This paper considers forecast combination with factor-augmented regression. In this framework, a large number of forecasting models are available, varying by the choice of factors and the number of lags. We investigate forecast combination using weights that minimize the Mallows and the leave-h-out cross validation criteria. The unobserved factor regressors are estimated by principle components of a large panel with N predictors over T periods. With these generated regressors, we show that the Mallows and leave-h-out cross validation criteria are approximately unbiased estimators of the one-step-ahead and multi-step-ahead mean squared forecast errors, respectively, provided that N, T —› ∞. In contrast to well-known results in the literature, the generated-regressor issue can be ignored for forecast combination, without restrictions on the relation between N and T. Simulations show that the Mallows model averaging and leave-h-out cross-validation averaging methods yield lower mean squared forecast errors than alternative model selection and averaging methods such as AIC, BIC, cross validation, and Bayesian model averaging. We apply the proposed methods to the U.S. macroeconomic data set in Stock and Watson (2012) and find that they compare favorably to many popular shrinkage-type forecasting methods.


Methods of approaching the study of discourse have developed rapidly in the last ten years, influenced by a growing interdisciplinary spirit among linguistics and anthropology, sociology, cognitive and cultural psychology and cultural studies, as well as among established sub-fields within linguistics itself. Among the more recent developments are an increasing 'critical' turn in discourse analysis, a growing interest in historical, ethnographic and corpus-based approaches to discourse, more concern with the social contexts in which discourse occurs, the social actions that it is used to take and the identities that are constructed through it, as well as a revaluation of what counts as 'discourse' to include multi-modal texts and interaction.
Advances in Discourse Studies brings together contributions from leading scholars in the field, investigating the historical and theoretical relationships between new advances in discourse studies and pointing towards new directions for the future of the discipline. Featuring discussion questions, classroom projects and recommended readings at the end of each section, as well as case studies illustrating each approach discussed, this is an invaluable resource for students of interdisciplinary discourse analysis.


This paper reviews donor experience with the design of development projects that are sensitive to gender-specific constraints. The review finds that the gap between intentions and implementation as regards gender-sensitivity is larger in agriculture than in health and nutrition. One of the reasons forwarded for this gap is the dearth of quantitative studies documenting the foregone benefits in terms of agricultural productivity of not promoting the economic advancement of women in agriculture.


INTRODUCTION When Congress approved contribution limits for candidates for president of the United States and Congress in 1974, it was the first time in our nation's history that contributions to federal candidate campaigns had been limited. The U.S. Supreme Court in Buckley v. Valeo approved these limits because they precluded "large" contributions, which the Court found gave rise to the specter of "actual or perceived corruption." (1) But after the Supreme Court's 2000 decision in Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Gov't PAC, (2) courts (3) and commentators (4) believed that no contribution limit was too low. The 2006 Supreme Court case of Randall v. Sorrell (5) tested that proposition and by a six to three vote found Vermont's campaign contribution limits too low. The 1974 federal contribution limit was set at $1000 per election; Vermont's limits varied by office with a gubernatorial candidate limited to $400 per election cycle. (6) Adjusted for inflation and per election, Vermont's gubernatorial limit amounted to about fifty-seven 1976 dollars. (7) If the Supreme Court had upheld the Vermont limits, there truly would have been no contribution limit too low. The Supreme Court has used "intermediate" rather than "strict" scrutiny to examine contribution limits. While they "impinge on the protected freedoms of expression and association," (8) the limits need only be "closely drawn" to a "'sufficiently important interest'" for the limits "to avoid unnecessary abridgment of First Amendment freedoms." (9) The only sufficiently important interest so far found is the interest in preventing real or apparent corruption. (10) If the government can show that its limits further this interest, it must further show that the limits are closely drawn by establishing that challengers can mount effective campaigns under the limits. Finally, limits on contributions from parties to their candidates will fail constitutional scrutiny if they prevent candidates from effectively campaigning and will also fail if they infringe on the associational or speech rights of parties. (11) The first Part of this Article will briefly recount the history of contribution limits and the constitutional rights that are implicated by such limits. The second Part will outline the analysis the Supreme Court has provided to guide lower courts, governments, and litigants when dealing with this issue and will also discuss the current and future status of contribution limits. I. THE HISTORY OF CONTRIBUTION LIMITS AND ASSOCIATIONAL INTERESTS A. CONTRIBUTION LIMITS INFRINGE ON ASSOCIATIONAL INTERESTS. Contribution limits "operate in the area of the most fundamental First Amendment activities." (12) Because "[d]iscussion of public issues and debate on the qualifications of candidates are integral to the operation of the system of government established by our Constitution," the Supreme Court has proclaimed that "[t]he First Amendment affords the broadest protection to such political expression in order 'to assure the unfettered interchange of ideas for the bringing about of political and social changes desired by the people.'" (13) In reviewing whether a statute violates the right to associate for politically expressive purposes, it is critical to recall that "[t]he Constitution guarantees freedom of association of this kind as an indispensable means of preserving other individual liberties." (14) So important is this right that the Supreme Court reaffirmed in the context of campaign finance limits that "the freedom to associate is subject to the closest scrutiny." (15) Infringements on such rights "may be justified by regulations adopted to serve compelling state interests, unrelated to the suppression of ideas, that cannot be achieved through means significantly less restrictive of associational freedoms." (16) This standard affirms Buckley, which has long been cited for the proposition that the "right of association may be limited by state regulations necessary to serve a compelling interest unrelated to the suppression of ideas. …


We discuss two intrinsic weaknesses of the spectral graph partitioning method, both of which have practical consequences. The first is that spectral embeddings tend to hide the best cuts from the commonly used hyperplane rounding method. Rather than cleaning up the resulting sub-optimal cuts with local search, we recommend the adoption of flow-based rounding. The second weakness is that for many "power law" graphs, the spectral method produces cuts that are highly unbalanced, thus decreasing the usefulness of the method for visualization (see figure 4(b)) or as a basis for divide-and-conquer algorithms. These balance problems, which occur even though the spectral method's quotient-style objective function does encourage balance, can be fixed with a stricter balance constraint that turns the spectral mathematical program into an SDP that can be solved for million-node graphs by a method of Burer and Monteiro.


Investigating the effect of urea and nano-nitrogen fertigation and foliar application of nano B and Mo on growth and yield of potato Solanum tuberosum L. [Rivera-A]. The study was conducted in a private farm located in the Al-Taleah area - Babylon governorate. The experiment consisted of (12) treatments consisting of separated fertigation of nano nitrogen (25% N) and urea (46% N), single treatments of leaf spraying of nano Mo (5%), Nano B (9%), nano-binary combinations (Mo+B) and (U+ Nano Mo), (U+Nano B), Nano (N+Mo), Nano (N+B), and tricombination treatments of (U+Mo+B), Nano (N+Mo+B) additional to the control treatment. Randomize Complete Block Design (RCBD) and one way simple experiment with three replicates. Fertilizers were applied at levels of 40 liters h-1 of Nano-N fertilizer (25% N) and 300 kg h-1 urea fertilizer (46% N). They were sprayed early in the morning after (40) days after planting four times. Two weeks is the period between an application and another according to the recommendation of (1) kg  h-1 nano-fertilizer of (B) and (500) g h-1 of  Mo. Fertilizers were injected and sprayed at (10, 20, 30 and 40)% of the total amount of the fertilizer were applied as the first, second, third and fourth applications, respectively. Some growth traits were tested including the chlorophyll content in the leaves, the total dry vegetative yild, the soft tubers yield, and the biological yield, proteins and ascorbic acid yield compared to the control (spray water only). The results of the Duncan test showed a significant increase in most of the studied traits of nano-tricombination (N+Mo+B) in the fresh tubers yield,  dry vegetative yield  , the biological yield, starch yield ,the total protein and ascorbic yield (37.53, 1.799, 8.138,4.152 , 481.3and 653.8 meg ha-1) respectively .compare to control (21.58 , 0.890, 4.463  ,2.323 , 366.1 and 215.5 meg ha-1) respectively.


: Mixture of experts (MoE) are a popular class of statistical and machine learning models that have gained attention over the years due to their flexibility and efficiency. In this work, we consider Gaussian- gated localized MoE (GLoME) and block-diagonal covariance localized MoE (BLoME) regression models to present nonlinear relationships in het- erogeneous data with potential hidden graph-structured interactions between high-dimensional predictors. These models pose difficult statistical estimation and model selection questions, both from a computational and theoretical perspective. This paper is devoted to the study of the problem of model selection among a collection of GLoME or BLoME models characterized by the number of mixture components, the complexity of Gaussian mean experts, and the hidden block-diagonal structures of the covariance matrices, in a penalized maximum likelihood estimation framework. In par- ticular, we establish non-asymptotic risk bounds that take the form of weak oracle inequalities, provided that lower bounds for the penalties hold. The good empirical behavior of our models is then demonstrated on synthetic and real datasets.


Privacy-preserving record linkage (PPRL) aims at integrating person-related data without revealing sensitive information. For this purpose, PPRL schemes typically use encoded attribute values and a trusted party for conducting the linkage. To achieve high scalability of PPRL to large datasets with millions of records, we propose parallel PPRL (P3RL) approaches that build on current distributed dataflow frameworks such as Apache Flink or Spark. The proposed P3RL approaches also include blocking for further performance improvements, in particular the use of LSH (locality sensitive hashing) that supports a flexible configuration and can be applied on encoded records. An extensive evaluation for different datasets and cluster sizes shows that the proposed LSH-based P3RL approaches achieve both high quality and high scalability. Furthermore, they clearly outperform approaches using phonetic blocking.


