This collection of first-hand accounts from experienced and accomplished learning technology practitioners highlights issues in using learning technologies for flexible, distance and open learning. Drawing on their own experience, the authors identify and explore the most practical and complex issues faced and reflect upon the lessons learned. The definition of learning technologies is broad, encompassing not only the tools (print, audio, video, online applications) but their creative and informed application and social effects. Experiences from eight different countries are presented while the themes addressed include policy development, teaching skills, learner guidance, evaluation and reflective practice.
Often, busy practitioners argue that they do not have time for reflection but that they do have time to swap stories with colleagues. Using Learning Technologies promotes such engagement through a broad range of first-hand accounts of facing the challenges entailed in using learning technologies. The stories recounted here speak directly to practitioners, researchers and administrators, provide a model for reflection and offer practical guidelines for comparison with the reader's own experience.


This study investigates fluid-flow properties of the low-permeability Brentskardhaugen Bed (Knorringfjellet Formation), Wilhelmøya Subgroup, western central Spitsbergen, Svalbard. To evaluate the two-phase relative permeability of the water-CO2 system, we performed unsteady state core-flooding experiments using deionised water and gaseous CO2. The absolute permeability and residual fluid saturations were also studied. Moreover, a core plug of the Berea sandstone was tested as a reference sample. The core-flooding experiments recorded microDarcy permeability values (0.022–0.039 mD) for various differential pressures (4 to 12 MPa). The poor grain sorting and the abundance of cement were the main factors controlling the low matrix permeabilities. Closure of sub-micron fractures was the likely reason for reduced permeability with increasing effective stresses. The experimental measurements showed that CO2 fractional flow reached unity at relatively low CO2 saturation (approximately 0.35–0.45). The irreducible water saturation and trapped CO2 saturation were 56% and 23%, respectively. The corresponding endpoint CO2 and water relative permeability were 0.18 and 0.47, respectively. The results, therefore, demonstrate low endpoint CO2 saturation and low relative permeability, in addition to high CO2 fractional flow at high water saturation. The trapped CO2 saturation was relatively high, which suggests a high CO2 immobilisation capability of the Wilhelmøya Subgroup sandstones. Moreover, a lower relative permeability was observed for gaseous CO2 compared to published results for supercritical CO2. In addition, the examined core sample showed a higher trapped CO2 saturation and higher endpoint CO2 relative permeability compared with the porous and permeable Berea sandstone.


A young woman with arthritis talking about the rising tide of hostility to disability claimants says: 'People think I'm faking. I've lost friends over it. Pain is invisible and hard for people to understand.' How many of us could say that we have never thought that someone reporting pain is faking or, at the very least, making too much fuss? This is the society in which we live: intolerant of the pain of others. From childhood onwards we are told to stop whingeing and are often not believed when we report pain. Adults can be intolerant of their partner's pain and in the workplace colleagues seldom treat kindly weakness of any sort.

These preconceptions and attitudes to other people's pain are what professionals may have grown up with and may subconsciously bring to the clinical setting. Pain education for professionals should focus not only on the methods of treatment available but equally on the impact of pain and the need to listen to and believe the patient's story. Pain is what the patient says it is and if he or she has come to you for help, there will be very few instances in which pain relief must be withheld whilst a diagnosis is sought. And yet, often pain management is not addressed until all the avenues of diagnostic tests, scans and specialist opinions have been explored. Students need good communication skills and empathy, and they should be encouraged to think about their own attitudes to pain and how these might affect their professional practice. They should learn that there are very few conditions for which pain relief must be withheld until a diagnosis is made. For the majority of people adequate pain relief can be achieved before a diagnosis is made.

