In order to remain competitive, companies need to be constantly vigilant and aware of the current trends in the industry in which they operate. The terms big data and data mining have exploded in popularity in recent years, and will continue to do so with the launch of the internet of things (IoT) and the 5 th generation of mobile networks (5G) in the next decade. Companies need to recognize the value of the big data they are generating in their day-to-day operations, and learn how and why to exploit data mining techniques to extract the most knowledge out of the data their customers and the company itself are generating. The root cause analysis of faults uncovered during base station system testing is a difficult process due to the profound complexity caused by the multi-disciplinary nature of a base station system, and the sheer volume of log data outputted by the numerous system components. The goal of this research is to investigate if data mining can be exploited to conduct root cause analysis. It took the form of action research and is conducted in industry at an organisation unit responsible for the research and development of mobile base station equipment. In this thesis, we survey existing literature on how data mining has been used to address root cause analysis. Then we propose a novel approach to root cause analysis by making iterations to the root cause analysis process with data mining. We use the data mining tool Splunk in this thesis as an example; however, the practices presented in this research can be applied to other similar tools. We conduct root cause analysis by mining system logs generated by mobile base stations, to investigate which system component is causing the base station to fall short of its performance specifications. We then evaluate and validate our hypotheses by conducting a training session for the test engineers to collect feedback on the suitability of data mining in their work. The results from the evaluation show that amongst other benefits, data mining makes root cause analysis more efficient, but also makes bug reporting in the target organisation more complete. We conclude that data mining techniques can be a significant asset in root cause analysis. The efficiency gains are significant in comparison to the manual root cause analysis which is currently being conducted at the target organisation.


We present a super-resolution method capable of creating a high-resolution texture map for a virtual 3D object from a set of lower-resolution images of that object. Our architecture unifies the concepts of (i) multi-view super-resolution based on the redundancy of overlapping views and (ii) single-view super-resolution based on a learned prior of high-resolution (HR) image structure. The principle of multi-view super-resolution is to invert the image formation process and recover the latent HR texture from multiple lower-resolution projections. We map that inverse problem into a block of suitably designed neural network layers, and combine it with a standard encoder-decoder network for learned single-image super-resolution. Wiring the image formation model into the network avoids having to learn perspective mapping from textures to images, and elegantly handles a varying number of input views. Experiments demonstrate that the combination of multi-view observations and learned prior yields improved texture maps.


The study analyzes the growth and variability/instability in area, production and yield of major crops for two different periods in China: Period 1(1976-7710 1987-88) and period II (1988-89 to 1999-2000). The reason for dividing it into two time periods was to see the effect of rural reforms initiated in 1976 and 1988 and also to see the impact of increase in flooded and drought damaged crop areas in the late 1980s. The study reveals that the high yield growth rate of rice, maize, groundnuts and rapeseed was mainly due to favorable price incentives, expanded irrigation system, use of HYVs, application of rising level of chemical fertilizer and implementation of the production responsibility system in period I. The study also confirms that in period II not only the production of wheat, soyabean, groundnuts and rapeseed declined significantly but instability in their production also declined. The growth rate of production of maize, sweet potatoes and potatoes increased. in period II and their production stabilized. Favorable prices of maize, sweet potatoes, potatoes and groundnuts played a vital role as compared to other inputs in increasing the production of these crops. The study also concludes that changes in production which cause instability, are due to a number of factors including availability of irrigation water, prices of competing crops and availability of agricultural inputs. The results also rev~al that a decline in production of rice and wheat (which comprise 46 per cent of total crop area in Chinese agriculture) in period II, was mainly due to unfavorable prices of these crops and flooded and drought land area.


"Medical Aspects of Disabilities" is a true interdisciplinary textbook, representing collaboration between experts from many professions and specialties. An overview of themes and principles of rehabilitation is provided. Numerous disabling conditions and disorders are covered not only from clinical but also functional, psychological, and vocational perspectives. Special topic chapters address important new trends and processes within the field of rehabilitation and health care at large. The book is designed as a resource for rehabilitation professionals across many disciplines. Each chapter provides concise but significant coverage of topics, and extensive references to facilitate further exploration. The book can be used as a textbook and as a reference tool for the practitioner. With the field's increasing move toward evidence-based practice, a need for information in the areas of accreditation and outcome measurement has arisen. In response, the editors have added an essential special topics chapter detailing the importance of the accreditation process as a fundamental component of the quality assurance and improvement process. This is an excellent resource as both a textbook and reference guide, to inform and assist graduate and undergraduate students (physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, social work, psychology, nursing, vocational counseling, therapeutic recreation, hospital administration), as well as practitioners, about the most current information on the etiology, and clinical symptoms of a wide variety of medical and disabling conditions.


Epidemiological studies have suggested a negative link between women's age at menopause and mortality risk. Morgan Levine et al. (pp. 9327–9332) used a previously established method called the epigenetic clock, which can help gauge an individual's age based on DNA extracted from any tissue, to examine links between menopause and biological aging. Using DNA samples from more than 3,100 women enrolled in four large observational studies, the authors uncovered links between epigenetic age and menopause-related traits. The findings reveal that increasing epigenetic age in blood samples was tied to lower age at menopause; menopause induced by surgical removal of both ovaries was tied to increased epigenetic age in blood and saliva; and menopausal hormone therapy, which alleviates the effects of menopause, was tied to decreasing epigenetic age in buccal epithelial samples. Further, a genetic variant tied to menopause onset was also tied to the acceleration of epigenetic age, suggesting that menopause causes an increase in biological age. Despite the tissue-specific nature of the associations revealed by the analysis, the findings raise the possibility that menopause might speed biological aging. Future epigenetic clock studies following groups of women as they cross the menopausal threshold might help establish definitive links between menopause and accelerated aging, according to the authors. — P.N.


The travel and tourism industry is one of the world's largest industries with a global economic contribution (direct, indirect, and induced) of over 7.6 trillion U.S. dollars in 2016. The direct economic impact of the industry in the areas of accommodation, transportation, entertainment, and attractions, was approximately 2.3 trillion U.S. dollars that year (United Nations World Tourism Organization, 2017). However, in recent years, the prevalence of terrorist attacks is causing hesitation in would-be travelers and stigmatizing certain destinations. According to Statista, the number of terrorist attacks in 2017 was 22,487, which includes acts of terrorism, insurgency, and politicallyor ideologically-motivated violence by non-state actors— enough to cause widespread consequences within the tourism industry. The goal of this project is to analyze the strategies and best practices of different marketing groups after terrorist acts have occurred. The scope will be on the psychological and financial reactions by both national and individual tourism companies after New York City 9/11, Paris 2015, the Nigerian Boko Haram kidnappings, and the Manchester and Las Vegas concert attacks. The results will likely suggest that proactive planning and comprehensive strategy will help people move past fear of terrorism and again encourage traveling to affected regions.


When a patient is unable to eat or eat enough nutrients due to an illness or surgery, nutrition from another source may be required. Supplemental nutrition may be given in the form of enteral nutrition. The current practice is delivering enteral feedings on a rate based protocol to deliver calculated required calories over a specific length of time. Patients who receive enteral nutrition may have feedings interrupted due to a variety of reasons such as a procedure or diagnostic exam. Interruptions reduce the total daily calories delivered. If a patient does not achieve their total daily calories, it can be detrimental to the patient's health and may increase length of stay and costs of hospitalization. The purpose of this study was to determine if patients receive their recommended total daily calories of enteral nutrition using a rate based protocol. A retrospective research design was used to obtain data from patients who received enteral feedings while in the Intensive Care Unit. Data were collected on patients who were admitted to the unit between June 1, 2014 and August 31, 2014. 41 patients who received enteral feedings were included in this study. 80% of patients had their enteral feedings interrupted; most frequent reasons included diagnostic testing, residual volumes and procedures. Interruptions of the enteral feedings lasted between one hour and 24 hours in duration with a mean of 2.9 hours. The most frequent duration of interruption was one hour. Patients received a mean of 56.4% of their daily prescribed goal calories and 56.7% of their daily prescribed volume of enteral feedings. This study suggests that patients do not receive their daily prescribed calories using a rate based protocol. Recommendations for further research and advanced nursing practice are discussed.


A medicine is a substance developed for administration to humans for therapeutic purposes that achieves its action by pharmacological, immunological or metabolic means. Pharmaceutical medications undergo years of pre-clinical and clinical trials to establish their safety, tolerability and efficacy. Cannabis, whether in raw or processed form, sits predominantly outside this remit. Its use falls broadly into four categories; recreational, plant used for medicinal purposes, cannabis-based products marketed for medical purposes and pharmaceutical grade cannabinoid medications. The use of cannabis as a medicine involves complex interactions across social, health and political domains, at both a global and national level. New Zealand has attempted to address this with the implementation of the Medicinal Cannabis Scheme in April 2020.

This research was undertaken to develop an understanding of what effect cannabis regulations have had on multiple jurisdictions enacting them and applying this to the New Zealand context, and to understand specific groups of patient-doctor interactions regarding the use of cannabis as a medicine.

First, I undertook a meta-narrative qualitative review synthesising themes relating to the outcomes of cannabis regulatory change across multiple jurisdictions. Five super-ordinate themes were identified in the meta-narrative review; Normalisation, Gatekeeping, Economics, Community and Health, which were applied in framing the conclusion of this thesis.

