With the recent success of embeddings in natural language processing, research has been conducted into applying similar methods to code analysis. Most works attempt to process the code directly or use a syntactic tree representation, treating it like sentences written in a natural language. However, none of the existing methods are sufficient to comprehend program semantics robustly, due to structural features such as function calls, branching, and interchangeable order of statements. In this paper, we propose a novel processing technique to learn code semantics, and apply it to a variety of program analysis tasks. In particular, we stipulate that a robust distributional hypothesis of code applies to both human- and machine-generated programs. Following this hypothesis, we define an embedding space, inst2vec, based on an Intermediate Representation (IR) of the code that is independent of the source programming language. We provide a novel definition of contextual flow for this IR, leveraging both the underlying data- and control-flow of the program. We then analyze the embeddings qualitatively using analogies and clustering, and evaluate the learned representation on three different high-level tasks. We show that even without fine-tuning, a single RNN architecture and fixed inst2vec embeddings outperform specialized approaches for performance prediction (compute device mapping, optimal thread coarsening); and algorithm classification from raw code (104 classes), where we set a new state-of-the-art.


This paper traces the important developments in school librarianship in South Africa since 2007, during which time the drive to address huge backlogs in school library provision has gained momentum—largely, it argues, from the intersections of two phenomena: the Library and Information Services (LIS) Transformation Charter; and Equal Education, a civic-action NGO campaigning on behalf of school libraries. South African youth face daunting challenges, and their schooling is perhaps where the heritage of apartheid is most visible. The lack of libraries, it is argued, has undermined the attempts at curricular reform since the late 1990s. The daunting backlogs in school library provision mean that innovative models of service will be needed that cut across existing divisions. Given the impact of the lack of school libraries on all sectors of LIS, the paper examines the recommendations in the LIS Transformation Charter that South African LIS should turn to the concept of ecosystem to provide the framework for concerted action.


The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTCA) of 2009 creates the first national system of premarket regulation of tobacco products in American history. The FDA must now review and give marketing authorization to all new tobacco products, based on a public health standard, before they can be legally marketed. Yet the law also contains an alternative pathway for market entry-the substantial equivalence (SE) clause-by which novel and altered tobacco products can be marketed by demonstrating their substantial equivalence to existing products. Over 99 percent of tobacco product applications sent to the FDA under the new law have used this mechanism, and loose application of the SE mechanism carries the risk of undoing the FDA's gatekeeping power under the law. We review the statutory and regulatory precedent for SE, examining the FSPTCA itself as well as regulatory precedent from drug and device regulation (from which the term substantial equivalence and much of the associated statutory language was derived). Our review of standards and scientific precedent demonstrates that exacting scrutiny under the public health standard should govern all SE reviews and that clinical data incorporating social scientific evidence should be routinely required for SE claims by tobacco product sponsors.


We use alternative assumptions about the divisibility of goods and money and the ability of agents to use lotteries on money to investigate to what extent the indivisibility of money is the cause for the typically inefficient production and consumption decisions in search-theoretic models of money. Our framework potentially generates three types of inefficiencies: the no-trade inefficiency, where no trade takes place even though it would be socially efficient to trade; and the too-much-trade and too-little-trade inefficiencies, where the quantities produced and exchanged are either larger or smaller than what the solution to a social planner's problem would mandate. It is shown that while the no-trade and the too-much-trade inefficiencies are caused by the indivisibility of money, the too-little-trade inefficiency remains even when money is divisible unless it is sufficiently valued.


In view of the recent emergence of cohabitation as an alternative form of courtship, it is important to determine its possible effects on the subsequent marital union. Are the premarital experiences, marital goals, patterns of marital power and levels of conflict discernably different for those who have lived together before marriage? Comparing cohabitors with noncohabitors , we attempted to pursue this question in a sample of 139 recently married, nonparental, college matriculating, young adults using a lengthy focused interview. Largely due to parental pressures "to make it legal", both cohabitors and noncohabitors moved towards matrimony with equal speed, marrying at approximately the same age. In the first years of marriage, cohabitors were highly concerned with the educational and career goals of both spouses and were much more likely to espouse postponed parenthood or voluntary childlessness. Cohabitors were judged to have a higher proportion of egalitarian unions in comparison to the more husbanddominated unions of the noncohabitors. With respect to marital conflict, however, no significant differences in levels of conflict between the two groups were found; although different areas of disagreement and modes of conflict resolution seemed to occur.


A surface water treatment system consisting of an aeration reservoir and pond (holding capacities 45,000 and 19,000 m3) and a network of 12 horizontal subsurface flow gravel-filled constructed wetland cells of different sizes (total surface area 2.08 ha) and planted with Phragmites australis, was commissioned at Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom, in the winter of 2002. Ongoing monitoring of the treatment system has shown significant reductions in the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) throughout the system with levels decreasing by up to 76.7% across the constructed wetland cells following high anti- and de-icing fluid applications. However, continued exposure to BOD5 concentrations exceeding the design target has resulted in anaerobic conditions in the wetland. The addition of nutrients to the treatment system has resulted in improved removal efficiency for elevated BOD5 loadings in the aerated reservoir from 25.5% to 47.5%, The addition of different nutrient dosing regimes to complementary pilot-scale planted and unplanted vertical flow columns showed average but statistically insignificant BOD5 removal percentage increases from 61.9 ± 21.1% to 70.8 ± 26.5%, respectively, in planted columns over a 7-day period. There is an overall improvement in the performance of the system, but operational reviews are continuing.


Chronic pain is a major health problem in the United States affecting 50 to 75 million Americans. The extent of pain encountered with chronic disease states may impact an individual's quality of life. Morphine is the drug of choice for severe pain. The primary purpose of the study was to determine analgesic response with the use of topical morphine to control chronic pain in a series of patients with arthritis pain. The second purpose was to detect the presence of morphine in the urine following topical administration and subsequently conclude that there had been systemic absorption of the drug. Three patients were prescribed topical morphine for chronic pain and were followed over the course of several weeks. Each patient was instructed to record the date and time of the topical morphine applications. When each patient had achieved a satisfactory level of pain control a 24-hour urine collection was obtained and taken to a laboratory for analysis. All patients reported a satisfactory degree of pain relief following topical application of morphine. The urine analysis confirmed the presence of morphine in the 24-hour samples. This analysis confirms systemic absorption of the morphine across intact skin; however the results cannot be used to quantify the degree of systemic absorption. Results of the study indicate that the use of topical morphine is effective in controlling chronic pain and topical morphine is absorbed systemically in the body.


The inability to determine molecular structures from powdered samples is a key barrier to progress in many areas of molecular and materials science. We report an approach to structure determination that combines molecular modeling with experimental spin diffusion data obtained from the high-resolution solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance of protons, and which allows the determination of the three-dimensional structure of an organic compound, in powder form and at natural isotopic abundance.


Abstract Many cucurbits, such as cucumbers, squashes and pumpkins, depend on pollinating bees in order to set fruit. However, fruit yield and progeny vigor in these plants generally decreases as heterospecific pollen deposition increases. We studied how the spatial area dedicated to cucumbers (Cucumis sativis), versus other flowering plants, influenced the deposition of conspecific and heterospecific pollen on cucumber plants in New York City community gardens. We also examined the effect of garden size on conspecific and heterospecific pollen deposition on cucumber plants. Female flowers were collected from potted cucumber plants that had been experimentally placed into the gardens, specifically for this study, or that were established in raised beds by members of the community garden. In the laboratory, pollen grains were isolated from the flower by acetolysis, and the number of heterospecific and conspecific cucumber pollen grains were quantified. Conspecific pollen deposition was positively and significantly associated with the size of a community garden, as well as with the area of each garden dedicated to non-cucumber, flowering plants (i.e. floral cover) and the area of each garden dedicated to cucumber plants (i.e. cucumber cover). Although floral cover explained a greater proportion of the variance, cucumber cover had the strongest effect on conspecific pollen deposition. Heterospecific pollen deposition was positively and significantly related to garden area. However, no significant relationship was found between heterospecific pollen deposition and floral cover, or cucumber cover. Based upon these results, we hypothesize that floral cover positively impacts conspecific pollen deposition by attracting a greater number of pollinators into an urban garden, and that total cucumber area positively impacts conspecific pollen deposition when pollinators are locally foraging within a garden. We suggest that the arrangement of plants within a garden can positively influence yield in fruit and vegetable-producing plants within urban community gardens. Due to the low availability of fruits and vegetables within the stores of the neighborhoods where this study was conducted, developing a better understanding of those factors that constrain or foster fruit and vegetable production are important to increasing food security and public health. Keywords Pollination; pollen deposition; urban community gardens; cucumbers; acetolysis; New York City


Simulation studies of urban transportation networks have been increasingly applied to evacuation planning. The level of detail provided within a traffic simulation model allows for devising strategies for evacuation and emergency response. In this research, simulation model of downtown San Jose, California, transportation network is developed to evaluate the efficiency of the evacuation process under hypothetical scenarios. Although the scenarios evaluated herein are not exhaustive, they demonstrate the potential of the simulation approach for managing traffic engineering aspects of the emergency response. The scenarios described here include the use of contraflow lanes, traffic incidents on the network, and a modal shift to transit by evacuees. It was found that among the tested scenarios, reduction in number of vehicles on the road through increased public transit ridership in conjunction with rerouting vehicles and contraflow operations on key corridors would be the most efficient approach. The major contribution of this study is the ability to examine not only the travel times for evacuees but also mobility and accessibility for emergency vehicles. The time to access location(s) under distress, while ensuring efficient evacuation operations at the same time, is critical to reducing losses during an unfolding human-caused disaster.


