In this thesis, we focus on standard classes of problems in numerical optimization: unconstrained nonlinear optimization as well as systems of nonlinear equations. More precisely, we consider two types of unconstrained nonlinear optimization problems. On the one hand, we are interested in solving problems whose second derivatives matrix is singular at a local minimum. On the other hand, we focus on the identification of a global minimum of problems which present several local minima. The increasing use of simulation tools in real applications requires solving more and more complicated problems of these classes. The main goal of this thesis is the development of efficient numerical methods, based on trust-region and filter frameworks, able to find the solution of such problems in a limited number of function evaluations. Indeed, the algorithmic developments we present have been motivated by real transportation applications in which the objective function is usually cumbersome to evaluate. The specific nonlinear optimization problems mentioned above are encountered in the estimation of discrete choice models while systems of nonlinear equations have to be solved in the context of Dynamic Traffic Management Systems (DTMS). We also dedicate a part of this dissertation to the challenging task of human behavior modeling in the context of DTMS. First we propose a new trust-region algorithm and a new filter algorithm to solve singular unconstrained nonlinear problems. A characterization of the singularity at a local minimum is described and we present an iterative procedure which allows to identify a singularity in the objective function during the execution of the optimization algorithm. Our trust-region based algorithms make use of information on the singularity by adopting a penalty approach. Numerical results provide evidence that our approaches require less function evaluations to solve singular problems compared to classical trust-region algorithms from the literature. The CPU time to find a solution is also significantly decreased when the problem is singular. Second we present a new heuristic designed for nonlinear global optimization, based on the variable neighborhood search from discrete optimization within which we use a trust-region algorithm from nonlinear optimization as local search procedure. The algorithm we propose is able to prematurely stop the local search as soon as it does not look promising. The neighborhoods and the neighbors selection are based on information about the curvature of the objective function. Intensive numerical tests illustrate that our method is able to significantly reduce the average number of function evaluations compared to existing heuristics in the literature of nonlinear global optimization. Important improvements are also obtained in terms of success rate as well as CPU time. Third we design a new secant method for systems of nonlinear equations. The proposed algorithm uses a population of previous iterates and the linear model of the system is calibrated using a least squares approach. We also propose two globalization techniques for quasi-Newton methods in this context, namely a linesearch framework and a linesearch-filter approach. Our algorithm exhibits a faster convergence as well as a better robustness compared to secant methods from the literature. Globalization strategies are shown to highly increase the robustness of considered secant methods. Moreover, the combination of our algorithm with these strategies gives rise to an algorithmic method which is competitive with Newton-Krylov methods both in terms of robustness and efficiency. Fourth we present a real application of discrete choice models in the context of DTMS. The models are designed to capture the response of Swiss drivers to real-time traffic information. We are interested in drivers' decisions in terms of both route and mode choices when traffic information is available before the trip starts while we focus on route choice when traffic information is available during the trip. The "en-route" model is a mixture of binary logit model with panel data while "pre-trip" models are nested logit models. These models are estimated with the BIOGEME software developed by Bierlaire (2003). Estimation results are deeply analyzed and discussed, and models are implemented in a simulator which predicts drivers' behavior in specific scenarii. We conclude this thesis by a review of the main results and we make some comments about promising tracks for future research.


The application of Discriminant function analysis (DFA) is not a new idea in the study
of tephrochrology. In this paper, DFA is applied to compositional datasets of two
different types of tephras from Mountain Ruapehu in New Zealand and Mountain
Rainier in USA. The canonical variables from the analysis are further investigated with
a statistical methodology of change-point problems in order to gain a better
understanding of the change in compositional pattern over time. Finally, a special case
of segmented regression has been proposed to model both the time of change and the
change in pattern. This model can be used to estimate the age for the unknown tephras
using Bayesian statistical calibration


The measurement of human development is a rich field which has seen a veritable explosion of new and innovative international indices. With the advent of the Sustainable Development Goals' and their emphasis on interlinkages across deprived conditions, and with the promise of a 'data revolution' it seems that the proliferation of new indices that track multiple inter-related phenomena will continue. This paper sets out two basic set of criteria that, we believe, would be very helpful for structuring new policy metrics, and would provide human development experts, statisticians, and others with tremendously useful concepts to bear in mind when assessing and using different societal indices. The first criteria, ably articulated in Foster Seth Lokshin and Sajaia recently, is to clarify whether a human development indicator measures well-being, inequality, or poverty. These features of any population are distinct and each are of singular importance, but it is also useful not to confuse them. The second criterion is to ensure that the structure of the index is clearly explained. In particular, we discuss the importance of clarifying four methodological features: whether an index can be broken down by indicator; whether it can be disaggregated by population subgroup; whether it reflects the joint or overlapping conditions of a person, or evaluates dimensions one by one, and what kinds of weights or values are used to construct the composite index. While these criteria may seem, on the face of it, rather dry, a clear answer to each is essential (and also rather powerful) to understanding the policy relevance of each index.


Within the complex dynamics of the solar wind's fluctuating plasma parameters, there is a detectable, hidden order described by a chaotic strange attractor which has a multifractal structure. The multifractal spectrum has been investigated using Voyager (magnetic field) data in the outer heliosphere and using Helios (plasma) data in the inner heliosphere. We have also analyzed the spectrum for the solar wind attractor. The spectrum is found to be consistent with that for the multifractal measure of the self-similar one-scale weighted Cantor set with two parameters describing uniform compression and natural invariant probability measure of the attractor of the system. In order to further quantify the multifractality, we also consider a generalized weighted Cantor set with two different scales describing nonuniform compression. We investigate the resulting multifractal spectrum depending on two scaling parameters and one probability measure parameter, especially for asymmetric scaling. We hope that this generalized model will also be a useful tool for analysis of intermittent turbulence in space plasmas.


Professionals providing mental health services experience various challenges that may put their potential to provide best practice and quality services at risk. The primary research question for this study is: How does a social worker derive satisfaction from their work within the mental health system? This study used a qualitative research design and was conducted through the completion of 8 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with mental health social workers. Several themes emerged from the research: Personal Satisfaction, Realistic Expectations, The Little Things, Self-Responsibility, Influence vs. Control, Sense of Support, The Value of Empathy, and Compassion and Self-Compassion. Through review of the literature in addition to these findings, it was determined that while social workers are insightful into why they enjoy the work they do, they acknowledge the various challenges that can act as barriers to their satisfaction. Assisting them in combating implications of these challenges is their ability to set realistic expectations both of themselves and their clients. What social workers struggle with, however, is the ability to effectively care for themselves either though self-care or by using the concept of selfcompassion. Social workers can improve their knowledge and awareness of these topics, ultimately improving their satisfaction, which will also improve the way in which they provide services to clients.


El-E ("Ellie") is a prototype assistive robot designed to help people with severe motor impairments manipulate everyday objects. When given a 3D location, El-E can autonomously approach the location and pick up a nearby object. Based on interviews of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), we have developed and tested three distinct interfaces that enable a user to provide a 3D location to El-E and thereby select an object to be manipulated: an ear-mounted laser pointer, a hand-held laser pointer, and a touch screen interface. Within this paper, we present the results from a user study comparing these three user interfaces with a total of 134 trials involving eight patients with varying levels of impairment recruited from the Emory ALS Clinic. During this study, participants used the three interfaces to select everyday objects to be approached, grasped, and lifted off of the ground.
 The three interfaces enabled motor impaired users to command a robot to pick up an object with a 94.8% success rate overall after less than 10 minutes of learning to use each interface. On average, users selected objects 69% more quickly with the laser pointer interfaces than with the touch screen interface. We also found substantial variation in user preference. With respect to the Revised ALS Functional Rating Scale (ALSFRS-R), users with greater upper-limb mobility tended to prefer the hand-held laser pointer, while those with less upper-limb mobility tended to prefer the ear-mounted laser pointer. Despite the extra efficiency of the laser pointer interfaces, three patients preferred the touch screen interface, which has unique potential for manipulating remote objects out of the user's line of sight. In summary, these results indicate that robots can enhance accessibility by supporting multiple interfaces. Furthermore, this work demonstrates that the communication of 3D locations during human-robot interaction can serve as a powerful abstraction barrier that supports distinct interfaces to assistive robots while using identical, underlying robotic functionality.


The corrosion inhibitive effect of coconut water as an eco-friendly inhibitor for the corrosion control of mild steel in 0.5 Molar solution of H2SO4 acid have been investigated using the weight loss method which is considered more informative than other laboratory techniques. The studies were carried out using 30-110ml of the coconut water. The test coupons were totally immersed in the corroding medium containing various concentration of the inhibitor at the time intervals of 24-192 hours. The results obtained showed that the concentration of the inhibitor in the corrodent impacted differently on the test coupons. The corrosion rate was found to decrease while the inhibitor efficiency increases as the inhibitor concentration was increased. The plateau of maximum inhibition efficiency of 89.07% and 81.57% was obtained at the concentration of 90ml and 110ml for 24hours and 48hours immersion time respectively. The study showed that coconut water possesses inhibiting properties for reducing the corrosion of mild steel in the acidic medium.