Pain education for qualified professionals should not be the provenance solely of the pain clinic staff, it is important for all those delivering primary and secondary front-line care. Professionals should be taught to assess and understand the whole range of physical and psychological aspects of a person's pain in order to help them to take control and manage their condition in the best way and as early as possible. Left untreated, pain can have a devastating effect on a person's social and working life so the longer that help is withheld, the worse the outcome is likely to be. Naturally, that help must be properly focused so it is vital that general practitioners in particular, who are likely to be the first port of call, have the time and the knowledge to help their patients to manage their pain. Self-help is tremendously important and a little time and effort spent in pointing the chronic pain sufferer to the available resources will reap far more benefit than the printing of ever-increasing prescriptions of drugs. There is plenty of information for patients on coping with chronic pain, so healthcare professionals need to learn to signpost their patients to websites, books, DVDs, leaflets and pain management programmes so that they are empowered to take control and manage their pain before it becomes overwhelming.

Unfortunately, it is all too common for the professional not to listen to the patient and not to believe in their pain. The focus on the 'relief of suffering' has almost got lost in modern medicine's search for diagnosis and cure. It is hard enough to be coping with pain, but terrifying not to be believed when one goes for help. It should not take months of suffering and inadequate (or no) pain relief before a patient finally gets to a pain clinic. The fundamental difference between the patient presenting in pain and the patient presenting with other medical conditions is that, in the case of pain, the patient is always right. Pain is exactly what the patient tells you he or she feels. But it is invisible, can be measured only subjectively and is often extremely difficult to describe. In pain management, whilst it is important that the patient can trust their health professional, it is just as important that the health professional trusts the patient.

It is very encouraging that pain education for professionals is becoming a larger part of the curriculum and that many positive initiatives are taking place. The British Pain Society (BPS) and International Associa- tion for the Study of Pain Education special interest groups (SIGs) are working on undergraduate curriculum projects. The BPS Pain Education SIG has recently set up a subgroup of professional and lay members to look at effective patient education. The BPS Patient Liaison Committee's annual plan aims to progress both what the Society does for patients and what patients do for the Society. We will continue to contribute significantly to the Society's website and publications. We will develop new ways in which patients can inform the Society of their needs and how they can get involved and influence professionals. Our vision is for the Society to play its full role in patients becoming more knowledgeable about their pain and better able to manage it with support. For patients to help it achieve more because the Society has the benefit of the insights of patients working alongside professional members.


Most genera of the neotropical subtribe Galipeinae (tribe Galipeeae, Rutoideae) have tubular flowers with several forms and degrees of fusion between parts. The fact that Galipea and other genera in the subtribe bear only two fertile anthers plus five or more staminodes is also intriguing, since generally the Galipeeae exhibit isostemony. To elucidate the anatomic condition of these traits, and to establish an accurate coding scheme for characters state in phylogenetic studies, a morphoanatomical study of the flower of five species of Galipea was carried out. Using cross-sections of pickled material, the patterns of vascularization, position, and union of the flower segments were investigated. Noteworthy results are: 1) a true floral tube is formed in the basal third part of the flower through the connation of filaments and the adnation of this staminal tube to the petals; 2) the petals are distally coherent to each other and adherent to the filaments by means of capillinection (close intertwining of trichomes) - a case of pseudosympetaly; 3) from the usually five linear structures referred to as staminodes, only the three external ones are homologous to fully sterilized stamens, while the other ones arise as branches from the petals; 4) carpels are congenitally connate axially and laterally, except for a small area close to the top of the ovary where they are postgenitally united; 5) the vascularization of the disc suggests a receptacular origin. The implications of these data for the evolution of tubular flowers in Galipea and related groups are discussed.


Excessive sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption has been associated with overweight and obesity. Caffeine is a common additive to SSB, and through dependence effects, it has the potential to promote the consumption of caffeine-containing foods. The objective of the present study was to assess the influence that caffeine has on the consumption of SSB. Participants (n 99) were blindly assigned to either a caffeinated SSB (C-SSB) or a non-caffeinated SSB (NC-SSB) group. Following randomisation, all participants completed a 9 d flavour-conditioning paradigm. They then completed a 28 d ad libitum intake intervention where they consumed as much or as little of C-SSB or NC-SSB as desired. The amount consumed (ml) was recorded daily, 4 d diet diaries were collected and liking of SSB was assessed at the start and end of the intervention. Participants (n 50) consuming the C-SSB had a daily SSB intake of 419 (sd 298) ml (785 (sd 559) kJ/d) over the 28 d intervention, significantly more than participants (n 49) consuming the NC-SSB (273 (sd 278) ml/d, 512 (sd 521) kJ/d) (P< 0·001). A trained flavour panel (n 30) found no difference in flavour between the C-SSB and NC-SSB (P>0·05). However, participants who consumed the C-SSB liked the SSB more than those who consumed the NC-SSB (6·3 v. 6·0 on a nine-point hedonic scale, P= 0·022). The addition of low concentrations of caffeine to the SSB significantly increases the consumption of the SSB. Regulating caffeine as a food additive may be an effective strategy to decrease the consumption of nutrient-poor high-energy foods and beverages.