Several misconceptions exist about foods and nutrition. Many believe, that the human body can "acidify", thus, an "alkaline diet" should be followed. The acid-base balance is a characteristic of a normally functioning human body. Throughout our metabolic processes, acids and substances with acidic pH are produced continuously, which, in the case of a healthy person, does not affect the pH of the human body. In those rare cases, when an overall pH imbalance evolves in the human body due to its life-threatening nature, it requires urgent medical intervention. Furthermore, it cannot be influenced by dietary interventions.
 This paper highlights evidence regarding acidification and the acid-base balance, with special attention to certain food groups. Foodstuffs have different specific pH value (acid-base character), they can be acidic, alkaline, or neutral in elemental state. Beside their chemical nature, the effect they have on the human body depends on the mechanism of their metabolism, as well. Diet and ingredients have direct and indirect effects on the human body's intracellular and extracellular compartments (especially blood and urine), still they do not influence its pH significantly.
 Alkaline diets were born in the absence of evidence-based information and/or the misunderstanding and wrong interpretation of the available and up-to-date scientific facts. The convictions of consumers and the promotion of the alkaline diet lack the scientific basis, so it can be harmful or even dangerous in the long run.
 In summary, scientific evidence on the efficacy or prophylactic effects of an alkaline diet is not available.


The purpose of present research work was to develop a Film Forming Emulgel formulation of Terbinafine hydrochloride using carbopol 934 as a gelling agent for topical delivery with the aim to avoid hepatic first-pass metabolism, improve stability of emulsion, reduce dosage regimen and enhance residence time in the treatment of fungal infection. Film Forming Emulgels have emerged as one of the most interesting topical drug delivery systems as it has dual release control i.e. emulsion and gel. The developed emulgels were evaluated for their physicochemical properties like color, homogeneity, consistency, spreadability, pH value, rheological behavior, drug content, drug release and stability. Commercially available Terbinafine hydrochloride cream was used for comparison. All the prepared emulgels showed satisfactory physicochemical properties like color, homogeneity, consistency, spreadability, and pH value. The drug release was found to be higher for optimized formulation as compared to the marketed Terbinafine hydrochloride cream. The highest drug release was observed with T4, where the drug release showed 92.05%. The drug release from all the emulgels were found to follow diffusion-controlled mechanism. Stability studies indicated that the physical appearance, rheological properties, spreadability, drug release in all the prepared emulgels remained unchanged upon storage for 3 months Keywords Terbinafine hydrochloride, Carbapol 934, Antifungal activity, Film formation, Emulgel formulation.


Diosgenin is an important basic raw material for the production of steroid hormone drugs. It can be isolated and purified from a variety of traditional Chinese medicines or plants. Modern molecular biological studies have shown that diosgenin inhibits various tumor cells migration and invasion ability to varying degrees in vitro and in vivo. The aim of the present study was to observe the inhibitory effects of diosgenin on the invasive and metastatic capabilities of osteosarcoma cells and to determine the association between the effects of diosgenin on the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Wound healing and Transwell assays were used to observe the inhibitory effects of diosgenin on the invasion and migration of two osteosarcoma cell lines. Immunofluorescence was used to observe changes in transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) protein expression levels in the osteosarcoma cells following drug administration. EMT-associated proteins, including TGFβ1, E-cadherin and vimentin were detected by western blotting, which demonstrated that the drug may inhibit the initiation of EMT in osteosarcoma cells. Western blot analysis of the expression of all the proteins in the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway demonstrated that the drug inhibited the MAPK signaling pathway. The primary mechanism of action of diosgenin was the inhibition of the phosphorylated p38 (pP38) protein. Through a combination of inhibitors of the p38MAPK signaling pathway and detection of the downstream EMT marker protein E-cadherin by quantitative PCR, pP38 was confirmed to be a target of diosgenin in the inhibition of EMT in the osteosarcoma cells via the MAPK molecular signaling pathway. Diosgenin may exhibit utility as an auxiliary drug for the clinical reduction of metastasis in patients with osteosarcoma.


The Internet and the Web have become a major information and communication source. The technologies used on the Internet have found their ways to the Intranet of organizations as well. The organizational portal contains huge quantities of information, especially when the organization is large and complex and relies heavily on existing information, as in the case of a learning organization. It turns out that simply applying Web technologies "as is" for the enterprise is not the solution. Surprisingly, there are not many studies that tried to explore information behavior within organizations. In this study our aim is to develop model for searching and retrieving information from the organizational portal within the intranet. As a case study we looked at the information searching patterns of users in a large and complex organization. Three focus groups were held with 13 users of the portal at the end of 2008. In addition in-depth interviews were conducted with eight knowledge workers in the organization. The users participating in the study were shown two search result interfaces based on previous models in addition to the interface proposed by us, based on the results of the pilot study and on our "hybrid information model". The users in the study preferred the "hybrid information" interface. Two focus groups with the expert users, the knowledge workers, dealt with finalizing the discussion regarding their interface preference. During these discussions we suggested an improvement to the suggested search result interface, which was endorsed by the expert users. The study shows that within a complex organization it is crucial to employ an integrative solution for information search that satisfies the specific needs of the users of the organizational portal. The model developed for presenting search results has practical implications on the effectiveness, efficiency and relevance of searches conducted within the portal. Even though the case study was conducted within a specific organization, we believe that the models can be applied in other organizations as well.


This study examined the impact of an inquiry-based and modeling-based instructional intervention on primary school students, using different pedagogical tools: video, real objects and a technology-based environment that supports modeling.. The study was implemented with thirty (30) students. Quantitative results demonstrated that the intervention enhanced the inquiry ability of all students. Qualitative results demonstrated that it is essential for students to practise modeling activities. It is also essential that the realisation of experiments in computer follow the realisation of real experiments, in order to activate the students reasoning in greater depth and support them pass to formal thought. The study adds to the existing literature on designing learning environments.


The costs incurred by cloud providers towards operating their data centers are often determined in large part by their peak demands. The pricing schemes currently used by cloud providers to recoup these costs from their tenants, however, do not distinguish tenants based on their contributions to the cloud's overall peak demand. Using the concrete example of peak-based pricing as employed by many electric utility companies, we show that this "gap" may lead to unfair attribution of costs to the tenants. Simple enhancements of existing cloud pricing (e.g., analogous to the coincident peak pricing (CPP) used by some electric utilities) do not adequately address these shortcomings and suffer from short-term unfairness and undesirable oscillatory price vs. demand relationship offered to tenants. To overcome these shortcomings, we define an alternative pricing scheme to more fairly distribute a cloud's costs among its tenants. Our approach to fair attribution of cloud's costs is inspired by the concept of Shapley values used to fairly divide revenue among participants of a financial coalition. We demonstrate the efficacy of our scheme under price-sensitive tenant demand response using a combination of (i) extensive empirical evaluation with recent workloads from commercial data centers operated by IBM, and (ii) analytical modeling through non-cooperative game theory for a special case of tenant demand model.


The paper examines the mobility into and out of poverty and identifies the determinants of poverty spell beginnings and endings in 14 European Countries for the period 1994-2000, using the European Community Household Panel. The first part of the paper offers a snapshot of poverty mobility in Europe calculating the entry and exit poverty rates, along with the conditional, to the duration of spell, exit probabilities and re-entry rates to poverty. In the second part observed characteristics of the household and the household head are examined in order to identify the determinants of the transitions into and out of poverty, taking into account unobserved heterogeneity across individuals and duration dependence. Multivariate discrete hazard analysis is used and the duration dependence is captured with time dummies. In almost all the 14 EU Member-States examined, the probability of exiting (re-entering) poverty is inversely related to the duration of the poverty (non-poverty) spell. The effect is significant to the inclusion of variables capturing observed heterogeneity (socioeconomic characteristics of the household head and the household and particular employment and demographic events), as well as to the inclusion of a random effects factor capturing the unobserved heterogeneity across individuals. With regards to the socio-economic variables, in most countries, households headed by young or elderly individuals, as well as households with dependent children are in higher risk of staying longer in poverty. In many cases, event variables improve the model significantly and highlight the mechanisms that bring individuals into and out of poverty.


This paper derives measures of the average and marginal incidence of a tax or subsidy in imperfect competition, in the context of the UK housing market. We argue that one form of mortgage, common in the UK but not elsewhere (the endowment mortgage), exists primarily because of the structure of taxation in the UK. We estimate the determinants of the choice of the type of mortgage, and the size of mortgage conditional on the choice, using data from the Building Societies Association on 43,000 individual mortgages taken out between 1985 and 1989. The estimated parameters are an input to the incidence measures. Results suggest that between 70% and 80% of the additional subsidy to endowment mortgages is captured by lenders, rather than borrowers.


Objective: To report on a female patient with cerebral palsy who presented for chiropractic care. Clinical Features: Sixteen year old female with a history of cerebral palsy and findings of vertebral subluxation resulting in poor sleep habits and muscle spasticity. She was nonambulatory, uncommunicative and nonresponsive, and due to these complications she had been fed through a feeding tube and had a complete liquid diet since birth. Interventions and Outcomes: Over a period of six months, a specific, conservative chiropractic adjustment regimen for the correction of vertebral subluxation was administered to the patient, explicitly the motion palpation technique utilizing a specific seated cervical adjustment. The patient exhibited a considerable decrease in sleep disturbance. Static surface EMG and thermal scanning were performed using the Insight® surface EMG and thermal scanning technology. Improvements were noted in surface EMG scanning over the six months of care and thermal scanning revealed a dynamic pattern. Conclusion: While under chiropractic care, subjective and objective improvements resulting in physical changes for the patient and quality of life improvements within her family were documented in a patient with cerebral palsy and sleep disturbances.


