"Give Me a D-I-E!" Newcomers Corky and Bobbi Corcoran want more than anything to make the cheerleading squad at Shadyside High. But as soon as the Corcoran sisters are named to the team, terrible things happen to the cheerleaders. The horror starts with a mysterious accident near the Fear Street cemetery. Soon after, piercing screams echo through the empty school halls. And then the ghastly murders begin... Can Corky and Bobbi stop the killer before the entire cheerleading squad is destroyed?


The differential formalism previously developed to study the diffraction by gratings in linear optics is generalized to metallic gratings in nonlinear optics for TM polarization. It is applied to the study of the enhancement of second-harmonic generation at a silver grating, linked with the resonant excitation of surface plasmons.


The U.S. Constitution commands that copyright laws must benefit society by promoting the progress of science and the useful arts. Building on past research in public choice theory, this Article posits that Congress has deviated from this utilitarian goal, and the only means to correct the state of affairs is via pressure from the electorate. However, reform is unlikely if the citizenry lacks sufficient knowledge to recognize that copyright laws should be, but are currently not, designed to maximize public benefit. The following study uses novel survey data to establish that the U.S. electorate poorly understands the copyright regime and is thus unlikely to exert the necessary influence to effect reform. This Article then discusses the implications of these findings and proposes means to return copyright to its Constitutional moorings.


This study focuses on the current development of the events
associated with shale gas in the Czech Republic and Poland with
regard to their possible mutual cooperation. The foundation of
the research consists of the two case studies on regulatory
frameworks in these countries. Given the fact that both
countries are at different stages of the shale gas developing
process, further attention is paid to country-specific aspects,
which form the core of the current internal national debate.
The reference to the regulation and internal affairs at the
level of national states is then supplemented by the analysis
of the current discussion on shale gas regulation at the level
of the European Union.


This thesis: (a) presents the solution of several boundary value problems (BVPs) for the Laplace and the modified Helmholtz equations in the interior of an equilateral triangle; (b) presents the solution of the heat equation in the interior of an equilateral triangle; (c) computes the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the Laplace operator in the interior of an equilateral triangle for a variety of boundary conditions; (d) discusses the solution of several BVPs for the non-linear Schrodinger equation on the half line. In 1967 the Inverse Scattering Transform method was introduced; this method can be used for the solution of the initial value problem of certain integrable equations including the celebrated Korteweg-de Vries and nonlinear Schrodinger equations. The extension of this method from initial value problems to BVPs was achieved by Fokas in 1997, when a unified method for solving BVPs for both integrable nonlinear PDEs, as well as linear PDEs was introduced. This thesis applies "the Fokas method" to obtain the results mentioned earlier. For linear PDEs, the new method yields a novel integral representation of the solution in the spectral (transform) space; this representation is not yet effective because it contains certain unknown boundary values. However, the new method also yields a relation, known as "the global relation", which couples the unknown boundary values and the given boundary conditions. By manipulating the global relation and the integral representation, it is possible to eliminate the unknown boundary values and hence to obtain an effective solution involving only the given boundary conditions. This approach is used to solve several BVPs for elliptic equations in two dimensions, as well as the heat equation in the interior of an equilateral triangle. The implementation of this approach: (a) provides an alternative way for obtaining classical solutions; (b) for problems that can be solved by classical methods, it yields vii novel alternative integral representations which have both analytical and computational advantages over the classical solutions; (c) yields solutions of BVPs that apparently cannot be solved by classical methods. In addition, a novel analysis of the global relation for the Helmholtz equation provides a method for computing the eigenvalues and the eigenfunctions of the Laplace operator in the interior of an equilateral triangle for a variety of boundary conditions. Finally, for the nonlinear Schrodinger on the half line, although the global relation is in general rather complicated, it is still possible to obtain explicit results for certain boundary conditions, known as "linearizable boundary conditions". Several such explicit results are obtained and their significance regarding the asymptotic behavior of the solution is discussed.


The "helpfulness" feature of online user reviews helps consumers cope with information overloads and facilitates decision making. However, many online user reviews lack sufficient helpfulness votes for other users to evaluate their true helpfulness level. This study empirically examines the impact of the various features, that is, basic, stylistic, and semantic, of online user reviews on the number of helpfulness votes those reviews receive. Text mining techniques are employed to extract semantic characteristics from review texts. Our findings show that the semantic characteristics are more influential than other characteristics in affecting how many helpfulness votes reviews receive. Our findings also suggest that reviews with extreme opinions receive more helpfulness votes than those with mixed or neutral opinions. This paper sheds light on the understanding of online users' helpfulness voting behavior and the design of a better helpfulness voting mechanism for online user review systems.


Generalized Double Rings (N2R) are compared to Degree Three Chordal Rings (CR) in terms of average distance, diameter, k-average distance and k-diameter. For each number of nodes, structures of each class are chosen to minimize diameter and average distance, an approach which is shown to result in all other parameters being either minimized or nearly minimized. Average distance and diameter are compared for all structures with up to 1000 nodes, and k-average distances and k-diameters for all structures with up to 400-900 nodes. N2R are shown to be superior with regard to these parameters, especially for large structures.


The present work highlights some aspects related to the analyses of Arctic offshore floating structures. This thesis consists of five papers, which can be divided into two main categories. One category deals with the dynamics of slender structures with an emphasis on the prediction and suppression of vortex induced vibrations (VIV), and the other category examines the process of interaction between sloping structures and sea ice with focus on developing a numerical model to simulate this process in real time. Slender structures, such as mooring lines and marine risers, are very important for the offshore petroleum industry, which is currently approaching deeper waters. Increasingly, attention has been focused on predicting the susceptibility of these structures to VIV. In this thesis, two asymptotic techniques namely, the local analysis and the WKB methods, were used to derive closed-form solutions for the natural frequencies and mode shapes of slender line-like structures. Both the top-tensioned nearly-vertical configuration and the catenary configuration were considered. The accuracy of the solutions derived was established through comparison with other analytic solution techniques and with results of numerical finite element solutions. The effects of the bending stiffness and the effects of approximating the tension variation as a linear function were discussed. Experimental data on the multi-modal in-line and cross-flow response behaviour of a towed catenary model were analysed to examine the usefulness of the solutions for predicting the response frequencies and envelopes due to VIV. Helical strakes are often used as a mitigating measure to suppress the VIV of slender structures. This thesis presented an innovative method to fit ropes helically to a riser in the installation phase. Such a procedure will help to overcome the handling problem associated with the use of conventional sharp-edged strakes. Experimental investigations were then performed to verify the efficiency of these ropes (round-sectioned helical strakes) in suppressing VIV. Systematic experimental investigations including twenty-eight configurations of round-sectioned helical strakes were tested in an attempt to find the most suitable strake configuration. The effects of varying pitch, the surface roughness and the ratio between the cross-flow and in-line natural frequencies on the efficiency of the proposed configuration of round-sectioned helical strakes were also investigated. The process of interaction between sea ice and offshore sloping structures (e.g., conical structures and ship-shaped structures) is quite complex. Modelling this process is very demanding and often computationally expensive, which typically hinders the chances for realtime simulations. This kind of simulation can be very useful for training personnel for Arctic offshore operations and procedures, for analysing the efficiency of various ice management concepts and as a part of the onboard support systems for station keeping. The challenge of meeting the real-time criterion was overcome in the present work. This thesis developed a numerical model to simulate the process of interaction between sea ice and sloping structures in real time. In this model, only level- and broken-ice features were studied. New analytical closed-form solutions were established and used to represent the ice breaking process. PhysX was used for the first time to solve the equations of rigid body motions with six degrees of freedom for all ice floes in the calculation domain. The results of the simulator were validated against experimental data from model-scale and full-scale tests. Accurate predictions of ice actions are also vital to optimise the design of the structures in the Arctic regions. A good understanding of the role of seawater in the process of interaction between the sloping structures and level ice will help to establish reliable models to estimate the ice forces. This work formulated both the static and dynamic bending problems for a floating wedge-shaped ice beam interacting with an offshore sloping structure. For the dynamic interaction, the effects of the water foundation on the bending failure of the ice were studied by comparing the results of an elastohydrodynamic approach with a model of a Winkler foundation. The thesis also investigated the breaking lengths of the ice wedges (i.e., the frequency of the ice loads) as a function of the ice thickness, the compression in the ice and the acceleration of the interaction.


ABSTRACT Recent testing and validation have found that the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) microburst products are effective in the assessment and short-term forecasting of downburst potential and associated wind gust magnitude. Two products, the GOES sounder Microburst Windspeed Potential Index (MWPI) and a new bi-spectral GOES imager brightness temperature difference (BTD) product have demonstrated capability in downburst potential assessment. In addition, a comparison study between the GOES-R Convective Overshooting Top (OT) Detection and MWPI algorithms has been completed for cases that occurred during the 2007 to 2009 convective seasons over the southern Great Plains. Favorable results of the comparison study include a statistically significant negative correlation between the OT minimum temperature and MWPI values and associated measured downburst wind gust magnitude. The negative functional relationship between the OT parameters and wind gust speed highlights the importance of updraft strength, realized by large CAPE, in the generation of heavy precipitation and subsequent intense convective downdraft generation. This paper provides an updated assessment of the GOES MWPI and GOES BTD algorithms, presents case studies demonstrating effective operational use of the microburst products, and presents results of a cross comparison study of the GOES-R overshooting top (OT) detection algorithm over the United States Great Plains region.


