A linearised version of the Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function with time-varying technical efficiencies is estimated. The panel data (1990-1995) collected by the International Rice Research Institute CIRRI) from paddy farmers in the rainfed rice ecosystem of Tarlac, Philippines is used. Firm effects are assumed to be an exponential function of time. The result of the hypothesis testing indicated that significant inefficiency exists in the panel data. Empirical analysis demonstrated that paddy farms in the rainfed rice ecosystem of the Philippines have time-variant technical efficiency and this conclusion is along the lines of earlier findings in the literature. The results also depicted that technological change is not accounting for improvement in technical efficiencies which contradicts the earlier findings. Hence, empirical findings are area specific and cannot be generalised for all ecosystems and regions. On average, technical efficiency estimates improved from 80 per cent in 1990 to 91 per cent in 1995, implying that further potential that can be explored exists.


In Germany, the poor performance in PISA 2000 stimulated a heated public debate and a strong policy response. The government reacted to the low average and remarkable disparities registered by the test, and spurred reforms led to a significant improvement in the country's educational performance and to a reduction of the gap between children from advantaged and disadvantaged educational backgrounds. Still, between‐group achievement inequalities persist within the country. This paper, first, informs about important policy reforms following the PISA shock in 2000. It further gives a description of the current situation and persisting inequalities at secondary schools, with particular attention paid to students with migratory backgrounds.


The objectives of this study were to test the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education among Moslem undergraduate students, determinants of intentions, and the interactions between these variables and spirituality that determine the process. Spirituality influences student's' view on economic activity and interaction with their environment. The research subjects were Moslem students at the Faculty of Economics and Business of University of Indonesia that may be classified as a nascent entrepreneur: the group that is considering self-employment as a career choice. The techniques of data collection were interviews and questionnaires. The data were analyzed using a quantitative approach of Mann-Whitney U-test to test the effects of education among the groups of students who have received entrepreneurship education and groups that have not, as a control group. The results showed that (1) there are three factors that can identify entrepreneurial intentions which can be identified in detail with three indicators and (2) the effects of entrepreneurship education in shaping the entrepreneurial intentions which depends on student's' spirituality.


This paper describes our novel approach to supporting the 'design for all' philosophy of design. Our approach has been to create a database of individual people, in terms of their 3D anthropometry and functional abilities. Datasets for individuals are kept intact, a radical departure from the traditional approach which involves effectively 'dismembering' people to create tables of percentiles for every dimension of interest. This database is accessed by HADRIAN, our CAD based design tool, so that proposed designs of products or services can be automatically evaluated for each individual, based upon criteria set by the designer (e.g. access, reach, vision, mobility and strength). The tool can identify which individuals will be 'designed out' and can support the designer in modifying the proposed design to achieve a greater percentage of people accommodated.


In the lead-up to the financial crisis, the U.S. financial sector was overleveraged, short-funded, risky, and opaque. "Shadow banking" permitted institutions to avoid comprehensive supervision and capital requirements. Innovation outpaced the ability or willingness of privateand public-sector guardians to rein in risks. An asset bubble fed the system, until the market imploded in the fall of 2008. When the crisis hit, our society found itself illequipped to deal with the failure of leading financial firms. In the wake of the crisis, the Obama Administration proposed a set of reforms that were eventually embodied, in large part, in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. This Essay explores the Act's key reforms: the regulation of shadow banking, the creation of a consumer financial protection agency, and the development of a resolution authority to wind down failing financial firms. The Essay also analyzes the steps that must still occur domestically and internationally to lay afirm foundation for financial stability.


Background. The accuracy and completeness of the SEER-Medicare data for measuring cancer-related therapy have not been extensively evaluated. Objectives. To investigate the best method for measuring cancer-related surgery among patients in the SEER-Medicare database. Subjects. A total of 149,970 incident cases of breast, colorectal, endometrial, lung, pancreatic, and prostate cancer diagnosed between 1991 and 1993. Measures. The most invasive surgical procedure identified through Medicare's inpatient, physician, and hospital outpatient claims was compared with corresponding data from the SEER files. Results. Agreement between the SEER and Medicare files was generally highest for resection and radical surgery (eg, &kgr; 0.70–0.90). While there was less agreement regarding no surgical therapy and biopsy individually, the concordance of the two sources in excluding cancer-directed surgery was high. Compared with inpatient data alone, using the combined inpatient, physician, and outpatient data increased concordance between SEER and Medicare for less invasive procedures. Conclusions. The agreement of SEER and Medicare data appears to be good for major surgical procedures and for excluding persons who did not undergo cancer-directed surgery. Both the SEER and the Medicare data captured a small number of surgeries not reported in the other file. Therefore, where possible, using both data sources will enhance identification of surgeries. Because the analysis was performed with linked data, the accuracy of surgical claims in Medicare data alone cannot be assessed.


A. mangium is the most widely planted plantation species
in Malaysia for general utility timber and pulp and paper.
The occurrence of natural hybrids between A. mangium and A.
auriculiformis has created general interest in using hybrids in the plantation programme.
This study looks into the reproductive biology of A.
mangium and A. auriculiformis and compares the performance of
hybrid progenies and progenies of their parental species.
Morphologically, the inflorescences and flowers of A.
mangium and A. auriculiformis are similar. The in florescence of
both species consists of numerous flowers borne on a loose
spike. The flowers are small and brightly coloured. The main
difference between the flowers of the two species is the
colour, creamy white in A. mangium and bright yellow in A.
auriculiformis. Andromonoecy is also observed in both species.


Glaucoma, a group of heterogeneous optic neuropathies characterized by progressive visual field loss, is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. The condition has a substantial heritable basis, as illustrated by the numerous loci and genes identified to date, and the large proportion of patients having a family history. Categorized according to the anatomy of the anterior chamber angle, there are 2 main forms of glaucoma, primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) and primary angle closure glaucoma (PACG). The first half of the thesis describes the molecular genetic study of POAG, while the latter deals with PACG. Primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) accounts for most glaucoma in Caucasian and Afro-Caribbean populations. The condition is classified according to the presence of elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) into high- tension glaucoma (HTG) or normal tension glaucoma (NTG). OPAl, the gene responsible for autosomal dominant optic atrophy represents an excellent candidate gene for POAG (in particular NTG). Single nucleotide polymorphisms on intervening sequence (IVS) 8 of the 0/M7gene (genotype IVS 8 +4 C/T; +32 T/C) were found to be strongly associated with a fifth of NTG cases and may be a marker for disease association, providing the first evidence of an association between OPAl and NTG. However this OPAl genotype was not found to be significantly associated with HTG. Further work did not detect a significant difference in a range of phenotypic features in NTG patients with and without these OPAl polymorphisms, suggesting that these specific genetic variations do not underlie any major phenotypic diversity in NTG. Optineurin (OPTTN), in the GLC1E interval on chromosome 10p, was recently identified as the second gene underlying POAG, with a common mutation, E50K, being found in 13.5% of families, and a M98K variant identified as a significant risk-associated genetic factor for POAG. However when a large panel of 315 sporadic adult POAG subjects were examined for these 2 OPTN sequence variants, the E50K mutation was identified in only 1.5% of NTG subjects, making it an infrequent cause of sporadic NTG. The M98K variant was found to be associated specifically with NTG but not HTG, suggesting allelic heterogeneity between these 2 phenotypes. A characteristic NTG phenotype comprising a young-adult age of onset, advanced visual loss and progressive disease, has been described in individuals carrying the E50K OPTN mutation. Primary angle closure glaucoma (PACG) is the main form of glaucoma in East Asian populations. Two large Singaporean PACG families were examined and the first locus for the disease was identified on chromosome 10 using linkage analysis. The disease interval was refined to 5.0 cM on chromosome 10qll flanked by the markers D10S225 and D10S568, with the maximum LOD score of 3.4 at 0=.00 for D10S220. Several genes, GDF10, TIM23, SLC18A3 and ASAH2 were excluded as candidates for this condition. This molecular genetic study of both POAG and PACG has contributed to our knowledge of glaucoma.


Objective: The aims of the study was to explore the application effect of ionic liquid as a green solvent in the polyphenolics content extraction from Peperomia pellucida (L.) Kunth herbs using 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium bromide ([BMIM]Br) and 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium chloride ([BMIM]Cl). Methods: The polyphenolics content extraction was performed by using the ionic liquid based microwave-assisted extraction (IL-MAE) method with some extraction parameters, including extraction time, microwave power, ratio liquid-solid, and ionic liquid concentration. The yields of total polyphenolic content were examined using a microplate reader 96 well method, and the extraction mechanism was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results: The results showed that the effect of ionic liquid on the yield of total polyphenolics content, including 18.287 μg GAE/g (0.7 mol/l [BMIM]Cl concentration, 14 ml/l liquid-solid ratio, and 270 Watts microwave power for 10 minutes), and 15.734 μg GAE/g (0.7 mol/l [BMIM] Br concentration, 14 ml/l liquid-solid ratio, and 270 Watts microwave power for 15 minutes), whereas the SEM demonstrated the extraction mechanism with significant physical changes in matrix sample after treatment using different solvents. Conclusion: Application of green chemistry principles using an ionic liquid as a green solvent for the polyphenolic extraction of P. pellucida herbs to be rapid, easy, and efficient. Key words: Peperomia pellucida (L.) Kunth, total polyphenolic content, ionic liquid-based microwave-assisted extraction, 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium bromide, 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium chloride.


