗􀁈􀁕􀁑􀁄􀁏􀀃􀁄􀁊􀁈􀀃􀂕􀀗􀀓􀀃􀁜􀁈􀁄􀁕􀁖􀀃􀁌􀁑􀁆􀁕􀁈􀁄􀁖􀁈􀁇􀀃􀁗􀁋􀁈􀀃􀁕􀁌􀁖􀁎􀀃􀁒􀁉􀀃􀀤􀀶'􀁖􀀃 in offspring by 6.3 times. In addition, paternal smoking increased  the risk of ASDs in offspring by 3.2 times and asphyxia increased the risk of ASDs in offspring by 10.3 times.


This work is the result of more than a decade of research on the Chinese household and lineage in the southeastern province of Fujian during the Ming and Qing period (1368-1911). It offers interpretations of the Chinese domestic cycle, the relationship between household and larger kinship groups, and the development of lineage society in south China. Using hundreds of previously unknown lineage genealogies, stone inscriptions, and land deeds, Zheng Zhenman provides a candid view of how individuals and families confronted the crucial issues of daily life: how to minimize taxes or military conscription; how to balance the ideological imperatives of ancestor worship with practical concerns; how to deal with the problems of dividing the household estate. His research leads to an exploration of issues such as the relation of state to society and the compatibility of Chinese culture and capitalism. This complete translation allows access to new research being done in Chinese social history. Zheng's book draws on important materials largely unknown to Western scholars, comes to novel conclusions about society in late imperial China, and illustrates the importance of the non-Western perspective in studying the history of the world outside the West.


This paper develops a stock-flow-fund ecological macroeconomic model that combines the stock-flow consistent approach of Godley and Lavoie with the flow-fund model of Georgescu-Roegen. The model has the following key features. First, monetary and physical stocks and flows are explicitly formalised taking into account the accounting principles and the laws of thermodynamics. Second, Georgescu-Roegen's distinction between stock-flow and fund-service resources is adopted. Third, output is demand-determined but supply constraints might arise either due to environmental damages or due to the exhaustion of natural resources. Fourth, climate change influences directly the components of aggregate demand. Fifth, finance affects macroeconomic activity and the materialisation of investment plans that determine ecological efficiency. The model is calibrated using global data. Simulations are conducted to investigate the trajectories of key environmental, macroeconomic and financial variables under (i) different assumptions about the sensitivity of economic activity to the leverage ratio of firms and (ii) different types of green finance policies.


Since the Maastricht ratification debate of the early 1990s, the legitimacy of the European Union has become a subject of controversy. With unprecedented force, Europeans have begun to question the need for deeper integration. Some fear threats to established national identities, while others perceive the emergence of a distant but powerful Brussels, beyond the reach of democratic control. Legitimacy and the European Union breaks with established approaches to the problem of the legitimacy of the European Union by focusing on the recent trend towards reconceptualization of the EU not as a superstate or an organization of states, but as a multi-level, contested polity without precedent. The book examines the implications of this reconceptualization for the problem of legitimacy. Individual chapters focus on policy areas, institutions and identity politics. Taken together, they reach two main conclusions. While Europeans do not strongly identify with the EU, they increasingly recognize it as a framework for politics alongside existing national and subnational structures. And while the EU lacks central democratic institutions, the integration process has spawned significant informal and pluralist forms of representation. Rethinking recognition and representation ouside the context of the nation state points to important, if little understood, actual and potential sources of EU legitimacy.


Many papers on pattern recognition have been published in the last decades but character recognition is still part of current research. However, one main topic are classifiers that can be easily augmented by new training data or even new classes. Furthermore, the classifiers have to have a certain robustness with respect to noise, i.e., the recognition rate must not be significantly affected by the presence of noise in the character images. For this reason a new classifier approach is introduced, which is based on trellis diagrams and thus similar to a Viterbi decoder known from communication systems. The training as well as the classification procedure are discussed in detail. Additionally, to show the competitiveness the performance is compared with already existing classifiers on a character dataset with and without noise. Keywords—character recognition, trellis diagram, Viterbi algorithm


Abstract. Aerosols from fire emissions can potentially have large impact on clouds and radiation. However, fire aerosol sources are often intermittent, and their effect on weather and climate is difficult to quantify. Here we investigated the short-term effective radiative forcing of fire aerosols using the global aerosol–climate model Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5). Different from previous studies, we used nudged hindcast ensembles to quantify the forcing uncertainty due to the chaotic response to small perturbations in the atmosphere state. Daily mean emissions from three fire inventories were used to consider the uncertainty in emission strength and injection heights. The simulated aerosol optical depth (AOD) and mass concentrations were evaluated against in situ measurements and reanalysis data. Overall, the results show the model has reasonably good predicting skills. Short (10-day) nudged ensemble simulations were then performed with and without fire emissions to estimate the effective radiative forcing. Results show fire aerosols have large effects on both liquid and ice clouds over the two selected regions in April 2009. Ensemble mean results show strong negative shortwave cloud radiative effect (SCRE) over almost the entirety of southern Mexico, with a 10-day regional mean value of −3.0 W m−2. Over the central US, the SCRE is positive in the north but negative in the south, and the regional mean SCRE is small (−0.56 W m−2). For the 10-day average, we found a large ensemble spread of regional mean shortwave cloud radiative effect over southern Mexico (15.6 % of the corresponding ensemble mean) and the central US (64.3 %), despite the regional mean AOD time series being almost indistinguishable during the 10-day period. Moreover, the ensemble spread is much larger when using daily averages instead of 10-day averages. This demonstrates the importance of using a large ensemble of simulations to estimate the short-term aerosol effective radiative forcing.


