Network interoperability (information sharing) between avionics platforms and one or more command and control stations is a key enabler for the Army Future Force. Within a year and a half period of time, several demonstrations were conducted which showed the feasibility of implementing network interoperability in multiple joint exercise configurations and on different platforms using an Open Systems Gateway (OSGW). In the past it would have taken several months of coordination to define a single interface standard and distribute an implementation across multiple vendors with many layers of coordination and project management to define a new protocol. Today, using off the shelf industry standards, a new message set can transition from concept to implementation in a matter of weeks with minimal coordination and overhead.


Seamless air commuting between the EU and the USA appears to constitute nowadays a much sought-after but nevertheless still elusive cause. The level of co operation between the two parties has had, and is still having, its best and worst days. The protection of individual privacy continues to constitute one of the causes for much controversy. In Europe, the formal recognition of a right to data protection, in addition to the right to privacy, has led to an elaborate framework for the protection of individuals; however, internal, institutional difficulties have frequently caused confusion as to the appropriate legal treatment of different situations. In the USA individual privacy and personal data are protected through a mixture of sources: Constitutional law, Supreme Court case law, federal legislation, sector-specific legislation, etc. The difference in approach is obvious and has fed European belief about having higher standards in protection of personal data. After 9/11, the request of American security authorities to have increased access to the personal data of passengers (PNR data) visiting the USA, inevitably led to yet another confrontation of the two systems. The conflict was attempted to be resolved by a First (2004) PNR Agreement, that was annulled by the European Court of Justice, then by an Interim PNR Agreement and, finally, by the, in effect, Second (2007) PNR Agreement. The paper attempts to bring forward the route to the conclusion of the PNR Agreements, as well as to asses the effectiveness of the policy choices and the PNR Agreement model itself for the protection of individual privacy.


During the First World War, the French army deployed more than 500,000 colonial subjects to European battlefields. The struggle against a common enemy associated these soldiers with the French nation, but racial and cultural differences left them on the outside. This study investigates French conceptions of race and national identity at the time as reflected in the attitudes and policies directed toward these soldiers. How far did French egalitarianism extend in welcoming and disciplining nonwhite troops? Using the experiences of African and Asian colonial soldiers, Richard S. Fogarty examines how tensions between racial prejudices and strong traditions of republican universalism and egalitarianism resulted in often contradictory and paradoxical policies. Employing a socially and culturally integrated approach to the history of warfare that connects military and political policies with the society and culture in which they developed, Fogarty presents a fresh picture of how the French came to deal with race relations, religious differences, and French identity itself.


The main purpose of this thesis is to examine, in-depth, the different effects, both physiologically and psychologically, of trauma in pediatric patients. Based on the review of articles that have been written and different studies that have been conducted, an in-depth perspective will be taken to analyze how pediatric trauma affects patients, what gap, if any, exists in the literature, and how Trauma Informed Care can be implemented in the pediatric population to increase patient health outcomes upon admittance into a health care facility as well as maintaining the outcome of the patients' health and recovery upon discharge from the healthcare facility. The literature review that was conducted aimed to answer four research questions; I) what are the physiological effects of trauma in the pediatric patient, 2) what are the psychological effects of trauma in the pediatric patient, 3) how often do these physiological and psychological effects of trauma occur in the pediatric patient, 4} is there any correlation between physiological and psychological effects and age, gender or traumatic event experienced? Another aspect of this literature review was to develop the understanding of the differences in pediatric trauma, specifically physical effects of trauma, as well as to develop a greater understanding of the psychological effects of traumatic experiences in pediatric patients and how those effects, both physical and psychological, play a role in any long-term disability of the pediatric patient. Degree Type Open Access Senior Honors Thesis


Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP) are an essential strategy to combat antimicrobial resistance. This study aimed to measure the impact of an ASP multidisciplinary team (MDT) escalating intervention on improvement of clinical, microbiological, and other measured outcomes in hospitalised adult patients from medical, intensive care, and burns units. The escalating intervention reviewed the patients' cases in the intervention group through the clinical pharmacists in the wards and escalated complex cases to ID clinical pharmacist and ID physicians when needed, while only special cases required direct infectious disease (ID) physicians review. Both non-intervention and intervention groups were each followed up for six months. The study involved a total of 3000 patients, with 1340 (45%) representing the intervention group who received a total of 5669 interventions. In the intervention group, a significant reduction in length of hospital stay (p < 0.01), readmission (p < 0.01), and mortality rates (p < 0.01) was observed. Antibiotic use of the WHO AWaRe Reserve group decreased in the intervention group (relative rate change = 0.88). Intravenous to oral antibiotic ratio in the medical ward decreased from 4.8 to 4.1. The presented ASP MDT intervention, utilizing an escalating approach, successfully improved several clinical and other measured outcomes, demonstrating the significant contribution of clinical pharmacists atimproving antibiotic use and informing antimicrobial stewardship.


In this study activated carbon is produced from areca plant leaves, an agricultural waste material. The physical and chemical structural characterisation of the prepared carbon was carried out by FTIR, TGA and XRD analysis. FTIR study showed the presence of several functional groups, such as C=O, C=C, OH, NH on the surface of the activated carbon. To determine the adsorption efficiency, studies were carried out using cationic and anionic dyes and it was found to be dependent on contact time, temperature and concentration of the solution. The experimental data obtained were correlated with the Langmuir, Freundlich isotherm model. Kinetic data were obtained using second order rate equation. Probable mechanism of adsorption process with the dyes was analysed. As the prepared carbon is cost efficient, abundant and has high uptake capacity, it can be used as an adsorbent for fresh water or waste water treatment. It could be considered as promising material for the removal of dyes.


Structural resonances have been found in the Raman spectra of optically levitated liquid droplets of mixtures of water and glycerol. The observed resonances could be assigned by using the well-known Lorenz-Mie formalism. It was found that for the particular droplet under investigation quite high-order numbers (l = 8,9) of the natural modes of oscillation of a sphere play a dominant role. We describe the intensities of the resonances in the Raman spectrum particularly through the volume averaged internal field intensity. We show further that the internal angle-averaged electric field intensity is localized near, but not confined to, the sphere surface.


Most recent climate change impact studies are using Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) projections to replace older generation CMIP3 projections. Here we evaluate whether differences between projections based on comparable high emission pathways of a seven-member general circulation model CMIP3 versus CMIP5 ensemble change our understanding of the expected hydrologic impacts. This work focuses on the important snowmelt-dominated mountain runoff-generating regions of the western United States (WUS; Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB), Columbia River Basin (CRB), and Sierra Nevada (SN) Basins). Significant declines in snowmelt, and shifts in streamflow timing owing to warmer, wetter CMIP5 projections match or exceed those based on CMIP3 throughout the WUS. CMIP3- and CMIP5-based projections, while generally in agreement about hydroclimatic changes, differ in some important aspects for key regions. The most important is the UCRB, where CMIP5-based projections suggest increases in future streamflows. Comparable hydrologic projections result from similar underlying climate signals in CMIP3 and CMIP5 output for the CRB and SN, suggesting that previous work completed in these basins based on CMIP3 projections is likely still useful. However, UCRB hydrologic projections based on CMIP5 output suggest that a re-evaluation of future impacts on water resources is warranted.


Numerous studies have shown the benefits of breastfeeding, however, the incidence and duration of breastfeeding in the UK is low and static, and breastfeeding rates in Liverpool in the North West of the UK are even lower. Breastfeeding is frequently promoted as being free yet little research has been carried out to substantiate this claim. Further, little is known about breastfeeding practices in Liverpool. Four inter-related studies were conducted to investigate the cost of infant feeding and associated practices. Initially a database was compiled of infant feeding products, this revealed a vast number of products marketed to both breast and formula feeding mothers. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted to identify all the items purchased for feeding infants up to the age of four months. The results of these interviews revealed that breastfeeding was more expensive than formula feeding but high and low cost models suggest that substantial savings could be made. Many mothers purchased items and subsequently did not use or need them. The suggestion that infant feeding and particularly breastfeeding has become unnecessarily commercialised was supported by content analysis of a wide range of UK pregnancy and baby magazines. These were consistent with parenthood being a consumer experience to be 'perfected', in addition to emphasising the need for 'expert' advice. Breastfeeding messages were undermined by formula company advertisements and breastfeeding was frequently presented as being painful and problematic. With these conflicting messages, it may not be surprising that many women initiated breastfeeding but ceased within three months. Those who did initiate breastfeeding frequently gave 'baby-centred' reasons such as breast is best whilst those who initiated formula feeding gave 'mother-centred' reasons such as others could help with feeding. Many women who ceased breastfeeding would have liked to have continued, and cited reasons that could have been overcome with increased support and encouragement. The importance of being supported was further highlighted by the women who attended the infant feeding clinic. This study has demonstrated that the materials needed for breastfeeding are clearly identified and health professionals are trained to support parents. In addition, the media needs to be persuaded to help create and support a breastfeeding culture, with the risks of formula feeding clearly communicated.