I then completed a systematic review / meta-analysis examining label accuracy and contaminants in cannabis-based products in regulated markets. Labelling accuracy ranged from 17 to ~86%. Contaminants included microbes, solvents, pesticides and adulterants. Meta-analysis of pesticide contamination showed that the overall proportion of contaminated samples was 0.25 (95% CI: 0.10 to 0.40, Heterogeneity: I2=79%, X12=4.74, p=0.03).

Finally, I completed six observational studies within New Zealand to determine knowledge, beliefs and reported interactions of doctors and patients regarding the use of cannabis as a medicine in three medical disciplines; general practice (GP), oncology and neurology.

Doctors reported that patients were requesting medical cannabis prescriptions (GP: 55%, Neurology: 63%. Oncology: 84% respectively), and informing them of using illicit cannabis for medical symptoms. All doctors were concerned about prescribing cannabis as a medicine due to lack of evidence and lack of understanding of the prescription processes. Despite this, the majority were willing to prescribe a funded cannabis-based product backed by evidence of efficacy in traditional clinical trials.

Patients in all three disciplines indicated comfort discussing cannabis with GPs and specialists (GP patients: 91.7%, 92.1%, neurology patients: 88.2%, 90.6%, oncology patients: 85.8%, 88.2% respectively). All groups reported low levels of prescriptions received (<20%). Patients reported illicit use of cannabis for medical reasons (11.2%, 34.6% and 35.5% in GP, neurology and oncology patients respectively), with reported effectiveness of illicit cannabis for their condition ranging from 86.7 to 94.0%. Patients in all three fields wished to know the benefits, side effects and availability of cannabis-based products and had concerns regarding access and cost.

The use of cannabis as a medicine remains a complex situation within the NZ context. Significant implementation issues remain for the Medicinal Cannabis Scheme to ensure the safety and wellbeing of patients in New Zealand.


Algorithmic machine teaching has been studied under the linear setting where exact teaching is possible. However, little is known for teaching nonlinear learners. Here, we establish the sample complexity of teaching, aka teaching dimension, for kernelized perceptrons for different families of feature maps. As a warm-up, we show that the teaching complexity is $\Theta(d)$ for the exact teaching of linear perceptrons in $\mathbb{R}^d$, and $\Theta(d^k)$ for kernel perceptron with a polynomial kernel of order $k$. Furthermore, under certain smooth assumptions on the data distribution, we establish a rigorous bound on the complexity for approximately teaching a Gaussian kernel perceptron. We provide numerical examples of the optimal (approximate) teaching set under several canonical settings for linear, polynomial and Gaussian kernel perceptrons.


We consider a classical semi-Markovian stochastic model of type $ s,S $ with Logistic distributed demand random variables. Logistic distribution is a member of special distribution class known as $\Gamma g $ that encounters in many real-life applications involving extreme value theory. The objective of this study is to observe some major characteristics of a stochastic process $X t $ which represents semi-Markovian renewal reward process of type $ s,S $. We used new approximation results for renewal function that allow us to obtain three-term asymptotic expansion for ergodic distribution function and for $n^{th}$ order moments of ergodic distribution of the process $X t $.


Due to the low water absorption and nightglow, sensing in short wave infrared (SWIR) is very attractive in applications such as; passive night vision, biomedical imaging and remote sensing. The monolithic integration of photodetectors to the readout circuits is desirable in many applications to increase density of detectors and reduce costs, system size and power consumption. Solution-processed semiconductors are a promising alternative to conventional bulk crystalline photodetectors since their production is low cost and easy, their bandgap can be tuned depending on their sizes, and they can be easily integrated on any substrate. In this work, PbS colloidal quantum dot based photodiodes are realized that are compatible with the integration on Read Out Integrated Circuits (ROIC). Various kinds of PbS quantum dots based schottky diodes are designed on glass and silicon substrates. Spin deposition steps and solid state ligand exchange processes are optimized to create pinhole free and high mobility PbS quantum dot layers. In addition to that Integrated Circuit (IC) compatible versions of PbS colloidal quantum dot (CQD) photodiodes are realized. ROIC chip surface is mimicked on Si substrates and fabrication steps are optimized for integration. Special importance is given to optimize highly conductive and transparent indium tin oxide layer using DC magnetron sputtering. Sensitivities of 1.4x1012 Jones, comparable to the conventionally used crystalline, bulk photodetectors is achieved. Also, plasmonic scattering effects of metal nanoparticles in PbS CQD layer are studied. Absorption and responsivity enhancement of 6 fold is presented using gold nanoparticles in PbS CQD based photoconductors.


Regional governance is a topical public policy issue and is receiving increased attention from scholars, government officials and civic leaders. As countries continue to urbanize and centralize economic functions and population in metropolitan regions, the traditional governing system is not equipped to handle policy issues that spill over local government boundaries. Governments have utilized four basic approaches to address the regional governing problem: consolidating governments, adding a regional tier, creating regional special districts, and functional cooperative approaches. The first two are structural approaches that require major (radical) changes to the governing system. The latter two are governance approaches that contemplate marginal changes to the existing governance structure and rely generally on cooperation with other governments and collaboration with the nongovernmental sector. Canada and the United States have experimented with these basic forms of regional governance. This book is a systematic analysis of these basic forms as they have been experienced by North American cities. Utilizing cases from Canada and the United States, the book provides an in-depth analysis of the pros and cons of each approach to regional governance. This research provides an additional perspective on Canadian and U.S. regional governance and adds to the knowledge of Canadian and United States governing systems. This study contributes to the literature on the various approaches to regional governance as well as bringing together the most current literature on regional governance. The author develops a framework of the values that a regional governing system should provide and measures to assess how well each basic approach achieves these values. Based on this assessment, he suggests an approach to regional governance for North American metropolitan areas that best achieves these values.


The ideal state of continuous one-piece flow may never be achieved. Still the logistics manager can improve the flow by carefully positioning inventory to buffer against variations. Strategies such as lean, postponement, mass customization, and outsourcing all rely on strategic positioning of decoupling points to separate forecast-driven from customer-order-driven flows. Planning and scheduling of the flow are also based on classification of decoupling points as master scheduled or not. A comprehensive classification scheme for these types of decoupling points is introduced. The approach rests on identification of flows as being either demand based or supply based. The demand or supply is then combined with exogenous factors, classified as independent, or endogenous factors, classified as dependent. As a result, eight types of strategic as well as tactical decoupling points are identified resulting in a process-based framework for inventory classification that can be used for flow design.


To address the hypothesis that tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α has a role in obesity-associated insulin resistance or the regulation of in vivo lipid metabolism, mice with targeted disruption of the TNF-α gene were generated and studied. The absence of TNF-α protein in TNF-null (−/−) mice was confirmed. Lean or obese (gold-thioglucose [GTG]-injected) homozygous (−/−) mice were compared with lean or obese age- and sex-matched wild-type (+/+) mice derived from the same line at 13, 19, and 28 weeks of age. The following parameters were significantly affected in lean −/− versus +/+ mice: Body weight was not affected until week 28 (decreased by 14%); epididymal fat pad weight also decreased (25%) at this time, as did percentage body fat (16%), while percentage body protein was increased 13%. Fed plasma insulin levels decreased 47% (28 weeks), triglyceride levels decreased (all three ages; maximum 35% at 19 weeks), and fed plasma leptin decreased 33% (28 weeks). Fasting glucose was slightly (10%) reduced, but the glucose response to an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was not affected. There was a trend (NS) toward increased total adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase in −/− versus +/+ mice. GTG-treat-ment resulted in obese −/− and +/+ mice with equal mean body weights (42 and 58% increased weight versus lean mice). The following parameters were significantly different in obese −/− mice: fasting plasma glucose decreased 13% (28 weeks), fed plasma insulin decreased 67% (28 weeks), and insulin response to OGTT was decreased by 50%. For both groups of obese mice, glucose levels during the OGTT were substantially increased compared with those in lean mice; however, mean stimulated glucose levels were 20% lower in obese −/− versus +/+ mice. We conclude 1) that TNF-α functions to regulate plasma triglycerides and body adiposity and 2) that although TNF-α contributes to reduced insulin sensitivity in older or obese mice, the absence of TNF-α is not sufficient to substantially protect against insulin resistance in the GTG hyperphagic model of rodent obesity.


A satisfactory method was obtained for the determination of
phosphate, arsenate and germanium as heteropoly acids by flow injection amperometry at a sessile mercury drop electrode held at
0.22Vf 0.23V and 0.18V vs SCE, respectively, without deoxygenaticn of
the eluent or the sample solutions. Previous workers had shown that
germanium could not be determined at a glassy carbon electrode owing
to adsorption, and that arsenate could cnly be determined down to the
10-5M level owing to deterioration of the baseline.
The sessile mercury drop electrode was found to be particularly
useful at low negative and low positive potentials where oxygen is
not reduced and therefore does not interfere, or at more negative
potentials in alkaline solutions, where sulphite can be added to
remove oxygen traces. This was illustrated by the determination of
nitrofurantoin at -0.7V in pH 7.5, with added sulphite.
The effect of electrochemical pretreatment of a glassy carbon
electrode by holding it at about +2. OV for 2 min and then at about
-1. OV for 2 min on the electrochemical oxidation of ascorbic acid,
dopamine, dopac, HVA, arterenol and 5 HIAA was studied. The
pretreatment of the electrode produced a substantial improvement in
the shape of voltammograms, and in the reproducibility of both peak
potential and peak current. Considerable shifts of peak potentials
to less positive values, and substantial increase in peak heights
were obtained by the electrode pretreatment. In the case of HVA
different oxidation products were obtained at pretreated and
untreated electrodes. Ascorbic acid and dopamine peaks were
partially separated at the pretreated glassy carbon electrode. Online
determination of ascorbic acids, dopamine and dopac is improved
with the use of a pretreated glassy carbon electrode. More
reproducible and higher signals are obtained with a shift of the
hydrodynamic voltammograms to less positive potentials, than when a newly polished untreated electrode is used. (Continues...).


