Thomas Robert Malthus's "An Essay on the Principle of Population" was an immediate succes de scandale" when it appeared in 1798. Arguing that nature is niggardly and that societies, both human and animal, tend to overstep the limits of natural resources in "perpetual oscillation between happiness and misery," he found himself attacked on all sides--by Romantic poets, utopian thinkers, and the religious establishment. Though Malthus has never disappeared, he has been perpetually misunderstood. This book is at once a major reassessment of Malthus's ideas and an intellectual history of the origins of modern debates about demography, resources, and the environment.Against the ferment of Enlightenment ideals about the perfectibility of mankind and the grim realities of life in the eighteenth century, Robert Mayhew explains the genesis of the Essay" and Malthus's preoccupation with birth and death rates. He traces Malthus's collision course with the Lake poets, his important revisions to the Essay, " and composition of his other great work, Principles of Political Economy. "Mayhew suggests we see the author in his later writings as an environmental economist for his persistent concern with natural resources, land, and the conditions of their use. Mayhew then pursues Malthus's many afterlives in the Victorian world and beyond.Today, the Malthusian dilemma makes itself felt once again, as demography and climate change come together on the same environmental agenda. By opening a new door onto Malthus's arguments and their transmission to the present day, Robert Mayhew gives historical depth to our current planetary concerns."


First published in the outstanding and long-running 'red Macmillan' series in 1948 and revised in 1958 and 1962 (with, for example, a new section on Mycenaean Greek in relation to Homer), This second volume on the "Odyssey" has remained the standard edition used by upper school and university students to guide their early reading of the epic. The introduction covers many of the questions that lie behind the poem, and includes a useful summary of Homeric grammar; the text is elucidated with full annotations, indexes and bibliography.Also available: "Odyssey I-XII"


BACKGROUND Influenza A virus (IAV) and SARS-CoV-2 are pandemic viruses causing millions of deaths, yet their clinical manifestations are distinctly different. METHODS With the hypothesis that upper airway immune and epithelial cell responses are also distinct, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-Seq) on nasal wash cells freshly collected from adults with either acute COVID-19 or influenza or from healthy controls. We focused on major cell types and subtypes in a subset of donor samples. Results Nasal wash cells were enriched for macrophages and neutrophils for both individuals with influenza and those with COVID-19 compared with healthy controls. Hillock-like epithelial cells, M2-like macrophages, and age-dependent B cells were enriched in COVID-19 samples. A global decrease in IFN-associated transcripts in neutrophils, macrophages, and epithelial cells was apparent in COVID-19 samples compared with influenza samples. The innate immune response to SARS-CoV-2 appears to be maintained in macrophages, despite evidence for limited epithelial cell immune sensing. Cell-to-cell interaction analyses revealed a decrease in epithelial cell interactions in COVID-19 and highlighted differences in macrophage-macrophage interactions for COVID-19 and influenza. Conclusions Our study demonstrates that scRNA-Seq can define host and viral transcriptional activity at the site of infection and reveal distinct local epithelial and immune cell responses for COVID-19 and influenza that may contribute to their divergent disease courses. Funding Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness, the Mathers Foundation, and the Department of Defense (W81XWH2110029) "COVID-19 Expansion for AIRe Program."


i. Problem: Inconsistencies in levels of energy management in some areas of the British Army (Army) have been identified, which if left unchecked, may lead to ineffective energy management practices and inefficiencies which are common in many organisations. This will have financial and environmental implications for the organisation and requires further action to properly address their use of finite energy resources and the release of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2). ii. Objective: The objective has been to identify and improve the effectiveness of energy management practices in the Army, by building upon existing energy management structure, policy and procedures and examine the value of auditing processes. iii. Methodology: A review of existing energy management practices has been undertaken with the objective of reviewing a previously issued section covering utility management issues in the Army's mandatory Logistic Support Inspection (LSI). A new and improved LSI section called 'Utilities Management' has been produced and has been trialled as part of Army LSI's in two regional Army Brigades. The outcome of the trial is documented and subsequent recommendations made for the improvement of future energy management practices within the Army. iv. Achievements: A successful trial of the new and improved section on 'Utilities Management' has been undertaken which actively supports the work programme of Army Divisional and Brigade Energy Advisors in compliance with Army Policy and Regulations, as well as providing guidance and support to Army unit utility programmes. Land Command, who has responsibility for the management and administration of the Army's LSI, is reviewing the new and improved section for incorporation into the mandatory inspection Army wide.


PurposeThis paper aims to test the hypothesized concave relationship between disorganization and individual financial performance using UK Workplace Employment Relations Study (WERS) datasets. Given there are no prior studies measuring disorganization we start with using scale items from currently validated scales, WERS, and try to determine the extent to which the current scales are applicable for measuring disorganization and subsequently highlight the limitations of current measures.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on the UK Workplace Employment Relations study (WERS) datasets of 2011 which is the largest publicly accessible dataset available. The datasets used were the financial performance survey (FPS) data and the management survey (MS) data with 545 unique records. Polynomial Regression was used to test the hypotheses. An aggregated index for disorganization (IV) was developed, and a production function was used to determine the individual financial performance per worker (DV).FindingsA significant linear relationship between disorganization and individual financial performance was discovered. However, this relationship was linear and did not exhibit the theorized concave relationship. The findings further indicated the need for more refined measures of disorganization and limitations of the current measures.Originality/valueWhile the study is exploratory in nature, this is the first study to date which attempts to measure disorganization in an applied setting. Thus, the work presented here is foundational to any future empirical studies on the topic. The limitations uncovered are of particular importance.


Wet rot disease of cowpea pods were found in the seed production plots of vegetable cowpea (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis (L.) Verdcourt), at College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Kerala during October – November 2014. The mature pods exhibited symptoms like water soaking, wet rotting and shrivelling of pods. The disease was more severe during the hot and high humid conditions. Under high humid conditions, the pods were covered with white cottony mycelial growth of the pathogen with heavy fructifications. The pathogen causing the pod rot of cowpea was isolated from the diseased pods and based on cultural and morphological characters, the pathogen was identified as the Choanephora cucurbitarum (Berk. & Ravenel) Thaxt. Pathogenicity was proven by artificial inoculation of the pathogen on fresh pods and symptoms such as water soaking and wet rotting developed within 24 h. Nine fungicides such as mancozeb, copper hydroxide, copper oxy chloride, azoxystrobin, carbendazim, carboxin, propiconazole, captan + hexaconzole and carbendazim + mancozeb at three concentrations i.e., lower than recommended dose, recommended dose and higher than recommended were tested to evaluate the efficacy to inhibit the growth of C.cucurbitarum under in vitro conditions. Results showed that two contact fungicides mancozeb and copper oxy chloride, two systemic fungicides propiconazole and carboxin at three concentrations gave 100% inhibition of the pathogen, whereas, the two combination fungicides at recommended and higher dose gave complete suppression of the pathogen. KeywordsCowpea, pod rot, Choanephora cucurbitarum, fungicides, chemical control.


When multiple parallel communication links are available, it is useful to consider link-utilization strategies that provide tradeoffs between reliability and throughput. Interesting cases arise when there are three or more available links. Under the model considered, the links have known probabilities of being in working order, and each link has a known capacity. The sender has a number of messages to send to the receiver. Each message has a size and a value (i.e., a worth or priority). Messages may be divided into pieces arbitrarily, and the value of each piece is proportional to its size. The goal is to choose combinations of messages to send on the links so that the expected value of the messages decodable by the receiver is maximized. There are three parts to the innovation: (1) Applying coding to parallel links under the model; (2) Linear programming formulation for finding the optimal combinations of messages to send on the links; and (3) Algorithms for assisting in finding feasible combinations of messages, as support for the linear programming formulation. There are similarities between this innovation and methods developed in the field of network coding. However, network coding has generally been concerned with either maximizing throughput in a fixed network, or robust communication of a fixed volume of data. In contrast, under this model, the throughput is expected to vary depending on the state of the network. Examples of error-correcting codes that are useful under this model but which are not needed under previous models have been found. This model can represent either a one-shot communication attempt, or a stream of communications. Under the one-shot model, message sizes and link capacities are quantities of information (e.g., measured in bits), while under the communications stream model, message sizes and link capacities are information rates (e.g., measured in bits/second). This work has the potential to increase the value of data returned from spacecraft under certain conditions.


Mashup tools are a class of integrated development environments that enable rapid, on-the-fly development of mashups - a type of lightweight Web applications mixing content and services provided through the Web. In the past few years there have been growing number of projects, both from academia and industry, aimed at the development of innovative mashup tools. From the software architecture perspective, the massive effort behind the development of these tools creates a large pool of reusable architectural decisions from which the design of future mashup tools can derive considerable benefits. In this paper, focusing on the design of mashup tools, we explore a design space of decisions comprised of design issues and alternatives. The design space knowledge not only is broad enough to explain the variability of existing tools, but also provides a road-map towards the design of next generation mashup tools.


Nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) are together referred to as nitrogen oxides (NOX). Combustion of fossil fuels is by far the dominant source of NOX emissions. The emissions are not dependent solely on the amount of nitrogen in the fuel but also on the air fuel mix ratio. High temperatures and oxidation-rich conditions generally favour NOX formation in combustion.NOX contributes to acid deposition and eutrophication which in turn can lead to potential changes occurring in soil and water quality. The subsequent impacts of acid deposition can be significant, including adverse effects on aquatic ecosystems in rivers and lakes and damage to forests, crops and other vegetation. Eutrophication can lead to severe reductions in water quality with subsequent impacts including decreased biodiversity, changes in species composition and dominance, and toxicity effects. (Definition EEA, http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/eea-32-nitrogen-oxides... [2])


We study the time variation of the apparent flux of cosmological point sources due to the transient weak lensing by dark matter microhaloes. Assuming a transverse motion of microhaloes with respect to our line of sight, we derive the correspondence between the temporal power spectrum of the weak lensing magnification, and the spatial power spectrum of density on small scales. Considering different approximations for the small scale structure of dark matter, we predict the apparent magnitude of cosmological point sources to vary by as much as $10^{-4}-10^{-3}$, due to this effect, within a period of a few months. This red photometric noise has an almost perfect gaussian statistics, to one part in $\sim 10^4$. We also compare the transient weak lensing power spectrum with the background effects such as the stellar microlensing on cosmological scales. A quasar lensed by a galaxy or cluster like SDSSJ1004+4112 strong lensing system, with multiple images, is a suitable system for this study as: (i) using the time-delay method between different images, we can remove the intrinsic variations of the quasar, and (ii) strong lensing enhances signals from the transient weak lensing. We also require the images to form at large angular separations from the center of the lensing structure, in order to minimize contamination by the stellar microlensing. With long-term monitoring of quasar strong lensing systems with a 10-meter class telescope, we can examine the existence of dark microhaloes as the building blocks of dark matter structures. Failure to detect this signal may either be caused by a breakdown of cold dark matter (CDM) hierarchy on small scales, or rather interpreted as evidence against CDM paradigm, e.g. in favor of modified gravity models.


In contrast to most other fields of noble gas geochemistry that mostly regard atmospheric noble gases as 'contamination,' air-derived noble gases make up the far largest and hence most important contribution to the noble gas abundance in meteoric waters, such as lakes and ground waters. Atmospheric noble gases enter the meteoric water cycle by gas partitioning during air/water exchange with the atmosphere.

In lakes and oceans noble gases are exchanged with the free atmosphere at the surface of the open water body. In ground waters gases partition between the water phase and the soil air of the quasi-saturated zone, the transition between the unsaturated and the saturated zone. Extensive measurements have shown that noble gas concentrations of open waters agree well with the noble gas solubility equilibrium according to (free) air/(free) water partitioning, whereby the aquatic concentration is directly proportional to the respective atmospheric noble gas abundance (Henry law, Aeschbach-Hertig et al. 1999b).

In applications in lakes and ground waters the gas specific Henry coefficient can simplifying be assumed to depend only on temperature and salinity of the water. Hence the equilibrium concentrations of noble gases implicitly convey information on the physical properties of the water during gas exchange at the air/water interface, i.e., air pressure, temperature and salinity of the exchanging water mass. The ubiquitous presence of atmospheric noble gases in the meteoric water cycle defines a natural baseline, which masks other noble gas components until their abundance is sufficiently large that these components can be separated against the natural atmospheric background. For most classical geochemical aspects this typical feature of natural waters may look at first sight as a disadvantage. In fact it turns out to be advantageous because in most cases the noble gas abundance in water can be understood as a binary mixture of two …


In discourses on leadership within the African context one regularly finds that scholars make a contrast between so-called Western and African approaches to leadership. African leadership approaches are then often linked to notions of an African value system in which one of the first concepts that surface is the loaded notion of 'Ubuntu'. Scholars then point to the fact that in the understanding of 'Ubuntu' one finds a preference for a kind of spiritual collectiveness rather than for individualism with rational thinking as a central feature of Western thought. Applied to leadership, one therefore finds a consensus-seeking and problem-solving approach in Africa, rather than dissension, which is typical of Western styles of leadership. The purpose of this paper is firstly to illustrate that this dualistic approach to leadership not only underwrites considerable contestation over the notion of 'Ubuntu' leadership, but that such an oversimplified understanding of African leadership can easily contribute to gender discrimination. Secondly, this problematic situation will be illustrated by referring to a recent case study on the absence of women from leadership positions within a specific denomination in Malawi. Some of the underlying factors contributing to this problematic practice will be scrutinised. Lastly, the paper concludes by voicing the trust that a more nuanced approach to leadership from an 'Ubuntu' perspective can indeed make a contribution to the position of women in leadership. According to the understanding of the researcher, this can happen if the notion of 'Ubuntu' is placed within the broader discourses of critical humanism where the focus is on shared humanity.


This study takes up the current debate on natural versus elicited data in investigations on speech acts by comparing both types of data in a particular context, that of asking for and giving driving directions. An analysis of route-descriptions offered by male and female direction-givers in both natural and role-play settings revealed only one statistically significant sex-related difference: More male than female participants included mileage estimates in the natural setting but not in the role-play setting. However, when male and female participants' responses were combined to compare natural with role-play direction-giving, the role-play participants exhibited several significantly different linguistic behaviors in terms of their use of verbal devices (e.g., landmarks, mileage estimates, stoplight estimates) throughout the interactional phases. Direction-givers, when acting in an authentic context that carries real-world consequences, unanimously recognized an indirect request for directions while the direction-givers in the role-play setting generally did not. Additionally, this study revealed that the cognitive behaviors and the conventionalization evident in "natural" direction-giving were lacking in the role-play exchanges. Finally, the role-play participants were generally more aware of their role as research participants than as direction-givers, an awareness that affected their linguistic behaviors.


Aphids are phloem-feeding insects that, like other plant parasites, deliver effectors inside their host to manipulate host responses. The Myzus persicae (green peach aphid) candidate effectors Mp10 and Mp42 were previously found to reduce aphid fecundity upon intracellular transient overexpression in Nicotiana benthamiana. We performed functional analyses of these proteins to investigate whether they activate defenses through similar activities. We employed a range of functional characterization experiments based on intracellular transient overexpression in N. benthamiana to determine the subcellular localization of Mp10 and Mp42 and investigate their role in activating plant defense signaling. Mp10 and Mp42 showed distinct subcellular localization in planta, suggesting that they target different host compartments. Also, Mp10 reduced the levels of Agrobacterium-mediated overexpression of proteins. This reduction was not due to an effect on Agrobacterium viability. Transient overexpression of Mp10 but not Mp42 activated jasmonic acid and salicylic acid signaling pathways and decreased susceptibility to the hemibiotrophic plant pathogen Phytophthora capsici. We found that two candidate effectors from the broad-host-range aphid M. persicae can trigger aphid defenses through different mechanisms. Importantly, we found that some (candidate) effectors such as Mp10 interfere with Agrobacterium-based overexpression assays, an important tool to study effector activity and function.


The problematic of how supply and demand meet on a particular market is at the core of the economic sociology project, which for several years has produced detailed analyses of how judgments of the quality of products and seraevice providers are constructed prior to the exchange relation. Observation of how funeral business services come to be purchased and analysis of competition dynamics on local funeral service markets bring to light certain alternative ways of organizing the marketplace encounter. The article describes the devices used to capture this market, particularly the socio-technical arrangements for channeling customers toward a single service provider. It shows the degree to which provider activity, relations among competitors, and the market regulation game in this sector are structured by the production of an economy of customer capture.


An integrative multilevel model of empowerment and job performance behaviours is advanced, building on Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). Empowerment climate is hypothesized as influencing individual and team performance behaviours directly and partially through individual and team (psychological) empowerment. Using survey responses from 380 individuals, nested in 115 project management teams, we tested the direct, indirect and cross-level relationships delineated in the multilevel model, using a combination of OLS regression models and Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM). Empowerment climate positively related not only directly to both task and contextual performance behaviours but partially through both individual and team empowerment. At the team-level, empowerment climate also positively related directly to taskwork and teamwork behaviours and partially through team empowerment. The results suggest that empowerment climate and psychological empowerment play complementary roles in engendering individual and team performance behaviours and are therefore not mutually exclusive. The findings are also evident of convergence in management practices across cultures as well as different work context and further provide concrete targets of manipulation by organizations and leaders desirous of empowering individuals and teams in the


Objectives: This study is aimed to evaluate if the osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) is effective in patients with primary dysmenorrhea (PD). Methods: Randomized single-blinded controlled trial with OMT group and lighttouch treatment (LTT) group. Recruited women were 18-40 years (mean age 27 years), with regular menstrual cycle, normal body mass index (BMI), and a medical diagnosis of PD. Intervention: Patients received five OMT or five LTT over a menstrual cycle. The primary outcomes were average menstrual pain assessed by the numeric rating scale (NRS), the duration of pain, and quality of life (QoL) assessed by the SF-12 Short Form Health Survey and Patient Global Impression Change (PGIC). The secondary outcomes were NSAIDs intake, hours of absence from school/work, and menstrual-related symptoms. Results: 31 subjects were enrolled, of which five were excluded and the remaining 26 were randomized. Patients in OMT group had significant improvement in every outcome, including the average menstrual pain that decreased from 5.35 ± 0.28 to 1.98 ± 0.24 (-63.0%; p<0.001). The mean SF-12 physical component score (PCS) improved from 31.35 ± 1.70 to 49.56 ± 1.92 (+58.1%, p<0.001), the mean SF-12 mental component score (MCS) improved from 38.36 ± 1.16 to 52.04 ± 0.94 (+35.7%; p<0.001). LTT group showed no improvements. Conclusion: OMT was effective in reducing menstrual pain and improving Quality of Life of dysmenorrheic women.