From 2012 onwards, all laying hens in Europe will need to be housed either in furnished cages or non-cage systems (aviaries or floor-housing systems). In terms of animal welfare, furnished cages and non-cage systems both have advantages and disadvantages. Data on direct comparisons between the two, however, are limited. The aim of this study was to carry out an on-farm comparison of laying hens' welfare in furnished cages and non-cage systems. To meet this aim, six flocks of laying hens in furnished cages and seven flocks in non-cage systems (all without an outdoor run) were visited when hens were around 60 weeks of age and a number of measures were collected: behavioural observations, fearfulness, plumage and body condition, incidence of bone breaks, bone strength, TGI-score (or Animal Needs Index), dust levels and mortality. In non-cage systems, birds were found to be more active and made greater use of resources (scratching area, perches) than in furnished cages. These birds also had stronger bones and were less fearful than birds in furnished cages. On the other hand, birds in furnished cages had lower mortality rates, lower incidence of bone fractures and lower airborne dust concentrations. When all the welfare indicators were integrated into an overall welfare score, there were no significant differences between systems. These results indicate that furnished cages and non-cage systems have both strong and weak points in terms of their impact on animal welfare.


With the development of electronic technology and forms of communication such as the Internet, it has become increasing difficult for parents to identify and mitigate the new risks to which their adolescent children are exposed. In this article, we compare the ways parents and adolescents living in urban areas use the Internet with those of their counterparts who live in rural areas. We based this comparison on data obtained from a survey of Internet use in Taiwan in 2013. The survey included 1079 junior high school students and 688 parents who lived in urban areas and 838 students and 729 parents who lived in rural areas. We found that parents living in rural areas had lower levels of Internet skills and intervened less in their children's use of the Internet when compared with parents living in urban areas. We also found that, compared with their urban counterparts, adolescents who live in rural areas have lower levels of Internet literacy but a higher frequency of Internet use and they also engage in riskier online behaviours such as online game playing, from which they more often report harmful effects such as the theft of passwords or money. Our multivariate analysis of the data showed that increased levels of adolescents' online gaming time and lower levels of parental restrictive mediation were associated with higher levels of harm such as the theft of passwords and money stolen online. We also found that lower levels of adolescents' Internet literacy and lower levels of parental monitoring activity were associated with increases in adolescents' cyberbullying victimisation. Overall, we found a clear difference between rural and urban parents and adolescents with both rural parents and their children being less experienced and knowledgeable of the risks associated with use of the Internet. Rural children are exposed to more risk and experience more harm.


This report is the third and final report in a series outlining a major study of the behaviour of post-tensioned concrete box girder bridges with post-tensioning tendons external to the concrete section. It summarizes the design, construction, testing and interpretation of a very comprehensive three-span externally-post-tensioned box girder bridge model. The model was constructed from precast segments using the span-by-span construction procedure. Careful measurements were made during construction to document the actual stresses and prestress losses occurring. One span of the model had dry joints while the other two spans had epoxy joints. Loading was applied at design service load levels, design factored load levels, and ultimate load cycles for both maximum flexure and maximum shear loading configurations. Careful observations were made of deformations, tendon stress changes, joint openings and reaction changes. Companion analysis was performed to assist in development of the model and in the interpretation of the test data. The model bridge was very stiff at service load conditions and exhibited linear behavior to loads higher than the factored design load. The cracking load for epoxy-jointed spans was approximately twice the load required to decompress the flexural tension fiber and begin to open a previously cracked joint. This suggests that epoxied joints can provide a reasonable factor of safety against joint opening and that this same factor of safety can be provided in dry-jointed spans only by applying additional prestress force. Both the dry and epoxy-jointed spans displayed considerable ductility during flexural strength tests (A).


It has been long time since AAPM published TG-34 on cardiac pacemakers of older technology, which has been the standard document for clinical use, even today, for pacemakers (ICPs) and for defibrillators (ICDs), alike. Management of RT patients with recent technology cardiac devices has been widely published in literature without the provision of a new comprehensive and concise set of recommendations. The various effects of interaction of non-ionizing and ionizing radiations with those devices are crucial to be studied and accounted for during RT treatment deliveries. Thus, AAPM has formed the new TG-203 to work on this issue and provide recommendations to the clinical user for management of patients with cardiac devices when receiving RT. It has been numerous postings that we see in medical physics list server groups inquiring advices on dealing with these devices during patient imaging and radiation treatments. As treatment delivery technologies (IMRT, SBRT, dose escalations, proton beams, etc) and ICP/ICD technology advance, the need to address the management of patients with such devices receiving radiation treatment becomes increasingly important. ICDs offer the same functionality as ICPs, but they are also able to deliver a high-voltage shock to the heart, if needed. Finally, major discrepancies exist among manufacturer recommendations and wide variations exist among radiation therapy facilities regarding patient management precautions.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Provide a review on sources of potential malfunctions of modern ICPs and ICDs, including malfunction mechanisms from high-LET radiations and transient effects attributed to medical imaging procedures for radiotherapy. 2. Provide a review on management of radiotherapy patients with cardiac implanted devices. 3. Utilize recently available data and computation methods of out-of-field/peripheral dose by scattered photons and secondary neutrons in order to assess cumulative doses on the ICPs and ICDs, during current treatment deliveries (IMRT, SBRT, proton beam therapy, etc). Risk of failure associated with these doses will be discussed. 4. Provide recommendations for management of radiotherapy patients with implanted cardiac devices including the initial patient evaluation stage, dosimetric evaluation to the ICP/ICD during treatment simulation, treatment planning and treatment delivery. Recommendations for the final evaluation of the integrity and functionality of the device after treatment completion will be assessed.


Effective conservation of marine organisms requires an understanding of the processes that affect the establishment, persistence and extinction of local populations. Our knowledge of the recruitment of seagrasses comes largely from studies done at small spatial and temporal scales within extant meadows. Descriptions of the demography of local populations, therefore, typically emphasize prolific ramet production and only a minor role for sexual propagules. Recent genetic and field studies, however, have shown greater variation in recruitment behaviour than previously suspected. In this paper, I review what is known about the seeds of seagrasses - including their dormancy, dispersability and requirements for germination and establishment - and examine the utility of recent conceptual models, developed for terrestrial clonal plants, to explain the long-term dynamics of seagrass populations. Sizable variation among species in seed size and dispersal strategy appears to be related predictably to variation in life-history and rates of recruitment. Species with small, poorly-dispersed fruits (e.g., Halophila, Halodule) are more likely to form persistent seed reserves and be rapid colonizers of disturbances within established meadows. Genera with large, buoyant fruits, capable of moderate dispersal (e.g., Thalassia, Posidonia), in contrast, appear to recruit rarely within existing meadows of conspecifics. Our ability to model long-term changes in demography and community structure is likely to benefit from a better knowledge of the importance of seed supply and microsite availability to recruitment.


The objective of the work presented here is to develop a low cost active knee prosthetic devices as real time embedded system which utilizes the available biological motor control circuit properly integrated with a central pattern generator (CPG) aided control scheme. The approach is completely different from the existing Active Prosthetic devices, designed primarily as stand alone systems utilizing multiple sensors and embedded rigid control schemes. First we analyzed a fuzzy logic based methodology for offering suitable gait for an amputee, followed by formulating a suitable algorithm for designing a CPG, based on Rayleighpsilas oscillator. Using the oscillator we presented a number of simulation results which showed the behavior of knee angles and hip angles and determined the stable limit cycles of the network, and compared them with the captured gaits of an individual. Subsequently, we presented a methodology about how to use CPG outputs for calculating the damping profile for controlling a prosthetic device called AMAL (adaptive modular active leg).


Purpose To determine the functional and cosmetic outcomes of Ophtec iris reconstruction lens implantation, and simultaneous penetrating keratoplasty in eyes with acquired partial or complete aniridia. Setting Jules Stein Eye Institute and the Department of Ophthalmology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California. Methods This was a prospective, nonrandomized, single-center, interventional case series. Efficacy measures included improvement in cosmesis and reduction in glare, starbursts, and photophobia. Safety measures included changes in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), reports of adverse events, and surgical complications. Results The nine study eyes had a history of penetrating or blunt trauma and were aphakic or in need of cataract surgery. Corneal pathologies necessitating transplantation included scarring, decompensation, or failure of a previous graft. Postoperatively, all patients were pleased with the cosmetic improvement of the study eye and all patients reported a reduction in visual disturbances. By the final follow-up examination, BCVA improved in four patients but worsened in five. Three adverse events were reported. There were no intraoperative surgical complications. The three most serious postoperative complications were a pressure spike leading to loss of light perception, corneal graft rejection, and graft failure. The most common postoperative problem was surgically induced irregular corneal astigmatism. Conclusions Ophtec iris reconstruction lens implantation and simultaneous penetrating keratoplasty reduced visual disturbances and improved the aesthetic appearance of the study eyes. The long-term safety of the procedure, as judged by BCVA and postoperative complications, was mixed, with good and bad outcomes.


Community-based restorative justice (CBRJ) schemes emerged in Northern Ireland during the 'peace process' to provide an alternative to paramilitary systems of justice. These initiatives have received considerable academic attention. A complex and critical literature has now emerged in this area; however, extant explorations of CBRJ have tended to sideline issues of gender power. Feminists and international bodies, such as the United Nations, have highlighted the importance of addressing historical gendered inequities in terms of the design and evaluation of conflict transformation initiatives. Drawing on contemporary feminist frameworks this article exposes the importance of the category of gender in evaluations of CBRJ in Northern Ireland. Moreover, it scrutinises the theoretical processes through which issues of gender power have been filtered out of evaluations of community-based restorative justice schemes in the region.


