Problem. The Louisville First Seventh-day Adventist Church attracts approximately 250 first-time guests through its doors each year. Of these approximately 5% are actually connecting to the church through membership. The local church has no organized, effective means of connecting these guests to the church and Christ, therefore great growth potential is being squandered. The intention of this project is to increase the evangelistic impact of Louisville First and other Seventh-day Adventist churches in metropolitan areas by increasing the number of first-time guests to membership ratio. Method. A guest retention process was developed and implemented in 2010 at the Louisville First Seventh-day Adventist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, which consisted of: (a) a training of the church leadership to provide awareness and authorization, (b) a four-part sermon series to introduce the biblical foundations and details of the guest retention process to the whole congregation, (c) a training seminar to give basic hospitality training to the members of the hospitality team, and (d) a training for the follow-up of guests at Louisville First Seventh-day Adventist Church. The guest retention process was then tested to measure its effectiveness. Results. The overall guest retention process training brought greater awareness of biblical hospitality and the attendance of guests at Louisville First Seventh-day Adventist Church. The pre- and post-evaluation instrument also showed that the guest retention process was perceived to be more successful at evangelism effectiveness. Conclusion. The guest retention process project proved to be a valuable training resource in the Louisville First Seventh-day Adventist Church. This resource might be a valuable training tool for other locations as well.


Specific syndromes and single-gene defects are rare causes of obesity, accounting for less than one percent of childhood obesity. Most endocrine and genetic causes of obesity are associated with short stature. The purpose of this paper was clinically and biochemically describe a toddler with insulin mediated pseudoacromegaly and in addition, to examine the response to pharmacologic therapy. The patient was a 3-year-old boy with severe obesity, pseudoacromegaly, Blount disease and acanthosis nigricans diagnosed as insulin resistance syndrome according to clinical and biochemical findings. A trial for measuring the effect of Orlistat TM on weight gain and body mass index was done.


Internationalisation has become a central agenda in higher education sectors around the world. Malaysia, where this research is conducted, represents a growing world education hub, where there are more than 40 private universities which has led to a growing international student population. As non-government sponsored institutions, Malaysian private universities have a higher degree of autonomy in expanding their internationalisation agendas; they are able to establish more partnerships, recruit international talents, and grow international student markets without imposed limitations. Thus, the aim of this study is to examine the extent to which internationalisation legislation, policy and practice result in a relation of the correspondence or discrepancy in Malaysian private universities. It is also to explore the multiple factors that interact and influence the process of internationalising private tertiary institutions in Malaysia. The findings of this research can assist the stakeholders of private higher education to make informed decisions about how to effectively include an international dimension into the processes of policy making and practice. To elucidate this relationship the study employs a mixed methods approach combining textual analyses and qualitative interviews. First, 6 legislative texts which relate directly to private higher education internationalisation were analysed, followed by the interviews with 20 Senior Management Leaders (SMLs) from 4 Malaysian private universities. It is through the triangulation of data that an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon of internationalisation in Malaysian private higher education emerges. Theoretically, the thesis employs a synthesis of Pierre Bourdieu's theory of practice, and Engestrom's activity theory. It is argued here that SMLs interactions with legislation, policy and practice, reveal the centrality of strong habitus at the organisational level of the university. This manifests in individualised and institutionally-specific internationalisation policies, which then must interact and align with government legislation. The textual findings indicate that legislation has granted the private university with a higher degree of autonomy in developing its power hierarchy and habitus geared towards internationalisation. The increasing self-governance of the private higher education field has allowed negotiations between the SMLs and the governmental authority in aligning the university internationalisation policy and practice with legislation. This advocates Engestrom's notion of knotworking in developing the SMLs' and the governmental authority's stable and institutionalised activity systems, and maintaining the power balance between both for implementing individualised internationalisation policies. The fierce local and international competitions between private universities have increased their motivations to individualise their internationalisation policies, for sustaining growth into the future. The discrepancy between legislation, internationalisation policy and practice is due to the strict legislative control on specific internationalisation areas such as accreditation and student autonomy, which impedes knotworking between the activity systems of the SMLs and the governmental authority. It results in the SMLs' disempowerment, procrastination, negligence and eventually abandonment of realising an important internationalisation strategy. Both interacting activity systems have to address tension and disagreements, derived from their individual agenda of internationalisation, in order to establish the common internationalisation objective.


Immigration to Norway has increased over the last forty years, and today ethnic minority groups comprise 10,6 per cent of the population. The Norwegian Defence is working to increase the number of soldiers, airmen and sailors coming from ethnic minorities, and in 1998 a goal connected to ethnic minority recruitment was set. The arguments adduced for increasing the numbers of officers with an ethnic minority background appeal to equal opportunities, fairness, legitimacy and operationally effectiveness. This study starts with the thesis stating that young people from ethnic minority backgrounds do not choose to pursuit a military career and become officers despite political and military recruitment goals and ambitions. The intention with this study has been to establish a platform of knowledge about the relations and mechanisms that leads ethnic minorities away from the military profession. By doing so, I hope to unveil some of the reasons why the Norwegian Defence does not reach its ambitions concerning the recruitment of ethnic minorities. In this study I have paid particular attention to the young persons own experience, meanings and their understanding of the reality. I argue that even though equal opportunities is an overarching political goal, young people with ethnic minority backgrounds have a far more difficult road to travel on their way to pursue military ambitions than their ethnically Norwegian brothers and sisters. If the Norwegian Defence wants progress towards the target of representativeness of officers with an ethnic minority background, it will take far more effort and active recruitment. I also argue that young people coming from ethnic minorities will be affected by factors both within the Norwegian Armed Forces and within the ethnical minority cultures when they consider to pursue a military career or not. One obstacle for choosing a career in the armed forces seems to be that minority families often have other educational attainments and preferences for their children. Another important bottleneck is lack of information about all the possible ways to pursue a military career, and insufficient information on the Norwegian Defence in general. Other obstacles appear to be lack of role models with ethnic minority backgrounds and, to some degree, lack of intercultural experience and awareness within the organization. The respondents in this study have mainly a positive experience and attitude towards the Norwegian armed forces after having served themselves.


Methodologies for prognostics usually centre on physics-based or data-driven approaches. Both have advantages and disadvantages, but accurate prediction relies on extensive data being available. For industrial applications, this is very rarely the case, and hence the chosen method's performance can deteriorate quite markedly from optimal. For this reason, a hybrid methodology, merging physics-based and data-driven approaches, has been developed and is reported here. Most, if not all, hybrid methods apply physics-based and data-driven approaches in different steps of the prognostics process (i.e. state estimation and state forecasting). The presented technique combines both methods in forecasting, and integrates the short-term prediction of a physics-based model with the longer-term projection of a similarity-based data-driven model, to obtain remaining useful life estimation. The proposed hybrid prognostic methodology has been tested on two engineering datasets, one for crack growth and the other for filter clogging. The performance of the presented methodology has been evaluated by comparing remaining useful life estimations obtained from both hybrid and individual prognostic models. The results show that the presented methodology improves accuracy, robustness and applicability, especially in the case of minimal data being available.


Background Vascular calcification and increased mortality is now well linked in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Among the inhibitors and promoters of calcium-phosphate and bone metabolism, we studied Sclerostin, a glycoprotein mainly expressed by osteocytes, involved in regulating bone formation by inhibiting Wnt–β-catenin signaling. Studies demonstrated, in experimental CDK animal model, a positive association between Sclerostin production and dietary phosphate intake. Materials and Methods We investigated the relation between Sclerostin levels (SL) and dietary habits in 49 Caucasian HD patients (age 36–90, M/F 31/18, dialysis vintage 1–144 months). Nutrient intake was analyzed with 24 h-recall method. Serum Sclerostin was measured by ELISA method. Statistically analysis was performed by SPSS software. Results Mean calcium and phosphate intake were 705 ± 584 and 1196 ± 498 mg/day, respectively. Serum SL (3356 ± 2118 pg/ml) were increased in HD patients. Positive correlation was found between serum SL and calcium (r = 0.33, p = 0.025) and phosphate intake (r = 0.34, p = 0.021). Patients with SL higher were older (p = 0.003), showed higher protein (p = 0.012), calcium (p = 0.017) and phosphate (p = 0.004) intake. Multiple linear regression testing Sclerostin as dependent variable (dialysis vintage, age, body-weight, serum calcium and phosphate, serum PTH, calcium and phosphate intake as independent variables) found that dietary phosphate intake was the only significant determinant of SL (r = 0.356, B = 1.5, p = 0.004). In Patients with calcium carbonate or acetate therapy (n = 31), serum SL was positively correlated with dietary calcium (r = 0.433, p = 0.017) and phosphate intake (r = 0.377, p = 0.04). Conclusions The dietary phosphate and calcium intake may influence serum Sclerostin levels and potentially affect bone remodeling or soft tissue calcification in HD patients.