These two pamphlets outline the Bankruptcy Code and Rules, commentary, relevant case annotations and legislative and rule history. Part 1 contains the complete text of the Code, as amended, selected portions of other relevant statutory provisions, relevant case history, case annotations and commentary by Judge Asa Herzog. Part 2 provides the Bankruptcy Rules and Official Forms, as amended, and the Advisory Committee Notes to the Rules; also included are case annotations and commentary by Lawrence P. King. This publication is also available on the "Collier on Bankruptcy" CD (Product No. 533), the "Collier Bankruptcy Library" CD (Product No. 566), the "Collier Bankruptcy Practice Guide" CD (Product No. 555), "Collier Bankruptcy Manuals" CD (Product No. 558), the "Collier Bankruptcy Practice Package" CD (Product No. 572) and the "Collier Debtors' Package" CD (Product No. 567).


New Atheism is characterized by a binary logic that pits religion against science, belief against doubt, a pre-modern past against a modern present. It generates a temporal sensibility and attitude toward being modern that is a 'survival' of late-nineteenth-century anthropology, where religious belief and the past were bound together in opposition to science and the present. We analyze this binary logic and then, in response, present two ethnographic accounts—one from the Philippines, the other from Taiwan—to support our contention that religion is not just a matter of personal convictions. Rather, it is a public practice in which belief and doubt are constituted socially and dialogically.


U.S. policymakers are in the midst of an active debate over how best to accelerate the build-out of next-generation broadband networks. The U.S. economy has a significant economic stake in the outcome. It is increasingly apparent in the global economy linked together by the Internet that the future competitiveness of individual firms, and indeed entire economies, depends heavily on being able to communicate on state-of-the-art networks. Next-generation broadband networks will be significantly more expensive than earlier versions. In the United States alone, the required investment to deploy such networks ubiquitously could exceed $140 billion. This investment will not be made unless those who supply the funds for it are compensated with a rate of return commensurate with the risk. In virtually all private sector markets, firms that undertake investments have sufficient freedom to fashion the way in which they offer the products and services those investments make possible and to price them in ways that meet customer demands and optimize their returns. In the broadband Internet access market, however, advocates of proposed network neutrality ("net neutrality") regulation would restrict those who are planning to build out next-generation broadband networks from having these freedoms. This paper examines one particular aspect of the "net neutrality" proposals: "non-discrimination" requirements relating to the provision of network quality of service (QoS) to content providers. The paper concludes that such requirements, however innocuous they may seem, actually would be detrimental to the objectives that all Americans seemingly should want — namely, the accelerated construction of next-generation networks, and benefits of lower prices, broader consumer choices, and innovations these networks would bring. The paper also concludes that under the best of circumstances, even if networks are significantly upgraded in the presence of net neutrality rules , the proposed non-discrimination provisions would provide incentives for those who would build and operate networks to offer "blended" QoS levels that are "too high" for some applications and "too low" for others. Mediocrity in broadband service is hardly an objective that policymakers in the United States should be trying to achieve.


The array of genes that are expressed during the life cycle of a cell can be pictured as a complex genetic circuit. Laub et al. provide a global survey of the part of that circuit expressed during the cell cycle of Caulobacter crescentus, a bacterium that differentiates during the course of its life. Out of nearly 3000 genes, 553 show cell-cycle regulation. Temporal controls over genes involved in specific cell functions and coordinate regulation of proteins that are part of complexes were also observed. CtRA was shown to be a central regulator of the cell cycle in experiments with overexpressing or loss-of-function mutants. A histidine kinase and two RNA polymerase sigma factors were identified as possible regulators of early S phase. Laub, M.T., McAdams, H.H., Feldblyum, T., Fraser, C.M., and Shapiro, L. (2000) Global analysis of the genetic network controlling a bacterial cell cycle. Science 290: 2144-2148. [Abstract] [Full Text]


Taxonomic composition and emergence phenologies of Chironomidae inhabiting an intermittent stream in eastern Kansas were determined over a three year period using collections of surface-floating pupal exuviae. Duration of surface flows varied substantially over the period of study, ranging from 266 days in 1993-1994 to 215 days in 1994-1995 and 137 days in 1995-1996. The stream bed dried completely during summer and/or fall in all three years. Fifty-five species emerged from the stream during the study, with Orthocladiinae having the greatest species richness (26 taxa), followed by Chironomini (14), Tanytarsini (10) and Tanypodinae (5). No Diamesinae, Prodiamesinae, Podonominae nor Pseudochironomini were present. Annual emergence varied considerably with 29 species in 1993-1994, 49 species in 1994-1995 and only 6 species in 1995-1996. During the first two years the phenological patterns resembled those expected for small, cooler-water streams, with winter and early spring emergence dominated by Orthocladiinae. The peak in emergence of Orthocladiinae was followed by a small but distinct increase in Tanytarsini in early spring, then Chironomini became more common as water temperatures increased and surface discharge declined. The timing of emergence was strongly influenced by the date at which surface discharge began, and resulted in about a 2 month shift between 1993-1994 and 1994-1995. Averaged over the three years of the study, emergence was dominated by seven species: Corynoneura sp. 1, Corynoneura sp. 2, Orthocladius lapponicus, Parametriocnemus cf. lundbecki, Thienemanniella sp., Larsia decolorata, and Zavrelimyia sinuosa. The remaining species consisted of a mixture of species common in perennial streams plus (1) winter/early spring emerging species that likely persist in the stream in desiccation-resistant stages or in the hyporheic during periods of intermittency, (2) semiaquatic or semiterrestrial species, and (3) species of genera in which larvae are known to produce cocoons and diapause, or occur in moist sediments. We estimate that as many as 60 % of the species of Chironomidae are facultative or specialist species that characterize this intermittent stream.


The purpose of this pilot and main study was to examine teachers' perceptions of the post No Child Left Behind (NCLB) elementary classroom, the perceived changes, and the implications for teachers' feelings of empowerment and student test anxiety. Previous investigators have agreed that the teacher's voice has been missing, but needed in test anxiety research. By engaging veteran teachers who had experience both before and after the enactment of NCLB in reflective conversation about their experiences, valuable information was gained concerning whether or not teachers felt empowered to perform their duties and what impact they perceived that high stakes standardized testing has had on both teacher anxiety and student test anxiety. This information could be used to inform educational practice and decision making. Triangulation of data sources included narrative data collected through face-to-face interviews with the teachers, the writing of field notes, interview process notes, and reflective journal entries from both the pilot and main studies. Three clear themes emerged that fit the division of the data by the research questions: change in the teachers' experiences, change in teaching vocabulary, and change in the students' experiences. These themes emerged through a process of categorical-content perspective analysis for coding the data and sorting it into themes. The Hermeneutic narrative analysis approach was used to analyze and identify the meaning of these related experiences and stories. The context of the pilot and main studies was elementary schools in a rural school system in the Southeastern United States. The participants were eleven elementary teachers from grades three through five with experience before and after NCLB enactment who taught core academic subjects. Member checks of the interview transcripts and data analysis enhanced the credibility of these reports. The analysis revealed both positive and negative perceptions of the changes in the classroom experience of these elementary teachers, their feelings of empowerment, and the impact of the changes on the test anxiety of their students. Participants across the pilot and main studies indicated that increased stress, pressure, frustration, and professional struggles have had a negative impact on teacher anxiety, teacher efficacy beliefs, and student test anxiety.


There has been a substantial amount of disability research in disciplines such as sociology and rehabilitation psychology but such research remains limited in some others like organizational behavior and human resources management. Also, little attention has been paid to the behaviors and work outcomes of disabled people in real workplace settings. To address these research gaps, data were collected by means of survey questionnaires administered to supervisors and (disabled and non-disabled) subordinates representing various manufacturing and service organizations in Malaysia. The objectives are to investigate the use of rational tactics among disabled workers and its impact on two work outcomes i.e., salary progression and promotability. It was found that disabled workers similarly used rational tactics as did their non-disabled counterparts though to a lesser extent. Interestingly, rational tactics were found to have a stronger impact on promotability but not on salary progression when workers had a disability. The findings have implications for future efforts to enhance the work outcomes of disabled people.