A better understanding of the functioning of the brain, particularly executive functions, of the prison population could aid in reducing crime rates through the reduction of recidivism rates. Indeed, reoffending appears to be related to executive dysfunction and it is known that executive functions are crucial for self-regulation. In the current paper, studies to executive functions in regular adult prisoners compared to non-offender controls were reviewed. Seven studies were found. Specific executive functions were found to be impaired in the general prison population, i.e., attention and set-shifting, as well as in separate subgroups of violent (i.e., set-shifting and working memory) and non-violent offenders (i.e., inhibition, working memory and problem solving). We conclude that the limited number of studies is remarkable, considering the high impact of this population on society and elaborate on the implications of these specific impairments that were found. Further empirical research is suggested, measuring executive functioning within subjects over time for a group of detainees as well as a control group.


This article offers a new take on the diagnosis of the crisis of the European human rights system by focusing on the diversification of the attitudes towards the European Court of Human Rights by the national compliance audiences, namely domestic executives, parliaments and judiciaries. This diagnosis holds that national compliance audiences of the European Court of Human Rights can no longer be characterized as lending an overall support to the human rights acquis of Europe, that centers around the European Court of Human Rights as the ultimate authoritative interpreter of the Convention. Instead, alongside states that continue to lend overall support to the Court's authority over the interpretation of the Convention, two types of new attitudes have developed towards the Convention across the Council of Europe in recent decades. First, there are now national compliance audiences that demand co- sharing of the interpretation task of the Convention with the European Court of Human Rights. Second, there are national compliance audiences that flout the well-established Convention standards, not merely by error, or lack of knowledge of adequate application, but with suspect grounds of intentionality and lack of respect for the overall Convention acquis. Following this diagnosis, I argue that instead of holding on to a business as usual attitude, the Court has also developed coping strategies in order to handle the fragmentation of the attitudes of its audiences by investing more in a human rights jurisprudence of a variable geometry, recognizing differentiation in the individual circumstances of states as a basis for human rights review.


This paper explores Syrian alliance formation strategy since the end of the Cold War. While previous research has sufficiently covered the alliance- making strategies of Syria and other Middle East states during the Cold War, surprisingly little work has been done to address the changes that have occurred in the past two decades. Chief among these changes was the fall of the Soviet Union and the transition to a unipolar balance of power marked by American primacy. Accordingly, this study seeks to answer the following question: how does the change in structure of the international system from bipolarity to unipolarity affect Syrian alliance formation strategy?The answer to this question has important implications for international relations theory and U.S. foreign policy. From a theoretical perspective, few studies have examined the effects of unipolarity on international alliance-making. Of what exists, the majority focuses on America-the unipole-at the expense of relationships among medium powers themselves. Yet recent events have demonstrated that relations between medium power states like Turkey and Israel, Syria and Iran, and Qatar and Saudi Arabia are extremely important even for external great powers. This study will offer insights into second-tier power behavior by focusing on Syria's relations with a number of regional peers.From a policy perspective, this research will inform readers about a country that has long perplexed analysts despite only dominating international headlines for the past two years. For decades, Western policymakers have debated how to bring about Damascus's "strategic realignment" away from Iran and organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah.1 Henry Kissinger once said that the Arabs cannot make war in the Middle East without Egypt, and they cannot make peace without Syria.Understanding Syria's tendencies in the recent past will pave the way for clearer expectations about the future. No matter which individual or type of government emerges from the present chaos, the post-Arab Spring Syria will inhabit a unipolar global balance of power that provides constraints and opportunities similar to those of the past twenty years. What is more, the Syria of the future will inevitably share some of the interests, relationships, and institutional legacies of its former self. By examining Damascus's decision-making over the past two decades, this paper offers a template for explaining how states in general, and Syria in particular, will behave under certain conditions moving forward.The following study argues that the change in the structure of the international system from bipolarity to unipolarity did in fact alter Syria's alliance formation strategy. It finds that while one strategy, balancing against threats, dominated strategic decision-making during the Cold War, a diverse and nuanced assortment of strategies characterizes the post-Cold War era. These strategies remain a function of threats, but vary inasmuch as those threats-and newfound opportunities-fluctuate more frequently in a less stable unipolar world.2Specifically, when the United States projects its power offensively and in a threatening manner, Syria will, as expected, join forces with others to balance against the United States. But when the United States restrains its use of force, the Syrian response varies. The default approach seems to be neither balancing nor bandwagoning, but rather forging closer ties with other regional actors in order to achieve maximum diplomatic flexibility by avoiding both dependence on and confrontation with the world's greatest superpower. At certain junctures in time, however, Syria has turned toward the United States either to secure offensive gains in the regional theater or to check domestic rivals at home.The first section of this paper offers an overview of the relevant literature concerning alliance formation and unipolarity. The second section provides a brief summary of Syrian alliance behavior during the Cold War. …


In this brief article, I point out the predicted existence of a second mode of movement (alongside Internal Set-Merge) that should be sanctioned under Chomsky's Strong Minimalist Thesis, namely Internal Pair-Merge, essentially yielding 'movement by adjunction'. I then suggest one possible area in which the computational system makes use of this mode of movement – namely, it allows us to implement Agree-less Move to phase heads (aka 'pure EPP-movement', or Chomsky's (2007, 2008) Edge-Feature movement) without compromising the Activity Condition, thus potentially yielding a truly minimalist, narrow-syntactic analysis of optional, 'discourse-driven', 'stylistic' movement operations like topicalization and focus-movement. Not only does Internal Pair-Merge emerge as a theoretical possibility implied by the SMT (section 1), but it is also a device that is fully exploited by the computational system (section 2).


IntroductionTranslator's NotePart I: Heaven, Earth and ManShi ji 28: The Treatise on the Feng and Shan SacrificesShi ji 29: The Treatise on the Yellow River and CanalsShi ji 30: The Treatise on the Balanced StandardPart II: Statesman, Generals and Foreign PeoplesShi ji 107: The Biographies of the Marquises of Weiqi and QuanShi ji 109: The Biography of General Li GuangShi ji 110: The Account of the XiongnuShi ji 111: The Biographies of General Wei Qing and the Swift Cavalry General Hup QubingShi ji 112: The Biographies of the Marquis of Pingjin and Zhufu YanShi ji 113: The Account of Southern YueShi ji 114: The Account of Eastern YueShi ji 115: The Account of ChaoxianShi ji 123: THe Account of DayuanShi ji 116: The Account of the Southwestern BarbariansShi ji 117: The Biography of SIma XiangruShi ji 120: The Biographies of Ji An and Zheng DangshiPart III: The Plotters of RevoltShi ji 118: The Biographies of the Kings of Huainan and HengshanPart IV: The Collective BiographiesShi ji 121: The Biographies of the Confucian ScholarsShi ji 119: The Biographies of the Reasonable OfficialsShi ji 122: The Biographies of the Harsh OfficialsShi ji 124: The Biographies of the Wandering KnightsShi ji 125: The Biographies of the Emperors' Male FavouritesShi ji 127: The Biographies of the Diviners of Lucky DaysShi ji 129: The Biographies of the Money-makersFinding List of Chapters of the Shi jiIndexMapChina and Its Neighbours in the Former Han


This paper asks whether unpopular tail items in user-generated content corpora are important, and how tail items differ from the popular head items. We develop a user-centric characterisation of the tail which shows that although the head receives a disproportionate share of interest, tail items collectively serve a large number of users. "Tail seekers," with more like's in the tail than the head, are shown to constitute more than half the user base. We then examine how interests in head and tail items differ. Temporally, head items are found to enjoy a sustained interest, whereas interest in tail items is short lived. Spatially, interest in tail items is more geographically diverse. Finally, from a social angle, interest in unpopular items appears to be more "viral" than non-viral. We discuss implications of these observations for the handling and distribution of user-generated content.


Book synopsis: This is a completely revised and updated version of the 1985 edition by the same name. It is the fifth in a series of eight textbooks on the subject of health and disease. "Birth to Old Age" has been designed to be read on its own, like any other textbook, or studied as part of the "U205 Health and Disease" course for Open University students. "Birth to Old Age" is about our changing experiences and understanding of health throughout our lifespan. The major theme of the book is our movement from dependence on others during childhood to a state of interdependence in adulthood, and increasing dependency in later life. This tension between autonomy and social dependency is reflected throughout our adult life in issues such as sexuality, fertility, work and stress. Each chapter focuses on a specific period of our lives, reviewing the major health issues of that age group - providing new and challenging insights and raising important questions: are parents responsible for accidents to children?; is risk-taking an essential step in the transition from adolescence to adulthood?; what is the mid-life "crisis"?; and how does society shape the ways in which we experience death and dying? This book should be a valuable text for students of health studies, social work, social policy, medicine, nursing and the social sciences. It should be important reading for a wide range of health professionals and carers.