ABSTRACT Particle breakage is a common problem in the conveying and handling of particulate solids. The phenomenon of particle breakage has been studied by experiments by a number of researchers in order to describe the process of breakage by mathematical functions. The development of comminution functions that can suitably describe the breakage behavior of granular materials can lead to a significant improvement in the design and efficiency of particulate solids handling equipment. The present study focuses on developing the strength distribution and the breakage functions of particles of four different materials subjected to uniaxial compressive loading. Single particles were compressed until fracture in order to determine their strength distribution and the fragments were investigated to determine their size distribution. The parameters of logistic function and breakage function were obtained by curve-fitting of the functions to the strength distribution and size distribution of the fragments, respectively. These functions were then implemented in the BGU-DEM code which was used to carry out discrete element method (DEM) simulations on single particle breakage by compression. The simulations produced a similar mass distribution of fragments to the breakage function obtained from the experimental data.


As stated by the translator in his preface, the primary purpose of this book is to provide an English translation of Virgil's Eclogues (with exegetic notes and a factual and interpretative introduction) suitable for the student of ancient pastoral who has little or no knowledge of Latin. With its line for line correspondence to and accurate rendition of the original, it constitutes an excellent text for use in courses which study classical literature in translation.


Objectives: The aim was to examine and compare the impact of HeartScore and coronary artery calcification (CAC) score on subsequent changes in the use of medication. Methods: A total of 1156 healthy men and women, aged 50 or 60, had a baseline medical examination and a coronary artery CT-scan as a part of a screening programme. Using the European HeartScore, the total 10-year cardiovascular mortality risk was estimated (≥5% risk was considered as high). Risk factors and CAC scores were reported to both the patients and their general practitioner. Six months after the screening, follow-up questionnaires addressing current medication were mailed to the participants. Results: A completed questionnaire was returned by 1075 (93%) subjects. At follow up, the overall use of prophylactic medication was significantly increased. Of those with CAC (n = 462) or high HeartScore (n = 233), 21 and 19%, respectively, received lipid-lowering treatment, while 25 and 32%, respectively, received antihypertensive treatment. In multivariate logistic regression analyses, the presence of CAC was associated with an increased use of lipid-lowering treatment (OR 2.2; 95% CI 1.2–4.0), while the presence of a high HeartScore was associated with an increased use of lipid-lowering (OR 2.9; 95% CI 1.6–5.5) and antihypertensive medication (OR 3.4; 95% CI 1.9–6.0). Conclusion: Knowledge of present cardiovascular risk factors like high HeartScore and/or CAC leads to beneficial changes in medication. However, at follow up only a minority of high-risk subjects did received prophylactic treatment. CAC score was not superior to HeartScore regarding these motivational outcomes.


ABSTRACT
Dissertation title: The effects of colonization of photosynthetic microorganisms on the cultural heritage: morphological and molecular characterization of microorganisms and possible control techniques.
Doctoral candidate: Chiara Marzano
The purpose of my dissertation is the study of bioincrustations (prevalently produced by microorganisms, such as bacteria, cyanobacteria and microalgae, but by mosses as well) growing on monuments and on exposed surfaces of archaeological sites and the development of new protocols for to remove them. A non destructive technique was employed to collect biofilms from eight sampling sites located in different places of Naples and surroundings. The substrates were either yellow tuff or piperno, two locally abundant volcanic rocks.
Various molecular techniques (DNA extraction, enviromental PCR, cloning and DGGE) were employed for identification and classification of the biofilm organisms. Experiments of controlled growth of biofilms in artificial environments were carried out in a a climatic chamber thanks to the cooperation of Prof. Cesareo Saiz-Jimenez of the CSIC in Seville. Different environmental conditions were simulated, in order to verify whether the different microclimatic parameters (humidity, sun exposure, temperature) may influence the distribution and composition of microbial biofilms.
Specific protocols were designated, aiming at monitoring and eradicating bioincrustations, according to the identification of biodeteriorating microorganisms on the two substrates, as well as of microclimatic parameters influencing biofilm formation.. The proposed protocols do not alter the chemical nature of the substratum and are based on the use of biocides and cold microwaves. The knowledge of bioincrustation-forming organisms allowed to establish appropriate value ranges of microwave intensity.
Results indicated that using microwaves is certainly the most appropriate method, because it does not cause alterations to the surfaces of the substrates, does not contribute to environmental pollution, and it is less hazardous for operators.


Mahar, Karen Ward. Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. 336 pp. $45. Think of Hollywood filmmakers of the early twentieth century, and Cecil B. DeMille or D.W.Griffith may come to mind while Alice Guy Blache, Gene Gauntier, and Lois Weber probably do not. Active movie makers in the 1910s and early 1920s, these and other women wrote scripts, produced and directed movies, and edited film before the studio system relegated women to subordinate positions in the mid-1920s. Karen Ward Mahar's Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood examines these women's careers, revealing a window in time when women enjoyed greater opportunities than before or since. "For more than a decade," she writes, "it appeared that creative and powerful women were going to be the norm in the American film industry, not the exception. Women filmmakers were said to be at the beginning of their stories-that the exceptional would soon be unexceptional and that workday parity with men was in the near future. Yet it was not to be." Mahar argues that between about 1896 and 1908, novel new technologies and content for men dominated filmmaking. Thus, "the American film industry emerged within a masculinized context." Longer, more dramatic films developed around 1908, bringing middle-class concerns that nickelodeon fare was harming "impressionables." A censorship crisis and the resulting "uplift movement" meant the industry needed women, who were thought to be morally superior. Opportunities followed. The greatest value of Mahar's book is that it introduces female filmmakers who might otherwise be forgotten. Blache, for example, was one of the first filmmakers of either sex, a French expatriate who made more than 100 films before coming to the United States in 1907. As "director-general" of Solax, she made typical films: "melodramas, comedies, westerns, and military pictures." However, Mahar says, her films were marked by strong female agency, cross-dressing, and struggles against patriarchy. For example, Cupid and the Comet is about a woman who takes her father's military uniform to elope with her fiance. The father, having no clothes, arrives at the wedding in his daughter's dress. In the Year 2000 features women who rule and men who obey. Gauntier, meanwhile, started as an actress but wrote scenes, directed, played leading roles, and worked with technical aspects such as developing, printing, and titling. Like many women, she learned several jobs to succeed in the business. Women also directed at large companies, including Universal and Vitagraph, and several female stars had their names on companies, though these were often backed by major producers such as Louis B. …


To date, almost all team identification inquiries have focused on men's sport, with minimal studies using women's sport to examine the concept. Recognizing social identities are fluid and context dependent, the purpose of the current study was to understand the psychological meaning of team among individuals who identify with a women's sport team. Using an interpretive mode of inquiry, the author conducted interviews with fans of a professional women's basketball team. Central elements of team meaning were gender equality (contributing to social change) and pure sport (perceptions of game play and player characteristics). These aspects jointly contribute to a paradox experienced by fans, in that perceived purity may be sacrificed in realizing social change. Theoretical implications include the ability of teams to represent social movement organizations, as well as the need for individuals to shed status-irrelevant aspects of an identity to raise a low-status group.


Abl tyrosine kinases phosphorylate Dsh to influence planar cell polarity without affecting canonical Wnt signaling. Polarization of cells within the plane of an epithelium depends upon planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling pathways, one of which is the Frizzled (Fz) PCP pathway. This pathway shares components with the canonical Wnt signaling pathway, specifically the seven-pass transmembrane protein Fz and the multidomain protein Dishevelled (Dsh). Singh et al. identified a member of the Abelson (Abl) family of tyrosine kinases, dAbl, as a regulator of Dsh in PCP signaling in the fruit fly. Flies homozygous for loss-of-function alleles of dAbl displayed phenotypes consistent with PCP defects, and removing dAbl function in developing photoreceptors or wing discs by RNA interference caused PCP defects in these tissues. Heterozygosity for dAbl suppressed PCP phenotypes caused by overexpression of Fz or Dsh in photoreceptors but did not repress PCP phenotypes caused by overexpression of PCP components downstream of Dsh or the Dsh downstream effector Rac1. Misexpression experiments in the wing disc indicated that dAbl was not required for canonical Wnt signaling. Dsh and dAbl physically interacted in immunoprecipitation assays using extracts from insect S2 cells or human 293T cells that expressed epitope-tagged versions of both proteins. Glutathione S-transferase (GST) pull-down assays with purified proteins identified the proline-rich region downstream of the PDZ domain of Dsh as the site of interaction with dAbl, and purified Abl phosphorylated both Dsh and the mouse homolog Dvl1 in the DEP (disheveled, Egl-10, pleckstrin) domain, which is required for membrane localization of Dsh and may mediate activation of downstream effectors. Mutation of Tyr473 to Phe in the DEP domain reduced in vitro phosphorylation of Dsh by Abl; in vivo, this mutation abolished Dsh activity in PCP signaling and reduced Dsh membrane localization but did not affect its ability to transduce canonical Wnt signaling. The authors also demonstrated that mouse embryonic fibroblasts lacking both Abl1 and Abl2 showed decreased phosphorylation of Dvl2 and Dvl3 accompanied by failure of Dvl2 to localize to the membrane, yet had no defects in canonical Wnt signaling. Together these findings indicate that Abelson kinases, in addition to functioning in cell junctions and apical constriction, also play a conserved role in PCP signaling during development. Importantly, the involvement of Abl sheds light on pathway-specific Dsh regulation. J. Singh, W. A. Yanfeng, L. Grumolato, S. A. Aaronson, M. Mlodzik, Abelson family kinases regulate Frizzled planar cell polarity signaling via Dsh phosphorylation. Genes Dev. 24, 2157–2168 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Consolidation of sugaring marble (i.e., marble affected by granular disaggregation) still lacks fully effective solutions. Consequently, the use of an innovative phosphate-based treatment, aimed at bonding calcite grains by formation of hydroxyapatite at grain boundaries, has recently been proposed. In this paper, firstly a novel method for producing artificially decayed marble samples, by contact with a heating plate, is proposed. Then, some results are presented about the effectiveness and the compatibility of two different formulations of the phosphate treatment, differing in terms of concentration of the phosphate precursor (3.0 M or 0.1 M aqueous solutions of diammonium hydrogen phosphate, DAP), possible ethanol addition to the DAP solution and number of DAP solution applications (1 or 2). The results of the study point out that the new weathering method allows to obtain specimens with a gradient in microstructural and mechanical properties with thickness, just like naturally weathered samples. Both phosphate treatments were able to significantly improve marble cohesion, without causing significant changes in thermal behaviour and aesthetic appearance after treatment. The addition of small quantities of ethanol to the DAP solution seems to be a very promising method for favouring HAP formation and improving the treatment performance.