The effect of "low-dose" (6–10 U/h) insulin treatment on the rate of decline of plasma glucose concentration was determined in 15 diabetic subjects admitted in ketoacidosis (plasma glucose = 948 ± 79 mg/dl) and in six normal volunteers rendered hyperglycemic by a combined infusion of somatostatin and glucose (plasma glucose = 653 ± 28 mg/dl). The fractional glucose turnover and the half-time of the fall in plasma glucose during insulin treatment were both 10-fold reduced (P < 0.001) in the diabetics as compared with the controls. In the ketoacidotic subjects, the mean glucose clearance during insulin treatment was only 8% of that in the controls (P < 0.001). In the normal subjects, tissue glucose clearance during insulin treatment of the hyperglycemia (5.8 ± 0.7 ml/min · kg) was similar to that measured in the same subjects using a standard technique to quantitate insulin sensitivity (euglycemic insulin clamp). In the ketoacidotic patients, a history of prior insulin therapy, but not the degree of hyperglycemia at the time of admission, was associated with a more rapid rate of decline of plasma glucose in response to insulin treatment. We conclude that marked insulin resistance is present in virtually all diabetics in ketoacidosis.


In 1979, there was published one of the first pieces of critic writings about Brazilian Protestantism. Its author was Rubem Alves, then a Presbyterian theologian, a professor of philosophy, and a psychoanalyst. Using the language of political philosophy, he presented a text that would become a classic in the study of Brazilian Protestantism: "Protestantism and Repression." To do this he created an ideal type, "right doctrine Protestantism," and developed his own methodology, inspired by phenomenology. Today, almost 30 years later, a second edition has appeared with the title "Religion and Repression." The present article, taking as its point of departure the Sociology of Knowledge and the proposals of Pierre Bourdieu, seeks to describe the Brazilian religious situation in which this book arose and the political and intellectual context, discussing the epistemology and the methodology employed by Alves in putting together his work.


One of the key democratic functions of the media is to provide people with the kind of information they need to be free and self-governing. This is equally important when it comes to the coverage of opinion polls. Thus far, there is however only limited research on the quality of the media's coverage of opinion polls, including factors that might help to explain variation in the quality of opinion poll coverage. Against this background, the purpose of this study is (1) to investigate the extent to which news media take statistical uncertainties into account when covering opinion polls and making causal interpretations based on opinion polls, and (2) to explore some factors that might help to explain variation in the quality of opinion poll coverage. Among other things, the results show that journalists very often fail to take statistical uncertainties into account and that they, in about half of the cases, provide explanations for changes that are within the margin of error. The results also show that the quality of opinion poll coverage varies between different types of media organizations and between election campaigns and off-election periods.


Collusion can profitably be classified into three distinct types. In our classification, "Type I" collusion is the familiar direct agreement among colluding firms (a cartel) to raise prices or, equivalently, restrict output. Alternatively, firms can collude to disadvantage rivals in ways that causes those rivals to cut output. We term this "Type II" collusion. Its indirect effect is an increase in market prices.A number of important collusion cases neither direct manipulation of prices or output, nor direct attacks on rivals. Examples include Supreme Court cases such as National Society of Professional Engineers v. US, Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, and FTC v. Indiana Federation of Dentists. In each of these cases, cartel members set prices and output independently. Their collusion shaped the rules under which the independent decisions of the colluding firms were made. Collusion permitted the cartel members to insulate themselves from each another, at least partially. Their new-found isolation provided benefits similar to those attainable from market power acquired in a more traditional fashion. By increasing the insulation of cartel members, each achieved the power and independence to raise its own price-the colluding firms competed on price, but their competition was rendered less vigorous than by collusion over rules.Archetypal examples of this type of collusion include softening competition by limiting information available to consumers through direct restrictions on advertising. In this Article we explore a number of examples of previously unexplained or uncategorizable cartels that can be explained by this construct. We show that, together, they form a third general category of anti-competitive behavior that we term "Type III" collusion. With considerable enforcement activity directed at collusion of Types I and II, we believe that Type III collusion will prove increasing attractive to firms and, accordingly, a growing source of social welfare loss from collusion.


SUMMARY. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of solid dispersions of polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG 6000), using the co-precipitation method, on the in vitro solubility and intestinal absorption of praziquantel (PZQ). The solubility of PZQ in solid dispersions and physical mixtures was assessed in purified water and TC-199 buffer. The everted intestinal sac model was employed to assess, in vitro, intestinal absorption of PZQ. A significant enhancement in both in vitro solubility and intestinal absorption of PZQ was found in solid dispersions compared to pure PZQ and physical mixtures. This positive series of preliminary results showed that solid dispersion of PEG 6000 is a valuable strategy for increasing bioavailability of PZQ and could also prove useful for other poorly water-soluble drugs.


Abstract How do human beings make decisions when, as the evidence indicates, the assumptions of the Bayesian rationality approach in economics do not hold? Do human beings optimize, or can they? Several decades of research have shown that people possess a toolkit of heuristics to make decisions under certainty, risk, subjective uncertainty, and true uncertainty (or Knightian uncertainty). We outline recent advances in knowledge about the use of heuristics and departures from Bayesian rationality, with particular emphasis on growing formalization of those departures, which add necessary precision. We also explore the relationship between bounded rationality and libertarian paternalism, or nudges, and show that some recent objections, founded on psychological work on the usefulness of certain heuristics, are based on serious misunderstandings. JEL classifications: D01, D04, D81, D9


Ultra-low-density, highly hydrophobic, fiber-reinforced aerogel material integrated with MLI (aluminized Mylar reflectors and B4A Dacron separators) offers a highly effective insulation package by providing unsurpassed thermal performance and significant robustness, delivering substantial MMOD protection via the addition of a novel, durable, external aerogel layer. The hydrophobic nature of the aerogel is an important property for maintaining thermal performance if the material is exposed to the environment (i.e. rain, snow, etc.) during ground installations. The hybrid aerogel/MLI/MMOD solution affords an attractive alternative because it will perform thermally in the same range as MLI at all vacuum levels (including high vacuum), and offers significant protection from micrometeoroid damage. During this effort, the required low-density and resilient aerogel materials have been developed that are needed to optimize the thermal performance for space (high vacuum) cryotank applications. The proposed insulation/MMOD package is composed of two sections: a stack of interleaved aerogel layers and MLI intended for cryotank thermal insulation, and a 1.5- to 1-in. (.2.5- to 3.8- cm) thick aerogel layer (on top of the insulation portion) for MMOD protection. Learning that low-density aerogel cannot withstand the hypervelocity impact test conditions, the innovators decided during the course of the program to fabricate a high-density and strong material based on a cross-linked aerogel (X-aerogel; developed elsewhere by the innovators) for MMOD protection. This system has shown a very high compressive strength that is capable of withstanding high-impact tests if a proper configuration of the MMOD aerogel layer is used. It was learned that by stacking two X-aerogel layers [1.5-in. (.3.8-cm) thick] separated by an air gap, the system would be able to hold the threat at a speed of 5 km/s and gpass h the test. The first aerogel panel stopped the projectile from damaging the second aerogel panel. The impacted X-aerogel (the back specimen from the successful test) was further tested in comparison to another similar sample (not impacted) at Kennedy Space Center for thermal conductivity evaluation at cryogenic conditions. The specimens were tested under high vacuum and cryogenic temperatures, using Cryostat 500. The results show that the specimen did not lose a significant amount of thermal performance due to the impact test, especially at high vacuum.


It has recently been demonstrated (Okada, 1982) that some reticulate Ostracoda develop ornamentation by a process which reflects the arrangement of underlying epidermal cells. Pitting and secondary reticulation are also characteristic of many such forms, either during ontogeny or phylogeny, and as these features are of lesser dimensions than epidermal cells, a process at variance with that described by Okada must be responsible for their production. Outlined below is evidence from fossil Ostracoda supporting the hypothesis that actual valve resorption may occur during ontogeny to produce these second order features.


This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different levels of dietary prebiotic Immunogen on the growth performance, hematological parameters and body composition of koi carp (Cyprinus carpio var. Koi) fingerlings. For this reason, 360 koi carp fingerlings (4.98±0.11 g) were randomly distributed in 12 tanks (n=30 per tank). The fish fed on four different levels of Immunogen (0, 2, 5 and 10 grams of prebiotic per kg diet) for 60 days. The results showed that the highest final weight and specific growth rate (SGR) were observed in the T2 (P<0.05). Minimum condition factor (0.81±0.07) and FCR (1.34±0.08) were measured in T2. However, there was no significant difference between T2 and T3, in this respect (P>0.05). The numbers of red blood cells showed a significant difference between T1 (control) and three other treatments. A significant difference was observed in hemoglobin and hematocrit levels, between T1 and T2. T2 contained the highest number of white blood cells (WBC). The number of lymphocytes were increased and the number of neutrophils were decreased, with increasing the amount of Immunogen (P>0.05). Body composition analysis showed no significant difference between treatments. However, crude protein showed an increasing trend with increasing levels of probiotic. The results showed that the addition of 2 to 5 grams of Immunogen per kg diet can improve the growth performance, final production, and health (immune system) in Koi fingerlings. Therefore, due to the fact that there was no significant difference between T2 and T3 in measured parameters, 2g Immunogen per kg diet was chosen as the optimum level.