The identification of mountain permafrost phenomena and their spatial distribution as well as the monitoring of environmental changes in permafrost areas is essential for an assessment of natural hazards in high mountain regions. For a large scale detection of permafrost areas remote sensing techniques are practicable. However, the thermal ground regime is not directly observable by remote sensing sensors, thus the mapping of permafrost rely on surface indicators. The present approach of an identification of mountain permafrost is based upon the spatial distribution of perennial snow patches which can be easily detected by remote sensing techniques. At the end of the late summer widespread remnants of snow cover suggest low or negative ground temperatures underneath. Hence, the frequent occurrence of perennial snow patches may imply the existence of permafrost in the immediate vicinity. In the present study the spatial distribution of perennial snow patches during different years was checked and mapped by the application of air photographs. Using a statistically approach based on parameters as topography, terrain orientation and altitudeit was analysed, to what extend the spatial density of perennial snow patches is appropriate to forecast the spatial distribution of permafrost. The quality of the simulation was tested in regard to characteristics of geomorphologic,hydrological, and physical permafrost indicators as rock glaciers, ice cored debris and moraines, surface temperatures and bottom temperatures of the snow cover (BTS) as well as temperatures and electrical conductivity of melt water. First results document that the simulation approach produces a significant approximation to determine the lower limit of discontinuous permafrost areas.ReferencesDamm, B. and Langer, M., 2006. Kartierung und Regionalisierung von Permafrostindikatoren im Rieserfernergebiet (Sudtirol/Osttirol). Mitt. der Osterr. Geogr. Ges. 148, 295-314.Haeberli, W., 1975. Untersuchungen zur Verbreitung von Permafrost zwischen Fluelapass und Piz Grialetsch (Graubunden). Diss. Univ. Basel, Zurich, 195 Seiten.Hoelzle, M., Mittaz, C., Etzelmuller, B. and Haeberli, W. (2001): Surface energyfluxes and distribution models of permafrost in European Mountain areas: Anoverview of current developments. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 12(1), 53-68


In this study 34 handball coaches were administered a questionnaire to measure their criteria of sport success (POSQ) and another to measure the importance each placed on different variables of training methodology. The purpose was to analyse the predictor role of coaches' motivational orientation on given importance to determinants of training. Regression analysis results showed that task orientation corresponded with the following factors, listed in order of importance: training with specificity; grouping athletes by ability; controlling and annotating athletes progress; allowing athletes freedom to perform and choose; and considering competition as a mean but not as an objective. The self confidence of individual players positively influenced the degree of importance that players gave to a variety of exercises and communication with parents as a tool to resolve problems. Likewise, individual egos negatively influenced the liberty to allow athletes to choose and perform specific plays. Motivational implications are analysed in the light of achievement motivation (Nicholls, 1984a,b) and self-determination theories (Deci y Ryan, 1985, 1991). KEY WORDS: Achievement motivation, self-determination, training methodology.


Customer relationship management is an integral component of business strategy for on-line service providers. This paper investigates the aspects of on-line transactions in electronic retailing that are most likely to satisfy or dissatisfy customers, thereby increasing or decreasing the likelihood of building and maintaining relationships with them. For this study, 513 respondents reported behaviors, perceptions, beliefs, events, features, characteristics, attributes, and situations that expressed their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with electronic service encounters. Content analysis of these encounters yielded three meta-categories, six categories, and 33 subcategories of customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction with on-line service providers. The findings suggested that three major categories are robust even in the electronic context of the Internet. The antecedents identified were relevant both to product-related services (e.g., books, apparel) and to pure services (e.g., on-line banking, on-line stock trading). The study found that the characteristics and behaviors of customer-contact employees play an important role in on-line service encounters. It also revealed a percentage decrease in satisfactory incidents, a percentage increase in unsatisfactory incidents, and a percentage increase in unsatisfactory incidents involving employee characteristics and behaviors as service encounters move from a bricks-and-mortar environment to an electronic context. This suggests that customer-contact employees may not be well equipped to deal with on-line customers.


This paper investigates non-governmental organisation (NGO) involvement in policy processes related to Norway's International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI) comparing four countries: Norway, Brazil, Indonesia, and Tanzania. Based on documents and interviews, NGO involvement is mapped using a conceptual framework to categorise and compare different roles and modes of engagement. NGOs have co-operated with government in policy design and implementation, albeit to varying degrees, in all four countries, but expressed relatively little public criticism. Funding seems to have an influence on NGOs' choices regarding whether, what, when, and how to criticise. However, limited public criticism does not necessarily mean that the NGOs are co-opted. They are reflexive regarding their possible operating space, and act strategically and pragmatically to pursue their goals in an entrepreneurial manner. The interests of NGOs and NICFI are to a large extent congruent. Instead of publicly criticising a global initiative that they largely support, and thus put the initiative as a whole at risk, NGOs may use other, more informal, channels to voice points of disagreement. While NGOs do indeed run the risk of being co-opted, their opportunity to resist this fate is probably greater in this instance than is usually the case because NICFI are so reliant on their services.


The healthcare sector is expanding in the world in parallel to changing medical challenges, growing populations and also increasing number of senior citizens are creating higher demand for healthcare services. The Turkish healthcare market has also been shaping by the very same drivers and is expected to continue its growth with growing population and upsurge in healthcare spending. The healthcare providers are the Ministry of Health, universities and the private sector, with the Ministry accounting for two-thirds of country's hospitals in Turkey. A large majority of health infrastructure in Turkey is old and out of date and is no longer appropriate to meet healthcare needs considering large and increasing population. Furthermore, the budgetary pressures on the government is forcing to explore alternatives to traditional public sector provision. In response to the need for large capacity investments in healthcare systems, the Turkish government launched its Health PPP Program in 2010. The aim of the program is to develop new healthcare facilities and to improve service delivery. The government is also seeking private sector participation in the hospital infrastructure sector in Turkey. The Health PPP Program will consist of 50 projects with an estimated EUR 20 billion investment value. Around 15 projects under the Program are at various stages of tender, financing and construction. PPP is a common model to finance such public facilities in Turkey with various applications such as Build-Operate-Transfer, Build-Operate-Own or Transfer of Operation Rights. The Build-Lease-Transfer model was introduced into Turkish legislation in 2013, commonly known as the City Hospitals/Medical Campuses Law, and it was specifically introduced to support healthcare PPP's. Under the Build-Lease-Transfer model, the private sector finances and builds a facility and then leases it to the relevant public authority, with the state providing the public service. The infrastructure facility is leased for a maximum of 30 years and the public authority pays a lease fee to the private investor and operates the facility during the lease period. This paper is aimed to investigate the new financing model in healthcare facilities in Turkey. Turkey's medical campus programme, also known as hospital PPP's, has been one of the most discussed topics in the country's infrastructure sector and legal environment. The healthcare facilities projects are structured on a Build-Lease-Transfer model with strong demonstration effects for the rest of Turkey by promoting the use of PPP contracting, and demonstrating good practice in international PPP standards. This new financing model is attracting not only participation of Turkish private sector, but also international financing institutions, such as ICF and EBRD.


This article analyzes the development of the third sector in all three Baltic States in the context of legal environment. The aim of the article is to evaluate the influence of legal environment to the development of third sector. The subject of the analysis – the impact discourses of legal environment on the development of third sector. For the purposes of the analysis, these methods are applied: NGOs Sustainability Index, correlation, and comparative methods. The article is divided into two sections. The first section describes the logic behind NGOs Sustainability Index through enumeration of the component factors and clarification of the relative measures, and attempts to evaluate the development of the legal environment that applies to the third sector. The second section applies correlation for the purposes of determination of the legal environment impact on the development of third sector.


High-frequency sound propagation in a guiding channel is usually analyzed either in terms of a normal mode expansion or in terms of ray acoustics. These formulations lead to difficulties when the number of required modes or rays is excessively large. Moreover, ray acoustics requires corrections near caustics of the ray system, and actually becomes inapplicable in a surface duct where the ray fields may experience an arbitrarily large number of reflections. To alleviate these difficulties, we apply a newly developed theory that utilizes a judiciously chosen mixture of ray fields and modal fields to represent the signal due to an oscillating line source at various depths, observed at different depth and range intervals. The medium is modeled by an exponentially increasing sound velocity between the free surface and a homogeneous semi-infinite bottom. This environment, which may be encountered in the ocean, combines surface duct and waveguide phenomena. The nature of the hybrid formulation for surface ducted fields and fields guided by top-bottom interaction is studied in detail, as is the possibility of choosing the ray-mode mixture so as to avoid corrections near caustics of the ray-acoustic pressure field.


Identification of prognostic molecular markers of breast cancer is extremely important. The spreading out of the primary breast tumour cells to the lymphatic system is at the forefront of symbolising the first signs of distant organ metastasis. Deregulated genes in breast cancer tissues that spread to lymph nodes may show early predictive molecular markers. In the present study, we selected five microRNAs, which play a key function in the invasion-metastasis cascade. We investigated the levels of microRNAs in 80 paired samples of BC and matched adjoining tissues, and we examined the potential relationships between microRNA levels and positive lymph node status. Our results attest that three microRNAs (miR-21, miR-155, miR-222) were significantly up-regulated, whilst miR-205 was substantially down-regulated in BC tissues in relation to normal adjoining tissues in a heterogeneous patient cohort. The high levels of two microRNAs, miR-155 and miR-222, showed a statistical relation with the positive lymph node status, especially in patients that had triple negative BC. Conversely, miR-155 was substantially down-regulated in tumour tissues of patients who received preoperative neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) compared with tumour tissues of patients without NAC in cohorts sub-classified to lymph node positive status. Our findings show evidence that the miR-155 and the miR-222 can be defined as molecular markers in regards to cancer patients to prognosticate spread to the lymph node. They also showed that the miR-155 could have crucial significances in BC treatment.