Background: Our aim was to investigate the frequency of elevated liver enzymes and NAFLD in patients with known insulin resistance during 15 years of follow-up. Methods: Subjects with insulin resistance were identified from a population-based prospective cohort study in Sweden, Malm? Diet and Cancer Study, conducted in 1991-1996. Inall, 285 non-diabetic subjects with insulin resistance established by HOMA-IR (homeostasis model assessment) were invited to do the liver function testing and if elevated, they should be further assessed by radiological examination of the liver, anthropometric measures and blood testing. Results: 165 subjects (57.9%) agreed to do the liver function testing. Of these, 25 subjects (15%) had elevated liver enzymes. After exclusion of other diseases, 5 of the remaining 21 subjects (23.8%) had radiological signs of steatosis. Liver steatosis significantly correlated with ALT (alanine aminotransferase) (p = 0.04), HOMA-IR (p = 0.00) and the metabolic syndrome (p = 0.03). 80% of the subjects with NAFLD had either developed type 2 diabetes mellitus or had impaired fasting glucose and 80% fulfilled the WHO-criteria for the metabolic syndrome, which were of significant differences to the group without NAFLD. Conclusion: The risk of developing elevated liver enzymes and NAFLD at long-term follow-up in insulin resistant subjects is not insignificant, but mainly associated with the simultaneous development of impaired fasting glucose, established diabetes mellitus and/ or the metabolic syndrome.


Natural peatlands support rich biological diversity at the genetic, species, ecosystem and landscape levels. However, because the character of this diversity differs from that of other ecosystem types, the value of peatlands for biodiversity has often been overlooked. Fundamentally, this arises because peatland ecosystems direct part of the energy captured by primary production into long-term storage within a peat layer, and thus establish a structural and functional basis for biodiversity maintenance that is not found elsewhere. This article examines the far-reaching implications for the assessment of peatland biodiversity as well as for the drivers, methods and targets of peatland conservation and restoration initiatives. It becomes clear that a robust framework for the management and restoration of peatland biodiversity must be founded in structuralfunctional ecosystem analysis, and such a framework is developed. The authors draw on a broad base of historical and contemporary literature and experience, including important Russian contributions that have previously had little international exposure.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the use of EDTA tubes for collection of blood samples for assays of secondary hemostasis in dogs.

ANIMALS
108 dogs of various ages, breeds, and sexes (19 healthy and 89 with abnormalities of secondary hemostasis).

PROCEDURES
Blood samples were collected via cephalic venipuncture and transferred to sodium citrate tubes and EDTA tubes. Plasma was harvested from each type of tube for assays of concentrations of fibrinogen and D-dimer as well as prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, and antithrombin activity. Intra-assay and interassay precision and correlation coefficients for all hemostatic tests were calculated for each type of plasma sample. The effect of storage conditions on assay results for the 2 types of plasma samples was also evaluated.

RESULTS
Results of hemostatic tests were highly correlated between citrated and EDTA-treated plasma samples. Intra-assay imprecision for all hemostatic tests with the exception of D-dimer concentration was < 10% for both citrated and EDTA-treated plasma samples; interassay imprecision was higher for EDTA-treated versus citrated plasma samples. Storage of plasma samples for 1 hour did not result in significantly different assay results for either type of plasma sample, but storage for 2 hours significantly affected values for EDTA-treated plasma samples.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Although evaluation of the sensitivity and specificity of hemostatic tests that use EDTA-treated plasma samples is required, EDTA may be a suitable alternative to sodium citrate as an anticoagulant for use in hemostatic testing in conditions in which tests could be performed within 1 hour after sample collection.


ABS (Ankaferd Hemostat) has emerged as a novel haemostatic agent of plant origin. Its ability to interact with entire proteins including cell surface receptors and/or blood proteins plus tissue proteins revealed novel functions of ABS to biologic systems especially tumor associated transcription factors. Thus, in our study, we aimed to investigate the effects of ABS on lymphoid neoplastic cells in vitro. We showed that Ankaferd treated B-CLL cells (at doses 0.5, 1 and 2 μg/mL) ceased to inflate and more than 50% of tumor cells were died compared to 0.1 and 0.25 μg/mL doses. Additionally, transformation of B-CLL cells to the blastic aggressive lymphoid forms was prevented by addition of Ankaferd to culture medium. The results have given the clues of anti-neoplastic effects at higher doses (>0.5 μg/mL) and induction of cellular differentiation at lower doses (<0.5 μg/mL) and proposed future advances in treatment of neoplastic bleedings.


The goal of this project is to develop Mobile application using Bluetooth API to communicate with Data Logger and to receive the data and display on the screen. Special option should be created for the user to send the received data to web server. Main issue of using Bluetooth is to replace cables and low cost. The results show the temperature values for every received byte from Data Logger on mobile screen. This thesis explains about Bluetooth, J2ME, java API for Bluetooth and necessary infrastructure to develop mobile applications using Bluetooth for communicating with Data Logger.


A chemical microsensor system capable of simultaneously measuring the impedance and thickness of thin polymer films exposed to analyte vapors is described. The system is constructed from a quartz substrate with interdigitated electrodes and a piezoresistive microcantilever. Measurements of the thickness and impedance of 10-30 μm thick films of LiClO 4 doped polyethyleneoxide (PEO) exposed to water, ethanol, acetone, and n-octane are reported. Experiments show that the thickness and impedance measurements are complementary and that thickness/impedance profiles allow the identification and quantification of the analytes tested. Scanning force microscopy (SFM) shows that PEO lamellae become smaller as the level of LiClO 4 doping increases. SFM also shows an increase in the amount of amorphous material increases when doped PEO is exposed to water vapor. The uniqueness of the thickness/impedance profiles for the analytes is discussed in terms of the SFM results.


Abstract People are less likely to help when they have been ostracized, or when they are in the presence of bystanders. In the current manuscript we test both these influences simultaneously. We postulated two opposing hypotheses: first, helping decreases after ostracism, even when intervention is already less likely due to bystander presence. Second, the bystander effect could be reversed, as helping may benefit one's reputation, especially in the presence of others. After playing Cyberball to manipulate ostracism, participants could help others on either a crowded or empty internet forum. In support of the first hypothesis, we found two main effects: replicating the bystander effect, the presence of others diminished helping. Moreover, ostracism diminished helping, even in the presence of others.


A central theme of Cheryl Misak's new history is that there are two key strands in the pragmatist tradition. The Peircean strand does "justice to the objective dimension of human inquiry" she thinks, while the Jamesian strand allegedly does not. I argue that at least when it comes to philosophical inquiry just the opposite is true. Peirce advocates adopting technical vocabulary in philosophy. But in practice, extensive use of jargon means only trained specialists can participate in inquiry. There is no assurance that consensus in such a restricted community would transcend individual and small-group bias—an important requirement for objectivity. In contrast, James's Darwinian account of inquiry requires him to practice philosophy with an audience of what he calls the "seriously inquiring amateur." A community of inquiry that includes amateurs would contain a greater variety of temperaments, James argues, and would thus be proportionately more likely to produce a consensus that transcends individual and small-group bias.


BACKGROUND
Given the lack of data clarifying the manner in which women with metabolic syndrome (MetS) in different eras of their life perceive their health-related quality of life (HRQoL), this study aimed at investigating the association between MetS and HRQoL in reproductive age and post menopausal women.

METHODS
This was a cross-sectional study conducted within the framework of Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS). Metabolic syndrome was defined according to the Joint Interim Statement (JIS) and HRQoL was assessed using the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) of poor HRQoL with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for reproductive age and post-menopausal women separately and adjusted for confounding variables.

RESULTS
All 603 participants with (n = 340) and without (n = 263) MetS were studied. Overall, in both physical and mental domains, those without MetS had higher scores in all subscales of SF-36 except for vitality, role emotional and mental component summary. Unadjusted odds ratios (95% CI) for poor physical HRQoL were 2.8 (1.7-4.6); (P < 0.001) and 1.5 (0.7-3.4) for the reproductive age and post-menopausal groups, respectively. Compared to the post-menopausal group, the odds ratio of reporting poor HRQoL for reproductive age women was significantly higher, even after adjusting for age (OR: 1.7, 95% CI: 1.0-3.0, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
The results indicate that MetS is associated with poor HRQoL in reproductive age, but not in post-menopausal women, and the association is observed mainly in relation to physical rather than mental health.


Water adequacy depends on multiple variables. The provision of adequate drinking water in Sub-Saharan Africa often gets blurred by distortions in supply and demand relationships. Different development organisations have attempted to find solutions to the provision of adequate drinking water. However, while some attempts have succeeded in addressing water adequacy in terms of both the quantity available and that demanded, most attempts have failed to address other components of water adequacy. This paper analyses one such case in Mpeketoni, one of the six administrative divisions in the coastal district of Lamu, Kenya, and emphasises that accessibility in terms of distance and price are the major factors determining the success of this initiative. The paper finds that, whilst the target quantity has been achieved, accessibility has not been ensured. Considering the local factors, this paper suggests a spatial distribution of water facilities for adequacy. The paper9s conclusion is that the infrastructure required to reach the target is quite difficult in the present context, and thus alternatives must be considered.