INTRODUCTION: Some techniques for total reconstruction of the breast, regardless of complexity, present specific complications, with varying degrees of morbidity. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify the most frequent complications of the main techniques used for breast reconstruction, and to compare these complications to the relevant independent variables. METHODS: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted by reviewing the medical records of patients who had their breasts completely rebuilt after a mastectomy due to breast cancer from January 2007 to December 2009, with a minimum postoperative follow-up of 3 years. The data collected, such as the timing of the intervention, reconstruction techniques, operative time, and adjuvant treatment, were statistically related to the presence of complications. RESULTS: Of the 48 total breast reconstructions analyzed, the technique in which expanders were used followed by replacement with implants showed the lowest prevalence of complications (16.7%, P < 0.000). Some techniques showed specific complications. The operative time for transplantation of transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous flap (363.57 ± 59.91 min) was significantly higher than that required for techniques using alloplastic materials (155.71 ± 38.02 min, P = 0.01), but similar to that for the latissimus dorsi flap (309.69 ± 77.66 min). The operative time, timing of surgical intervention, and type of adjuvant treatment did not correlate with the incidence of complications. CONCLUSIONS: Each technique has its indications, contraindications, and complications. The application of each technique should be individualized on the basis of the individual characteristics of the patient to obtain better results, avoiding short- and long-term complications.


This year we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the genetic code, which turned out to be universal for all living organisms on earth. In 1961 Marshall Warren Nierenberg and Johann Heinrich Matthaei set up an in vitro translation system composed of purified bacterial ribosomes and a fraction of low molecular weight RNA and demonstrated that polyuridilic acid codes for polyphenylanine. This was how the genetic code started to be revealed. Important developments that led to its discovery and key experience associated with it are very interesting and inspiring area of the history of science. Its influence on the development of biological sciences, especially molecular biology and medicine is indisputable.


This paper studies the question of how unilateral changes in the rate of inflation affect the international allocation of capital. Presenting a model that incorporates a transaction motive for money holding and capital income taxation with historical cost accounting, it counters the view that inflation will be neutral in a world of perfect foresight and costless arbitrage: under mild conditions, domestic inflation will unambiguously induce a capital export. The paper includes a discussion of the Fisher effect. The empirical observation of a less than one-to--one translation of inflation into nominal interest rates is shown to be compatible with the model, and in fact the capital export turns out to be stronger the lower the degree of translation.


The locomotor activity of the reindeer is separated into a diurnal and a nocturnal phase which, in turn, consists of a number of short-term activity bursts. The onset and termination of diurnal and nocturnal activity are largely in synchrony with sunrise and sunset. Since the diurnal phase is longer, total activity is dependent on the photoperiod. Total activity as well as the number of activity bursts is greater in June with continuous daylight than in December with 6 hours daylight. In winter, reindeer spent less time feeding but more time ruminating and resting *than in summer. Synchronization between individuals was also greatest in winter. It is concluded that the described changes in the activity pattern are due to an endogenous component and that this component further controls food consumption and energy balance of the reindeer. Seasonal variations in behavioural patterns are described. Several specific rutting behaviours, sexual and agonostic, emerge in the male during the prerut and persist until after the rut. The preorbital gland is enlarged and secretory activity is evident. The rut is cha'tabterized by the sudden appearance of an odour in the breath of mature males followed a few later by a strong odour in the urine. These odours persist for a short time during the most intense period of rut. The amount of androgen rizes sharply and reaches peak concentrations in late September - early October, decreasing thereafter. The described behavioural cues occur with a certain constancy in time in concecutive seasons. A quantification of the amounts of secretory epithelia in preorbital, interdigital, caudal and tarsal glands reveals that only the preorbital gland is subjected to any seasonal and sexual variation. The apocrine epithelium in this gland is most developed in mature males during the rutting season and seems to be dependent upon the presence of an elevated androgen concentration. The tarsal gland is the least developed gland while the interdigital and caudal glands are more welldeveloped and structurally complex. Scattered apocrine glands are only developed on the legs, the ventral body, oral angle and in the rump patch.


Neurotensin microinjection into the medullary nucleus raphe magnus (RMg) has been shown to both inhibit and facilitate the spinal nociceptive tail-flick reflex in a dose-dependent manner. Our study was designed to determine a potential involvement of spinal cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK) in mediating neurotensin hyperalgesia from the RMg. Microinjection of neurotensin (50 ng) into the RMg of awake rats produced a facilitation of the tail-flick reflex that was completely inhibited by intrathecal (i.t.) administration of the nonselective CCK receptor antagonist proglumide (100 ng). Conversely, injection of a greater dose of neurotensin (5 micrograms) into the RMg produced an inhibition of the tail-flick reflex that was enhanced by i.t. proglumide. Intrathecal administration of the selective CCKB receptor antagonist L-365260 dose-dependently inhibited neurotensin hyperalgesia from the RMg (ID50 = 0.42 ng) at doses approximately 1000-fold less than that observed with the selective CCKA receptor antagonist devazepide (ID50 = 646 ng). Injection of CCK alone i.t. produced a biphasic response on the tail-flick reflex as lesser doses (0.1-0.3 ng) inhibited the reflex although greater doses (30-100 ng) facilitated it. Similar to supraspinal neurotensin hyperalgesia, the hyperalgesia observed with i.t. CCK (30 ng) was inhibited by i.t. L-365260 (ID50 = 0.59 ng) at doses approximately 1000-fold less than that observed with i.t. devazepide (ID50 = 630 ng). These data indicate that spinal CCK can both inhibit and facilitate spinal nociceptive responses. The facilitation of nociception observed with spinal CCK appears to involve CCKB receptors, which is consistent with the data in our study suggesting that spinal CCKB receptors mediate neurotensin hyperalgesia from the RMg via descending neuronal projections.


What is the canon of family law? By canon, I mean the ways of thinking about family law that are widely shared by legal scholars and especially by legal authorities, like legislators and judges. The existing literature on canons, which has long centered on the literary canon and has recently turned to the constitutional law canon, has most commonly understood a canon to be a set of foundational texts that exemplify, guide, and constitute a discipline. In part, the family law canon tracks this traditional focus on the inclusion and exclusion of texts, even if the family law canon does not take the form of a short and definitive reading list. Some of the shared ways of thinking about family law address which official legal sources, such as statutes and judicial decisions, fall within family law and which fall outside of it. But canons are not necessarily limited to texts like cases and statutes. Stories and examples can also be part of a canon. In fact, there is widespread agreement among legal authorities and legal scholars that certain stories and examples explain and describe family law and its governing principles. The family law canon consists of both official legal sources and these stories and examples. No one has examined family law as a field that might have a canon. Yet the family law canon importantly determines what counts as family law, what constitutes a good reason or a convincing argument in a family law debate, what explanations have to be given, and what does not have to be explained. The family law canon operates, moreover, at the level of common sense, powerful enough that its tenets are taken to require no reappraisal. Indeed, the family law canon casts stark light on a feature of canons that has been given too little attention in the scholarship on the literary canon and even in the scholarship on the constitutional law canon: the practical consequences that a canon can have in the world. The family law canon, for example, has enabled state legislatures and state courts enacting and defending changes in divorce law to contend that family law no longer supports women's inequality and so no longer needs to worry about women's position upon divorce. The family law canon has allowed courts, judges, judicial organizations, congressmen, and legal scholars to mount powerful and effective campaigns against federal statutes simply on the ground that the statutes constitute federal family law and are supposedly unprecedented and inappropriate for that reason alone. The family law canon has permitted courts and Congress to avoid explaining why the law employs very different rules to regulate the familial rights and responsibilities of the poor. The silence about the family law canon does not indicate the absence of a family law canon, but it does reflect more general trends in the work of academic theorists. Academic theorists have devoted much less attention to family law than they have spent on thoroughly examining legal subjects like constitutional law. Academic theorists have also frequently written about legal canons as if they emanate only from prestigious, powerful, centralized, and federal institutions like the United States Supreme Court. These theorists may have ignored the family law canon because they incorrectly assumed - ironically, because of the power of the family law canon itself - that an institution like the Supreme Court has played little role in the development of family law. This Article examines the family law canon, analyzes the consequences of the way that the canon is constructed, and explores how contesting the canon's construction might make a difference in practical terms. At present, the family law canon misdescribes both the content of family law and its governing principles. The family law canon distorts how legal authorities and legal scholars understand family law in a way that can distort their judgments about specific family law disputes. Challenging the family law canon's construction - opening to scrutiny and question what is now taken to be a matter of common sense - can reorient our perspective on family law and our ways of thinking about the field. It is the first step toward changing the family law canon and restructuring family law debates, altering the terms on which they take place, transforming what counts as a convincing argument, and reforming how decisions are made.


Legal and political uncertainty continues to surround the independent agencies. Courts and scholars have recognized that control over administration usually depends on political realities rather than on legal categories of "independence." This perspective, however, tends to disregard the constitutional boundaries for administration. Contrary to the conventional view, I explain why Congress's authority over agency structure must have judicially enforceable limits in order to prevent encroachment on the executive power. In light of the constitutional text and structure, this Article demonstrates that the ability to remove principal officers is necessary and sufficient for presidential control of the executive branch. This means that all agencies, including the so-called independent agencies, must answer to the President. The principle allows Congress and the President to operate within their respective spheres while leaving most questions about actual administrative control to the political process. Limits on the President's removal authority have always been in tension with the basic constitutional design and in recent years there has been growing dissatisfaction with the meaning, structure, and effects of independence. The precedents and functional justifications for supporting agency independence have largely collapsed. The issue is ripe for reconsideration. The constitutional structure requires presidential control and supervision over administration and the removal power provides the mechanism for the possibility of such control.