Mesenchymal chondrosarcoma is a rare malignancy characterized by a biphasic pattern of small undifferentiated round cells intermixed with island of well-differentiated cartilaginous matrix. Although this type of tumor exhibits widespread distribution in the body, intracranial mesenchymal chondrosarcoma is rare. Radical excision of intracranial mesenchymal chondrosarcoma is important for obtaining a positive prognosis but the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiotherapy remains uncertain. An 18-year-old patient presented with generalized seizure with magnetic resonance imaging showing a large dura-attached solid mass in the frontal convexity, which was presumptively diagnosed as a meningioma. Gross total resection of tumor was achieved without postoperative deficit. The final histological diagnosis was extra-skeletal mesenchymal chondrosarcoma, grade I. There was no adjuvant treatment after surgery. Five years after surgery, the prognosis was good after gross total resection only; however, long-term follow-up is necessary in the future. J Med Cases. 2018;9(5):135-138 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jmc3040w


The structure of the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) over the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean is influenced by spatial variations of sea surface temperature (SST) in the region. As the MABL air is advected across a strong SST gradient associated with the cold tongue–ITCZ complex (CTIC), substantial changes occur in the thermodynamic structure, surface fluxes, and cloud properties. This study attempts to define and explain the variability in the MABL structure and clouds over the CTIC. Using data collected on research cruises from the fall seasons of 1999–2001, composite soundings were created for both the cold and warm sides of the SST front to describe the mean atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) structure and its evolution across this front. The average difference in SST across this front was 6°C; much of this difference was concentrated in a band only 50 km wide. During the fall seasons, on the cold side of the gradient, a well-defined inversion exists in all years. Below this inversion, both fair-weather cumulus and stratiform clouds are observed. As the MABL air moves over the SST front to warmer waters, the inversion weakens and increases in height. The MABL also moistens and eventually supports deeper convection over the ITCZ. Both the latent and sensible heat fluxes increase dramatically across the SST front because of both an increase in SST and surface wind speed. Cloudiness is variable on the cold side of the SST front ranging from 0.2 to 0.9 coverage. On the warm side, cloud fraction was quite constant in time, with values generally greater than 0.8. The highest cloud-top heights (3 km) are found well north of the SST front, indicating areas of deeper convection. An analysis using energy and moisture budgets identifies the roles of various physical processes in the MABL evolution.


The perfect guide to help you understand XBRL-from the "father of XBRL" What is XBRL and how can it help you streamline your business reporting? This plain-English guide from the "father of XBRL," Charles Hoffman, will tell you what it is, why it is, and how you can get on the bus with this new SEC-mandated business reporting standard for publicly-traded companies. A CPA, Hoffman is credited with the idea of applying XML data to financial reporting; XBRL is the language that resulted. Learn to prepare financial statements with XBRL, use it for strategic planning, move all relevant departments in your company to the same system, and more. XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is an XML-based open standard for accounting data; author Charles Hoffman is credited with the idea of applying XML data to financial reporting Plan for XBRL implementation, set action-oriented agendas, and identify stakeholders and subject-matter experts within your organization Learn to choose from and adapt existing XBRL taxonomies to comply with US GAAP and IFRS standards Topics also include how to adapt your existing financial information into XBRL.


The content of six lactate dehydrogenase isoenzymes in testes of rats exposed to electromagnetic field of 3-cm wavelength range was studied. The changes in their percent contents were found to be inhomogeneous compared with control. It is assumed that electromagnetic radiation affects the organs of the human urinogenital system. The results can be used for estimating the safety of persons professionally exposed to electromagnetic radiation of the industrial frequency range and in the therapy of diseases of the urinogenital system.


OBJECTIVE
In platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, adding pertuzumab to gemcitabine improved progression-free survival in the subgroup with low tumor HER3 messenger RNA expression. The 2-part PENELOPE trial (NCT01684878) is prospectively investigating pertuzumab plus chemotherapy in this population.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Part 1 evaluated pertuzumab plus either topotecan or paclitaxel. Patients with platinum-refractory or platinum-resistant recurrent ovarian, primary peritoneal, or fallopian tube cancer and low HER3 messenger RNA expression (concentration ratio ≤2.81 by central quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction testing on Cobas z480) received intravenous pertuzumab (840 mg loading dose then 420 mg every 3 weeks) with the investigator's choice of topotecan (1.25 mg/m2 days 1-5 every 3 weeks) or weekly paclitaxel (80 mg/m2) until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. The primary objective was to assess safety and tolerability.

RESULTS
Fifty patients were treated in part 1 (22 topotecan; 28 paclitaxel). In both cohorts, disease progression was the most common primary reason for discontinuing pertuzumab, and the most common all-grade adverse events (AEs) were fatigue/asthenia, anemia, and diarrhea. The most common grade ≥3 AEs were anemia (36%), neutropenia (27%), and fatigue/asthenia (18%) for topotecan, and peripheral sensory neuropathy (14%) and anemia (11%) for paclitaxel. Two patients receiving paclitaxel-pertuzumab died from AEs (abdominal infection; unexplained death). Median progression-free survival was 4.1 months (95% confidence interval, 1.9-6.1) with topotecan-pertuzumab and 4.2 months (95% confidence interval, 3.5-6.0) with paclitaxel-pertuzumab.

CONCLUSIONS
Based on part 1 tolerability, the Independent Data Monitoring Committee had no objection to PENELOPE proceeding to part 2, a double-blind randomized comparison of chemotherapy (topotecan, paclitaxel, or gemcitabine) plus pertuzumab or placebo.


It is part of the Online Library of Liberty web site http://oll.libertyfund.org, which was established in 2004 in order to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. To find out more about the author or title, to use the site's powerful search engine, to see other titles in other formats (HTML, facsimile PDF), or to make use of the hundreds of essays, educational aids, and study guides, please visit the OLL web site. This title is also part of the Portable Library of Liberty DVD which contains over 1,000 books and quotes about liberty and power, and is available free of charge upon request.


The relationship between Australia (an outpost of Anglo-western culture) and Indonesia (the world's most populous Muslim nation) has always been precarious. Much of the Australian media and political 'mediasphere' have contributed to the destabilisation of this relationship, most particularly as many media professionals reduce complex transcultural and transnational engagement to simple and essentialised cultural dichotomies. This limited vision is evident in the popular media's treatment of two significant politico-cultural issues: regional terrorism and the trade in illicit narcotics. Within a context of the global war on terror and Islamic attacks in Bali, much of the Australian popular media and public have been particularly agitated by the conviction and death sentencing of a group of Australians (the Bali Nine) who had attempted to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia. This article examines the interrelationship between drug trafficking and regional security in South East Asia, most specifically as the issues have been conflated through transnational politics and the Australian media. The article concludes that these issues have a common trajectory within the momentum of globalisation and the cultural imaginaries created through the modern mediasphere.


Many perceptual processes and neural computations, such as speech recognition, motor control and learning, depend on the ability to measure and mark the passage of time. However, the processes that make such temporal judgements possible are unknown. A number of different hypothetical mechanisms have been advanced, all of which depend on the known, temporally predictable evolution of a neural or psychological state, possibly through oscillations or the gradual decay of a memory trace. Alternatively, judgements of elapsed time might be based on observations of temporally structured, but stochastic processes. Such processes need not be specific to the sense of time; typical neural and sensory processes contain at least some statistical structure across a range of time scales. Here, we investigate the statistical properties of an estimator of elapsed time which is based on a simple family of stochastic process.


A microstructural investigation of stishovite-bearing quartzite from the Vredefort meteorite impact site in South Africa reveals features that are attributed to shock deformation. These include abundant mechanically induced Dauphine twinning, rhombohedral deformation lamellae and associated residual stresses. Mechanical twins were identified with SEM-EBSD. Residual stresses are derived from equivalent strains that are observed on Laue diffraction images measured with microfocused synchrotron X-rays. Average lattice strains of 1400 microstrains in Vredefort quartz are much higher compared to values (500) found in quartz from granite samples subject to only regional metamorphism. While the granitic quartz shows mainly normal compressive and tensile residual stresses, in Vredefort quartz, shear stresses associated with lamellar boundaries dominate.


At the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, the Allied leaders identified four dimensions of German militarism that were of particular concern: the power of the military elite and their privileged position inside the state, the activities of paramilitary formations and the armaments industry, and the support for militarism in the public. The leaders agreed to a set of policies that sought to address these concerns of reigning in any militaristic tendencies. This article focuses on the relevance of these four areas of concern by examining their relevance in different periods, from the German Empire to the present, and trying to discern lines of continuity or of disruption. The impact of the armaments industry is as strong as ever, but the German army is now controlled by the parliament, soldiers have acquired certain rights and the general public seems not to be enthusiastic about the German participation in the Afghanistan war. Nevertheless, the involvement of the German troops in out of area-operations of NATO or the emerging European defence forces is on the increase.


The oxide semiconductor with different band gap energy i.e. manganese dioxide (MnO2) (Eg: 1.30eV) and zinc oxide (ZnO) (Eg: 3.37 eV) nanoparticles were used to degrade RhodamineB (RhB) under irradiation of UV light (254 nm).The MnO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by hydrothermal method (160 °C, 4 h) using analytical grade manganese sulfate hydrate and potassium permanganate (VII) as precursors. The XRD analysis reveals that the nanoparticles were d-MnO2.The photocatalytic study shows that degradation of RhB solution by ZnO nanoparticles (rate constant: 0.02749 min-1) was approximately four times faster than the d-MnO2 nanoparticles (rate constant:0.0067 min-1). This observation could be attributed to the higher reducing and oxidizing power of ZnO in producing free radicals for photodegradation of RhB solution.


James Michael Curley, a four-time mayor of Boston, used wasteful redistribution to his poor Irish constituents and incendiary rhetoric to encourage richer citizens to emigrate from Boston, thereby shaping the electorate in his favor. Boston as a consequence stagnated, but Curley kept winning elections. We present a model of the Curley effect, in which inefficient redistributive policies are sought not by interest groups protecting their rents, but by incumbent politicians trying to shape the electorate through emigration of their opponents or reinforcement of class identities. The model sheds light on ethnic politics in the United States and abroad, as well as on class politics in many countries including Britain.