Deep Neutral Networks(DNNs) require huge GPU memory when training on modern image/video databases. Unfortunately, the GPU memory as a hardware resource is always finite, which limits the image resolution, batch size, and learning rate that could be used for better DNN performance. In this paper, we propose a novel training approach, called Re-forwarding, that substantially reduces memory usage in training. Our approach automatically finds a subset of vertices in a DNN computation graph, and stores tensors only at these vertices during the first forward. During backward, extra local forwards (called the Re-forwarding process) are conducted to compute the missing tensors between the subset of vertices. The total memory cost becomes the sum of (1) the memory cost at the subset of vertices and (2) the maximum memory cost among local re-forwards. Re-forwarding trades training time overheads for memory and does not compromise any performance in testing. We propose theories and algorithms that achieve the optimal memory solutions for DNNs with either linear or arbitrary computation graphs. Experiments show that Re-forwarding cuts down up-to 80% of training memory on popular DNNs such as Alexnet, VGG, ResNet, Densenet and Inception net.


Protein Folding Prediction (PFP) is essentially an energy minimization problem formalised by the definition of a fitness function. Several PFP models have been proposed including the Hydrophobic-Hydrophilic (HP) model, which is widely used as a test-bed for evaluating new algorithms. The calculation of the fitness is the major computational task in determining the native conformation of a protein in the HP model and this paper presents a new efficient search algorithm (ESA) for deriving the fitness value requiring only O(n) complexity in contrast to the full search approach, which takes O(n2). The improved efficiency of ESA is achieved by exploiting some intrinsic properties of the HP model, with a resulting reduction of more than 50% in the overall time complexity when compared with the previously reported Caching Approach, with the added benefit that the additional space complexity is linear instead of quadratic.


Developments in machine learning interpretability techniques over the past decade have provided new tools to observe the image regions that are most informative for classification and localization in artificial neural networks (ANNs). Are the same regions similarly informative to human observers? Using data from 79 new experiments and 7,810 participants, we show that passive attention techniques reveal a significant overlap with human visual selectivity estimates derived from 6 distinct behavioral tasks including visual discrimination, spatial localization, recognizability, free-viewing, cued-object search, and saliency search fixations. We find that input visualizations derived from relatively simple ANN architectures probed using guided backpropagation methods are the best predictors of a shared component in the joint variability of the human measures. We validate these correlational results with causal manipulations using recognition experiments. We show that images masked with ANN attention maps were easier for humans to classify than control masks in a speeded recognition experiment. Similarly, we find that recognition performance in the same ANN models was likewise influenced by masking input images using human visual selectivity maps. This work contributes a new approach to evaluating the biological and psychological validity of leading ANNs as models of human vision: by examining their similarities and differences in terms of their visual selectivity to the information contained in images.


A possible unintended but damaging consequence of anti-immigrant rhetoric, and the policies it inspires, is that they may put high-skilled immigrants off more than low-skilled ones at times when countries and businesses intensify their competition for global talent. We investigate this argument following the location choices of thousands of immigrant inventors across US counties during the Age of Mass Migration. To do so we combine a unique USPTO historical patent dataset with Census data and exploit exogenous variation in both immigration flows and diversity induced by former settlements, WWI and the 1920s Immigration Acts. We find that co-ethnic networks play an important role in attracting immigrant inventors. However, we also find that immigrant diversity acts as an additional significant pull factor. This is mainly due to externalities that foster immigrant inventors' innovativeness. These findings are relevant for today's advanced economies that have become major receivers of migrant flows and, in a long-term perspective, have started thinking about immigration in terms of not only level but also composition.


Evolution Strategies (ES) have recently been demonstrated to be a viable alternative to reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms on a set of challenging deep learning problems, including Atari games and MuJoCo humanoid locomotion benchmarks. While the ES algorithms in that work belonged to the specialized class of natural evolution strategies (which resemble approximate gradient RL algorithms, such as REINFORCE), we demonstrate that even a very basic canonical ES algorithm can achieve the same or even better performance. This success of a basic ES algorithm suggests that the state-of-the-art can be advanced further by integrating the many advances made in the field of ES in the last decades.We also demonstrate that ES algorithms have very different performance characteristics than traditional RL algorithms: on some games, they learn to exploit the environment and perform much better while on others they can get stuck in suboptimal local minima. Combining their strengths and weaknesses with those of traditional RL algorithms is therefore likely to lead to new advances in the state-of-the-art for solving RL problems.


Despite its ubiquity in corporate law, the business judgment rule remains a doctrinal puzzle. Both courts and scholars offer different understandings of the Rule's role in litigation brought against corporate directors and different justifications for its deployment to insulate such directors from liability for breaches of fiduciary duties. This Article rejects all existing justifications for the Rule and argues that the Rule is no longer needed to protect directors from liability, either because the justifications offered never made any sense or because directors are now protected by other, statutory means. Rather, the Rule is needed today to protect not directors but the corporations they serve from the irreparable harm corporations would suffer if forced to disclose prospective business plans in order to defend decisions taken by their boards. This Article follows some recent scholarship in arguing that the Rule is best understood as an abstention doctrine and argues that courts should invoke the Rule and abstain from the review of the business judgment of corporate directors when the litigation that gives rise to such review would compel the corporation to disclose information relating to its prospective business plans. The Article then illustrates why the Rule should not apply in cases involving challenges to board decisions relating to executive compensation through a detailed discussion of the on-going litigation relating to the hiring and dismissal of the Walt Disney Company's former President, Michael Ovitz.


The main objective of the study is to examine the role that financial management plays in ensuring regional development. This is because the crisis, economic globalisation, the increasing external growth of companies and the institutionalisation of the autonomy of local communities have fuelled the interest in identifying alternatives to local and thereby regional development. The targeted operational objectives were: to define the preliminary coordinates of regional development; to identify the role of private and public financial management in supporting regional development; and to present the financing framework of the Siret-Prut-Nistru Euroregion. The main financial levers with a direct impact on regional economic development there are: tax incentives; using EU financing programmes; leverage based on ownership of buildings and land; business incubators, etc. The study suggests that financial management (both public and private) plays an important role in the development of the Euroregion, with wide-ranging present (in the post-crisis) as well as future implications.


I believe that all education proceeds by the participation of the individual in the social consciousness of the race. This process begins unconsciously almost at birth, and is continually shaping the individual's powers, saturating his consciousness, forming his habits, training his ideas, and arousing his feelings and emotions. Through this unconscious education the individual gradually comes to share in the intellectual and moral resources which humanity has succeeded in getting together. He becomes an inheritor of the funded capital of civilization. The most formal and technical education in the world cannot safely depart from this general process. It can only organize it or differentiate it in some particular direction.


This study re-imagines the relationship between music and poetry in the Long Romantic period. It centres on a selection of lyrics by male canonical poets before moving into an analysis of texts by women who were prolific in their own time, with the aim of establishing a contextual canon of musical responsiveness that is characterized by a form of musical declamation in poetry. Beginning with an exploration of the cultural intersections of words, music, texts, and songs, I present a British Romantic poetic soundscape in which acts of reading, speaking, and writing are animated as live speech and performed as music. I engage with a number of thematic elements that assist me in identifying, categorizing, and analyzing often overlooked references to music in the lyrics of Charlotte Smith, Joanna Baillie, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Shelley, John Keats, Lord Byron, Felicia Hemans, Letitia Landon, and John Clare. Each chapter unfolds around a dominant metaphor that describes a different facet of the musical experience of poetry. As a testing ground for my approach, I apply the argument, that musical language is interwoven with Romantic culture, to two national song collections: Lord Byron's and Isaac Nathan's Hebrew Melodies (1815, 1816) and Felicia Hemans's and John Parry's Welsh Melodies (1822). The overarching message of this study is that we should read texts in ways that are sensitive to the dynamics between authors, readers, speakers, and performers who contributed to shaping the Romantic creative act. My approach is rooted in the theory of new formalism, which anchors itself in historical evidence while maintaining its focus on the text. The interdisciplinary terminology that I employ is drawn from literary studies, musicology, elocution, rhetoric, sound studies, and word and music studies. This study was motivated by a proliferation of musical references within Romantic lyric poems, and actively counters claims that these are superficial and supplementary rather than integral and essential to our understanding of the culture and ethos of the Romanticism.


To escape the harsh conditions of work in agriculture or food processing plants, many undocumented immigrants turn to entrepreneurship for safer working conditions and better economic prospects. Transactional lawyers often help these entrepreneurs form limited liability companies or worker cooperatives. Unfortunately, this simple act might expose these lawyers to criminal liability. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) prohibits anyone from encouraging an undocumented person to reside in the United States. This prohibition has been construed to include everything from employing undocumented housekeepers to procuring falsified documents for citizenship applications, and some courts have even suggested that the encouragement restriction can reach legal advice. Although the Third, Fourth, Seventh, and Eleventh Circuits have construed IRCA's encouragement prohibition in a manner that avoids constitutional issues, the Ninth Circuit's decision in United States v. Sineneng-Smith found IRCA's encouragement prohibition unconstitutionally overbroad under the First Amendment. This Article argues that the courts that upheld the prohibition rewrote the statute, usurped the legislative authority of Congress, and ignored the chilling effect this statute has on wide swaths of protected and socially productive speech. On the other hand, the Ninth Circuit's decision signaled to lawyers and immigrant advocates that providing comfort, inspiration, or other forms of encouragement to undocumented people (including legal advice) will not be treated as a felony. By refusing to rewrite the statute, the Ninth Circuit's decision not only respects Congress's legislative authority, but it also represents sound policy by supporting undocumented entrepreneurship—a boon to the entrepreneur, the entrepreneur's family, and federal, state, and local economies.