Tarakli, although its history goes very back, is an Ottoman settlement place in
which the Ottoman civilian architecture samples are abundant when its pattern that should be
protected was taken into account. It is a fact that the mentioned architectural asset was
unnoticed until the recently and the required studies should be carried out in order to reveal
this our valuable heritage. It is an expected process for this 200-300-year architectural pattern
to fray and extinct. It is only possible with the academic studies to stop or slow down this
process. The value of the studies on this issue was stated in traditional architectural heritage
regulation as follows. "Traditional architecture has a special place for the whole society and
it is a reasonable source of proud. It is accepted as an attractive product that reflects the
characteristics and differences of the society. It is utilitarian, attractive and pretty. It is both
the focus of contemporary life and a document for the past of a society. It is an inappropriate
behavior not to make an effort to maintain these traditional harmonies which create the core
of the human being's existence on the world." There are approximately 400 historical
structures, 90 of which are documented, in Tarakli that still protects its traditional pattern and
features and has a rooted history. These structures are composed of inns, baths, schools,
mosques and houses in great numbers with public buildings in a few numbers. In this study,
the general architectural pattern and the features of this pattern of the current structures in
Tarakli that witnessed to our architectural history with its architectural aesthetic and eyeful
beauty was examined. Moreover, the studies to be carried out to protect our historical heritage
were determined analyzing the current structures


The M-Budget Card case study is about mastering the challenges of an exploratory strategic initiative in a context marked by time pressure and frequent change. M-Budget was the first of a series of highly successful projects that established GE Money Bank as a leader in the Swiss credit card market. The business concept was to cooperate with the country's leading retailer MIGROS to develop an innovative credit card offering, the M-Budget card. The M-Budget card was launched a mere six months later and was an immediate success. The demand for the card exceeded expectations by far and the bank was inundated by more than 100,000 applications in the first weeks. The road to the successful market launch, however, was a rocky one and the team around Pierre had to master numerous challenges. Pierre, who took the lead in the initiative, had to select the right people to compose a team that had all the expertise and knowledge required to develop an entirely new market offering. A competitive move by the second largest retailer COOP forced the team to change its initial value proposition while working under intensive time pressure. Finally, the team had to overcome a series of operational problems after the initial market launch. The case study retraces the initiative's development over time and describes the leadership and organizational challenges faced by the team on its way to the successful creation of an entirely new business segment.Learning Objective:Leadership of new growth initiatives in large incumbent firms (MBA/ExEd).


Population growth, rising living standards, and rapid urbanization give rise to increasing water demands. One of the important challenges that policymakers face is the integrated view of water resources management by giving priority to water demand. In this study, the water demand in Pardis City was estimated using the Stone-Geary Utility Function which was used to calculate price and income elasticity. Results showed that the range of price elasticity was 0.08 to 0.321 and that the income elasticity ranged from 0.165 to 0.289. Increasing water price had a greater effect on decreasing water consumption, particularly where water consumption was higher. Moreover, price elasticity in the summer was greater than in other seasons. Price elasticity was greater in higher consumption blocks than in lower consumption ones. Results also indicated that domestic price elasticity was twice the non-domestic and that price elasticity was less than 1 in all cases.


Election violence is common in many developing countries and has potentially detrimental implications for democratic consolidation. Drawing on political psychology, we argue that citizens' fear of campaign violence undermines support for democracy while increasing support for autocracy. Using individual-level survey data from 21 electoral democracies in Sub-Saharan Africa, we find robust support for our argument. Citizens fearing campaign violence are less likely to support democracy and multi-party competition, more likely to favor a return to autocracy, and less likely to turn out to vote. Our findings have important implications for democratic survival and provide further impetus for reducing electoral violence.


As a striking phenomenon of Soviet consumption, Beriozka stores appeared in the late 1950s and existed until the end of the 1980s. This chain of stores was a state trade organization selling goods that were otherwise in short supply (cars, fashionable clothes, household appliances, etc.) for special 'checks' used as equivalents of foreign currency by special groups of Soviet citizens. Similar stores existed in other socialist countries. The article shows that these stores on the one hand became an element of the existing system of state-granted entitlements. The customers were Soviet citizens who earned money abroad as well as people who did not go abroad but received remittances from foreign sources. On the other hand, the development of the black market (barely persecuted by the state) made it possible to purchase Beriozka checks for roubles; so it granted access to sought-after goods (among them even goods from the West) to a wide range of consumers. Paradoxically, Beriozka was criticized and much frequented at the same time.


— This paper re-assesses the treatment of religion in development studies 30 years after the publication of a special issue of World Development on "Religion and Development". Given the changes in the social and political context, consideration of the subject of religion can no longer be avoided. The paper identifies two implications of this for development studies. First, the assumptions of secularization and secularism that supposedly define the relationships between religion, society, and politics have to be revisited. Second, development studies must recognize that religion is dynamic and heterogeneous. Both development studies and religion are concerned with the meaning of "progress" or a "better life," implying that attention has to be given to social and historical processes of meaning creation, requiring a shift from positivist to interpretivist research methods. The paper concludes by looking at how consideration of religion is transforming development studies. ! 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


This paper presents an advanced patterned vertical aligned nematic liquid crystal (APVA) mode as a way of improving the transmittance of the conventional patterned, vertically-aligned nematic liquid crystal (PVA) mode. The APVA was characterized by multi-electrodes, which play an important role in generating a horizontal electric field that prevents LC disclination in the vicinity of the middle region of electrodes between top and bottom slits in PVA mode. The proposed APVA mode focused on improving dramatically the transmittance with excellent image quality. In the simulation, the APVA mode improved the transmittance by more than 22%, compared to the conventional VA modes. Therefore, it is useful to upgrade the LCD display quality.


The introduction of a national electronic health record system to the National Health Service (NHS) has raised concerns about issues of data accuracy, security and confidentiality. The primary aim of this project was to identify the extent to which primary care patients will allow their local electronic record data to be shared on a national database. The secondary aim was to identify the extent of inaccuracies in the existing primary care records, which will be used to populate the new national Spine. Fifty consecutive attenders to one general practitioner were given a paper printout of their full primary care electronic health record. Participants were asked to highlight information which they would not want to be shared on the national electronic database of records, and information which they considered to be incorrect. There was a 62% response rate (31/50). Five of the 31 patients (16%) identified information that they would not want to be shared on the national record system. The items they identified related almost entirely to matters of pregnancy, contraception, sexual health and mental health. Ten respondents (32%) identified incorrect information in their records (some of these turned out to be correct on further investigation). The findings in relation to data sharing fit with the commonly held assumption that matters related to sensitive or embarrassing issues, which may affect how the patient will be treated by other individuals or institutions, are most likely to be censored by patients. Previous work on this has tended to ask hypothetical questions concerning data sharing rather than examine a real situation. A larger study of representative samples of patients in both primary and secondary care settings is needed to further investigate issues of data sharing and consent.


The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has developed an efficient and economical aeration diffuser design that has been installed and operated successfully at five TVA hydropower projects, one Tuclear plant, and two non-power reservoirs. The line diffuser design transfers oxygen efficiently and minimizes temperature destratification and sediment disruption by providing a controllable flow rate and spreading the gas bubbles over a very large area in the reservoir. TVA test results have consistently indicaled oxygen transfer efficiencies of 90 to 95%. The line diffusers are installed from the surface and can be retrieved for any required maintenance without the use of divers. The diffusers can be supplied with air or oxygen, either from a bulk liquid oxygen storage tank, an onsite air separation plant, or air compressors. A forebay diffuser system can be designed to continuously aerate a large volume in the reservoir to handle peaking hydroturbine flows. Aeration in the reservoir has the potential to eliminate hydrogen sulfide, iron, and manganese in the hypolimnion.


A plastic optical fibre reflectance sensor that makes full use of the critical angle of the fibres is implemented to monitor dew formation on a Peltier-cooled reflector surface. The optical configuration permits isolation of optoelectronic components from the sensing head and better light coupling between the reflector and the detecting fibre, giving a better signal of the onset of dew formation on the reflector. Continuous monitoring of the rate of change in reflectance as well as the absolute reflectance signals, the use of a novel polymethyl-methacrylate-coated hydrophobic film reflector on the Peltier element and the application of feedback around the point of dew formation, further reduces the possibility of contamination of the sensor head. Under closed-loop operation, the sensor is capable of cycling around the point of dew formation at a frequency of 2.5 Hz.