The human cytochrome P450 (CYP) family of monooxygenases is important for metabolism of drugs and endogenous compounds, e.g., vitamin A and D, cholesterol, steroids, fatty acids, and eicosanoids. This thesis describes the tissue distribution, catalytic properties, and possible function of CYP4F8 and CYP4F12. To this respect, methods for immunohistological analysis, and real-time PCR for analysis of their transcripts, were developed.CYP4F8 was originally cloned from human seminal vesicles and proposed to catalyze 19-hydroxylation of prostaglandin H2 (PGH2). This notion could now be supported, as cyclooxygenase-2, CYP4F8, and microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 were found to be co-localized in the epithelial linings of seminal vesicles. The three enzymes were also co-localized in the suprabasal layers of epidermis, suggesting a similar function of CYP4F8 in skin. Real-time PCR showed that CYP4F8 mRNA was more than 10-fold increased in psoriatic lesions compared to non-lesional skin. CYP4F8 immunoreactivity was also found in kidney cortex, transitional epithelium, corneal epithelium, and retina. Although transcripts of all three enzymes were detectable in retina, no co-localization was found. Pro inflammatory stimuli were found to increase CYP4F8 mRNA expression in cultured epidermal and corneal keratinocytes. In these tissues CYP4F8 might oxidize fatty acids or other eicosanoids than PGH2.CYP4F12 was originally cloned from the liver and small intestine, and found to oxidize arachidonic acid and two anti-histamines. Immunohistological studies showed that CYP4F12 immunoreactivity was present mainly in the gastrointestinal tract, e.g., stomach, ilium, and colon, but also in placenta. Although CYP4F8 and CYP4F12 have catalytic properties in common, there are important differences. CYP4F12 does not oxidize PGH2, certain eicosanoids, and fatty acids. The prominent expression in the gut suggests that CYP4F12 might be involved in oxidation of drugs.


ABSTRACT This edition of Future Hospital Journal has a focus on person-centred care and explores the dimensions to partnership working at three different levels – consultation, service and system levels. In this introduction, the authors explain what they consider to be the essential components of person-centred care and what needs to be done to embed it at all levels of healthcare delivery. The changing attitudes of patients and the desire of most of them to receive personalised care based on their individual needs, preferences and lifestyles are explored. It is argued that a culture change is needed to make person-centred care the norm and that patients can help deliver this through a more meaningful involvement in medical research, training and education, service reconfiguration and commissioning.


The relevance of haplogroups in rnitochondrial disease was investigated in this study. Twenty-seven paediatric patients with clinically suspected mitochondrial disorders from diverse ethnic origins were investigated via an automated sequencing strategy. Previous studies in a similar population identified only the A3243G reported causative mutation in a single patient, in addition to a number of reported and unreported polymorphisms. It suggested that the aetiology of rnitochondrial disorders in Africa, specifically South Africa, might be different from that of other continents. Comparison between these sequences and the Revised Cambridge Reference Sequence revealed 37 polymorphic sites (7 novel changes, 30 reported alterations). No previously reported causative mutation was detected. The findings support the hypothesis that the aetiology of mitochondrial disorders in Africa is unique. Sixty-three percent of patients in the current study belonged to haplogroup L3 (48% in L3b), 22% to LO, 11% to L2a, and 4% to M. No patients with an L1 haplogroup were observed in this study. The above-mentioned observations have important implications. There was distinct clustering of affected patients in macrohaplogroup L. In this patient cohort, certain sub-haplogroups may play a susceptibility or protective role with regard to rnitochondrial dysfunction. Results generated in this study suggested that differential haplogroup-tissue-specific reliance on rnitochondrial ATP may culminate in specific phenotypic consequences.


IMPORTANCE
Medical research is a prerequisite of clinical advances, while health service research supports improved delivery, access, and cost. Few previous analyses have compared the United States with other developed countries.

OBJECTIVES
To quantify total public and private investment and personnel (economic inputs) and to evaluate resulting patents, publications, drug and device approvals, and value created (economic outputs).

EVIDENCE REVIEW
Publicly available data from 1994 to 2012 were compiled showing trends in US and international research funding, productivity, and disease burden by source and industry type. Patents and publications (1981-2011) were evaluated using citation rates and impact factors.

FINDINGS
(1) Reduced science investment: Total US funding increased 6% per year (1994-2004), but rate of growth declined to 0.8% per year (2004-2012), reaching $117 billion (4.5%) of total health care expenditures. Private sources increased from 46% (1994) to 58% (2012). Industry reduced early-stage research, favoring medical devices, bioengineered drugs, and late-stage clinical trials, particularly for cancer and rare diseases. National Insitutes of Health allocations correlate imperfectly with disease burden, with cancer and HIV/AIDS receiving disproportionate support. (2) Underfunding of service innovation: Health services research receives $5.0 billion (0.3% of total health care expenditures) or only 1/20th of science funding. Private insurers ranked last (0.04% of revenue) and health systems 19th (0.1% of revenue) among 22 industries in their investment in innovation. An increment of $8 billion to $15 billion yearly would occur if service firms were to reach median research and development funding. (3) Globalization: US government research funding declined from 57% (2004) to 50% (2012) of the global total, as did that of US companies (50% to 41%), with the total US (public plus private) share of global research funding declining from 57% to 44%. Asia, particularly China, tripled investment from $2.6 billion (2004) to $9.7 billion (2012) preferentially for education and personnel. The US share of life science patents declined from 57% (1981) to 51% (2011), as did those considered most valuable, from 73% (1981) to 59% (2011).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
New investment is required if the clinical value of past scientific discoveries and opportunities to improve care are to be fully realized. Sources could include repatriation of foreign capital, new innovation bonds, administrative savings, patent pools, and public-private risk sharing collaborations. Given international trends, the United States will relinquish its historical international lead in the next decade unless such measures are undertaken.


Learning about narrative and spectatorship in film studies lends itself to active forms of learning. This article reports on the participatory development between film studies and learning design of an activity called Director's Cut. A class of 250 undergraduate students created their own film sequence applying their understandings of genre, screenwriting and editing in order to manipulate how film spectators relate to screen characters. The model of expansive learning provides a frame for understanding an emergent, developmental design and learning process. Adaptive design is included so as to refer to the incorporation of prior knowledge from related projects as well as changes made during designing and through use. Key aspects of the interface, interaction design and students' comments on the use of it are included. We argue that there are links to be made between approaches to participatory design and 'designs for learning' rather than learning designs as templates for compliance. We close by discussing the continued evolution of the activity design, some wider issues for designing for learning, and ways of adapting related interfaces so as to be able to mediate the work online.


Uncontrolled hypertension in the elderly causes various diseases and disability. This study was aimed to explore the challenges in self-management empowerment from the perspective of Iranian elderly patients with hypertension. Using exploratory descriptive approach, on 30 hypertension patients in Bushehr by purposive and convenience sampling method. First, qualitative data were collected through interviews with the elderly , and the quantitative data were then collected using a researcher-made questionnaire in three dimensions of knowledge, attitude and performance. Qualitative data was directed with the content analysis approach, and quantitative data were analyzed with SPSS. In the qualitative phase, coding and summarizing of the data obtained from deep semi-structured interviews with the elderly led to five areas of awareness of changes, autonomy, satisfaction with performance, coping and sense of control. 7 men and 23 women participated in the qualitative phase, in which the average age of participants was 66.17% and 63% were married. Data analysis showed that the mean score of the elderly was equal to 10.17 and 58.26 for the dimensions of knowledge and performance respectively, which were at a weak level; and the mean attitude score was 9.96, which was at a moderate level. Given the challenges in empowering the management of hypertension in elderly, the planned training is recommended to be developed for the elderly and health care staff to achieve the main objective, i.e. the empowerment of the elderly through the self-management of hypertension.


In an attempt to provide a better understanding of MCS design, this study has utilised the
contingency theory approach to investigate the contingent relationships between perceived
environmental uncertainty (PEU), business strategy, organisational structure and various
attributes of MCS simultaneously. This study has also investigated the mediating effect of two
structural dimensions (centralisation and formalisation) on the relationship between PEU,
business strategy and MCS design. In addition, this study has investigated the implications of fit,
internal consistency or coalignment between the contextual variables and MCS attributes on
organisational effectiveness, thus adopting a systems approach to fit recommended in the
contingency literature. This study also builds on the works of Simons (1987) and Chenhall and
Morris (1986) in terms of developing a wider and comprehensive view of MCS design. Seven
MCS attributes have been investigated in this study including budgetary control system practices,
budgetary control system usage, cost control systems, broad scope information, managerial
evaluation and rewards system, aggregation and timeliness of information.

A cross-sectional survey employing a questionnaire method of data collection was adopted. A
total of 274 usable responses were received representing a response rate of 28%. For purposes of
analysis, the research utilised structural equation modeling (SEM) multivariate statistical
technique enabled by EQS 5.7 version software (Bentler, 1995). Thus, this study is one of the first
studies in MC contingency literature to utilise SEM for validating the research constructs,
controlling measurement error and for testing the structural relationships between the constructs
simultaneously.

The results of this study confirmed the multi-dimensional nature of PEU, business strategy and
organisational structure and the differential effects each dimension has on MCS design. Also the
results indicated that the different approaches to fit (i. e., bivariate and systems approaches)
utilized in this research resulted in insightful findings relating the contingent relationships
between the contextual variables and MCS attributes. In addition, the structural dimension of
formalisation was found to have significant positive relationships with many of the MCS
attributes and also mediated the relationship between differentiation strategy and MCS attributes
of budgetary importance, cost control systems and non-financial performance measures.