Planning provides the basis for a theory of language generation that considers the communicative goals of the speaker when producing utterances. One central problem in designing a system based on such a theory is specifying the requisite linguistic knowledge in a form that interfaces well with a planning system and allows for the encoding of discourse information. The TELEGRAM (TELEological GRAMmar) system described in this paper solves this problem by annotating a unification grammar with assertions about how grammatical choices are used to achieve various goals, and by enabling the planner to augment the functional description of an utterance as it is being unified. The control structures of the planner and the grammar unifier are then merged in a manner that makes it possible for general planning to be guided by unification of a particular functional description.


Declines due to fungal disease (chytridiomycosis) have affected many stream-dwelling frog species, especially in the tropics, leading to reduced abundance and diversity of their tadpoles. Studies in the Australian Wet Tropics have demonstrated that some frog species have declined or disappeared, while others have persisted. To assess the occurrence of stream-breeding frogs, we monitored tadpole populations of five frog species in Wet Tropics streams in the early 1990s (uplands, before chytridomycosis emergence), and in 2011-2013 (uplands and lowlands, after chytridiomycosis emergence), and investigated environmental factors that might influence tadpole abundance. Riffle-dwelling tadpoles of two frog species disappeared from the upland stream site during the 1990s, reflecting reported losses of adult populations. Tadpoles of one upland pool species initially declined but had recovered by 2011-2013. Samples from the lowlands in 2011 to 2013 indicated no similar loss. Chytridiomycosis was the likely cause of changes in tadpole abundances between the two survey periods, given its known occurrence and documented effects on adult frogs in these systems; however, we did not measure its prevalence in this study. Tadpole populations fluctuated seasonally, with abundances highest in spring and summer, reflecting the timing of frog reproduction. The most important biophysical influence on the assemblages that we measured was current velocity. Tadpole peak abundances suggest that they make a substantial contribution at the consumer level of food webs, and that their loss has altered food webs substantially in upland streams.


BACKGROUND: Treatment of Rockwood type III acromioclavicular dislocations is still controversial with evidence present in favour of both operative and non-operative interventions. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A prospective randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted at the Department of Orthopaedics of a Level I trauma centre including 54 (male = 34, female = 20) cases of type III acromioclavicular dislocations, randomized into two groups A (operative) and B (non-operative). Group A cases underwent surgery using combined intra-articular K-wire and coracoclavicular screw fixation. Group B cases were treated non-operatively using arm sling and rest. RESULTS: Mean follow-up period was 40.8 months (range = 36-49). Mean Constant Shoulder scores for group A and B were 93 and 83.5 after 12 months (p value ≤ 0.0001); 93.3 and 86.5 after 36 months (p value ≤ 0.0001), respectively. Complications reported from group A were hardware failure, heterotopic ossification, distal clavicle osteolysis and superficial stich infection and from group B were cosmetic deformity and intermittent pain around shoulder. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, operatively managed cases did significantly better than the non-operatively treated ones with faster and improved functional outcomes.


Image reconstruction from limited-angle projections has been a challenging problem for which an effective solution is constantly sought. This paper presents a novel method based on the concept of sparsifying operators. The idea is to construct a sparse model of the to-be-reconstructed image using a sparsifying operator and to estimate the model parameters using l0-minimization approximation from the partial k-space data computed from the limited projections. Thus, the missing k-space data can be recovered using the model and image is reconstructed by inverse Fourier transform. Experiments have shown that the proposed method can effectively recover the missing data and reconstruct images more accurately than the zero-filling (ZF) method and the total-variation (TV) regularized reconstruction method.


Traits are method groups that can be used to compose classes. They do not have a runtime existence and are conceptually folded into the classes that use them. Traits have been implemented in different languages. While implementing them in Smalltalk, our first reflex was to take advantage of the fact that traits are not run-time entities: we optimized the implementation for space and hence shared methods between traits and classes. However, by doing so we broke the introspective API of Smalltalk.
 This paper illustrates a more general problem seen in all reflective systems: the implementation serves both as a model for execution and as the model that is exposed to the programmer. There is a conflict of interests between the information necessary for execution and the information the programmer is interested in. In addition, as soon as the implementation is exposed via reflection, we are not free to optimize. As the complete implementation is visible reflectively, there is no way to hide the optimizations.
 Few papers report errors and this is one of them. We report our experience facing the initial API mismatch, which has a significant impact on the system because the language is reflective (i.e., written in itself and causally connected). We present the new introspective API we put in place.


Using the results of archaeological techniques, and examining methodological debates, Tim Cornell provides a lucid and authoritative account of the rise of Rome. The Beginnings of Rome offers insight on major issues such as: * Rome's relations with the Etruscans * the conflict between patricians and plebeians * the causes of Roman imperialism * the growth of slave-based economy. Answering the need for raising acute questions and providing an analysis of the many different kinds of archaeological evidence with literary sources, this is the most comprehensive study of the subject available, and is essential reading for students of Roman history.


Dealing with a slowdown in economic growth is something that no country wants to be concerned with. Neither do countries want to face the reality of widening gaps in income or the realities that attend changes in the climate that we are experiencing in the world today. This study focuses on these issues and makes an attempt to find solutions to them. First there are discussed the negative impacts that climate change has on economic growth and income inequality. It is the author's contention that if a solution can be found to the various problems connected to climate change, solutions to these other problems will be found. The paper ends with a discussion of the role that business can play in finding solutions to the problems regarding climate change.


Recently, our laboratory, Companion Animal Cancer Research Unit, CAC-RU is interested in cancer stem cell (CSC) analysis both at the single cell and the tissue-based levels. However, cellular heterogeneity is still the major hassle for our comprehension in CSC biology. Therefore, to overcome and eradicate this big obstacles, a single cell analysis method must be established. Our laboratory has finally setup and integrated the microfluidics-based single cell analysis into our CSC researches under the association with Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University and Thai Micro-electronic Centre, NECTEC, Ministry of Science and Technology, Thailand and Faculty of Medical Technic, Mahidol University since 2013 till present.


Whereas people learn many different types of knowledge from diverse experiences over many years, most current machine learning systems acquire just a single function or data model from just a single data set. We propose a neverending learning paradigm for machine learning, to better reflect the more ambitious and encompassing type of learning performed by humans. As a case study, we describe the Never-Ending Language Learner (NELL), which achieves some of the desired properties of a never-ending learner, and we discuss lessons learned. NELL has been learning to read the web 24 hours/day since January 2010, and so far has acquired a knowledge base with over 80 million confidenceweighted beliefs (e.g., servedWith(tea, biscuits)). NELL has also learned millions of features and parameters that enable it to read these beliefs from the web. Additionally, it has learned to reason over these beliefs to infer new beliefs, and is able to extend its ontology by synthesizing new relational predicates. NELL can be tracked online at http://rtw.ml.cmu.edu, and followed on Twitter at @CMUNELL.


Objective: To assess whether smoking cessation after an ischemic stroke or TIA improves outcomes compared to continued smoking. Methods: We conducted a prospective observational cohort study of 3,876 nondiabetic men and women enrolled in the Insulin Resistance Intervention After Stroke (IRIS) trial who were randomized to pioglitazone or placebo within 180 days of a qualifying stroke or TIA and followed up for a median of 4.8 years. A tobacco use history was obtained at baseline and updated during annual interviews. The primary outcome, which was not prespecified in the IRIS protocol, was recurrent stroke, myocardial infarction (MI), or death. Cox regression models were used to assess the differences in stroke, MI, and death after 4.8 years, with correction for adjustment variables prespecified in the IRIS trial: age, sex, stroke (vs TIA) as index event, history of stroke, history of hypertension, history of coronary artery disease, and systolic and diastolic blood pressures. Results: At the time of their index event, 1,072 (28%) patients were current smokers. By the time of randomization, 450 (42%) patients had quit smoking. Among quitters, the 5-year risk of stroke, MI, or death was 15.7% compared to 22.6% for patients who continued to smoke (adjusted hazard ratio 0.66, 95% confidence interval 0.48–0.90). Conclusion: Cessation of cigarette smoking after an ischemic stroke or TIA was associated with significant health benefits over 4.8 years in the IRIS trial cohort.


This paper describes the Statismo framework, which is a framework for PCA based statistical models.Statistical models are used to describe the variability of an object within a population, learned from a set of training samples. Originally developed to model shapes, statistical models are now increasingly used to model the variation in different kind of data, such as for example images, volumetric meshes or deformation fields. Statismo has been developed with the following main goals in mind: 1) To provide generic tools for learning different kinds of PCA based statistical models, such as shape, appearance or deformations models. 2) To make the exchange of such models easier among different research groups and to improve the reproducibility of the models. 3) To allow for easy integration of new methods for model building into the framework. To achieve the first goal, we have abstracted all the aspects that are specific to a given model and data representation, into a user defined class. This does not only make it possible to use Statismo to create different kinds of PCA models, but also allows Statismo to be used with any toolkit and data format. To facilitate data exchange, Statismo defines a storage format based on HDF5, which includes all the information necessary to use the model, as well as meta-data about the model creation, which helps to make model building reproducible. The last goal is achieved by providing a clear separation between data management, model building and model representation. In addition to the standard method for building PCA models, Statismo already includes two recently proposed algorithms for building conditional models, as well as convenience tools for facilitating cross-validation studies. Although Statismo has been designed to be independent of a particular toolkit, special efforts have been made to make it directly useful for VTK and ITK. Besides supporting model building for most data representations used by VTK and ITK, it also provides an ITK transform class, which allows for the integration of Statismo with the ITK registration framework. This leverages the efforts from the ITK project to readily access powerful methods for model fitting.