Climate changes are expected to increase fire frequency, fire season length, and cumulative area burned in the western United States. We focus on the potential impact of mid-21st- century climate changes on annual burn probability, fire season length, and large fire characteristics including number and size for a study area in the Northern Rocky Mountains. Although large fires are rare they account for most of the area burned in western North America, burn under extreme weather conditions, and exhibit behaviors that preclude methods of direct control. Allocation of resources, development of management plans, and assessment of fire effects on ecosystems all require an understanding of when and where fires are likely to burn, particularly under altered climate regimes that may increase large fire occurrence. We used the large fire simulation model FSim to model ignition, growth, and containment of wildfires under two climate scenarios: contemporary (based on instrumental weather) and mid-century (based on an ensemble average of global climate models driven by the A1B SRES emissions scenario). Modeled changes in fire patterns include increased annual burn probability, particularly in areas of the study region with relatively short contemporary fire return intervals; increased individual fire size and annual area burned; and fewer years without large fires. High fire danger days, represented by threshold values of Energy Release Component (ERC), are projected to increase in number, especially in spring and fall, lengthening the climatic fire season. For fire managers, ERC is an indicator of fire intensity potential and fire economics, with higher ERC thresholds often associated with larger, more expensive fires. Longer periods of elevated ERC may significantly increase the cost and complexity of fire management activities, requiring new strategies to maintain desired ecological conditions and limit fire risk. Increased fire activity (within the historical range of frequency and severity, and depending on the extent to which ecosystems are adapted) may maintain or restore ecosystem functionality; however, in areas that are highly departed from historical fire regimes or where there is disequilibrium between climate and vegetation, ecosystems may be rapidly and persistently altered by wildfires, especially those that burn under extreme conditions.


Abstract: In a response to Carey and Reynold's "Comparing the Arab Revolts: The Impact of Election Systems," Timothy Meisburger argues that in the special case of developing or emerging democracies, PR may not be the most appropriate election system, and that majoritarian or plurality systems may do a better job of ensuring effective representation and promoting democratization. He asserts that while PR may be a good choice for the mature democracies of northern Europe which already have such key prerequisites as parties with clear ideological profiles, well-defined platforms, and democratic internal-governance rules, emerging democracies might be better off with a system that is more likely to aid the development of democratic attitudes and the emergence of fully democratic parties and states.


This research explores the relationship between a strategic approach to quality management in Canadian organizations and employee measures of happiness. In particular, it investigates how a strategic approach to quality management impacts on employee satisfaction, engagement, and morale.
Understanding the relationships between a strategic approach to quality management and employee measures of happiness helps companies, policy-makers, and academia. Companies can use the conclusions to decide on the value of a quality management system as it relates to employees. The findings provide answers to employees, management, and labour unions that need to understand the impact a strategic approach to quality will have on them. Policy-makers can use the findings to set the agenda for closing Canada's productivity gap. Knowledge of this research can support policy-maker decisions to simplify the process for implementing a strategic approach to quality, realizing the benefits for participating organizations and employees at those organizations. This research helps academia fill two major gaps in the literature: First, the impact that the implementation of a strategic quality approach has on employee happiness (namely satisfaction, engagement, and morale). The second is the focus on Canadian organizations. There are relatively few studies that investigate a strategic approach to quality that focus on Canadian companies. Much of the research related to strategic quality employs data from American, Asian, Australian, and European organizations whereas this research uses data from exclusively Canadian organizations. This is the only academic research (to the knowledge of the researcher) that uses original Canada Awards for Excellence recipient results to draw conclusions. In this research, organizations with a strategic approach to quality (Canada Awards for Excellence recipients) are compared with similar size organizations with no defined approach to quality (non-winners).
A 66-question survey was used with 591 respondents representing 58.68% response rate from 12 Canadian organizations. The participating organizations were a mix of small and medium size organizations ranging in size from 5 employees to 400 employees in both the service and manufacturing sectors. The survey respondents included 315 from Canada Award for Excellence winners and 276 from non-winners. Of the 12 organizations studied, five are Canada Award for Excellence winners and seven of them are non-winners.
The research provides evidence that organizations taking a strategic approach to quality have a positive impact on the employees of that organization. The research has found significant connections between an organization's level of strategic quality and the effect on employees in terms of morale, engagement, and satisfaction.
The survey alongside focus group analysis shows that there is a clear relationship between strategic quality and employee measures of happiness. The findings indicate that the impact of implementing quality is positive and results in benefits for both the organization as a whole and the individual employee. Significant differences are noted between Canada Award for Excellence winners and non-winners.


The article describes the potential gain by spectrum sharing between cellular operators in terms of network efficiency. The focus of the study is on a specific resource sharing scenario: spectrum sharing between two operators in cellular downlink transmission. If frequency bands are allocated dynamically and exclusively to one operator - a case called orthogonal spectrum sharing - significant gains in terms of achievable throughput (spectrum sharing gains between 50 percent and 100 percent) and user satisfaction are reported for asymmetric scenarios at link and system level as well as from two hardware demonstrators. Additionally, if frequency bands are allocated simultaneously to two operators - a case called non-orthogonal spectrum sharing - further gains are reported. In order to achieve these, different enablers from hardware technologies and base station capabilities are required. However, we argue that all requirements are fulfilled in 3GPP and newer mobile standards. Therefore, the results and conclusions of this overview article encourage to seriously consider the inter-operator spectrum sharing technologies.


[1] Recent drastic reduction of the older perennial sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has resulted in a vast expansion of younger and saltier seasonal sea ice. This increase in the salinity of the overall ice cover could impact tropospheric chemical processes. Springtime perennial ice extent in 2008 and 2009 broke the half-century record minimum in 2007 by about one million km2. In both years seasonal ice was dominant across the Beaufort Sea extending to the Amundsen Gulf, where significant field and satellite observations of sea ice, temperature, and atmospheric chemicals have been made. Measurements at the site of the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Amundsen ice breaker in the Amundsen Gulf showed events of increased bromine monoxide (BrO), coupled with decreases of ozone (O3) and gaseous elemental mercury (GEM), during cold periods in March 2008. The timing of the main event of BrO, O3, and GEM changes was found to be consistent with BrO observed by satellites over an extensive area around the site. Furthermore, satellite sensors detected a doubling of atmospheric BrO in a vortex associated with a spiral rising air pattern. In spring 2009, excessive and widespread bromine explosions occurred in the same region while the regional air temperature was low and the extent of perennial ice was significantly reduced compared to the case in 2008. Using satellite observations together with a Rising-Air-Parcel model, we discover a topographic control on BrO distribution such that the Alaskan North Slope and the Canadian Shield region were exposed to elevated BrO, whereas the surrounding mountains isolated the Alaskan interior from bromine intrusion.


Background Demographic data, family history, psychopathological features, comorbidity and course of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) are investigated and data generated to support the possible existence of two subgroups with gender-related differences of a broader nature. Method Two hundred and sixty-three OCD patients, consecutive admissions to the Institute of Psychiatry, University of Pisa over a period of 5 years, not excluding those with comorbid Axis I and Axis II conditions, were studied. Patients were evaluated with a specifically designed semi-structured OCD interview. Results We found a significantly greater history of perinatal trauma in men who also had an earlier onset, greater likelihood of never having been married and a higher frequency of such symptoms as sexual, exactness and symmetry obsessions and odd rituals; by contrast, women suffered a later onset of the disorder, were more likely to be married, had higher rates of associated panic attacks after the onset of OCD and a higher frequency of aggressive obsessions at the onset of their illness, and were less frequently associated with bipolar disorders. Conclusions Pathophysiological mechanisms in OCD seem to differ by gender. Perinatal trauma might predispose to earlier onset in men, whereas in women there is a close association between OCD and panic disorder.


Professor Fernand Mosse of the College de France is at home in all the Germanic languages and literatures, but for many years he has paid particular attention to English. Since he is a medievalist he has interested himself first and foremost in the earlier periods, and since he is a teacher as well as investigator he has been long concerned to smooth the path of students taking their first steps into a field far from our day and time. A few years ago, this concern of his ripened into a work that won general recognition as soon as it came out: his Manuel de l'Anglais du Moyen Age des Origines an XIVe Siecle. In the Manuel the author's mastery of the material and talent for clear and orderly presentation are happily combined. In this work we have by far the best introduction to medieval English now available.-from the Foreword


According to most accounts the past decade has brought with it tremendous gains in reducing poverty among the elderly, i.e., those persons aged 65 or older. Although official poverty rate for children continues to be near the 20 percent level, the official poverty rate among the elderly fell to 10.5 percent in 1998. This rate is the lowest rate on record - less than half of the 1970 rate of 22.6 percent, and less than a third of the 33.1 percent rate found in 1959 (U.S. Census Bureau (1999), Table B-2). Health status and life expectancy among the elderly have increased over the past 40 years (Wolfe and Smeeding (1999)). Although pockets of poverty remain, for example, among older women living alone, and poverty rates of elderly in the United States exceed those in many other rich countries (Smeeding (1999a)), the overall picture is one of great progress. A continuation of these trends could imply that poverty among the elderly (as officially measured) might not be a major concern for policymakers as they consider Social Security reform. The official U.S. poverty rates for the elderly, however, have been severely criticized during the past few years because of the way poverty is measured and because of the implications for Social Security. These measurement issues might create different conclusions about the level and trend in elderly poverty.