This paper investigates the strategic interaction effects that precede network formation. We find that for a general class of payoff functions which, among other things, feature strict supermodularity, the degree of a node is a sufficient statistic for the action it undertakes. Dynamically, we construct a general model where each period consists of two stages: first, a game on the given network is played and second, a link is either created or severed. It turns out that the payoff functions we consider give absolute convergence to the absorbing class of networks called nested split graphs. These networks do not only possess mathematically tractable characteristics, but we can also interpret real-world networks as perturbed nested split graphs. The general framework provided here can be applied to more or less complex models of network formation.


This study focuses on the parameters that regulate the cross-linguistic distribution of clitic doubling and attempts to derive the availability of object clitic doubling on the basis of the systematic link between clitic doubling and participle agreement. The claim to be defended is that the presence of participial agreement determines the availability of clitic doubling: Participle Agreement excludes Clitic Doubling and vice versa (language internally as well as construction-specifically). The analysis relies crucially on the checking relations of phi-features that hold in clitic-languages. We argue that the presence of participle agreement in clitic-languages induces split-checking, which forces associates of the clitic to be null ( pro ). When no split-checking is required, a language may optionally be a clitic doubling language. The theory that emerges allows us to account for the clitic omission stage that occurs in child language. L1 learners undergo a stage (up to the age of 3) in which they are unable to establish split-checking relations between an XP and the functional heads involved. As a result, in languages in which such operations are required, clitic omission will arise.


Markets and private sector development are considered central to the recovery of economies and people's livelihoods after conflict. But the specific ways in which they shape this process, and the question of how governments and development partners might best support market resuscitation, are patchily evidenced and poorly understood. The Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium was established in 2011 as a cross†country research programme tasked with asking and answering questions about state†building, service delivery and livelihoods in conflict†affected situations. As part of its broad agenda of livelihoods research from 2011 to 2017, the Consortium undertook a specific investigation of the role that markets, and people's engagement with them, play in processes of post†conflict livelihood recovery, ultimately with a view to informing policies and programmes that are fit for purpose. This Policy Insights paper summarises the main findings and policy recommendations emerging from a synthesis of the Consortium's market studies, drawing also on key evidence and insights from the wider literature.


The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the effect of surface gradient
and heeled footwear on standing posture. Daily activities are not always
performed on horizontal ground and understanding how posture alters in
different scenarios is vital in order to know how a specific task is going to
affect a person. Under normal conditions a person's standing posture is
muscularly efficient; deviation from a normal posture reduces the body's
efficiency and increases the rate of muscle fatigue often resulting in
discomfort and pain. [Continues.]


This article explores the national retirement income security crisis. While the current arguments about how to meet the crisis portray the problem as both financial and political, this article concedes that America's workers do not have financial and political arguments for making their November-December years secure. They do have, however, a strong moral argument which needs to be explicitly acknowledged so that the crisis is not seen solely as one of finance or political will. This article explores in some detail how the three-legged stool of private/public pension plans, personal savings, and Social Security is failing to provide a fundamental minimum of security for too many people. The language of the Judeo-Christian tradition inherent in Catholic Social Teaching is employed. The article argues that adequate security for old age is an inherent part of a living wage. In addition, the author asserts that neither private employers nor the taxpayers are entitled to the labor of employees who have to face their last years with inadequate security. The article does not propose any particular solution in new laws or policy because the province of moral criticism is to evaluate the effects of laws and policies both old and new.


Improving the yield and quality of sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor ) forage for livestock feeding is a major breeding objective, because of sorghum's inherently high biomass accumulation, high productivity per unit water utilized and its ability to produce a ratoon crop after harvesting of the plant crop. Newly bred sorghum lines, including 36 lines falling in 5 different categories, i.e. 12 experimental dual-purpose lines, 6 germplasm accessions from the ICRISAT collection, 11 commercial varieties and hybrids, 6 forage varieties and 1 bmr mutant line, were evaluated in terms of fodder yield, quality and ratooning ability. The main crop produced more dry biomass (P<0.05) at 80 days after planting (mean 22.87 t DM/ha; range 17.32‒33.82 t DM/ha) than the ratoon crop (mean 8.47 t DM/ha; range 3.2‒17.42 t DM/ha) after a further 80 days of growth. Mean nitrogen concentration in forage did not differ greatly between main and ratoon crops (2.56 vs. 2.40%, respectively) but there was wide variation between lines (2.06‒2.89%). The line N 610 recorded highest N percentage of 2.89%, followed by SSG 59 3 (2.86%) and SX 17 (2.81%). Highest acid detergent fiber % was recorded by ICSV 12008 (42.1%), closely followed by CO 31 and IS 34638 (40.0%). The least acid detergent lignin % was observed in MLSH-296 Gold (3.59%), ICSV 700 (3.75%) and ICSSH 28 (3.83%). Metabolizable energy concentration was highest in N 610, Phule Yashodha and SX 17 (mean 8.34 MJ/kg DM), while in vitro organic matter digestibility ranged from 52.5 to 62.6%. The main crop contained much higher mean concentrations of the cyanogenic glycoside, dhurrin , than the ratoon (639 vs. 233 ppm, respectively) with ranges of 38 to 2,298 ppm and 7 to 767 ppm, respectively. There was no significant correlation between dhurrin concentration and dry biomass yield so breeding and selection for low dhurrin concentrations should not jeopardize yields. Hence, breeding for sorghum can target simultaneously both quality and biomass improvement. Keywords: Cyanogenic glycoside, digestibility, dry biomass production, fodder quality, tillering ability.


Many Eurozone governments, corporations and private households are still involved in an unfinished balance sheet repair process. Debt levels are still high and there are looming risks that negative developments, e.g. deflationary dynamics, cause debt to become unsustainable. The state of these Eurozone countries is comparable to a patient who recovers from a bad disease and whose immune system is not yet able to protect him from further infections. Despite the still unstable Eurozone, the European Central Bank's (ECB) monetary policy measures, especially its large-scale asset purchase program, are under attack. This policy paper will show that overcoming the Eurozone balance sheet recession is the only way to enable monetary policy to exit from the low interest rate environment. Hence, the ECB's current monetary policy stance is imperative against the background of the still unfinished balance sheet recession. Moreover, it demonstrates that the ECB's unconventional monetary policy measures do neither contradict a speedy exit from the low interest rate environment nor do they contradict a continuation of the supply-side reform agenda. In fact, policy measures that increase potential growth and stabilize inflation expectations are inevitable to enable a successful deleveraging. In light of this, the ECB's large-scale asset purchase program is a strong signal that could bring inflation expectations back to the vicinity of the ECB's inflation target. Stabilized expectations in turn will pave the way for a successful balance sheet repair. Only a finished balance sheet recession enables a successful exit from the low interest rate environment. Although necessary, the ECB's large-scale asset purchases have risky side-effects. Attenuating these side-effects, however, is the responsibility of national governments because the ECB's monetary policy can only prevent deflationary dynamics. It is not a substitute for supply-side reforms.


The Unfinished Revolution is the definitive story of New Labour from its genesis to its election defeat 2010 - covering over 25 years and six general elections of strategy, rebuilding and reinvention. In this extraordinary book, Philip Gould, one of the world's leading political strategists and a key adviser to Tony Blair during the period, brilliantly describes how New Labour came to dominate, falter and fall, assessing how successful it was in government, and where it should go from here. Drawing on his years of experience at the heart of New Labour he gives us his unique perspective on how best to understand the electorate, how to communicate policy and how to adapt in a rapidly changing world.


In this volume, Elayne, Aviendha, and Mat come ever closer to the bowl ter'angreal that may reverse the world's endless heat wave and restore natural weather. Egwene begins to gather all manner of women who can channel - Sea Folk, Windfinders, Wise Ones, and some surprising others. And above all, Rand faces the dread Forsaken Sammael, in the shadows of Shadar Logoth, where the blood-hungry mist, Mashadar, waits for prey.


This paper addresses the problem of channel tracking and equalization for multi-input multi-output (MIMO) time-varying frequency-selective channels. These channels model the effects of inter-symbol interference (ISI), co-channel interference (CCI), and noise. A low-order autoregressive model approximates the MIMO channel variation and facilitates tracking via a Kalman filter. Hard decisions to aid Kalman tracking come from a MIMO finite-length minimum-mean-squared-error decision-feedback equalizer (MMSE-DFE), which performs the equalization task. Since the optimum DFE for a wide range of channels produces decisions with a delay /spl Delta/ > 0, the Kalman filter tracks the channel with a delay. A channel prediction module bridges the time gap between the channel estimates produced by the Kalman filter and those needed for the DFE adaptation. The proposed algorithm offers good tracking behavior for multiuser fading ISI channels at the expense of higher complexity than conventional adaptive algorithms. Applications include synchronous multiuser detection of independent transmitters, as well as coordinated transmission through many transmitter/receiver antennas, for increased data rate.