"On Freedom's Trail": Researching the Underground Railroad in New York StateThe passage of the New York State Freedom Trail Act of 1997 has sparked renewed interest in documenting the history of what is popularly known as the Underground Railroad, yet there is a surprising paucity of published scholarship focusing on the Underground Railroad in the Empire State. One would expect, given the public's interest in the dramatic story of freedom seekers following the light of the North Star, that historians and other professionally trained researchers would have applied their craft to the subject to a greater extent than they have. Instead, the research burden has been carded by journalists, volunteers associated with a variety of local and regional historical agencies, and writers who have been drawn to the subject by personal interest. Talk to guardians of the collections of a town or county historical agency, and they will, as a matter of local pride, have a story to tell about the Underground Railroad. As February approaches each year, representatives of the media and organizers of observances of Black History Month express interest in New York State's role in the Underground Railroad. Unfortunately, there are few wellresearched and reliable secondary sources to recommend. We tend to recycle familiar stories and recapitulate accounts from what might be charitably called "soft" sources without asking critical questions about evidence and historical significance. It is time for a concentrated and cooperative effort to apply the contents of the historian's toolkit to the topic of the Underground Railroad in New York State.We need to approach this task by seeking clarity on the subject matter. Some treatments of the Underground Railroad conflate it with abolitionism or pre-Civil War African American history, generally, while others depict it as a far more systematized than the evidence merits. Not every confirmed abolitionist, black or white, helped runaways, nor was every African American church a hiding place for fugitives. The metaphor suggesting that the freedom seekers who made it across to Canada or found a place of refuge within the boundaries of the Empire State were transported via an invisible "railroad" has had a powerful, and, in some cases, distorting influence, causing us to construe more than the facts warrant. I propose that the research agenda for the Freedom Trail study in New York State employ a relatively restricted definition of the Underground Railroad. Setting aside arguments about where and when the term "Underground Railroad" was first coined, I define our topic as follows. The New York State Freedom Trail comprised the efforts of peoples of African descent hem as slaves to escape, with or without assistance, from the earliest decades of the colonial New York experience until the passage of the 13(th) Amendment in 1865 prohibiting slavery in the United States.Because of the covert nature of the Underground Railroad and the tendency to construct romanticized accounts based on weak evidentiary threads, it may be helpful to draw lessons from the genealogists's enterprise. Dedicated family historians patiently mine the primary sources, testing oral recollections against documentary evidence, which itself is subject to cross-verification. They must construct their accounts from a variety of sources, winnowing the wheat from the chaff. Genealogists sometimes become mired in the minutia of their own story, just as promoters of specific properties, events, or personalities which are candidates for New York State's Freedom Trail are tempted to view their subject matter as unique or determinative. The challenge is to employ double vision, keeping one eye on the specific and focusing the other on the larger picture.The handful of general accounts of the Underground Railroad in New York State are a helpful place to begin our investigation of the theme, but they are, for the most part, derivative in nature and bereft of theoretical insight and critical analysis. …


Strong solute-solvent interactions have been shown to have a significant influence on the vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectral signatures of chiral solutes. In order to use VCD spectroscopy to determine absolute configurations, these intermolecular interactions thus need to be accounted for in spectra simulations. For hydrogen bond donating functional groups such as carboxylic acids or hydroxy groups, it has been shown that micro-solvation with a single solvent molecule is usually sufficient to model the effect of the solvent on the vibrational spectra. In the case of diols, however, solvent molecules are competing against the intramolecular hydrogen bond. Therefore, this study investigates the influence of solute-solvent interactions on the conformational preferences and VCD spectroscopic features of chiral 1,2-diols with the aim to answer the title question. We show that both mono- and twofold solvation lead to unique spectral features that can be distinguished experimentally. Furthermore, in the context of absolute configuration determinations, the results of the study suggest that it will not be possible to derive a general rule that is able to tell whether one or two solvent molecules need to be considered explicitly in the simulation of VCD spectra.


Measuring nonuse values is one of the most controversial topics facing environmental economists today. One important issue that has received little attention is determining who has economic standing with respect to nonuse losses from natural resource injuries. In this paper, a conceptual model for determining compensable nonuse losses is developed that is consistent with the Kaldor-Hicks principle of potential Pareto improvement, and then that model is applied to the results of a telephone survey on industrial water pollution in the lower Passaic River in northern New Jersey. One proposition from this model indicates that only people who have knowledge of the injured resource (i.e., 10 to 44 percent of respondents) can incur a compensable nonuse loss. A second proposition from the model indicates that demand for information about an injury to a familiar resource is a necessary condition for compensable nonuse losses. It was found that 81 percent of the respondents who were familiar with the lower Passaic River were likely to read, listen to, or watch a news story about the river. However, far fewer respondents familiar with the lower Passaic River were willing to engage in more active, and costly, information-acquisition activities (such as conducting research at the library and attending public meetings). Finally, the model suggests that geographic proximity to nondescript resources may affect nonuse values, information costs, or both, helping define the potentially affected population. The empirical results for the lower Passaic River support this third proposition. The overall conclusion is that only a small fraction of the population in New Jersey and New York might reasonably experience a nonuse loss as a result of industrial water pollution in the lower Passaic River. Copyright 2001 Gatton College of Business and Economics, University of Kentucky.


The process of modernization in Japan appeared as a separation of
the senses and remapping of the body, particularly privileging the sense of
vision. How did the filmmakers, critics, and novelists in the 1920s and 1930s
respond to such a reorganization of the body and the elevation of vision in the
context of film culture? How did they formulate a cinematic discourse on remapping
the body when the status of cinema was still in flux and its definition
was debated? Focusing on cinematic commentary made by different writers,
this article tackles these questions. Sato Haruo, Ozu Yasujiro, and Iwasaki Akira
questioned the separation of the senses, which was often enforced by state.
Inspired by German cinema released in Japan at that time, they explored the
notion of the haptic in cinema and problematized the privileged sense of
vision in this new visual medium.


GRST101 Elementary German This course is an introduction to German and leads to communicative competence in German by building on the four primary skills--speaking, listening, reading, and writing--while developing participants' awareness of life and culture of German-speaking countries. Learning German and its structure will also enhance students' awareness of commonalities between the English and the German languages. The GRST101/102/211 course sequence will help students appreciate that contemporary Germany is economically and politically the leading country in the European Union and has a dynamic, multicultural society. The German language opens vistas into a world of ideas that is as complex as it is elemental. It provides access to many fields, from philosophy to the natural sciences and many disciplines between: history, musicology, art history, and environmental studies. These three courses prepare students to study abroad in Germany, on one of the two Wesleyan-approved programs in Berlin and Hamburg or continue with GRST212 here at Wesleyan. Offering: Host Grading: BMO Credits: 1.00 Gen Ed Area: HA-GRST Prereq: None


This article develops and empirically evaluates an institutional theory of gender inequalities in business start-up, ownership, and growth orientation. I argue that in contexts in which institutional arrangements such as paid leave, subsidized childcare, and part-time employment opportunities mitigate work–family conflict, women are less likely to opt for business ownership as a fallback employment strategy. As a result, women in these contexts may be relatively less well represented among entrepreneurs as a whole but more well represented in growth-oriented forms of entrepreneurship. To evaluate this claim, I analyze survey data from 24 countries over the span of eight years. Multilevel analyses show that supportive work–family institutions are associated with larger gender gaps in the odds of early-stage and established business ownership but smaller gender gaps among business owners in terms of their business size, growth aspirations, and propensity to innovate or use new technology. Consistent with my theoretical argument, women business owners are also less likely to report pursuing entrepreneurship because they lacked attractive employment options in contexts in which supportive institutions are in place. Findings suggest that institutional contexts characterized by salient work–family conflict may fuel women's aggregate representation in business activity but reinforce their segregation into less growth-oriented (and thus lower-status) ventures.


Prudential Regulation Authority's Regulatory Policy Department. The financial crisis has necessitated a re-examination of the level, nature and distribution of risk across the financial system, including insurance companies. In April 2013, the Prudential Regulation Authority, as part of the Bank of England, became responsible for the prudential regulation and supervision of insurers. But the degree to which a common understanding has been reached on how insurers might affect financial stability is lower than, for example, the analogous discussion for banks. In a Workshop hosted by the Bank in July 2013, the risks posed by insurers for both insurance policyholders and financial stability were discussed, together with what this might mean for how insurers should be regulated and supervised.


Saliency methods have been widely used to highlight important input features in model predictions. Most existing methods use backpropagation on a modified gradient function to generate saliency maps. Thus, noisy gradients can result in unfaithful feature attributions. In this paper, we tackle this issue and introduce a {\it saliency guided training}procedure for neural networks to reduce noisy gradients used in predictions while retaining the predictive performance of the model. Our saliency guided training procedure iteratively masks features with small and potentially noisy gradients while maximizing the similarity of model outputs for both masked and unmasked inputs. We apply the saliency guided training procedure to various synthetic and real data sets from computer vision, natural language processing, and time series across diverse neural architectures, including Recurrent Neural Networks, Convolutional Networks, and Transformers. Through qualitative and quantitative evaluations, we show that saliency guided training procedure significantly improves model interpretability across various domains while preserving its predictive performance.