Human activity recognition (HAR) in ubiquitous computing is beginning to adopt deep learning to substitute for well-established analysis techniques that rely on hand-crafted feature extraction and classification techniques. From these isolated applications of custom deep architectures it is, however, difficult to gain an overview of their suitability for problems ranging from the recognition of manipulative gestures to the segmentation and identification of physical activities like running or ascending stairs. In this paper we rigorously explore deep, convolutional, and recurrent approaches across three representative datasets that contain movement data captured with wearable sensors. We describe how to train recurrent approaches in this setting, introduce a novel regularisation approach, and illustrate how they outperform the state-of-the-art on a large benchmark dataset. Across thousands of recognition experiments with randomly sampled model configurations we investigate the suitability of each model for different tasks in HAR, explore the impact of hyperparameters using the fANOVA framework, and provide guidelines for the practitioner who wants to apply deep learning in their problem setting.


Bentonite has widely been employed in many industrial applications due to their physicochemical properties and availability at low cost. The aim of this work was conducted to submit the Iraqi natural bentonite clay to beneficiation pretreatment and chemical acidification using 60% sulfuric acid under mechanical agitation for 2 hours at atmospheric temperature and pressure condition. The resulting bentonite was washed several times with distilled water and modified with ethanol under ultrasonic mixing. An experimental study was conducted to study the chemical composition, grain size, structural characterization and morphology of nano particle bentonite obtained using techniques of AFM microscopy, X-ray fluorescence XRF, X-ray diffraction XRD, scanning electron microscopy SEM, surface area by BET method, and FT-IR spectra. The calculated surface area of nano bentonite was 161.842 m 2 /gm, and total pore volume of 0.2196 cm 3 /gm. The nanoscale bentonite particles diameter in the range of 52 nm at maximum intensity of AFM. The FITR spectra assigned peaks; at 3392.22 and 1635.69 cm -1 is attributed to OH stretching (Al-OH and Si-OH) for bentonite, at 1159, 798.20 and 677.46cm -1 are assigned to characteristic bands of silicates; and peak at 500.08 cm -1 is responsible for Al-O-Si group deformation. SEM analysis show that nano bentonite structure due to beneficiation and activation conditions. The results of X-ray diffraction after activation observed that the intensity of the reflections of the characteristic peak of the gypsum and calcite belonging to the other minerals change due to destruction of the structure in the bentonite phases.


Protease F1, a thermostable alkaline protease extracted from Bacillus
stearothermophilus strain F1 was investigated for its soil removing properties. In this
study the general purity of crude Protease F1 was first determined. Protease F1 was
found to be free of lipase, cellulase and a.-amylase activities.
The washing performance of crude Protease F1 was measured in terms of
percentage soil removal and compared to a commercial enzyme, Savinase. The effects
of various factors such as types of soil, washing temperature, enzyme activity, water
hardness, pH, types of surfactants and builders on the washing performance of
Protease F1 were measured.
The washing performance was determined by stirring a type of soiled cloths in
1 liter solution of enzyme (with a fixed amount of activity) for 10 minutes, followed
by 2x3 minutes rinsing. The difference in the whiteness of the soiled cloth before and
after washing indicate the degree of soil removal (or detergency). Among the various types of soiled cloth studied, the one soiled with oil, pigment and milk (AS12) gave a better contrast when washed by the enzymes than the cloihs soiled by btood or the
egg.
Protease Fl washed better than Savinase at an the temperatures studied. The
difference in performance was found to be greatest at 70˚C. washing efficacy was
found to increase with increase in concentration of the enzymes lUl1il a certain level
beyond which a drop in the percentage soil removal was observed. The enzymes
performed better at lower water hardnesses. Generally Protease F1 was more sensitive
to water hardness than Savinase. At room temperature (RT) and 50˚C, Savinase
performed better at all pH's. However, at 70°C and pH 7 and 8, Protease F1
performed better.
When formulated with surfactants or builders, Protease Fl was found to
enhance the performance of surfactants while Savinase, the builders. The best
washing performance was when enzymes, surfactant and builders were formulated
together and the washings carried out at RT and 50˚C.


The anticipated growth of new communications technologies, including the Internet and other digital networks, will make it increasingly difficult for states to tax global commerce effectively. Greater harmonization and coordination of national tax policies will likely be required in the coming years in order to address this problem. Given that the history of the state is inseparable from the history of taxation, this "globalization of taxation" could have far-reaching political implications. The modern state itself emerged out of a fiscal crisis of medieval European feudalism, which by the 14th and 15th centuries was increasingly incapable of raising sufficient revenues to support the mounting expenses of warfare. If new developments in the technology of commerce are now undermining the efficiency of the state as an autonomous taxing entity, fiscal pressures may produce a similar shift in de facto political authority away from the state and toward whatever international mechanisms are created to expedite the taxation of these new forms of commerce.


Fault tree analysis is a method that describes all possible causes of a specified system state
in terms of the state of the components within the system. Fault trees are commonly
developed to analyse the adequacy of systems, from a reliability or safety point of view
during the stages of design. The aim of the research presented in this thesis was to develop
a method for diagnosing faults in systems using a model-based fault tree analysis approach,
taking into consideration the potential for use on aircraft systems.
Initial investigations have been conducted by developing four schemes that use coherent and
non-coherent fault trees, the concepts of which are illustrated by applying the techniques to
a simple system. These were used to consider aspects of system performance for each scheme
at specified points in time. The results obtained were analysed and a critical appraisal of
the findings carried out to determine the individual effectiveness of each scheme.
A number of issues were highlighted from the first part of research, including the need to
consider dynamics of the system to improve the method. The most effective scheme from
the initial investigations was extended to take into account system dynamics through the
development of a pattern recognition technique. Transient effects, including time history
of flows and rate of change of fluid level were considered.
The established method was then applied to a theoretical version of the BAE Systems fuel
rig to investigate how the method could be utilised on a larger system. The fault detection
was adapted to work with an increased number of fuel tanks and other components adding
to the system complexity. The implications of expanding the method to larger systems
such as a full aircraft fuel system were identified for the Nimrod MRA4.


The Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus's royal library as the collection of a renaissance/humanist ruler was enriched not only with works ordered or purchased in Italy but also with manuscripts made in Buda. Most recent investigations suggest that illumining and copying activity started in the Buda court only after the arrival of Queen Beatrice (1476).
The paper is concerned with one of the marked illuminator figures of the Buda workshop labelled – for want of real identification – as "the first emblazoner". (His figure was first outlined by Edith Hoffmann in the 1920s, who also verified that he had been trained in Florence.) So far modest floral ornaments and Matthias's coat of arms had been attributed to this illuminator, in addition to two voluminous manuscripts, the Alberti Corvina in Modena and the Ambrosius Corvina in Paris (Modena, BEU, ms.Lat.419; Paris, BnF, Cod. Latin 1767).
The paper sheds light on the illuminator's figure embedded in a broader context and viewed from a new angle. The novel aspect is the differentiation between the illuminator's own style and style imitation. The author managed to demonstrate that the master did not only create his own style but occasionally imitated the style of others. Accordingly, the first half of the study analyses the illuminator's own style in detail, and the second half discusses his work with the method of imitation. The basis for the examination of the latter is the Ransanus manuscript (Bp. OSZK, cod. Lat. 249) in which the master's hand imitating a certain Franco-Flemish style can be safely identified.
While explicating the above topics, the author also proposes new ideas about the genesis and localization of two important corvina manuscripts. She proves that the Philostratus (Bp., OSZK, Cod. Lat. 417) and Ransanus Corvinae so-far believed to have been made in Florence and Southern Italy were actually produced in the Buda workshop. The author uses all aspects of codicological research in her argumentation. This is the first time during the research that a scribe figure is also delineated who worked in the Buda workshop at the very end of the 1480s. The Beda Corvina as well as Nagylucsei's Psalter (Venice, BNM, Lat. VIII. 2=2796; Munich, BSB, Clm 175; Budapest, OSZK, Cod. Lat. 369) are by his hand. The Philostratus Corvina can be attributed to a scribe who imitated him fairly closely.
The author concludes that the working method of the "first emblazoner" (idiosyncratic and imitated styles) and his role in different codices epitomize the functioning of the Buda workshop. She opines that the structure of the workshop was based on the parallel activity and occasional collaboration of outstanding and lesser masters. It is almost self-evident to infer from her reasoning that the Florentine illuminator Boccardino il Vecchio possibly decorated the Philostratus Corvina in Buda. The author points out that the inner initials of the manuscript are not by Boccardino il Vecchio but by a lesser figural painter. One of the secondary initials is clearly the copy of a Francesco Rosselli half-figure type. This phenomenon locates the second hand ("first emblazoner"?) to Buda. (Rosselli worked in Buda in 1479/80, his works were included in the Buda library, too.) The fact that a lesser master had a role in such an exquisite manuscript is ascribed by the author to the structure of the Buda workshop.
At the same time the paper also raises the question of the contribution of the "second emblazoner" within the Corvina Library and concludes that the Ransanus manuscript is the joint work of the "first" and "second emblazoners" in Buda (working on the codex with time lags).
The author reflects upon the long-standing question of dating the two heraldic painters and adduces important data to support the earlier also proposed hypothesis that the first and second emblazoners worked parallel, and their work coincided with the comprehensive development and unification of the Buda library at the very end of the 1480s.