The results of this study also raise several implications for future MC contingency researchers
and fill some gaps in the existing MC contingency literature. This study also contributes to the
body of knowledge by providing guidance for future MC contingency researchers to implement
the SEM method. SEM has a greater potential for testing theories, controlling measurement error,
validating research constructs and testing structural relationships among multiple contextual
variables and multiple MCS attributes simultaneously.


Chronic social stress diverts energy away from growth, reproduction and immunity, and is thus a potential driver of population dynamics. However, the effects of social stress on demographic density dependence remain largely overlooked in ecological theory. Here we combine behavioural experiments, physiology and population modelling to show in a top predator (pike Esox lucius) that social stress alone may be a primary driver of demographic density dependence. Doubling pike density in experimental ponds under controlled prey availability did not significantly change prey intake by pike (i.e. did not significantly change interference or exploitative competition), but induced a neuroendocrine stress response reflecting a size-dependent dominance hierarchy, depressed pike energetic status and lowered pike body growth rate by 23 per cent. Assuming fixed size-dependent survival and fecundity functions parameterized for the Windermere (UK) pike population, stress-induced smaller body size shifts age-specific survival rates and lowers age-specific fecundity, which in Leslie matrices projects into reduced population rate of increase (λ) by 37–56%. Our models also predict that social stress flattens elasticity profiles of λ to age-specific survival and fecundity, thus making population persistence more dependent on old individuals. Our results suggest that accounting for non-consumptive social stress from competitors and predators is necessary to accurately understand, predict and manage food-web dynamics.


Nowadays, with the increasing trend of globalization, companies are continuously looking for the ways to improve their performance and stay competitive in their markets. To do so, logistics operations have an increasing importance throughout the World. Logistics as a global term is also very crucial for countries' welfare as well. As a developing country, Turkey's progress in logistics is highly correlated to various parameters such as Turkey's geo-strategic location, ongoing accession negotiations with European Union, participation to routes within the corridors of EU transport policy and container flow between Europe and Asia. Increasing volume and value of logistics activities in Turkey raised the necessity to analyze the market in detail. In this study, Turkish logistics sector is statistically analyzed in the view of each transport mode and logistics activity. Analysis phase is based on three fundamental frameworks that are called as traffic (flows), infrastructure and modal splits. The problems that are derived from analysis phase are clustered according to the criteria listed in Logistics Performance Index Report published by World Bank in 2010. Solutions to apply to emerging problems that can be reflected in each cluster are selected by considering a number of performance factors by using a deterministic dynamic multicriteria decision making technique


Nardin uses the Eastern European experience of the late 1980s and the works of Adam Michnik and Vaclav Havel to demonstrate the traditional cosmopolitan Kantian notion of morality in the "appeal to universal human values." Nardin uses three major elements to argue the impossibility of such a concept: "the law of nature," based on Stoic and Judeo-Christian foundation, focusing on reason and rationality of the individual rather than custom or divine authority; the uniqueness of various cultures challenging the universal "cosmopolitan" outlook on morality; and the differences among universal principles of morality relative to personal human experiences throughout time. Nardin concludes that the moral renewal in Eastern Europe is evidence that destructive consequences of moral diversity do not preclude a civil society once agreements on authoritative principles and laws are institutionalized. Each individual's own ethical conduct and internal moral guidance offer the basis for criticism and reform of law through membership in particular communities and common humanity.


We have tuned the whispering-gallery modes of a fused-silica microresonator over nearly 1 nm at 800 nm, i.e., over half a free spectral range, or 10(6) linewidths of the resonator. This result has been achieved by use of a new method based on the stretching of a two-stem microsphere. We describe devices that will permit new cavity QED experiments with this high- Q optical resonator when it is desirable to optimize its coupling to emitters with given transition frequencies. The demonstrated tuning capability is compatible with both UHV and low-temperature operation, which should be useful for future experiments with laser-cooled atoms or single quantum dots.


Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and enhancing forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+) has emerged as a promising climate change mitigation mechanism in tropical forest countries. This paper examines the national political context in 13 REDD+ countries in order to identify the enabling conditions for achieving progress in the implementation of countries' REDD+ policies and measures. The analysis builds on a previous qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) of various countries' progress with REDD+, conducted in 12 REDD+ countries in 2012. A follow-up survey in 2014 was considered timely because the REDD+ policy arena, at international and country levels, is highly dynamic and undergoes constant evolution, which affects progress with REDD+ policy making and implementation. In this paper, we examine whether the 'promise' of performance-based funds has played a role in enabling the establishment of REDD+. The results show a set of enabling conditions and characteristics of the policy process under which REDD+ policies can be established. Two key findings of our analysis, the importance of already initiated policy change and the relevance of available performance-based funding in combination with strong national ownership of the REDD+ process, may help guide other countries seeking to formulate REDD+ policies that are likely to deliver efficient, effective and equitable outcomes.


Uniformity of plasma etching and deposition processes critically depends on the wafer temperature and its spatial variation across the wafer. The goal of this work is to use mathematical modeling to investigate the key factors that determine the wafer temperature and its radial uniformity during plasma etching. Toward this end, a mathematical model of energy transport in and out of a Si wafer in a piasma etching reactor that employs a substrate platen with a He back side cooling arrangement was developed. The possibility of wafer bowing due to high He back side pressure was considered and the effects of ion bombardment flux uniformity, He back side pressure, and different wafer clamping arrangements were studied. While an increase in He back side pressure increases the rate of heat transfer from the wafer to the electrode, excessive He pressure causes the wafer to bow. Bowing increases the electrode-wafer gap, decreases the heat transfer rate, and adversely affects the temperature uniformity. These effects are most pronounced for large diameter wafers (>200 mm) and are predicted to be very important in the processing of 300 and 400 mm substrates. The manner in which the wafer is clamped to the cooled electrode is another key factor that determines the heat transport at the wafer edge and the radial temperature profile across the wafer. The uniformity of the wafer temperature depends on the heat transport at the wafer edges. Poor thermal contact at the wafer edge leads to a high but uniform wafer temperature ; on the other hand, if a good thermal contact is made at the wafer edge, the average temperature is lower but less uniform. Model predictions compared well with the available experimental data.


Purpose

The social network analysis of criminal networks at both the ego and socio-centric level is well established. This purpose of this study is to expand this literature with a social capital analysis of a criminal network. The focus of the analysis will be the recent egregious investment fraud of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities (BLMIS).

Design/methodology/approach

This research involves a case study of the BLMIS financial fraud. The article uses a social capital theoretical lens, with archival sources taken from the court records of Madoff v. NY to include victim impact statements and the defendant's Plea Allocution.

Findings

Financial crime literature can be expanded with a social capital analysis which facilitates a socio-economic analysis of ego-centric criminal networks.

Research limitations/implications

Each financial crime is of its time; however, there are recurring socio-economic network characteristics that could be applied to develop an understanding of criminal networks.

Practical implications

Any understanding of financial crime, including contemporary instances of criminal innovation, such as cyber-crime, can be enhanced with a social capital analysis of criminal networks.

Originality/value

A social capital analysis of financial crime draws attention to "human factors" in criminal networks that are integral to this form of crime.


This study examined the relations between happiness and academic success and wellbeing in a diverse, urban college sample by viewing happiness through the lens of hedonia (seeking pleasure and relaxation) and eudaimonia (seeking meaning), and their neuropsychological correlates. Undergraduate students (n=76; 68.4% female; mean age [SD]=21.17 [3.12]) completed self-report measures of hedonia and eudaimonia, and depression, anxiety, and stress. They also completed objective measures of "cool" executive functioning (WAIS-IV Digit Span, Stroop Color-Word test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, and a Stop Signal task) and "hot" executive functioning (Iowa Gambling Task, Temporal Discounting Task). Semester GPA was collected from school records. Eudaimonia was significantly positively associated with GPA. Eudaimonia was also significantly negatively associated with depression, and individuals living the Full Life (high hedonia and high eudaimonia) had significantly lower depression compared to those living the Empty Life (low in both constructs). There were no significant correlations between "cool" executive functions and either hedonia or eudaimonia. Individuals living the Hedonic Life (high hedonia and low eudaimonia) were significantly more likely to prefer smaller more immediate rewards than those living the Eudaimonic Life (low in hedonia, high in eudaimonia). Additionally, there was a trend for individuals living the Full Life to make more risky decisions. Looking at both separate and combined effects of hedonia and eudaimonia might provide more nuanced insight into the relations between happiness and positive outcomes. Furthermore, affective decision-making offers promise for investigating the interaction between hedonic and eudaimonic processes, and how they exert an effect on positive outcomes.


Siphonaria pectinata (Linnaeus, 1758) has been considered a widespread species with Amphiatlantic distribution or a case of cryptic taxonomy where sibling species exist. We undertook molecular evaluation of 66 specimens from across its putative distribution range. We examined up to three molecular markers (mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I and 16S rRNA, and nuclear internal transcribed spacer-2) of putative S. pectinata, including populations from the Mediterranean Sea, eastern Atlantic (Spain, Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, Cameroon and Gabon) and western Atlantic (Florida and Mexico), covering most of the natural range of the species. While little information could be derived from the shell morphology, molecular data clearly distinguished three lineages with no apparent connectivity. These lineages correspond to what we interpret as three species, two suspected from prior work: S. pectinata, restricted to the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean and S. naufragum Stearns, 1872 in Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. A third species has been identified for the Cape Verde Archipelago, for which we use the available name S. placentulaMenke, 1853.