Much research on gender-based violence, especially sexual assault, indicate that women are often blamed for their predicament (Ehrlich 2002; Clark 1998). Prominent among the reasons given is 'indecent dressing' – which lures 'innocent' men to commit such crimes. Context therefore plays a major role in who is blamed. To contribute to this discussion, I discuss the role of context in apportioning blame in the two cases of sexual assault on a Ghanaian female artiste (Mzbel). This is done through the analysis of linguistic data from media reports, readers and Mzbel herself. The analysis shows that people view these cases differently depending on their personal ideologies and the context within which they operate. Whereas most of the text producers draw on the socio-cultural context to either directly or indirectly 'justify' the actions of the perpetrators, others draw on the legal to condemn the crimes.


Targeting TLR3 might suppress metastatic growth in the lung. The cargo transported in exosomes, a type of extracellular vesicle that is shed from cells, alters stromal cell activity in the tumor microenvironment to support tumor growth and drug resistance. Chronic inflammation supports tumor development and progression. Liu et al. (see also Kenific et al.) found that exosomes from primary tumor cells mediate long-range induction of inflammation in the lung, which promotes metastatic colonization. Exosomes that were collected from the serum and lung tissues of wild-type mice with or without subcutaneous melanoma or lung cancer xenografts, fluorescently labeled, and then injected into mice were taken up by alveolar type II (AT-II) epithelial cells in the lung. Injection of tumor-derived exosomes into mice induced the expression of chemokine-encoding genes in AT-II cells and increased neutrophil recruitment into the lung. RNase blocked the exosome-induced gene induction in cultured AT-II cells. RNA sequencing revealed that the cargo of exosomes isolated from xenografted mice was enriched in noncoding transcripts called small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs). The stem loops of snRNAs form double-stranded RNAs that can activate the innate immunity–associated molecule Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3). Tumor-derived exosomes increased the abundance of TLR3 and the activation of TLR3 pathway proteins in AT-II epithelial cells. Knocking out Tlr3 in xenografted mice decreased the incidence of lung lesions, reduced the recruitment of neutrophils into the lung, and decreased the expression of genes encoding chemokines and other prometastatic factors in the lung. Bioinformatic and immunohistochemical analyses revealed that non–small cell lung carcinoma patients with a high abundance of TLR3 in adjacent lung epithelial tissue had a high amount of neutrophil infiltration and poor prognosis. The findings suggest that targeting TLR3 might suppress localized spread in lung cancer patients and distant lung metastasis in melanoma patients. Y. Liu, Y. Gu, Y. Han, Q. Zhang, Z. Jiang, X. Zhang, B. Huang, X. Xu, J. Zheng, X. Cao, Tumor exosomal RNAs promote lung pre-metastatic niche formation by activating alveolar epithelial TLR3 to recruit neutrophils. Cancer Cell 30, 243–256 (2016). [PubMed] C. M. Kenific, L. Nogués, D. Lyden, Pre-metastatic niche formation has taken its TOLL. Cancer Cell 30, 189–191 (2016). [PubMed]


A Thesis submitted to the school of graduate studies of Addis Ababa University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Regional and Local Development Studies (RLDS)


Abstract Background: rs1333049 polymorphism on chromosome 9p21 has been shown to affect susceptibility to coronary artery disease (CAD) in Caucasians. This study examined the association of rs1333049 with myocardial infarction (MI), angiographic severity of CAD and clinical outcome after a first acute MI in Han Chinese. Methods: rs1333049 polymorphism was genotyped in 520 patients with a first acute MI and in 560 controls. The number of angiographically documented diseased coronary arteries (luminal diameter stenosis ≥50%), echocardiographic left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) during follow-up (mean, 29±15 months) were recorded. Results: Patients with MI had higher frequencies of the CC genotype (30.0% vs. 20.7%) or C allele (55.5% vs. 46.2%) compared with controls (all p<0.01). rs1333049 polymorphism was strongly associated with MI [odds ratio (OR) 1.48, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.22–1.79] after adjusting for traditional risk factors. Although longer hospitalization stay was observed in patients with the rs1333049-C allele, this polymorphism was not related to angiographic severity of CAD, LVEF, and occurrence of MACE after MI. Conclusions: This study demonstrates an association of rs1333049 polymorphism locus on chromosome 9p21 with risk for MI, but not with post-MI prognosis in Han Chinese. Clin Chem Lab Med 2009;47:917–22.


Abstract Post-apartheid, South Africa democratised access to education as enshrined in the country's Constitutional Bill of Rights of 1996. This also includes making education accessible to pregnant teenagers as provided for by other post-apartheid legal provisions that prohibit discrimination in education. This study explored the perceptions of education policy duty bearers on the inclusion of pregnant learners in formal schools. The sample of the study comprised teachers, community representatives in school governing bodies (SGB), and parents of pregnant teenagers at two schools that mainstreamed pregnant learners. Data were analysed using Atlas ti computer package which was programmed to code and quote participants' views. Results of the study revealed that socio-cultural gender ideologies were the more influential variables on participants' negative perceptions towards the inclusion of pregnant learners in regular schools. From the findings, we recommend that comprehensive structures and procedures for policy dialogue and advocacy be established in schools.