The use of data by school counselors has grown increasingly important over the past few years, and has a prominent place in the American School Counselor Association"s National Model for School Counseling Programs. This study examines the effectiveness of four variations of a workshop designed to improve school counselors" data use skills. The workshops were designed to vary along two dimensions; the amount of conceptual knowledge participants were exposed to, and the amount of a technology application (EZAnalyze) participants were exposed to. The quantitative results of the study indicate that being exposed to technology did not have a statistically significant impact on data use. The qualitative results indicate lack of time and knowledge were the most prominent barriers to applying what was learned during the workshop, and technology and access to useful data were the most prominent facilitators of data use. While the design of the study may provide a useful model to evaluate the impact of professional development over time, the results of the current study are best viewed as exploratory in nature. This article is available in The Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision: http://repository.wcsu.edu/jcps/vol1/iss1/5


In the wake of the Great Recession many new parties have emerged throughout Europe. By adopting an anti-establishment narrative and oftentimes a populist posture, these parties have challenged the traditional or mainstream political actors which have characterized and structured West European party systems since the end of the Great Depression in the XX century. The present article explores the emergence of the «Great Recession Parties» and, in particular, it focuses on the main causal mechanisms explaining the recent electoral success of populist parties. More specifically, it evaluates whether and to what extent the populist surge is mainly driven by the economic downturn (the economic insecurity perspective), the reaction to the spread of progressive values in Western societies (the cultural backlash hypothesis) or the collusive behavior of mainstream political parties (the cartelization thesis). In the final sections, the article explores also the consequences of the emergence of populist actors for the dynamics and the stability of West European party systems.


Irradiation of materials such as iron and silicon with single nanosecond laser pulses produces nanostructures on its surfaces. Nevertheless, the deposition before irradiation of thin films on the surface of the silicon wafers can modify the shapes of these struc‐ tures. Upon laser irradiation, different effects are produced on the surfaces of monocrys‐ talline silicon wafers coated with a thin film of Si 3 N 4 than on that of bare ones. After irradiation with a Nd:YAG laser pulse of 532 nm, the coated silicon surface presents a nanostructure that, due to its hydrophobic behavior, can be used for biological applica‐ tions such as cell growth. On the other hand, the nanostructures formed on the surface of metals, such as iron, make them more resistant to oxidation processes by changing their oxidation potentials.


Although a good agricultural-yielding region when adequate rainfall is available the Little Karoo is plagued by regular, recurring and sometimes devastating droughts. In a rural town like Calitzdorp, where the same water resources are being shared by agricultural and domestic users, acute shortages over time have contributed to a history of water disputes and contestations between the Calitzdorp Irrigation Board (CIB) and the local municipality. The study focuses on the period between 1912, when the Calitzdorp Irrigation Board was established, and the beginning of the 21st century. Drought conditions and water shortages, also due to further municipal needs, were main determinants in relations between the CIB and the municipality between the 1950s and the early 1990s. Although this relationship had been abrasive at times up to 1994, issues regarding municipal water allocation and usage and payment of water tariffs had usually been settled in a practical way and to the mutual satisfaction of all stakeholders. The interests of the all-white CIB and town council were intertwined in a community whose existence depended on an agricultural economy supported predominantly by irrigation. However, when new district municipalities were created in 1998 the Calitzdorp Municipality was dissolved after 88 years and all executive and administrative municipal powers shifted to the neighbouring town of Ladismith. As a result of political instability, mismanagement and inefficient administration occurred. The new Kannaland Municipality not only demanded more water from the CIB, but also started paying its water bills in an erratic manner to the board. This situation led to the souring of relations between the two entities.


Wyndham Lewis was both a serious proponent and forthright critic of modernism. His assault upon his contemporaries foreshadowed the twenty-first century scholarly interest in the networks, professions, and coteries – rather than the myths and heroics – of modernism. Lewis, after a long period of neglect, now sits increasingly at the heart of a revised field of modernist studies. This book explores Lewis's cultural criticism as a valuable body of writing which posed questions that have yet to be answered about subsidy and the function of the artist, about professionalism and ethics, about who should pay for the arts, and what the artist's obligations should be in return. It is the first book-length study of this body of critical writing, through which Lewis articulated the central and most lasting of his critical preoccupations: the question of how the work of the artist is to be valued, and the artist to be paid, in a professionalised society. This book makes an important contribution to the long overdue reassessment of a complex, contrarian figure, spanning the disciplines of literature and the visual arts, who asked pressing questions about the role and status of the artist, and ultimately about the value (economic, civic, political) of the work of art.


Aim: The aim of this study was to analyse the expression at the mRNA level of cytochromeb, subunits COI, COII, COIII of complex IV, ATP6 and ATP8 and to perform aquantitative analysis of the activity of ATP synthase as complex V of the respiratory chain, responsible for ATP synthesis and break down of ATP to ADP in breast cancer. Methods and Results: The level of gene expression at the mRNA level was evaluated on the basis of the light intensity of fluorochrome or fluorescein in the cells. Determination of the activity and location of the ATP synthase in cells was carried out using hybridization. In the formulations of breast cancer there was a higher genes expression at the mRNA level for all the examined genes as compared with non-cancerous tissue. The ATP activity was also higher in preparations obtained from breast cancer cells compared with the control tissue. Conclusions: The results confirm mtDNA incorporation to nDNA in neoplastic cells. They point to increased expression at mRNA level for COI, COII, COIII, ATP6 and ATP8 in breast cancer cells compared with control tissue. Increased amount of ATP synthase points to increased ATP in a neoplastic cell.


Objective To establish the audiometric profile and speech recognition characteristics in 36 Usher IIa patients, carrying one (A) or two (B) pathogenic mutations in the USH2A gene. Study design Family study. Setting Tertiary referral center. Patients Thirty six Usher IIa patients from 21 Dutch families. Methods Ophthalmologic, vestibular, and audiometric examinations were performed on all patients. Cross-sectional analysis was performed on pure tone threshold data at 0.25 to 8 kHz and on speech phoneme recognition scores. Progression was evaluated using linear regression analysis on raw and presbyacusis corrected data. Results A downsloping audiogram was found, with a mean threshold slope of −9 dB per octave, that was mildly progressive, i.e., by approximately 0.5 dB per year. Individual monaural maximum phoneme recognition scores (% correct) were analyzed in 30 patients in relation to the patient's age and level of hearing impairment characterized by a pure tone average (PTA1–4kHz). The speech recognition score started to deteriorate from a score of 90% at 38 years at a rate of 0.4% per year. The 90% level was attained at 69 dB hearing level (PTA1–4kHz); at higher levels of impairment, the score deteriorated at a slope of 0.6% per dB hearing level. There was no significant difference between group A and B in pure tone threshold, with or without presbyacusis correction, or phoneme recognition score as related to age or PTA1–4kHz. Conclusions Patients with various mutations in USH2A have moderate to severe hearing impairment showing mild progression at approximately 0.5 dB hearing level per year.


Administrative law is rightly regarded, together with constitutional law, as one of the twin pillars of public law. This is equally true for civil law regimes as it is for those grounded in the common law. The conceptual and normative foundations of administrative law should be examined with care, in the same way as for any other body of legal doctrine. Philip Hamburger recently posed a provocative challenge to administrative law in the USA, as attested to by the title to the book, which asks whether administrative law is unlawful. His thesis is grounded in English administrative law, as it developed in the seventeenth century and eighteenth centuries, when lawyers in the American colonies would have been familiar with it. Indeed this analysis occupies approximately half of the book. It is perfectly legitimate for Hamburger to pose searching questions concerning the legitimacy of administrative law. It is by the same token equally fitting to subject this analysis to close critical scrutiny, which is the purpose of this article. This is more especially so given that there is much that is imperfectly understood about English doctrinal history in this area, and the misconceptions in this respect bear analogy to those revealed in Jerry Mashaw's seminal work on the foundations of US administrative law. The ensuing analysis does not consider the fit between Hamburger's argument and modern US administrative and constitutional law. There has been valuable literature on this by those better versed than I in such issues, and I agree with their arguments. What follows is directed towards the central parts of Hamburger's thesis that are built on English administrative law. It will be argued that his thesis is misconceived, and does not represent the reality of this law in the seventeenth century or thereafter, with which American colonists might have been familiar. The argument presented below is also of more general relevance, since it will be shown that Hamburger's thesis is predicated on certain conceptual distinctions that are untenable. The structure of the argument is as follows. Part I of the article contains a brief overview of the doctrinal and institutional foundations of English administrative law. This is followed in Part II by consideration of rulemaking. Hamburger's thesis concerning "extralegal rulemaking", which is said to be derived from English law, is set out. It has an expansive dimension insofar as the thesis is premised on elision between prerogative and administrative rulemaking. This is mistaken, and did not represent the legal or constitutional reality in the seventeenth century or thereafter. Hamburger's thesis is also premised on a qualifying dimension, in which he seeks to limit the force of his argument concerning "extralegal rulemaking" through definition of the term legislative. This facet of the argument is problematic from a conceptual perspective. This is followed by examination of the reality of such rulemaking in England from the sixteenth century onwards in four areas: health, safety and trade regulation; flood protection; poor relief; and excise. The American colonists would probably have been aware that Parliament had authorized executive actors, the King or specific commissioners, to adopt regulations to protect health and safety, to prevent flood damage, and other matters. This was not regarded as extralegal.The focus in Part III shifts to adjudication, and the analysis is structured symmetrically with Part II. Thus the discussion begins with Hamburger's thesis on "extralegal adjudication", which he derives from early English law. His argument contains an expansive dimension, in that it is based on an elision between prerogative and administrative adjudication. This elision is mistaken, and did not represent legal or constitutional reality. Hamburger's argument also contains, as in the context of rulemaking, a qualifying dimension, in which he limits the force of his principal argument concerning "extralegal adjudication", through definition of the term judicial. This aspect of the argument is beset with conceptual difficulty and does not cohere with the reality of administrative adjudication in England. This reality is revealed through examination of four areas: bankruptcy, excise, inclosure and turnpikes. Discourse concerning doctrinal foundation and transformation is valuable, but fraught with difficulty. There are issues concerning the level of abstraction or detail at which the inquiry is posed; there are decisions to be made as to what is central and what is merely interstitial; and there are judgments as to the significance of institutional and doctrinal facets of the subject when considered in the relevant temporal frame. These difficulties are exacerbated when the subject matter of the inquiry dates back over 300 hundred years, which is the approximate time span in which administrative law developed in England and thereafter the UK. Whether there has been change depends on identification of the foundational tenets of the subject. Paint the foundational picture one way and you have radical disjunction with the past. Paint it differently and you have a stronger seam of continuity, notwithstanding change. Matters become more complex yet again when the scholar has a particular normative agenda and seeks to draw succour from historical sources. There is nothing wrong with having such an agenda; indeed we all do to some greater or lesser degree. This does not diminish the relevance of the point being made here. The stronger the normative agenda, the greater the attendant danger that the historical material will, albeit unwittingly, be read so as to lend it support. The stakes are necessarily raised when the normative agenda seeks to call into question the "legality" of a body of law broadly conceived. Close scrutiny of such arguments is more especially warranted in such instances. The message from this article is that whatsoever US courts and commentators choose to make of Philip Hamburger's thesis in the modern day they should not believe that it represents the legal and constitutional realities from England that American colonists, or the framers of the American constitution, would have been familiar with.