BACKGROUND
Mind-body therapies are often used by people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, there has been little examination into which types of mind-body therapies have been investigated for people with ASD and for what purposes. A systematic review was conducted to evaluate the existing evidence for mind-body therapies for people with ASD, particularly to determine the types of mind-body therapies used and the outcomes that are targeted.

METHODS
PubMed, PsychInfo, and Scopus were searched using terms for ASD and mind-body therapies. Sixteen studies were selected for review; these studies tested interventions using mindfulness, meditation, yoga, Nei Yang Gong, and acceptance commitment therapy. Most study outcomes targeted behavior, psychological symptoms, and quality of life for children and adults with ASD as well as their parents.

RESULTS
There was little overlap between studies on the types of mind-body therapies used and associated outcomes, and only three of the studies were randomized controlled trials. Most studies were small and uncontrolled. Some studies modified the mind-body therapies to increase accessibility for people with ASD.

CONCLUSION
The evidence for mind-body therapies for people with ASD is limited and would benefit from larger randomized controlled trials.


Soil reagent mixing (SRM) is a remediation technique whereby powder or slurried reagents are delivered and mixed in-situ or ex-situ with contaminated soils or sediments by augers or other types of soil mixers. This paper summarises the work carried out for a laboratory treatability study of SRM on clayey soil samples contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbon compounds from a petrol filling station site in Kent, UK. The study examined the effects of mixing binder reagents on the total soil and leachate concentrations of hydrocarbons. Quicklime, hydrated lime and ordinary Portland cement, in a number of different formulations, were used in the study. Furthermore, the addition of gypsum to some reagent formulations was evaluated in an attempt to improve the strength of the binder/soil mix. Temperature and evolution of volatiles were monitored during the mixing of soils with the reagents. The mixing of soil with binder reagents resulted in changes in physical and physico-chemical properties of the clay, and in significant decreases in total soils and leachate concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbon compounds. The mechanisms responsible for the decreases in concentrations were examined. Significant increases in the remoulded strength of the clay were observed upon addition of certain binder formulations.


Although antitrust courts sometimes stress the competitive process, they have not deeply explored what that process is. Inspired by the theory of the core, we explore the idea that the competitive process is the process of sellers and buyers forming improving coalitions. Much of antitrust can be seen as prohibiting firms' attempts to restrain improving trade between their rivals and customers. In this way, antitrust protects firms' and customers' freedom to trade to their mutual betterment.


The armed conflict in Sierra Leone and the extreme violence of the main rebel faction - the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) - have challenged scholars and members of the international community to come up with explanations. Up to this point, though, conclusions about the nature of the war are mainly drawn from accounts of civilian victims and commentators who had access to only one side of the war. The present study addresses this currently incomplete understanding of the conflict by focusing on the direct experiences and interpretations of protagonists, paying special attention to the hitherto neglected, and often underage, cadres of the RUF. The data presented challenges the widely canvassed notion of the Sierra Leone conflict as a war motivated by 'greed, not grievance'. Rather, it points to a rural crisis expressed in terms of unresolved tensions between landowners and marginalized rural youth, further reinforced and triggered by a collapsing patrimonial state.