A firm builds its reputation not only by investing in the quality of its products, but also by controlling the information consumers can see. I consider a model in which a firm invests in both product quality and in a costly signaling technology in order to build its reputation, the market's belief that its quality is high. The firm influences the rate at which consumers' receive information about quality: the firm can either promote, which increases the arrival rate of signals when quality is high, or censor, which decreases the arrival rate of signals when quality is low. I study how the firm's incentives to build quality and signal depend on its reputation and current quality. The firm's ability to promote or censor plays a key role in the structure of equilibria. Promotion and investment in quality are complements: the firm has stronger incentives to build quality when the promotion level is high. Costly promotion can, however, reduce the firm's incentive to build quality; this effect persists even as the cost of building quality approaches zero. Censorship and investment in quality are substitutes. The ability to censor can destroy a firm's incentives to invest in quality, because it can reduce information about poor quality products.


It's different this time'… is certainly a phrase that's been used for subjects ranging from the 2000 equity market valuations to the prospects of England at the football World Cup. But unlike in mathematical proof or scientific experimentation, finance theories are not fixed in their validity. That validity can have a time limit.

And in that light, historically viewed as being negative for the acquiring company, M&A acquisitions are now seen as being more positive by many who use more recent data, despite there being those who stick fast to the earlier, albeit out-dated, research. But is this actually the case?

First, what could be the explanation for improving returns being observed for acquirers in M&A?
1. Maybe corporates are learning and executing better (not the focus of this report but we touch on a couple of potential explanations at the end)?
2. A mix effect. Corporates are doing the 'right' sort of deals
3. Has analysis improved to pick up the value creation?

We set out to investigate the premise and the possible reasons for the change, with a particular emphasis on success rates of acquisitions of unlisted companies (referred to here as Private deals) versus those of listed companies (referred to as Public deals) and the changes in success observed before and after the bubble of 2000. The basis of our report is a meta-analysis of 86 studies in the field.

The latter two explanations above are clearly valid in our view of the literature. The connection between the two explanations is Private deals -- and that is the focus of this report. We have found an increase in the prevalence of Private deals, from 66% of acquisitions by listed firms in the period 1984-1999 (inclusive) to 78% in the period 2000-2015.

Combine that fact with more analysis of private deal making and the dramatic (positive) results for Private deals that are shown in this report and in our opinion you are a long way to an explanation.

Private deals don't have to be small as they can be transformational. In what is now branded one of the top 15 tech acquisitions of all time, Google bought private company Applied Semantics for $102 million in April 2003. Within 2 years it represented 15% of Google's revenues.
And if not operationally transformational, such can be large enough to make a big difference to the balance sheet. In 2005 Google bought unlisted Skype for $2.6bn. It was sold for $8.5bn in 2011.


This article describes a user-centered design experiment investigating positive and negative effects of adding game rules to brainstorms. We studied effects on brainstorm output and user experience and behavior. A coin-based gamification was developed with rules intended to improve brainstorm output in relation to quality and quantity of ideas. However, the invasiveness of a gamification can be expected to affect users both positively and negatively. To find an optimum between positive and negative effects of gamification invasiveness, we tested 5 different rule-sets with varying quantity and quality of rules. The results demonstrated that game rules stimulating competitive game behavior improved the quantity and quality of brainstorm output. Yet the invasiveness of the gamification also hindered this positive effect, due to discussions about rules and mandatory game behavior. From these results we deduced 3 types of invasiveness evoked by the rules' qualities: a) governing rules led to negative cognitive invasiveness, b) forcing rules caused positive as well as negative behavioral invasiveness, and c) adding coins may have led to positive affective invasiveness (i.e., a playful attitude). We conclude our study with recommendations on designing and researching gamification invasiveness in real-life contexts.


The primary mission of any school system is to educate students. To achieve this goal, the school district must maintain a culture and environment where all students feel safe, nurtured, and valued and where order and civility are expected standards of behavior. Schools cannot allow unacceptable behavior to interfere with the school district's primary mission. To this end, school districts adopt codes of conduct for expected behaviors and policies to address unacceptable behavior. In developing these policies, school boards must weigh the severity of the offense and the consequences of the punishment and the balance between individual and institutional rights and responsibilities. Out-of-school suspension and expulsion are the most severe consequences that a school district can impose for unacceptable behavior. Traditionally, these consequences have been reserved for offenses deemed especially severe or dangerous and/or for recalcitrant offenders. However, the implications and consequences of out-of-school suspension and expulsion and "zero-tolerance" are of such severity that their application and appropriateness for a developing child require periodic review. The indications and effectiveness of exclusionary discipline policies that demand automatic or rigorous application are increasingly questionable. The impact of these policies on offenders, other children, school districts, and communities is broad. Periodic scrutiny of policies should be placed not only on the need for a better understanding of the educational, emotional, and social impact of out-of-school suspension and expulsion on the individual student but also on the greater societal costs of such rigid policies. Pediatricians should be prepared to assist students and families affected by out-of-school suspension and expulsion and should be willing to guide school districts in their communities to find more effective and appropriate alternatives to exclusionary discipline policies for the developing child. A discussion of preventive strategies and alternatives to out-of-school suspension and expulsion, as well as recommendations for the role of the physician in matters of out-of-school suspension and expulsion are included. School-wide positive behavior support/positive behavior intervention and support is discussed as an effective alternative.


Patterns of DNA methylation are established and maintained by DNA methyltransferases (Dnmts), which have traditionally been subdivided into the 'de novo' methyltransferases, Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b, and the 'maintenance' methyltransferase, Dnmt1. Dnmt1 maintains DNA methylation patterns and genomic stability in several in vitro cell systems, but its function in tissue-specific development, homeostasis, and disease in vivo is only beginning to be investigated. Recently, the Kaestner lab demonstrated that loss of Dnmt1 in the adult intestinal epithelium causes a twofold expansion of the proliferative crypt zone, indicating that Dnmt1 and DNA methylation regulate proliferative processes in the intestine. I hypothesized that loss of Dnmt1 may impart similar effects during intestinal development and tumorigenesis, and employed distinct Cre-loxP mouse models to ablate Dnmt1 in progenitor cells during intestinal development and in the mature intestinal epithelium of cancer-prone ApcMin/+ mice. In the first part of my thesis, I show that loss of Dnmt1 in intervillus progenitor cells in the developing intestine causes global hypomethylation, DNA damage, premature differentiation, and apoptosis. I confirm this novel role for Dnmt1 during crypt development using the in vitro organoid culture system, and illustrate a differential requirement for Dnmt1 in immature versus mature organoids. These results demonstrate an essential role for Dnmt1 in maintaining genomic stability during intestinal development and the establishment of intestinal crypts. DNA methylation is thought to drive CRC progression by the repression of tumor suppressor genes via promoter methylation. In the second part of my thesis, I utilize inducible intestinal epithelial-specific gene ablation to determine the requirement of Dnmt1 in intestinal tumorigenesis. Surprisingly, I find that loss of Dnmt1 in cancer-prone ApcMin/+ mice results in accelerated, not decreased, intestinal tumor development. Dnmt1 deletion precipitates an acute response in mature intestinal epithelium characterized by hypomethylation of repetitive elements, genomic instability, and apoptosis, which is followed by remethylation with time. This recovery is entirely dependent on the activity of the de novo methyltransferase Dnmt3b. In light of these data, the current dogma regarding the role of DNA methylation in colon cancer needs to be revisited. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Cell & Molecular Biology First Advisor Klaus H. Kaestner This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1697


Agricultural extension that delivers timely, targeted, and cost-effective support to farmers will help ensure the sustainability and adaptive capacity of agriculture, enhancing both food security and environmental security. Leveraging advances in agriclimate science and adult education, innovative digital technologies offer significant new opportunities to engage with farmers and to support decision making. In this study, animated video clips ( machinimas ), developed using the Second Life TM virtual world gaming platform, model conversations around climate risk and critical on-farm decisions in the Australian sugarcane farming industry. Early evaluation indicates that this is an engaging format that promotes discussion by leveraging farmers' natural modes of information gathering and social learning. Comparison with conventional extension practices indicates that these discussion support tools may be a cost-effective addition to existing approaches. The format's flexibility means machinimas are readily updated with new information and customized to meet the needs of different farmer groups. Rapid growth in digital access globally and the scalability of such approaches promise greater equity of access to high-value information, critical to better risk management decision making, at minimal cost, for millions of farmers.