Abstract. Aerosol direct radiative forcing (DRF) plays an important role in global climate change but has a large uncertainty. Here we investigate aerosol DRF with GEOS-Chem-APM, a recently developed global aerosol microphysical model that is designed to capture key particle properties (size, composition, coating of primary particles by volatile species, etc.). The model, with comprehensive chemistry, microphysics and up-to-date emission inventories, is driven by assimilated meteorology, which is presumably more realistic compared to the model-predicted meteorology. For this study, the model is extended by incorporating a radiation transfer model. Optical properties are calculated using Mie theory, where the core-shell configuration could be treated with the refractive indices from the recently updated values available in the literature. The surface albedo is taken from MODIS satellite retrievals for the simulation year, in which the data set for the 8-day mean at 0.05° (5600 m) resolution for 7 wavebands is provided. We derive the total and anthropogenic aerosol DRF, mainly focus on the results of anthropogenic aerosols, and then compare with those values reported in previous studies. In addition, we examine the anthropogenic aerosol DRF's dependence on several key factors, including the particle size of black carbon (BC) and primary organic carbon (POC), the density of BC and the mixing state. Our studies show that the anthropogenic aerosol DRF at top of atmosphere (TOA) for all sky is −0.41 W m−2. However, the sensitivity experiments suggest that the magnitude could vary from −0.08 W m−2 to −0.61 W m−2, depending on assumptions regarding the mixing state, size and density of particles.


GaInN has the potential to revolutionize the solar cell industry, enabling higher efficiency solar cells with its wide bandgap range spanning the entire solar spectrum. However, material quality issues stemming from the large lattice mismatch between its binary endpoints and questionable range of p-type doping has thus far prevented realization of high efficiency solar cells. Nonetheless, amorphous and multi-crystalline forms of GaInN have been theorized to exhibit a defect-free bandgap, enabling GaInN alloys at any indium composition to be realized. But the range of possible p-type doping has not yet been determined and no device quality material has been demonstrated thus far. Nonetheless, a Schottky barrier design (to bypass the p-type doping issue) on single-crystal GaInN can be used to provide some insight into the future of amorphous and micro-crystalline GaInN Schottky barrier solar cells. Through demonstration of a functional single crystalline GaInN Schottky barrier solar cell and comparison of the results to the best published reports for more conventional p-i-n GaInN solar cells, this work aims to establish the feasibility of amorphous and multi-crystalline GaInN solar cells.


We analyze the strength of Helly's selection theorem HST, which is the most
important compactness theorem on the space of functions of bounded variation.
For this we utilize a new representation of this space intermediate between
$L_1$ and the Sobolev space W1,1, compatible with the, so called, weak*
topology. We obtain that HST is instance-wise equivalent to the
Bolzano-Weierstra\ss\ principle over RCA0. With this HST is equivalent to ACA0
over RCA0. A similar classification is obtained in the Weihrauch lattice.


BACKGROUND
There are many existing ethical challenges in nursing homes. Although different methods and approaches to discussing the ethical challenges have been established, systematic ethics work is not yet a standard in all nursing homes. The aim of the present study was to explore ethical challenges and approaches to implementing systematic ethics work in nursing homes.

METHODS
Data from five institutions in Austria, Germany and Norway were collected, and a mixed-methods two-tiered study approach was chosen. Documentation of ethics discussions was combined with qualitative focus group interviews with staff members regarding the implementation of systematic ethics work in nursing homes.

RESULTS
One hundred and five ethics meetings were documented. The main topics were advance care planning, ethical challenges associated with artificial nutrition, hospitalisation and end-of-life decision-making. Of the meetings, 33% focused mainly on everyday ethical challenges. In 76% of prospective case discussions, agreements about a solution were reached; however, in 29% of these no residents or relatives participated. The advantages of systematic ethics work described by the staff were enhanced openness and dialogue, overall, and a greater ethical awareness. Many voiced a need for structure and support from the administration.

CONCLUSIONS
Systematic ethics work is greatly appreciated by the staff and helps to reach a consensus in the majority of case discussions. It should be implemented in all nursing homes. Attention to everyday ethical challenges is important. The participation of relatives and physicians could be improved. The participation of the residents' in ethics discussions should be encouraged to strengthen their autonomy and dignity.


At-risk students in this study are those with low academic achievement and with
behavioral problems. The study utilizes the descriptive survey method. The sample of this study comprised of 688 secondary school students who are at-risk and their average age was sixteen. Findings indicate that the mean EQ of at-risk students were rather low (mean= 57.67, SD=0.26). The mean scores for the three sub-scales of EQ among the students were 18.91 for Emotional Self-Awareness (ESA), 14.94 for Emotional Expression (EE), and 24.18 for Emotional Awareness of others (EAO). Based on the scoring grid suggested by Cooper and Sawaf (1996), both ESA and EE students were found to be vulnerable (ESA:19-23;EE:13-16), except for EAO which was found to be proficient (22-27).Research findings also indicate significant gender differences(t=4.103,p<.05) in EQ scores among at-risk students with female students obtained a higher mean compared to the males. In addition results also found positive and significant correlations between EQ and the following variables namely academic achievement (r=.195, p<.05), self-esteem (r=.361, p<.05), achievement motivation (r=.354, p<.05), Mathematics self-efficacy (r=.310,p<.05) and English self-efficacy (r=.498,p<.05). The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of educational opportunities for at-risk students.


Following on from "Stranger Shores", which contained J.M. Coetzee's essays from 1986 to 1999, "Inner Workings" gathers together his literary essays from 2000 to 2005. Of the writers discussed in the first half of the book, several - Italo Svevo, Joseph Roth, Bruno Schulz, Sandor Marai - lived through the Austro-Hungarian fin de siecle and felt the influence of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Freud. Coetzee further explores the work of six of twentieth-century German literature's greatest writers: Robert Musil, Robert Walser, Walter Benjamin (the Arcades Project), Joseph Roth, Gunter Grass, W.G. Sebald, and the poet Paul Celan in his 'wrestlings with the German language'. There is an essay on Graham Greene's Brighton Rock and on the short fiction of Samuel Beckett, a writer whom Coetzee has long admired. American literature is strongly represented from Walt Whitman, through William Faulkner, Saul Bellow and Arthur Miller to Philip Roth. Coetzee rounds off the collection with essays on three fellow Nobel laureates: Nadine Gordimer, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and V.S. Naipaul.


The main objective of this work is to provide an introduction and sense of direction into the complicated world of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES). It by no means intends to serve as a comprehensive overview of this vast field. It provides one entry point for engaging in PES, and was designed to fit into the broader Livelihoods and Landscapes (LLS) strategy, as developed by IUCN's Forest Conservation Programme.


A guide to using Library resources when conducting research in American Women's Studies. You'll find links to the best tools and sources available, and step by step instructions for conducting Humanities research in this topic area.


Miniaturization of hybrid integrated buck converters is impeded by the difference in growth laws in current rating for silicon and for inductors as current rating increases. In the 20 A range, this leads to the attractive feasibility of planarizing the output inductor as the largest component by utilizing low-temperature cofired ceramic technology in the form of the (magnetic) substrate to carry the rest of the converter circuit. The presence of a magnetic substrate below the circuitry creates additional parasitic inductances, which results in low-frequency oscillations. From simulation, the presence of a conductive shield reduces trace inductances and improves circuit performance. There is a minimum shield thickness required to minimize losses associated with ringing. High-shield conductivity is necessary to lower the trace inductance and minimize power loss. Traces should be placed close to the shield to minimize inductance. Experimental results on converters with ceramic-based shield layers and organics-based shield layers bear out the theoretical expectations and establish the practical viability of the proposed hybrid integration technology.


The present study is performed with the aim to reduce the levels of polluting emissions from fuel combustion that produce acid rains and the greenhouse effect (NOx, CO2). The electric field effects on the processes of heat/mass transfer and propane combustion are studied in order to perform electric control of the levels of polluting emissions from the flame. The results of experimental studies show the direct influence of the electric field's enhanced mass transfer on local variations of the flame composition and fuel combustion. The related variations of the flame temperature, processes of soot formation, carbon capture and deposition along the flame channel flow are studied by varying the field strength and the equivalence ratio of the propane-air mixture. The results show that the electric field effect on soot formation, carbon capture and sequestration, for fuel-rich flame flow, can be used to reduce the levels of CO2 emissions from the flame. In addition, the field-enhanced heat/ mass transfer to the channel walls, for fuel-lean conditions, can be used to control the fuel combustion, flame temperature and temperaturesensitive levels of NOx emissions. The most pronounced electric field effects on fuel combustion and composition of the products are observed in the limit of the weak fields (U<1,2 kV, E<105 V m-1).


The most versatile and robust flying machines are still those produced by nature through evolution. The solutions to the 6 DOF control problem faced by these machines are implemented in extremely small neuronal structures comprising thousands of neurons. Hence, the biological principles of flight control are not only very effective but also efficient in terms of their implementation. An important question is to what extent these principles can be generalized to man-made flying platforms. Here, this question is investigated in relation to the computational and behavioral principles of the opto-motor system of the fly and locust. The aim is to provide a control infrastructure based only on biologically plausible and realistic neuronal models of the insect opto-motor system. It is shown that relying solely on vision, biologically constrained neuronal models of the fly visual system suffice for course stabilization and altitude control of a blimp-based UAV. Moreover, the system is augmented with a collision avoidance model based on the Lobula Giant Movement Detector neuron of the Locust. It is shown that the biologically constrained course stabilization model is highly robust and that the combined model is able to perform autonomous indoor flight.