PAGE Identifying key factors of habitat quality and the extents at which they operate is invaluable to the understanding of the biology of a species. Key factors defining habitat quality for many common butterfly species have yet to be determined. Diverse methods are used to define habitat quality for butterflies. Some of these, such as mark-releaserecapture or distance sampling, can be difficult to implement. Occupancy modeling is less invasive and generally less expensive than these other methods. Occupancy modeling is based on repeated presence-absence surveys. Occupancy is the probability that a species is present at a given site after accounting for imperfect detection. Detection is the probability that a species is detected given that it is present. The goal of this study was to identify factors at different spatial extents that are associated with occupancy, colonization (the probability that a site that was unoccupied in the previous time step is occupied in the current time step), and extinction (the probability that a site that was occupied in the previous time step is vacant in the current time step) of two common butterfly species in woodlands of the eastern United States, Eurytides marcellus and Papilio glaucus. For both species, the count and or proportion of host plants explained the greatest variation in occupancy. For E. marcellus, the greatest proportion of variation in probabilities of colonization and extinction was explained by the proportion of agricultural cover and the density of edges between forests and openherbaceous areas and between forests and wetlands. The variables with which occupancy, colonization, and extinction of E. marcellus were most strongly associated were measured at extents from 90 m-5 km. Variables that explained the greatest variation in occupancy, colonization, and extinction of P. glaucus were measured over a smaller range of extents (540 m -3 km). Colonization was negatively associated with the proportion of open-herbaceous cover and the density of roads, suggesting that habitat quality for P. glaucus decreases as forest fragmentation increases. The proportion of wetland cover also had a consistent positive association with extinction of P. glaucus. This study suggests that colonization and extinction of P. glaucus and E. marcellus are associated with ecological processes and land use at extents of kilometers.


Brachial artery is the chief artery of upper limb. Superficial palmar arch plays an important role in most of the traumatic events and the surgical procedures of the hand. The arterial variations of upper limb are useful for vascular surgeons, interventional radiologists, plastic surgeons. The authors report a case of high origin of superficial ulnar artery with abnormal formation of superficial palmar arch.


The microchemistry and magnetism of conventional and high-temperature Sm–Co permanent magnets are investigated by first-principles calculations. Particular emphasis is on the site preference for the substitution of Cu, Ti, and Zr in SmCo5 and Sm2Co17 compounds. Cu substitution is more favorable in the 1:5 phase, in agreement with experimental findings. Titanium and zirconium have positive solution energies for both the phases, with Ti(Zr) having slight preference for the 1:5 (2:17) phase. Some Zr may segregate to the phase boundaries because of its large solution energy. For Ti and Zr the dumbbell site of the 2:17 phase is preferred over the other three inequivalent cobalt sites. These results are used to discuss the observed cellular nanostructure of the high-temperature Sm–Co hard magnets with composition close to the 2:17 phase.


In millimeter-wave wireless networks, the use of narrow beams, required to compensate for the severe path-loss, complicates the cell-discovery and initial access. In this paper, we investigate the feasibility of random beamforming and enhanced exhaustive search for cell-discovery by analyzing the latency and detection failure probability in the control-plane and the user throughput in the data-plane. We show that, under realistic propagation model and antenna patterns, both approaches are suitable for 3GPP New Radio cellular networks. The performance gain, compared to the heavily used exhaustive and iterative search schemes, is more prominent in dense networks and large antenna regimes and can be further improved by optimizing the beamforming codebooks.


Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, by Lawrence Lessig, Basic Books, 1999, 230 pages. I. INTRODUCTION Just as Rachel Carson's classic Silent Spring awakened the world to environmental pollution in 1962, Larry Lessig's insightful Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace(1) (Code) seeks to warn longtime inhabitants of cyberspace of a major danger to the wild, unregulated, "1960s-like" environments to which they have grown accustomed. Code challenges the presumption of early Internet heroes, like John Perry Barlow, that technology has created an inherently free environment that can only remain so if governments leave it alone. Code observes, rather, that cyberspace is quite susceptible to alteration and that the gravest threats to online civil liberties in the United States are posed, not by laws, but by computer code--particularly those designed to commercialize the Web for e-commerce. Code explains how the business community's efforts (with government support) to make it easier to confirm cyberspace buyers' identities also unintentionally facilitate regulation of other conduct. Lessig's particular concern is with those civil liberties and other values central to American society, that the framers of the Constitution left without explicit legal protection; the limits of the technology of the time already safeguarded them. Now that the Internet and other new media have eliminated many physical and economic constraints on intrusive conduct-like the tracking of every page that an Internet suffer views--Code pleads for citizens to defend those privacy and other values they consider fundamental, lest they be diminished--if not eliminated--by code. In fact, the introduction of e-commerce-friendly Internet code is somewhat analogous to the genetic engineering of agricultural products. As Europeans--and increasingly Americans--have come to recognize, the manipulation of such basic codes may have widespread effects not limited to their targeted product markets or by national boundaries.(2) This has led many to demand public debate on the issue of what many call "Frankenfoods," and its effects on world ecosystems and human health. While Lessig certainly does not oppose e-commerce code, he advocates collective decision making where code may have major consequences with respect to important societal liberties. From an economist's perspective, Lessig understands that the "externalities" of e-commerce code--in terms of harm to social values--are too significant to expect private sector code writers to design a socially optimal architecture guided solely by Adam Smith's invisible hand. Rather, democratic principles require that, prior to the adoption of important varieties of what he terms "West Coast [computer],"(3) there be public discussions comparable to those associated with the adoption of "East Coast [legal] code."(4) Decisions about how much control over information society wants to allow and by whom, call for democratic decision making. With concerns similar to those of political activist Jeremy Rifkin,(5) Lessig implores citizens not to maintain blind faith in the social value judgments of the commercial marketplace where externalities may be given short shrift, if not ignored altogether, until irreversible harm is done. While Code focuses on issues arising from Internet technology, it also discusses the more general relationship between technology and law. Code observes that four principal forces regulate people's behavior: laws, norms, prices, and technology (although it calls the latter forces "market" and "architecture"). It explains how each of these limit individuals' actions, how the forces can work directly or indirectly in combinations, and how improvements in technology can dramatically alter the composite constraint on people's conduct. The middle third of Code is entirely devoted to identifying how technology--primarily the Internet--is significantly altering the net effect of these four forces on behaviors. …


Depression is caused by a change in neural activity resulting from an increase in glutamate that drives excitatory neurons and may be responsible for the decline in the activity and number of the GABAergic inhibitory neurons. This imbalance between the excitatory and inhibitory neurons may contribute to the onset of depression. At the cellular level there is an increase in the concentration of intracellular Ca2+ within the inhibitory neurons that is driven by an increase in entry through the NMDA receptors (NMDARs) and through activation of the phosphoinositide signaling pathway that generates inositol trisphosphate (InsP3) that releases Ca2+ from the internal stores. The importance of these two pathways in driving the elevation of Ca2+ is supported by the fact that depression can be alleviated by ketamine that inhibits the NMDARs and scopolamine that inhibits the M1 receptors that drive InsP3/Ca2+ pathway. This increase in Ca2+ not only contributes to depression but it may also explain why individuals with depression have a strong likelihood of developing Alzheimer's disease. The enhanced levels of Ca2+ may stimulate the formation of Aβ to initiate the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease. Just how vitamin D acts to reduce depression is unclear. The phenotypic stability hypothesis argues that vitamin D acts by reducing the increased neuronal levels of Ca2+ that are driving depression. This action of vitamin D depends on its function to maintain the expression of the Ca2+ pumps and buffers that reduce Ca2+ levels, which may explain how it acts to reduce the onset of depression.


Contractual obligations are routinely characterised in the contract literature as voluntary or voluntarily assumed. This article examines the major challenges to the voluntaristic conception of contract. An obligation can be regarded as voluntary only if it is meaningfully understood, and the decision to assume it is intentional and substantially unconstrained. Many contractual obligations arise from standard form terms, which are commonly unread, frequently misunderstood, and routinely unavoidable due to the lack of available alternatives. In some circumstances, the obligations and curtailments of rights arising from unread standard form terms can be regarded as voluntary, but in others they cannot. In exceptional cases, the objective approaches to formation and interpretation result in parties becoming subject to obligations that they cannot be said to have voluntarily assumed. The objective approach to the incorporation of terms, particularly unsigned terms, leaves even greater scope for parties to become subject to obligations that cannot be said to have been voluntarily assumed. Obligations routinely arise from the default rules of contract law, which appear not to be well understood, even in the commercial context, and are often difficult to avoid. Recent claims that these obligations inhere in the agreement itself have not been made out. Contractual obligations and curtailments of rights are routinely fashioned by one contracting party in the ignorance of the other, or by the state in the ignorance of both, and are often practically unavoidable for one or both parties.