Recent developments in laser induced plasma have shown that the characteristic recombination lines from atoms within the plasma itself are redshifted. Importantly, the experimental results show that the redshift of these lines increases with the free electron density of the plasma. Long predicted by exponents of alternative theories to the Big Bang, these intrinsic redshifts produced by plasma in the laboratory give credence to such theories. This paper gives an overview of the laboratory results of Chen et al and relates them to the predictions previously made by the New Tired Light Theory. The plasma induced redshift, line broadening are all as predicted by New Tired Light. A further laboratory test is suggested whereby New Tired Light predicts the wavelength of the secondary radiation ( λ = 0.1mm) emitted by the plasma - should New Tired Light be responsible for the redshifts. If this relatively easy and inexpensive test is carried out then it could settle the matter once and for all. Regardless of this, now that it has been shown in the laboratory that plasma induce intrinsic redshifts, will this be incorporated into the Big Bang theory? The Universe is a big place filled with plasma and these laboratory results show that this plasma induces redshifts. Experience tells me that mainstream science will ignore good science.


Severe back pain caused by intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) and disc herniation effects up to 35% of people within their lifetime, of which 10 % of cases lead to sufferers being chronically disabled. The impact of these conditions has been estimated in terms of social-economic cost, to be in excess of €12 billion per year in the UK alone. While, the biological processes that cause IVDD are not currently fully understood, IVDD can be characterised as progressive degeneration of the nucleus pulposus tissue, driven by a combination of inflammatory immune processes, enzymatic degradation of extracellular matrix components and changes in cellular phenotype and expression. While there is currently no suitable long-term treatment for IVDD, there has been a new drive of research in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine in an attempt to find a potential treatment for this condition. The aim of this study is to develop a novel bio-active self-assembly hydrogel capable of in situ formation as a potentially injectable treatment for IVDD. The design and intended formulation of this hydrogel was based on both the previous work of (Reches and Gazit, 2003) on the self-assembly peptide, Fmoc-F2, and the design of a novel peptide from the active site of human insulin like growth factor -1.


This paper proposes the use of the Teager–Kaiser energy operator (TKEO) for the detection of a broken rotor bar (BRB) in a squirrel cage induction generator, which is used usually in wind energy systems. The TKEO is investigated using the non-stationary signals representation in the time/frequency domain by sensing the estimation of the instantaneous amplitudes and frequencies present on the stator of wind turbine. This situation of the rotor bar breaks is caused mainly by combinations of mechanical and electrical stresses, including vibration, pendulum, thermal and centrifugal and rarely it can appear due to the fabrication and the quality of the used material's origins. Consequently, the case of a BRB may occur under these circumstances and it is a common fault which can occur in the rotor of the squirrel cage induction generator, it can be estimated to be around 20% among the eventual faults of this kind of machine. The necessary properties for the development of this representation based on the TKEO in time and frequency are presented, which can improve the diagnosis of the studied wind energy system. The obtained results of the presented method have been experimentally validated by robustness tests, which raise the effectiveness of the proposed approach, including a 4-kW induction generator for online rotor bar fault detection using the spectrum analyser and stator current sensors board designed especially for this experimental purpose.


OBJECTIVE
To determine outcome of horses with osteomyelitis of the sustentaculum tali (ST), with or without associated tarsal sheath tenosynovitis, following surgical debridement and lavage.

DESIGN
Retrospective study.

ANIMALS
10 horses in which a diagnosis of osteomyelitis of the ST had been made on the basis of history, physical examination findings, and results of radiography.

PROCEDURE
Information on results of diagnostic testing, surgical findings, postoperative treatment, and short-term outcome was obtained from the medical records. Long-term follow-up information was obtained through reevaluation of horses at the teaching hospital and telephone conversations with referring veterinarians, owners, and trainers.

RESULTS
Treatment consisted of surgical debridement, intra- and postoperative lavage, and long-term antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory treatment. Eight horses had evidence of involvement of the tarsal sheath. One horse was euthanatized after surgery because of a lack of response to treatment; the other 9 were discharged from the hospital. Severity of lameness had improved, but all still had grade-1 or -2 lameness at the time of discharge. One horse was euthanatized after discharge because of contralateral hind limb laminitis, and another horse was lost to follow-up. Of the remaining 7 horses, 6 returned to their previous use, and 1 was sound but retired for breeding for unrelated reasons.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Results suggest that horses with osteomyelitis of the ST, with or without concomitant tarsal sheath tenosynovitis, can have an excellent to good outcome and may return to their previous use after surgical debridement of affected tissues and lavage of the tarsal sheath.


The impact and content of English as a subject on the curriculum is once more the subject of lively debate. Questions of English sets out to map the development of English as a subject and how it has come to encompass the diversity of ideas that currently characterise it. Drawing on a combination of historical analysis and recent research findings Robin Peel, Annette Patterson and Jeanne Gerlach bring together and compare important new insights on curriculum development and teaching practice from England, Australia and the United States. They also discuss the development of teacher training, highlighting the variety of ways in which teachers build their own beliefs and knowledge about English.


The temporal evolution of the beam-quality factor M2 is investigated in plane-parallel cavities of different Fresnel numbers with a Gaussian reflectivity mirror and applied to a Xe–Cl excimer laser. The Fresnel number is changed by varying resonator length. Laser radiation of higher spatial coherence is provided by the cavity of greater length (2.5 m) and then of lower Fresnel number after the first transit. Indeed, the beam spatial coherence decreases with cavity length. It is also shown that the Gaussian mirror affects the properties of the oscillating laser radiation only at the very first cavity round trips. The near- and far-field spatial characteristics of the laser radiation do not vary after a few transits inside the cavity. Experimental results are supported by a theory formerly developed for the evolution of the parameters of Gaussian Schell-model beams propagating in Gaussian cavities.


Recent amendments to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act give authority to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to require risk evaluation and mitigation strategies (REMS) either as a condition for new drug approval or for continued marketing and distribution of an existing drug. The goal of instituting REMS for particular products is to provide ongoing assurance that the benefits continue to outweigh the risks once a drug is on the market and in widespread use by consumers. REMS take many forms and may require a medication guide for patients; prescription physician information; communications to health care providers and pharmacies; limitations on labeling, promotion, and prescribing to assure safe use by patients; and a detailed plan for REMS implementation. The FDA has since effectuated over 70 REMS programs for new and already-approved drug products, with over 30 of those REMS containing requirements setting limitations on distribution, access, and use. While the implementation of REMS has strengthened the post market oversight of drug products, there is concern that the statutory provisions are also being utilized defensively by pharmaceutical companies to hinder generic competition. This article examines the competitive use of REMS by brand name pharmaceutical companies to inhibit generic drug competition, highlighting two rising practices: (1) the refusal to supply generic competitors with drug samples for use in bioequivalence testing citing REMS distribution restrictions; and (2) the assertion of patent rights over comprehensive patient treatment and delivery methods contained in FDA-approved REMS. The article offers several approaches to address these current concerns.


In the face of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), in hospital and emergency units, there is low availability of mechanical respirator for patients in need of this support, greatly improving the survival rate. In these situations, there is a need for simpler equipment, easy access, low cost, and fast manufacturing. In this study, a 3D prototype transport respirator was developed using as a model the Takaoka 600 Mini Respirator, national technology from the 1950s. The influence of adjustable parameters of the respirator was evaluated to understand it is functioning: maximum and minimum lung pressure; respirator intake pressure; respiratory rate; inspiratory and expiratory time according to the sensitivity of the mini respirator; and pressure and flow of O2 line intake. The increase in sensitivity led to an increase in maximum and minimum pulmonary pressure, decreased inspiratory and expiratory time, with margins of 1/1, 1/2, 1/3 inspiratory/expiratory time ratio (I/E ratio). The intake flow of O2 varied proportionally with the pressure of air intake into the respirator, with its increase leading to an increase in respiratory rate, without major influences on lung pressure and the I/E ratio. The O2 line intake pressure without major influences on lung pressure, showing and I/E ratio >1 in values below 3.5 kPa x 100. In conclusion, it was possible to obtain a pulmonary ventilator-dependent only on positive O2 flow, compact and effective for patient transport, and in cases of emergencies with control of maximum pressure and respiratory rate offered to the patient. Among the parameters evaluated for this respirator, an line pressure of O2 from 3.5 kPa x 100, sensitivity between 3 and 5, a flow of 5 to 15 L/min is recommended.