This brief by Yeva Nersisyan and Senior Scholar L. Randall Wray argues that deficits do not burden future generations with debt, nor do they crowd out private spending. The authors base their conclusions on the premise that a sovereign nation with its own currency cannot become insolvent, and that government financing is unlike that of a household or firm. Moreover, they observe that automatic stabilizers, not government bailouts and the stimulus package, have prevented the U.S. economic contraction from devolving into another Great Depression. The authors dispense with unsubstantiated concerns about deficits and debts, noting that they mask the real issue: the unwillingness of deficit hawks to allow government to work for the good of the people.


This paper considers the problem of emitter location in the presence of an adversary able to inject false information, where both the viewpoints of the adversary and locating network are considered. We begin by developing adversary strategies, which focus on degrading and redirecting the locating network. The locating network uses the time difference of arrival (TDOA) method and estimates the emitter location using both nonlinear least squares (LS) and the robust least median squares (LMS). Specifically, we determine the false sensor position the adversary should inject that maximally impacts the locating network by 1) minimizing the network's accuracy, and 2) redirecting the network's emitter location estimate. Similarly, we formulate a network's strategy for detecting the adversary's injection and develop a detector able to determine its presence under both adversary strategies. We present both theoretical and numerical results illustrating the effectiveness of the developed strategies.


Cilia store calcium that affects Hedgehog signaling. The primary cilium is a microtubule-rich, nonmotile organelle that protrudes from epithelial cells. Abnormal ciliogenesis produces pleiotropic developmental phenotypes and contributes to a class of diseases known as ciliopathies. Receptors for the secreted cell signaling ligands Wnt and Shh (sonic hedgehog) localize on ciliary membranes, and ciliary dysfunction disrupts these pathways. A pair of studies from the Clapham laboratory found that polycystin proteins, encoded by polycystic kidney disease (PKD)–associated genes, heteromultimerized to form calcium-permeable channels on cilia and that changes in ciliary calcium, which occurred independently of cytosolic calcium, modulated Shh pathway activity. Using whole-cell patch-clamp analysis of cilia in four different human and mouse epithelial cell types expressing ciliary-targeted green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion proteins, DeCaen et al. identified an outward-rectifying, noninactivating current in cilia that were either attached to or detached from the cell body. Ciliary current density was more than 50 times as high as that measured on the cell body, and the calculated channel density was comparable to that of other excitable plasma membranes. In perforated patch recordings, ciliary currents were blocked by the nonselective channel antagonists gadolinium or ruthenium red and were activated by extracellular uridine triphosphate or adenosine di- or triphosphate or by cell-permeable inhibitors of calmodulin, indicating that these channels are likely activated by purinergic G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs). Although the ciliary current was relatively nonselective for cations, calcium was more permeable than sodium or potassium. Ciliary current was reduced in human retina pigmented epithelial (hRPE) cells transfected with small-interfering RNAs targeting PKD1L1 or PKD2L1 and in embryonic fibroblasts from Pkd2l1–/– mice. When coexpressed in human embryonic kidney cells, PKD1L1 and PKD2L1 coimmunoprecipitated and produced currents with biophysical and pharmacological properties similar to those detected in cilia. Because calcium-sensitive dyes, such as Fluo-4, do not penetrate into primary cilia, Delling et al. created stable hRPE cells expressing a cilia-targeted ratiometric calcium sensor (SMO-mCherry-GcAMP3) composed of a fusion of the Shh receptor Smoothened (SMO), the red fluorescent protein mCherry, and the calcium-sensitive fluorophore GcAMP3. In SMO-mCherry-GcAMP3 hRPE cells loaded with Fluo-4 in the cytosol, rupturing the tip of the cilia with a laser pulse produced a transient increase in ciliary calcium that propagated through the base of the cilia but did not increase Fluo-4 fluorescence and thus did not appreciably change total cytosolic calcium. Selectively uncaging a calcium chelator near the base of the cilium in cells with these calcium sensors and loaded with high calcium revealed that the rates of calcium diffusion within the cytosol and from the cytosol into the cilium were similar, indicating that the basal body of the cilia does not impede calcium flux. Cilia showed a higher membrane potential and higher resting calcium concentration than the cell body. These results, combined with the fact that cilia have a much smaller volume than the cell body, suggest that the cilium forms an isolated calcium signaling compartment: The flow of calcium from the cilium to the cytosol minimally affects cytosolic calcium concentration, and cytosolic calcium does not flow into the cilium at resting calcium concentrations. Pkd2l1–/– mice had abnormal intestinal rotation characteristic of ciliary dysfunction and defects in Shh signaling. Embryonic fibroblasts of wild-type and Pkd2l1–/– mice had comparable abundance of SMO. However, localization of the transcription factor GLI2 in the ciliary tip and the increased abundance of the Shh target GLI1 induced by the SMO agonist SAG were impaired in Pkd2l1–/– fibroblasts. Treatment with SAG did not immediately affect ciliary current, but after 24 hours it increased the concentration of ciliary calcium and current amplitude, suggesting a compensatory effect. Thus, cilia have membranes with a high density of calcium-permeable channels, which can be further enhanced by prolonged Shh signaling, and the cilia function as calcium signaling organelles that are isolated from the cytosolic calcium signaling events. Disruption of the calcium signaling capacity of cilia impairs Shh signaling and may affect other signal transduction pathways. P. G. DeCaen, M. Delling, T. N. Vien, D. E. Clapham, Direct recording and molecular identification of the calcium channel of primary cilia. Nature 504, 315–318 (2013). [Online Journal] M. Delling, P. G. DeCaen, J. F. Doerner, S. Febvay, D. E. Clapham, Primary cilia are specialized calcium signalling organelles. Nature 504, 311–314 (2013). [Online Journal]


Beneficial properties of room temperature processed silica sol-gels as resorbable and biocompatible materials for the controlled release of drugs and macromolecules have been described before. Recently, it was shown that a thin sol-gel film can be used for the controlled delivery of antibiotics such as vancomycin. It was also demonstrated that the release and degradation properties of the sol-gel films can be tailored via processing parameters. In this work, we evaluated the in vitro and in vivo bactericidal effects of vancomycin-containing thin sol-gel films applied on Ti-alloy intramedullary nails. Both the in vitro and the in vivo results demonstrate a pronounced bactericidal effect of the sol-gel/antibiotic films. This study suggests that thin antibiotic-containing sol-gel film holds great promise for the prevention and treatment of bone infections.


The inner workings of the brain as a biological information processing system remain largely a mystery to science. Yet there is a growing interest in applying what is known about the brain to the design of novel computing systems, in part to explore hypotheses of brain function, but also to see if brain-inspired approaches can point to novel computational systems capable of circumventing the limitations of conventional approaches, particularly in the light of the slowing of the historical exponential progress resulting from Moore's Law. Although there are, as yet, few compelling demonstrations of the advantages of such approaches in engineered systems, a number of large-scale platforms have been developed recently that promise to accelerate progress both in understanding the biology and in supporting engineering applications. SpiNNaker (Spiking Neural Network Architecture) is one such large-scale example, and much has been learnt in the design, development and commissioning of this machine that will inform future developments in this area.