Background Although many three-dimensional (3D) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences have been used in the clinical field, there are no studies on fat-suppressed (FS) 3D sequences for the diagnosis of knee abnormalities. Purpose To evaluate the usefulness of FS 3D volume isotropic turbo spin echo acquisition (VISTA) imaging for diagnosis of internal structures of knee. Material and Methods In 137 patients with 138 knee MRI examinations who had undergone both FS 3D VISTA MRI and two-dimensional (2D) MRI of the knee at 3.0 T, arthroscopic surgery was subsequently performed. Multiplanar reformations (MPR) of FS 3D VISTA images and their MPR sequences were compared with 2D MR images of axial T1-weighted (T1W) images, axial FS T2-weighted (T2W) images, coronal FS T2W images, and sagittal T2W images. Two musculoskeletal radiologists reviewed the images independently. Results Arthroscopy revealed 33 anterior cruciate ligament tears, three posterior cruciate ligament tears, 42 lateral meniscus tears, and 68 medial meniscus tears. Five medial collateral ligament tears were clinically confirmed. Image acquisition time was shorter for FS 3D VISTA imaging than 2D imaging. There were no significant differences in diagnostic values between FS 3D VISTA and 2D imaging (P > 0.05). There were excellent inter-observer agreements for both FS 3D VISTA and 2D imaging (κ > 0.84). Conclusion FS 3D VISTA imaging could replace 2D imaging because of equal diagnostic ability and shorter scan time.


Explores methods for the representation and treatment of uncertainty in risk assessment

In providing guidance for practical decision-making situations concerning high-consequence technologies (e.g., nuclear, oil and gas, transport, etc.), the theories and methods studied in Uncertainty in Risk Assessment have wide-ranging applications from engineering and medicine to environmental impacts and natural disasters, security, and financial risk management. The main focus, however, is on engineering applications.

While requiring some fundamental background in risk assessment, as well as a basic knowledge of probability theory and statistics, Uncertainty in Risk Assessment can be read profitably by a broad audience of professionals in the field, including researchers and graduate students on courses within risk analysis, statistics, engineering, and the physical sciences.

Uncertainty in Risk Assessment:

Illustrates the need for seeing beyond probability to represent uncertainties in risk assessment contexts.
Provides simple explanations (supported by straightforward numerical examples) of the meaning of different types of probabilities, including interval probabilities, and the fundamentals of possibility theory and evidence theory.
Offers guidance on when to use probability and when to use an alternative representation of uncertainty.
Presents and discusses methods for the representation and characterization of uncertainty in risk assessment.
Uses examples to clearly illustrate ideas and concepts.


Cancer cells are often immortal through up-regulation of the hTERT gene, which encodes the catalytic subunit of a special reverse transcriptase to overcome end-replication problem of chromosomes. This study demonstrates that papaverine, an isoquinoline alkaloid from the Papaveraceae, can overcome telomerase dependent immortality of HepG-2 cells that was used as a model of hepatocarcinoma. Although this alkaloid does not directly interact with telomeric sequences, papaverine inhibits telomerase through down-regulation of hTERT, which was analysed using thermal FRET and qRT-PCR, respectively. The IC50 values for the reduction of both telomerase activity and hTERT expression was 60 µM, while IC50 for cytotoxicity was 120 µM. Repeated treatments of the cells with very low non-toxic concentrations of papaverine resulted in growth arrest and strong reduction of population doublings after 40 days. This treatment induced senescent morphology in HepG-2 cells, which was evaluated by beta-galactosidase staining. Altogether, papaverine can be regarded as a promising model compound for drug design targeting cancer development.


Research conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) indicates that lowto moderate-power, long-wavelength lasers (630− 650 nm) provide an effective means of dispersing some "problem" bird species under low-light conditions, while presenting no threat to the animal or the environment. The NWRC researchers tested the hypothesis that birds would avoid the beam or beam spot produced by a laser in low ambient light. In the format of controlled, replicated, 2-choice experiments with captive birds, Canada geese (Branta canadensis; 6 groups; 4 birds/group) exhibited extreme avoidance of laser beams over 80-minute periods, with 96% of the birds moving to untreated (control) areas. Concurrent work involving the use of lasers against double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) at night roosts resulted in the abandonment of roosts by several thousand birds after 3 nights of treatment. In addition, waterfowl (Anatidae) species (including Canada geese), wading birds (Ardeidae and Threskiornithidae), gulls (Laridae), vultures (Cathartidae), and American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) have exhibited avoidance of the laser beam during field trials, but response is dependent upon context and species. The low power levels, directivity, accuracy over distance, and silence of laser devices make them safe and effective species-specific alternatives to pyrotechnics, shotguns, and other traditional avian dispersal tools. Further, hand-held laser devices and automated, fixed-position laser systems would likely prove a safe and effective enhancement of bird management efforts at airports. Here we 1) review research relating to the use of lasers as avian repellents, 2) discuss the application of laser technology in dispersing birds from the airport environment, and 3) review the laser products designed specifically for bird dispersal.


As academics have become increasingly interested in globalization, scholars in many fields have turned their attention to theorizations of the state and state power. Admittedly, most criminologists have paid relatively little attention to theories of the state, its function, role, or issues of sovereignty (save for Barak, 1991; Chambliss and Zatz, 1993; Friedrichs, 1992; Michalowski and Kramer, 1987; Mullins and Rothe, 2008; Rothe and Mullins, 2006, 2007, 2008). With the growing criminological interest in and focus on transnational crimes (Friedrichs, 2007), crimes of globalization (Friedrichs and Friedrichs, 2002; Rothe, Mul‐ lins, and Muzzatti, 2006; Rothe, Mullins, and Sandstrom, 2009), and crimes of the state (Kramer, et. al., 2005; Michalowski and Kramer, 2006; Rothe and Mullins, 2008), there has been a corresponding shift in the view of the state that emphasizes its place in a "globalized" framework. Many scholars have suggested that the state has been reduced to nothing more than a facilitator of global political, legal, and economic systems. As criminolo‐ gists of state crime, we find this position problematic for the conceptualization and study of governmental crime. We feel that proclaiming states and state sovereignty as eroding and/or dead is premature. In this paper we explore one area in which states seem to be voluntarily abdicating certain elements of sovereignty—the entering into of international treaties. Specifically, we examine how states protect their sovereignty through entering reservations to treaties being signed and ratified. Our findings suggest that despite greater attention in global consciousness among countries, states intensely protect their right to self‐determination while signing and ratifying treaties, compacts and other international agreements. After providing a detailed discussion of these findings, we conclude that state sovereignty is not eroding and is far from dead.


This paper uses data on juvenile offenders released from correctional facilities in Florida to explore the effects of facility management type (private for‐profit, private nonprofit, public state‐operated, and public county‐operated) on recidivism outcomes and costs. The data provide detailed information on individual characteristics, criminal and correctional histories, judge‐assigned restrictiveness levels, and home zip codes—allowing us to control for the nonrandom assignment of individuals to facilities far better than any previous study. Relative to all other management types, for‐profit management leads to a statistically significant increase in recidivism, but relative to nonprofit and state‐operated facilities, for‐profit facilities operate at a lower cost to the government per comparable individual released. Cost‐benefit analysis implies that the short‐run savings offered by for‐profit over nonprofit management are negated in the long run due to increased recidivism rates, even if one measures the benefits of reducing criminal activity as only the avoided costs of additional confinement.


Elucidating the biological and biochemical roles of proteins, and subsequently determining their interacting partners, can be difficult and time consuming using in vitro and/or in vivo methods, and consequently the majority of newly sequenced proteins will have unknown structures and functions. However, in silico methods for predicting protein–ligand binding sites and protein biochemical functions offer an alternative practical solution. The characterisation of protein–ligand binding sites is essential for investigating new functional roles, which can impact the major biological research spheres of health, food, and energy security. In this review we discuss the role in silico methods play in 3D modelling of protein–ligand binding sites, along with their role in predicting biochemical functionality. In addition, we describe in detail some of the key alternative in silico prediction approaches that are available, as well as discussing the Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction (CASP) and the Continuous Automated Model EvaluatiOn (CAMEO) projects, and their impact on developments in the field. Furthermore, we discuss the importance of protein function prediction methods for tackling 21st century problems.


Background: In an effort to increase tuberculosis (TB) case detection, the Kaduna State TB program in Nigeria started Public-Private Mix (PPM DOTS) in 2002. This study assessed and compared the TB case management practices and treatment outcomes of the public and private health facilities involved in the TB program. Methods: A comparative cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out in 5 private and 10 public health facilities providing TB services for at least two years in the four Local Governments Areas in Kaduna State where both public and private health facilities are involved in the TB program. The heads of the health facilities were interviewed and case notes of all the 492 TB patients registered in these facilities between January 2003 and December 2004 reviewed. Results: Except for the lower use of sputum microscopy for diagnosis, adherence to national TB treatment guidelines was high in both private and public health facilities. The private health facilities significantly saw more TB patients, an average of 51 patients per health facility compared to 23 patients in the public health facilities. There was better completion of records in the public health facilities while patient contact screening was very low in both public and private health facilities, 13.1% and 12.2% respectively. The treatment success rate was higher among patients managed in the private health facilities (83.7%) compared to 78.6% in the public health facilities. Conclusion: Private health facilities adhere to national guidelines had higher TB patient case load and better treatment outcome than public health facilities in Kaduna State. PPM-DOTS should be scaled-up and consolidated.