This thesis attempts to interrogate post-1991-2015 political development in Ethiopia, focusing on the political discourses espoused by the government and opposition, using the discourse analysis method and securitization theory. Discursive narratives and counter- discourse narratives are used by the political elite as instruments for political mobilization to bolster their ideological claims, while negating those of their opponents.The study draws two important linkages between the political discourses of the major political forces and the speech act" in securitization theory, where the EPRDF Government used extraordinary measures to quell opponents criticism of its doctrine,which is based on revolutionary democracy, ethnic federalism and the developmental state as sub- versive and existential terrorist acts intended to undermine its system rule. Concomitantly, opposition political discourses portray the EPRDF Government as a threat to the emergence of competitive open democratic politics, which would eventually lead to un- dermining the existence of Ethiopia as a unitary state.The thesis argues that government and opposition political discourses and the securitization of democracy have resulted in the emergence of the politics of the extraordinary", which closed the political space for the growth and development of normal politics. The cumulative effect of the politics of the extraordinary is that it stifles any opportunity for authentic democratization to emerge. In Ethiopia, it privileged the securitization of democracy and legitimized the use of violence as an extension of a centralist revolutionary democratic discourse.Accordingly, this thesis explains the failure of post-1991 political development by unveiling the role of discursive narratives in shaping an entrenched nexus between politics and security. The thesis also examines the ruling partys political discourses and its institutionalizations, and investigates the discourses of the opposition – the Pan-Ethiopianists and ethno-nationalists – and the interplay of these discourses.


A Markov-switching model was used to analyze the monthly return of the Philippine Stock Exchange, based on data from January 2000 to July 2017, to estimate the regime-switching behavior of the equity market. The study identified two states of the market: one characterized by positive mean return and low volatility, and another with negative mean return and high volatility. The high-volatility periods of the exchange were linked to various political and economic events. Results showed that the Philippine stock market reacted to domestic political issues that changed or challenged the country's leadership. Economic events such as the Asian financial crisis, the country's rapid currency depreciation, and the global financial crisis also prompted the local bourse to switch to a high-volatility state.


Abstract. This study examines the characteristics of the microphysics and macrophysics of water clouds from East Asia to the North Pacific, using data from active CloudSat radar measurements and passive MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) retrievals. Our goals are to clarify differences in microphysics and macrophysics between land and oceanic clouds, seasonal differences unique to the midlatitudes, characteristics of the drizzling process, and cloud vertical structure. In pristine oceanic areas, fractional occurrences of cloud optical thickness (COT) and cloud droplet effective radius (CDR) increase systematically with an increase in drizzle intensity, but these characteristics of the COT and CDR transition are less evident in polluted land areas. In addition, regional and seasonal differences are identified in terms of drizzle intensity as a function of the liquid water path (LWP) and cloud droplet number concentration (Nc). The correlations between drizzle intensity and LWP, and between drizzle intensity and Nc, are both more robust over oceanic areas than over land areas. We also demonstrate regional and seasonal characteristics of the cloud vertical structure. Our results suggest that aerosol–cloud interaction mainly occurs around the cloud base in polluted land areas during the winter season. In addition, a difference between polluted and pristine areas in the efficiency of cloud droplet growth is confirmed. These results suggest that water clouds over the midlatitudes exhibit a different drizzle system to those over the tropics.


This paper introduces a new concept in addition to the traditional measures of stocks of capital, labor, human capital and knowledge, to understand the Solow Residual: National Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (NEE). The NEE construct is based on a methodology that combines institutions and human agency into an interdependent system, applying the configuration theory. We argue that NEE affects the efficiency by which inputs are turned into outputs shifting the production function. We use data from a representative global survey and institutional sources to test the model for a cross section of 62 counties over the period 2006-2010 to test this proposition.


Created by the interactions of living organisms with their environment, ecosystem services support our society in many critical ways, from providing clean air and water, decomposing waste, and pollinating flowers, to regulating climate, and pacifying floodwaters. Interest in ecosystem service markets has recently exploded, with a cover article in The Economist just a few months ago. Scholarship in the field, though, is still quite young. Despite their immense practical value, with rare exception, ecosystem services are neither prized by markets nor explicitly protected by the law. In recent years, an increasing number of initiatives around the world have sought to create markets for services, some dependent on government intervention and some created by entirely private ventures. These experiences have demonstrated that investing in natural capital rather than built capital can make both economic and policy sense. Informed by the author's recent experiences establishing a market for water quality in Australia, this Article fully explores the implications of an ecosystem services approach to environmental protection. The piece reviews the range of current payment schemes and identifies the key requirements for instrument design. Building off these insights, the piece then examines the fundamental policy challenge of payments for environmental improvements. Despite their poor reputation among policy analysts as wasteful or inefficient subsidies, payment schemes are found throughout environmental law and policy, both in the U.S. and abroad. This Article takes such payments seriously, demonstrating that they should be favored over the more traditional regulatory and tax-based approaches in far more settings than commonly assumed.


Background: The use of ureteral stents is an integral part of daily urological practice. These need to be removed after a specified time limit. Unfortunately, some of the DJ stents are forgotten and hence retained. This is where the usefulness of smartphone-based Ureteral Stent Tracker (UST) application comes into play. In this study, we have aimed to evaluate the efficacy and usefulness of smartphone-based UST application and compare the results with basic appointment card system to prevent forgotten ureteral stents (FUS). Patients and Methods: It is a prospective observational study including a total of 118 patients. They were divided into two groups. Those in group A, were recorded to UST application and those in group B, were provided with only the printed advice to remove their ureteral stent. The two groups were compared in terms of overdue days and lost to follow-up rates. Results: Groups A and B were comparable with no statistically significant differences among the groups regarding age, educational level and laterality of the ureteral stent. The mean overdue days were 4.25 ± 3.627 and 11.49 ± 6.273 in group A and B respectively. Conclusions: In our study, we checked the dashboard of the ST application every day to look for overdue days. Patients followed up with the stent tracker application had significantly less overdue days compared to those who were not. So, UST can be an important addition to daily urological practice to minimise the incidence of retained ureteral stents.


The semantic gap between low-level visual features and high-level semantics has been investigated for decades but still remains a big challenge in multimedia. When "search" became one of the most frequently used applications, "intent gap", the gap between query expressions and users' search intents, emerged. Researchers have been focusing on three approaches to bridge the semantic and intent gaps: 1) developing more representative features, 2) exploiting better learning approaches or statistical models to represent the semantics, and 3) collecting more training data with better quality. However, it remains a challenge to close the gaps. In this paper, we argue that the massive amount of click data from commercial search engines provides a data set that is unique in the bridging of the semantic and intent gap. Search engines generate millions of click data (a.k.a. image-query pairs), which provide almost "unlimited" yet strong connections between semantics and images, as well as connections between users' intents and queries. To study the intrinsic properties of click data and to investigate how to effectively leverage this huge amount of data to bridge semantic and intent gap is a promising direction to advance multimedia research. In the past, the primary obstacle is that there is no such dataset available to the public research community. This changes as Microsoft has released a new large-scale real-world image click data to public. This paper presents preliminary studies on the power of large-scale click data with a variety of experiments, such as building large-scale concept detectors, tag processing, search, definitive tag detection, intent analysis, etc., with the goal to inspire deeper researches based on this dataset.


The collective motions of proteins are important for function, yet these motions are a challenge to observe experimentally. Intriguingly, when such motions occur in protein crystals, they leave distinctive fingerprints in the scattering between the Bragg peaks. The nascent field of "crystallography beyond Bragg" aims to extract information of biological relevance from this diffuse signal. However, both measurement and interpretation have been challenging. In this talk, I will discuss these challenges and our recent findings on the total scattering from proteins crystals.


This paper reports the results of the follow-up, face-validity test on a protocol developed to explore the impact of context and baseline risk on peoples' marginal rates of substitution between wealth and risk of death across a range of contexts using a modified risk-risk trade-off methodology. Analysis of these qualitative interviews revealed that context had different effects for different people. For some people it had almost no effect in that such respondents focussed mainly on the baseline risks they faced, whilst for others it had a marked affect on their risk-risk tradeoff. Most notably, only a minority of respondents described a behavioural strategy that could be construed as EU maximising. This has wider and extremely profound implications for the use of risk-risk trade-off measures and WTP-derived Value of Prevented Fatalities in costbenefit analysis.