The present report deals with the numerical treatment of the linearised lifting surface theory through a method which is based upon the representation of the pressure distribution on chordwise direction by a series of Chebyshew polynomials according to Laschka, and upon the determination of the spanwise integral involved by means of trigonometric polynomials such as also appUed by Multhopp. When calculations are performed using Multhopp's method the results show strong variations with increasing number of the spanwise stations and chordwise points, to which the boundary condition is applied. This makes it impossible to obtain a plausible solution. Hence a new method has been developed, where the representation of the pressure distribution in spanwise direction is separated from the representation of the regularised kernel function in spanwise direction. This makes it possible to obtain accurate integrals for a given distribution of pivotal points and leads to results which show a rapid decrease of variation as either the number of spanwise stations or the number df chordwise points or both are increased. This is demonstrated by including a number of results for some well-known wings. As the method allows of the possibility to take arbitrary positions for the pivotal points, some computations have been performed for different distributions of spanwise stations. The results indicate that further investigations may be useful.


Abstract We examine the conditional logit estimator for binary panel data models with unobserved heterogeneity. A key assumption used to derive the conditional logit estimator is conditional serial independence (CI), which is problematic when the underlying innovations are serially correlated. A Monte Carlo experiment suggests that the conditional logit estimator is not robust to violation of the CI assumption. We find that higher persistence and smaller time dimension both increase the magnitude of the bias in slope parameter estimates. We also compare conditional logit to unconditional logit, bias corrected unconditional logit, and pooled correlated random effects logit.


Abstract According to a classical result, a move from uniform pricing to third-degree price discrimination only improves welfare if total output increases. In this paper I show that the classical result fails in the presence of subsidies. This finding appears to be relevant for the pharmaceutical sector where a consumer pays a fraction of the actual drug price due to health insurance coverage.


A set of 194 F7 lines derived from a subspecific rice cross showing strong F1 heterosis was backcrossed to the two parents. The materials (388 BC1F7 lines, 194 F8 lines, two parents, F1) were phenotyped for 12 quantitative traits. A total of 37 significant QTLs (LOD > or = 2.0) was detected through 141 RFLP markers in the BC1F7 populations. Twenty-seven (73%) quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were detected in only one of the BC1F7 populations. In 82% of these cases, the heterozygotes were superior to the respective homozygotes. The remaining 10 (27%) QTLs were detected in both BC1F7 populations, and the heterozygote had a phenotype falling between those of the two homozygotes and in no instances were the heterozygotes found to be superior to both homozygotes. These results suggest that dominance complementation is the major genetic basis of heterosis in rice. This conclusion was strengthened by the finding that there was no correlation between most traits and overall genome heterozygosity and that there were some recombinant inbred lines in the F8 population having phenotypic values superior to the F1 for all of the traits evaluated--a result not expected if overdominance was a major contributor to heterosis. Digenic epistasis was not evident.


This thesis explores the relationship between Buzzati's fiction and Anglophone culture, particularly the re-use of narrative and visual sources in his works. The analysis of the intertextual stratification in Buzzati brings to the fore the author's urge to convey the significance of imagination through the fantastic mode. It also reveals an optimistic and playful side of Buzzati, which lies behind a pervading pessimistic tone. Buzzati's reworking of images from other authors and of generic topoi is aimed at decrying the loss of imagination occurring in the transition to adulthood as well as a general disregard of fantasy characterizing modern technologized societies. Nonetheless, intertextual practices are a means to recover and originally re-present the fantastic imagery conveyed by the artists from whom Buzzati drew inspiration. Buzzati was especially keen on Anglophone literature and art; hence, the focus of this thesis, which is divided into four chapters. Chapter One deals with Buzzati's re-use in his fiction of drawings by the English illustrator Arthur Rackham; this is a process in which visual memory and intermedia translation are paramount. Chapter Two investigates the link between Joseph Conrad's heroes and the characterization of Buzzati's (anti-)heroic figures; they are trapped in the mechanisms of lack of courage and time but eventually find their own ways to self-redemption. Chapter Three considers Buzzati's reversal and borrowing of topoi belonging to the sea monster story and the ghost story; these practices are aimed at emphasizing the importance of fantasy. Chapter Four places Buzzati's Christmas fiction between the Italian and the Dickensian tradition, showing how Buzzati reworks the genre's stereotypes to recreate the Christmas spirit. Whether Buzzati engages in an intertextual dialogue with individual authors or literary traditions, examining the connections he established with Anglophone culture allows a reassessment of his work. Indeed, the Buzzatian fantastic reveals itself as poised between gloominess and faith in the redeeming power of imagination; the fantastic alternatives Buzzati offers against the dullness of reality also evince his enjoyment of the artistic creation per se.


ABSTRACT The 1981 Australian Financial System Inquiry, known as the Campbell Committee, is widely seen as the start of the reform movement of the 1980s and 1990s. Accounts of its origins have been dominated by a debate about which policy actor can take credit. This paper utilises cabinet and Reserve Bank archives to reassess the origins of the Campbell Committee. The inquiry had its origins in an earlier attempt by the Whitlam government to take federal control of the regulation for non-bank financial institutions and the building society crisis of the mid-1970s. In its response to these political and economic challenges we can identify the moment in which the Fraser cabinet turned towards market-based reform. The political decisions made in the context of crisis set the path for regulatory change in subsequent decades, particularly in the area of prudential regulation, where we have seen regulatory consolidation and expansion rather than 'deregulation'.


Since the discovery of high Tc superconductivity, the role of electron correlation in superconductivity has been an important new issue in condensed matter physics. Here the role of electron correlation in metals is explained in detail on the basis of the Fermi liquid theory. The book discusses the following issues: enhancements of electronic specific heat and magnetic susceptibility; effects of electron correlation on transport phenomena such as electric resistivity andHall coefficient; magnetism; Mott transition and unconventional superconductivity. These originate commonly from the coulomb repulsion between electrons. In particular, superconductivity in strongly correlated electron systems is discussed with a unified point of view. This book is written to explain interesting physics in metals for undergraduate and graduate students and researchers in condensed matter physics.


One of the critical issues in wireless sensor network is the lifetime of the network. Since each sensor is equipped with a limited amount of battery capacity, efficient management of the battery powers is important to prolong the lifetime of the network. One possible network management scheme is to partition the sensors into disjoint sets, so that sensors in each of the disjoint sets can completely cover the targets. Then these sets are activated successively. As a result, the larger the number of disjoint sets, the longer the lifetime of the network. In this paper, we propose a new BIP formulation and a new heuristic algorithm to find such disjoint sets. Compared with the previous researches, our formulation may be used to find an optimal solution much faster than the previous formulation and our heuristic is capable of finding good quality solutions quite fast.


ABSTRACT Convective Interaction Media® (CIM) disk monolithic columns are specific among the chromatographic columns because of their monolithic structure and extremely short column length. In this work, HETP values and Z factors for different groups of molecules—proteins, DNA, oligonucleotides, peptides, and organic acids on strong anion exchange CIM disk monolithic columns were determined. Results are discussed in terms of the molecule structures and applied to develop different approaches for successful separation of abovementioned group of molecules on these types of columns.


This essay explores the vast potential for participatory and sustainable human development in Morocco. Though Morocco is a country with many diverse resources, it remains burdened by severe levels of poverty and illiteracy, and now growing social discord. There have recently been increased public calls for participatory development programs designed and implemented by and for local people. The essay identifies six existing Moroccan Frameworks intended to initiate decentralized human development programs, and critically examines their efficacy. Ultimately, the purpose of the article is to suggest a new model to implement these Frameworks with maximum impact. The six Frameworks deal with municipal development plans, a sub-national funding agency, decentralization, environmental protection and agriculture, women's rights, and youth engagement. Each of these Frameworks present positive ideals which are not fully being capitalized on currently because they lack sufficient resources and momentum individually. By integrating the six Frameworks to function in tandem, Morocco could achieve its goal of initiating widespread decentralized, sustainable development programs that truly impact local communities in positive ways.


The contact lens represents a well-established important class of biomaterials. This thesis brings together the literature, mostly Japanese and American patents, concerned with an important group of polymers, `rigid gas permeable contact lens materials'. A comparison is made of similarities in the underlying chemical themes, centring on the use of variants of highly branched siloxy compounds with polymerizable methacrylate groups. There is a need for standard techniques to assess laboratory behaviour in relation to in vitro performance. A major part of the present work is dedicated to the establishment of such standardised techniques. It is apparent that property design requirements in this field (i.e. oxygen permeability, surface and mechanical properties) are to some extent conflicting. In principle, the structural approaches used to obtain high oxygen permeability lead to surface properties that are less than ideal in terms of compatibility with tears. PMMA is known to have uniquely good (but not perfect) surface properties in this respect; it has been used as a starting point in attempting to design new materials that possess a more acceptable compromise of transport and surface properties for ocular use. Initial examination of the oxygen permeabilities of relatively simple alkyl methacrylates, show that butyl methacrylate which has a permeability some fifty times greater than PMMA, represents an interesting and hitherto unexplored group of materials for ophthalmic applications. Consideration was similarly given to surface modification techniques that would produce materials having the ability to sustain coherent tear film in the eye without markedly impairing oxygen transport properties. Particular attention is paid to the use of oxygen plasma techniques in this respect. In conclusion, similar design considerations were applied to an extended wear hydrogel lens material in an attempt to overcome mechanical stability deficiencies which manifest themselves lq`in vivo' but not `in vitro'. A relatively simple structure modification, involving steric shielding of the amide substituent group, proved to be an effective solution to the problem.