Recent production system applications have been experiencing exceedingly difficult software maintenance problems. This is because the control of rule firings has been buried in the production rules themselves. To cope with this problem, we propose a meta-level control architecture for production systems, where procedural programming languages, such as Lisp and C, are employed to explicitly describe the control plans of production systems. The key idea of the architecture is to view production systems as a collection of independent rule processes, each of which monitors the global database and performs actions when its conditions are satisfied by the database. Procedural Control Macros (PCMs), which are based on C.A.R. Hoare's (1978) CSP, are then introduced into procedural programming languages to establish communication with the collection of rule processes. Although the PCMs are simple and easy to implement, the readability and maintainability of production system applications are greatly enhanced. Together with the original facilities of procedural languages, the PCMs enable users to efficiently specify the control plans for production systems. Furthermore, since control information is gathered into control plans, production rules can be declarative and thereby application-independent. This new feature makes it possible to develop large-scale shared rule bases. >


In Sweden, professionalization projects in disability care services are currently being undertaken in order to differentiate and establish a professional identity for professionals within care work. The aim of this paper was to analyse the experiences of care workers' meaning of the professionalization process concerning their occupation and their occupational identity in relation to tasks they perform in front-line contacts with persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities at respite care service homes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten care workers. The meaning of the professionalization projects is an ongoing process of a connected mission, meaning that the care work is performed in close contact with care receivers and that it takes place within an informal and free framework, predicated on a logic of possessing a particular kind of "care-feeling."


This article traces the history of relocation law in Canada and assesses the merits of law reform proposals on relocation in one Canadian province, British Columbia. These law reforms would introduce burdens of proof for relocation applications, marking a departure from the Canadian trend. Based on the key Supreme Court of Canada decision on relocation, Gordon v Goertz (1996), this trend has been to reject presumptions of any kind in custody decision-making. Relocation decisions have thus been left to the discretion of individual judges, using the indeterminate best interests of the child test. Burdens of proof have, however, been at play at earlier points in Canadian law. In addition, studies indicate that the rejection of presumptions in favour of a general best interests test has had mixed results at best. The article uses these studies to raise questions about calls in recent scholarly literature for a 'neutral child-centric' approach and considers the impact of a normative climate favouring shared parenting and maximum contact on interpretations of children's best interests in the relocation context. The author recommends that greater attention be paid to the realities of a child's life, including the care relationships surrounding the child.


Plants relying on insects to pollinate flowers attract pollinators through varying
floral cues such as unique colors and scents. Pollinators rely on these cues to identify
flowers for sources of food such as nectar, pollen, and oils. The goals of this study were
to investigate color and odor cues associated with pollinator attraction in populations of
Trillium at the Botanical Gardens, Asheville, NC. Insect visitors to the red-scented T.
cuneatum and white-non-scented T. grandiflorum were collected using tangle-trap,
bottle-traps, transect walk methods. Floral color and odor cues also were investigated
using artificial flowers placed among a spring blooming plant community. Artificial
flowers colored wine-red, white, or yellow and scented or unscented were covered with
transparency film and sprayed with tangle-trap to capture insect visitors. Insects were
identified to the level of order and family. Insect visitors to T. cuneatum and T.
grandiflorum did not differ and primarily consisted of individuals belonging to the order
Diptera, Hymenoptera, and Coleoptera. Diptera were the most abundant visitors
consisting of weakly flying dipteran such as Sciaridae and Mycetophilidae. Similar to
the real flowers the main visitors to artificial flowers were Diptera, Hymenoptera, and
Coleoptera but also included 13 additional orders representing 106 families. Some
orders and families collected showed low abundances that could reflect they were being
repelled by the floral cues or might not be abundanct in the study area. Overall there was a difference in color (p 0.05). However, when looking at
each individual order or family separately, some orders and families were equally
distributed for color and odor while others were not, indicating that the importance of
floral cues depends on the insect family investigated. For those that were not equally
distributed for color, insects were found in greater average percent of individuals on
yellow flowers but there was no difference between red and white. For those that were
not equally distributed for odor, a greater average percent of individuals were found on
scented flowers. Some insects were generalists; visiting all artificial flower treatments
randomly, while other insects were more specialized visiting certain color and/or odor
treatments in greater numbers indicating a continuum along a gradient of generalized to
specialized insect visitors. The ability for plants to attract generalist insect visitors and
the ability for insects to visit multiple floral cues might be important where visitation is
affected by varying weather conditions and advantageous in the event of environmental
change and human altered ecosystems.


Most subfields of research in political science are today at an intellectual plateau well short of general theory. Many have been at that plateau since about 1980. Several reasons might account for this situation, including the challenge of constructing general theory. I argue, however, that some of our must common educational and research practices also retard theoretical progress. I describe those practices and their unfortunate consequences, but also explicate a series of research strategies that would help advance our theoretical work. As a foundation for the preceding arguments, I characterize the theory-building ambitions of the discipline, our progress toward general theory, and how advances toward such theory can be mapped for any science.


Tourism development is nowadays considered as one of the development, economic improvement, and prosperity efforts of the outer islands in Indonesia. All this time, development strategy of tourism development only rely on the potential of nature and always depend onto the physical potential, infrastructure and natural resource potential, yet does not involve its human factors. Although the potential of natural resources is indeed abundant tourism selling value, still without accompanied by changes in human behavior, such trial will not produce the aimed results. This requires the participation of local communities and the development of the local communities' value in the overall development phase from the planning, implementation and supervision stage. This research describes the involvement of local communities as well as the preservation of cultural values of local communities in the tourism development and formulates a model of tourism development that puts forward the values and participation of local communities. The policy of tourism development through holistic approach since human development is very determining the progress of a tourism.


[1] Differences between two ensembles of Goddard Earth Observing System Chemistry-Climate Model simulations isolate the impact of North Pacific sea surface temperatures (SSTs) on the Arctic winter climate. One ensemble of extended winter season forecasts is forced by unusually high SSTs in the North Pacific, while in the second ensemble SSTs in the North Pacific are unusually low. High – Low differences are consistent with a strengthened Western Pacific atmospheric teleconnection pattern, and in particular, a weakening of the Aleutian low. This relative change in tropospheric circulation inhibits planetary wave propagation into the stratosphere, in turn reducing polar stratospheric temperature in mid- and late winter. The number of winters with sudden stratospheric warmings is approximately tripled in the Low ensemble as compared with the High ensemble. Enhanced North Pacific SSTs, and thus a more stable and persistent Arctic vortex, lead to a relative decrease in lower stratospheric ozone in spring, affecting the April clear-sky UV index at Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes.


The major structural components of protective mucus hydrogels on mucosal surfaces are the secreted polymeric gel-forming mucins. The very high molecular weight and extensive O-glycosylation of gel-forming mucins, which are key to their viscoelastic properties, create problems when studying mucins using conventional biochemical/structural techniques. Thus, key structural information, such as the secondary structure of the various mucin subdomains, and glycosylation patterns along individual molecules, remains to be elucidated. Here, we utilized Raman spectroscopy, Raman optical activity (ROA), circular dichroism (CD), and tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) to study the structure of the secreted polymeric gel-forming mucin MUC5B. ROA indicated that the protein backbone of MUC5B is dominated by unordered conformation, which was found to originate from the heavily glycosylated central mucin domain by isolation of MUC5B O-glycan-rich regions. In sharp contrast, recombinant proteins of the N-terminal region of MUC5B (D1-D2-D′-D3 domains, NT5B), C-terminal region of MUC5B (D4-B-C-CK domains, CT5B) and the Cys-domain (within the central mucin domain of MUC5B) were found to be dominated by the β-sheet. Using these findings, we employed TERS, which combines the chemical specificity of Raman spectroscopy with the spatial resolution of atomic force microscopy to study the secondary structure along 90 nm of an individual MUC5B molecule. Interestingly, the molecule was found to contain a large amount of α-helix/unordered structures and many signatures of glycosylation, pointing to a highly O-glycosylated region on the mucin.


In this paper, we focus on the challenge that users face in processing messages on the web posted in participatory media settings, such as blogs. It is desirable to recommend to users a restricted set of messages that may be most valuable to them. Credibility of a message is an important criteria to judge its value. In our approach, theories developed in sociology, political science and information science are used to design a model for evaluating the credibility of messages that is userspecific and that is sensitive to the social network in which the user resides. To recommend new messages to users, we employ Bayesian learning, built on past user behaviour, integrating new concepts of context and completeness of messages inspired from the strength of weak ties hypothesis, from social network theory. We are able to demonstrate that our method is effective in providing the most credible messages to users, through a user study on the digg.com dataset.


An extended, Rayleigh-Sommerfeld integral method is used to derive expressions for the mutual coherence function and radiation intensity derived from a planar, partially coherent source propagating through the atmosphere. The derived results reduce to previous results for (i) coherent radiation propagation in the atmosphere and (ii) the relations relating the far-field intensity angular distribution and the source coherence for a partially coherent source in vacuo. A mathematical description of the predicted results in terms of the vacuum distribution and scattering functions (related to the Fourier-transformed two-source mutual coherence function) is permitted by this development. Analytical results are calculated for a homogeneous atmosphere and a source coherence that simulates a laser-illuminated rough surface. The effective far-field range is determined by the source size, wavelength, and source coherence length. The phase of the calculated mutual coherence function is determined by the field-point separation for off-axial propagation directions. Numerical results for the amplitude and phase coherence lengths are calculated and illustrated as a function of the source size, source coherence length, propagation angle, range, and refractive-index structure constant.