Twenty-two graptolite species are described from the Tremadoc portion of the Road River Group. In a 220 m thick, graptolite-rich section on Peel River, six graptolite biozones are recognized which in ascending order are: Staurograptus dichotomus, Anisograptus matanensis, Adelograptus cf. A. tenellus, Adelograptus antiquus, Kiaerograptus pritchardi and Paradelograptus kinnegraptoides. The Psigraptus fauna appears to be confined to a single bedding-plane within a thick interval dominated by Adelograptus cf. A. tenellus, and for this reason we propose a new zone characterized by the latter species rather than identify a Psigraptus Biozone as in China. The Adelograptus cf. A. tenellus Biozone has yielded Adelograptus? bulmani Spjeldnaes 1963, which we propose as the type species for the new genus Ancoragraptus. Graptolites recorded from the Tremadoc of the Yukon for the first time are: Ancoragraptus bulmani, Clonograptus magnificus, C. cf. C. multiplex, C. cf. C. rigidus, Hunnegraptus copiosus, Kiaerograptus? bulmani and K? kutchini sp. nov.


The University of Colorado Boulder (CU–Boulder) is known for strong programming in the sciences and a teaching faculty at the forefront of science education and reform. Librarians at CU–Boulder, in collaboration with science faculty, are challenged to improve undergraduate science education. Using rare, historic, and artistic works from Special Collections, the librarians employ active learning techniques that emphasize visual imagery to improve the quality of undergraduate learning in the sciences. This paper describes the fledgling program developed by CU–Boulder librarians to create a space for student-driven, collaborative learning using historic and visual scientific materials found in Special Collections.


Despite a surge in initiatives to integrate foreign-trained physicians into local health systems and a drive to learn from localised humanitarian initiatives under the COVID-19 pandemic, we still know little about the on-the-ground strategies developed by refugee doctors to meet the needs of refugee patients. In Lebanon, displaced Syrian health professionals have mounted informal, local responses to care for displaced Syrian patients. Drawing on ethnographic work shadowing these healthcare providers across their medical and non-medical activities, we explore how clinical encounters characterised by shared histories of displacement can inform humanitarian medicine. Our findings shed light on the creation of breathing spaces in crises. In particular, our study reveals how displaced healthcare workers cope with uncertainty, documents how displaced healthcare workers expand the category of 'appropriate care' to take into account the economic and safety challenges faced by patients, and locates the category of 'informality' within a complex landscape of myriad actors in Lebanon. This research article shows that refugee-to-refugee healthcare is not restricted to improvised clinical encounters between 'frontliners' and 'victims of war'. Rather, it is proactively enacted from the ground up to foster appropriate care relationships in the midst of violent, repeated, and protracted disruptions to systems of care.


Water supply companies in the UK have a duty under prime UK legislation to notify the Drinking Water Inspectorate of events affecting or potentially affecting the quality of drinking-water supplies. Under the same legislation, the Inspectorate has a duty to investigate each event. After assessing all of the information available, including companies' reports, the Inspectorate advises on the way in which the event was handled and whether any statutory requirements were contravened. If appropriate, a prosecution of the water company may be initiated. Copies of the assessment are sent to the water company, relevant local and health authorities, Ofwat (the economic regulator), the regional Consumer Council for Water and any other interested parties, including consumers who request it. Generic guidance may be issued to the industry on matters of wider concern. This paper considers the role of the Inspectorate, the powers available to it and reporting arrangements. An overview is presented of events that occurred between 1990 and 2005 and common features are identified. Causes of different types of event are discussed. The importance of well-established contacts between the various interested parties involved in protecting public health is emphasised through discussion of example incidents.


Dept. of Psychology and Center for Christian Women in Leadership Eastern University, St. Davids, PA (1) Evolutionary psychologists argue that genes determine not just human physical, but human behavioral tendencies to a much greater degree than many people want to believe. In particular, they argue that certain behavioral tendencies distinguishing men from women are reflective of different male and female reproductive strategies which evolved during the early history of the human race. In this article, evolutionary psychology's claims to be a rigorous science are questioned, with particular reference to its conclusions about gender relations. In addition, evolutionary psychology as a metaphysical world view is contrasted with the biblical creation account, which calls for gender co-operation, not competition, and which does not see pair-bonding as a reductionistic strategy for getting individuals' genes copied in the next generation. ********** In the late 19th century, philosopher and psychologist William James was credited with inventing a two-line piece of doggerel that went as follows: "Hoggamus, higgamus, man is polygamous; higgamus, hogamus, woman monogamous." James, it can safely be surmised, knew nothing about genetics, let alone about evolutionary psychology, though he had an ambivalent attraction to Darwin's theory of natural selection (Donnelly, 1992). Indeed, the published results of Gregor Mendel's mid-l9th century experiments with pea plants had gone unread even by Charles Darwin, who went to his death without having invoked any specific biological mechanism to support his theory of natural selection. They continued to be ignored by scientists until 1900, sixteen years after Mendel's death and eight years after James relinquished the directorship of the Harvard Psychology Laboratory to return to philosophical scholarship (Henig, 2000). Nevertheless, James' doggerel anticipated the substance, if not the reasoning, behind a central tenet of what was later to be called the 'science' of evolutionary psychology, one of the most strongly defended and criticized intellectual currents circulating today. The purpose of this article is to examine its claims about gender relations in the context of a Christian worldview, but also against the criteria for scientific credibility that its adherents claim to honor. In brief, evolutionary psychology defends the view that not only do genes largely determine human physical characteristics but behavioral tendencies as well, and that this occurs because certain behaviors--including those that differ by sex--are adaptive for survival and reproduction. Darwinian mechanisms of natural selection are presumed to have favored genes for behaviors and mental habits that solved survival problems faced by early humans, thus contributing to further survival and the passing on of those gene-based habits. Many ways of solving those survival problems--such as finding food and shelter--are presumed to have been common to all our human ancestors, regardless of sex. But to meet the challenge of getting their genes into the next generation, evolutionary psychologists postulate that men and women evolved quite different strategies which are enshrined in their respective genes to this day (Buss, 1995; Cosmides, Tooby, & Barkow, 1992; Wright, 1994, 1999). WHAT EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY IS NOT Before examining this hypothesis and the evidence invoked to support it, some brief remarks need to be made about what evolutionary psychology is not. It is not, first of all, to be confused with behavior genetics, an interdisciplinary field of study that attempts to weigh the relative power of genetic and environmental influences on behavior by studying the behaviors and traits of actual people of varying degrees of biological relatedness. Two kinds of events--the formation of twins and the formation of adoptive families--aid in assessing the relative effect of nature and nurture on a number of conditions. …


In 2018 we celebrated 25 years of development of radar altimetry, and the progress achieved by this methodology in the fields of global and coastal oceanography, hydrology, geodesy and cryospheric sciences. Many symbolic major events have celebrated these developments, e.g., in Venice, Italy, the 15th (2006) and 20th (2012) years of progress and more recently, in 2018, in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry. On this latter occasion it was decided to collect contributions of scientists, engineers and managers involved in the worldwide altimetry community to depict the state of altimetry and propose recommendations for the altimetry of the future. This paper summarizes contributions and recommendations that were collected and provides guidance for future mission design, research activities, and sustainable operational radar altimetry data exploitation. Recommendations provided are fundamental for optimizing further scientific and operational advances of oceanographic observations by altimetry, including requirements for spatial and temporal resolution of altimetric measurements, their accuracy and continuity. There are also new challenges and new openings mentioned in the paper that are particularly crucial for observations at higher latitudes, for coastal oceanography, for cryospheric studies and for hydrology. The paper starts with a general introduction followed by a section on Earth System Science including Ocean Dynamics, Sea Level, the Coastal Ocean, Hydrology, the Cryosphere and Polar Oceans and the ''Green" Ocean, extending the frontier from biogeochemistry to marine ecology. Applications are described in a subsequent section, which covers Operational Oceanography, Weather, Hurricane Wave and Wind Forecasting, Climate projection. Instruments' development and satellite missions' evolutions are described in a fourth section. A fifth section covers the key observations that altimeters provide and their potential complements, from other Earth observation measurements to in situ data. Section 6 identifies the data and methods and provides some accuracy and resolution requirements for the wet tropospheric correction, the orbit and other geodetic requirements, the Mean Sea Surface, Geoid and Mean Dynamic Topography, Calibration and Validation, data accuracy, data access and handling (including the DUACS system). Section 7 brings a transversal view on scales, integration, artificial intelligence, and capacity building (education and training). Section 8 reviews the programmatic issues followed by a conclusion. 2021 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/4.0/).


Unemployment insurance experience rating imposes higher payroll tax rates on firms that have laid off more workers in the past. To analyze the effects of UI tax policy on labor market dynamics, this paper develops a search model of unemployment with heterogeneous firms and realistic UI financing. The model predicts that higher experience rating reduces both job creation and job destruction. Using firm-level data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, the model is tested by comparing job creation and job destruction across states and industries with different UI tax schedules. The empirical analysis shows a strong negative relationship between job flows and experience rating. Consistent with the empirical results, comparative steady state tax experiments show that a 5% increase in experience rating reduces job flows by an average of 1.4%. While the unemployment rate falls on average by .21 percentage points, the effect on tax revenues is ambiguous. The model has implications for UI financing reform currently being considered at the state and national level. Two alternative reforms that close half of the UI financing gap are considered: the reform that increases experience rating is shown to improve labor market outcomes. In a version of the model with aggregate shocks, higher experience rating dampens the response of layoffs and unemployment over the business cycle. Experience rating also induces nonlinear responses of unemployment to proportionally larger shocks as well as asymmetry in response to booms and busts.