We describe a simple method by which optically sectioned images may be obtained. The system geometry is similar to that of a tandem scanning microscope but a one‐dimensional grid pattern is used rather than an array of pinholes. This produces a composite image consisting of an optically sectioned image superimposed on a conventional image. A blank sector on the disc is used to provide a wide‐field image. Image subtraction yields the optically sectioned image in real time.


Widespread drought-induced tree mortality has been documented around the world, and could increase in frequency and intensity under warmer and drier conditions. Ecophysiological differences between dying and surviving trees might underlie predispositions to mortality, but are poorly documented. Here we report a study of Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris L.) from two sites located in north-eastern Iberian Peninsula where drought-associated mortality episodes were registered during the last few decades. Time trends of discrimination against 13C (Δ13C) and intrinsic water-use efficiency (WUEi) in tree rings at an annual resolution and for a 34 year period were used to compare co-occurring now-dead and surviving pines. Results indicate that both surviving and now-dead pines significantly increased their WUEi over time, although this increase was significantly lower for now-dead individuals. These differential WUEi trends corresponded to different scenarios describing how plant gas exchange responds to increasing atmospheric CO2 (Ca): the estimated intercellular CO2 concentration was nearly constant in surviving pines but tended to increase proportionally to Ca in now-dead trees. Concurrently, the WUEi increase was not paralleled by a growth enhancement, regardless of tree state, suggesting that in water-limited areas like the Mediterranean, it cannot overcome the impact of an increasingly warmer and drier climate on tree growth.


In August 2014 we ran a stream on The Disruptive Potential of Arts Based Approaches at the Art of Management and Organisation Conference held at Copenhagen Business School. We were curious about trends in organization studies literature that are encouraging a search for new and innovative modes of inquiry questioning "assumed certainties" and disrupting predominant narratives (Dey and Steyaert, 2007: 443).
Linked to this, we have noticed increasing recognition of the need to find new ways to address demands for flexible responses, innovation and knowledge creation in times of unpredictability and instability with calls to the organizational and management studies community to take inspiration from the arts. Nancy Adler (2006), for example, argues that new ways of seeing are necessary to understand the actual "realities" of the world we live in, and not to mistake them for seeing things as they are labelled. She suggests that people have to be able to dream, to envision possibilities, quoting Hamel who says: "Companies fail to create the future, not because they fail to predict it, but because they fail to imagine it." (Hamel, 2000: 120). Arguing that such methods offer a fundamentally different way of approaching the world, Taylor and Ladkin (2009) suggest that arts based methods enable us to access and develop different ways of sensual knowing which can "contribute to a more holistic way of engaging with managerial contexts" (2009:56). Taking inspiration from these approaches our own research invited participants to engage in a variety of arts informed approaches designed to stimulate imagination and intuition to disrupt predominant managerial discourses and thinking towards diversity management. By opening spaces to access tacit knowledge, imagination and dream participants were able to re-engage with their experiences of diversity and apply them to re-energise their practice (Page, Grisoni and Turner 2014).


Primary lymph node cells derived from streptococcal cell wall arthritic rats or those derived from adjuvant arthritic rats proliferated in response to cell wall antigens derived from either streptococcal cell walls or those from M. tuberculosis. In addition, two T cell lines have been isolated from lymph nodes of rats during the chronic phase of streptococcal cell wall arthritis. These T cell lines transfered clinical disease to naive syngeneic irradiated recipients, and they proliferated in the presence of cell wall antigens derived from streptococci or antigens derived from Mycobacterium but failed to proliferate in the presence of the 65-kD antigen (containing the sequence TFGLQLELT) derived from Mycobacterium. These observations indicate that T cells play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of streptococcal cell wall arthritis and suggest that antigenic crossreactivity exists between cell walls of group A streptococci and antigens derived from Mycobacterium. The 65-kD Mycobacterium protein is not involved in the observed antigenic crossreactivity.


Fluctuating polarization state-of-light in the optical loop is an important factor that seriously influences the output performance of a multi-carrier source based on re-circulating frequency shifter (RFS). The reason for output spectrum instability when no polarization controller (PC) is present in the loop is analyzed theoretically. Numerical simulations for the output spectra of the multi-carrier source with and without PC are conducted, and the trajectories of the several frequency components polarization states on the Poincare sphere with and without PC are compared. The results show that the performance of multi-carrier source based on a RFS can be improved effectively by adjusting the PC in the configuration properly.


OBJECTIVE— Physical activity is a modifiable risk factor for type 2 diabetes, partly through its action on insulin sensitivity. We report the relation between insulin sensitivity and physical activity measured by accelerometry. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS— This is a cross-sectional study of 346 men and 455 women, aged 30–60 years, without cardiovascular disease and not treated by drugs for diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, or obesity. Participants were recruited in 18 clinical centers from 13 European countries. Insulin sensitivity was measured by hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp. Physical activity was recorded by accelerometry for a median of 6 days. We studied the relationship of insulin sensitivity with total activity (in counts per minute), percent of time spent sedentary, percent of time in light activity, and activity intensity (whether the participant recorded some vigorous or some moderate activity). RESULTS— In both men and women, total activity was associated with insulin sensitivity (P < 0.0001). Time spent sedentary, in light activity, and activity intensity was also associated with insulin sensitivity (P < 0.0004/0.01, 0.002/0.03, and 0.02/0.004, respectively, for men/women) but lost significance once adjusted for total activity. Adjustment for confounders such as adiposity attenuated the relationship with total activity; there were no interactions with confounders. Even in the 25% most sedentary individuals, total activity was significantly associated with better insulin sensitivity (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS— Accumulated daily physical activity is a major determinant of insulin sensitivity. Time spent sedentary, time spent in light-activity, and bouts of moderate or vigorous activity did not impact insulin sensitivity independently of total activity.


After a period of decline, European Otter (Lutra lutra) populations are showing signs of recovery throughout the UK. Populations in Devon are thought to be almost fully recovered, although exact numbers are unknown; however, there are still rivers within Devon that do not appear to support Otter populations. The aim of this research was to determine the relationship between environmental condition and the presence of Otters by comparing the quality of riparian habitat of rivers with and without evidence of Otters. The research was undertaken in four rivers in Devon, the Rivers Culm, Ken, Coly and Otter: the first two being river stretches with no documented evidence of Otter populations, and the latter two having documented evidence of Otter populations. Along each of the rivers, 10 sections of 50 m were sampled. In each section, the riparian habitat quality was recorded using the Qualitat del Bosc de Riberia index. The biological water quality was determined by calculating Biological Monitoring Water Party scores, and water chemical concentrations were obtained from Environment Agency data. The riparian habitat quality and biological water quality were found to be of significantly lower quality in the river stretches that did not have evidence of Otter populations when compared with those with Otter populations. The chemical water quality was correlated to biological water quality: the quality being worse in the rivers without evidence of Otter populations. The results of this research suggest that rivers with no evidence of Otter populations are generally of worse riparian quality than those supporting Otter populations.


The experience of pain is subjectively different from the fear and anxiety caused by threats of pain. Functional magnetic resonance imaging in healthy humans was applied to dissociate neural activation patterns associated with acute pain and its anticipation. Expectation of pain activated sites within the medial frontal lobe, insular cortex, and cerebellum distinct from, but close to, locations mediating pain experience itself. Anticipation of pain can in its own right cause mood changes and behavioral adaptations that exacerbate the suffering experienced by chronic pain patients. Selective manipulations of activity at these sites may offer therapeutic possibilities for treating chronic pain.


Purpose

Service networks are inherently complex as they comprise of many interrelated actors, often driven by divergent interests. This can result in imbalance, which refers to a situation where the interests of at least one actor in a network are not secured. Drawing on the "balanced centricity" perspective, the purpose of this paper is to explore the causes of imbalance in complex service networks.

Design/methodology/approach

Adopting a qualitative case-based approach, this paper examines a public health service network that experienced imbalance that was detrimental to the lives of its users: the Mid-Staffordshire National Health Service (NHS) Trust, UK. Drawing on service-dominant logic and stakeholder theory, case evidence provides insight into the origin and drivers of imbalance in complex public service networks.

Findings

The origin of imbalance stems from competing institutional logics of various actors (patients/public, employees, managers, regulatory bodies, etc.), but the degree to which these competing institutional logics lead to imbalance is moderated by accountability, communication, engagement, and responsiveness within the service network.

Research limitations/implications

By uncovering causes of imbalance in complex public service networks, this paper pinpoints important research avenues for developing the balanced centricity perspective.

Practical implications

The inherent existence of multiple parallel institutional arrangements makes networks imbalanced, but value creation can be achieved when the appropriate mechanisms are fostered to manage balance between divergent logics.

Originality/value

By examining imbalance as the underlying cause of network dysfunction, this research contributes to understanding of the dynamics in, and performance of, complex public service networks.