If, as is widely expected, the Supreme Court soon holds that bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, it is almost certain that the decision will rely heavily on the Court's reasoning in United States v. Windsor. I strongly support marriage equality. However, a decision that amplifies Windsor's conception of the harm caused by exclusionary marriage rules could set back efforts to secure legal recognition of, and respect for, non-marital families. That is, Windsor rectified a deep inequality in the law — that same-sex marriages were categorically denied federal recognition — but in so doing it embraced a traditional understanding of marriage as superior to all other family forms. Its rationale and its rhetorical flavor stand in tension with foundational cases from the 1960s and 1970s that dismantled the legal systems under which non-marital children were systematically denied benefits and that protected the decision-making autonomy of couples who engaged in sexual intimacy outside of marriage. The expansion of marriage rights for same-sex couples, including any future victory at the Supreme Court, comes at a time when marriage rates more generally are at an all-time low and non-marital childbearing is at an all-time high. The lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) community is part of these larger trends. Demographers believe that the majority of children currently being raised by same-sex couples were conceived in prior heterosexual relationships that included a member of the couple. Same-sex couples with relatively low levels of educational attainment are more likely to be raising children than couples with advanced degrees; same-sex couples that include racial minorities are also more likely to be raising children than white couples. If marriage and divorce by same-sex couples follow more general trends, the members of the LGB community who are statistically most likely to be raising children are also statistically least likely to marry and remain married. Accordingly, even if same-sex couples enjoy universal marriage rights, it is essential to continue to advocate support of non-marital families and other blended family forms that depart from the "traditional" nuclear family.


Lead is shown to be an activator for the phosphorescence of calcium and strontium tungstates, the optimum concentration being about 0.01 mol of PbWO4 per mol of alkaline earth tungstate. In addition, it was observed that much higher concentrations of lead produce an enormous increase in both the fluorescent and phosphorescent power of strontium tungstate. The optimum concentrations of lead for this effect are 0.2 and 0.4 mol fraction for the fluorescence and phosphorescence, respectively. High concentrations of lead in calcium tungstate serve only to decrease the luminescent power.


The urban environment has distinctive biophysical features in relation to surrounding rural areas. These include an altered energy exchange creating an urban heat island, and changes to hydrology such as increased surface runoff of rainwater. Such changes are, in part, a result of the altered surface cover of the urban area. For example less vegetated surfaces lead to a decrease in evaporative cooling, whilst an increase in surface sealing results in increased surface runoff. Climate change will amplify these distinctive features. This paper explores the important role that the green infrastructure, i.e. the greenspace network, of a city can play in adapting for climate change. It uses the conurbation of Greater Manchester as a case study site. The paper presents output from energy exchange and hydrological models showing surface temperature and surface runoff in relation to the green infrastructure under current and future climate scenarios. The implications for an adaptation strategy to climate change in the urban environment are discussed.


Optical WDM metro-ring networks have been considered to be promising solutions for wireless backhaul. In this paper, we propose an integrated traffic control scheme (ITCS), which facilitates circuit emulation service (CES) for wireless backhaul over a previously proposed experimental optical packet-switched WDM metro-ring network, HOPSMAN. The ITCS seamlessly integrates variable-bit-rate (VBR) CES wireless with connection-less best-effort data, satisfying stringent QoS requirements and retaining maximal network throughput. The ITCS ensures efficient setup of CES connections by employing a simple mean-rate-based distributed admission control followed by a novel slot-marking reservation. The total connection setup delay is comprised of the setup queueing delay and slot-marking delay. While the slot-marking delay is nearly a ring time, the mean setup queueing delay is formally computed through an accurate approximation based on an M/G/m queueing analysis. We show simulation results to demonstrate that the ITCS accommodates remarkably high CES traffic loads while satisfying a wide range of delay requirements for wireless backhaul. Taking the background best-effort traffic into account, ITCS achieves exceedingly low delay, jitter, and delay bound for CES under various traffic loads and burstiness.


Background: Energy efficiency has recently become one of the key aspects in the manufacturing sector. The facilities should improve their performance due to the related economic costs and the significant environmental impacts. The objective of this paper is to prove that energy efficiency of opportunities for energy savings improvements provided by the energy auditors are efficient. These opportunities represent technical actions recommended in the U.S. industrial plants over time period 2013 to 2014. Moreover, these technologies are considered as efficient ones based on energy audits results. Therefore, only ten suggested recommendations are included in the analyses. Methods: The paper demonstrates a DEASlack Based Measurement approach to evaluate the energy efficiency of the recommended technical solutions. This study is built upon the results of energy audits carried out by the author with the Industrial Assessment Center`s experts at the University of Michigan. Results: The results confirms that seven audit`s energy-effective improvements are still efficient, compared with those of the DEA-SBM method outcomes. The paper reveals inefficiencies of three industrial plants, which were considered as efficient ones examined individually in energy audit procedure. Moreover, the results are enriched with the additional analysis of input excesses and output shortfalls. Conclusions: Based on the study of the recommended solutions in the U.S. industrial plants, more effective technologies (DMU2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10) are identified, along with the ranking of the recommended solutions used. The SBM model described in this paper allows a more accurate determination of which audit`s proposed technical improvements are energy efficient or not. Further work is required to develop a set of relative input and output variables as well as a way of variables selection using analytical methods which may make the measure more robust.


In order to solve the uniform dispersion of inorganic particles and dispersion characterization, a batch of UV-resistant fibres has been manufactured by direct melt spinning with on-line addition. By combining image analysis software with OM images, the dispersion of TiO2 has been quantitatively analyzed. The formula of mass fraction of inorganic particles in fibre is deduced on the basis of crystallinity, and the calculated value is found consistent with theoretical value. Additionally, the comparative study of direct spinning and chip spinning shows that the former presents better dispersion of inorganic particles and superior performance. The tenacity of fibres from melt-direct spinning increases by 13.87%, the CV value decreases by 75.19% and Heywood diameter of TiO2 particles decreases by 13.97%. According to national standard (GB/T 18830-2009), UPF values of the fabric are found much greater than the standard [UPF>40, T(UVA)<5%].


In this report, we address the problem of face verification across illumination, since it has been identified as one of the major factor degrading the performance of face recognition systems. First, a brief overview of face recognition together with its main challenges is made, before reviewing state-of-the-art approaches to cope with illumination variations. We then present investigated approaches, which consists in applying a pre-processing step to the face images, and we also present the underlying theory. Namely, we will study the effect of various photometric normalization algorithms on the performance of a system based on local feature extraction and generative models (Gaussian Mixture Models). Studied algorithms include the Multiscale Retinex, as well as two state-of-the-art approaches: the Self Quotient Image and an anisotropic diffusion based normalization. This last involves the resolution of large sparse system of equations, and hence different approaches to solve such problems are described, including the efficient multigrid framework. Performances of the normalization algorithms are assessed with the challenging BANCA database and its realistic protocols. Conducted experiments showed significant improvements in terms of verification error rates and are comparable to other state-of-the-art face verification systems on the same database.


In this review, we discuss the implications of placing an infant in the supine position with respect to human cognitive development and evolution. When human infants are born, they are relatively large and immature in terms of postural and locomotor ability as compared with their closest relatives, the great apes. Hence, human mothers seemingly adopt a novel pattern of caring for their large and heavy infants, i.e., placing their infants in the supine position; this promotes face-to-face communication with their infants. Moreover, infants in the supine position can interact with other nearby individuals in the same manner from an early age. In addition, the infants can also explore their own body parts and/or objects with their hands since the hands are not required to support the body and are therefore, free to move. These activities are considered to be fundamental to the early development of human social and nonsocial cognition, including knowledge of self, in the first six months after birth. Further, developmental continuity in the voluntary exploratory movements in the prenatal period (in utero) to the early postnatal period is also discussed.


Recent advances in experimental methods have allowed researchers to study nozzle guide vane (NGV) film cooling in the presence of combustor dilution ports and endwall films. The dilution injection creates nonuniformities in temperature, velocity, and turbulence, and an understanding of the vane film cooling performance is complicated by competing influences. In this study, dilution port temperature profiles have been measured in the absence of vane film cooling and compared to film effectiveness measurements in the presence of both films and dilution, illustrating the effects of the dilution port turbulence on film cooling performance. It is found that dilution port injection can create significant effectiveness benefits at the difficult-to-cool vane stagnation region due to the more turbulent hot mainstream enhancing the mixing of film coolant jets that have left the airfoil surface. Also explored are the implications of endwall film cooling for infrared (IR) vane surface temperature measurements. The reduced endwall temperatures reduce the thermal emissions from this surface, so reducing the amount of extraneous radiation reflected from the vane surface where measurements are being made. The results of a detailed calibration show that the maximum local film effectiveness measurement error could be up to 0.05 if this effect were to go unaccounted for.


Discriminatory caste attitudes currently stigmatize millions of Indians, subjecting individuals to prejudice in all aspects of life. Governmental incentives and societal movements have attempted to counter these attitudes, yet accurate measurements of public opinions on caste are not yet available for understanding whether progress is being made. Here, we introduce a novel approach to measure public attitudes of caste through an indicator variable: openness to intercaste marriage. Using a massive dataset of over 313K profiles from a major Indian matrimonial site, we precisely quantify public attitudes, along with differences between generations and between Indian residents and diaspora. We show that younger generations are more open to intercaste marriage, yet attitudes are based on a complex function of social status beyond their own caste. In examining the desired qualities in a spouse, we find that individuals open to intercaste marriage are more individualistic in the qualities they desire, rather than favoring family-related qualities, which mirrors larger societal trends away from collectivism. Finally, we show that attitudes in diaspora are significantly less open, suggesting a bi-cultural model of integration. Our research provides the first empirical evidence identifying how various intersections of identity shape attitudes toward intercaste marriage in India and among the Indian diaspora in the US.