This paper examines the experiences of a single social enterprise that grew rapidly but ended in failure. Over more than 8 years, the author conducted intensive field research during the social enterprise's life and held detailed post-mortems with key players after its death. This material is part of longitudinal research on social enterprise activity in the voluntary and community sectors, (Pharoah, Scott and Fisher, 2004; Russell and Scott, 2007). It is complemented by a review of five studies of social enterprise failure, together with some wider reflections about reporting on various 'troubles' (e.g. error, failure and scandal). The primary emphasis is upon problems involved in 'making sense', but is illustrated with reference to the experiences of this case study and the limited literature relating to social enterprise failure.


If the angle of arrival (AOA) of a source is perturbed due to some reasons in a statistical way as in the environment of wireless mobile communications, a new model appropriate for such environment should be used instead of the point source model. In this paper, an angel-perturbed source model is proposed and an estimation method based on the eigen-decomposition tecklique is investigated under the model. The asymptotic distribution of the estimation errors is obtained to observe the statistical properties.


In most discussions of the formation of the Solar System, the early Sun is assumed to have possessed the bulk of the angular momentum of the system, and a closely surrounding disc of gas was spun out, which, through magnetic coupling, acquired a progressively larger proportion of the total angular momentum. There are difficulties with this model in accounting for the inclined axis of the Sun, the magnitude of the magnetic coupling required, and the nucleogenetic variations recently observed in the Solar System. Another possibility exists, namely that of a slowly contracting disc of interstellar material, leading to the formation of both a central star and a protoplanetary disc. In this model one can better account for the tilt of the Sun's axis and the lack of mixing necessary to account for the nucleogenetic evidence. The low angular momentum of the Sun and of other low mass stars is then seen as resulting from a slow build-up as a degenerate dwarf, acquiring orbital material at a low specific angular momentum. When the internal temperature reaches the threshold for hydrogen burning, the star expands to the Main Sequence and is now a slow rotator. More massive stars would spin quickly because they had to acquire orbiting material after the expansion, and therefore at a high specific angular momentum. A process of gradual inward spiralling may also allow materials derived from different sources to accumulate into solid bodies, and be placed on a great variety of orbits in the outer reaches of the system, setting up the cometary cloud of uneven nucleogenetic composition.


This study used the Health Belief Model to examine the effects of viewing valenced levels of consequences of sexual decision found in prime time television programs. When exposed to portrayals of negative consequences, participants had higher levels of perceived severity than those in the positive condition. After viewing positive portrayals, participants perceived an increased amount of benefits of behavior modification when compared to those who were exposed to the negative portrayals. In addition, multiple correlations were found between several individual-level variables that were tested for in the study and the HBM constructs. Theoretical implications and practical implications are discussed.


This note summarizes the Bank of Canada's annual reassessment of potential output growth, conducted for the April 2017 Monetary Policy Report. Potential output growth is projected to increase from 1.3 per cent in 2017 to 1.6 per cent by 2020. The lower estimate for potential output growth in the near term (relative to the 2016 assessment) largely reflects distinctly weak business investment over 2015 and 2016, as well as reallocation costs associated with the adjustment to lower oil prices. However, potential output growth improves throughout the projection as investment is expected to pick up, with an increasing share in productivity-enhancing machinery and equipment. Population aging will act as a drag on potential output growth, with a small offset coming from higher levels of immigration. An analysis of alternative scenarios suggests a range of potential output growth from ±0.3 percentage points in 2017 to ±0.5 percentage points in 2020.


The levels of photochemical air pollutants: O3, NO and NO2, were monitored in Athens and in the neighbouring region of the Mesogia plain (Spata, Artemis and Markopoulo) from 1 May–31 August 2000. Phytodetection of ozone was also conducted using bioindicator plants of Bel-W3 and Zichnomirodata (KK6/5) tobacco varieties. The average maximum daily O3 concentration was 60–75 ppb, while the 24 hour average ranged from 40–65 ppb. The AOT40 (ppb hours) index was very high in Athens (16 679 over 121 days), Spata (16 325 over 110 days), Artemis (8093 over 22 days) and Markopoulo (18 646 over 113 days), suggesting potentially phytotoxic ozone levels. The ozone bioindicator plants of Bel-W3 and KK6/5 tobacco varieties were highly injured in all regions confirming the phytotoxicity of those ozone levels. The levels of NO and NO2 recorded at the three stations, in the Mesogia plain, were considerably lower than those occurring in Athens. The data presented here provide important background information concerning pollution levels in the Mesogia plain shortly before the operation of the new international airport "Eleftherios Venizelos" in this region (March 2001).


Family firms represent a globally dominant form of organization, yet they confront a steep challenge of finding and managing competent leaders. Sometimes, these leaders cannot be found within the owning family. To date we know little about the governance contexts under which non-family leaders thrive or founder. Guided by concepts from agency theory and behavioural agency theory, we examine the conditions of ownership and leadership that promote superior performance among non-family CEOs of family firms. Our analysis of 893 Italian family firms demonstrates that these leaders outperform when they are monitored by multiple major family owners as opposed to a single owner; they also outperform when they are not required to share power with co-CEOs who are family members, and who may be motivated by parochial family socioemotional priorities.


Abstract Since about a decade, metal-induced energy transfer (MIET) has become a tool to measure the distance of fluorophores to a metal-coated surface with nanometer accuracy. The energy transfer from a fluorescent molecule to surface plasmons within a metal film results in the acceleration of its radiative decay rate. This can be observed as a reduction of the molecule's fluorescence lifetime which can be easily measured with standard microscopy equipment. The achievable distance resolution is in the nanometer range, over a total range of about 200 nm. The method is perfectly compatible with biological and even live cell samples. In this review, we will summarize the theoretical and technical details of the method and present the most important results that have been obtained using MIET. We will also show how the latest technical developments can contribute to improving MIET, and we sketch some interesting directions for its future applications in the life sciences.


Recently, methods based on local image features have shown promise for texture and object recognition tasks. This paper presents a large-scale evaluation of an approach that represents images as distributions (signatures or histograms) of features extracted from a sparse set of keypoint locations and learns a Support Vector Machine classifier with kernels based on two effective measures for comparing distributions, the Earth Mover's Distance and the chi-square distance. We first evaluate the performance of our approach with different keypoint detectors and descriptors, as well as different kernels and classifiers. We then conduct a comparative evaluation with several state-of-the-art recognition methods on four texture and five object databases. On most of these databases, our implementation exceeds the best reported results and achieves comparable performance on the rest. Finally, we investigate the influence of background correlations on recognition performance via extensive tests on the PASCAL database, for which ground-truth object localization information is available. Our experiments demonstrate that image representations based on distributions of local features are surprisingly effective for classification of texture and object images under challenging real-world conditions, including significant intra-class variations and substantial background clutter.


Neoclassical economists of the current era frequently pay lip service to Adam Smith's theories to certify the validity of natural-laws-based, laissez-faire policies. However, neoclassical theories are fundamentally disconnected from Adam Smith's notion of value, his understanding of the economic individual and their interactions in society, his methodology, and the field of study he afforded to political economy. Instead, early neoclassical economists parted ways with the theories of Adam Smith in an effort to construct economic laws that would validate the existing capitalist order as universal, natural, and harmonious.


OBJECTIVE
To identify the types of injuries sustained by horses that competed in steeplechase races and determine the prevalence of and risk factors for those injuries.

DESIGN
Prospective study.

ANIMALS
2,680 horses that competed in various types of steeplechase races from 1996 through 2000.

PROCEDURE
Data regarding races; environment; equipment problems; the number of horses that entered, started, and finished races; the number of riders that fell; and the number of horses that were slowed or stopped by the rider, ran off the course, fell, and sustained injuries or physical abnormalities during races were collected on a standard form by the official veterinarian who attended each meet. Data from all meets were not recorded; however, in recorded meets, data from every race were reported.

RESULTS
Data for 197 hurdle, 65 timber, 76 flat, and 8 mixed races were recorded. Nine (3.4/1,000 horses that started in races) horses died or were euthanatized, and 7 of those were associated with catastrophic musculoskeletal injury. Seven fractures were recorded. Four fractures involved forelimbs, 1 involved a hind limb, and 2 involved the cervical portion of the vertebral column. All horses with fractures were euthanatized. Deep or hard course conditions were associated with an increased risk of breakdown injuries.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Successful development and implementation of strategies to prevent injuries and death in horses in steeplechase races depend on a clear understanding of the types and prevalence of injuries involved and risk factors associated with those injuries.


Unidentified acoustic signals are recorded by hydrophones placed in the world's oceans. Some of these sounds are suspected to originate from marine mammals. In this study, two acoustic signals recorded by two arrays at Diego Garcia in the northern Indian Ocean are described. Data were available between January 2002 and December 2003. Signals were detected manually using long-term spectral average plots. Time and frequency measurements were taken from a sample of both signals. The first unidentified signal [Diego Garcia Downsweep (DGD)] consisted of two main components. The mean frequency range of the entire signal was 19.3-45.0 Hz, with a mean duration of 36.5 s (n = 22). Detections of DGD at the northern array peaked in the austral summer, though detections at the southern array peaked during winter and spring. The second unidentified signal [Diego Garcia Croak (DGC)] consisted of one component with a mean frequency range of 16.9-49.6 Hz. The mean duration of the signal was 13.1 s (n = 10). Detections of DGC did not follow a clear seasonal pattern. These signals followed characteristics of biological sources, suggesting that they could be whale calls. Fin whale calls and possible blue whales D-calls were also identified in the data.