Bcl-2, a proto-oncogene that can block apoptosis, was found to be expressed throughout the thymic medulla, but in only scattered cells in the thymic cortex. In order to determine the precise distribution of Bcl-2 protein during thymocyte development, we utilized mAb specific for either mouse or human Bcl-2. Thymocyte subpopulations were assessed using three-color flow cytometry and a saponin-permeabilization method. Staining of adult mouse and human thymocytes was comparable, with 20 to 35% of cells expressing Bcl-2. Bcl-2 was expressed in nearly all CD4+ and CD8+, and CD3hi cells, but in only 5 to 10% of CD4+8+ cells. The CD4-8- population was more variable, with 25 to 40% of human cells and 65 to 80% of murine cells expressing Bcl-2. In sorted adult murine CD4-8- cells, the very immature Pgp-1+/IL-2R alpha- subset had a high percentage of Bcl-2+ cells. Bcl-2 expression was also examined during murine fetal development. At fetal day 15.5 to 16.5, 60 to 70% of total thymocytes expressed Bcl-2. By fetal day 17.5, overall Bcl-2 expression fell to adult levels of 20 to 30%. Bcl-2 was present in peripheral T cells from lymph node, spleen, and peripheral blood at uniformly high levels. In vitro stimulation with anti-CD3 or anti-TCR antibodies increased Bcl-2 expression in total thymocyte cultures, but could not induce Bcl-2 expression in CD4+8+ cells, even with the addition of a variety of cytokines. These data suggest that early double negative thymocytes express Bcl-2 but lose Bcl-2 with differentiation to the double positive stage. Thymocytes regain Bcl-2 during selection to a single positive state and retain Bcl-2 in the periphery.


The changing nature of work these days has brought about issues of psychological well-being of employees affected by organizational change. The present study investigated the moderating effect of work values on the relationship between perceived job insecurity and psychological distress among 202 junior employees of selected public and private organizations in Ghana. Results showed that there is a positive relationship between perceived job insecurity and psychological distress whereas work values moderate this relationship. This implied that employees who value extrinsic aspects of work were highly distressed when job insecurity is also perceived to be high. Results were discussed with reference to the frameworks of psychological contract and latent deprivation theories as well as reviewed literature. The practical implication of the finding is that in times of organizational change, managers or change agents should manage negative feelings associated with the uncertainty of future continuance of one's job and invest in human resource management practices that increase extrinsic values which could ultimately lead to employee psychological well-being.


The impact of land use activities on loss of vegetation cover and water quality was assessed in three selected sites within the Lake Victoria Basin using remote sensing technologies and standard water quality analysis techniques. The three study sites were: (i) Nzoia River Basin (Kenya), (ii) Nakivubo Wetland (Uganda) and (iii) Simiyu drainage basin (Tanzania). Lake Victoria is the second largest fresh water lake in the world and is served by a drainage basin area of over 193,000 km 2 , traversing five East African Community States; Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. This paper examines the impact of land use activities on vegetation cover and water quality based on remote sensing and Geographical Information Systems analysis combined with chemical and physical water analysis. The quality of the effluent generated by the industries found within the study sites and their effects on downstream discharge was also determined. Pesticide residues in soil and water samples were determined using analytical standard methods. Soils from some selected fields in Nzoia River basin showed high levels of compounds such as aldrin, dieldrin, endosulfan, DDT, and endrin which are together referred to as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The physical and chemical analysis of water quality revealed high levels of phosphates and nitrates along the agricultural zones of River Nzoia Basin. The satellite images revealed that in all the three study sites land vegetation cover has continuously reduced in size. The extent of environmental degradation caused by agricultural, domestic and industrial wastes and how this affects loss of vegeta- tion cover and water quality is discussed.


Digital devices like tablets, smart phones, and laptop have become increasingly raised and utilised in higher education. As a result, current trends on ICT (information and communication technology) used in education begin widely with focusing on teaching and learning. The new concept of big data in recent ICT domain extends the promising research direction on online learning and big data integration through promising content that can be tailored for each student based on the context and Internet behaviour of users in online learning. This paper aims to explore innovative design for innovative online learning in Higher education using Big Data approach. Critical review from referred journals and books was conducted using thematic analysis. This paper proposes model reference which can be implemented with the technology in teaching and learning to improve student learning environment and outcomes and to enhance students' development, performance and achievement in learning process in higher education.


We examined whether conscious and unconscious processes are differentially sensitive to different kinds of information. Using an evaluative conditioning procedure, participants were repeatedly presented with photographs of women with happy or angry expressions paired with the words "happy" or "angry." Half of participants (the unconscious condition) observed the pairings only subliminally. The other half (the conscious condition) observed the pairings supraliminally. Subsequently, all participants rated the women in the photographs with expressionless faces. Results showed that when pairings were presented subliminally (unconscious), participants rated the women more in accordance with the emotional valence of their previous facial expressions. On the other hand, when pairings were presented supraliminally (conscious), participants rated the women more in accordance with the emotional valence of the paired words. This indicates that while conscious processes are more sensitive to language information, unc...


This study contributes to an understanding of how consumer misinformation, leading to negative perceptions, can encourage the anti-consumption of some green products. Multiple methods were used to gather data, with the intention of bringing multiple points of view to the emerging misinformation surrounding the consumption of E10 fuel.
The market acceptance and uptake of Zimbabwe's E10 has remained pessimistic, yet elsewhere in the world, the same blend has been packaged as a 'premium, super brand'.
The study utilizes methodological triangulation to generate richer data, and deeper insights about the socially constructed meanings surrounding the commercialisation and consumption of blended fuel. The study uncovers a host of misinformation patterns and misconceptions ranging from technical issues concerning the fuel's composition, engine compatibility, mixed pricing views as well as policy-related issues. Revealing how blended fuels have succeeded elsewhere, the study shows how blended fuel misinformation can be handled through mandatory blending and market education on E10 economic benefits. The study's findings contribute to an understanding of how consumer misinformation spread through the market and in turn, how such misconceptions can negatively affect a product's image, sales and market share. Thus in managing these misconceptions, the study underpins the need for adequate consumer education and improving market access of E10 as the project has the potential for creating jobs, improving fuel supply in Africa, while upholding a green environment.


There are several watermarking applications that require the deployment of a very large number of watermark embedders. These applications often have severe budgetary constraints that limit the computation resources that are available. Under these circumstances, only simple embedding algorithms can be deployed, which have limited performance. In order to improve performance, we propose preprocessing the original media. It is envisaged that this preprocessing occurs during content creation and has no budgetary or computational constraints. Preprocessing combined with simple embedding creates a watermarked Work, the performance of which exceeds that of simple embedding alone. However, this performance improvement is obtained without any increase in the computational complexity of the embedder. Rather, the additional computational burden is shifted to the preprocessing stage. A simple example of this procedure is described and experimental results confirm our assertions.


Author(s): Herman, Jody L; Mallory, Christy; Wilson, Bianca DM | Abstract: Nearly 300,000 transgender youth and adults may be negatively impacted by legislation introduced in 15 states. This report estimates the number of transgender people ages 13 and older in each of those states, including Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. These bills would limit access to single-sex restrooms and locker rooms at schools and in public places; limit protections based on gender identity; permit individuals and businesses to discriminate against transgender people based on religious and moral beliefs; and limit the ability to change certain vital records documents, such as birth certificates, or enforce the use of birth certificates to establish an individual's sex for certain purposes. The report includes a brief description of each bill, which age groups it would affect, and how many transgender people we estimate live in each state.