"In the context of on-going market reform in developing countries, there is a need for an improvement in the existing methods of spatial market efficiency analysis in order to better inform the debate toward designing and implementing new grain marketing policies, institutions, and infrastructure that facilitate the emergence of a well developed and competitive grain marketing system. The standard parity bounds model (PBM), while it overcomes many weaknesses of the conventional methods of spatial market efficiency analysis, it does not allow for the test of structural changes in spatial market efficiency as a result of policy changes. In this paper, building on the standard PBM, we develop an extended parity bounds model (EPBM). The EPBM is a stochastic gradual switching model with three trade regimes. The EPBM is estimated by maximum likelihood procedure and allows for tracing the time path and structural change in spatial market efficiency conditions due to the policy changes. We applied the EPBM to analyze the effect of grain marketing policy changes on spatial efficiency of maize and wheat markets in Ethiopia. The results show that the effect of policy changes on spatial market efficiency is not significant statistically in many cases; there is high probability of spatial inefficiency in maize and wheat markets before and after the policy changes. The implication of these results is that maize and wheat markets are characterized by periodic gluts and shortages, which can undermine the welfare of producers, grain traders and consumers. It is also observed that the nature of spatial inefficiency for maize and wheat markets is different implying that the two commodities might require different policy responses in order to improve spatial market efficiency. Maize traders made losses most of the time while wheat traders made excess profits most of the time covered by the study." Authors' Abstract


Extracted from text ... Moneyweb's PERSONAL FINANCE April 2006 13
MARKETS
An ideal rand hedge
Alec Hogg reports back on his visit to Steinhoff, and
finds a unique business model that provides an excellent
long-term opportunity.
By ALEC HOGG
The head office tells us a lot about
the company which inhabits it. So
I was all eyes when visiting the
home of JSE-listed Steinhoff
International, one of the world's
biggest furniture manufacturers.
Steinhoff didn't disappoint.
Firstly, its head office is in
Wynberg, Johannesburg's worst
named suburb. This is no leafy,
vine covered enclave with a mountain
view. Wynberg in Gauteng is
wall-to-wall factories. ..


Pulsed beams (PB) are highly collimated wave objects which can simulate actual acoustic fields radiated by time‐domain (TD) compact transducers and, by superposition, can analytically synthesize arbitrary pulsed source distributions. While much progress has been made in tracking PB wave packets through nondispersive environments, the TD phenomenologies characterizing PB interaction with dispersive media are as yet inadequately understood. To initiate this study, we review known TD asymptotic techniques for pulsed noncollimated wave objects with real frequency and wave number constituents. The results can be interpreted in terms of space‐time ray theory and instantaneous dispersion relations, with interesting graphical representations (in the configuration–spectrum phase space) that highlight the relevant wave physics. Of special interest are inputs which focus the pulsed signal at a specified space‐time point inside the medium. The extension to pulsed beams requires consideration of complex spectra, as pe...


Hypertension is the most important potentially reversible risk factor for cerebrovascular disease in all age groups. A continuous relation exists between increasing blood pressure and the likelihood of stroke, such that a 7 mm Hg increment in diastolic blood pressure is associated with a doubling of the relative risk of stroke.1 The preventive role of antihypertensive treatment in reducing morbidity and mortality from stroke is well established: treatment that produces a long term reduction in diastolic blood pressure of 5-6 mm Hg results in a 35-40% fall in the risk of stroke.2,3

About four fifths of patients with stroke have raised blood pressure on admission to hospital and about one third have a history of hypertension.4 Raised blood pressure usually falls spontaneously within a few days5; 10 days after an ischaemic stroke two thirds of patients are normotensive.6 Doctors are therefore faced with the problem of deciding in whom and when to treat raised blood pressure.

There is conflicting evidence about the prognostic significance of hypertension immediately after acute stroke. Using multivariate analysis, Carlberg and colleagues found that previous hypertension most strongly predicted raised initial blood pressure in patients admitted to an acute stroke unit.7 Hypertension preceding stroke is, however, not invariably associated with an adverse prognosis in terms of either early fatality or functional recovery.*RF 8-10* Although early studies suggested that …


Modern time signatures indicate metrical organization in notated music. However, in most American hymnals and psalters published between 1721 and 1809, time signatures also signify very specific tempi. This notational practice, further removed from modern usage than any other element of this music, derives from proportional notations abandoned in art music in the seventeenth century. As technically complex music was published using this notation in the 1760s, these time signatures began to be used more subtly. In combination, they provide metrical effects unlike those possible with modern time signatures: doubling or halving tempo, or maintaining the pulse while altering its division or larger metric organization. Viewed from the perspective of modern notation, these functions diverge from their appearance. This article clarifies the correlation between time signature and tempo indicated in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century American tunebooks (hymnals), arguing for its inclusion in modern performances of this repertoire. Internal evidence and related pedagogical practices suggest these tempi were intended to be observed; most early American theorists, composers, and compilers advocated adherence. Any revival of repertoire first published in this notation, including the works of such composers as William Billings, Daniel Read, and Supply Belcher, would profit by observing these tempi. In a repertoire frequently devoid of interpretive markings, time signatures provide invaluable clues to performers.


Introduction by: Barbara Gottlieb, CCPH Chair Emeritus

PNHHC was a 10 Year community-university and public agency partnership. PNHHC conducted two, federally funded Community-based participatory research (CBPR) projects around the issues of childhood lead poisoning prevention and the developmental effects of lead exposure. Currently, Susan is a co-guide with her university research partner for a CBPR course involving community partners and graduate students at the University of Minnesota. She served for seven years on the Board of Community-Campus Partnerships for Health and is also a community peer reviewer for the CCPH's CES4Health.info.
Susan is a community activist and small business owner of a 37-year-old construction management, consulting, and community development company. Through her business, she is a facility manager of a 119-year old building that houses a family violence prevention program. One of her several entrepreneurial ventures was to found a reusable building materials store with a focus on job creation and home improvement education. She was a 2003-2004 University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute Public Policy Fellow. Her local civic responsibilities include: Cultural Wellness Center's Law and Policy Committee, the Backyard Initiative's Community Commission on Health, which is co-sponsered by Allina Health and the community.


Can war ever be just? By what right do we charge people with war crimes? Can war itself be a crime? What is a good peace treaty? Since the Cold War ended in the early 1990s, many wars have erupted, inflaming such areas as the Persian Gulf, Central Africa and Central Europe. Brutalities committed during these conflicts have sparked new interest in the ethics of war and peace. Brian Orend explores the ethics of war and peace from a Kantian perspective, emphasizing human rights protection, the rule of international law and a fully global concept of justice. Contending that Kant's just war doctrine has not been given its due, Orend displays Kant's theory to its fullest, impressive effect. He then completely and clearly updates Kant's perspective for application to our time. Along the way, he criticizes pacifism and realism, explores the nature of human rights protection during wartime, and defends a theory of just war. He also looks ahead to future developments in global institutional reform using cases from the Persian Gulf War, Somalia, Bosnia, and Rwanda to illustrate his argument. Controversial and timely, perhaps the most important contribution War and International Justice: A Kantian Perspective makes is with regard to the question of justice after war. Orend offers a principled theory of war termination, making an urgent plea to reform current international law.


The biosphere of planet Earth is delineated by physico-chemical conditions that are too harsh for, or inconsistent with, life processes and maintenance of the structure and function of biomolecules. To define the window of life on Earth (and perhaps gain insights into the limits that life could tolerate elsewhere), and hence understand some of the most unusual biological activities that operate at such extremes, it is necessary to understand the causes and cellular basis of systems failure beyond these windows. Because water plays such a central role in biomolecules and bioprocesses, its availability, properties and behaviour are among the key life-limiting parameters. Saline waters dominate the Earth, with the oceans holding 96.5% of the planet's water. Saline groundwater, inland seas or saltwater lakes hold another 1%, a quantity that exceeds the world's available freshwater. About one quarter of Earth's land mass is underlain by salt, often more than 100 m thick. Evaporite deposits contain hypersaline waters within and between their salt crystals, and even contain large subterranean salt lakes, and therefore represent significant microbial habitats. Salts have a major impact on the nature and extent of the biosphere, because solutes radically influence water's availability (water activity) and exert other activities that also affect biological systems (e.g. ionic, kosmotropic, chaotropic and those that affect cell turgor), and as a consequence can be major stressors of cellular systems. Despite the stressor effects of salts, hypersaline environments can be heavily populated with salt-tolerant or -dependent microbes, the halophiles. The most common salt in hypersaline environments is NaCl, but many evaporite deposits and brines are also rich in other salts, including MgCl(2) (several hundred million tonnes of bischofite, MgCl(2).6H(2)O, occur in one formation alone). Magnesium (Mg) is the third most abundant element dissolved in seawater and is ubiquitous in the Earth's crust, and throughout the Solar System, where it exists in association with a variety of anions. Magnesium chloride is exceptionally soluble in water, so can achieve high concentrations (> 5 M) in brines. However, while NaCl-dominated hypersaline environments are habitats for a rich variety of salt-adapted microbes, there are contradictory indications of life in MgCl(2)-rich environments. In this work, we have sought to obtain new insights into how MgCl(2) affects cellular systems, to assess whether MgCl(2) can determine the window of life, and, if so, to derive a value for this window. We have dissected two relevant cellular stress-related activities of MgCl(2) solutions, namely water activity reduction and chaotropicity, and analysed signatures of life at different concentrations of MgCl(2) in a natural environment, namely the 0.05-5.05 M MgCl(2) gradient of the seawater : hypersaline brine interface of Discovery Basin - a large, stable brine lake almost saturated with MgCl(2), located on the Mediterranean Sea floor. We document here the exceptional chaotropicity of MgCl(2), and show that this property, rather than water activity reduction, inhibits life by denaturing biological macromolecules. In vitro, a test enzyme was totally inhibited by MgCl(2) at concentrations below 1 M; and culture medium with MgCl(2) concentrations above 1.26 M inhibited the growth of microbes in samples taken from all parts of the Discovery interface. Although DNA and rRNA from key microbial groups (sulfate reducers and methanogens) were detected along the entire MgCl(2) gradient of the seawater : Discovery brine interface, mRNA, a highly labile indicator of active microbes, was recovered only from the upper part of the chemocline at MgCl(2) concentrations of less than 2.3 M. We also show that the extreme chaotropicity of MgCl(2) at high concentrations not only denatures macromolecules, but also preserves the more stable ones: such indicator molecules, hitherto regarded as evidence of life, may thus be misleading signatures in chaotropic environments. Thus, the chaotropicity of MgCl(2) would appear to be a window-of-life-determining parameter, and the results obtained here suggest that the upper MgCl(2) concentration for life, in the absence of compensating (e.g. kosmotropic) solutes, is about 2.3 M.