Abstract. Recent efforts to understand tropical cyclone (TC) activity in the southwest Pacific (SWP) have led to the development of numerous TC databases. The methods used to compile each database vary and are based on data from different meteorological centres, standalone TC databases and archived synoptic charts. Therefore the aims of this study are to (i) provide a spatio-temporal comparison of three TC best-track (BT) databases and explore any differences between them (and any associated implications) and (ii) investigate whether there are any spatial, temporal or statistical differences between pre-satellite (1945–1969), post-satellite (1970–2011) and post-geostationary satellite (1982–2011) era TC data given the changing observational technologies with time. To achieve this, we compare three best-track TC databases for the SWP region (0–35° S, 135° E–120° W) from 1945 to 2011: the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), the International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) and the Southwest Pacific Enhanced Archive of Tropical Cyclones (SPEArTC). The results of this study suggest that SPEArTC is the most complete repository of TCs for the SWP region. In particular, we show that the SPEArTC database includes a number of additional TCs, not included in either the JTWC or IBTrACS database. These SPEArTC events do occur under environmental conditions conducive to tropical cyclogenesis (TC genesis), including anomalously negative 700 hPa vorticity (VORT), anomalously negative vertical shear of zonal winds (VSZW), anomalously negative 700 hPa geopotential height (GPH), cyclonic (absolute) 700 hPa winds and low values of absolute vertical wind shear (EVWS). Further, while changes in observational technologies from 1945 have undoubtedly improved our ability to detect and monitor TCs, we show that the number of TCs detected prior to the satellite era (1945–1969) are not statistically different to those in the post-satellite era (post-1970). Although data from pre-satellite and pre-geostationary satellite periods are currently inadequate for investigating TC intensity, this study suggests that SPEArTC data (from 1945) may be used to investigate long-term variability of TC counts and TC genesis locations.


Internet of Things (IoT), which is one of the main talking points in the electronics industry today, consists of a number of highly miniaturized sensors and actuators which sense the physical environment around us and communicate that information to a central information hub for further processing. This agglomeration of miniaturized sensors helps the system to be deployed in previously impossible arenas such as healthcare (Body Area Networks - BAN), industrial automation, real-time monitoring environmental parameters and so on; thereby greatly improving the quality of life. Since the IoT devices are usually untethered, their energy sources are limited (typically battery powered or energy scavenging) and hence have to consume very low power. Today's IoT systems employ radios that use communication protocols like Bluetooth Smart; which means that they communicate at data rates of a few hundred kb/s to a few Mb/s while consuming around a few mW of power. Even though the power dissipation of these radios have been decreasing steadily over the years, they seem to have reached a lower limit in the recent times. Hence, there is a need to explore other avenues to further reduce this dissipation so as to further improve the energy autonomy of the IoT node. Duty cycling has emerged as a promising alternative in this sense since it involves radios transmitting very short bursts of data at high rates and being asleep the rest of the time. In addition, high data rates proffer the added advantage of reducing network congestion which has become a major problem in IoT owing to the increase in the number of sensor nodes as well as the volume of data they send. But, as the average power (energy) dissipated decreases due to duty cycling, the energy overhead associated with the start-up phase of the radio becomes comparable with the former. Therefore, in order to take full advantage of duty cycling, the radio should be capable of being turned ON/OFF almost instantaneously. Furthermore, the radio of the future should also be able to support easy frequency hopping to improve the system efficiency from an interference point of view. In other words, in addition to high data rate capability, the next generation radios must also be highly agile and have a low energy overhead. All these factors viz. data rate, agility and overhead are mainly dependent on the radio's frequency synthesizer and therefore emphasis needs to be laid on developing new synthesizer architectures which are also amenable to technology scaling. This thesis deals with the evolution of one such all-digital frequency synthesizer; with each step dealing with one of the aforementioned issues. In order to reduce the energy overhead of the synthesizer, FBAR resonators (which are a class of MEMS resonators) are used as the frequency reference instead of a traditional quartz crystal. The FBAR resonators aid the design of fast-startup oscillators as opposed to the long latency associated with the start-up of the crystal oscillator. In addition, the frequency stability of the FBAR lends itself to open-loop architecture which can support very high data rates. Another advantage of the open-loop architecture is the frequency agility which aids easy channel switching for multi-hop architectures, as demonstrated in this thesis.


(Maghemite/poly(d,l-lactide-co-glycolide))/chitosan (core/shell)/shell nanoparticles have been prepared reproducibly by nanoprecipitation solvent evaporation plus coacervation (production performance ≈ 45%, average size ≈ 325 nm). Transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, electrophoretic determinations, and X-ray diffraction patterns demonstrated the satisfactory embedment of iron oxide nanocores within the solid polymer matrix and the formation of an external shell of chitosan in the nanostructure. The adequate magnetic responsiveness of the nanocomposites was characterized in vitro by hysteresis cycle determinations and by visualization of the nanosystem under the influence of a 0.4 T permanent magnet. Safety and biocompatibility of the (core/shell)/shell particles were based on in vitro haemocompatibility studies and cytotoxicity tests against HFF-1 human foreskin fibroblasts and on ex vivo toxicity assessments on tissue samples from Balb/c mice. Transversal relaxivities, determined in vitro at a low magnetic field of 1.44 T, demonstrated their capability as T2 contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging, being comparable to that of some iron oxide-based contrast agents. Heating properties were evaluated in a high frequency alternating electromagnetic gradient: a constant maximum temperature of ≈46 °C was generated within ≈50 min, while antitumour hyperthermia tests on T-84 colonic adenocarcinoma cells proved the relevant decrease in cell viability (to ≈ 39%) when treated with the nanosystem under the influence of that electromagnetic field. Finally, in vivo magnetic resonance imaging studies and ex vivo histology determinations of iron deposits postulated the efficacy of chitosan to provide long-circulating capabilities to the nanocomposites, retarding nanoparticle recognition by the mononuclear phagocyte system. To our knowledge, this is the first study describing such a type of biocompatible and long-circulating nanoplatform with promising theranostic applications (biomedical imaging and hyperthermia) against cancer.


The hemitonic pentatonic tuning in Western Greece attested by the author and the anhemitonic tuning previously documented in the area of Epirus but apparently present in all Western Greece, were two main reasons for the investigation and classification of the co-related micro-scales found in the wider area of Pindus. Though many scholars both Greeks and others managed to explain the peculiarities of this musical system found in Western Greece and today's Southern Albania (Northern Epirus), they failed to do so, as they attributed specific functionalities of the system to simple imitations of instrumental practices. Nonetheless extensive field research in the area of Pindus and in Northern Epirus reveal important correspondences between the function of the melodies of this contemporary system and the "obscure" information about the evolution of the musical system in Greek (and one might generally say) in Balkan antiquity.
Two dimensions of this musical system are of great importance in relation to the ancient sources. The first is that hemitonic pentatonism (a tuning responsible for the genesis of the enharmonic genus in Antiquity) is still a part of the contemporary musical system in the Greek mainland. The other is that the combination of the two pentatonic tunings reveals a process that can come to a heptachord system existing in its on right. The functionality of the micro-scales also reveal in a unique way the importance of the witness of Nichomachus regarding the evolutionary process for the genesis of the octachord out of the heptachord system and the witness of Aristotle regarding the co-existence of two heptachord systems one "diatonic" and the other anhemitonic.
Apart from the above conclusions, evaluating this data makes clear that it was possible for a diatonic heptachord system to appear by a combination of the two systems: the hemitonic and anhemitonic pentatonic. This information deviates from the theory of the blown fifths as it is based on vocal music.


Solving the problems with Li-air batteries Li-air batteries come as close as possible to the theoretical limits for energy density in a battery. By weight, this is roughly 10 times higher than conventional lithium-ion batteries and would be sufficient to power cars with a range comparable to those with gasoline engines. But engineering a Li-air battery has been a challenge. Liu et al. managed to overcome the remaining challenges: They were able to avoid electrode passivation, turn limited solvent stability into an advantage, eliminate the fatal problems caused by superoxides, achieve high power with negligible degradation, and even circumvent the problems of removing atmospheric water. Science, this issue p. 530 An efficient, high-capacity, safe Li-air battery system is realized. The rechargeable aprotic lithium-air (Li-O2) battery is a promising potential technology for next-generation energy storage, but its practical realization still faces many challenges. In contrast to the standard Li-O2 cells, which cycle via the formation of Li2O2, we used a reduced graphene oxide electrode, the additive LiI, and the solvent dimethoxyethane to reversibly form and remove crystalline LiOH with particle sizes larger than 15 micrometers during discharge and charge. This leads to high specific capacities, excellent energy efficiency (93.2%) with a voltage gap of only 0.2 volt, and impressive rechargeability. The cells tolerate high concentrations of water, water being the dominant proton source for the LiOH; together with LiI, it has a decisive impact on the chemical nature of the discharge product and on battery performance.