Chromium (Cr) isotopes have been used to trace pollution processes and reconstruct paleo-redox conditions. However, the precise determination of Cr isotopes is still challenged by difficulties in purifying Cr from samples with low Cr and high matrix content. Here, we developed an improved, flexible and easily operated three-step chromatographic procedure to separate Cr from high-matrix samples. A continuous, two-stage column (Step I) filled with 2 mL cation resin AG50W-X8 (200–400 m) and 2 mL anion resin AG1-X8 resin (100–200 m), followed by Step II, with 1 mL of AG1-X8 resin (200–400 m), was used to remove at least 99% of Ca, Fe, and Ti, and >90% of V and most other matrix elements, even for samples with Fe/Cr ≈ 6000 and Ti/Cr ≈ 1000. The recovery of Cr in both Step I and Step II can reach nearly 100%. Step III utilizes 2 mL AG1-X8 (100–200 m) combined with an (NH4)2S2O8 oxidant to remove residual matrix elements and achieve high-purity Cr. The total yield of Cr through our three-step procedure is greater than 80% even for low-Cr (2.6 μg kg−1) samples. A relatively small sample amount (300–600 ng Cr) is enough to achieve high precision Cr isotope measurement due to a low procedural blank (<1 ng). Chromium isotopes in geological reference materials (BHVO-2, JDo-1, JP-1, etc.) were measured on a Neptune Plus MC-ICP-MS. The long-term external precision is 0.06‰ (2SD), and the δ53Cr values are in great agreement with previously reported values. The δ53Cr of the upper continental crust is estimated to be −0.10 ± 0.10‰ using a suite of granite, diamictite, sediment and loess samples. Both plants and human hair are ∼0.1‰ heavier than the upper continental crust. Tests show that our improved purification procedure is applicable to various geological and environmental samples.


The Second World War placed great pressures on the machinery and personnel of all political parties. Conservatives formed the view that their own machine had been especially hard hit by the challenges of the war years, and that this was a major reason for the party's 1945 general election defeat. A supposed decline in the number of full-time, salaried constituency agents was a key component of this narrative of decline. This article investigates what happened to the Conservative agency in wartime, using an unusually wide range of sources, including those of around a hundred constituency associations. It shows that the number of agents did fall as a result of the war, but that associations often worked hard to keep their agents, or to mitigate the effects of their departure. It also explains the failure of headquarters' wartime efforts to reform the agency and centralize the employment of agents. Although the party's relative organizational decline did have significant emotional and practical consequences for it in 1945, Conservatives tended, post hoc, to overstate the extent of their wartime organizational collapse, in part because it allowed them to avoid damaging recriminations about the real reasons for their defeat. Ultimately, though, the war's effects, while significant, were essentially transient. Constituency control of agents remained, and a professional standard was maintained. The Conservatives emerged from the war with an agency that was different in detail from, but recognizably similar in form to, that which had predated the war.


A fractured poroelastic body is considered where the opening of the fractures is governed by a nonpenetration law, whereas slip is described by a Coulomb‐type friction law. This physical model results in a nonlinear variational inequality problem. The variational inequality is rewritten as a complementary function, and a semismooth Newton method is used to solve the system of equations. For the discretization, we use a hybrid scheme where the displacements are given in terms of degrees of freedom per element, and an additional Lagrange multiplier representing the traction is added on the fracture faces. The novelty of our method comes from combining the Lagrange multiplier from the hybrid scheme with a finite volume discretization of the poroelastic Biot equation, which allows us to directly impose the inequality constraints on each subface. The convergence of the method is studied for several challenging geometries in 2D and 3D, showing that the convergence rates of the finite volume scheme do not deteriorate when it is coupled to the Lagrange multipliers. Our method is especially attractive for the poroelastic problem because it allows for a straightforward coupling between the matrix deformation, contact conditions, and fluid pressure.


Payame Noor University as one of the universities of Iran has responsibility of training of specialists and experts labor forces for society in different disciplines. Performed studies show that the most important in the success of graduates in finding the appropriate work is the proportionate between processes and materials of educational in different courses in universities with skills and abilities needed in labor market. The goal of this study is measure of the employment of human sciences graduates in the job market. The methodology of this article of is survey. The population of all graduate students in the Humanities of Payame Noor in 2010-2011 in Sanandaj is 850 people. Appropriate sample sizes in this study were 265 and final participants selected through systematic random sampling method. Descriptive findings indicate that 69.8 percent of respondents are women. 69/4 % of them are in the age group of 25-23 years. 56/6 percent has the mean 14 to 15/99 And 57/4 percent of respondents are unemployed. Analytical Results show that there is significance relationship between Age, Course and grade average with employment of human sciences graduates. Results also show that sex has a high impact on employment of graduates. Key Word: University, Graduates, Employment, humanities, expert


The traditional methods of evaluating the compaction quality of pavement subbase and subgrade construction require considerable time and resources. Therefore, there is a need for a safe, reliable, rapid, and cost-effective field measurement technique for compaction testing of unbound pavement layers. The Light Weight Deflectometer (LWD) is one such mechanism that offers field measurement of deflections and stiffness of unbound pavement layers under a given load. The LWD is gaining increased attention for quality control and quality assurance (QC/QA) during pavement construction. The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) is planning on implementing the LWD in field QA/QC for unbound layers of pavements. As such, this research investigates the feasibility of developing statistical limits for the compaction of specified combinations of subbase and subgrade materials in terms of their maximum allowable LWD deflections. Statistical limits were developed for six of the most common subgrade, subbase, or subgrade-subbase combinations that are used for highway pavement construction in Indiana: lime modified, cement modified, natural subgrade and No. 53 crushed stone (53CS) subbase overlaying these subgrades. For the subbase layers, these statistical limits are applicable only to six inches of subbase over subgrade and may not be applicable to a different layer configuration in terms of the number of lifts or thickness of lifts. The ultimate goal is for the developed statistical limits to replace the need for site-specific LWD limits derived from the onsite test sections, ultimately saving time and money. Due to variability in the data and data limitations, caution must be exercised when generalizing the findings published in this report. Compared to the data from the acceptance test sections, the data collected from test sections saw less variability between projects, for any given material type. The test section data yielded maximum allowable deflections that did not vary significantly between projects for cement- and lime-modified subgrade, non modified subgrade, and six inches of #53 crushed stone over lime-modified subgrade. Generally, within any specific contract location (project site), the data indicates adequate confidence that the test pads generate control measurements that can be used reliably to check the adequacy of compaction at that contract location. However, across different contact locations, even for the same material type, so much variability was observed that it is not possible to guarantee that the control measurements generated from a limited number of test sections (pads) can be confidently transferred to another site of the same material type.