ABSTRACT Although there have been some major breakthroughs in the field of exploration geochemistry over the past ten years, there is still much work to be done to advance the understanding of geochemical processes in different environments and proper application of exploration geochemistry in mineral exploration. Some future research directions in exploration geochemistry include: (1) detailed mechanistic studies of processes affecting the mobilization, transport and fixation of metals that result in patterns of soil geochemistry, gas compositions and other indicators of concealed mineral deposits; (2) further developments in heavy mineral indicator techniques, starting with cheaper and more effective separation methodologies, to evaluate both their distribution and, in particular, their mineral chemistry to determine elemental signatures for an expanded range of deposit types; (3) assessment of survival rates of minerals, in particular sulphide minerals, dispersed through various types of surficial materials associated with a variety of mineral deposit types in differing geological, surficial and climatic regimes globally; (4) evaluation of the usefulness of isotopes of various elements such as Pb, Se, Cu and Hg which could potentially help determine the transport mechanisms for elements released from bedrock to sites of surface accumulation; (5) further examination of the application of groundwater, and other types of water, to determine geochemical signatures for different mineral deposit types in order to establish the potential, the limitations, and the workable protocols for these methods; (6) development of field portable instrumentation for multielement and multispecies analysis of waters and soil gases; and (7) further refinement and development of visualization and interpretation techniques, particularly within a GIS context. There also needs to be a return to the application of fundamental regional reconnaissance scale geochemical surveys and an increasing awareness of the role that geochemical data can play as environmental baseline data. The biggest problem in the immediate future, however, will be the survival of 'exploration geochemists' due to the aging of the small population of existing geochemists and the global decline in opportunities for the education, development and training of young exploration geochemists.


The laws concerning driving licences and epilepsy in different countries are very diverse with regard to the criteria for issuance or renewal of licences, and also the methods of evaluating fitness. In 2011, a law was issued in Italy implementing the European directives on driving licences, including provisions for mandatory notification that a driver is epileptic. This was established regardless of the European rules that require compulsory notification only of patients. The Federation of Italian Boards of Physicians has made recommendations against mandated physician reporting, resulting in a current confusion between legal and ethical recommendations to medical doctors. The mandatory notification enacted by Italian law raises ethical concerns about disparities in access to care and possible violations of the right to confidentiality of patient information. Moreover, the law discussed here fails to emphasise the importance of physicians ensuring compliance by the patient, by sharing the correct information about the risks associated with illegal driving and by obtaining information from the patient through regular check-ups. An urgent revision of the law is required to implement the duty of the physician to provide information and to ensure that the rule about mandatory notification should be erased in favour of optional self-reporting by epileptics as the preferred way to notify the licensing authority. The implementation of these measures could correct the dichotomy between the law and the ethical recommendations for medical doctors and protect the rights of people with epilepsy as well as those of any other patients whose pathology or impairment could imply a risk to the community.


This dissertation analyzes the adoption of neoliberal economic policies in the wake of two shocks, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Color Revolutions. I look at whether policy choices in the aftermath of massive political change significantly constrain future economic policy. Two arguments have attempted to explain post-Soviet economic reform, one arguing that initial elections largely determined economic reform, and another arguing that even the results of initial elections were conditioned by a state's neighbors and diffusion. In the first chapter I test these arguments, using regression analysis to update and reanalyze determinants of economic reform in post-Soviet Eurasia. My results indicate that initial elections may have been influential in the short term, but their influence is indirect. Instead, the Soviet collapse created an opening for the establishment of patronage dynamics, and it is these dynamics that largely determine the timing of economic reform. I then use three cases to illustrate why early evaluations of post-Soviet economic reforms need revision. Analysis of Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan after each shock demonstrates that elites and political institutions are important determinants of reforms, and there is significant variation in neoliberal policy adoption that previous arguments do not explain. I find that economic policy mirrors political cycles of patronalism in these countries and the effects of shocks on policy are not straightforward. When economic reform does occur, it is often an instrument used to advance other political goals.


Simultaneous recordings were collected from between two and four buildup neurons from the left and right superior colliculi in rhesus monkeys in a simple two-choice brightness discrimination task. The monkeys were required to move their eyes to one of two response targets to indicate their decision. Neurons were identified whose receptive fields were centered on the response targets. The functional role of inhibition was examined by conditionalizing firing rate on a high versus low rate in target neurons 90 ms to 30 ms before the saccade and examining the firing rate in both contralateral and ipsilateral neurons. Two models with racing diffusion processes were fit to the behavioral data, and the same analysis was performed on simulated paths in the diffusion processes that have been found to represent firing rate. The results produce converging evidence for the lack of a functional role for inhibition between neural populations corresponding to the two decisions.


This paper uses theory and experiments to explore the effects of diversity on stability, productivity, and susceptibility to invasion. A model of resource competition predicts that increases in diversity cause com- munity stability to increase, but population stability to decrease. These opposite effects are, to a great extent, explained by how temporal variances in species abundances scale with mean abundance, and by the differential impact of this scaling on population vs. community stability. Community stability also depends on a negative covariance effect (competitive compensation) and on overyielding (ecosystem productivity increasing with diversity). A long-term study in Minnesota grasslands supports these predictions. Models of competition predict, and field experiments confirm, that greater plant diversity leads to greater primary productivity. This diversity-productivity relationship results both from the greater chance that a more productive species would be present at higher diversity (the sampling effect) and from the better ''coverage'' of habitat heterogeneity caused by the broader range of species traits in a more diverse community (the niche differentiation effect). Both effects cause more complete utilization of limiting resources at higher diversity, which increases resource retention, further increasing productivity. Finally, lower levels of available limiting resources at higher diversity are predicted to decrease the susceptibility of an ecosystem to invasion, supporting the diversity-invasibility hypothesis. This mechanism provides rules for community assembly and invasion resistance. In total, biodiversity should be added to species composition, disturbance, nutrient supply, and climate as a major controller of population and ecosystem dynamics and structure. By their increasingly great directional impacts on all of these controllers, humans are likely to cause major long-term changes in the functioning of ecosystems worldwide. A better understanding of these ecosystem changes is needed if ecologists are to provide society with the knowledge essential for wise management of the earth and its biological resources.


ABSTRACT After the 2002 pogrom, Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, shifted his political repertoire from that of a Hindu Hriday Samrat (King of Hindus' heart) to that of development and Gujaratiness. He claimed that he was a development man (Vikas Purush) and that he represented the 60 million Gujaratis as an aam admi (common man). He projected himself as an embodiment of their identity—asmita. This populist repertoire, which was explicitly articulated during the Sadbhavna mission in 2012, is in tune with the general trend of Indian politics where most of the Chief Ministers claim to epitomize one subnationalism. In the case of Narendra Modi, however, this regional identity was defined in religious terms and reflected a banalization of Hindutva, an original process that was more likely to happen in Gujarat because of the traditional definition of the state's identity.


International audience

 This article addresses the issue of variation in the lexicon-specifically the hyponymy (or synonymy) among onomasiological responses for the same concept or referent-and how the range of responses from a national elicitation in Scotland seeking 'local' words should be judged. How do responses being offered as 'local' square with their geographical distribution on the one hand, and their status as 'Scots' or 'English', or as 'dialect' or 'standard' on the other? How are 'dialect' or 'standard' responses offered as 'local' responses from the same individual to be considered? Is the issue that of a straightforward dialect-standard binary opposition, or is there a third value between the two? Does that third value encompass a middle ground between dialect and standard, or include both? How is the absence of responses to be regarded? For elucidation of such linguistic issues, the article invokes the mathematical principle of the excluded middle. This study shows that it is possible and necessary to establish a theoretical framework for the digitalisation of a historical data collection. The data for these reflections come from the lexical material in The Linguistic Atlas of Scotland ([Mather and Speitel, 1975]; [1977]), which is currently being digitised at the University of Vienna. This study presents three pilot studies from the North Mid Scots area: the atlas concepts of 'ankle', 'splinter' and 'the youngest of a brood or litter'. The original data are re-analysed in terms of lexical types or 'lexemes', and the results are digitally generated by new dot maps, with separate gestations for respondent age and gender. In the process, topological issues (such as those pertaining to the data) and topographical issues (such as those pertaining to geography and the physical terrain) are addressed.


Measurements of an object's temperature are important in many disciplines, from astronomy to engineering, as are estimates of an object's spatial configuration. We present the quantum optimal estimator for the temperature of a distant body based on the black body radiation received in the far-field. We also show how to perform separable quantum optimal estimates of the spatial configuration of a distant object, i.e. imaging. In doing so we necessarily deal with multi-parameter quantum estimation of incompatible observables, a problem that is poorly understood. We compare our optimal observables to the two mode analogue of lensed imaging and find that the latter is far from optimal, even when compared to measurements which are separable. To prove the optimality of the estimators we show that they minimise the cost function weighted by the quantum Fisher information---this is equivalent to maximising the average fidelity between the actual state and the estimated one.


Mobile devices and web pages increasingly set not only the direction, but also the pace taken in many everyday life activities. In essence, the lives of many people today follow algorithmic paths, provided by navigation units and by social recommendation systems. Although this improves the efficiency and functionality of many tasks, this process may also lead to a standardized, and, perhaps, oversimplified approach to reality. In essence, many likes on social pages (e.g., Facebook), star ratings on leading traveler websites (e.g., Tripadvisor) and reviews provided by the online crowd may lead the lion's share of users to visit only a limited number of locations. This means that in many cases, people with very different backgrounds, taste, cultural awareness and sensitivity may end in the very same places while missing more appropriate ones, be them historical or commercial. The work presented in this paper aims at moving a first step in unveiling such problem, and experimenting with possible working strategies which may better represent the significance of a location, while still conserving the simplicity of the most commonly utilized evaluation systems.