The aim of this research project was to gain an in-depth understanding of the psychological vulnerability to suicide in a post conflict Northern Uganda. This was done by examining the psychosocial characteristics that surrounded the individual's suicide process as narrated by the informants (parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, spouses, in-laws and friends), and by analyzing whether suicide have different meanings for the young adults and the old, and for women and men. Twenty deceased (17 men and three women) were recruited into the project over a period of one year. Data were collected using qualitative psychological autopsy in-depth interviews with the close relatives to the deceased. This data was then broken down into four papers that constitute this thesis. The analysis was guided by the Interpretative Phenomenological model of Analysis (IPA).The first paper was basically methodological and aimed at exploring the perception of the informants towards the psychological autopsy interviews, that is, how they felt about being interviewed about their relatives who had died by suicide and the effect it had on them. On the whole, this set the stage for understanding the deceased's painful experiences prior to the suicide. The findings indicated that a significant number of the informants were quite positive about the interviews and a smaller number were rather negative. The informants perceived the interviews as positive in a sense that they provided them with the opportunity to help others in a similar situation and as individuals some informants felt they had been accorded an opportunity for personal development through sharing. Those informants who perceived the interviews negatively attributed this to feelings of guilt, self-reproach and anger that were aroused and painful memories reactivated. Nevertheless, these findings showed that suicide was a reality and a source of concern in this region.Faced with this reality it was important to know the psychosocial characteristics that surrounded these suicides in terms of gender and age. The second paper addressed this issue by focusing specifically on men, both the young and the old. Lost dignity and social value, no hope for the family's future, and overwhelming family responsibility were the major factors that characterized the circumstances found to have preceded the men's suicides. Mental illness was mentioned in only one of the cases. The protracted war in the region left men in rural communities feeling disempowered and disenfranchised, something that possibly aroused a sense of loss of control/defeat, rejection or isolation and humiliation leading to unbearable psychological pain or distress. To get away from such pain, self-inflicted death was envisioned as the only available viable option by some men. The third paper had a similar objective as the previous one but the focus was now on women. Although the deceased had been through various traumatic experiences attributable to the protracted war/conflict in the region, the decision of suicide seemed to have been due to a combination of unpleasant experiences/events that prevailed within the last three months prior to the act. Having no control in life and feeling not cared for by significant others were the overriding themes behind the women's decision to end their lives.During the process of reading and reading through the informants' narratives, alcohol featured prominently in a significant number of the deceased's lived experiences. Thus the fourth paper explored the role of alcohol in the suicidal process of the deceased. Alcohol was found to have had a direct and/or an indirect influence in the suicide process of 16 out of the 20 decedents studied. Directly alcohol acted as a facilitator of the suicidal process, was a means to suicide, or had an influence on the decedents' life styles. Indirectly because of the aggressive and other negative behaviors associated with excessive drinking habits of the significant other, alcohol influenced the suicidal process of a few of the deceased specifically the women and an elderly man.Overall this study revealed that a significant number of the deceased, if not all, had been determined to end their lives. Underlying this determination was probably the strong painful negative emotions that were aroused predominately in response to the "lost masculinity", suffered by the men. In this study this loss did not only impact on almost all male deceased but to a greater extent played part in the women's suicidal acts as well. The resultant effect of this loss was unbearable and inescapable psychological pain, which the deceased felt could only be relieved or overcome by suicide


The Lanec (short for Law and Economics) movement of the 1970s hit the legal landscape like a nuclear device and permanently irradiated it. A couple of decades later, as we sift through the fallout, we are entitled to ask whether anything fundamental has changed. Every contributor to this Symposium seems to answer yes. Maybe they're like the book reviewer who believes deep in her heart that the book is worthless, but if she reveals it the editor will conclude that there is no point in printing her review. Let me put my own biases on the table. In general I applaud the greater precision that has come to legal studies through economics. But has Lanec changed the nature of the law? I'm not sure that it has lived up to the hopes or hypes of its original enthusiasts.


Minnesota has a large network of aggregate roads. The majority of the system is maintained by counties and townships. Some of the aggregate roads need to be upgraded with a sealed surface for dust control or to provide a smoother driving experience, as well as for local economic development. Local road officials are often faced with the responsibility of upgrading the roads with a limited budget. Light surface treatments (LSTs) are considered an economical alternative to the conventional upgrade approaches using hot-mix-asphalt (HMA) or concrete pavements. The currently used methods in Minnesota for the structural design of LSTs for aggregate roads were originally developed for structural design of flexible pavements. This research evaluated the design methods that can be used to design LSTs for aggregate roads. The methods evaluated include the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) granular equivalent (GE) method and the MnDOT mechanistic-empirical method (MnPave design software), which are used in Minnesota, and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) flexible pavement design method and South Dakota aggregate road design method, which are practiced in other places in the United States. The results include a discussion of the applicable situations for each method. The research team also conducted a survey that was distributed to the county engineers in Minnesota to document their experiences with LSTs. Recommendations for improving the current design methods when applied to LSTs on aggregate roads are suggested based on the survey results.


Under what conditions can parties use social-service provision to generate political support? And what is the causal mechanism connecting social-service provision to citizen mobilization? I argue that service provision conveys to voters a politically valuable image of the provider organization's competence and probity, which is particularly valuable when information about parties and platforms is contradictory or poor. Support comes from an in-depth investigation into the medical networks of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. I combine qualitative evidence, including fieldwork and interviews with Brotherhood social-service providers, with an original 2,483-person survey experiment of Egyptians. Respondents exposed to factual information about the Brotherhood's medical provision are significantly more likely to consider voting for the Brotherhood in elections. A causal mediation analysis, as well as qualitative evidence drawn from the survey instrument itself, supports the hypothesized mechanism by which respondents map the Brotherhood's compassion and professionalism in the provision of medical services onto their views of Brotherhood candidates for elected office. Beyond adding to a growing comparative-politics literature on the politics of non-state social service provision, I identify why Egypt's current rulers have expended such effort to uproot the Muslim Brotherhood's nationwide network of social services.


Arsenic toxicity in the groundwater of Bangladesh poses a serious threat to public health. More than 35 million people are consuming arsenic-polluted groundwater there. So far, a lot of effort has been made to find safe drinking water but no suitable solution has yet been established, while continued cropping with arsenic contaminated irrigation water increases the extent of contamination in agricultural land. The objective of this paper is to review information on the arsenic concentration in the agricultural soil of Bangladesh irrigated with arsenic-contaminated water. In addition, this study overviews the literature, which focus on the biological remediation of arsenic from soil. Arsenic as high as 10 kg/ha per year is cycled through irrigated water and deposited on surface soil of Bangladesh, which results in its cumulative accumulation. It was observed to be as high as 83 mgAs/kg arsenic in the topsoil of irrigated agricultural land whereas in non-irrigated land arsenic was reported as 3-9 mgAs/kg. Considering the increasing trend of arsenic concentration in soil, it is necessary to establish some procedure for arsenic cleanup from soil. Biological cleanup could be a feasible solution for a developing country like Bangladesh. The feasibility of biological removal of arsenic from soil has been established in one study.


Patient: Male, 56 Final Diagnosis: Amyloid arthropathy and myopathy Symptoms: Polyarthralgia Medication: — Clinical Procedure: — Specialty: Radiology Objective: Rare disease Background: Amyloid arthropathy and myopathy are complications of amyloidosis that can be associated with non-specific imaging findings, which may be challenging to interpret. The report is of a case of polyarticular amyloid arthropathy and myopathy in a 56-year-old man with multiple myeloma and includes a description of the radiographic, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. Case Report: A 56-year-old man with multiple myeloma presented with chronic polyarticular pain and swelling. Soft tissue thickening of the wrist and knee were found on MRI to be of intermediate T1 weighted imaging (T1WI) and low to intermediate T2 weighted imaging (T2WI) signal intensity. Denervation muscle edema seen in the thenar muscles on the MRI of the right wrist were associated with carpal tunnel syndrome secondary to amyloid deposition. Soft tissue lesions in the periarticular regions of both hip joints were contiguous with subchondral bone lesions. Diffusely scattered myeloma lesions were shown as hyperintense on short tau inversion recovery (STIR) MRI imaging throughout the appendicular and axial skeleton, with vertebral compression fractures. Bilateral iliopsoas involvement with hypertrophy and abnormal surrounding fat reticulated signal intensity was consistent with amyloid myopathy. The patient had a pathological fracture of the right femoral neck and underwent surgical fixation. Histology of the right femoral head confirmed amyloid deposits. Conclusions: Because the clinical presentation and imaging findings of musculoskeletal amyloidosis can be nonspecific, they can result in delay in diagnosis and treatment. Early radiologic identification of polyarticular amyloid arthropathy and myopathy should prompt confirmatory biopsy to confirm the diagnosis.


Extracted from text ... LOCAL GOVERNMENT BULLETIN 10
Career patterns of local
politicians
"WHO WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT WHEN YOU CAN BE MAYOR?"
THE CASE OF
METROPOLITAN MAYORS
Instead of looking at constitutional or managerial aspects of
local and provincial governments, this article looks at the
impact of the emergence of local government on the career
patterns of politicians. How have political parties reacted to
this new sphere of government in terms of their politicians'
career management? What does this say about the role,
function and importance of the three levels of government in
South Africa? An overview of the history of metropolitan
mayors ..


Residential aged care homes have, or are in the process of implementing, electronic health record (EHR) systems to improve quality of care and reduce cost. For the system to deliver benefits, it must support nursing tasks and be seamlessly integrated into the nursing workflow. To identify whether and how an EHR system can do this most effectively, direct observation was conducted in a residential aged care home on nurses' use of EHR for wound care. The work processes of wound care and its documentation were investigated. Problems in the use of EHR were identified: 1) functional deficiencies of the EHR system which included a lack of functions to remind nurses of the existence of a wound chart, unavailability of an existent function when needed and a lack of sufficient detail in the information provided; 2) a lack of mobile devices to allow nurses to access the EHR system at the point-of-care, resulting in nurses using paper for point-of-care documentation. The findings suggest that continuous improvement in both the EHR system and its management is required to achieve integration of people, task, process and technology for the optimal benefits of EHR.


One of the most important functions of a professional society is honoring those who have made important contributions to the profession and to science. This function is implicit in SEG's constitutional objective "to promote the science of geophysics, especially as it relates to exploration and research, to foster the common scientific interests of geophysicists, and to maintain a high professional standard among its members."