Most research focusing on foster placement success or the characteristics of good foster carers is based on the opinions of people currently involved in the foster care system, such as foster carers, social workers or children in care. The few studies which include former foster children usually collect factual (usually quantitative) data to evaluate their pathways or achievements since leaving care, such as educational attainment or employment. This study differs because it examines the perceptions and opinions of adults who were in foster care as children, in relation to the important issues of what constitutes successful foster placement and the characteristics of the foster carers who are most likely to be able to make possible such a placement. For the most part, a successful placement is described by participants in terms of how they feel when they are there — happy, wanted, loved, listened to and safe. As well as the more commonly known characteristics of good foster carers, ex-foster children nominate important attributes as fun-loving, good-listeners and honest. This new perspective adds an important dimension to what we know about foster placement success and should be taken into consideration when making decisions about the delivery of foster care programmes.


Sevens should never be viewed as an abbreviated form of rugby. Rather, it is rugby magnified, and a closer inspection of the overall skills of rugby. This exciting and essential new edition of Coaching Rugby Sevens offers clear direction on how to coach and play the game of rugby sevens. Emphasising the three key principles of space, alignment and movement, all game situations are covered in detail, focusing on both attack and defence. Each chapter looks at a different facet of the game, and is clearly illustrated with drills, plays and set pieces, linking theory with practice. Rugby sevens continues to grow globally through the World Sevens Series and will appear at the Rio 2016 Olympics. This timely new edition covers developments in the laws of the game and changes in play due to tactical advancements. It also covers how the principles and ideas of sevens can transfer to 15-a-side rugby, providing valuable new thinking on how the two games interact.


We present a nonparametric Bayesian approach to inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) for multiple reward functions. Most previous IRL algorithms assume that the behaviour data is obtained from an agent who is optimizing a single reward function, but this assumption is hard to guarantee in practice. Our approach is based on integrating the Dirichlet process mixture model into Bayesian IRL. We provide an efficient Metropolis-Hastings sampling algorithm utilizing the gradient of the posterior to estimate the underlying reward functions, and demonstrate that our approach outperforms previous ones via experiments on a number of problem domains.


The object of this article is to describe the locutions worth the name. These locutions not treated in separate studies. It is characteristic that many of them have no words synonymous. They have the phrase structure and express a single concept. This group consists of stable terminology compound words and compound words non terminology. Nomination terminology compound words are formed on a single holistic concept. Unit lexicon - semantic constituent elements is their common feature. Nomination stable compound words are formed from two or more words. Compound words consisting of two elements have the facility two names or a name and a surname. These compound words are not simple names. The designations made by similarity tend to switch to a single word. Their form right is named second in the form of outstanding free. The process of transition to a question set according to their names, composition, content, consent, damage, connotation is the later. Regular forms of these compound words is the name of the second non ablative outstanding. Compound words formed by a name and a surname are used to sense directly or figurative sense. Compound words formed by more than two words have the structure only comes with complete understanding or words with full understanding and sense incomplete. They are few, but are diversified by their structure and value. Locutions name value are many and various.


Creative ideation is a highly complex process, which is difficult to formalize and control. Evidently, even in a complex thinking context certain patterns of creativity may emerge. Relying on such observed patterns may help in "organizing" the creative process by promoting routes that have been proven to lead to productive ideas and avoiding those that do not. The present research suggests that successful advertisements share and are characterized by such abstract patterns termed creativity templates. The theoretical rationale for the emergence of such templates and the empirical studies that detect the key creativity templates underlying quality ads indicate that the templates are identifiable, objectively verifiable, and generalizable across multiple categories. Studies 1 and 2 were designed to identify and describe the templates. Six major creativity templates were derived by inference from a sample of 200 highly evaluated print ads drawn from award-winning ad contests such as The One Show (Study 1). Judges found that 89% of the ads could be explained by the six creativity templates. Following a formal description of the templates and their versions, a study comparing 200 award-winning and 200 nonwinning ads (Study 2) is reported. It was found that the two groups differed systematically in the number and distribution of creativity templates: 50% of the award-winning ads as opposed to only 2.5% of the nonwinning ads could be explained by the templates. Further validation of the template approach was obtained by manipulating presence or absence of templates in an experimental setting. In Study 3 groups of individuals were trained in template-based idea generation, an association technique, or not trained at all, prior to an ad-ideation task. Another group subsequently rated the ideas. Findings indicate that a priori knowledge of the templates was associated with the generation of higher quality ads in terms of creativity, brand attitude judgments, and recall (Study 4), with some variation in terms of feeling responses which included humor, emotion, and annoyance. The findings of the reported studies and several real-life applications conducted in leading ad agencies, indicate that the template taxonomy is a trainable, resource-saving, and effective tool. It simplifies and improves the decision-making process involved in designing advertising strategies. It can be applied either by hiring trained personnel employed by consulting firms, or by training the agency's own personnel to routinely evaluate past and current ads, and engage in creative activity. The template approach represents a step forward in defin- ing a comprehensive model of the antecedents of outcome reactions to advertising stimuli. Improved understanding of the wide spectrum of reactions connecting the basic templates with end-user reactions is likely to be beneficial both for academicians and for practitioners. Such a framework can serve as a basis for a synthesis between the activity of crea- tive professionals whose focal interest is the generation of ads, managers, whose main responsibility is strategy formulation, and academic activity, which focuses mainly onthe consumer reaction-end of the advertising process. Hence, in addition to academicians, the relevant target audience islikely to include a wide array of communication-related personnel such as creative professionals and planners in advertising agencies, consultants, and brand managers. In addition, it is postulated that the template taxonomy provides the means to achieve "creativity expertise". Unlikethe divergent thinking approaches, in which the required expertise is not necessarily related to the creativity process itself (e.g. individuals can be trained to be better moderators in brainstorming), the creativity template approach is trainable and has the capacity to measure and directly improve creativity outcomes. The template taxonomy facilitates the focused cognitive effort involved in generating new ideas, the capacity to access relevant information, and enables high memorability of the reduced set of information needed to perform the tasks. The fact that templates are less transient than the ideas produced does not mean that templates are permanent or that they are insensitive to changes over long term frame-works. Indeed, advertising reflects social norms and trends, and as such, long term social trends are expected to reshape the templates and provide conditions for the evolution of new templates. Nonetheless, the dynamics of template changes are expected to be much slower than the dynamics of changes in ad hoc idea generation.


The local corrosion behavior of duplex stainless steel (DSS) is affected by a wide variety of factors. Localized corrosion of DSS frequently starts at micrometer scale inclusions or precipitates, which are often segregated in the austenite-ferrite boundary regions. Moreover, due to the partitioning of the key alloying elements of ferrite (Cr and Mo) and austenite (N and Ni), the local interactions between the phases must also be considered. The aim of this doctoral study was to increase the knowledge about the local dissolution behavior of DSS in acidic-chloride environments. The recent developments of new local probing techniques have opened a new frontier in corrosion science, providing valuable local information not accessible in the past. The local techniques used include electrochemical scanning tunneling microscopy (EC-STM), scanning probe force microscopy (SKPFM), magnetic force microscopy (MFM), and scanning Auger electron Spectroscopy (SAES), all with micrometer or sub-micrometer resolution. With EC-STM, it was possible to monitor local dissolution processes on DSS in situ, and in real time. MFM was capable of imaging the phase distribution in DSS without the need of the traditional surface etching, while SKPFM revealed that the Volta potential difference between the two phases was measurable and significant. SAES showed that the composition gradient at the phase boundaries is narrower than 2 µm. Different types of DSSs have been studied, from low-alloyed DSS to superduplex. Higher contents of Cr, Mo and N strengthened both phases as well as the phase boundaries, resulting in phases having similar corrosion resistance that showed a more uniform dissolution behavior. However, the Volta potential difference between the phases proved to be of the same order for all the DSSs studied. Austenite was in general associated to regions displaying a more noble Volta potential than ferrite, resulting in a higher dissolution rate of the ferrite next to the austenite phase.


ICFs have become the most preferred construction material for green buildings due to their reduced construction time, compatibility with any inside or outside surface finish, insect resistance, strength, noise reduction, reduced infiltration, and significant and continuing energy savings. However, the high initial cost of commercial ICFs, their limitations on concrete placement height and rate as serious concerns. In this paper, a new ICF system has been developed to address these concerns. The new system is a job-built system that consists of high density expanded polystyrene boards (EPS) and threaded glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP) ties. A full-scale specimen was built using selfconsolidation concrete (SCC) and tested at the structural laboratory. This experiment has shown the ease and speed of construction of the new system as well as its superior structural capacity and energy efficiency while being economically comparable.


The article considers task of determination of stiffness characteristics of elastic elements squirrel cage and ring elastic elements set in gas turbine engines supports. Significant dependence of elastic elements characteristics on the engine operating mode and their non-linearity is noticed. Results of dynamic analysis of the rotor system of the real gas-turbine engine calculated at linear and non-linear statement are compared.


This is an outstanding book on key issues and debates about the peasantry. All the contributors are well‐known and highly regarded scholars, and some are also influential activists; among them are Susan Mann, James Dickinson, Armando Bartra, Henry Bernstein, Enrique Leff, Kostas Vergopoulos, and David Barkin. The book is the outcome of a 3‐day seminar in which the selected contributors presented and debated their respective papers. Before the seminar, Julio Boltvinik produced a background paper presenting the three main themes for the seminar. The invited researchers were asked to address three questions from their particular perspective and in relation to Boltvinik's own proposed theorization. The three question were as follows: Why has the peasantry persisted? Why are they poor? And what are the links between these two questions? Framed within Marxist political economy, the persistence of the peasantry is problematic for Marxists as the development of capitalism was expected to lead to the elimination of all non‐capitalist forms of production. In the classic Marxist literature, it was argued that through a process of socio‐economic differentiation, a minority of peasants via a process of capitalization would become capitalist farmers while the majority of peasants via a process of proletarianization would lose access to their means of production. Hence, the peasantry would disappear.