The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) Act (Helms-Burton Act) is the latest appendage to the Cuban embargo. Title III has caused an international uproar because it gives U.S. victims of Cuban expropriation a right of action within U.S. courts against third parties who traffic in confiscated property. For example, a U.S. citizen can sue a Canadian Mining company doing business in Cuba if they are operating on or using expropriated property. The Helms-Burton Act (HBA) targets U.S. allies who continue to trade and invest in Cuba regardless of pending U.S. claims of expropriation. In response to the HBA, Cuba, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union (EU) created antidote legislation to protect their domestic interests against the allegedly illegitimate extension of U.S. jurisdiction. This Article investigates the interesting relationship between the economic and political power of a country and its ability to curtail the domestic effects of the HBA. Part II provides a brief background of the HBA and evaluates the virtues and vices of each of its four titles. Part III argues that the United States is using Title III as a bargaining device to force U.S. allies to adjust their policy towards Cuba and to discourage foreign corporations from investing in the island. Given the United State's acutely unequal level of political and economic power in the world, the mere threat to enforce Title III has had severe implications for Cuba and its trading partners. Part IV presents the legislative offensive launched by Cuba, Canada, Mexico, and the EU to protect their domestic interests in the face of this Title III threat. More importantly, this section explores how power asymmetries limit the ability of foreign governments to block the application of U.S. law within its jurisdiction. Part V explores the utility and efficacy of using antidote legislation as a diplomatic tool.


Studies of the aging brain have demonstrated that areas of the frontal cortex, along with their associated top-down executive control processes, are particularly prone to the neurodegenerative effects of age. Here, we investigate the effects of aging on brain and behavior using a novel task, which allows us to examine separate components of an individual's chosen strategy during routine problem solving. Our findings reveal that, contrary to previous suggestions of a specific decrease in cognitive flexibility, older participants show no increased level of perseveration to either the recently rewarded object or the recently relevant object category. In line with this lack of perseveration, lateral and medial regions of the orbito-frontal cortex, which are associated with inhibitory control and reward processing, appear to be functionally intact. Instead, a general loss of efficient problem-solving strategy is apparent with a concomitant decrease in neural activity in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the posterior parietal cortex. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is also affected during problem solving, but age-related decline within this region appears to occur at a later stage.


In this far-ranging and penetrating work, Denise Ferreira da Silva asks why, after more than five hundred years of violence perpetrated by Europeans against people of color, is there no ethical outrage? Rejecting the prevailing view that social categories of difference such as race and culture operate solely as principles of exclusion, Silva presents a critique of modern thought that shows how racial knowledge and power produce global space. Looking at the United States and Brazil, she argues that modern subjects are formed in philosophical accounts that presume two ontological moments-historicity and globality-which are refigured in the concepts of the nation and the racial, respectively. By displacing historicity's ontological prerogative, Silva proposes that the notion of racial difference governs the present global power configuration because it institutes moral regions not covered by the leading post-Enlightenment ethical ideals-namely, universality and self-determination. By introducing a view of the racial as the signifier of globalit y,Toward a Global Idea of Race provides a new basis for the investigation of past and present modern social processes and contexts of subjection. Denise Ferreira da Silva is associate professor of ethnic studies at University of California, San Diego.


Through use of a validated finite-element modeling code, buried out-of-plane (twodimensional code (2D)) and in-plane (three-dimensional code (3D)) acoustic emission (AE) dipole-point-sources were operated at different depths below the top surface of a 25.4-mm (1") thick steel plate with large transverse dimensions. The depths ranged from a source centered at 1.25 mm below the top surface to a source centered at the mid-plane. Most of the cases were run with a source rise time of 2.3 �s. For each depth, the out-of-plane displacements were obtained as a function of time at a series of propagation distances up to 1016 mm (40") from the epicenter position for the out-of-plane sources and up to 381 mm (15") for the in-plane sources. The total time for each signal was from the initiation of the source up to 580 �s (2D) and 200 �s (3D). Since the displacements were obtained on both the top and bottom surfaces, results representing sources at various depths over the whole plate thickness were available. The modeled signals were examined with no filtering as well as with a 40-kHz high-pass filter or a bandpass filter of 100 kHz to 300 kHz. In order to correlate the AE displacement signals with Lamb modes, the relevant group-velocity curves were superimposed on wavelet transforms of the signals. Modal regions that carried a significant portion of the AE energy were identified by mode, frequency range and source depth. For sources located near the plate top surface, a Rayleigh wave was observed in the top-surface displacement signals. This wave was not present in the signals obtained from the bottom surface or from sources not located near the top surface. Signal arrival times at different propagation distances were obtained from the maximum wavelet transform (WT) coefficients at key frequencies of certain modes. Plots of propagation distance versus arrival times were used to find group velocities for a key frequency/mode combination (102 kHz for either the A0 or S0 Lamb modes). These velocities were found to be very close to those obtained from Lamb-wave theory. A method to identify the mode that led to the WT peak at the key frequency was demonstrated for AE events that were detected at four sensors in an array. This method could be automated to process digitized signals to significantly improve accuracy of source location in thick plates when nonresonant AE sensors are used.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness that despite many calls for attention to a firm's context in considering consequences for human resource management (HRM) and performance, research progress to date has been limited at best, although promising signs of change are emerging. Moreover, what has been defined as "performance" is coming under increasing scrutiny, with a more holistic concept emerging that balances both a firm's financial performance and employee well-being. The question remains whether this is a mutual gains or conflicting outcomes situation for the firm vis-á-vis the employee.

Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a framework that facilitates a broader context-centric analysis of the HRM and performance relationship. In so doing, the authors posit that context should no longer merely be an obligatory control variable in a research design, but instead should be explicitly incorporated in both theory development and empirical model testing.

Findings
The Contextual SHRM Framework demonstrates how key organizational actors can balance competitive, heritage and institutional mechanisms to create an appropriate strategic HRM (SHRM) system capable of delivering organizational outcomes that balance financial and employee well-being outcomes, which in the long run impact societal well-being that, in turn, recreates the firm's operating context. At the heart of the framework is an iterative process between context and the SHRM system, achieving an appropriate level of dynamic fit across the various components.

Practical implications
In addition to empirical research, the framework has to date been widely used in executive development training, serving as a force field analysis tool allowing simultaneous consideration of the external and internal elements of a firm's context, key organizational actors and SHRM system outcomes. HR professionals applying the framework to their organization can add value by demonstrating the clear linkage between the business strategy, the HRM system and the firm's operating context.

Originality/value
This paper is designed to encourage new directions in future research and practice. The Contextual SHRM Framework is presented as a novel tool to facilitate advancement of the HRM and performance field of study.


Research Paradigm: The approach for this study is based on positivism
theory with an intention to obtain evidence through focused observations and
identify its likeliness with the actual data collected so that it can be
generalized with the findings of other scholars who have worked on the topic (Remenyi et al., 1998). As elaborated
by (Gill & Johnson, 2002), the crux of
positivism philosophy revolves around the relationship of cause and its effect
generated by different constructs, and the best possible exploration of these
variables.Research Design: Primary data would be collected through a structured
close-ended questionnaire which use to gather the responses from the
stakeholders including teachers, coordinators, and school management and human
resource personnel in the private schools. Therefore, the research
questionnaire adapted from Dogan
(2009)
and Asiyai (2016) as a research
instrument.

Sample Size and Sampling technique: The target population
for this research study consists of different stakeholders for instance:
teachers, coordinators, and school management and HR personnel working in
private schools of Karachi -Pakistan. Non-probability purposive sampling is
being used for this study. The sample size of 400 different stakeholders from
private schools would be adequate to figure out the results (Loehlin, 2004). Since the
actual size of the population is not exactly known and neither accessible to
conduct random sampling, therefore non probability purposive sampling is
chosen. Since the sample consists of different stakeholders for instance:
teachers, coordinators, and school management and HR personnel working in
private schools of Karachi -Pakistan. Therefore, it is a purposive sampling.Data Collection Tool: In this study we used the quantitative research to
measure the perceived effectiveness of in-service training in improving teacher's
performance with one independent variables: in-service training (Training need
assessment and training methodology), one dependent variables teachers
performance (Task performance and contextual performance), 03 mediators
(professional skills, knowledge enhancement and work engagement) and one moderator
(reward). Questionnaire has distributed in the several schools by hand or
through email.Statistical Technique: Since the model consists of multiple variables with mediation
and moderation model, therefore the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is used.
The interface terms integrated with the model is measured for statistical
significance via bootstrapping method. The structural equation modeling has
executed by the partial least square approach.


We use the UK's 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) to study which attributes characterize a top-scoring (four-star) publication in Economics and Econometrics. We frame the analysis as a classification problem and, using information in official documents, derive conditions to infer the unobservable score that panellists awarded to each publication. Juxtaposing institutions' submissions with REF outcomes provides information on the unobservable pass-marks used for assigning quality levels, which respond to journal prestige measured by the Thomson Reuters Article Influence Score. We explore this statistical feature in the econometric analysis, which reveals the limited contribution to awarded quality made by other publication attributes, possibly unobservable to us, conditional on the Article Influence Score. We conclude that, in large-scale and costly evaluations such as the REF, the time-consuming task of peer reviews should be devoted to publications not in academic outlets with unambiguously top-scoring bibliometric indicators of journal impact. Our model also predicts a ranking of academic journals consistent with the classification of REF panellists.


The aim of this article is to determine the correlation between the actual oxygen distribution in tissues and the distribution of oxygen measured by microelectrodes. This correlation is determined by the response function of the electrode, which depends on the oxygen consumed by the electrode. In tissue it is necessary to consider the gradients resulting from cellular respiration. A computer program has been used to simulate the vascular structure of various tissues and also the measurements of oxygen tension using a polarographic electrode. The electrode absorption process is described using a theoretical model. The gradient of oxygen in tissue is described by a mathematical model that takes into consideration both diffusion and cellular consumption of oxygen. We have compared the results obtained using the response function of the electrode and some simplifications of it. The results of these comparisons show that there are some differences in the 'observed' distributions of the oxygen tension in tissues predicted using different formulae for the electrode response function. Also, there are considerable differences between the input oxygen distribution and the measured values in all cases. All the results of the simulations of the oxygen tension 'observed' by a 12 microm polarographic electrode, using different response functions of the electrode, show that the electrode averages the values from many cells. Care should be taken in using a simplification for the response function of the electrode, especially if the results are going to be used as input values in modelling the tumour response to new treatments and/or as a basis of selecting patients for treatments. A computer simulation of measurement of oxygen tensions in regions of steep pO2 gradients shows that extremely high and extremely low pO2 values will not be detected.