The aim of the study was to determine and classify the hand index of 200 individuals selected randomly within age group 18 – 65 years from Udaipur district, Rajasthan, India. The measured parameters are hand length and hand breadth. This study also attempt to compare the hand index obtained from direct as well as indirect (from hand print & hand outline) methods. Data were analyzed using SPSS Statistical software. Results shows that there were statistically significant differences in the hand parameters of male compared to female subjects for all observed parameters. It is interesting that hand index obtained from different methods doesn't indicate variation however there exist statistically significant variation in terms of hand length and hand breadth. Also there is statistically significant difference between the hand dimensions obtained from different methods. Hand classification denoted that population of Rajasthan state belongs to dolichocheir (dch) group of hand for all the direct and indirect methods. The comparison of hand index with populations of 17 different states of India indicates that Indian population belongs to any category of hand index except hyperbrachycheir. Also an attempt has been made to observe the correlative effect of climate divisions of India with the hand categories. Comparison with 25 other foreign countries shows the existence of hyperbrachycheir that is broader large palm but short fingers. This shows that morphological characteristics of hand depend on many factors such as gender, ethnicity, socio-cultural domain, environment & genetic factors and it differs from region to region. Thus, it can be said that Identification of hand parameters is very helpful in concealing identity of mutilated remains in any disastrous act, also in examination of chance evidences in crime scene for criminal proceedings and this comparative data of hand index can also help to determine the resident place of an unknown individual.


Gravity's Rainbow gives some prominence to the year of Pynchon's birth, 1937. Pokler reminisces about the building of "Pennemunde in 1937" (Viking, 404), and a 11137 Ford" is mentioned three times (644-45). We may recall that V. was published in 1963, The Crying of Lot 49 in 1900, and Gravity's Rainbow in-1973; the separation between first and second novels is three years, between second and third novels seven years. Pynchon is equally adept with his birth year's obverse, the number 73. It marks the publication year as well as the number of "chapters" (or fi1m clips) in Gravity's Rainbow. Pynchon's birthday, May 8, also comes in for coincidental play. For example, V-E Day, marking the surrender of Germany, was May 8, 1945, Pynchon's eighth birthday. In addition, Pynchon's birthday is the birthday "of that President Truman" (382), whom Slothrop hopes to catch a glimpse of at Potsdam.


The author seeks to establish a historical context for his own performance practice, which combines radical left politics with magic tricks and ventriloquism. A survey of the iconography of magic performance from the time of Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin onwards reveals an ideological underpinning which reflects hierarchies of class, gender and race in society.
However, the magician's role is complex, as he (or less commonly she) practises an art which is part of 'low' culture, despite its association with the rich and powerful. Moreover, the modern magician is associated with rationalism and scepticism, which sometimes puts the conjurer on the side of a progressive view of society. The author examines his own attempts to overcome this disjunction in his practice and explains why, for him, the combination of agitprop and magic performance can only be effective through the use of humour.


This study aims to examine the effect of the utilization of information technology, training and obedience to regulation on the implementation of SAKIP and examine the effect of SAKIP implementation on managerial performance as well as the influence of the role of self efficacy and intellect in the relationship between impelementation of SAKIP and managerial performance. Tests were conducted on 93 respondents representing 67 percent of the population. The group of respondents are structural officials of echelon  II, III and IV in the scope of West Nusa Tenggara Provincial Government who have role in the planning, implementation and management of Regional Income Budget and Expenditure (APBD) through the implementation of SAKIP. The hypothesis testing used Structural Equation Modelling-Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS). The result of this research shows that the utilization of information technology and training have significant effect on the implementation of SAKIP but not influenced by obedience to the regulation, the implementation of SAKIP has an effect on managerial performance but self efficacy and intellect can not strengthen the relationship between SAKIP implementation and managerial performance. Based on the findings of this research, the operation of e-SAKIP and training conducted in a structured and sustainable manner plays an important role in improving the quality of SAKIP implementation so as to provide relevant and objective information to managers in order to improve the performance of government organizations.


White adipose tissue (WAT) lipolysis releases free fatty acids as a key energy substance to support metabolism in fasting, cold exposure, and exercise. Atgl, in concert with Cgi‐58, catalyzes the first lipolytic reaction. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) stimulates lipolysis via neurotransmitter norepinephrine that activates adipocyte β adrenergic receptors (Adrb1‐3). In obesity, adipose Adrb signaling and lipolysis are impaired, contributing to pathogenic WAT expansion; however, the underling mechanism remains poorly understood. Recent studies highlight importance of N6‐methyladenosine (m6A)‐based RNA modification in health and disease. METTL14 heterodimerizes with METTL3 to form an RNA methyltransferase complex that installs m6A in transcripts. Here, this work shows that adipose Mettl3 and Mettl14 are influenced by fasting, refeeding, and insulin, and are upregulated in high fat diet (HFD) induced obesity. Adipose Adrb2, Adrb3, Atgl, and Cgi‐58 transcript m6A contents are elevated in obesity. Mettl14 ablation decreases these transcripts' m6A contents and increases their translations and protein levels in adipocytes, thereby increasing Adrb signaling and lipolysis. Mice with adipocyte‐specific deletion of Mettl14 are resistant to HFD‐induced obesity, insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). These results unravel a METTL14/m6A/translation pathway governing Adrb signaling and lipolysis. METTL14/m6A‐based epitranscriptomic reprogramming impairs adipose Adrb signaling and lipolysis, promoting obesity, NAFLD, and metabolic disease.


To provide empirical evidence to what extent migration of business logic to an incremental computing language (ICL) is useful, we report on a case study on a learning management system. Our contribution is to analyze a real-life project, how migrating business logic to an ICL affects information system validatability, performance, and development effort. We find that the migrated code has better validatability; it is straightforward to establish that a program 'does the right thing'. Moreover, the performance is better than the previous hand-written incremental computing solution. The effort spent on modeling business logic is reduced, but integrating that logic in the application and tuning performance takes considerable effort. Thus, the ICL separates the concerns of business logic and performance, but does not reduce effort.


In this paper we present our work in progress in defining a suitable testing and validation methodology to be used within computer vision (CV) projects. Typical quality assurance (QA) measures, targeting the applicability in real-world scenarios, are meant here to complement the research on specific computer vision methods. While inspecting the existing literature in the domain of CV performance evaluation, we first identified the main challenges the CV researchers have to deal with. Second, as every vision algorithm eventually takes the form of a software program, we followed the classic software development process and performed an in depth code coverage analysis in order to assure the quality of our test suites and pinpoint code areas that need to be reviewed. This further leaves us with the questions of which test coverage tool to prefer in our situation and whether we can introduce some specific evaluation criteria for identifying the right tool to be used within a CV project. In this article we also contribute to answering these questions.


This study extended the attribution-emotion model of responsibility judgments to the
stigmas of alcohol and drug dependence. This was achieved by manipulating the valence of
behavioral cause of the stigmas and the gender of the stigmatized individual. Participants read a
series of vignettes depicting an individual with a health, alcohol or drug problem. They then
reported the levels of pity and anger they felt towards the person, as well as the likelihood they
would help the individual with a small problem or give the individual a donation. The results
indicate that individuals' responses to the measured variables differ significantly within this
model, based on stigma, valence and gender. Participants also view alcoholism and heroin
dependence as different from other health conditions based on valence of behavioral cause. For
some stigmas, personality variables and understanding of drug and alcoholism measures
predicted prosocial behavior.


Harry Potter's magic touch is notably absent from the bullets used to achieve professional behaviour change.1 Healthcare professionals want to provide high quality care but may be unwilling or unable to change their behaviour. Maybe they are sceptical about the need for change, or practice routines make change difficult. Perhaps the nice man from the drug company said something else and he came with free pens to back up his argument. Complex interventions try to grasp these nettles by having several components, which work together to reinforce the change. Despite this, most complex interventions achieve between only 10% and 20% change, and many programmes result in no change at all.2 Although systematic reviews can tell us what works, they say little about why. Why do some implementations of an intervention (audit, say) lead to change while others do not? How do intervention components work together? With unlimited resources we could probably do enough trials to provide entirely empirical answers to these questions. The problem is that resources are anything but unlimited. Science has a shortcut: theory. The NASA Deep Impact spacecraft, for example, was not sent in a direction selected because several other spacecraft sent in that direction had hit something and, well, it might work again. Astronomical observation and previous experiments were combined with theory to figure out where comet Tempel 1 was going and where the spacecraft had to be sent for the two to meet. It was an experiment done within a theoretical framework. Much, perhaps most, quality improvement work is not done within an explicit theoretical framework. For example, less than 10% of studies included in a recent review of guideline implementation3 gave a theoretical rationale for the intervention4. Doing this would allow researchers to better predict and interpret results, and would inform discussions of generalizability. Unlike those planning to lob washing machine-sized objects at comets, individuals designing healthcare complex interventions have a difficult task when selecting their theoretical framework. Like a good sweetshop, the problem is too much choice rather than too little. Michie and colleagues found 33 theories with 128 explanatory constructs5, enough to scare the bejesus out of anyone who does not hold a postgraduate qualification in psychology. But if we aim to change professional behaviour can we really afford to ignore theories of human behaviour on the grounds that they are hard to understand? I think not. Find a psychologist, get him or her on the team and then start to argue about the evidence base for these theories but do not ignore them. Other disciplines may also have much to contribute; I fancy that evolutionary biology can offer insights, as can optimization techniques from engineering. Using complex interventions to change professional behaviour is currently a hit and miss affair and is likely to remain so for as long as interventions are developed without an explicit theoretical framework. A valid framework may not yet exist. But if we want to increase our understanding of how and why complex interventions work we need less magic and more science. Sorry Harry.