The first question on the persistence of the peasantry has been much debated by Marxists and non‐Marxists alike, especially by populists and neo‐populists, like Alexander Chayanov (1974). The main originality of the book therefore lies in the third question on the relationship between the persistence of the peasantry and the persistence of their poverty. The book is organized in three parts. The first part has a foreword by Meghnad Desai and the introduction by the editors. The second part has the background paper by Boltvinik (chapter 1) and the papers by the invited contributors organized in four themes: theoretical perspectives on peasant poverty and persistence (chapters 1 to 4); historical and empirical approaches (chapters 5 and 6); environment, food crisis, and peasants (chapters 7 to 9); and policy, self‐reliance, and peasant poverty (chapters 10 and 11). The third part closes the book with chapter 12 by Boltvinik in which he reflects on the dialogues and debates provoked by the seminar papers and, above all, replies to the various commentaries and criticisms raised by the contributors.


page – this must not exceed 200 words and should describe the core of the paper's message, including essential numerical data. Use four headings: Aims, Methods, Results, Conclusions. Body of the paper – there should be a brief introduction (no heading) followed by sections for Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements and Correspondence. References – in the text use superscript numbers for each reference. Titles of journals are abbreviated according to the style used by Index Medicus for articles in journals the format is: Braatvedt GD. Outcome of managing impotence in clinical practice. NZ Med J 1999; 112: 272-4. For book chapters the format is: Marks P. Hypertension. In: Baker J, editor. Cardiovascular disease. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1998. p567-95. Note all authors where there are four or less; for five or more authors note only the first three followed by 'et al'. Personal communications and unpublished data should also be cited as such in the text. Addresses Editorial: All editorial correspondence is sent to Professor Nicholls, c/o Department of Medicine, Christchurch Hospital, PO Box 4345 Christchurch, New Zealand. Telephone (03) 364 1116; Facsimile (03) 364 1115; email email@example.com Advertising: All correspondence is sent to the Advertising Manager, Print Advertising, PO Box 27194, Upper Willis Street, Wellington. Telephone (04) 801-6187; Facsimile (04) 801-6261; email firstname.lastname@example.com or 83-91 Captain Springs Road, PO Box 13 128 Onehunga, Auckland. Telephone (09) 634-7227; Facsimile (09) 634-1929; email email@example.com Circulation: All correspondence about circulation, subscriptions, change of address and missing numbers is sent to Chief Executive Officer, New Zealand Medical Association, PO Box 156, Wellington. Telephone (04) 472-4741; Facsimile (04) 471-0838. email email@example.com Publisher: The Journal is published by Southern Colour Print, PO Box 920, Dunedin. Telephone (03) 455-0554; Facsimile (03) 455-0303. Subscriptions: New Zealand – standard mail NZ$255.15, fastpost NZ$272.25 (GST incl); overseas surface mail NZ$280.00, overseas airmail – South Pacific/Australia NZ$340.00; America/Asia/India/Europe NZ$420.00; Africa/ Middle East NZ$490.00. All subscription enquiries to NZ Medical Association, as for Circulation above. Twice monthly except December & January Copyright New Zealand Medical Association ISSN 0028 8446 Established 1887 Journal of the New Zealand Medical Association THE NEW ZEALAND


Metallurgical process development in greenfield projects must define the comminution flowsheet and establish the equipment sizes that are required to deliver the project design criteria. These are critical steps that heavily influence the financial performance of the project, requiring a detailed understanding of the ore properties of the project resources and the best practice methods to size comminution machines. This paper reviews current practices for determining the ore characteristics relevant to comminution circuit design. Particular attention is given to the design of sampling and testing programs, and the methods commonly applied to size crushers and mills for conventional size reduction applications in mineral processing.


Computer-assisted assessment (CAA) has become increasingly important in education in recent years. A variety of computer software systems have been developed to help assess the performance of students at various levels. However, such systems are primarily designed to provide objective assessment of students and analysis of test items, and focus has been mainly placed on higher and further education. Although there are commercial professional systems available for use by primary and secondary educational institutions, such systems are generally expensive and require skilled expertise to operate. In view of the rapid progress made in the use of computer-based assessment for primary and secondary students by education authorities here in the UK and elsewhere, there is a need to develop systems which are economic and easy to use and can provide the necessary information that can help teachers improve students' performance. This paper presents the development of a software system that provides a range of functions including generating items and building item banks, designing tests, conducting tests on computers and analysing test results. Specifically, the system can generate information on the performance of students and test items that can be easily used to identify curriculum areas where students are under performing. A case study based on data collected from five secondary schools in Hong Kong involved in the Curriculum, Evaluation and Management Centre's Middle Years Information System Project, Durham University, UK, has been undertaken to demonstrate the use of the system for diagnostic and performance analysis.


OBJECTIVE
The only effective treatment for ischemic moyamoya disease (iMMD) is cerebral revascularization by an extracranial to intracranial bypass. The preferred revascularization method remains controversial: direct versus indirect bypass. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that method choice should be personalized based on angiographic, hemodynamic, and clinical characteristics to balance the risk of perioperative major stroke against treatment efficacy.

METHODS
Patients with iMMD were identified retrospectively from a prospectively maintained database. Those with mild to moderate internal carotid artery or M1 segment stenosis, preserved cerebrovascular reserve, intraoperative M4 segment anterograde flow ≥ 8 ml/min, or the absence of frequent and severe transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) or stroke had been assigned to indirect bypass. The criteria for direct bypass were severe ICA or M1 segment stenosis or occlusion, impaired cerebrovascular reserve or steal phenomenon, intraoperative M4 segment retrograde flow or anterograde flow < 8 ml/min, and the presence of frequent and severe TIAs or clinical strokes. The primary study endpoint was MRI-confirmed symptomatic stroke ≤ 7 days postoperatively resulting in a decline in the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score from preoperatively to 6 months postoperatively. As a secondary endpoint, the authors assessed 6-month postoperative DSA-demonstrated revascularization, which was classified as < 1/3, 1/3-2/3, or > 2/3 of the middle cerebral artery territory.

RESULTS
One hundred thirty-eight patients with iMMD affecting 195 hemispheres revascularized in the period from March 2016 to June 2018 were included in this analysis. One hundred thirty-three hemispheres were revascularized with direct bypass and 62 with indirect bypass. The perioperative stroke rate was 4.7% and 6.8% in the direct and indirect groups, respectively (p = 0.36). Degree of revascularization was higher in the direct bypass group (p = 0.03). The proportion of patients improving to an mRS score 0-1 (from preoperatively to 6 months postoperatively) tended to be higher in the direct bypass group, although the difference between the two bypass groups was not statistically significant (p = 0.27).

CONCLUSIONS
The selective use of an indirect bypass procedure for iMMD did not decrease the perioperative stroke rate. Direct bypass provided a significantly higher degree of revascularization. The authors conclude that direct bypass is the treatment of choice for iMMD.


Target discovery phase of the project was focused on
identification of proteins related to lymph node positivity
(N1-2 vs. N0) in small (T1) low grade (G1) breast tumors in a
set of 96 well characterized breast tumors designed according
to grade, hormonal receptor status and lymph node status. The
proteomic experiment was based on peptide labelling with
isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ)
and their separation with two-dimensional liquid chromatography
and tandem mass spectrometry (iTRAQ-2DLC-MS/MS). A set of 95
selected genes was then profiled also at transcript level.
Spearman correlation based statistics revaled three gene
clusters related to lymph node metastasis in low grade tumors,
one of them exhibited partial co-expression with estrogene
receptor cluster and one with urokinase plasminogen
activator/inhibitor system related cluster. Set of proteins
their expression changes were confirmed at both protein and
transcript level was then validated using immunohistochemical
tissue microarray analysis. Analysis of biomarker selectivity
based on agreement between proteomics, transcriptomics and
immunohistochemical data divided the potential biomarkers into
two selectivity groups. For three very specific potential
biomarkers, statistically significant correlation with patient
survival was observed in a completely independent set of 53
patients. Our results indicate that molecular mechanisms of
metastasis in low grade breast tumors involve specific
proteolysis, strong activation of NF-kappaB pathway and changes
in cytoskeletal and adhesive proteins, most of them in a manner
differrent from high grade carcinomas. In an ongoing phase,
functional characterization of the identified targets is
focused on studying their role in cell migration, composition
of cell surface proteins, protein-protein and functional
interactions, and clinical validation. This work was supported
by Czech Science Foundation (Project No. P304/10/0868) and by
the European Regional Development Fund and the State Budget of
the Czech Republic (RECAMO, CZ.1.05/2.1.00/03.0101).


When human subjects assess the quality of multimedia data, high level perceptual processes such as Focus of Attention (FoA) and eye movements are believed to play an important role in such tasks. While prior art reports incorporation of visual FoA into objective quality metrics, audio-visual FoA has been rarely addressed and utilized in spite of the importance and presence of both audio and video information in many multimedia systems. This paper explores the influence of audio-visual FoA in the perceived quality of standard definition audio-visual sequences. Results of a subjective quality assessment study are reported, where it is shown that the sound source attracts visual attention and thereby the visual degradation in the regions far from the source is less perceived when compared to sound-emitting regions.