Objective Surgical correction of congenital aortic coarctation can lead to a number of important problems including late pseudoaneurysm formation. Redo surgery has a significant risk. Endovascular stent graft repair is increasingly used but there are limited data regarding this indication. We describe the experience of two UK congenital referral centres. Design Retrospective analysis of patients treated with endovascular aortic stent grafting for late pseudoaneurysms. Setting Two UK congenital heart centres, Bristol Heart Institute and Leeds General Infirmary. Patients 17 patients were treated 2006–2012. This represents all patients treated with this technique. Main outcome measures Procedural and postprocedure success and complications. Results The average time from index repair to endovascular repair of pseudoaneurysm was 24.6 years. The majority (70.6%) had patch aortoplasty as the original surgical procedure and 41.2% were not under follow-up or discharged. Stent grafting procedural success rate was 100%. Median hospital stay postprocedure was 3 days. There was no procedural mortality or immediate complication. There were four minor early and three minor late complications. Imaging follow-up was available for an average of 31.6 months (range 6–65 months). All patients have demonstrated positive remodelling of the pseudoaneurysm with no incidence of continued expansion or stent graft failure up to 5 years following implant. Conclusions Endovascular stent graft treatment of pseudoaneurysms show promising results in a population who have a high risk of surgical re-intervention. Complication rates appear to be low and recovery is quick. Longer-term data remain essential to scrutinise stent graft performance in this situation.


Despite intense studies of carbon nanotubes for decades, the separation of semiconducting and metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) remains to be one of the most important tasks to be resolved. Here we demonstrate that a K atom binds the semiconducting SWNTs more strongly than the metallic SWNTs, while this binding strength hierarchy is reversed for a K+ ion, consistent with experimental reports. This was shown by first-principles calculations, which properly describe the van der Waals interactions, and the origin of such results is explained. These results could be exploited as useful guidance toward separating semiconducting and metallic SWNTs via noncovalent functionalization.


In spite of the fact that the ability to transfer knowledge is critical for securing a firm's competitive advantage through leveraging scarce internal resources, few investigations have been conducted to date to systematically explore intra-firm knowledge transfer processes put in place by small firms operating in turbulent environments. Drawing upon an exhaustive cross-case analysis of a set of knowledge transfer processes within five small software firms, we found that these processes exhibit striking differences in their degree of formalization in two firms of equal size. Contrary to the conventional belief held by many scholars in the literature that assumes that the degree of process formalization increases in direct proportion with firm size, our results demonstrate that the major factors explaining the variance in the degree of formalization of intra-firm knowledge transfer processes are the CEO personality, firm age, and availability of venture capital.


The practical result borne by our investigations has been the introduction of routine estimation of cord blood total protein. In every case when the concentration is below the 10 percentile value, the clinicians are warned. Further catamnestic studies are needed to judge the values of cord blood cholesterol estimations in screening for familial hyperlipoproteinemias. The hypercholeterolemic infants of the present series, who are 2-3 years old at present, as well as their families must be subjected to repeat analysis. The change in opposite directions of cord blood total protein and cholesterol levels with the advance of gestation was a remarkable finding. This correlation indicates a close interaction between protein and lipid metabolism. Less promising results have been obtained in investigations of the cord blood calcium and magnesium levels, but final conclusions can only be drawn after repeat analyses. Introduction of the routine estimation of these two parameters does not seem necessary at present. Besides clinical data, biochemical parameters have also been found suitable for differentiating small-for-date infants from true prematures. The functional maturity of these infants was shown by the fact that their different cord blood components were normal.


Indole derivatives compounds (IDC) are a new class of splicing inhibitors that have a selective action on exonic splicing enhancers (ESE)-dependent activity of individual serine-arginine-rich (SR) proteins. Some of these molecules have been shown to compromise assembly of HIV infectious particles in cell cultures by interfering with the activity of the SR protein SF2/ASF and by subsequently suppressing production of splicing-dependent retroviral accessory proteins. For all replication-competent retroviruses, a limiting requirement for infection and pathogenesis is the expression of the envelope glycoprotein which strictly depends on the host splicing machinery. Here, we have evaluated the efficiency of IDC on an animal model of retroviral pathogenesis using a fully replication-competent retrovirus. In this model, all newborn mice infected with a fully replicative murine leukemia virus (MLV) develop erythroleukemia within 6 to 8 weeks of age. We tested several IDC for their ability to interfere ex vivo with MLV splicing and virus spreading as well as for their protective effect in vivo. We show here that two of these IDC, IDC13 and IDC78, selectively altered splicing-dependent production of the retroviral envelope gene, thus inhibiting early viral replication in vivo, sufficiently to protect mice from MLV-induced pathogenesis. The apparent specificity and clinical safety observed here for both IDC13 and IDC78 strongly support further assessment of inhibitors of SR protein splicing factors as a new class of antiretroviral therapeutic agents.


Recently, strong arguments have been offered for the inclusion of jus post bellum in just war theory. If this addition is indeed justified, it is plain that, due to the variety in types of post-conflict situation, the content of jus post bellum will necessarily vary. One instance when it looks as if it should become "extended" in its scope, ranging well beyond (for example) issues of "just peace terms," is when occupation of a defeated enemy is necessary. In this situation, this article argues that an engagement by jus post bellum with the morality of post-conflict reconstruction is unavoidable. However, the resulting extension of jus post bellum's stipulations threatens to generate conflict with another tenet that it would surely wish to endorse with respect to "just occupation," namely, that sovereignty or self-determination should be restored to the occupied people as soon as is reasonably possible. Hence, the action-guiding objective of the theory could become significantly problematized. The article concludes by considering whether this problem supports the claim that the addition of jus post bellum to just war theory is actually more problematic than its supporters have realized.


This paper initiated an investigation on how beauty brands employ social media, particularly Facebook, to increase brand awareness and reinforce brand loyalty. It is no doubt that changes in the consumptive patterns of media have led companies to shift their focus from products to people and from information delivery to information exchange. Few studies, to our knowledge, exist that examine beauty brands and/or beauty companies' use of social media as a means of engaging with or interacting with their current and potential consumers. Thus, the present study represented findings from a content analysis of Facebook posts from Estée Lauder, MAC cosmetics, Clinique, L'Oreal, Maybelline, and CoverGirl to see what types of social media tools were used more frequently by these brands to connect with their fans and users. Specifically, the study focused on the theoretical and practical implications of viral marketing in the branding strategies of the six beauty and/or makeup brands. Additionally, the study examined the way "high-end" brands used Facebook compared to the department store counterparts. These and other findings are discussed.


A case is presented in which diffuse lymphangiomatosis resulted in the complete loss of the maxillary dentoalveolar complex and underlying basal bone. The complex investigation and treatment of this patient over a 10-year period is presented, and the importance of a multidisciplinary team approach in providing a functional and esthetic rehabilitation is highlighted. The use of a vascularized bone graft based on the deep circumflex iliac artery and subsequent restoration with an implant-supported prosthesis is described.


In Search of our Lost Rice Seeds : This documentary travels through the work of some of the traditional paddy seed savers in the three states of Kerala, Tamilnadu and Karnataka. Through their voices, and the voices of scientists, farmers and environmentalists, the film traces the destruction of the agro-biodiversity as well as knowledge systems, that has eventually led to the crisis faced by farmers in India. It ends with a warning, and also hope for the future. Suma Josson is a documentary filmmaker and writer. She lives in Mumbai, and of late has been focussing her lens on the plight as well as hope of farmers in India. Her latest films I want my Father back and Raghuvanshi â?? The seed man are two of them. Her documentary film Niyamgiri, You are still alive, on the ecological and human damage done by bauxite mining won a first prize in the Short Film, Environment category at the 2010 International Film Festival of India. Earlier her two feature films Janmadinam and Saree won much accolades


We show the existence of Bridgeland stability conditions on all Fano threefolds, by proving a modified version of a conjecture by Bayer, Toda, and the second author. The key technical ingredient is a strong Bogomolov inequality, proved recently by Chunyi Li. Additionally, we prove the original conjecture for some toric threefolds by using the toric Frobenius morphism.