Simulation-based design optimization is a key technology in many industrial sectors. Recent developments in software technology have opened a novel range of possibilities in this area. It has now become possible to involve multiple organizations in the simulation of a candidate design, by composing their respective simulation modules on the Internet. Thus, it is possible to deploy an inter-organizational design optimization system, which may be particularly appealing because modern engineering products are assembled out of smaller blocks developed by different organizations. In this paper we explore some of the fundamental performance-related issues involved in such a novel scenario, by analyzing a variety of options: centralized control vs. distributed control; generation of new candidate designs one at a time or in batches; communication and computation performed serially or with time overlap. Our analysis provides useful insights into the numerous trade-offs involved in the implementation of inter-organizational design optimization


We propose a non-linear Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) method which works by coordinating or aligning mixtures of linear models. In the same way that CCA extends the idea of PCA, our work extends recent methods for non-linear dimensionality reduction to the case where multiple embeddings of the same underlying low dimensional coordinates are observed, each lying on a different high dimensional manifold. We also show that a special case of our method, when applied to only a single manifold, reduces to the Laplacian Eigenmaps algorithm. As with previous alignment schemes, once the mixture models have been estimated, all of the parameters of our model can be estimated in closed form without local optima in the learning. Experimental results illustrate the viability of the approach as a non-linear extension of CCA.


The author explores the most important legal undertaking of Antiquity: the Corpus Iuris Civilis promulgated by Emperor Justinian. Justinian's codification is the bridge that links Antiquity, the Byzantine Empire, and Europe. It is also the link between civil law and common law, and between canon law and civil law. To know about the Corpus Iuris is to know about something that was instrumental for the development of justice and law in the past, continues to operate in the present, and will probably have its impact in the future. The Corpus Iuris, especially the Digest, has not only a historic value but an intrinsic one because it embodied the creative spirit and permanent character of all of Roman jurisprudence.


Recent developments in constrained control and estimation have created a need for this comprehensive introduction to the underlying fundamental principles. These advances have significantly broadened the realm of application of constrained control. - Using the principal tools of prediction and optimisation, examples of how to deal with constraints are given, placing emphasis on model predictive control. - New results combine a number of methods in a unique way, enabling you to build on your background in estimation theory, linear control, stability theory and state-space methods. - Companion web site, continually updated by the authors. Easy to read and at the same time containing a high level of technical detail, this self-contained, new approach to methods for constrained control in design will give you a full understanding of the subject.


Symbolic regression, the task of predicting the mathematical expression of a function from the observation of its values, is a difficult task which usually involves a two-step procedure: predicting the"skeleton"of the expression up to the choice of numerical constants, then fitting the constants by optimizing a non-convex loss function. The dominant approach is genetic programming, which evolves candidates by iterating this subroutine a large number of times. Neural networks have recently been tasked to predict the correct skeleton in a single try, but remain much less powerful. In this paper, we challenge this two-step procedure, and task a Transformer to directly predict the full mathematical expression, constants included. One can subsequently refine the predicted constants by feeding them to the non-convex optimizer as an informed initialization. We present ablations to show that this end-to-end approach yields better results, sometimes even without the refinement step. We evaluate our model on problems from the SRBench benchmark and show that our model approaches the performance of state-of-the-art genetic programming with several orders of magnitude faster inference.


Isotropic quantum cosmological perfect fluid model is studied in the formalism of Rainbow gravity. It is found that the only surviving matter degree of freedom played the role of cosmic time. With the suitable choice of the Rainbow functions it is possible to find the wave packet naturally from the superposition of the wave functions of the Schrodinger–Wheeler–deWitt equation. The many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics is applied to investigate the behavior of the scale factor and the behavior is found to depend on the operator ordering. It is shown that the model in the Rainbow framework may avoid singularity yielding a bouncing nonsingular universe.


New and/or enlarged datasets of U–Th disequilibrium model ages from secondary ionization mass spectrometry (SIMS) analyses of zircons in eight eruptive units from the area of Taupo volcano, New Zealand, highlight the behavioural contrasts of two closely adjacent, contemporaneous but independent magma chambers. One yielded closely similar crystal-poor ('Oruanui-type') rhyolites, sampled in three small precursor eruptions (Tihoi, 'New plinian', Okaia) from ∼45 to 30 ka, then the major 27 ka Oruanui eruption. Three of the four eruptions had vents within the modern Lake Taupo, whereas the fourth ('New plinian') was sourced ∼20 km NNE of the other vents, fed by lateral magma migration. Samples from all four eruptions share a common model-age peak at ∼95 ka of antecrystic zircons. However, three of the four differ in younger pre-eruptive model-age peaks that require their parental melt-dominant bodies to have been physically extracted independently from a common mush zone represented by the ∼95 ka peak. A sample from a fifth eruption ('New phreatoplinian', also at ∼45 ka) shares an older 80–100 ka peak but has numerous older grains and distinctly contrasting Sr-isotopic characteristics to the 'Oruanui-type' magmas. The 530 km 3 Oruanui melt-dominant body was produced in at most ∼3000 years as shown by differences in zircon model-age spectra and average ages between it and the 30 ka Okaia eruption, despite their coincidence in vent locations. The second suite of eruptions at ∼47, 28 and 16 ka ejected moderately crystal-rich biotite rhyolites from a second source chamber, which vented over a 15 km wide area NE of Taupo (overlapping with Maroa volcano). This second chamber is inferred to have comparable horizontal dimensions to the vent spacing. The three biotite rhyolites show unimodal model-age spectra that peak at 30, 15–25 and 6 kyr prior to each eruption, respectively, and underwent single cycles of melt generation and eruption with no recycling of significantly older antecrysts or xenocrysts ( 5 m 3 /s (Oruanui) and effectively drained the mush of melt in doing so (Oruanui vs post-Oruanui activity), probably mediated by active rifting processes and tectonic disruption of the mush pile. Comparisons of 'magma residence times' and discussion of the growth histories of large silicic chambers represented by volcanic or plutonic rocks are self-limited by the uncertainties in the respective SIMS analyses. Growth times of Miocene and older plutons dated by SIMS U–Pb techniques are comparable with the 2 Myr lifetime of the whole Taupo Volcanic Zone, and the associated 1σ SIMS analytical uncertainties exceed the lifetime of a volcano such as Taupo. Subtle details that indicate the rapidity of magma accumulation and recycling of crystals in the young Taupo system cannot be discerned in most pre-300 ka silicic systems. Averaging of SIMS model-age data further obscures subtle details that would allow discrimination of newly crystallized versus recycled zircons. Discussions of volcano–plutonic relationships and accumulation rates for large silicic melt-dominant bodies cannot rely on age data in isolation, but require knowledge of the stratigraphic and compositional settings.


There are in fact two approaches to trace through the impacts of particular changes in the components of the population growth: (a) Examination of model stable multiregional populations (simulation approach); (b) Mathematical analysis of the impacts (analytical approach).

Some mathematical impact analysis has already been performed in the paper on spatial population dynamics. It follows essentially Keyfitz's chain of derivations, but centers on the multiregional generalization of some principal formulas. In order to pursue the impact analysis further, we need some additional findings of matrix algebra. Most of the relevant ideas are collected in a recent volume on sensitivity analysis and on methods for incorporating sensitivity considerations in engineering design procedures. This paragraph deals with the analysis of the impact of changes in the growth matrix on: (a) growth rate of the stable population; (b) coefficients of the characteristic equation; (c) stable population distribution.


The law governing administrative agency policy change and checking unjustified inconsistency is rooted in a web of intertwined doctrine. The Supreme Court's 2016 opinion in Encino Motorcars modestly recast that doctrine to emphasize that the agency pursuing a change cannot leave "unexplained inconsistency" or neglect to address past relevant "underlying facts," but reaffirmed its central stable precepts. Nonetheless, radically different views about broad, unaccountable, and rapid agency power to make policy changes have been articulated by current Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, when on the appellate bench, and agencies pursuing deregulatory policy shifts under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump. This article analyzes the mutually reinforcing strands of this body of law, shows the errors underpinning these policy change power claims, and explains how the "contingencies" underlying an initial policy action must always be engaged by a later advocate of policy change. Statutory language constrains while usually leaving room for change, but facts and past agency reasoning unavoidably must be engaged to surmount the sturdy core requirements of consistency doctrine. Recent efforts to overcome or recast consistency doctrine seek greater room for politics and presidential influence and downplay agency obligations to provide rational explanation and engage with regulatory contingencies. Due to the balanced interests protected by consistency doctrine, this article argues that such a doctrinal reworking is unlikely and would be unwise.


Rumah Kutai in Perak is amongst the oldest surviving traditional Malay house and is gradually disappearing from the indigenous cultural landscape of Malaysia. The subject of the research is construction techniques of the traditional Malay houses which is emphasized on the indigenous house of Perak, Rumah Kutai. This research, basically exploring on how Rumah Kutai is being constructed from the beginning until the end. Also, to examine the construction techniques especially on the jointing system (tanggam) of several components in Rumah Kutai. The research aims to study the construction techniques of traditional Rumah Kutai.
Keywords: Kutai; Traditional Malay house; Construction technique; Tanggam
eISSN 2514-751X © 2019. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRAcE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) andcE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.https://doi.org/10.21834/aje-bs.v4i12.335


The mangrove Avicennia marina is a dominant mangrove along the anthropogenically stressed tropical Thane creek, west coast of India. Leaf anatomy of the mangrove along the Thane creek, was assessed in relation to stationwise and seasonwise variations in salinity. It was noticed that under the conditions of higher salinity, Avicennia marina showed increased thickness of hypodermal water storage tissue in the leaf (for conservation of water) and produced taller salt extruding glands at the lower epidermis to eliminate more salt; whereas, the thickness of the photosynthetic mesophyllic tissue significantly reduced. At lower salinity or with reduction in salinity in monsoon, contrary to above occurred. These changes probably explain the stunted growth of Avicennia marina in high salinity environment and its vigorous growth at lower salinity.


The Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) project is a 6-year (2009-2015) integrative study of ice sheet stability and subglacial geobiology in West Antarctica, funded by the Antarctic Integrated System Science Program of National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs, Antarctic Division. The overarching scientific objective of WISSARD is to assess the role of water beneath a West Antarctic Ice Stream in interlinked glaciological, geological, microbiological, geochemical, hydrological, and oceanographic systems. The WISSARD's important science questions relate to (1) the role that subglacial and ice shelf cavity waters and wet sediments play in ice stream dynamics and mass balance, with an eye on the possible future of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and (2) the microbial metabolic and phylogenetic diversity in these subglacial environments. The study area is the downstream part of the Whillans Ice Stream on the Siple Coast, specifically Subglacial Lake Whillans and the part of the grounding zone across which it drains. In this chapter, we provide background on the motivation for the WISSARD project, detail the key scientific goals, and describe the new measurement tools and strategies under development that will provide the framework for conducting an unprecedented range of scientific observations.


Opposing Hate Speech. Anthony Cortese. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006. 229 pp. $39.95 hbk. In ruling on everything from campus speech codes to the Nuremberg Files Web site, U.S. courts have found it difficult to strike a proper balance between preventing harms caused by speech and protecting individual expression. In Opposing Hate Speech, Anthony Cortese criticizes those efforts and blends social science, critical race theory, and constitutional analysis to argue for a greater societal commitment to the fight against words that hurt. Cortese, a professor of sociology at Southern Methodist University, concentrates his focus on hate speech that denigrates people on the basis of race or ethnic origin, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. Using cultural-transmission and group-identification theories, he offers a four-stage discrimination model for classifying and measuring hate speech based on its severity. "Unintentional discrimination" is speech that is offensive to minorities but is not purposely meant to harm-this is Stage 1 hate speech, which can be remedied by education. Stages 2 and 3 hate speech are more severe because they are intentional, with Stage 3 hate speech inciting hatred toward minorities. Education, institutional speech codes, and litigation are possible remedies for these types of hate speech. Stage 4 hate speech goes even further and incites or encourages physical violence toward minorities; this type of speech currently lacks legal protection under the "fighting words" doctrine or the clear and present danger test. Cortese returns to this model and applies it to examples of hate speech throughout the book, but he never fully fleshes out how it might work in a court of law. In the chapter on religious hate speech, for example, he offers Bill O'Reilly's comparison of the Koran to Mein Kampf as a Stage 3 offense because, he says, it "seems to be designed to promulgate feelings of hatred for Muslims." But another person (or court) might view this incident as Stage 2 (intentionally denigrating minorities) or perhaps even Stage 1 (offending minorities, but not on purpose). This example and others show the line-drawing problems that arise in trying to assign arbitrary values to speech-problems that Cortese does not address, much less resolve. Instead, Cortese's main purpose seems to be to show that the current legal regime is not working, and in making this argument he raises some provocative points. Traditional free speech jurisprudence has not solved the problem of hate speech, he argues, because judges have taken an overly absolutist view of the First Amendment. …


During the past decades the field of sensors has been subject to much attention due to an increased demand for (bio)sensors and environmental monitoring. The efforts have been concentrated to create sensors which are reliable, highly sensitive and selective, small and fast responding. Surface modification by polymer coating has been proven an excellent method to introduce selectivity on actuators. Among the various techniques that allow the formation of polymer thin film, polymer brushes have gained attention along the past decades due to their unique structure and the possibility offered by controlled/"living" surface-initiated radical polymerization technique to generate polymer thin film with precisely controlled thickness, composition and architecture. Polymer brushes have found numerous applications including nonbiofouling surfaces and cell adhesive surfaces, protein binding and immobilization, chromatography supports, membrane functionalization, responsive surface, antibacterial coatings or low friction surfaces. Despite their interesting properties and the numerous reports describing the potential of polymer brush as responsive surface, their use for "real" sensing applications has receive little or no attention so far. This Thesis describes how polymer brushes can be employed as selective surface modification for sensing application. We aimed at synthesizing polymer thin film able to detect analytes of interest, with a particular focus on low detection limit and high selectivity. After a short introduction to the field of polymer brushes (Chapter 1), Chapter 2 presents a review of the work accomplished in the field of responsive polymer brushes with an emphasis on solvent responsive, thermoresponsive, pH- and ion-sensitive polymer brushes. The pH-induced swelling and collapse of surface-tethered, weak polyelectrolyte brushes is of interest not only for the development of responsive surface coatings but also for the pH controlled transport or adsorption. Chapter 3 discusses results of an extensive series of quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) experiments that aimed at further understanding the influence of brush thickness and density on the pH-responsiveness of poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) brushes and developing strategies that allow to engineer the pH responsiveness and dynamic response range of PMAA based brushes. It was observed that due to their high grafting density, the apparent pKa of surface-tethered PMAA differs from that of the corresponding free polymer in solution and also covers a broader pH range. The pKa of the PMAA brushes was found to depend both on brush thickness and density; thicker brushes showed a higher pKa value and brushes of higher density started to swell at higher pH. The second part of this section demonstrates the feasibility of the N-hydroxysuccinimide-mediated post-polymerization modification to engineer the pH responsiveness of the PMAA brushes. By using appropriate amine functionalized acids, it was possible to tune both the pH of maximum response as well as the dynamic response range of these PMAA based polyelectrolyte brushes. In Chapter 4, benzo-15-crown-5 functionalized polymer brushes prepared via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization were used as the active layer in a potassium-selective QCM sensor. The polymer brushes allowed the selective detection of potassium ions, even in the presence of a large excess of sodium ions and the sensitivity of the sensor could be tuned by varying the brush thickness. Chapter 5 demonstrates the possibility to use peptide functionalized polymer brush, prepared via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP), to probe heavy metal ions via voltammetric based methods. The polymer brush enhanced the mercury (II) ions sensitivity as compared to the bar electrode and allowed the detection of mercury down to the nanomolar concentration range. Furthermore it was demonstrated that the heavy metal recognition is a reversible and reproducible process. Post-polymerization modification reactions are widely employed to prepare functional polymer brushes. Relatively little is known, however, about the distribution of functional groups in such post-modified brushes. Using neutron reflectivity and UV-visible spectroscopy as principal tools, Chapter 6 investigates the p-nitrophenyl chloroformate (NPC) mediated post-polymerization modification of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) brushes, prepared via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization, with D-10 leucine and D-3 serine. The neutron reflectivity experiments indicate that the post-polymerization modification depends both on the brush thickness and density. Whereas, for dense brushes, post-polymerization modification with D-10 leucine is limited to the top ∼ 200 A of the brush, independently of the brush thickness, the extent of post-modification can be significantly extended by decreasing brush density, or by using the more hydrophilic and sterically less demanding D-3 serine, which reflects the ability of this amino acid to more readily penetrate the brush. UV-vis. experiment revealed that the NPC activation is also non-uniform, but brush thickness and density dependent, which adds to brush thickness, density and the nature of the amino acid as another of a complex set of variables that determine the final distribution of functional groups in post-modified brushes.


In this report the method of ray differential acoustic tomography of the ocean is discussed. The method is based on the fact that the mean velocity of sound pulse propagation along the ray trajectory depends on the angle of the ray exit. The method efficiency is analyzed numerically for the signal reception to the horizontal array and the single hydrophone. It is shown that the signal of illumination may be suppressed and the scattered signal may be separated by time gating. It is also shown that the depth of the deposition of a space-localized inhomogeneity may be estimated by the width of the scattered signal autocorrelation function. The distance to the inhomogeneity may be defined by the cross correlation function of the scattered signal at various array receivers. The influence of the depth of the submergence of a scatterer and the distance between a source and a receiver on the scattered signal structure is analyzed.


Abstract Many rebel organizations receive significant assistance from external governments, yet the reasons why some rebels attract foreign support while others do not is poorly understood. We analyze factors determining external support for insurgent groups from a principal-agent perspective. We focus on both the supply side, that is, when states are willing to support insurgent groups in other states, and the demand side, that is, when groups are willing to accept such support, with the conditions that this may entail. We test our hypotheses using new disaggregated data on insurgent groups and foreign support. Our results indicate that external rebel support is influenced by characteristics of the rebel group as well as linkages between rebel groups and actors in other countries. More specifically, we find that external support is more likely for moderately strong groups where support is more likely to be offered and accepted, in the presence of transnational constituencies, international rivalries, and when the government receives foreign support.


Preserving privacy of users is a key requirement of web-scale data mining applications and systems such as web search, recommender systems, crowdsourced platforms, and analytics applications, and has witnessed a renewed focus in light of recent data breaches and new regulations such as GDPR. In this tutorial, we will first present an overview of privacy breaches over the last two decades and the lessons learned, key regulations and laws, and evolution of privacy techniques leading to differential privacy definition / techniques. Then, we will focus on the application of privacy-preserving data mining techniques in practice, by presenting case studies such as Apple's differential privacy deployment for iOS / macOS, Google's RAPPOR, LinkedIn Salary, and Microsoft's differential privacy deployment for collecting Windows telemetry. We will conclude with open problems and challenges for the data mining / machine learning community, based on our experiences in industry.