Fourth Amendment search jurisprudence is nominally based on a "reasonable expectation of privacy," but actual doctrine is disconnected from society's conception of privacy. Courts rely on various binary distinctions: Is a piece of information secret or not? Was the observed conduct inside or outside? While often convenient, none of these binary distinctions can adequately capture the complicated range of ideas encompassed by "privacy." Privacy theorists have begun to understand that a consideration of social context is essential to a full understanding of privacy. Helen Nissenbaum's theory of contextual integrity, which characterizes a right to privacy as the preservation of expected information flows within a given social context, is one such theory. Grounded, as it is, in context-based normative expectations, the theory describes privacy violations as unexpected information flows within a context, and does a good job of explaining how people actually experience privacy. This Article reexamines the meaning of the Fourth Amendment's "reasonable expectation of privacy" using the theory of contextual integrity. Consider United States v. Miller, in which the police gained access to banking records without a warrant. The theory of contextual integrity shows that Miller was wrongly decided because diverting information meant purely for banking purposes to the police altered an information flow in a normatively inferior way. Courts also often demonstrate contextual thinking below the surface, but get confused because the binaries prevalent in the doctrine hide important distinctions. For example, application of the binary third party doctrine in cases subsequent to Miller obscures important differences between banking and other settings. In two recent cases, United States v. Jones and Florida v. Jardines, the Supreme Court has seemed willing to consider new approaches to search, but they lacked a framework in which to discuss complicated privacy issues that defy binary description. In advocating a context-based search doctrine, this Article provides such a framework, while realigning a "reasonable expectation of privacy" with its meaning in society.


Edge Computing (EC) allows processing to take place near the user, hence ensuring scalability and low latency. Network Function Virtualization (NFV) provides the significant convenience of network layout and reduces the service operation cost in EC and data center. Nowadays, the interests of the NFV layout focus on one-to-one communication, which is costly when applied to multicast or group services directly. Furthermore, many artificial intelligence applications and services of cloud and EC are generally communicated through groups and have special Quality of Service (QoS) and reliable requirements. Therefore, we are devoted to the problem of reliable Virtual Network Function (VNF) layout with various deployment costs in multi-source multicast. To guarantee QoS, we take into account the bandwidth, latency, and reliability constraints. Additionally, a heuristic algorithm, named Multi-Source Reliable Multicast Tree Construction (RMTC), is proposed. The algorithm aims to find a common link to place the Service Function Chain (SFC) in the multilevel overlay directed (MOD) network of the original network, so that the deployed SFC can be shared by all users, thereby improving the resource utilization. We then constructed a Steiner tree to find the reliable multicast tree. Two real topologies are used to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. Simulation results indicate that, compared to other heuristic algorithms, our scheme effectively reduces the cost of reliable services and satisfies the QoS requirements.


Interlayered lithologies of diverse mineralogy enclosing the Middle Dalradian syngenetic Ba–Zn–Pb deposit at Foss, S of Loch Tummel in Perthshire, allow estimates of the P–T conditions of metamorphism using several new geothermometers and geobarometers. Temperatures of 500–560°C are derived from calcite–dolomite geothermometry and from data on Mg–Fe partitioning within garnet–hornblende and garnet–biotite pairs. Plagioclase–biotite–garnet–muscovite and biotite–muscovite–chlorite equilibria indicate peak metamorphic pressures of 8–10 kbar which are in agreement with the results of sphalerite geobarometry. Textural evidence indicates that the rare platy mineral cymrite (BaA12Si2O8 H2O) was widespread in mineralized lithologies during penetrative deformation, and has since largely been replaced by celsian. The P–T location of the experimentally determined reaction line, cymritess = celsianss + H2O, places further constraints on the peak metamorphic conditions and suggests that the final episode of penetrative deformation (D3) was followed by a period of near-isothermal uplift during which celsian became stable. The cymrite field appears to have been re-entered during late brittle deformation. Peak metamorphic conditions recorded by mineral equilibria at Foss differ from those of areas 10 km to the N and S.


We present a coarse-and-fine algorithm that also uses discontinuity edge elements for stereo matching. The model uses a pyramid of multi-resolution scale images as input to create multiple disparity maps and discontinuity maps for the horizontal and vertical edges. The energy cost model includes the data constraint within each grid layer, smoothness constraint within each grid, and the inter-grid constraint to make sure there is consistency between neighboring resolution grids. Edge elements have an effect on the smoothness constraint in all the resolution levels to reduce an error from trying to smooth between discontinuity regions. We also propose a method to propagate the edge constraint between neighboring resolution grids. Using the Gibbs Sampler with simulated annealing optimization, we obtain the disparity and edge maps as a result of our algorithm. Results for various test images are presented.