New methods that can be used to determine phase in phase-stepping interferometry are presented. It is shown that a combination of some of these methods can be used to reduce the error introduced by phase-stepper miscalibration and nonlinearity. Moreover these new algorithms can also be used to detect the presence of miscalibration or phase-shifter nonlinearity. A simplified approach to understanding the error introduced by miscalibration and nonlinearity of the phase stepper and its reduction in phase-shifting interferometry is also presented.


Trust transfer is a promising perspective on prevalent discussions about trust in AI-capable technologies. However, the convergence of AI with other technologies challenges existing theoretical assumptions. First, it remains unanswered whether both trust in AI and the base technology is necessary for trust transfer. Second, a nuanced view on trust sources is needed, considering the dual role of trust. To address these issues, we examine whether trust in providers and trust in technologies are necessary trust conditions. We conducted a survey with 432 participants in the context of autonomous vehicles and applied necessary condition analysis. Our results indicate that trust in AI technology and vehicle technology are necessary sources. In contrast, only vehicle providers represent a necessary source. We contribute to research by providing a novel perspective on trust in AI, applying a promising data analysis method to reveal necessary trust sources, and consider duality of trust in trust transfer.


We present the results of a program to acquire photometry for eighty-six late-M, L, and T dwarfs using the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on the Spitzer Space Telescope. We examine the behavior of these cool dwarfs in various color-color and color-magnitude diagrams composed of near-IR and IRAC data. The T dwarfs exhibit the most distinctive positions in these diagrams. In M5.8 versus [5.8][8.0], the IRAC data for T dwarfs are not monotonic in either magnitude or color, giving the clearest indication yet that the T dwarfs are not a one parameter family in Teff . Because metallicity does not vary enough in the solar neighborhood to act as the second parameter, the most likely candidate then is gravity, which in turn translates to mass. Among objects with similar spectral type, the range of mass suggested by our sample is about a factor of five (∼70 MJupiter to ∼15 MJupiter), with the less massive objects making up the younger members of the sample. We also find the IRAC 4.5 μmfluxes to be lower than expected, from which we infer a stronger CO fundamental band at ∼4.67 μm . This suggests that equilibrium CH4/CO chemistry underestimates the abundance of CO in T dwarf atmospheres, confirming earlier results based on M -band observations from the ground. In combining IRAC photometry with near-IR JHK photometry and parallax data, we find the combination of KS , IRAC 3.6 μm , and 4.5 μmbands to provide the best color-color discrimination for a wide range of M, L, and T dwarfs. Also noteworthy is the MKS versus KS-[4.5] relation, which shows a smooth progression over spectral type and splits the M, L, and T types cleanly. Subject headings: infrared: stars – stars: fundamental properties – stars: late-type – stars: low-mass, brown dwarfs


Conceptualising state fragility and failure as a wicked problem set reveals the complex, ill-defined and interdependent nature of the reality behind these labels. This essay builds on the contributions to this special issue by examining why the fragile/failed state concept remains in good currency despite its analytic weaknesses. The discussion reveals that the parsing of state fragility into its component parts and the development of related indicators reflect efforts to tame the wickedness of the problem set; this has led to peace-building and state-building interventions whose plans and actions do not effectively take account of what is necessary to achieve their intended aims. A better problem-solving match would look beyond naming and taming, incorporating lessons from the implementation literature and international development practice. However, achieving this would depend upon the political will of both labellers and the labelled.


Until the last two decades of the twentieth century, Tibetan studies suffered from an overemphasis on Buddhism and pre-1950s Tibetan history. Since the late 1980s, however, the situation has gradually changed. One increasingly comes across works related to Tibet that draw upon new ideas culled from various social, literary, and cultural theories. One such concept that is gaining currency is Diaspora.1 Taking their cue from the changing discourses of other dispersions, Tibetanists2working with Tibetan exile/refugee communities have adopted the term. While this development brings Tibetan studies in line with similar disciplines and reflects the self-confidence of the field itself, often the term is used in an undertheorized manner, as a mere synonym or substitute for 'refugee' or 'exile'. This is problematic, since Diaspora is not just another word for exiles or refugees but a concept with its own history. And this history is necessarily messy and contested.


Due to globalization and the increased availability of online collaboration tools, individuals are now likely to work together in settings where computers are their primary mode of communication. However, because communication characteristics are different in these settings, problems can arise, such as deception. Deceptive individuals may be difficult to detect over computerbased channels because many audio and visual cues to deception are filtered and communication tendencies are different. This paper presents two experiments where groups performed a collaborative task in a text-based, computer-mediated setting with and without confederate deceivers. The results show that deceivers were very successful in this setting, that groups performing a low complexity task were better at detecting deception than were groups performing a high complexity task, and that groups with members that had experience with each other had higher task performance but did not have higher deception detection accuracy than did inexperienced groups.


In August 2014, thirty-one law professors signed a letter in opposition to proposed federal legislation to create a civil cause of action for trade secret misappropriation. We write to express continued concerns about the current version of this legislation, the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2015 ("DTSA"), S. 1890 and H.R. 3326. While we agree that effective legal protection for U.S. businesses' legitimate trade secrets is important to American innovation, we believe that the DTSA — which would represent the most significant expansion of federal law in intellectual property since the Lanham Act in 1946 — will not solve the problems identified by its sponsors. Instead of addressing cyberespionage head-on, passage of the DTSA is likely to create new problems that could adversely impact domestic innovation, increase the duration and cost of trade secret litigation, and ultimately negatively affect economic growth. Therefore, the undersigned call on Congress to reject the DTSA.


This paper analyzes the effect that potential future availability of information has on willingness to pay in a contingent market characterized by uncertainty and irreversibility. In particular, I test whether the effect is consistent with the predictions of Zhao and Kling's (forthcoming) theory of commitment cost. The analysis is performed using the results of a contingent valuation study designed to estimate the degree to which local residents value improved water quality in Clear Lake, a spring-fed, glacial lake located in north-central Iowa. The results show that willingness to pay is highly sensitive to the potential for future learning. Offering survey respondents the opportunity to delay their purchasing decision until more information is available led to a significant decrease in willingness to pay. This suggests that contingent valuation practitioners must take care to accurately represent the potential for future learning or else risk biased valuation estimates.


Dr Scott's report summarises the responses to a public consultation and proposes possible legislative reforms.

The consultation was initiated by the Law Commission and followed calls for the Defamation Act 2013 to be extended to, or replicated in, this jurisdiction. The 2013 Act effected changes to the law of defamation in England, Scotland and Wales.


This prospective study was done over 40 patients suffering from low risk gestational trophoblastic diseases (GTD) from January 2002 to December 2008 in the department of Radiotherapy , Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Mitford Hospital. They aged between 18 and 45 years, mean age 26.72 years with peak occurrence (70%) in the 3rd decade (21- 30 Years). Among the 40 cases, one belonged to FIGO score- 1, eight to FIGO score-2, twenty to score-3 and 11 to score- 4. Only eight patient presented with beta-hCG above 100000u/ml. All the patients were planned for two weekly chemotherapy with methotrexate and leucovorin (methotrexate - 1mg/kg IV/IM on day 1,3,5,7 and oral leucovorin -0.1mg/kg on day 2,4,6,8) and were continued until beta-hCG level comes down to normal range. Then another three cycles of same chemotherapy were given. Two patients dropped during the course of chemotherapy. Chemotherapy schedule was changed to five drug regimen, EMA-CO schedule (etoposide-100mg/m 2 on day-1&2, methotrexate-100mg/m 2 IV bolus and 200mg/m 2 IV drip day-1, actinomycin-D- 0.5mg/m 2 IV day-1&2, cyclophosphamide-600mg/m 2 day-8 and vincristine-1mg/ m 2 IV day-8) due to increase in beta-hCG titre during chemotherapy with methotrexate and leucovorin. Another patient became pregnant after completion of methotrexate plus leucovorin, delivered a healthy male baby and came to us with recurrence. He was also treated with EMA-CO schedule. After completion of treatment, they were evaluated monthly for three months, three monthly for two years and then six monthly. Follow up period ranged between two to six years (median -four years). Among the 40 cases included in this study, two patients (5%) dropped during therapy, one (2.5%) expired due to post pregnancy recurrence and remaining 37 (92.5%) are yet in disease free state. (Bang. Onc. J. 2009; 4(2) : 54-58)


The distributions of nine species, Stipa aphylla (Rodway) Townrow, S. compacta Hughes, S. mollis R. Br., S. nervosa var. neutralis Vickery, S. pubinodis Trin. &
Rupr.,S. semibarbata R. S. teretifolia Steud., and S. variabilis Hughes, are
mapped, described and discussed in relation to altitude, rainfall and evaporation,
mean January and July temperatures, geology and soils, and associated plant
communities. Environmental factors which may be associated with the limits of
distribution of these species are noted.