To disclose or not to disclose: Is that the question? This dissertation suggests that the question is in fact far more complicated, as therapist self-disclosure challenges therapists to consider what will be most beneficial in each situation. Thus, it is the complexity of the topic of self-disclosure that is explored in this dissertation. Using a modified systematic literature review, this dissertation looks at how self-disclosure is understood in analytic literature and the different types of disclosure. Three broad categories of self-disclosures are identified and discussed: implicit disclosures, countertransference disclosures and personal disclosures. Within each of these types, the dissertation looks at what influences a therapist's disclosure, using clinical examples to explore the literature. A range of client, therapist and relational influences are discussed and a list of these compiled. This is done to assist thinking and decision making processes around therapist self-disclosure.


The local inversion effect in biological motion perception is acceleration-based. The ability to discriminate direction from spatially scrambled point-light displays relies on the orientation of the foot dot motions (Troje & Westhoff, 2006). We present two experiments that investigated this local motion-based inversion effect by testing direction discrimination from novel biological motion displays that exaggerate and display solely foot-specific information. In Experiment 1, we isolated the foot motion of a treadmill human walker, human runner, cat, and pigeon and presented observers (n = 20) with 1000 ms displays consisting of 10 copies of two foot dots that traced 150 ms segments at counterphase positions of the gait cycle. For each foot type, we derived left and right signalling displays from five such segment pairs that collectively sampled the entire gait cycle and presented them at both upright and inverted orientations. Direction discrimination accuracies varied with foot type, orientation, and segment pair. Significantly, the decrease in accuracies due to inversion was most substantial for the runner stimuli which exhibit the most pronounced vertical velocity changes and smallest for the cat stimuli which carry little vertical motion. In Experiment 2, a new group of observers (n = 20) were presented with the natural human walker stimuli of Experiment 1 and with stimuli that were spatiotemporally-matched to the natural stimuli but moved with constant velocities. Here, overall discrimination accuracies did not differ per foot type, decreased with inversion, and varied with segment pair. Critically, performances were higher for upright than for inverted displays for the natural stimuli only. Upright and inverted versions of the constant velocity stimuli did not differ. The results suggest that the local inversion effect in biological motion perception is carried by the velocity gradients of the foot motions. We conjecture that the visual system is sensitive to characteristic velocity changes exhibited by biological movements in a gravity-driven environment.


By utilizing XML representations of source programs under test, a new approach is proposed to concisely implement some prototypes for TACCLE, a software testing methodology. The conversions between a source program and its XML representation can be easily realized using existing conversion tools. In this way, the conversion tools can automatically analyze and parse the source program, so that testing tool developers only need to concentrate on the manipulation of the XML document. If appropriate XML DOM APIs are chosen, the implementations of such testing tools will be pretty lean. A detailed case study for GMPS tool, a prototype for the TACCLE methodology, is presented to illustrate the new approach.


Executive Summary Background to the project The context for this project is a growing international consensus on the importance of policy initiatives to both raise the quality of teaching (OECD, 2005) and to better prepare teachers to respond to increasing diversity in communities and classrooms (EADSNE, 2011). The DES and the Teaching Council of Ireland developed policies requiring higher education institutions providing Initial Teacher Education (ITE) to undergo a re-accreditation process from 2012. This involved both an extension and a reconceptualization of programmes, with mandatory additional content related to inclusive education and differentiation, together with the opportunity for a wider range of school placement experiences. All concurrent (undergraduate) programmes of initial teacher education must be of four years' duration and all consecutive (postgraduate) programmes of initial teacher education must be of two years' duration. The latter were re-accredited at Masters Level 9 on the National Framework of Qualifications. Following this major reform, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) in Ireland commissioned a study of 'Initial Teacher Education for Inclusion' in 2015. NCSE's research aim was: 'to establish what the components of inclusive/special education are within Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes in Ireland and to explore if the recent changes prepare newly qualified teachers to be inclusive using the indicators set out in the EASNIE's Profile of Inclusive Teachers'. The European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education (EASNIE) conducted a four-year project on Teacher Education for Inclusion, involving representatives of twenty five countries. A key output was a proposed 'Profile of Inclusive Teachers' (EADSNE, 2012), which outlines a range of attitudes, knowledge and skills in relation to four core values and eight areas of competence, to be addressed in initial teacher education to prepare all new teachers to become more inclusive. The NCSE proposed the EASNIE Profile of Inclusive Teachers as the baseline definition of inclusive teaching for the project and it is used by the research team as the framework and starting point for analysis. The 'Initial Teacher Education for Inclusion' project (ITE4I), runs from 2015-2018. The research team is led by Manchester Metropolitan University in partnership with University College Cork and University College London, Institute of Education. We understand this project may be one of the first system-wide, longitudinal studies of initial teacher education for inclusive teaching in Europe. This report relates to the first year of the project in 2015/16, which analysed the content of ITE programmes and studied the experiences of the first cohort of student teachers to graduate from the extended and reconceptualised programmes, in their final year of study. This comprised two phases of data collection: in Phase 1 we analysed programme documents and surveyed teacher educators; in Phase 2 we surveyed student teachers and interviewed a sample of student teachers and teacher educators. At the same time, a literature review was developed setting out definitional debates on inclusive education and outlining the scope of the international literature on inclusive teaching. Research design The Research Questions formulated by National Council for Special Education (NCSE) were as follows: 1. What are the components of inclusive/special education within Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes in Ireland for primary and post-primary teachers? 2. Do the recent changes to ITE prepare newly qualified teachers to be inclusive as identified by European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education (EASNIE) Profile of Inclusive Teachers? 3. What is the intended impact of the changes in ITE on outcomes for students with special educational needs (SEN) and do student/newly qualified teachers perceive their learning during initial teacher education makes an impact on outcomes for students with SEN? 4. What gaps are there in how current ITE programmes prepare student teachers to be inclusive as per the EASNIE Profile of Inclusive Teachers and what aspects need to be strengthened to better prepare student teachers to be inclusive? 5. What lessons can be identified from this research for initial teacher education in Ireland and subsequent phases in the continuum of teacher education? The Project Phases were planned around data collection over the three years of the project: Phase 1 (Sept. – Jan. 2016): Analysing ITE Programme Content Data collection in Phase 1 included documentary analysis and a survey of teacher educators. Documentation relating to some 30 programmes (out of 59 nationally) from 13 ITE providers (out of 19 in total) was obtained with the support of the Teaching Council. These were primarily standard proforma submitted for re-accreditation, with module outlines appended in some cases; in addition, reviews of these submissions published by the Teaching Council were analysed, together with the criteria used for re-accreditation. The documentary analysis started from a typology derived from the EASNIE Profile of Inclusive Teachers, to examine how and where inclusive teaching is represented within ITE programme documents. A survey of teacher educators was conducted at the same time, to collect initial data on the range of views expressed by teacher educators in relation to issues of inclusive teaching in ITE programmes. The survey was constructed to reflect areas of competence within the EASNIE Profile of Inclusive Teachers, and to collect free-text comments. Following piloting, 21 respondents (programme leaders, module leaders, heads of departments) provided complete or near-complete responses giving information relating to 27 programmes from 13 institutions (some survey responses related to more than one programme). Phase 2 (Feb. – Aug. 2016): Understanding the ITE Student Experience Data collection in Phase 2 included a survey of student teachers, together with interviews with student teachers and with teacher educators at five case study sites. The five ITE providers were selected to represent a range of primary, post-primary, consecutive and concurrent programmes; and to provide a geographical spread of institutions. The survey of student teachers elicited data about their experiences of initial teacher education and their understandings of inclusive teaching. The questionnaire captured demographic information, key areas of experience prior to and during the respondents' ITE programme, and a series of statements mapped to an analysis of the attitude, knowledge and skills components of the EASNIE profile. A total of 430 valid responses were received, representing a sample of approximately 13% of the national cohort of student teachers. The interviews with student teachers aimed to elicit their views about their course and how their studies related to their school placement experiences; their understandings of inclusive teaching; their approaches to inclusive teaching in practice; and their reflections on their own professional development in relation to inclusive teaching and how their courses might be developed. A total of 47 students were interviewed in person or by Skype, with 32 recruited at the five case study sites and a further 15 recruited by survey responses from other institutions. The interviews with teacher educators sought their views on issues of inclusive teaching and ITE in Ireland, and on the impact of the extension and reconceptualization of ITE programmes; their responses to emergent themes and issues arising from the survey of teacher educators and the documentary analysis; and their reflections on aspects of the EASNIE Profile of Inclusive Teachers. A total of 11 staff interviews were conducted across the five case study sites, typically including the Head of School or a Programme Leader and a lecturer in inclusive or special education.