PART 1- The Current Paradigm: MPT (Modern Portfolio Theory) Chapter 1: Modern Portfolio Theory as it Stands Chapter 2: Challenges to MPT: Theoretical-the assumptions are not thus Chapter 3: Challenges to MPT: Empirical-the world is not thus Chapter 4: Challenges to MPT: Behavioural-people are not thus Chapter 5: Describing the Overall Framework: Investors and Investments PART 2- Amending MPT: Getting to BMPT Chapter 1:Investors-The Rational Investor Chapter 2: Investments-Extracting Value from the long-term Chapter 3: Investments-Extracting Value from the short-term Chapter 4: bringing it together, the new BMPT paradigm PART 3- Emotional Insurance: Sticking with the Journey Chapter 1: Investors- the emotional investor Chapter 2: Investments- Constraining the rational portfolio PART 4- Practical Implications Chapter 1: The BMPT and Wealth Management Chapter 2: The BMPT and the Pension Industry Chapter 3: The BMPT and Asset Management


Step-by-step instructions and over 300 photographs allow the trainee to follow and learn the techniques with ease. The ideal weapon for self-defense is a stick. To find a comprehensive system of techniques using the stick, we must turn to the East, for systems known to the West have fallen into disuse. In this book, the techniques of Kukishin Ryu-an ancient Japanese method-have been updated and adapted for use today. A thorough grounding in the fundamentals dealt with here will enable you to disarm and control any assailant. CONTENTS Section 1: Basic Movements


This study utilised both mail questionnaire and case study
approaches to investigate propositions related to information
technology (IT) in small firms. The major proposition
investigated IT Sophistication as one cause of small firm
success. Data was collected from 289 engineering firms by mail
questionnaire, including 120 with at least one computer.
Multiple regression analysis gave no support to IT as a success
factor. Similarly, non-parametric statistical tests suggested
that firms with more sophisticated IT performed no better than
firms with no or less sophisticated IT. Furthermore, among only
the firms with computers, many negative rather than positive
correlations were found between IT variables and financial
performance. Therefore, rather than support the major
proposition that IT was a success factor for small firms, the
mail questionnaire provided evidence to the contrary.
An indepth analysis of six firms provided evidence that
developing IT had, in some firms, increased operating costs and
consumed important managerial time. Furthermore, there was
evidence to suggest that some factors tended to encourage both IT
growth and poorer performance simultaneously, which would explain
the negative correlations found between IT and financial
performance.
Two further propositions were investigated, both relating to IT
success. Using path analysis, the following factors were found
to influence IT success: external assistance in identifying IT
requirements, owner involvement in IT planning and in control,
planning IT development, and the use of IT for many applications.
However, the measure of IT success was not found to be correlated
with financial performance, and this must put in question how MIS
researchers should measure "success".


Nanofiber Formation by Collagen Mimetic Peptides: Elucidation of Supramolecular Principles and Application of Retrosynthetic Analysis by Biplab Sarkar Synthetic
  mimics
  of
  the
  fibrillar
  protein
  collagen
  were
  designed
  by
  engineer-‐ ing
  specific
  supramolecular
  interactions
  in
  the
  triple
  helical
  building
  blocks.
  My
  doc-‐ toral
   research
   indicates
   that
   tri-‐domain
   collagen
  mimetic
   peptides,
   with
   positive, neutral,
  and
  negative
  domains,
  may
  form
  nanofibrous
  assembly
  through
  a
  staggered triple-‐helical
  intermediate
  stabilized
  by
  inter-‐strand
  charge
  pairs. Based
  on
  our
  understanding
  of
  the
  fibrillation
  pathway,
  I
  have
  devised
  a
  su-‐ pramolecular
   retrosynthetic
   strategy
   to
   prepare
   collagen
   mimetic
   nanofibers.
   By designing
  an
  infinite
  triple
  helix
  with
  optimal
  number
  of
   inter-‐strand
  charge
  pairs, and
   then
   identifying
   the
   requisite
   building
   blocks,
   I
   was
   able
   to
   prepare
   a
   two-‐ component
  collagen
  mimetic
   fiber
  with
  a
  high
  melting
  temperature.
  Peptide-‐based collagen
  mimetic
  nanofibers
  have
  great
  potential
  for
  future
  medical
  applications.


Modern radiation therapy has become increasingly complex. In order to maintain a high level of safety, medical physicists are shifting their approach to safety from historical to formal. Quality assurance (QA) is not a unique challenge to radiation therapy, let alone medicine. Every industry has an approach to measuring, maintaining, and ensuring quality. Industrial and professional standards provide benchmarks and guidelines for the type, frequency, and specifications for QA tests. In each case, domain-specific expertise is required to design the QA processes and manage the information workflow. The radiation therapy workflow is not exceedingly complex, but it contains many human-driven steps and interaction points and the errors can be catastrophic and systematic. In the past, the level of complexity was considered to be sufficiently low that the team members could themselves manage and conduct individual steps in the QA chain. This did not mean that the error rates were smaller in the past; a lack of comprehensive error reporting does not allow such an analysis. A review of limited error reporting data as well as anecdotal evidence indicates that errors occurred in at least as high a rate as they do now. Patient positioning errors, inaccurate calculations, errors in the use of ancillary devices, were too common and the rate of these errors has likely dropped due to a greater reliance on computers to plan and monitor treatments. If the increased complexity has not driven a reexamination of radiation therapy QA, it has been a catalyst for this change. For example, the computerization of the radiation therapy workflow has reduced the reliance on the therapist's selection of an interlocked accessory, but increased the reliance of the upstream correct selection of the accessory, as well as an unbroken chain in the information flow from planning to delivery. Another important contribution to the reexamination of the QA paradigm was the increased complexity in the treatment plan. Where once 3-4 block-defined fields were utilized, there are now literally hundreds of dynamically delivered subfields, any of which would have been deemed unverifiable in the past. The goal of the formalization of radiation therapy QA, and more generally, quality management (QM), is to continue to improve the error rate while maintaining, or even improving the process speed, efficiency, and even efficacy. Formal QM programs, of which QA is a part, contain the following components: Safety culture, QA support, quality measurement and feedback cycles, continuous quality improvement, process control, education and training, and error management. This symposium will define these terms and introduce the radiation therapy medical physicist into the efforts by the AAPM and other organizations in formalizing the QM and QA workflows to continue to improve the radiation therapy safety record.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Understand the need for formal QM and QA processes 2. Understand formal QM and QA techniques 3. Understand how formal QM and QA techniques are being applied to radiation therapy.


Green marketing is a phenomenon which has developed important in the modern market. This concept has enabled for the re-marketing and packaging of existing products which already adhere to such guidelines. Additionally, the development of green marketing has opened the door of opportunity for companies to co-brand their products into separate line, lauding the green-friendliness of some while ignoring that of others. Such marketing techniques will be explained as a direct result of movement in the minds of the consumer market. As a result of this businesses have increased their rate of targeting consumers who are concerned about the environment. These same consumers through their concern are interested in integrating environmental issues into their purchasing decisions through their incorporation into the process and content of the marketing strategy for whatever product may be required. This paper discusses how businesses have increased their rate of targeting green consumers, those who are concerned about the environment and allow it to affect their purchasing decisions. The paper identifies the three particular segments of green consumers and explores the challenges and opportunities businesses have with green marketing. The paper also examines the present trends of green marketing in India and describes the reason why companies are adopting it and future of green marketing and concludes that green marketing is something that will continuously grow in both practice and demand.


We have demonstrated an easy, economic, one-step synthetic route to water-soluble fluorescent carbon dots derived from the thermal upcycling of urine. These "pee-dots" (PDs), which primarily comprise hydrophile-decorated amorphous carbon, exhibit bright, stable, excitation wavelength dependent fluorescence in aqueous solution and are shown to be useful nanoscale labels in cell imaging applications. Cytotoxicity studies demonstrate that these PDs are benign toward model cell lines, even at concentrations as high as 500 μg mL−1. Notably, this approach converts an otherwise useless, negatively-valued byproduct of human life into a value-added nanoscale product while simultaneously pasteurizing the waste stream. The reported PDs proved to be effective nanoprobes for the fluorescence-based detection of heavy metal ions of environmental concern, particularly Cu2+ and Hg2+ ions which were found to be strong quenchers of their fluorescence. Interestingly, the optical properties and nanoscale dimensions of the PDs are a direct reflection of the diet (e.g., vitamin C or asparagus (sulfur) fortified) followed by the urine donor.


This monograph examines the growth of public spending in the UK. Using empirical evidence, evidence from theory, and the results of economic modelling, the author considers the wider economic consequences of the current high level of government spending. It is clear from the analysis that UK public spending is well above optimal levels. Furthermore, there is regional injustice, as large amounts of money are transferred from England to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - to the detriment of both donor and recipient. How can such a situation prevail? Why are politicians not interested in one of the key determinants of economic welfare? Why is it impossible to tell the policies of the main parties apart on this issue? David B. Smith analyses these questions too and proposes changes that would make it more likely that Britain could have a smaller government sector.


Governments' desire to ameliorate environmental problems may conflict with other goals. Policy levels which balance different objectives can be altered by policy changes in other countries. A decrease in the importance of the pollution problem, or an increase in its global extent, increase the likelihood that tighter environmental regulations in one region induce laxer policies elsewhere. The transboundary character and the importance of environmental externalities also affect the amount of cooperation needed to improve members' welfare in a coalition. More global pollution problems require a larger coalition. However, the critical coalition size may be larger or smaller for more severe problems.


Informed Systems honors stakeholder perspective and values information experience through inclusive construction of workplace systems and participatory processes. Enabling design tools and inclusive information processes support planning and building organizational communication systems for evidence based inquiry and continuous team learning. In this North American example, international researchers' contributions illustrate the efficacy of introducing theory from Australia and methods from Sweden to re-invent an academic library. To initiate transformative change at the University of Colorado Denver, Scandinavian participation design practices guided co-creation of shared vision and systems purpose.. Building upon these catalytic collective experiences, an organizational learning culture was advanced through introduction of Australian informed learning principles. This maturation model guided enactment of evidence-based decisionmaking and decision taking practices for information sharing and knowledge exchange activities. Longitudinal results suggest that such conversation-rich dialogic organization development benefits from introduction and guidance by international researchers with deep knowledge and nuanced experience.