The ICARUS collaboration employed the 760-ton T600 detector in a successful three-year physics run at the underground LNGS laboratories studying neutrino oscillations with the CNGS neutrino beam from CERN, and searching for atmospheric neutrino interactions. ICARUS performed a sensitive search for LSND-like anomalous ae appearance in the CNGS beam, which contributed to the constraints on the allowed parameters to a narrow region around 1 4+2, where all the experimental results can be coherently accommodated at 90% C.L. After a significant overhauling at CERN, the T600 detector has now been placed in its experimental hall at Fermilab where installation activities are in progress. It will be soon exposed to the Booster Neutrino Beam to search for a sterile neutrino within the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program, devoted to definitively clarify the open questions of the presently observed neutrino anomalies. ICARUS achievements, its status and plans for the new run at Fermilab and the ongoing developments of the analysis tools needed to fulfill its physics program are addressed .


Cooperation among countries to deal with climate change and other global challenges seems almost impossible. However, recent research in the behavioral and evolutionary sciences suggests that people cooperate willingly and perhaps even naturally. Why the contradiction? In this paper we call for the need to think about international relations beyond the assumptions of rational choice and narrow self-interest. We suggest that seemingly intractable international challenges are not only the result of power struggles, but may also reflect the under-provisioning of the key enablers of cooperation—what we call the "cooperation hexagon": reciprocity, trust, we-identity, enforcement, communication, reputation and fairness.


The main objective of this paper is to introduce the concept of novel flat plate solar geyser with integrated heat exchanger and open loop passive system.The heat exchanger acts both as collector for solar radiations and as a heat exchanger its self for cold water beneath it. Contrary to the conventional flat plate solar collectors, water is in direct contact with the collector or flat grooved heat exchanger. A safety control box is installed to minimize hydraulic pressure of cold water reservoir on the flat grooved heat exchanger as contrary to tube a plate cannot sustain high pressures. The heat exchanger has circular grooves which adds in sustaining hydraulic pressure, increase heat exchanger exposed area to the sun and also cause turbulence in flowing cold water to increase heat rate. A special exit system for hot water is used having a float tube which enable user to withdraw hot water without pressure of cold water from cold water reservoir.


SUMMARY The interdisciplinary fields of conservation physiology, macrophysiology, and mechanistic ecological forecasting have recently emerged as means of integrating detailed physiological responses to the broader questions of ecological and evolutionary responses to global climate change. Bridging the gap between large-scale records of weather and climate (as measured by remote sensing platforms, buoys and ground-based weather stations) and the physical world as experienced by organisms (niche-level measurements) requires a mechanistic understanding of how `environmental signals' (parameters such as air, surface and water temperature, food availability, water flow) are translated into signals at the scale of the organism or cell (e.g. body temperature, food capture, hydrodynamic force, aerobic capacity). Predicting the impacts of how changing environments affect populations and ecosystems further mandates an understanding of how organisms `filter' these signals via their physiological response (e.g. whether they respond to high or low frequencies, whether there is a time lag in response, etc.) and must be placed within the context of adult movement and the dispersal of larvae and gametes. Recent studies have shown that patterns of physiological stress in nature are far more complex in space and time than previously assumed and challenge the long-held paradigm that patterns of biogeographic distribution can be based on simple environmental gradients. An integrative, systems-based approach can provide an understanding of the roles of environmental and physiological variability in driving ecological responses and can offer considerable insight and predictive capacity to researchers, resource managers and policy makers involved in planning for the current and future effects of climate change.