The physiological mechanisms causing fall dormancy (FD)-induced differences in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) shoot growth in autumn and winter hardiness are not understood. The objective of this research was to examine root physiology of experimental germplasms selected for decreased FD that also were selected simultaneously for high winter hardiness. Dormant and semi-dormant cultivars and germplasms had high root sugar concentrations that were positively associated with winter hardiness. Root amino N and protein levels in December were greater for germplasms selected for decreased FD and increased winter hardiness than for cultivars with comparable levels of winter hardiness. Among the five most fall dormant cultivars Vernal incurred the greatest amount of winter injury and it had lower root amino-N concentrations when compared with three of the other four dormant cultivars and germplasms. Germplasm 98-132 with an intermediate FD, incurred relatively low winter injury, similar to that of fall dormant Vernal, when compared with other intermediate dormancy cultivars and germplasms. This germplasm had root sugar concentrations that were similar to plants with FD ratings of 1 to 3. Creation of even less FD germplasms that possess high winter hardiness would facilitate our understanding of the physiological and molecular mechanisms controlling these two very important agronomic traits of alfalfa.


For a quarter of a century, Israel and Azerbaijan have maintained deep strategic cooperation that touches on national security issues of the highest importance to both sides. The defense relationship goes far beyond arms sales and technology transfer, including cooperation on the establishment of Azerbaijan's indigenous defense industry. In the 2020 war, Azerbaijan demonstrated an innovative use of Israeli arms and the integration of Turkish and Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as well as a novel uses of UAVs. The war set the stage the return of open cooperation between Turkey and Israel and renewal of exchange of ambassadors. Moreover, Israel's cooperation with Azerbaijan has endowed it with "soft power" among ethnic Azerbaijanis in Iran, who form one-third of the Islamic Republic's population.


The question of substance in the philosophy of physics has three branches: logical, physical, and epistemological. The first is a problem in pure philosophy: is the notion of " substance " in any sense a " category," i.e. forced upon us by the general nature either of facts or of knowledge? The second is a question of the interpretation of mathematical physics: is it (a) necessary, or (b) convenient to interpret our formulae in terms of permanent entities with changing states and relations? The third concerns the relation of perception to the physical world.


Harrat Lunayyir is one of the most volcanically active recent basaltic fields in western Saudi Arabia. A period of substantial seismic unrest, featuring more than 30,000 local events, occurred in Harrat Lunayyir in April–June 2009. Although this crisis was presumably related to ongoing magma activity, it ended without any surface volcanic activity. We create new tomographic models of P and S velocities (V P and V S ) and use them to explain the causes of this unrest and the reasons the eruption failed. A large seismic anomaly of high V P /V S ratio below 7 km depth coincides with the locations of more than 50 recent cinder cones with ages of older than 100 ka, and is interpreted as a steady-state magma reservoir. We also identify another seismic anomaly at depths below 15 km, which is interpreted as a conduit for fluids and melts from deeper sources. Because the location of this conduit is slightly outside the main reservoir, some of the incoming material was dispersed. As a result, the activation of the crustal reservoir was not sufficiently strong to pierce the rigid basaltic cover and cause an actual eruption dur ing the crisis in 2009.


Abstract The current sectional classification of the genus Aeschynanthus Jack, essentially based on seed morphology, presents some problems of species placement. A comparative SEM survey of seed and seed appendages was undertaken in order to assess the value of this classification. Seeds of 99 taxa (that is about two-thirds of the estimated total) were examined and found to fall into two types, A and B. Type A has spiral testa cell orientation, papillae formed from a single cell and short smooth appendages. Type B is recognized by the straight orientation of the testa cells, combined with the presence of papillae formed from the raised ends of two adjacent cells on the long hair-like appendages and usually on the testa. Only six of the investigated species did not fall into either category. Three have ± straight testa cell orientation combined with single-cell papillae and short smooth appendages; the papillae and appendage characters place them in type A. Three have spiral testa cell orientation and short smooth appendages but the testa cells have slightly raised ends; these are also placed in Type A. The three subtypes in Type A are equivalent to the sections Haplotrichium s.s. , Microtrichium and Aeschynanthus , but the divisions are less clear than those within Type B. However, other morphological characters support sectional separation. Type B subdivides into three: two subtypes equivalent to sections Polytrichium and Diplotrichium , and a third encompassing section Xanthanthos together with part of the current sect. Haplotrichium , and here referred to as sect. X . There is sufficient morphological correlation with seed type to make the sectional position of many species clear without recourse to seed, particularly in sects Polytrichium , Diplotrichium , Haplotrichium s.s. and Aeschynanthus . There is strong correlation between seed type and geographical distribution. Sects. Microtrichium and Aeschynanthus , with Type A seed, are essentially Malesian. Groups with Type B seed are largely confined to mainland south and south-east Asia, except for sect. Polytrichium which is more widespread, possibly due to the greater effectiveness of a coma of hairs in wind dispersal. It is suggested that Type A seed, probably sect. Microtrichium , is the least determined and Type B sect. Polytrichium the most derived seed type. Based on these findings a revised key to the sections is provided


Sampling from complex target distributions is a challenging task fundamental to Bayesian inference. Parallel tempering (PT) addresses this problem by constructing a Markov chain on the expanded state space of a sequence of distributions interpolating between the posterior distribution and a fixed reference distribution, which is typically chosen to be the prior. However, in the typical case where the prior and posterior are nearly mutually singular, PT methods are computationally prohibitive. In this work we address this challenge by constructing a generalized annealing path connecting the posterior to an adaptively tuned variational reference. The reference distribution is tuned to minimize the forward (inclusive) KL divergence to the posterior distribution using a simple, gradient-free moment-matching procedure. We show that our adaptive procedure converges to the forward KL minimizer, and that the forward KL divergence serves as a good proxy to a previously developed measure of PT performance. We also show that in the large-data limit in typical Bayesian models, the proposed method improves in performance, while traditional PT deteriorates arbitrarily. Finally, we introduce PT with two references -- one fixed, one variational -- with a novel split annealing path that ensures stable variational reference adaptation. The paper concludes with experiments that demonstrate the large empirical gains achieved by our method in a wide range of realistic Bayesian inference scenarios.


Abstract. A highly miniaturized piezoresistive humidity sensor has been developed. The starting point of the development was a 1 × 1 mm2 piezoresistive pressure sensor chip. As sensing material, a polyimide was used that swells with increasing adsorption of water molecules. To convert the swelling into an electrical signal, a thin layer of the polyimide was deposited onto the bending plate of the pressure sensor. The humidity sensor was characterized in a climate chamber. The measurements show a sensitivity of 0.25 mV per percent relative humidity (%RH) and a non-linearity of 3.1% full scale (FS) in the range of 30–80% RH. A high cross-sensitivity to temperature of around 0.5 mV °C−1 was measured, so temperature compensation is necessary. For stress-free packaging of the sensor chip, a novel packaging technology was developed.


The increasing popularity of hypermedia games is reaching far beyond the boundaries of entertainment and edging its way into many educational domains. The growth in game technologies has created new teaching environments through proposals combining learning with fun and motivating expectations which make the use of digital games a relevant trend in versatile learning situations at all educational levels. Based on the implementation of the Shaiex project, funded by the government of Extremadura (Spain) and develop by the research group GexCALL, the aim of this paper is twofold. First, it analyses the steps and requirements for the design of adaptive games for the teaching of English as a foreign language at the preschool level. Exploring the general premises for task adaptation by personalizing content to children's needs and abilities, the implementation of the whole design is described in light of its applicability. Second, an assessment of the adaptive games designed is conducted, based on the assumption that selecting developmentally appropriate digital experiences to meet users' expectations and to maximize their learning potential should undergo careful evaluation.


Fishers ( Martes pennanti ) in the mountains of California's Sierra Nevada occur at the southwestern margin of their distribution and inhabit different forest types with different potential prey than elsewhere in their range. Two typical fisher prey, the snowshoe hare ( Lepus americanus ) and the porcupine ( Erethizon dorsatum ), are absent from our Sierra Nevada study area. We characterized the diet of fishers in the southern Sierra Nevada by analyzing the content of 201 feces (44 males: 157 females) collected either from trapped animals or from the rest sites of radio-collared animals. Mammals were the most frequent food item; however, unlike previous reports, reptiles (20.4% of feces) and insects (55.7%) were major components of the diet. We also sampled 24 feces for the presence of spores of hypogeous fungi (false truffles) and found that 91.7% had spores representing at least six fungal species. Diversity of the diet was indicated by the fact that remains of no single family of animal or plant group were found in >22% of feces. The fisher is reputed to be a habitat specialist in the late-seral mixed conifer-deciduous forests of the western United States. Perhaps it is for this reason that our data depict the species as a dietary generalist, for whom it may be necessary to forage on many of the animal, plant, and fungal species that occur in and near mature coniferous habitat.


"The science of medicine was the first to discover that 'an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, '" Henryk Sokalski reminds us as he begins this study of a unique United Nations mission. "In the political realm, however, its full potential has yet to be realized." Sokalski, former head of the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, provides the ultimate insider's look at the UN's attempt to establish a mission in this former Yugoslav republic before the imminent eruption of mass violence spilling over from neighboring Balkan states Serbia and its overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian province of Kosovo in particular.An "Ounce of Prevention" and the UNPREDEP mission itself begins in early 1995 with a telephone call to Sokalski at his Warsaw home from UN Secretary General Boutros-Ghali, and it ends several years later in a disappointing Security Council veto of the mission's renewal. In between, Sokalski's study of this "novel experiment in UN peacekeeping" describes the mission's three "pillars" as well as contending theories on preventive diplomacy and early preventive action, contemporary Balkan history, and the daily bureaucratic and human challenges of reinventing civil society. All the while, Sokalski attempts to answer the question of whether the mission's renewed mandate could have prevented the country's recent destructive insurgency and whether UNPREDEP's truncated success could serve as a model for future UN preventive deployments."