Protein-interaction network (PIN) analysis provides valuable insight into an organism's functional organization and evolutionary behavior. In this paper, we study a PIN formed by high-confidence human protein interactions obtained from various public interaction databases. This is the largest human PIN studied to date, comprising nearly 18,000 proteins and 44,000 interactions. A novel contribution of this paper is the computation of betweenness centrality, a graph-theoretic metric that is found to be positively correlated with the essentiality and evolutionary age of a protein. We observe that proteins with high betweenness centrality, but low connectivity are abundant in the human PIN. We have designed an efficient and portable parallel implementation for the calculation of this compute-intensive centrality metric. On the Sun Fire T2000 server with the UltraSparc T1 (Niagara) processor, we achieve a relative speedup of about 16 using 32 threads for a typical instance of betweenness centrality, reducing the running time from several minutes to 13 seconds.


Objectives

Research on minority representation and career trajectories in higher education represents a substantial body of evidence in the field; however, the empirical evidence fails to address a crucial area: intercollegiate athletics. This study aims to address the gap in the empirical work and study the career trajectories and representation of African-Americans and Latinos in NCAA FBS football coaching positions.

Methods

A pipeline argument is often utilized to explain the underrepresentation of minorities in certain careers and industries. This pipeline argument is erroneous in this instance because of the number of minority players in college football that make up the "future coach career pool." We develop a position hierarchy in which previous assistant coaching positions are seen as stepping stones to an ultimate head coaching position.

Results

We find that white and minorities coaches have different career trajectories and position hierarchies that ultimately lead to the underrepresentation of minorities at the head coaching ranks.

Conclusions

Evidence suggests sharp differences in the likelihood of certain player positions and, in turn (and likely related), certain coaching positions to achieving head coach. The career utility hierarchy developed here seems to have some validity and, most important for present purposes, shows some considerable difference in the career stepping stones of, respectively, whites and minorities.


Background The risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) increases sharply with age. Some older individuals, however, remain unaffected despite high predicted risk. These individuals may carry cardioprotective genetic variants that contribute to resilience. Our aim was to assess whether asymptomatic older individuals without prevalent ASCVD carry cardioprotective genetic variants that contribute to ASCVD resilience. Methods and Results We performed a genome-wide association study using a 10-year predicted ASCVD risk score as a quantitative trait, calculated only in asymptomatic older individuals aged ≥70 years without prevalent ASCVD. Our discovery genome-wide association study of N=12 031 ASCVD event-free individuals from the ASPREE (Aspirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly) trial identified 2 independent variants, rs9939224 (P<5×10-8) and rs56156922 (P<10-6), in the CETP (cholesteryl ester transfer protein) gene. The CETP gene is a regulator of plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and lipoprotein(a) levels, and it is a therapeutic drug target. The associations were replicated in the UK Biobank (subpopulation of N=13 888 individuals aged ≥69 years without prevalent ASCVD). Carriers of the identified CETP variants (versus noncarriers) had higher plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, lower plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, and reduced risk of incident ASCVD events during follow-up. Expression quantitative trait loci analysis predicted the identified CETP variants reduce CETP gene expression across various tissues. Previously reported associations between genetic CETP inhibition and increased risk of age-related macular degeneration were not observed among the 3917 ASPREE trial participants with retinal imaging and genetic data available. Conclusions Common genetic variants in the CETP gene region are associated with cardiovascular resilience during aging. Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT01038583.


Prior studies of the comparative performance of greenfields and acquisitions have advanced competing arguments, with some arguing that greenfields should outperform acquisitions because acquisitions are costlier to integrate, and others that acquisitions should outperform greenfields because greenfields suffer from a liability of newness. Moreover, while the costs of integration and the liability of newness are at their greatest during a subsidiary's first years, prior studies have tested their competing arguments on samples containing older subsidiaries. We extend these prior studies by (1) developing an institutional theory-based framework that simultaneously considers the costs of integration and the liability of newness, (2) recognizing that both types of costs vary with the level of subsidiary integration, and (3) focusing on the stage of their life during which subsidiaries predominantly incur these costs. To measure subsidiary performance, we ask managers of Dutch multinationals how their ex ante performance expectations compare to the subsidiary's ex post performance during its first two years. Analysing a sample of 191 foreign subsidiaries and controlling for entry mode self-selection and other factors, we find that acquisitions outperform greenfields at low and intermediate levels of subsidiary integration, but that greenfields outperform acquisitions at higher integration levels.


Traditional stereotypes about both gender and managers make women appear to be incongruent with management positions; a potential consequence of which is less favorable evaluations of women managers. Using an original survey experiment, this study tests whether and how gender role incongruity, combined with the gender-typing of organizations and gender of the evaluator, affect evaluations of hypothetical public managers. Results suggest that men and women public managers are evaluated equally favorably overall; however, men evaluators perceive women managers less favorably than do women evaluators. This is largely driven by the gender-typing of organizations. While men evaluators rate women managers in feminine organizations as favorably as do women evaluators, they rate women managers in masculine organizations less favorably compared to women evaluators. Indeed, men evaluators rate women managers in masculine organizations lower compared to all other groups of comparison, including all other possible combinations of evaluator, manager, and organization gender. Findings indicate that though perceived incongruity between women and management positions may have diminished over time, there is evidence that gender biases still remain problematic for women managers' careers, especially in masculine gender-typed organizations.


Context. Some secondary effects are known to introduce variations in spectra of massive binaries. These phenomena, such as the Struve-Sahade effect and the difficulties in determining properly the spectral type have been reported and documented in the literature. Aims. We simulate the spectra of circular massive binaries at different phases of the orbital cycle and account for the gravitational influence of the companion star on the shape and physical properties of the stellar surface. Methods. We use the Roche potential to compute the stellar surface, von Zeipel theorem, and reflection effects to compute the surface temperature. We then interpolate in a grid of non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) plan-parallel atmosphere model spectra to obtain the local spectrum at each surface point. We finally sum all the contributions, accounting for the reflection, Doppler shift, and limb-darkening to obtain the total spectrum. The computation is done for different orbital phases and for different sets of physical and orbital parameters. Results. Our models reproduce the Struve-Sahade effect for several lines. Another effect on the surface temperature distribution is visible but the distribution predicted by our current model is not yet consistent with observations. Conclusions. In some cases, the Struve-Sahade effect as well as more complex line intensity variations could be linked to blends of intrinsically asymmetric line profiles that are not appropriately treated by the deblending routine. Systematic variations in the lines of (nearly) contact systems are also predicted by the model.


In this series of essays, Professor Sergio Campos and Howard Erichson debate the wisdom of compelled collective treatment of mass tort claims. Campos urges abandonment of the "day in court" model and adoption of mandatory class actions for mass torts. Campos advances a view of mass tort claims as collective property and offers a reading of the Supreme Court's due process precedents that would permit mandatory collective treatment. Collective ownership of claims would allow plaintiffs' lawyers to litigate based on aggregate stakes and thus would reduce mass harms. Given the priority of reducing mass harms, Campos argues, individual ownership of claims should not be accommodated. Erichson responds that mandatory class actions are not necessary to level the field in mass torts. Mass representation by lawyers and the work of leadership counsel in multidistrict litigation can provide many of the benefits of collectivization without ultimately depriving claimants of the decision whether to release their claims in settlement. Emphasizing the agency risks of class actions as well as the availability of non-class settlement mechanisms, Erichson argues that absolute collectivization carries real dangers but only illusory benefits.


The field of machine translation (MT), the automatic translation of written text from one natural language into another, has experienced a major paradigm shift in recent years. Statistical MT, which mainly relies on various count-based models and which used to dominate MT research for decades, has largely been superseded by neural machine translation (NMT), which tackles translation with a single neural network. In this work we will trace back the origins of modern NMT architectures to word and sentence embeddings and earlier examples of the encoder-decoder network family. We will conclude with a short survey of more recent trends in the field.


The Nottingham workhouse case was a test of the resolve both of the Poor Law Commissioners appointed to administer the post-1834 New Poor Law, and of the strength of the Whig interest in the town's municipal and parliamentary elections. All eyes were on the implementation of the legislation in Nottingham, partly because of the influential thinking of local administrators such as Absolem Barnett, and partly because the government needed evidence that the system of unions and workhouses set up after 1834 would actually work in industrial towns. The Nottingham case showed only too clearly that the key issue was the trade cycle, and fluctuations in the town's hosiery and lace trades made it almost impossible to implement the terms of the legislation fully. The key battle was fought over the decision to build a new workhouse, which the Whigs favoured and the Tories resisted.