Part I: Instruments and Pricing: Futures and Forwards: 1. Determining the Relevant Fair Value(s) of S & P 500 Futures: A Case Study Approach: Ira G. Kawaller. 2. Cash-and-Carry Trading and the Pricing of Treasury Bill Futures: Ira G. Kawaller and Timothy W. Koch. Options: 3. How to Use the Holes in Black and Scholes: Fischer Black. Swaps: 4. Beyond Plain Vanilla: A Taxonomy of Swaps: Peter A. Abken. 5. The Pricing of Interest Rate Swaps: John F. Marshall and Kenneth R. Kapner. 6. Over-the-Counter Interest Rate Derivatives: Anatoli Kuprianov. Exotics: 7. Path-Dependent Options: William C. Hunter and David W. Stowe. 8. Path-Dependent Options: Valuation and Applications: William C. Hunter and David W. Stowe. 9. An Introduction to Special-Purpose Derivatives: Path-Dependent Options: Gary Gastineau. Part II: Risk Management Applications:Overview: 10. Managing Financial Risk: Clifford W. Smith, Jr. Charles W. Smithson, and D. Sykes Wilford. Debt Markets: 11. Improving Hedging Performance Using Interest Rate Futures: Robert W. Kolb and Raymond Chiang. 12. Immunizing Bond Portfolios with Interest Rate Futures: Robert W. Kolb and Gerald D. Gay. 13. Interest Rate Swaps versus Eurodollar Strips: Ira G. Kawaller. Equity Markets: 14. The Mechanics of Portfolio Insurance: Thomas J. O'Brien. 15. Alternative Paths to Portfolio Insurance: Mark Rubinstein. 16. The October Crash: Some Evidence on the Cascade Theory: G. J. Santoni. 17. Portfolio Insurance and the Market Crash: Mark Rubinstein. Over-the-Counter Markets: 18. The Role of Interest Rate Swaps in Corporate Finance: Anatoli Kuprianov. 19. A Tale of Two Bond Swaps: Andrew Kalotay and Bruce Tuckman. 20. Over-the-Counter Financial Derivatives: Risky Business?: Peter A. Abken. Preface.


This paper is concerned with the design of networked control systems (NCSs) with random network delay in the feedback channel and gives stability criteria of closed-loop networked predictive control systems. The principle of predictive control is adopted to overcome the effects of network time delay. The necessary and sufficient conditions on the stability of the closed-loop NCS are derived, which provides useful analytical stability criteria. The closed-loop networked predictive control system with bounded random network delay is stable if the corresponding switched system is stable. Simulation and real-time results give an illustration of the proposed control strategies


Five hybridoma T cell lines were prepared by fusion of Ts3 cells with the BW 5147 thymoma. The culture supernatants from these T cell hybrids contained a factor, TsF3, which specifically suppressed 4-hydroxy-3- nitrophenyl acetyl hapten (NP(-hapten cutaneous sensitivity responses. The properties of this new series of hybridoma factors was compared with those of two previously characterized types of NP-specific suppressor factors (TsF1 and TsF2). TsF3 activity was only observed if the factor was administered during the effector phases of the immune response. TsF3 bears I-J and C57BL anti-NP antibody idiotypic determinants and has binding specificity for the NP hapten. Furthermore, TsF3 does not suppress H-2 (I-J)-incompatible mice. In addition to this H-2 restriction, the monoclonal TsF3 factors also demonstrated an Igh genetic restriction. Finally, the TsF3 factors could be distinguished by their ability to suppress cyclophosphamide- treated recipients.


The main objective of the current study is to investigate L2 Japanese learners' ability to segment complex sentences from aural input. Elementaryand early intermediate-level L2 learners in general have not developed the ability to use syntactic cues to interpret the meaning of sentences they hear. In the case of Japanese, recognition of inflectional morphemes is crucial for the accurate segmentation of complex sentences, as they signal the end of each clause. However, recognition of inflectional morphemes was found to be challenging for low-proficiency learners because they are often fused in natural speech; thus, they are low in salience. To assist L2 learners in finding meaningful chunks, namely clauses within a complex sentence, the current study attempted to focus their attention on inflectional morphemes in aural input. During the experiment, learners were asked to repeat complex sentences as accurately as possible. Half of the stimuli were accompanied by pictures that corresponded to the activities described in the complex sentences. The study hypothesized that visualized chunks would reduce L2 learners' cognitive load and enable them to pay closer attention to syntactic elements; thus, learners would reconstruct complex sentences better with pictorial information support. It was also hypothesized that the ability to reconstruct elements that are low in salience would account for L2 learners' receptive proficiency. The results revealed that L2 learners' reconstruction of complex sentences improved significantly with the support of visualized chunks. However, it became evident that learners' reconstruction of an inflectional morpheme to which they had not been fully exposed in class did not improve with the pictorial support. Such a tendency was particularly obvious when the inflectional morpheme was located in a sentenceinternal position. Additionally, the study found that L2 learners' ability to reconstruct an inflectional morpheme declined when it was devoid of communicative value. In terms of