Since December 2017, several states have enacted laws granting state tax credits for charitable contributions that go toward public education or public health. One purpose of these laws is to allow individuals to claim federal charitable contribution deductions for payments that simultaneously serve to reduce those individuals' state tax liabilities and to support programs that state governments would otherwise fund. The strategy adopted by these states — if effective — would mitigate the impact of the $10,000 cap on individual state and local tax deductions imposed by the December 2017 tax law. The U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") have proposed, but not yet finalized, regulations aimed at shutting down that strategy.

The ongoing debate regarding state charitable credit programs and the proposed Treasury regulations raise a number of interesting legal questions — some of which may be addressed at subsequent stages of the rulemaking process, others of which will likely be resolved by litigation. Rather than trying to answer any of those questions, this Essay — an edited transcript of remarks at the Washington University Journal of Law & Policy-Missouri Department of Revenue 2018 Symposium on State & Local Taxation — focuses instead on a separate, though related, question, a question that is implicated by the charitable credit debate but that will linger long after any litigation is resolved. That is: Why should federal tax law allow more favorable treatment to charitable contributions than to state and local tax payments? What are the essential differences between non-governmental charities and sub-national governments, or between contributions and tax payments, that justify this lack of parity?

Ultimately, this Essay concludes that there is little justification for allowing a virtually unlimited charitable contribution deduction while capping the deduction for SALT. That conclusion gives rise to a critique of the December 2017 tax law, but also to a critique of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's tax plan, which would have capped the rate at which state and local tax payments could be deducted without applying the same cap to charitable contributions. The Essay ends with reflections on the long-term implications of the state charitable credit programs for tax policy and politics.


A novel green emitting phosphor of Eu2+ doped Ca7(PO4)2(SiO4)2 was synthesized and its photoluminescence properties were investigated for application in UV LEDs. XRD was used to identify sample phase. Diffuse reflection spectra and photoluminescence spectra were used to investigate its photoluminescence properties. Ca7(PO4)2(SiO4)2:Eu2+ showed an absorption ranging from 240 to 440 nm in ultraviolet range and a broad green emission band peaked at 522 nm. The concentration quenching mechanism and the key parameters for the fabrication of WLEDs, such as the temperature dependent photoluminescence and CIE value had also been studied.


Facing rapid demographic, social and economic transformation, China has taken steps to extend and strengthen the urban Minimum Living Standard Scheme (MLSS). The MLSS is a social assistance programme initially focused on the chronically poor, but later extended to the long-term unemployed. The extension of the MLSS led to a rise in the number of beneficiaries from 2.6 million in 1999 to 20.6 million in 2002, although long-term poor migrants remain excluded. There has also been a broadening of the MLSS, focused initially on mainly income transfers, but later including education and health exemptions, community work, and housing. This paper outlines these trends and discusses what lessons other developing countries could learn from the extension of social assistance in China.


We have developed a robotic interface to train hand and finger function. HandCARE is a Cable-actuated rehabilitation system, in which each finger is attached to an instrumented cable loop allowing force control and a predominantly linear displacement. The device, whose designed is based on biomechanical measurements, can assist the subject in opening and closing movements and can be adapted to accommodate various hand shapes and finger sizes. Main features of the interface include a differential sensing system, and a clutch system which allows independent movement of the five fingers with only one actuator. The device is safe, easily transportable, and offers multiple training possibilities. This paper presents the biomechanical measurements carried out to determine the requirements for a finger rehabilitation device, and the design and characterization of the complete system.


One challenge in Total Innovation Management (TIM) is to include all personnel of the organization in all kinds of innovative processes. Most former models have suggested separating incremental and radical innovation in different departments, since they need different kinds of thinking, acting and relating; exploiting respectively exploring. In this paper we are going to develop an understanding of innovation based on complex systems theory in order to transcend the paradox between exploiting and exploring. Activities like communication and experiments are important. We will describe processes and structures for practical use of the TIM-model and point at the need for integrated autonomy to facilitate emergence and structures like culture, praxis and relatonics for organizing of the innovation system.


Constructing one-dimensional (1D) hierarchical photocatalysts is deemed to be central to promoting photocatalytic capacity. In this paper, 1D hierarchical structures composed of CdS nanosheets/nanoparticles on Ag nanowires (denoted as 1D Ag@CdS core–shell hierarchical hetero-nanowires) have been fabricated via a wet-chemistry approach at low temperature. The optimization of the synthetic parameters indicates that the amounts of Cd(NO3)2·4H2O and thiourea play important roles in the construction of the 1D hierarchical structures. The as-prepared 1D hierarchical Ag@CdS core–shell hetero-nanowires exhibit efficient photocatalytic performance in both methyl orange (MO) degradation (degrade 96% of MO within 240 min) and hydrogen generation (73.5 μmol h−1) from water splitting due to the unique hybrid nano-architecture. It is expected that this Ag@CdS hierarchical nanostructure could have potential in solar energy conversion and this fabrication technique could be used as a reference to design other 1D metal@semiconductor core–shell heteronanowires.


Objective: To assess why the prevalence of postpartum hemorrhage still high while applying active management of the third stage of labor procedure.
Material and methods: It was a retrospective comparative study that lasted for forty-two months period, from July 1st, 2011 to December 31, 2014 about 7466 deliveries. We divided the patients into 2 groups. The case group encompassed all patients for whom the AMTSL procedure was executed. The control group was made of patients who did not receive AMTSL procedure.
Results: During the study period, we registered 7466 vaginal deliveries. The prevalence of postpartum hemorrhage reached 3.7%. For the population that benefited from controlled cord traction for placental extraction, the prevalence was 2.9% whereas those who have not benefited from controlled cord traction presented a postpartum hemorrhage in 09.76% therefore three times higher (p<0.00001). The most represented age group was 20-34 years old (76.7% for cases and 74.5% for controls). The nulliparous constituted 32.6% of cases while the multiparous were 32.2% of controls. In over half of the cases, they have been referred (56.5% for cases and 52.9% of controls). The delivery delay was inferior to 5 minutes with 71.75% of cases against 33.35% of controls (p<0.00001). Atony was the prevailing etiology in both groups (78.8% for cases and 65.5% for controls). Postpartum haemorrhage was lethal in 3.2% of cases with controlled cord traction against 17.2% without controlled cord traction making 5 times higher (p<0.00001). The main etiology of death was coagulopathy.


A novel approach has been proved to quickly and non-invasively determine the optical properties of human skin in vivo. It is based on the diffuse reflectance approximation model and subjected to the well established library of absorption spectra of water and hemoglobin. Under the nonlinear least-square algorithm, fitting the measured spectra in the range of 400-1000 nm to the diffusion approximation model, the reduced scattering coefficient and absorption coefficient of skin tissue can be quickly determined in vivo. The results show that this method is convenient and suitable for the real-time clinical application.


This paper surveys the behaviour o f extratropical cyclones i n the Southern Hemisphere from 15 years of ECMWF analyses, extending a previous study by this author. Cyclones were identified as local maxima of cyclonic geostrophic vorticity and tracked by an automated method. This use of vorticity avoids missing mobile circulation centres for which a pressure minimum does not exist. Stationary orographic features were not considered. The overall occurrence of cyclones a t al l stages of development is quite uniform in the east-west direction, with largest numbers south of 55'S, and a second lower-latitude maximum spanning the Pacifc Ocean near 40'S in winter. Cyclone formation and intensification locations are more localised, occurring near eastern seaboards of Australia and South America, leeward of the Andes, near the climatological positions of the polar and subtropical upper-tropospheric jet streams and near SST gradients. The region south of 60'S is a favoured region for cyclone dissipation. Explosive cyclogenesis is most frequent in a band extending southeast from South America, in the Indian Ocean, east of Australia and in a zone spanning much of the Pacific from northeast of NZ. There are marked year-to-year changes in the paths that cyclones take. Variations related to the Southern Oscillation were found in the South Pacific subtropics. Results from the 15-year data series suggest an increase (decrease) in cyclone numbers in the eastern Pacific during negative (positive) SOL an increase in cyclonic activity to the north of NZ during La Nitia years, and a decrease overAustralia during El


Abstract: This paper is devoted to the comparative study of political culture in the two post-communist countries Poland and Ukraine, which are in different stages in the transformation from communist to democratic society. Our analysis is based on data sets provided by the New Democracies Barometer III (1993) and IV (1995). Political culture is defined as a system of orientations toward politics. The evaluative component of such aspects of political culture as regime orientation, external competence and political trust is taken into consideration. Our comparison shows that in Poland the evaluation of external competence is more positive than in Ukraine. The population of Ukraine distrusts the political institutions more than the population of Poland. In Ukraine a substantial part of the population feels nostalgia for communist times, and this nostalgia has a tendency to increase. In Poland on the other hand the majority of population evaluates the communist regime negatively. The structure of the relations between the economic and political orientations is mainly the same in both countries under study. Differences in relations presented in the model have a tendency to decrease. The direction in which Ukraine is heading is similar to that of Poland.;


ANALYSIS OF RAPID TEMPORAL FLUCTUATIONS IN AURORAL PARTICLE FLUXES Tadeus Carl Winiecki Measurements of electron fluxes were made using five detectors flown on a sounding rocket into an aurora. Three of the detectors measured fluxes in energy bands about 4, 7, and 10 kev, while two Geiger tubes measured electrons above 50 kev. The time resolution was about one millisecond. The fluxes were analyzed to give a spectrum, and auto-correlations and cross-correlations were performed to find modulations and time lags in modulations among the fluxes of different energy levels. Modulations with periods of about .05 second, .065 second, and .10 second were found with time lags of less than 10 milliseconds between 4 and 10 kev electron fluxes. No such spectral studies of periodicities have been made previously. If the time lags are purely of temporal origin, the distance from the detectors to the source of modulation is calculated to be less than about 1,000 kilometers. The nature of possible modulation mechanisms is analyzed, and the implications to auroral theories discussed.