The gas centrifuge revolutionized uranium processing for nuclear power, but it also enabled countries to make nuclear weapons more easily. It is widely known that the Manhattan Project failed to make a viable centrifuge; the first successful machines were produced in the 1950s by German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union. Little has been written about what it took to perfect the device or why it became the proliferation machine it is today. This article traces its development by exploring the role of technological change, tacit knowledge, and secrecy. This history argues that, contrary to popular understanding, constructing basic centrifuges has never been cutting-edge or resource-intensive. This breaks with the Manhattan Project mythology that nuclear weapons require techno-industrial greatness. Consequently, technology-based nonproliferation policies flowing from such thinking were arguably misinformed; it is likely that nuclear proliferation has been, or will be, controlled more by motivations than by technological constraints.


Few studies have examined stigma towards people with eating disorders. What research has been done indicates that stigma towards those with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa may be different than stigma of severe mental illnesses, though the nature of this stigma is not clear. Research also indicates that attitudes may be different depending on the type of the eating disorder. In the current study, body dissatisfaction was predicted to be a contributing variable in the formation attitudes towards those with anorexia and bulimia. Results indicate that body dissatisfaction does not play as important role in attitudes towards those with anorexia and bulimia as predicted. However, this study was unique in that video clips of women describing their symptoms were used, as opposed to written vignettes, and this may have influenced the direction of the results.


The CCN family comprises cysteine-rich 61 (CYR61/ CCN1), connective tissue growth factor (CTGF/CCN2), nephroblastoma overexpressed (NOV/CCN3), and Wnt-induced secreted proteins-1 (WISP-1/CCN4), -2 (WISP-2/CCN5) and -3 (WISP-3/CCN6). These proteins stimulate mitosis, adhesion, apoptosis, extracellular matrix production, growth arrest and migration of multiple cell types. Many of these activities probably occur through the ability of CCN proteins to bind and activate cell surface integrins. Accumulating evidence supports a role for these factors in endocrine pathways and endocrine-related processes. To illustrate the broad role played by the CCN family in basic and clinical endocrinology, this article highlights the relationship between CCN proteins and hormone action, skeletal growth, placental angiogenesis, IGF-binding proteins and diabetes-induced fibrosis.


In recent years, Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) have drawn remarkable attention. However, there is no common understanding of how a knowledge management system should look like or where the corresponding research should be directed at. Based on a number of essential requirements, a KMS should satisfy, this paper introduces a generic architecture for KMS. It consists of a conceptual framework that suggests to structure knowledge according to three perspectives and five aspects. To support the differentiation of common, generic knowledge, domain specific knowledge, and information, the architecture features three levels of abstraction, namely an ontology level layer, a domain level layer and an operational level layer. Unfortunately, the conceptual representation and implementation of these layers faces a number of challenges. The paper presents and discusses three alternative design patterns to overcome these challenges.


Danny gets a brand-new puppy, and the dinosaur can't wait to join in on the fun! What happens when you play fetch with a dinosaur or ask him to roll over? Readers first fell in love with Danny and his prehistoric pal in the I Can Read classic Danny and the Dinosaur, created by Syd Hoff in 1958. Now the popular pair are together again in a hilarious I Can Read adventure sure to win over a new generation of beginning readers. This is a Level One I Can Read book that is perfect for children learning to sound out words and sentences.


Abstract Perspectives on Federalism starts off its ninth year with this issue which gathers, as usual, a series of multi-disciplinary pieces. Almost two years have passed since we started our collaboration with De Gruyter, and our journal has since then enjoyed continued growth and has been acquiring international visibility. 2017 is going to be rich in surprises for our readers, with a wealth of interesting projects and special issues which will increase the already high standard of the journal. 2016 was also a very challenging year for scholars interested in federalism; the start of the Trump Presidency and the results of the referendum on Brexit held on 23 June 2016 are just two examples.


Abstract Thrombelastometry (ROTEM®) has gained wide acceptance in detecting and tailoring acquired hemostatic changes in adults and children. We investigated in this observational trial whether the reproducibility of this point-of-care testing was influenced by performance at the bedside or in the hospital laboratory. In addition, difference in time of performance between both measurements was compared. Perioperative blood samples obtained during major pediatric surgery were run in duplicate on two different ROTEM® devices located in the OR and in the hospital laboratory. The Bland-Altman test was used to compare differences of both measurements. ROTEM® measurements of 90 blood samples obtained from 24 children showed no overall clinically meaningful differences, whether they were performed bedside or in the hospital laboratory. Minor differences were found for the InTEM clot formation time (CFT) showing a mean bias of 10.79 seconds. Time saving was 11 minutes (8–16 minutes) if ROTEM® measurements were performed bedside (p < 0.001). In conclusion, there were minimal effects on ROTEM® measurements irrespective of whether they were performed in the hospital laboratory or at the bedside by a single trained staff member, while the latter saved valuable time.


Background: About 40 thousand newborns are delivered annually with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). It induces serious CNS complications. Methods: In a review of, the word "fetal alcohol syndrome" was searched in PubMed and Google Scholar and the retrieved articles were summarized. Results: Many studies showed that alcohol can cause more defects in fetus than heroin, cocaine and marijuana. The possible defects caused by alcohol include physical, mental and behavioral retardation, learning deficits, growth restriction, and some social problems. FAS is more common than Down syndrome (1%). In Germany, 2200 newborns are delivered with FAS annually. According to the 2007 US National Survey on Drug Use and Health, pregnant women aged 15 to 44 reported alcohol use at a rate of 11.6%, with 3.7% reported binge drinking and 0.7% reported heavy drinking in the month before the survey. However, these rates were considerably higher in non-pregnant women with same age (53%, 24.1%, and 5.5% respectively). Alcohol use during pregnancy is a significant clinical concern. In South Africa, it is counted as 70-80 in 1000 live births. Alcoholic fathers may also induce some defects in their children. Conclusion: FAS is nonhereditary cause of mental retardation and neurologic deficit in the Western world. The prevalence is high. It is preventive completely but has no treatment. In Iran we have no exact prevalence of FAS due to cultural problems. The day September 9th has been named for the FAS as the sign of 9 months of intrauterine life. Many countries such as Germany, USA, England, New Zealand, Scotland, Switzerland, Canada, Australia and Austria have paid lot of attention to prevention of FAS.


This paper analyses the welfare effects of a change from centralized to decentralized political authority. The potential disadvantage with decentralization in our model is that local dominant groups with rather "extreme" preferences may win the vote and implement policies that harm the well-being of local minorities. When the national median voter represents a "moderate" position, centralization can be seen as a way of protecting the interests of local minorities. Our main result is that the centralized solution may welfare dominate decentralization even in the absence of scale economics and interregional spillovers. We also demonstrate that increased segregation, increased mobility, and increased heterogeneity in preferences, factors that are normally considered to be arguments in favor of decentralization, may reduce the attractiveness of the decentralized solution from a welfare perspective. Finally, we show that when the national median voter is an "extreme" type, decentralization may represent a way of protecting local minority interests.


Debate exists about the potential public health benefits of mass community events that encourage participation in physical activity. There have been few previous attempts to investigate their impact on the behaviour of participants, and the rates of relapse following the event. The aim of the research in this thesis was (i) to describe participants in three women-only mass participation events in Ireland (N = 82,955), (ii) to identify relapsers who regressed from sufficiently to insufficiently active in the months following the event, and (iii) to recruit these individuals to trials to re-initiate participation in physical activity.
International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) physical activity self report data were collected before and after the events and relapse (n=852) was defined as decreasing participation by at least 60 minutes and regressing from the high or moderate IPAQ category to low active. Subsequently, in 2007, 176 women participated in a minimal contact randomised controlled trial (RCT) while in 2008, 395 women were recruited to a cluster RCT, which promoted existing resources for physical activity in the community.
The majority of women participated for altruistic reasons and to have fun. Thus, the events motivated more than the "habitual exerciser" to participate. Approximately 11% of participants were classified as relapsers and any contact appeared sufficient to re-stimulate physical activity. In both trials, all participants reported significant increases in physical activity, with no between group difference. In the cluster RCT, intervention participants reported a significant increase in vigorous intensity activity. Aspects of the latter have been adopted by agencies tasked with promoting physical activity in Ireland.
Mass events could be used as an initial prompt for physical activity even among sedentary women. Providing reinforcement strategies after events that utilise existing opportunities for physical activity and that adopt a "non fitness" approach, could contribute to public health physical activity promotion efforts.


Background: There are many local black rice cultivars in Indonesia, yet only a few of these are formally described in the literature. It has been reported that black rice has many phytochemical variants which may contribute to its use as a functional food, including nutraceuticals and secondary metabolites such as anthocyanin, oryzanol, and more. The purpose of this article was to review literature describing black rice cultivars from Indonesia, with a particular focus on its potential use as a functional food. Our literature search revealed several articles that describe black rice in relation to its nutraceutical properties and its role in reducing non-communicable diseases. Other studies describe the diversity of local pigmented rice and its potential for lowering the risk of hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, and for cancer prevention. Black rice has been described as a functional food in several countries; however, there is great diversity among cultivars and further research on Indonesian varieties will determine whether local variants are candidates as well for the development of functional foods. Keywords : black rice cultivar, functional food, non-communicable diseases, nutraceutical, phytochemical


In order to compensate for the temporally changing effect of aliasing and improve the coding efficiency of video coders, adaptive interpolation filtering schemes have been recently proposed. In such schemes, encoder computes the interpolation filter coefficients for each frame and then re-encodes the frame with the new adaptive filter. However, the coding efficiency benefit comes with the expense of increased encoding complexity due to this additional encoding pass. In this paper, we present two novel algorithms to reduce the encoding complexity of adaptive interpolation filtering schemes. First algorithm reduces the complexity of the second encoding pass by using a very lightweight motion estimation algorithm that reuses the data already computed in the first encoding pass. Second algorithm eliminates the second coding pass and re-uses the filter coefficients already computed for previous frames. Experimental results show that the proposed methods achieve between 1.5 to 2 times encoding complexity reduction with practically negligible penalty on coding efficiency.