The goal of the present paper is to investigate not only the dynamics of the Greek public debt, but also what are the appropriate measures required for achieving fiscal consolidation. The empirical estimation is carried out using a macroeconomic dataset spanning the period 1980-2008 and both the 3SLS methodological approach on a theoretical model and the structural VAR methodology to perform forecast tests and to calibrate the future paths of the public debt variable up to 2020. The results suggest that only an aggressive growth policy could permit the country to achieve debt sustainability. The results are expected to have important implications to policy makers for designing effective macroeconomic policy in terms of achieving sustainable levels of public debt.


Use of the old antipsychotic phenothiazine thioridazine (THZ) for therapy of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB) infection is now being seriously considered. It is reported that THZ primarily acts on enzymes involved in fatty acid metabolism and membrane proteins, particularly efflux pumps, as well as oxidoreductases and proteins involved in aerobic respiration that overlap with a number of conventional antituberculous drugs. It targets the products of the Rv3160c-Rv3161c operon, which are perhaps required for the detoxification of THZ, members of the sigma factor SigB regulon that play a crucial role in protecting the pathogen against cell envelope damage, and Rv2745c, a transcription factor that regulates ATP-dependent proteolysis. Some of these genes have been shown to be essential for the survival or persistence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the infected host. Since THZ targets multiple pathways, including those involved in cell wall processes and respiratory chain components, it may serve as a model for multi-target drug development, as well as constitute a highly potent addition to a combination of antituberculous drug regimens. The discussion of some of the patents relevant to thioridazine to combat tuberculosis is also included in the present manuscript.


IntroductionThe history of United States policy displays a pattern of great swings between the federal government's support for the self-determination of American Indian governments and its attempts to dissolve or suppress it. While the 1970's ushered in what is often referred to by those who work in Indian affairs as the "self-determination era," tribes could count on little federal support for tribal government enhancement or development despite significant demonstrated need. In the 1980's, as Indian households lost ground relative to mainstream America, many tribes began to take matters into their own hands by exercising sovereignty, strengthening their governmental autonomy and stimulating their economies.The most high profile of these tribally driven self-determination efforts in the late 1970's and early 1980's was the introduction of tribal gaming in a few key states, including Florida, Minnesota and California. After establishing through the courts that tribal civil regulatory authority extends to permitted gambling in these (and all) states, tribal governments expanded and developed a robust gambling industry, acting to create jobs, rebuild their native nations, revitalize their cultures, and achieve other community objectives.1 When Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) in 1988, some tribal leaders perceived the state compacting provision required for casino-style gaming on tribal lands as an erosion of tribal sovereignty that could undermine their early economic development successes and disrupt a precariously successful federal-tribal relationship with regard to tribal self-determination.2In hindsight, however, the substantial growth and myriad positive impacts of the first twenty years of tribal gaming under IGRA reveal the ways that the federal regulatory framework laid out in the law resolved numerous legal dileimnas that liad plagued tribal gaming expansion. It is now clear that the predictability provided by successful tribal- state compact negotiations allowed the necessary capital investments to produce a robust tribal government gaming industry across much of Indian Country. Therefore, an analysis of tribal government gaming's impacts on tribal communities and neighboring localities is best framed in the context of the federal law that continues to shape the industry today.Legislative History of IGRAThe Senate Committee Report on S. 555, the bill which would eventually become the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), provides a succinct background on the discussions and negotiations that took place to develop legislation that would simultaneously, "preserve the right of tribes to self-government while, at the same time... achieve a fair balancing of competitive economic interests."3 Among other tilings, the report provides an early assessment of the size of the Indian gaming industry, which numbered at that time over 100 bingo operations earning more than $100 million in annual revenues.4 The Senate report also highlights the essential and governmental nature of tribal government gaming: "bingo revenues have enabled tribes, like lotteries and other games have done for State and local governments, to provide a wider range of government services to tribal citizens and reservation residents than would otherwise have been possible."5The legislative history from the U.S. House of Representatives further emphasizes the intent to strengthen tribal self-determination and enhance tribes' ability to provide critical governmental services through gaming revenues. Congressman Oberstar from Minnesota remarked that bingo, "is a very important source of revenue for Indian reservations in our State of Minnesota and in my congressional district where reservations are using the money wisely to invest in health care, education and economic development, the revenue derived from high-stakes bingo."6 Congressman Sikorski, also from Minnesota, reiterated what tribal governments were doing there, stating, "to most reservations it is the very small difference between survival and total dependence on the 'Big White Father'-the federal government. …


The Gram-negative enteroinvasive bacterium Shigella flexneri is responsible for the endemic form of bacillary dysentery, an acute rectocolitis in humans. S. flexneri uses a type III secretion system to inject effector proteins into host cells, thus diverting cellular functions to its own benefit. Protective immunity to reinfection requires several rounds of infection to be elicited and is short-lasting, suggesting that S. flexneri interferes with the priming of specific immunity. Considering the key role played by T-lymphocyte trafficking in priming of adaptive immunity, we investigated the impact of S. flexneri on T-cell dynamics in vivo. By using two-photon microscopy to visualize bacterium–T-cell cross-talks in the lymph nodes, where the adaptive immunity is initiated, we provide evidence that S. flexneri, via its type III secretion system, impairs the migration pattern of CD4+ T cells independently of cognate recognition of bacterial antigens. We show that bacterial invasion of CD4+ T lymphocytes occurs in vivo, and results in cell migration arrest. In the absence of invasion, CD4+ T-cell migration parameters are also dramatically altered. Signals resulting from S. flexneri interactions with subcapsular sinus macrophages and dendritic cells, and recruitment of polymorphonuclear cells are likely to contribute to this phenomenon. These findings indicate that S. flexneri targets T lymphocytes in vivo and highlight the role of type III effector secretion in modulating host adaptive immune responses.


This work describes a novel software tool for visualizing anatomical segmentations of medical images. It was developed as part of a bachelor's thesis project, with a view to supporting research into automatic anatomical brain image segmentation. The tool builds on a widely-used visualization approach for 3D image volumes, where sections in orthogonal directions are rendered on screen as 2D images. It implements novel display modes that solve common problems with conventional viewer programs. In particular, it features a double-contour display mode to aid the user's spatial orientation in the image, as well as modes for comparing two competing segmentation labels pertaining to one and the same anatomical region. The tool was developed as an extension to an existing open-source software suite for medical image processing. The visualization modes are, however, suitable for implementation in the context of other viewer programs that follow a similar rendering approach.
The modified code can be found here: soundray.org/mm-segmentation-visualization.tar.gz.


Despite popular belief (and the opinion of leaders in the digital revolution) the printing industry is still going strong and is set to grow even stronger. This is according to a study commissioned by Canon Middle East, which found that 97 per cent of organisations in Africa and the Middle East still consider professionally-printed materials to be important to their business. Furthermore, more than half of the organisations surveyed consider print to be more effective than any other type of media, while 90 per cent stated they would include print in their multi-channel communications tools.


Any conservation actions that preserve some populations and not others will have genetic conse- quences. We used empirical data from four rare plant taxa to assess these consequences in terms of how well allele numbers (all alleles and alleles occurring at afrequency of >0.05 in any population) and expected het- erozygosity are represented when different numbers of populations are conserved. We determined sampling distributions for these three measures of genetic diversity using Monte Carlo methods. We assessed the propor- tion of alleles included in the number of populations considered adequate for conservation, needed to cap- ture all alleles, and needed to meet an accepted standard of genetic-diversity conservation of having a 90- 95% probability of including all common alleles. We also assessed the number ofpopulations necessary to ob- tain values of heterozygosity within ?10% of the value obtained from all populations. Numbers of alleles were strongly affected by the number of populations sampled. Heterozygosity was only slightly less sensitive to numbers of populations than were alleles. On average, currently advocated conservation intensities repre- sented 67-83% of all alleles and 85-93% of common alleles. The smallest number ofpopulations to include all alleles rangedfrom 6 to 17 (42-57%), but <0.2% of 1000 samples of these numbers of populations included them all. It was necessary to conserve 16-29 (53-93%) of the sampled populations to meet the standard for common alleles. Between 20% and 64% of populations were needed to reliably represent species-level het- erozygosity. Thus, higher percentages of populations are needed than are currently considered adequate to conserve genetic diversity ifpopulations are selected without genetic data.


Consideration of current developments in cognitive science is indispensable when defining research agendas addressing cognitive aspects of translation. One such development is the recognition of the extended nature of human cognition: Cognition is not just an information manipulation process in the brain, it is contextualised action embedded in a body and increasingly mediated by technologies and situated in its socio-cultural environment. Parallel developments are found in neighbouring disciplines, such as sociology with its actor-network and activity theories. This paper examines these approaches, their shared methodological tenets (i.e., ethnographic field studies) and the implications of the situated cognition approach for describing the cognitive aspects of translation, using a translation management case study to discuss conceptual and methodological issues.


To the Editor: Foodborne infections with Listeria monocytogenes continue to be dangerous and disruptive. A 2011 outbreak in the United States, linked to cantaloupes, affected 147 persons; 33 persons died, and 1 pregnant woman experienced a miscarriage (1). Moreover, the incidence of listeriosis has been rising in several European countries (2). Compared with the general population, pregnant women are at markedly increased risk of acquiring listeriosis (3). Women who are infected with L. monocytogenes in the third trimester of pregnancy are typically treated with antimicrobial drugs until the child's delivery (3). However, the optimal treatment regimen for listeriosis early in pregnancy is unknown.