Issues of lexical diversity assessment have only been addressed with consideration of the approach, rather than the corpus. Of necessity, intrinsic issues of lexical diversity related to the approach needed to be addressed first; however, given that they now have received due attention in recent research, it is time to turn our attention to extrinsic issues of lexical diversity , which is the assessment of how variations in texts and corpora affect the results of the approach. The focus of intrinsic issues has been on the algorithms and approaches used to produce values of lexical diversity on laboratory-like data sets. With extrinsic issues of word count, the focus moves to more naturalistic data sets with texts that demonstrate ranges of inconsistencies in terms of size, quality, and length. For these data, indices of lexical diversity are required to demonstrate ecological validity. The degree to which an index of lexical diversity exhibits ecological validity is of considerable importance to the field of second language learning because naturalistic corpora vary considerably in size, and texts within the corpora vary considerably in terms of word count. In other words, ecological validity is a necessary element of the construct validity of lexical diversity. In this study, we assess the three primary indices of lexical diversity (MTLD, HD-D, and Maas) using a corpus of naturalistic data in order to evaluate extrinsic issues of lexical diversity assessment by way of ecological validation. Our results show that the index of MTLD appears strongest and the index of Maas appears the least strong. Our conclusion, while encouraging broader research, is that the Maas index be abandoned as a lexical diversity index because of its over-sensitivity to word count. By contrast, MTLD appears to be resilient to a wide range of extrinsic factors and, consequently, is recommended for future lexical diversity studies.


One of the most attractive recent approaches to processing well-structured large-scale convex optimization problems is based on smooth convex-concave saddle point reformulation of the problem of interest and solving the resulting problem by a fast first order saddle point method utilizing smoothness of the saddle point cost function. In this paper, we demonstrate that when the saddle point cost function is polynomial, the precise gradients of the cost function required by deterministic first order saddle point algorithms and becoming prohibitively computationally expensive in the extremely large-scale case, can be replaced with incomparably cheaper computationally unbiased random estimates of the gradients. We show that for large-scale problems with favorable geometry, this randomization accelerates, progressively as the sizes of the problem grow, the solution process. This extends significantly previous results on acceleration by randomization, which, to the best of our knowledge, dealt solely with bilinear saddle point problems. We illustrate our theoretical findings by instructive and encouraging numerical experiments.


Let S be a column stochastic matrix with at least one full row. Then S describes a Pagerank-like random walk since the computation of the Perron vector x of S can be tackled by solving a suitable M-matrix linear system Mx = y, where M = I − τ A, A is a column stochastic matrix and τ is a positive coefficient smaller than one. The Pagerank centrality index on graphs is a relevant example where these two formulations appear. Previous investigations have shown that the Euler- Richardson (ER) method can be considered in order to approach the Pagerank computation problem by means of preconditioning strategies. In this work, it is observed indeed that the classical power method can be embedded into the ER scheme, through a suitable simple preconditioner. Therefore, a new preconditioner is proposed based on fast Householder transformations and the concept of low complexity weakly stochastic algebras, which gives rise to an effective alternative to the power method for large-scale sparse problems. Detailed mathematical reasonings for this choice are given and the convergence properties discussed. Numerical tests performed on real-world datasets are presented, showing the advantages given by the use of the proposed Householder-Richardson method.


To study the clinical Evaluation of obstetrics forceps in patients with prolonged 2nd stage of labour and evaluate its associated neonatal and maternal outcomes. It was an observational cohort study over a period of one year from July 2013 to June 2014, conducted at JLN Medical college/Hospital, Ajmer. During this study period, a total of 19082 women were delivered, of which 512 underwent forceps assisted vaginal delivery. The data were collected on the structured pro-forma with variables like parity, booking status, number of maternal death after 2nd stage intervention, major obstetric hemorrhage, number of lateral vaginal wall tear, cervical tear, complete perineal tear, number of stillborn, early neonatal death, incidence of neonatal intensive care unit and sick newborn care unit admission, APGAR score at 1min. and 5min., rate of neonatal asphyxia, number of fetal scalp hematoma and facial injury. The frequency of second stage intervention (forceps) was 2.70%. The total number of Instrumental (forceps) vaginal deliveries conducted for prolonged second stage of labour was 220(1.15%). Most of the women were booked i.e., 168 (76.36%). 116(52.72%) of cases were between 18-20 years of age. 154(70%) were Primi-gravid. Maternal morbidity with instrumental (forceps) vaginal deliveries included vaginal tear in 12(5.45%) cases, cervical tear in 3(1.36%) cases, third degree perineal tear in 3(1.36%)cases and Post-Partum Hemorrhage (PPH) occurred in 16 (7.27%) cases. Out of 46 cases (20.91%) that reported for long-term follow up, only 2 had rectal incontinence. Perinatal complications of newborn included, 14 stillbirths (6.36%), 16(7.27%) early neonatal deaths, 18(8.73%) asphyxiated and 26(12.62%) grossly asphyxiated. A Clinical Evaluation of Forceps Delivery and its Associated Complications in Prolonged Second Stage of Labour Bhati Balgopal Singh


Insects can accurately navigate and track sound sources in complex environments using efficient methods based on highly appropriate sensory-motor processing systems. It is proposed here to describe, model and test these methods, by designing them for a micro-flying device. For this purpose, a new bio-mimetic acoustic sensor inspired by the cricket's auditory system was developed and tested. The sound sensor consists of two tiny omnidirectional microphones weighing only 0.1g, equipped with acoustic resonators and a biomimetic temporal processing system. The hearing system was tuned to the carrier frequency of the sound source, which is 4.7kHz (the frequency of crickets' song). The performances of the directional sound sensor were tested and described in terms of their linearity and accuracy, and their robustness to sound disturbances and dynamic sound source movements.


In fluidized-bed gas-phase polymerization reactors, several grades of polyethylene are produced in the same equipment by changing the operating conditions. Transitions between the different grades are rather slow and result in the production of a considerable amount of off-specification polymer. Grade transition improvement is viewed here as a dynamic optimization problem, for which numerous approaches exist. Numerical optimization based on a nominal process model is typically insufficient due to the presence of uncertainty in the form of model mismatch and process disturbances. This paper proposes to implement optimal grade transition using a measurement-based approach instead. It is based on tracking the necessary conditions of optimality (NCO tracking) using a decentralized control scheme. For this, the nominal input profiles are dissected into arcs and switching times that are assigned to the various parts of the NCO. These input elements are then adapted using appropriate measurements. NCO tracking is used to determine optimal grade transition in polyethylene reactors. The problem of minimizing the transition time from a steady state of low melt index to that of high melt index is studied, with the feeds of hydrogen and inert and the output flow rate considered as manipulated variables. In the optimal solution, all arcs are determined by path constraints, and all switching times are determined by path and terminal constraints, which significantly eases the adaptation. The on-line and run-to-run adaptation of these parameters is illustrated in simulation.


In this study, two new mesoporous hybrid gels were synthesized. The structural order, morphology, and textural properties of the prepared hybrid materials have been studied by 13 C CP MAS NMR, SEM, FTIR, and nitrogen adsorption – desorption analysis. The application for the heavy metal uptake from aqueous solution using the as-synthesized hybrid materials as an adsorbent is explored. Operating parameters influencing the adsorption procedure, for instance, solution pH, contact time, and temperature are contemplated. In order to gain an insight into the adsorption mechanism and reveal the rate-controlling steps, three models pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, and intra-particle diffusion have been studied to fit. Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) models are assigned to portray the adsorption isotherms. Besides, the feasibility of the synthesized adsorbents for a continuous process in fixed-bed column was investigated. Prior tests produced on electroplating effluents reveal that the as-prepared xerogel could be strongly used for the heavy metal uptake from real wastewater.


The ocean environment has been subjected to severe deterioration in the past few decades. This worsening situation is attributed mainly to the extensive use of pesticides in coastal areas, the rapid expansion of vast metropolitan areas and the displacement of industries to the coastal areas. At the same time, given the rising cost of energy, reckless offshore dumping of industrial wastes has increased. All these have contributed greatly to the fouling of the ocean environment. Concomitantly, harvesting of marine products for providing food to the increasing global population is on the rise. In particular, over-fishing of demersal stocks has been observed in Peninsular Malaysia eastern coast (Ambak et al., 1981; Ambak and Mohsin, 1982; Ambak and Harmin, 1982; Ambak, 2000).
There is an increasing need to manage the ocean environment and to explore for meaningful compromises between the demands of growing industrialization and emergence of prosperous societies and the need to maintain the natural resources. This represents an optimal control problem that canm only be addressed by numerical models.