Long Term Evolution (LTE) of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is designed to revolutionize mobile broadband technology with key considerations of higher data rate, improved power efficiency, low latency and better quality of service. It promises high peak data rates of 100 Mbps downlink and 50 Mbps uplink transmissions and can operate in different bandwidths ranging from 1.4 MHz up to 20 MHz. Scheduler makes a decision on allocation of Resource Blocks (RB) to User Equipments (UE) through the frequency and time domains. Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) is used as a main parameter during the decision process. This master thesis focuses on performance of LTE downlink scheduling. Round Robin (RR), Best CQI and a proposed Empirical scheduling solution are investigated under different bandwidth and antenna configurations.


Some experimenters have begun to carry out image preference experiments over the web, with observers completing the task in their own time and using their own display devices. This reduces the administrative overhead, and opens the possibility to huge numbers of potential observers. However, we have to surrender some control over viewing conditions. In previous work, we evaluated an existing web-based paired comparison experiment against a lab-based counterpart and found that, generally, the two variants did not correlate to a significantly high degree. In this work we extend that study with the development of our own web-based research platform with greater control over viewing conditions and much larger quantities of observers (over 1,000, with more than 26,000 individual observations). With this, we show much more positive correlation between the web- and lab-based variants. We also show the similarity or otherwise between the two variants as a function of time, which reveals how many web-based observations are required to achieve stable results.


The principle of impartiality is one of the foundations of interpreter ethics. To privilege or penalize either side in an exchange is commonly judged to be professional malpractice and, although this is recognized, in reality it is not an easy goal to achieve. This paper provides evidence that, in many Malaysian courts, the principle is regularly flouted by interpreters who are permitted to act as advocates. The study raises a question of professional ethics which deserves the careful thought of interpreters at international level. Is there a universal and internationally applicable set of ethical principles or are such principles variable across time and space and mediated by cultural relativity? And how should the profession respond to such a situation?


Competitiveness of manufacturing industry is regarded as one of the basic determinants of long run sustainable growth of a country. Therefore it is important to have an understanding of relative positions of countries in terms of competitiveness and determinants of competitive ability. This study aims to reveal the standing of Turkey in a group of countries and analyze determinants of competitive ability. The competitive industrial performance (CIP) index, taken to be an indicator of relative competitive ability, has been calculated for a sample of 33 countries for years 1985, 1990, 1998 and 2002. Panel data methods then have been employed to reveal sources of competitive ability. Conducted analysis reveals Turkish manufacturing industry to be lagging behind many of the sample countries and presents a grim picture for sustainable development in medium and long run.


Perhaps this is the greatest irony in the whole history of our human civilization so far: science has explained that very God whose existence it has vehemently denied. If God does not exist, then those scientists who have given us special theory of relativity should not be called proper scientists at all. And if God does not exist, then special theory of relativity is not a proper science at all; it is simply a pseudo-science, something like astrology. To call it a science is an insult to human reason and understanding.


Evidence for the contribution of neutrophils to the pathogenesis of pulmonary emphysema is not convincing. We evaluated neutrophil involvement in subclinical pulmonary emphysema by measuring human neutrophil lipocalin (HNL) and two matrix metalloproteinases, gelatinase B (MMP-9) and neutrophil collagenase (MMP-8), in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from 65 community-based older volunteers. HNL is a recently isolated 24-kD protein secreted from secondary granules of activated neutrophils. Despite no appreciable increase in the number of neutrophils, the level of HNL was significantly increased in BALF from subjects with emphysema evidenced by computed tomography regardless of current smoking, as compared with smokers without emphysema. The levels of MMP-9 and MMP-8 were also significantly higher in current smokers with emphysema than in those without emphysema. The appearance of a 130-kD HNL/MMP-9 complex on gelatin zymography and HNL immunoblot indicated neutrophils to be a significant source of MMP-9 in the subjects' BALF. In a 24-h culture medium of alveolar macrophages, only a latent form of MMP-9 was detected, and there was no difference in the level of MMP-9 between the groups. These data provide further evidence for neutrophil involvement in subclinical pulmonary emphysema.


Saudi Arabia has largest oil production and exports in the world. Oil's revenues form the backbone of the economy and it is also a main source of government revenue which determines the major economic activities in the country. This paper has investigated the relationship between oil revenue and employment level by augmenting two more variables like GDP and public spending for a period 1991-2016. We find that there is a cointegration among oil revenue, GDP, public spending and level of employment in Saudi Arabia. The VECM results show that oil revenue and public spending are causing the level of employment in Saudi Arabia. This study observes that declining oil price and its consequent impact on oil revenue may pose a challenge to the economy unless it diversifies its economic base and reduces its dependence on oil sector. Therefore, we recommend the government to reduce oil dependency to improve employment level.


The long ascendancy of pluralism and 'collective laissez-faire' as a guiding ideology of British labour law was emphatically shattered by the New Right ideology of Thatcher and Major. When New Labour was finally returned to power in 1997, it did not, however, attempt to resurrect the pre-Thatcher preference for pluralist non-intervention in collective industrial relations. Instead, it purported to follow a 'Third Way'. A centrepiece of this new approach was the statutory recognition provision, introduced in Schedule A1 TULRCA 1992. By breaking with the tradition of voluntarism in respect of recognition of trade unions, New Labour sought to provide a model of collective labour law which combined legal support with control through juridification. A closer study of both the history of approaches to recognition and the current provisions opens up fundamental questions as to the nature of this new model and the ones it aimed to replace. This book uses political philosophy to elucidate the character of those historical approaches and the nature of the 'Third Way' itself in relation to statutory union recognition. In particular, it traces the progressive eclipse of civic republican values in labour law, in preference for a liberal political philosophy. The book articulates and defends a civic republican philosophy in terms of freedom as non-domination, the intrinsic value of democratic participation through deliberative democracy, and community. This can be contrasted with the rights-based individualism and State neutrality characteristic of the liberal approach. Despite the promise of civic community in the 'Third Way' rhetoric, this book demonstrates that the reality of New Labour's experiment in union recognition was an emphatic reassertion of liberalism in the sphere of workers' collective rights. This is the first monograph to offer a sustained critical analysis of legal approaches to trade union recognition. It will be of particular interest to labour lawyers, but also a wider audience of scholars in political philosophy and industrial relations.


Evidence for basin scale brine migration and clay mineral diagenesis in the northern Appalachian Basin was investigated using elemental and isotope (129I/I, 87Sr/86Sr) geochemistry of formation waters collected from the Middle to Upper Devonian section of the northern basin margin in western New York, northwest Pennsylvania, and eastern Kentucky. One sample from each of the Mississippian Berea sandstone and the Silurian Medina sandstone were analyzed for comparison. Measured iodine ratios range between 28 to 1,890 × 10−15 and are anomalously high compared to cosmogenic iodine sourced from Devonian age organic matter. Iodine-129 in the waters was largely derived from fissiogenic sources, the spontaneous fission of 238U to produce 129I, with estimated 129I/I values up to 270 × 10−15, which occur locally in the organic-rich shales. There are three water samples that have values of 490 × 10−15, 860 × 10−15, and 1,890 × 10−15, which are above the range for local fissiogenic 129I and may be accounted for by topographically driven, basin scale fluid flow through a regionally high fissiogenic source. Relatively large uranium occurrences lie along the structural front of the Appalachian Basin in the Blue Ridge Province and are situated within hypothesized flow paths parallel to the main compressional direction of the Alleghanian orogeny. Estimated 129I/I values for these uranium occurrences are in excess of 55,000 × 10−15. The strontium isotope composition and Sr concentration of brines display a mixing trend between a highly radiogenic end-member (0.7210) with low Sr (51 mg/L) and a non-radiogenic (0.7100), high Sr (4789 mg/L) end-member. Potassium and boron concentrations are notably depleted relative to evaporated Paleozoic seawater, the hypothesized source of Appalachian Basin brines. The K/Rb values of formation waters are depleted relative to seawater values, but in some cases are well above values indicative of water-rock reactions. The Sr isotopic composition, K and B depletion, and intermediate K/Rb ratios are consistent with smectite diagenesis and paleo-temperatures that are likely greater than approximately 150 °C. These temperatures may be high given the burial history of the study area and support the flow of formation waters from deeper within the basin. The combined isotopic and elemental results of formation waters provide compelling evidence for basin scale fluid migration in the northern Appalachian Basin and are consistent with previously published evidence documented from the rock record, including clay mineral diagenesis and ore deposition.


Esteban & Ray formalize the argument that conflict is likely to be more intense when individuals in a society are divided into two clearly identifiable groups where differences within groups are considerably smaller than differences between groups. They show that such polarization increases conflict, and they introduce a theoretical basis for its quantitative measurement. This article applies Esteban & Ray's (ER) measure of polarization to two international distributions: the world income distribution and the distribution of political systems. The article discusses extensions of the ER measure that render it independent of the number of groups in the system, and investigates empirically whether any of the three types of polarization are associated with conflict in the form of militarized interstate disputes. The results are rather inconclusive, despite the fact that some of the micro-level regularities consistent with the polarization and conflict argument have solid support in previous studies.