This essay formulates eight goals that have emerged from worldwide moral deliberation on "transitional justice" and that may serve as a useful framework when particular societies consider how they should reckon with violations of internationally recognized human rights. These goals include: truth, a public platform for victims, accountability and punishment, the rule of law, compensation to victims, institutional reform and long-term development, reconciliation, and public deliberation. These eight goals are used to identify and clarify (1) the variety of ethical issues that emerge in reckoning with past wrongs, (2) widespread agreements about initial steps for resolving each issue, (3) leading options for more robust solutions of each issue, and (4) ways to weight or trade off the norms when they conflict. The aim is to show that there are crucial moral aspects in reckoning with the past and to clarify, criticize, revise, apply, and diffuse eight moral norms. These goals are not a "one-size-fits-all" blueprint but rather a framework by which societies confronting past atrocities can decide–through cross-cultural and critical dialogue–what is most important to accomplish and the morally best ways to do so.


In spite of many studies dealing with the individual Greek and Latin syntactical topics, a systematic comparative Graeco-Latin sentence syntax has remained without any global analysis so far. That is why the author started research into this area several years ago, aiming at a comparative analysis of the Greek and Latin dependent clauses, i.e. i) the subject/object clauses, ii) the adverbial clauses, and iii) the relative clauses, including their nominal equivalents such as infinitives, participles (L/G), as well as gerundia, gerundiva and supina I/II (L). At the same time, he was dealing with a number of modern European languages, both Romance and Germanic, in comparison with Latin and its tradition, and the Slavonic languages predominantly in comparison with Ancient Greek (and Old Church Slavonic). The "didactic" background of this activity was reflected in more than 550 selected sentences (ca. 300 Greek, some 260 in Latin) for practical language drill. – In 2008, A. Bartoněk published his Czech version of the present Comparative Syntax, dealing with all the above-said constructions, while analysing also the problems of both the deontic and epistemic sentence modality.


ABSTRACT Watson, P.J., 2019. An assessment of the utility of satellite altimetry and tide gauge data (ALT-TG) as a proxy for estimating vertical land motion. Journal of Coastal Research, 35(6), 1131–1144. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Policy, planning, and adaptation responses to sea-level rise are being developed at increasingly localised scales, placing greater emphasis on sea-level studies to more accurately account for all vertical land motions (VLM) at tide gauge sites using technologies such as global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs). Although the spatial coverage and length of GNSS data records continues to increase in proximity to tide gauges, large tracts of the world's coastlines contain limited or no GNSS data. Various studies have investigated proxy methods of estimating VLM by trends from differenced altimetry–tide gauge techniques (ALT-TG). This study has concentrated on investigating the utility of ALT-TG techniques using so-called 'off the shelf' gridded satellite altimetry products (U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory [NASA JPL] and Copernicus Climate Change Service [C3S]) for use in regional and local scale sea-level studies to estimate VLM. Twenty locations across the globe were analysed; these locations met specific data constraints designed to ensure the longest overlapping coverage of GNSS, altimetry, and tide gauge data, with the proximity of the GNSS record limited to within 1 km of the tide gauge. The utility of ALT-TG estimates was significantly improved by using gridded altimetry products no closer than 30 km from the open coast. When compared directly with measured GNSS solutions from NASA JPL, Systeme d'Observation du Niveau des Eaux Littorales (SONEL), and Nevada Geodetic Laboratory (NGL), both ALT-TG VLM estimates agree with the NGL GNSS solution for 19 of the 20 locations (95% confidence interval). This is significant given that the NGL estimates are derived over the longest timeframe available from all three key GNSS data repositories considered. If one considers the limitations of altimetry sea surface height measurements in the coastal zone, the results using gridded sea surface height anomaly products for ALT-TG derived estimates of VLM are extremely encouraging for sea-level research.


The design of future Earth imaging systems, the optimization of fundamental instrument parameters, and the development and evaluation of data pre-processing and scientific-exploitation algorithms require an accurate end-to-end simulation of the entire image generation and processing chain. For this purpose, the end-to-end simulation software EeteS has been developed within the framework of the Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) mission. This paper presents the EeteS simulation approach and software implementation focusing on calibration and pre-processing. The sequential processing chain of the EnMAP scene simulator consists of four independent parts-the atmospheric, spatial, spectral and radiometric modules. This forward simulator is coupled with a backward simulation branch consisting of calibration modules (non-linearity, dark current and absolute radiometric calibration) and a series of pre-processing modules (radiometric calibration, co-registration, atmospheric correction and orthorectification) forming the complete end-to-end simulation tool. In the result EeteS is capable of simulating EnMAP-like raw image scenes (L0) taking into account a variety of instrumental and environmental configurations. Furthermore, EeteS allows simulations of EnMAP reflectance images carrying out the complete L1 and L2 processing chains. Analysis of the intermediate and final EeteS simulation products has shown the accurate, reliable and consistent performance of the developed modules enabling the system to support technical decision-making processes required for the development of the EnMAP sensor. EeteS has also been used to estimate the SNR characteristics of potential EnMAP products after calibration and pre-processing. Comparing the results to SNR characteristics achieved by the already existing EO-1 Hyperion system has shown a significantly improved SNR which can be expected from future EnMAP data products.


Historians have tended to suggest that Britain's colonial officials demonstrated an esprit de corps, and that this is testament to the efficacy of public schooling in generating social cohesion. Examining Britain's officials in seven different colonies in sub-Saharan Africa, this article will argue that differences in working conditions, approaches to work and officials' backgrounds, such as conflicts between officials from 'military' and 'civilian' backgrounds, all caused deep fragmentations in the colonial services. Most significantly, officials were irreconcilably torn between a need for company as a means of maintaining morale, and a desire for freedom from the constraints of colonial society. Living in insular communities driven by gossip and marked by the need to keep up appearances for fear of ostracism from their peers, officials felt unable to experience an 'authentic' Africa and live out the romanticized dreams of individualism that had motivated many to leave for Africa in the first place. This sense of feeling trapped bred resentment towards one's fellow officials. Consequently, public schools were unable to surmount other factors in shaping how officials regarded one other.


Reacting to the original papers outlining the importance of "social mechanisms," this paper contrasts two views of the social process, the mechanismal and the relational. In the sources here analyzed, the mechanismal perspective is largely based on methodological individualism and generally presupposes rational, or at least intentional, action. A fundamental assumption of this approach is that the meaning of an action is given in itself. The relational view by contrast holds that the meaning of an action arises only from its relation to other actions, both temporally and structurally. The relational view takes not actors but interaction as primitive and focuses on the scene (context) of action rather than the intentions of actors. The paper investigates these differences by examining the Elsterian mechanisms of "endowment" and "contrast," both theoretically and through the example of application of students to institutions of higher education in America.


Deforestation is occurring at an alarming rate in many parts of the world, causing destruction of natural habitat and fragmentation of what remains. Nowhere is this problem more pressing than in the Amazon rainforest, which is rapidly vanishing in the face of enormous pressure from humans to exploit it. This book presents the results of the longest-running and most comprehensive study of forest fragmentation ever undertaken, the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP) in central Amazonia, the only experimental study of tropical forest fragmentation in which baseline data are available before isolation from continuous forest took place. A joint project of Brazil's National Institute for Research in Amazonia and the U.S. Smithsonian Institution, the BDFFP has investigated the many effects that habitat fragmentation has on plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates. The book provides an overview of the BDFFP, reports on its case studies, looks at forest ecology and tree genetics, and considers what issues are involved in establishing conservation and management guidelines.


The present study aims to find out the effect of personality traits on use of the Cognitive English Language Learning Strategies (CELLSs) for learners of English as a foreign language based on, and the role of personality traits in the prediction of use of such Strategies. Four instruments were used, which were Adapted Inventory for Cognitive English Language Learning Strategies based on Cognitive category of Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) of Rebecca L. Oxfords (1990), A Background Questionnaire, NEO-Five Factors Inventory (NEO-FFI), and Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Two hundred and thirteen Iranian female university level learners of English language as a university major in Iran, were asked to participate in this research work. The intact classes were chosen. The results show that however, there is significant relationship between three traits of personality and use of the CELLSs, but personality traits cannot be as a strong predictor with high percent of contribution to predict use of the CELLSs.


Learn how to create gorgeous and expressive imagery with the Processing graphics language and environment. It's easy with this practical, hands-on book. Processing is for artists, designers, visualization creators, hobbyists, or anyone else looking to create images, animation, and interactive pieces for art, education, science, or business. Processing for Visual Artists shows you everything you need to know in a friendly, project-based style designed for visual thinkers. The projects can serve as a starting point for your own original, creative development and exploration. Walk with veteran author Andrew Glassner on a journey of shared discovery as he uses Processing to take each project from inspiration to reality. You'll closely follow every step he takes and see exactly how each piece evolves, including the big and small mistakes he's made along the way (and how to fix them!), and the times when he changed direction. As your knowledge and skills grow and develop, you'll understand why Processing is such a powerful tool for self-expression. And you'll be ready to strike off on your own. Processing offers you a 21st-century medium for expressing new kinds of ideas and engaging audiences in new ways. This book gives you everything you need to know to explore new frontiers in your own images, animations, and interactive experiences. Source code for each chapter is available for free download on the book's description at the crcpress website.