What if meaning were the last thing that mattered in language? In this essay, Henri Meschonnic explains what it means to translate the sense of language and how to do it. In a radical stand against a hermeneutical approach based on the dualistic view of the linguistic sign and against its separation into a meaningful signified and a meaningless signifier, Henri Meschonnic argues for a poetics of translating. Because texts generate meaning through their power of expression, to translate ethically involves listening to the various rhythms that characterize them: prosodic, consonantal or vocalic patterns, syntactical structures, sentence length and punctuation, among other discursive means. However, as the book illustrates, such an endeavour goes against the grain and, more precisely, against a 2500-year-old tradition in the case of biblical translation. The inability of translators to give ear to rhythm in language results from a culturally transmitted deafness. Henri Meschonnic decries the generalized unwillingness to remedy this cultural condition and discusses the political implications for the subject of discourse.


Eighty-eight percent of all 40-year-old male residents of four suburban municipalities of Copenhagen County were examined for the lead concentration in their blood and interviewed regarding job category and place of work. Of the 504 men, 482 were currently employed, 18 were unemployed, and 4 were pensioners. The total median blood lead level was 13 micrograms/100 ml (0.6 mumol/l). Men employed in construction, industrial production, and transportation had the highest lead levels, while very low concentrations were found among pensioners and farmers. Blue-collar works had higher blood lead results than white-collar workers. Very high levels were found in two men employed at a secondary lead smelter, but otherwise increases in lead concentrations were comparatively small. However, the occupationally related, increased blood lead levels identified in this population contributed significantly to normal "background" levels.


Dicranum is a large genus essentially found in the Holarctic. More than 90 species are currently accepted and about 30 species are recorded for Europe. Dicranum species grow in a broad range of habitats, forming dense, tomentose tufts or cushions, and are easily recognized in the field by their typical « Dicranum-look ». However, the taxonomy of this genus is controversial. Many species are difficult to distinguish due to their morphological plasticity. Intergrading forms are often found, leading to frequent confusions and unclear taxonomy.
In this thesis, species delimitations of temperate and arctic Dicranum lineages were investigated using molecular phylogenetic reconstructions and barcoding methods. Four potential barcode markers (rps4-trnT, trnL-F, psbA-trnH, nrITS) and two additional chloroplast markers (rps19-rpl2 and rpoB) were sequenced for 90% of the species known in Europe. Molecular data were analysed with maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inferences for phylogenetic investigations. Furthermore, Bayesian approaches were used for testing automated species delimitation methods (generalised mixed Yule coalescent (GMYC) and Poisson tree processes (PTP)). Morphological characters were re-addressed in the light of the molecular phylogenetic inferences. Finally, gametophytic characters were re-examined and scored for statistical analyses in order to evaluate their relevance for distinguishing closely related species


The rheology of suspensions of solid particles in viscoelastic fluids is important in many technological applications as exemplified by the processing of
filled polymers e.g. injection molding, coating processes, application in food and health care products,...
Consequently, considerable attention in the literature is given to the rheology of suspensions of particles. Most studies are focused on highly filled systems (typically, volume fractions greater than 10%), with polydisperse particles of irregular shapes due to their technological importance. In contrast, realtively few studies are conducted on the rheology of dilute or semi-dilute suspensions of monodisperse spheres.
In the first part we elucidate the effect of viscoelasticity on the bulk rheological properties. The behavior of model suspensions composed of non
Brownian, inertialess, rigid spheres immersed in Newtonian and viscoelastic matrices is investigated in the concentration range from 0 up to 10%, thus
encompassing both the dilute and semidilute regimes. The data are fitted with quadratic polynomial functions of the particle volume fraction in order to compare with theoretical, empirical and experimental models.
As second part, new simulation technique for suspensions in Newtonian fluids under oscillatory shear flow is presented. The cases of a single sphere and two particles are studied and discussed. Finally, the flow induced microstructure of suspensions in viscoelastic fluids is studied by rheo-optical techniques. More specifically, the flow-induced alignment of non-colloidal particles in viscoelastic fluids is investigated systematically in an attempt to quantify the alignment of the particles and
correlate it with the shear rate, size of the particles and interactions with the wall.


This research attempts to study the influence of organisational culture (OC) on the acceptance,
importance and use of performance measurement systems (PMS) in Libyan higher education. To achieve the objectives of this research, a contingency theory is adopted. Organisational culture as a contingent variable was identified from the literature and appropriate statistical tests were undertaken to ascertain its influence. The organisational culture assessment instrument (OCAI) devised by Cameron & Quinn (2011) was chosen to be the conceptual model for determining the organisational culture type of institutions. Using the OCAI, an organisational culture profile could be verified by determining the organisation's dominant culture type characteristics. The Competing Values Framework (CVF) model developed by Cameron & Quinn (2011) was chosen to be a measurement tool for Organisational Culture (OC) to examine aspects of dominant organisational culture types in the Libyan higher education sector. A mixed methods quantitative and qualitative) approach, involving a survey questionnaire and interviews, was adopted. Descriptive statistics, which include frequencies and percentages, were utilized to present the main characteristics of the sample, the profiles of organisations' cultural types, and the information gained in relation to the acceptance, importance and use of performance measurement systems. The sample of this study consists of three types of Libyan higher education (universities, higher institutions and technical collages). The intended participant lists covered the entire population of all groups in Libyan higher education. The study revealed that the three types of Libyan higher education are not homogeneous. In addition, the study showed that job titles and positions, experience and education levels are among the factors that influence organisational culture and thereby PMS acceptance, importance and use. While Libyan higher education in general, which includes public universities and technical colleges, was dominated by a Hierarchy culture that favours a centralised management style, the private and higher institutions were dominated by a Clan culture which is often found in 'family-type' organisations.
Hierarchy culture exhibited a significant negative direct relationship with the acceptance and importance of performance measurement systems in Libyan universities. On the other hand, Clan culture exhibited a significant negative direct relationship with the acceptance and use of performance measurement systems in Libyan higher institutions.
The contingency theory of performance measurement systems is based on the assumption that there is
no universally appropriate use of performance measurement systems that applies equally to all
organisations in all circumstances and the findings of this thesis are consistent with this contingency
theory assumption. Therefore, organisational culture as a factor of contingency theory has influence on
some aspects of performance measurement systems and does not influence others, and this depends on
a given organisation's circumstances.


This article examines the relevance of (Aristotelian) phronesis (Breier, 2007), denoting practical wisdom, in an attempt to respond to the question: How can phronesis assist in understanding and teaching social work students with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)?This article foregrounds family-of-origin experiences of a cohort of social work first year students published previously (Dykes, 2011) exploring identity formation in an assignment entitled: Who am I?" In Dykes (2011) students had been required to reflect family and social issues that had shaped their lives. Approximately 33 (34%) students had volunteered their assignments. The overall outcome had been to explore themes from the initial data emanating from students' childhood experiences. The first objective explored the implications of ACEs for the professional requirements of social work practice (Dykes, 2011).In this article the researcher broadened the discussion to focus on a second objective which is to explore the ACEs of social work students and the significance of the concept of phronesis in the ACEs of students being trained as social workers.


Title of Dissertation: AN EXPLORATION OF PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION (RTI) IN TITLE I SCHOOLS Jamey Farren Burho, Doctor of Philosophy, 2016 Dissertation directed by: Professor and Associate Dean, Dr. Margaret McLaughlin, Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education Research demonstrates that parental involvement positively impacts student achievement and enhances targeted instruction. Notably, however, little research currently exists on how schools involve parents in Response to Intervention (RTI), a framework for implementing targeted, tiered, research-based instruction. The purpose of this study was to interview selected parents, teachers, RTI specialists, and principals in three Title I elementary schools in one school district, plus one district-level administrator, in order to examine how elementary schools currently involve parents in RTI prereferral interventions, and to understand the factors that might facilitate or challenge such parent involvement. I employed a comparative case study qualitative design with each elementary school as the main unit of analysis. I conducted individual, in-depth interviews that lasted approximately 45-60 minutes with a total of 33 participants across the three school sites, including 11 parents, 12 teachers, and six RTI specialists, three principals, and one district-level administrator. I also analyzed documents related to RTI processes that are available through websites and participants. I used Strauss and Corbin's (1998) three-step scheme for thematic/grounded theory analysis, and Atlas.ti as the electronic tool for management and analysis. Analyses of the data revealed that personnel across the sites largely agreed on how they explain RTI to parents and notify parents of student progress. Parents mostly disagreed with these accounts, stating instead that they learn about RTI and their child's progress by approaching teachers or their own children with questions, or by examining report cards and student work that comes home. Personnel and parents cited various challenges for involving parents in RTI. However, they all also agreed that teachers are accessible and willing to reach out to parents, and that teachers already face considerable workloads. It appears that no districtor schoolwide plan guides parent involvement practices in RTI at any of the three schools. Finally, I present a discussion of findings; implications for teachers, RTI implementation leaders, and Title school leaders; study limitations; and possibilities for future research. AN EXPLORATION OF PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION (RTI) IN TITLE I SCHOOLS