We cared for a 28-year-old, previously healthy woman who sought treatment at 12 weeks' gestational age with fever, headache, and neck stiffness; blood cultures were positive for L. monocytogenes. Lumbar puncture on admission to our hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, in December 2011, revealed clear fluid and an opening pressure of 15 mm Hg; 1 leukocyte was observed per high-powered field, and cultures of the cerebrospinal fluid were sterile. Pelvic ultrasound showed no abnormalities of the fetus, gestational sac, or uterus.

We treated the patient's condition with intravenous ampicillin for 2 weeks, 2 g every 4 hours, and gentamicin, 100 mg every 8 hours, followed by ampicillin alone for 2 weeks. Shortly after the antimicrobial drugs were initiated, the patient defervesced and her blood cultures cleared. Her hospital course was complicated by spinal headache and transient acetaminophen-induced liver injury, but she was eventually discharged to her home in good condition. Blood cultures taken after discontinuation of antimicrobial agents were sterile, and the remainder of her pregnancy was unremarkable.

She ultimately gave birth to a healthy 2,405-g boy with Apgar scores of 4 and 7 (at 1 and 5 min, respectively) at 35.1 weeks' gestation by spontaneous vaginal delivery. Pathologic examination of the placenta showed no evidence of chorioamnionitis, villitis, or parenchymal abscesses, and placental cultures were sterile. The patient and her child are currently doing well without obvious sequelae of infection.

Listeriosis in early pregnancy presents a unique challenge for the infectious diseases clinician. Up to 30% of L. monocytogenes infections in pregnancy result in stillbirth, miscarriage, or preterm labor, and approximately two thirds of surviving neonates are infected (4). L. monocytogenes uses 2 surface proteins, InlA and InlB, to invade host cells, including the placenta (5). Once established within the placenta, L. monocytogenes forms microabscesses, which can lead to recurrence of infection (6). A recent study in which researchers used a guinea pig model suggests that eradication of microabscesses from the placenta may be critical to achieving the cure of the mother and the prevention of fetal illness and death (7).

What, then, is the optimal treatment strategy to cure the mother and sterilize the placenta? In a large case series of pregnant women with listeriosis, most patients were given a β-lactam antimicrobial drug, with or without gentamicin (6). However, most women in this case series were in their third trimester of pregnancy and received treatment until delivery. In women who are infected in the first or second trimester, continuing intravenous antimicrobial drugs until delivery is impractical, and the efficacy of oral antimicrobial agents in preventing recurrence of infection is unknown.

Our case demonstrates that 4 weeks of intravenous therapy can sterilize the placenta and enable good maternal and fetal outcomes in a woman infected with listeriosis in the first trimester. We also identified 13 case reports of women in whom listeriosis developed in the first or second trimester of pregnancy (Technical Appendix). Among these 13 case-patients, 8 instances occurred in which both mother and neonate survived without sequelae; all 8 patients had received ampicillin/penicillin with or without gentamicin.

The role of gentamicin in treatment of listeriosis in pregnancy is controversial. The combination of ampicillin and gentamicin has been thought to be synergistic, although in vivo evidence of clinical benefit, compared to that of treatment with ampicillin alone, is lacking (3,6). A particular concern in pregnancy is gentamicin's poor penetration into the intracellular space, where L. monocytogenes is likely to reside, in the placenta (8). Furthermore, some concern exists that gentamicin use in pregnancy could cause fetal ototoxicity, although few such cases have been reported, and several small cohort studies have not shown this association (9,10). Our patient's child had a normal result when standard audiology testing was performed several days after delivery.

Infectious diseases clinicians will likely see patients with listeriosis in early pregnancy, given the increasing incidence of this infection in many countries and the ongoing threat of food-borne outbreaks. The collected experience from the cases reported here may be useful, particularly given the absence of high quality clinical data that support treatment recommendations for this population. Intravenous ampicillin, with or without gentamicin, effectively sterilizes the placenta and prevents maternal and fetal illness and death in cases of listeriosis in early pregnancy.

Technical Appendix:
Table that describes the treatment of listeriosis in 13 pregnant women in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy, 1961–2002

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This thesis presents a novel evolutionary optimisation algorithm that can improve the quality of solutions in simulation-based optimisation.Simulation-based optimisation is the process of finding optimal parameter settings without explicitly examining each possible configuration of settings. An optimisation algorithm generates potential configurations and sends these to the simulation,which acts as an evaluation function. The evaluation results are used to refine the optimisation such that it eventually returns a high-quality solution. The algorithm described in this thesis integrates multi-objective optimisation, parallelism, surrogate usage, and noise handling in a unique way for dealing with simulation-based optimisation problems inccurred by these characteristics.In order to handle multiple, conflicting optimisation objectives, the algorithm uses a Pareto approach in which the set of best trade-off solutions is searched for and presented to the user. The algorithm supports a high degree of parallelism by adopting an asynchronous master-slave parallelisation model in combination with an incremental population refinement strategy. A surrogate evaluation function is adopted in the algorithmto quickly identify promising candidate solutions and filter out poor ones. A novel technique based on inheritance is used to compensate for the uncertainties associated with the approximative surrogate evaluations. Furthermore, a novel technique for multi-objective problems that effectively reduces noise by adopting a dynamic procedure in resampling solutions is used to tackle the problem of real-world unpredictability (noise).The proposed algorithm is evaluated on benchmark problems and two complex real-world problems of manufacturing optimisation. The first real-world problem concerns the optimisation of a production cell at Volvo Aero, while the second one concerns the optimisation of a camshaft machining line at Volvo Cars Engine. The results from the optimisations show that the algorithm finds better solutions for all the problems considered than existing, similar algorithms. The new techniques for dealing with surrogate imprecision and noise used in the algorithm are identified as key reasons for the good performance.


Purpose - This paper examines the patterns of intellectual capital reporting (ICR) of large listed firms in a developing nation, Sri Lanka. The aim of this study is to highlight the differences in ICR practice between developing and developed nations. Design/Methodology/Approach - The paper begins by examining each of the top 30 firms by market capitalization listed on the Colombo stock exchange in 1998/1999 and 1999/2000. Using the content analysis method, it reviews the annual reports of these firms to determine the types of intellectual capital (IC) items reported in Sri Lanka. It then compares these findings with a similar study undertaken in Australia during the same period (Guthrie and Petty, 2000). Findings - ICR differences were identified between Sri Lankan and Australian firms, and it is argued that that these differences can be attributed to economic, social and political factors. The paper highlights the need for a uniform ICR definition and a reporting framework that provides comparative and consistent reporting under the auspices of a regulatory body.Practical Implications - This study highlights important policy issues for Australia, Sri Lanka and other nations. These issues are even more pertinent in the light of the gradual international adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), formulated by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).Originality/Value - Most papers on intellectual capital reporting have focused on firms in developed countries. This study offers insights into comparative reporting practices between a developed and a developing country.


Tropical wetland ecosystems, especially mangroves and peatlands, are carbon-rich ecosystems that should be considered to be part of climate change mitigation strategies. Globally, tropical mangroves store 20 PgC and tropical peatlands store 89 PgC. Most of these potentials reside in southeast Asia. Emission factors and activity data are among the most important components to carry out credible assessment. In this article, we explore and discuss emission factors and activity data in light of project development and national reporting using the upcoming IPCC methodologies for wetlands. Country-specific data are needed to reduce uncertainties and hence enhance the projects competitiveness. There are opportunities to improve local livelihoods through mitigation strategies in wetlands. Potential bundling with adaptation measures is also discussed.


In 2004, a NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) MF/HF radar or dynasonde was set up by the National Central University in Chung-Li (24.5°N, 121.0°E), Taiwan. The Chung-Li dynasonde employs an interferometric array (including four receivers) for receiving ionospherically reflected echoes, and is a fully digital research ionosonde, capable of providing high precision spatial and temporal ionospheric measurements. Utilizing a pulse set defined by four pulses transmitted at two closely spaced frequencies, the measured parameters are the time-of-flight and sixteen complex-amplitudes. Two types of observations are conducted by the Chung-Li dynasonde-an active sounding mode and a passive sounding mode. The methods are utilized in observing the local ionosphere and RF environment above Chung-Li. The active sounding is capable of transmitting HF radio pulses for remote sensing of the ionosphere. Initial results from this study have revealed various special events for observing sporadic E and spread F, along with the distribution of fo F2 in a single day. These initial results will be used to confirm the surveillance of the ionosphere from other instruments, and conduct statistical comparisons between seasons. On the other hand, passive sounding receives and records signals from RF environments. It is used to monitor the MF/HF band in real time, and is contrasted with the active results when the echo is weak.


In the mind of a lonely, imaginative girl, who can tell where fiction ends and reality begins? An epic fantasy, spanning nine years...The fire and hemlock photograph above Polly's bed sparks memories in her that don't seem to exist any more. Halloween; nine years ago; she gatecrashed a funeral party at the big house and met Thomas Lynn for the first time. Despite the fact that he's an adult, they struck up an immediate friendship, and began making up stories together - stories in which Tom is a great hero, and Polly is his assistant. The trouble is, these scary adventures have a nasty habit of coming true...But what has happened in the years between? Why has Tom been erased from Polly's mind, and from the rest of the world as well? Gradually Polly uncovers the awful truth and, at Halloween nine years on, realises that Tom's soul is forfeit to demonic powers unless she can save him.