An optimal wideband gain flattened hybrid erbium-doped fiber amplifier/fiber Raman amplifier (EDFA/FRA) has been introduced. A new and effective optimization method called particle swarm optimization (PSO) is employed to find the optimized parameters of the EDFA/FRA. Numerous parameters which are the parameters of the erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) and the fiber Raman amplifier (FRA) define the gain spectrum of a hybrid EDFA/FRA. Here, we optimize the length, $Er^{3+}$ concentration, and pump power and wavelength of the EDFA and also pump powers and wavelengths of the FRA to obtain the flattest operating gain spectrum. Hybrid EDFA/FRA with 6-pumped- and 10-pumped-FRAs have been studied. Gain spectrum variations are 1.392 and 1.043 dB for the 6-pumped- and 10-pumped-FRAs, respectively, in the 108.5 km hybrid EDFA/FRAs, with 1 mW of input signal powers. Dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) system with 60 signal channels in the wavelength range of 1529.2-1627.1 nm, i.e. the wide bandwidth of 98 nm, is studied. In this work, we have added FRA's pump wavelengths to the optimization parameters to obtain better results in comparison with the results presented in our previous works.


The proliferation of hydraulic fracturing (frac) stimulation and other enhanced oil recovery techniques in unconventional plays has spurred interest in microseismic monitoring. Changes in stress in the subsurface produced by hydrocarbon production may induce brittle failure events. Many enhanced oil recovery techniques such as hydraulic frac stimulation or cyclic steam stimulation involve injecting large volumes of fluid at high pressure into a reservoir. Microseismic events, hereafter events, may illuminate the reach and effectiveness of enhanced recovery techniques within a reservoir. When array configuration is favorable, advanced analysis of microseismic data may provide additional information. For instance, seismic moment tensor inversion (Eaton and Forouhideh, 2010) may estimate the failure mode of an event. The aforementioned failure modes may include fracture-opening, shear, or fracture-closing events. Knowledge of the failure modes allows a detailed analysis of the effects of changing parameters ...


We have investigated calibration variations in the Rameau water vapor Raman lidar. This lidar system was developed by the Institut National de l'Information Geographique et Forestiere (IGN) together with the Laboratoire Atmospheres, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS). It aims at calibrating Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements for tropospheric wet delays and sounding the water vapor variability in the lower tro- posphere. The Rameau system demonstrated good capacity in retrieving water vapor mixing ratio (WVMR) profiles accurately in several campaigns. However, systematic short- term and long-term variations in the lidar calibration factor pointed to persistent instabilities. A careful testing of each subsystem independently revealed that these instabilities are mainly induced by mode fluctuations in the optic fiber used to couple the telescope to the detection subsystem and by the spatial nonuniformity of the photomultiplier photocathodes. Laboratory tests that replicate and quantify these instability sources are presented. A redesign of the detection subsystem is presented, which, combined with careful alignment procedures, is shown to significantly reduce the instabilities. Outdoor measurements were performed over a period of 5 months to check the stability of the modified lidar system. The calibration changes in the detection subsystem were monitored with lidar profile measurements using a common nitrogen filter in both Raman channels. A short-term stability of 2–3 % and a long-term drift of 2–3 % per month are demonstrated. Compared to the earlier Development of Methodologies for Water Vapour Measurement (DEMEVAP) campaign, this is a 3-fold improvement in the long-term stability of the detection subsystem. The overall water vapor calibration factors were determined and monitored with capacitive humidity sensor measurements and with GPS zenith wet delay (ZWD) data. The changes in the water vapor calibration factors are shown to be fairly consistent with the changes in the nitrogen calibration factors. The nitrogen calibration results can be used to correct the overall calibration factors without the need for additional water vapor measurements to within 1 % per month.


Basic clinical skill courses require students to progress from early information acquisition toward the ability to synthesize and modify the information for various clinical scenarios. In our program, graduate physical and occupational therapy students obtain practice with this clinical reasoning process during a classroom version of the Jeopardy! game. This interactive game show format offers a low-risk environment that encourages student participation. The students divide into two interdisciplinary teams, and each team elects four persons to formally answer the questions. These spokespersons take turns selecting a category of questions. Since all students are assigned to a team, even those not actively answering questions are still involved in the problem solving process. Category topics include areas such as physiologic changes, exercise prescription, abuse, discharge planning, community services, patient education, safety, and caregiver preparation. Each team selects a topic area and chooses a monetary value for the question. The instructor reads a clinical scenario and students work together to quickly provide an answer. The complexity of each scenario increases as the dollar value increases. If a student team answers incorrectly, incompletely, or exceeds thirty seconds to answer, the other team may answer the question. The team interaction creates opportunities to provide feedback to peers on the accuracy, appropriateness, and timeliness of their clinical recommendations. The level of friendly competition, combined with the rapid pace of the game, encourages students to learn from each other as they practice the clinical decision-making process.


Prominently placed press reports of suicide have the ability to produce imitation among vulnerable individuals. This led to the release of consensus recommendations supporting the responsible news reporting of suicide in August 2001. This article summarizes research supporting the recommendations and indicates ways that reporters can cover suicide without encouraging imitation. Content analysis of the New York Times for 1990, 1995, and 1999 indicates that although the suicide rate did not increase during this period, the prominence of suicide reporting did. In addition, articles did not focus on treatable preexisting conditions (e.g., depression) that play a role in up to 90% of self-inflicted death. Interviews with 57 journalists indicated that they were unaware that their reporting could produce suicide imitation. Health professionals can aid journalists by underscoring the effectiveness of treatments for depression and encouraging reporters to include sources of help for the suicidal.


Like other cultural variants, tastes in companion animals (pets) can shift rapidly. An analysis of American Kennel Club puppy registrations from 1946 through 2003 (N = 48,598,233 puppy registrations) identified rapid but transient large-scale increases in the popularity of specific dog breeds. Nine breeds of dogs showed particularly pronounced booms and busts in popularity. On average, the increase (boom) phase in these breeds lasted 14 years, during which time annual new registrations increased 3,200%. Equally steep decreases in registrations for the breeds immediately followed these jumps in popularity. The existence of extreme fluctuations in preferences for dog breeds has implications for understanding changes in attitudes toward companion animals, veterinary epidemiology, and canine evolution.


Significance The post-truth era has taken many by surprise. Here, we use massive language analysis to demonstrate that the rise of fact-free argumentation may perhaps be understood as part of a deeper change. After the year 1850, the use of sentiment-laden words in Google Books declined systematically, while the use of words associated with fact-based argumentation rose steadily. This pattern reversed in the 1980s, and this change accelerated around 2007, when across languages, the frequency of fact-related words dropped while emotion-laden language surged, a trend paralleled by a shift from collectivistic to individualistic language. The surge of post-truth political argumentation suggests that we are living in a special historical period when it comes to the balance between emotion and reasoning. To explore if this is indeed the case, we analyze language in millions of books covering the period from 1850 to 2019 represented in Google nGram data. We show that the use of words associated with rationality, such as "determine" and "conclusion," rose systematically after 1850, while words related to human experience such as "feel" and "believe" declined. This pattern reversed over the past decades, paralleled by a shift from a collectivistic to an individualistic focus as reflected, among other things, by the ratio of singular to plural pronouns such as "I"/"we" and "he"/"they." Interpreting this synchronous sea change in book language remains challenging. However, as we show, the nature of this reversal occurs in fiction as well as nonfiction. Moreover, the pattern of change in the ratio between sentiment and rationality flag words since 1850 also occurs in New York Times articles, suggesting that it is not an artifact of the book corpora we analyzed. Finally, we show that word trends in books parallel trends in corresponding Google search terms, supporting the idea that changes in book language do in part reflect changes in interest. All in all, our results suggest that over the past decades, there has been a marked shift in public interest from the collective to the individual, and from rationality toward emotion.


In sheer numbers, no form of government control comes close to the police stop. Each year, twelve percent of drivers in the United States are stopped by the police, and the figure is almost double among racial minorities. Police stops are among the most frequently criticized incidences of racial profiling, but while studies have shown that minorities are pulled over at higher rates, none have examined how police stops came to be encouraged and institutionalized. Pulled Over deftly traces the strange history of the investigatory police stop. The authors show that who is stopped and how they are treated convey powerful messages about citizenship and racial disparity in the United States. For African Americans, investigatory stops erode the perceived legitimacy of police stops and of the police generally, leading to decreased trust in the police and less willingness to solicit police assistance. This holds true even when police are courteous throughout the encounters and follow seemingly color-blind institutional protocols. In a country that celebrates racial equality, investigatory stops have a deleterious effect on minority communities that merits serious reconsideration. Pulled Over offers practical recommendations on how reforms can protect the rights of citizens and still effectively combat crime.


In this study of 3D printed composite β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP)/hydroxyapatite (HA)/poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL)-based constructs, the effects of vertical compositional ceramic gradients and architectural porosity gradients on the osteogenic differentiation of rabbit bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were investigated. Specifically, three different concentrations of β-TCP (0, 10, and 20 wt%) and three different porosities (33 ± 4 %, 50 ± 4 %, and 65 ± 3 %) were examined to elucidate the contributions of chemical and physical gradients on the biochemical behavior of MSCs and the mineralized matrix production within a 3D culture system. By delaminating the constructs at the gradient transition point, the spatial separation of cellular phenotypes could be specifically evaluated for each construct section. Results indicated that increased concentrations of β-TCP resulted in up-regulation of osteogenic markers including alkaline phosphatase activity and mineralized matrix development. Furthermore, MSCs located within regions of higher porosity displayed a more mature osteogenic phenotype compared to MSCs in lower porosity regions. These results demonstrate that 3D printing can be leveraged to create multiphasic gradient constructs to precisely direct the development and function of MSCs, leading to a phenotypic gradient.