The basic spinal network mechanisms underlying limb movements are still not fully understood. Investigating spinal cord preparations from adult turtles, Berg et al. describe how spinal networks operate during motor pattern generation. Balanced increases in synaptic excitation and inhibition operate in spinal motor neurons to produce rhythmic bursts of action potentials that are stochastic in nature. This activity contrasts strongly with the classical notion that antiphasic inhibition and excitation produces rhythmic activity in oscillatory spinal networks (see Kristan for commentary). R. W. Berg, A. Alaburda, J. Hounsgaard, Balanced inhibition and excitation drive spike activity in spinal half-centers. Science 315, 390-393 (2007). [Abstract] [Full Text] W. B. Kristan, A push-me pull-you neural design. Science 315, 339-340 (2007). [Summary] [Full Text]


This paper presents a new interior point nonlinear programming algorithm for optimal power flow problems (OPF) based on the perturbed KKT conditions of the primal problem. Through the concept of the centering direction, we extend this algorithm to classical power flow (PF) and approximate OPF problems. For the latter, CPU time can be reduced substantially. To efficiently handle functional inequality constraints, a reduced correction equation is derived, the size of which depends on that of equality constraints. A novel data structure is proposed which has been realized by rearranging the correction equation. Compared with the conventional data structure of Newton OPF, the number of fill-ins of the proposed scheme is roughly halved and CPU time is reduced by about 15% for large scale systems. The proposed algorithm includes four kinds of objective functions and two different data structures. Extensive numerical simulations on test systems that range in size from 14 to 1047 buses, have shown that the proposed method is very promising for large scale application due to its robustness and fast execution time.


The metabolism of chlorinated guaiacols by a pure bacterial strain identified by its ability to use guaiacol as the sole carbon and energy source was studied. This strain, identified as Acinetobacter junii 5ga, was unable to grow on several chlorinated guaiacols and catechols. However, strain 5ga grown on guaiacol degraded 4- and 5-chloroguaiacol and 4,5-dichloroguaiacol. Under the same conditions, these cells did not degrade 6-chloroguaiacol, 4,6-dichloroguaiacol, 4,5,6-trichloroguaiacol, or tetrachloroguaiacol, suggesting that the substitution at the 6 position in the ring prevents metabolism of the compound. Degradation of 4-chloroguaiacol was dependent on the initial ratio between the chlorinated compound and viable cells. Transient formation of chlorocatechols resulting from incubation of cells with 4-chloroguaiacol or 4,5-dichloroguaiacol was suggested by UV spectroscopy. Gas chromatography analyses of samples from cultures of strain 5ga grown on guaiacol and incubated with 4- and 4,5-dichloroguaiacol confirmed the presence of 4-chlorocatechol and 4,5-dichlorocatechol, respectively. The formation of the latter was corroborated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Thus, this strain is able to initiate metabolism of specific chlorinated guaiacols by O-demethylation. The starting chlorinated guaiacols and their O-demethylated metabolites inhibited the growth of A. junii 5ga on guaiacol.


While research shows that there are large gains in lifetime wealth from delaying claiming Social Security, most people claim at or before full retirement age. We fielded an original, nationally representative survey to gain insight into people's rationales for their Social Security claiming decisions, their satisfaction with their past claiming decisions, and how they financed any gap between retirement and claiming. Common rationales for claiming Social Security before full retirement age include stopping work, liquidity, poor health, and concerns about future benefit cuts due to policy changes. Claiming upon stopping work and claiming at full retirement age appear to be viewed as social norms. But while Social Security claiming is strongly associated with stopping work, the roughly quarter of the sample who have a gap of two or more years between retirement and claiming used employer-sponsored pensions and other saving to finance the delay. Individuals who claimed at full retirement age are more satisfied with their claiming decisions than individuals who claimed early or delayed. There is little evidence that claiming decisions and rationales for claiming are correlated with financial literacy or knowledge of Social Security rules.


Study Design. Concurrent validity between postural indices obtained from digital photographs (two-dimensional [2D]), surface topography imaging (three-dimensional [3D]), and radiographs. Objective. To assess the validity of a quantitative clinical postural assessment tool of the trunk based on photographs (2D) as compared to a surface topography system (3D) as well as indices calculated from radiographs. Summary of Background Data. To monitor progression of scoliosis or change in posture over time in young persons with idiopathic scoliosis (IS), noninvasive and nonionizing methods are recommended. In a clinical setting, posture can be quite easily assessed by calculating key postural indices from photographs. Methods. Quantitative postural indices of 70 subjects aged 10 to 20 years old with IS (Cobb angle, 15°–60°) were measured from photographs and from 3D trunk surface images taken in the standing position. Shoulder, scapula, trunk list, pelvis, scoliosis, and waist angles indices were calculated with specially designed software. Frontal and sagittal Cobb angles and trunk list were also calculated on radiographs. The Pearson correlation coefficients (r) was used to estimate concurrent validity of the 2D clinical postural tool of the trunk with indices extracted from the 3D system and with those obtained from radiographs. Results. The correlation between 2D and 3D indices was good to excellent for shoulder, pelvis, trunk list, and thoracic scoliosis (0.81 > r < 0.97; P < 0.01) but fair to moderate for thoracic kyphosis, lumbar lordosis, and thoracolumbar or lumbar scoliosis (0.30 > r < 0.56; P < 0.05). The correlation between 2D and radiograph spinal indices was fair to good (−0.33 to −0.80 with Cobb angles and 0.76 for trunk list; P < 0.05). Conclusion. This tool will facilitate clinical practice by monitoring trunk posture among persons with IS. Further, it may contribute to a reduction in the use of radiographs to monitor scoliosis progression.


Cross-lingual tasks are especially difficult due to the compounding effect of errors in language processing and errors in machine translation (MT). In this paper, we present an error analysis of a new cross-lingual task: the 5W task, a sentence-level understanding task which seeks to return the English 5W's (Who, What, When, Where and Why) corresponding to a Chinese sentence. We analyze systems that we developed, identifying specific problems in language processing and MT that cause errors. The best cross-lingual 5W system was still 19% worse than the best monolingual 5W system, which shows that MT significantly degrades sentence-level understanding. Neither source-language nor target-language analysis was able to circumvent problems in MT, although each approach had advantages relative to the other. A detailed error analysis across multiple systems suggests directions for future research on the problem.