The Units of Conservation (UC) are territorial spaces especially protected for the conservation of the natural resources. Minas Gerais shelter several UC created by the several government levels. Of these levels, the state is highlighting, both for the creation and for the measures for implantation of UC. The managers of these UC are important actors of the process, and they establish the interface between government and field reality. It was aimed at in this work to define the professional profile of the managers of Minas Gerais state UC, their level of formal training, distribution in the State System of Protected Areas-SEAP, the time in the function and in the position and their satisfaction and perspectives of work. The used methodology was the semi-structured interviews and applied questionnaires to all UC managers. The main conclusions were: the managers' staffgrew along the time, but it continues deficient; the managers' medium age decreased and the women's proportion increased; there is great relativity in the management of UC, disabling the continuity of many works; the managers' academic formation is considered appropriate; there is support mainly for the employees' training related to courses of operational character, however, managerial trainings hardly occur; the remuneration is low and it doesn't stimulate the professionals to envisage a career in the function; the unfavorable conditions of performance, lack of resources, do not motivate the managers; the managers in their origin area presented larger satisfaction degree, tending to stay longer time in the work and relating better with the communities; there is function deviation, endangering the managerial activity performance.


Traditional research methods are often limited in their ability to capture broad spatial and temporal changes in species distribution that affect global patterns of biodiversity. To provide range-wide demographic data needed to quantify and evaluate changes in habitat use and support ongoing recovery efforts for the endangered West Indian manatee Trichechus manatus, we analyzed data from a formal manatee sighting network that uses citizen-sourced data for the understudied north-central Gulf of Mexico region. Although historically considered to be outside manatees' typical US range, more than 1700 opportunistic, publicly reported manatee sightings and 23 mortalities have been documented in Alabama and Mississippi since the early 1900s. Live manatee sightings have occurred primarily during warmer months in rivers and subembayments. Manatee mortalities have significantly increased since the mid-1980s and have most often been attributed to cold stress, with 2 known mortalities due to vessel strikes in recent years. Sightings of individual manatees were most common, but group sizes of up to 17 were reported, typically in late summer. Decadal-scale trends in opportunistic sighting records demonstrate persistent spatial and temporal patterns of manatee occurrence in the north-central Gulf of Mexico and suggest greater use and importance of the region as seasonal manatee habitat than previously documented. If applied appropriately, citizen-sourced data have the potential to enhance targeted re search efforts, significantly contribute to ecological datasets for a number of species, and provide a useful tool to enhance conservation and management.


Categorizes three direct-axis and four quadrature-axis models, along with the basic transient reactance model. Discusses some of the assumptions made in using various models and presents the fundamental equations and concepts involved in generator/system interfacing. Covers, generally, the various attributes of power system stability, recognizing two basic approaches. The first is categorized under large disturbance nonlinear analysis; the second approach considers small disturbances, where the corresponding dynamic equations are linearized. Applications of a range of generator models are discussed and treated. The manner in which generator saturation is treated in stability studies, both in the initialization process as well as during large or small disturbance stability analysis procedures is addressed. Saturation functions that are derived, whether from test data or by the methods, of finite elements are developed. Different saturation algorithms for calculating values of excitation and internal power angle depending upon generator terminal conditions are compared. The question of parameter determination is covered. Two approaches in accounting for generator field and excitation system base quantities are identified. Conversion factors are given for transferring field parameters from one base to another for correct generator/excitation system interface modeling, Suggestions for modeling of negative field currents and other field circuit discontinuities are included.


Binary neutron stars (BNSs) are the primary source of gravitational waves for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and its international partners Virgo and KAGRA. Current BNS searches target field binaries whose orbits will have circularized by radiation reaction before their gravitational waves enter the advanced LIGO sensitive band at 15 Hz. It has been suggested that a population of BNSs may form by n-body interactions near supermassive black holes or in globular clusters and that these systems may have non-negligible eccentricity in the advanced LIGO band. We show that for BNS systems with total mass of 2.4M_⊙ (6M_⊙), the effect of eccentricity e≲0.02 (0.05) is negligible and a circular search is effectual for these binaries. For eccentricities up to e = 0.4, we investigate the selection bias caused by neglecting eccentricity in BNS searches. If such high eccentricity systems exist, searches that specifically target eccentric binaries will be needed in advanced LIGO and Virgo.


Axin1 and its homolog Axin2/conductin/Axil are negative regulators of the canonical Wnt pathway that suppress signal transduction by promoting degradation of β-catenin. Mice with deletion of Axin1 exhibit defects in axis determination and brain patterning during early embryonic development. We show that Axin2 is expressed in the osteogenic fronts and periosteum of developing sutures during skull morphogenesis. Targeted disruption of Axin2 in mice induces malformations of skull structures, a phenotype resembling craniosynostosis in humans. In the mutants, premature fusion of cranial sutures occurs at early postnatal stages. To elucidate the mechanism of craniosynostosis, we studied intramembranous ossification in Axin2-null mice. The calvarial osteoblast development is significantly affected by the Axin2 mutation. The Axin2 mutant displays enhanced expansion of osteoprogenitors, accelerated ossification, stimulated expression of osteogenic markers and increases in mineralization. Inactivation of Axin2 promotes osteoblast proliferation and differentiation in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, as the mammalian skull is formed from cranial skeletogenic mesenchyme, which is derived from mesoderm and neural crest, our data argue for a region-specific effect of Axin2 on neural crest dependent skeletogenesis. The craniofacial anomalies caused by the Axin2 mutation are mediated through activation of β-catenin signaling, suggesting a novel role for the Wnt pathway in skull morphogenesis.


The effects of various design configurations and the operation of detention basins for pollutant removal efficiency is evaluated using a Monte-Carlo simulation approach. A physically based numerical model representing the build-up and wash-off of pollutants from the highway surface has been used to predict storm events pollutographs for dissolved Cu and Zn. The probability of discharging dissolved Cu and Zn from detention basins were assessed using randomly-generated rainfall-runoff events and build-up pollutant concentrations. The simulations were performed by comparing the results of a one-compartment detention basin with a two-compartment design. The simulation results revealed that dividing the detention basin into two compartments and using the first compartment for first flush treatment can substantially reduce the frequency of discharging toxic metals such as Cu and Zn into the receiving waters. With the first flush treatment method, the size of the detention basin can be reduced to half of the conventional design.


BACKGROUND: The Reach Out and Read (ROR) program promotes early literacy as part of pediatric primary care through the distribution of children's books and anticipatory guidance during early childhood. OBJECTIVES: To improve the rates of age-appropriate book-giving during well-child care and the delivery of ROR-recommended anticipatory guidance in 6 pediatric clinics. METHODS: Three quality-improvement cycles were completed at each site. Practice-level data were shared with participants in iterative sessions to identify methods for improving care. A provider-training DVD was used to promote these ROR activities. RESULTS: Over the course of the project, the median rate of book-giving increased from 97% to 99% and for anticipatory guidance remained at 89%. Providers reported significantly improved ROR-related skills, particularly self-efficacy for modeling reading aloud and for using children's books to assess development. CONCLUSIONS: Baseline adherence to the ROR program is high, possibly because of the ease of implementation. Quality improvement for ROR is feasible and may be easier to implement for book distribution than anticipatory guidance, although providers reported improved anticipatory-guidance skills. Future quality-improvement efforts should continue to address giving books and anticipatory guidance, both of which are integral to the ROR model.


Recommended Citation Emadi, Majid. "Flame structure and thermo-acoustic coupling for the low swirl burner for elevated pressure and syngas conditions. ABSTRACT Reduction of the pollutant emissions is a challenge for the gas turbine industry. A solution to this problem is to employ the low swirl burner which can operate at lower equivalence ratios than a conventional swirl burner. However, flames in the lean regime of combustion are susceptible to flow perturbations and combustion instability. Combustion instability is the coupling between unsteady heat release and combustor acoustic modes where one amplifies the other in a feedback loop. The other method for significantly reducing NO x and CO 2 is increasing fuel reactivity, typically done through the addition of hydrogen. This helps to improve the flammability limit and also reduces the pollutants in products by decreasing thermal NO x and reducing CO 2 by displacing carbon. In this work, the flammability limits of a low swirl burner at various operating conditions, is studied and the effect of pressure, bulk velocity, burner shape and percent of hydrogen (added to the fuel) is investigated. Also, the flame structure for these test conditions is measured using OH planar laser induced fluorescence and assessed. Also, the OH PLIF data is used to calculate Rayleigh index maps and to construct averaged OH PLIF intensity fields at different acoustic excitation frequencies (45-155, and 195Hz). Based on the Rayleigh index maps, two different modes of coupling between the heat release and the pressure fluctuation were observed: the first mode, which occurs at 44Hz and 55Hz, shows coupling to the flame base (due to the bulk velocity) while the second mode shows coupling to the sides of the flame. In the first mode, the flame becomes wider and the flame base moves with the acoustic frequency. In the second mode, imposed pressure oscillations induce vortex shedding in the flame shear layer. These vortices distort the flame front and generate locally compact and sparse flame areas. The local flame structure resulting from these two distinct modes was markedly different.