The focus of this paper is on the community impact of education research, as conceived specifically within a changing context of research assessment in Australia, first mooted by the previous Federal Coalition (conservative) Government within a new Research Quality Framework (RQF), and now to be reworked by the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiated by the incoming Federal Labour (progressive) Government. Convinced that a penchant for the utility of research will not go away, irrespective of the political orientations of government, our interest is in exploring: the assumption that research, particularly in areas such as education, should have an impact in the community (as this was first defined within the RQF); the difficulties much education research (despite its "applied" characterisation) has in complying with this ideal; and what a community impact requirement means for the kinds of education research that will be privileged in the future. In particular, we are concerned about the potential narrowing of education research directed at or by community impact and what is lost in the process. One potential loss or weakening is in the positional autonomy of higher education to conduct independent education research.


Severe energy constraints and hence the low power communication requirements amplify the significance of the energy efficient and preferably cross-layer error control mechanisms in wireless sensor networks (WSN). In this paper, a cross-layer methodology for the analysis of error control schemes in WSNs is presented such that the effects of multi-hop routing and the broadcast nature of the wireless channel are investigated. More specifically, the cross-layer effects of routing, medium access and physical layers are considered. This analysis enables a comprehensive comparison of forward error correction (FEC) and automatic repeat request (ARQ) in WSNs. FEC schemes improve the error resiliency compared to ARQ. In a multi-hop network, this improvement can be exploited by reducing the transmit power (transmit power control) or by constructing longer hops (hop length extension), which can be achieved through channel-aware routing protocols. The results of our analysis reveal that for certain FEC codes, the hop length extension decreases both the energy consumption and the end-to-end latency subject to a target PER compared to ARQ. Thus, FEC codes can be regarded as an important candidate for delay sensitive traffic in WSNs. On the other hand, transmit power control results in significant savings in energy consumption at the cost of increased latency. Moreover, the cases where ARQ outperforms FEC codes are indicated for various end-to-end distance and target PER values


Atmospheric deposition of nitrogen has become a serious concern for nature conservation managers and policy makers. It has the potential to reduce species richness, increase the graminoid component of the sward, encourage species typical of more fertile conditions and alter the soil biogeochemistry of grasslands. Calcifugous grasslands (grasslands found on acid soils) are among the most sensitive to N deposition due to their poorly buffered soils and species typical of nutrient poor environments. Indicators have an important role to play in detecting the impact of nitrogen deposition on sites of conservation importance and assessing conservation status. This study investigates potential indicators of nitrogen deposition impacts that could be incorporated into site condition monitoring programmes such as the UK Common Standards Monitoring. Using two national surveys of calcifugous grasslands we examined the potential for using: the presence or absence of indicator species, the cover of indicator species, the species richness and richness of functional groups, and the cover of functional groups as indicators of N deposition impacts. Of all the potential indicators investigated, graminoid:forb ratio was found to be the best indicator of N deposition impacts. It showed a significant relationship to N deposition in both data sets and is quick and easy to assess in the field. Vegetation indicators must be used with caution as there is potential for vegetation management regime and nutrients from other sources to cause similar changes in species composition. Consideration must be given to these before attributing changes to nitrogen deposition.


Current conceptions of "arbitrary and capricious" review focus on whether agencies have adequately explained their decisions in statutory, factual, scientific, or otherwise technocratic terms. Courts, agencies, and scholars alike, accordingly, generally have accepted the notion that influences from political actors, including the President and Congress, cannot properly help to explain administrative action for purposes of arbitrary and capricious review. This means that agencies today tend to sweep political influences under the rug even when such influences offer the most rational explanation for the action. This Article argues that this picture should change. Specifically, this Article argues for expanding current conceptions of arbitrary and capricious review beyond a singular technocratic focus so that credit would also be awarded to certain political influences that an agency transparently discloses and relies upon in its rulemaking record. Such an expansion of arbitrary and capricious review could yield many benefits. First, it would help to bring arbitrary and capricious review into harmony with other major doctrines, such as Chevron deference, that seem to embrace the "political control" model of agency decisionmaking. Second, it could help to create a more effective separation between science and politics. Third, giving politics a place could give courts another reason to defer to agencies, thereby softening the "ossification" charge frequently levied against arbitrary and capricious review. Finally, such a change would facilitate greater political accountability and monitoring. Ultimately, whether an expanded conception of arbitrary and capricious review can be attained will rest in the hands of courts and agencies. Agencies would need to begin openly acknowledging political influences, and courts would need to become comfortable acknowledging that an agency's reliance on political influences involving policy considerations and value judgments, such as a President's desire to push a specific environmental issue to the top of the EPA's priority list, might help legitimize an agency's decision. This Article suggests that courts and agencies might be most comfortable first making this move in narrow contexts, such as decisions to deny discretionary rulemaking petitions.


Introduction The ability to read is one determiner of students' success or failure. They must form the habit of reading to perform well in all subjects. A good reader has a better opportunity for greater achievement. Ajibola, (2006) states that a reading habit is cultivated by individuals who are ready to give their all to it. The skill acquired in reading can promote the acquisition of language skills like listening, speaking, and writing. Some primary school pupils find it difficult to read and understand despite the fact that reading is indispensable. Some show a carefree attitude towards reading. This problem is not peculiar to primary schools, but pertains to all categories of readers. Lasisi (2007) asked a fundamental question on what books Nigerians read. His question included whether political office holders in the country read. It was clear from the tone of the question that he feels that reading is not part of the culture of the people that control Nigerian destiny. Some English teachers are lagging behind in their approach to teaching reading comprehension. The effect is poor performance among students. These teachers lack methods of imparting reading skills to pupils. The condition is so bad that some pupils find it difficult to read and understand a simple sentence. Amutheazi (2000) notes that there is an urgent need to investigate into the causes of poor reading comprehension among our pupils with a view to finding a lasting solution to the problem. Literature Review Reading is a lifelong activity. Those who enjoy reading derive pleasure and satisfaction from it. Adigun and Oyelude (2003) observe that skill in reading will not only assist pupils in organizing their thoughts and jotting down important facts while reading, but also equip them to comprehend entire texts. Adewole (2001) asserts that the aim of any reading programme is to lay a strong foundation that can benefit pupils throughout their lives in academic pursuits. Phillips (1997) commenting on the numbers of literate pupils in primary schools in Nigeria, notes that about 57 percent of Nigeria's population over age six is literate, that is, can read and write with understanding in at least one language. The literacy rate is higher among the male population (about 66 percent). While the literacy rate ranges between 50 and 82 percent in the southern states, the rate in most of the northern states (excluding Kaduna and Katsina) ranges from 32 to 50 percent. Adigun and Oyelude (2003) conducted research on the use of the public library in selected locations in Ibadan, with the aim of exploring reading habits and general attitude towards reading and acquisition of skills in reading. Reading is a crucial form of communication through which we get most of the information required in teaching and learning situations and in everyday life. Krashen (1993) says that we learn to read by reading, not through drill and practice, but by free volition, and in this way learners become readers. Reading is the recognition of printed or written symbols, which serve as stimuli for the recall of meanings built up through the reader's past experience. It has also been described as a process of translating alphabetical symbols into a form of language from which the native speaker has already derived the meaning. According to Lawal (1996), readers use the symbols to guide the recovery of information from their repertoires and subsequently use this information to construct interpretations of the message. Adewole (2001) describes "critical reading skill," which which students need to read, explore, and appreciate a literary text effectively. The ability to read is a crucial skill for information retrieval (Dike, 2006). There are various factors militating against the effective teaching and learning of reading comprehension in our primary schools. Oyetunde and Unoh (1986) list impediments to positive reading habits and attitude. …


Are aboriginal rights historical rights -- rights that gained their basic form in the distant past? Or are they generative rights -- rights that, although rooted in the past, have the capacity to renew themselves, as organic entities that grow and change? Section 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982 provides little guidance on the point, referring ambiguously to "existing aboriginal and treaty rights". In the Van der Peet case, decided in 1996, the Supreme Court of Canada characterized aboriginal rights primarily as historical rights, moulded by the customs and practices of aboriginal groups at the time of European contact, with only a modest ability to evolve. However, as a brief review of the Court's reasoning reveals, this approach left much to be desired. Nevertheless, in the decade since the Van der Peet case was decided, the Supreme Court has shown mounting signs of discomfort with the test laid down there. In a series of important decisions, it has quietly initiated the process of reshaping the test=s basic tenets. This process has taken place on three fronts. First, the Court has relaxed its exclusive focus on specific rights - rights distinctive to particular aboriginal groups - and allowed for the existence of generic rights - uniform rights that operate at an abstract level and reflect broader normative considerations. Second, the Court has recognized that the date of European contact is not an appropriate reference point in all contexts and looked increasingly to the period when the Crown gained sovereignty and effective control. Finally, the Court has placed ever-greater emphasis on the need for aboriginal rights to be defined by negotiations between the parties, tacitly signalling that aboriginal rights are flexible and future-oriented, rather than mere relics of the past. Here I take stock of the matter and argue that these trends presage the birth of a new constitutional paradigm, in which aboriginal rights are viewed as generative and not merely historical rights.