Abstract Eocene strata of the Talara forearc basin of northwest Peru contain detrital-zircon (DZ) populations that, when integrated with other provenance indicators, record paleogeographic shifts in the Andean forearc that can be linked to larger-scale tectonic drivers such as subduction erosion, plate convergence rate, and regional accretion events. Because forearc basins along the western margin of South America are particularly difficult to preserve, the new DZ results provide rare insight into the trench–arc dynamics associated with the Andean orogenic cycle. The Talara basin tapped into both the Andean volcanic arc and older basement, and the DZ populations subsequently reflect long-lived plate interactions and progressive crustal growth along the northwestern edge of Amazonia, Gondwana, and South America. Dominant U–Pb zircon age populations include: 36–110 Ma (Andes convergence); 215–285 Ma (western Gondwana extension); 460–625 Ma (Rodinia extension and western Gondwana convergence); 950–1250 Ma (Grenville orogeny); and > 1250 Ma (Amazonia assembly). The data corroborate previous geochronology on pre-Andean basement and support the existence of a Famatinian arc (∼ 480 Ma) and Carboniferous–Triassic magmatism along northwestern Gondwana. Pre-Andean and Amazonian DZ likely was recycled from Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks of the Andean Cordillera and Amotape terrane, although the data do not preclude delivery of Amazonian detritus directly into the forearc via a large-scale, westward drainage. The Andean DZ population constrains the timing of arc activity and quiescence, with two peaks at ∼ 75 Ma and ∼ 50 Ma, and a gap at ∼ 70 Ma, linked to accretion of the Caribbean Oceanic Plateau against northwest South America. Arc volcanism was concurrent with Eocene forearc deposition, and syndepositional DZ is used to revise maximum depositional age for the upper Eocene Helico Member and Verdun Formation. Progressive subsidence and arc shut-down in the late Eocene coincide with arc collision to the north, uplift of the Amotape block, subduction erosion, and slab shallowing.


Self-care improves patients' outcomes in heart failure (HF). In this article we report the main results of a 7-year research program conducted in Italy. First, we established validity and reliability of the Self-Care of HF Index v.6.2 and the Caregiver Contribution to Self-Care of HF Index in the Italian population. Second, we tested the situation-specific theory of HF self-care that showed adequate fit to the data. Third, we showed in a sample of 1.192 HF patients that only about the 20% of them performs adequate self-care. Forth, we described caregiver contribution to self-care in a sample of 515 HF caregivers and we showed a low level of caregiver contribution to HF self-care. Fifth, we showed that patients and caregivers influence each other self-care. Six, we found that self-care confidence mediates between cognition and self-care, and comorbidity moderates between self-care confidence and self-care. Intervention studies are needed to improve self-care in Italian HF patients.


Granulomas are complex cellular structures comprised predominantly of macrophages and lymphocytes that function to contain and kill invading pathogens. Here, we investigated single cell phenotypes associated with antimicrobial responses in human leprosy granulomas by applying single cell and spatial sequencing to leprosy biopsy specimens. We focused on reversal reactions (RR), a dynamic process in which some patients with disseminated lepromatous leprosy (L-lep) transition towards self-limiting tuberculoid leprosy (T-lep), mounting effective antimicrobial responses. We identified a set of genes encoding proteins involved in antimicrobial responses that are differentially expressed in RR versus L-lep lesions, and regulated by IFN-γ and IL-1β. By integrating the spatial coordinates of the key cell types and antimicrobial gene expression in RR and T-lep lesions, we constructed a map revealing the organized architecture of granulomas depicting compositional and functional layers by which macrophages, T cells, keratinocytes and fibroblasts contribute to the antimicrobial response.


Summary

1
Combining species protection with land management is a central concern for nature conservation but requires a collaborative, problem-solving approach. Existing procedures do not guarantee the participation of stakeholders in the decision-making process and, thus, do not necessarily support the development of acceptable management strategies. An analytical framework is required to assess the consequences of human land use for wildlife habitats, incorporating a quantitative structure for including stakeholder opinions. We provide such a framework.

2
As an example, we used the procedure to evaluate the consequences of different building scenarios for the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games on potential roe deer Capreolus capreolus habitats. The analysis involved four steps: (i) three Bayesian models were developed to assess the suitability of six study areas for roe deer; (ii) the outcome of the models was converted into a habitat suitability index (HSI) for each study area; (iii) for each area, the building scenario chosen by the Olympic Games organizers was compared with alternative scenarios by means of HSI values; (iv) an HSI value was chosen as a benchmark to evaluate the ecological consequences of landscape changes.

3
The building projects chosen by the Olympic Games organizers caused changes in HSI values in each study area, especially at one site. In three of the six study areas, the chosen projects minimized the loss of suitable roe deer habitat, while in the remaining areas the alternative building locations could have reduced the negative consequences of human activities.

4
Synthesis and applications. A habitat suitablility index calculated with our procedure can be used to (i) compare different hypothetical land-use scenarios and make decisions about the location of human infrastructures to minimize habitat loss; and (ii) assess the consequences of human activities in relation to an ecological benchmark. The Bayesian approach provides a way to involve local stakeholders in the decision-making process, and thus is a useful tool for discussion of land-use policies. Our procedure could be applied to rare and common species and to assessing the consequences of all human activities involving reductions in natural habitat.


A 68-year-old man complaining of hoarseness and back pain, with no history of exposure to asbestos, was referred to our hospital in June 2002. He was admitted because his chest X-ray and CT scan showed atelectasis and a tumor-like region in the right lower lobe of the lung. Serum-CYFRA was 2.8 ng/ml, elevated slightly; however, no other tumor markers for lung cancer were elevated. A diagnosis of squamous cell lung cancer was made based on bronchial washing cytology. Persistent high fever and WBC count elevation did not respond to antibiotics, and reduced only after chemotherapy. Both serum G-CSF (217.0 pg/ml) and CYFRA in the pleural effusion (107.1 ng/ml) were elevated. The biopsy of the growing tumor in the right lateral abdominal wall revealed carcinoma with sarcomatous component or biphasic-type malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). In spite of chemotherapy and radiation therapy for the abdominal wall tumor, the tumor rapidly progressed and the patient died three months after admission. The findings at autopsy suggested the tumor was a sarcomatous MPM. However, immunohistochemical staining and tissue HABP staining revealed biphasic type MPM. Although CYFRA elevation in the serum and/or the pleural effusion in MPM patients has been previously reported, it has not been reported in any of the 5 MPM patients reported to have G-CSF elevation. Therefore, this is the first reported case of G-CSF-producing MPM with CYFRA elevation in both serum and the pleural effusion.


Energy budget dynamics under forest canopies are strongly influenced by the large spatial variability of radiative and turbulent transfers in this environment. Incoming solar radiation under canopies has a particularly high degree of spatial variability. Transmission of solar radiation through a forest canopy varies with the size and location of the canopy gaps, as well as canopy leaf area. Modeling this transmission has proven challenging owing to the highly variable nature of the gaps within and between tree crowns, particularly in discontinuous canopies. This study describes and simulates the solar variability incident on the snow surface beneath two conifer forests. Objectives of this work are (1) to evaluate the variability of incoming solar radiation data with respect to canopy structure and cloudiness, (2) to correlate measured solar radiation transmission with predicted solar transmission based on analysis of hemispherical photographs, and (3) to examine the impact of measured and predicted transmission factors on the seasonal net radiative exchanges and snow ablation, based on snow process modeling. Observations were made during the winters of 2002 and 2003 in two predominately lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) stands, one discontinuous and one relatively uniform, at the Local Scale Observation Site (LSOS) in Fraser, CO, USA, as part of the Cold Land Processes Experiment (CLPX). The canopy structure of all trees in the 0.8 ha triangular plot was measured and mapped in detail. We measured incoming global solar radiation at the snow surface beneath the discontinuous and the uniform canopies using arrays of 10 upward looking pyranometers at each site. Incoming global solar radiation was also measured above the canopy. Hemispherical photographs were taken with a Nikon Coolpix 995 with a fisheye converter at each radiometer location in both canopies, and were analyzed with Gap Light Analyzer (GLA) software. We found good agreement between measured and GLA-predicted transmissivities (r = 0.86) when all data from both years were considered. Transmission factors derived from hemispheric photos and GLA software can be used to specify the distribution of solar flux under a canopy, instead of direct solar flux measurements, without degradation in snow model melt predictions. # 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


With the global population of humans currently approaching seven billion, it is difficult to imagine that Homo sapiens was once an endangered species. Yet studies of the DNA of modern-day people indicate that, once upon a time, our ancestors did in fact undergo a dramatic population decline. Although scientists lack a precise timeline for the origin and near extinction of our species, we can surmise from the fossil record that our forebears arose throughout Africa shortly before 195,000 years ago. Back then the climate was mild and food was plentiful, life was good. But around 195,000 years ago, conditions began to deteriorate. The planet entered a long global stage known as Marine Isotope Stage 6 (MIS6) that lasted until roughly 123,000 years ago.


Research Summary: Explanations of entrants' survival in an emerging industry are premised on pre‐entry capabilities or technology entry choices prior to the emergence of the dominant design. We consider how these drivers interact to strengthen or nullify firms' pre‐entry advantage, and facilitate adaptation as the industry evolves. We also expand the treatment of exit by separating dissolution from acquisition, in which firms' capabilities continue to be utilized in the industry. Studying a recent shakeout in the global solar photovoltaic industry, we find that pre‐entry capabilities and technology choices act in a complementary manner for some firms, thereby enhancing survival, and as buffers against exit for others. Nearly half of exits were via acquisitions, and technology choice at entry played an important role in determining how firms exited. Managerial Summary: New industries are often characterized by intense technology competition that culminates in a dominant technology followed by industry shakeout. Although prior research underscores the central role of technology choice and firm capabilities to survival, we do not actually know how firms with different capabilities and who have made competing technology choices survive an industry shakeout. In this article, we show how entrants' capabilities and technology choices can act in a complementary manner for some firms, enhancing their chance of survival, and as buffers against failure for others. Moreover, we explain why some firms that do exit are acquired, when others are dissolved.