Background Cabazitaxel has been approved as combination treatment with prednisone in patients with metastatic prostate cancer (MPC) refractory to hormone treatment previously treated with docetaxel. Purpose To analyse the effectiveness and safety of cabazitaxel in patients diagnosed with MPC. Materials and methods A retrospective descriptive study was done of patients treated with cabazitaxel from its introduction on the market until September 2013. Study variables: age, ECOG score, previous chemotherapy, cycles of cabazitaxel, response or progression of PSA levels, tumour response rate based on the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumours (RECIST), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and adverse reactions (ARs). Data source: clinical history and Farmis-Infowind pharmaceutical validation program. Results We included 7 patients with a median age of 71 years and an ECOG score ≤2. The median number of previous lines of treatment was 3 (range 2–5), and treatment consisted of the following: 7 patients received docetaxel 75 mg/m2 (4–11 cycles), 3 received mitoxantrone 12 mg/m2 (2–5), 4 received abiraterone 1000 mg/day, 2 received cyclophosphamide 50 mg/day, and one received vinorelbine 30 mg/m2 (3). The mean number of cabazitaxel cycles was 3 (range 2–6). One patient presented a decrease in PSA with radiological response according to the RECIST criteria after the third cycle, while the rest (n = 6) showed progression. Median PFS was 1.5 months (range 1–4), while OS (measurable in 3 patients) was 9 months in one patient and 6 months in two. The following ARs were recorded: G3 asthenia 2 cases, G2 neutropenia 1 case, G3 nausea 1 case, acute coronary syndrome without ST-segment elevation 1 case, G1 diarrhoea 1 case, and severe pancytopenia 1 case. In two cases dose reduction was required due to G3 asthenia and G2 neutropenia. Treatment was discontinued in 5 patients (71%) due to disease progression, and in two subjects (30%) due to toxicity (G3 asthenia and nausea and severe pancytopenia). All received prophylactic treatment with G-CSF to reduce the haematological toxicity. Conclusions The efficacy results for cabazitaxel are far lower than those described in pivotal clinical trials, and the associated toxicity profile is notorious. Adequate selection will be required of those patients who may benefit from use of the drug. No conflict of interest.


Dynamic instruction scheduling logic is quite complex and dissipates significant energy in microprocessors that support superscalar and out-of-order execution. We propose a novel microarchitectural technique to reduce the complexity and energy consumption of the dynamic instruction scheduling logic. The proposed method groups several instructions as a single issue unit and reduces the required number of ports and the size of the structure. This paper describes the microarchitecture mechanisms and shows evaluation results for energy savings and performance. These results reveal that the proposed technique can greatly reduce energy with almost no performance degradation, compared to the conventional dynamic instruction scheduling logic.


This paper presents a new robust microphone array processing technique to enhance speech signals under the influence of noise and jammer(s). The new structure comprises two soft constrained subband beamformers and a non-coherent processing technique. Essentially, the first beamformer enhances the desired speech signal in a specified constrained region. The residual interference in the beamformer's output is then spectral subtracted using the estimated interference from the second beamformer. Evaluations in a real office environment show higher interference suppression compared to those obtained using the soft constrained beamformer only. Most importantly, this is achieved with negligible expense on target signal distortion.


We tested the concept of combining DNA with protein to improve anti-HIV Env systemic and mucosal humoral immune responses. Rhesus macaques were vaccinated with DNA, DNA&protein co-immunization or DNA prime followed by protein boost, and the magnitude and mucosal dissemination of the antibody responses were monitored in both plasma and mucosal secretions. We achieved induction of robust humoral responses by optimized DNA vaccination delivered by in vivo electroporation. These responses were greatly increased upon administration of a protein boost. Importantly, a co-immunization regimen of DNA&protein injected in the same muscle at the same time induced the highest systemic binding and neutralizing antibodies to homologous or heterologous Env as well as the highest Env-specific IgG in saliva. Inclusion of protein in the vaccine resulted in more immunized animals with Env-specific IgG in rectal fluids. Inclusion of DNA in the vaccine significantly increased the longevity of systemic humoral immune responses, whereas protein immunization, either as the only vaccine component or as boost after DNA prime, was followed by a great decline of humoral immune responses overtime. We conclude that DNA&protein co-delivery in a simple vaccine regimen combines the strength of each vaccine component, resulting in improved magnitude, extended longevity and increased mucosal dissemination of the induced antibodies in immunized rhesus macaques.


Most modern computer vision systems for high-level tasks, such as image classification, object recognition and segmentation, are based on learning algorithms that are able to separate discriminative information from noise. In practice, however, the typical system consists of a long pipeline of pre-processing steps, such as extraction of different kinds of features, various kinds of normalizations, feature selection, and quantization into aggregated representations such as histograms. Along this pipeline, there are many parameters to set and choices to make, and their effect on the overall system performance is a-priori unclear. In this work, we shorten the pipeline in a principled way. We move pre-processing steps into the learning system by means of kernel parameters, letting the learning algorithm decide upon suitable parameter values. Learning to optimize the pre-processing choices becomes learning the kernel parameters. We realize this paradigm by extending the recent Multiple Kernel Learning formulation from the finite case of having a fixed number of kernels which can be combined to the general infinite case where each possible parameter setting induces an associated kernel. We evaluate the new paradigm extensively on image classification and object classification tasks. We show that it is possible to learn optimal discriminative codebooks and optimal spatial pyramid schemes, consistently outperforming all previous state-of-the-art approaches.