We extend randomized smoothing to cover parameterized transformations (e.g., rotations, translations) and certify robustness in the parameter space (e.g., rotation angle). This is particularly challenging as interpolation and rounding effects mean that image transformations do not compose, in turn preventing direct certification of the perturbed image (unlike certification with $\ell^p$ norms). We address this challenge by introducing three different defenses, each with a different guarantee (heuristic, distributional and individual) stemming from the method used to bound the interpolation error. Importantly, in the individual case, we show how to efficiently compute the inverse of an image transformation, enabling us to provide individual guarantees in the online setting. We provide an implementation of all methods at https://github.com/eth-sri/transformation-smoothing.


The Internet of Things (IoT) is an umbrella term for smart things connected to the Internet. Precision agriculture is a related concept where connected sensors can be used to facilitate, e.g. more effective farming. At the same time, Bluetooth has been making advancements into IoT with the release of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or Bluetooth smart as it is also known by. This thesis describes the development of a Bluetooth Low Energy moistureand temperature sensor intended for use in an agricultural wireless sensor network system. The sensor was evaluated based on its effectiveness in agricultural environments and conditions such as weather, elevation and in different crop fields. Bluetooth Low Energy was chosen as the technology for communication by the supervising company due to its inherent support for mobile phone accessibility. Field tests showed that the sensor nodes were largely affected by greenery positioned between transmitter and receiver, meaning that these would preferably be placed above growing crops for effective communication. With ideal placement of the sensor and receiving unit, the signal would reach up to 100 m, meaning that a receiving unit would cover a circle area with radius 100 m. Due to Bluetooth being largely integrated in mobile devices it would mean that sensor data could easily be made accessible with a mobile app, rather than acquiring data from an online web server.


The concept of morphological computation holds that the body of an agent can, under certain circumstances, exploit the interaction with the environment to achieve useful behavior, potentially reducing the computational burden of the brain/controller. The conditions under which such phenomenon arises are, however, unclear. We hypothesize that morphological computation will be facilitated by body plans with appropriate geometric, material, and growth properties, while it will be hindered by other body plans in which one or more of these three properties is not well suited to the task. We test this by evolving the geometries and growth processes of soft robots, with either manually-set softer or stiffer material properties. Results support our hypothesis: we find that for the task investigated, evolved softer robots achieve better performances with simpler growth processes than evolved stiffer ones. We hold that the softer robots succeed because they are better able to exploit morphological computation. This four-way interaction among geometry, growth, material properties and morphological computation is but one example phenomenon that can be investigated using the system here introduced, that could enable future studies on the evolution and development of generic soft-bodied creatures.


Migratory flows have escalated especially during the past year. In general, the current refugee crisis has formulated both negative and positive stances towards refugees. In consequence of various perspectives, it was seen relevant to spread awareness of the skilled refugees as a potential workforce. Subsequently, this thesis concentrates on analysing companies' attitudes of skilled refugees' employment in Finland. In relation to a recent German study, reflections towards refugees' employment are made.The attitudinal scope of this thesis refers to the complexity of the topic. Companies' stances were examined by setting 'bipolar attitude pairs' to enable thematic analysis. The key findings suggest a strong indication to openness towards hiring skilled refugees. However, the results demonstrate a solid correlation with criticality in regard to the plausibility of skills. Facilitating employment of skilled refugees are not seen as a top priority for most of the companies, partially due to lacking multicultural work communities and the experience of hiring foreigners in Finland.


Curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, "Do It" began in Paris in 1993 as a conversation between the artists Christian Boltanski and Bertrand Lavier and Obrist himself, who was experimenting with how exhibition formats could be rendered more flexible and open ended. The discussion led to the question of whether a show could take scores or written instructions by artists as a point of departure, which could be interpreted anew each time they were enacted. To test the idea, Obrist invited 13 artists to send instructions, which were then translated into nine different languages and circulated internationally as a book. Within two years, "Do It" exhibitions were being created all over the world by realizing the artists instructions. With every version of the exhibition new instructions were added, so that today more than 300 artists have contributed to the project. Constantly evolving and morphing into different versions of itself, "Do It" has grown to encompass Do It (Museum), Do It (Home), Do It (TV), Do It (Seminar) as well as some Anti-Do It's, a Philosophy Do It and, most recently, a UNESCO Children's Do It. Nearly 20 years after the initial conversation took place, "Do It" has been featured in at least 90 different locations worldwide. To mark the twentieth anniversary of this landmark project, this new publication presents the history of this ambitious enterprise and gives new impetus to its future. It includes an archive of artists instructions, essays contextualizing "Do It", documentation and photographs from the history of the exhibition and new instructions by 50 artists from all over the world selected by Obrist.


The treatment of dengue shock syndrome (DSS) is a medical emergency. Prompt and vigorous volume replacement therapy is required, with extreme care to avoid fluid overload. Recognition of the importance of increased vascular permeability in the pathophysiology of DSS and of the critical need for parenteral fluids in resuscitation has had a dramatic effect on mortality from the disease over the last 40 years. However, until recently there has been little research to determine the optimal fluid regimen, and the choice of fluid has remained largely empirical. Colloid and crystalloid fluids have different physicochemical properties which influence the patterns of distribution and elimination, as well as the secondary osmotic effects. In two recent double-blind randomized trials in Viet Nam, initial resuscitation with colloid fluids (dextran 70 or 3% gelatin) restored cardiac index and pulse pressure and normalized haematocrit more quickly than either of the crystalloid fluids (physiological saline or Ringer's lactate). There was no difference, however, in the overall recovery time or the subsequent requirement for fluids. From the larger study it was apparent that the major determinant of clinical response was the width of the pulse pressure at presentation with shock, the small number of children with pulse pressures of < 10 mm Hg requiring significantly more resuscitation than those with higher pulse pressures. Within this more compromised group there was a trend to earlier, sustained recovery among those who received one of the colloids. It appears that the majority of children with DSS recover with timely infusion of crystalloid fluids alone, but that an important minority may benefit from initial resuscitation with a colloid. Large trials will be necessary to confirm this effect and to clearly characterize the subgroup of children who might benefit from initial colloid therapy. Given the huge burden of dengue disease in South-East Asia, if a true benefit is established in a subgroup of patients, this may have a significant influence on mortality in the region.


After a gap of more than a century new mapping has established that the structural framework of the Lewisian Complex southwards from the north coast of Scotland consists of a pattern of shallowly-plunging upright folds with southeasterly trending axial planes resulting from Palaeoproterozoic deformation of the products of Neoarchaean crust formation. The lithologies and structural features are consistent with polyphase tectonothermal deformation at depth, including crustal shortening, of a flat-lying, mantle-derived protolith assemblage that consisted mainly of acidic and some basic igneous sheet-like intrusions and the products of their metamorphism (quartzofeldspathic gneiss and amphibolite) during crust formation. The crustal shortening is represented by penetrative planar and linear fabrics that largely replace those formed earlier in the less competent gneisses. Large-scale upright northeasterly trending folds formed subsequently are both a major feature of the structural framework and a major control of the emplacement of many pegmatite intrusions. Rotation of structural units with respect to one another was associated with the extension along fold axes, the common development of boudinage structures at various scales and the local reversal of the general southeasterly direction of fold plunge to northwesterly.


Propaganda, an influential book written by Edward L. Bernays in 1928, incorporated the literature from social science and psychological manipulation into an examination of the techniques of public communication. Bernays wrote the book in response to the success of some of his earlier works such as Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923) and A Public Relations Counsel (1927). Propaganda explored the psychology behind manipulating masses and the ability to use symbolic action and propaganda to influence politics, effect social change, and lobby for gender and racial equality.[1] Walter Lippman was Bernays' unacknowledged American mentor and his work The Phantom Public greatly influenced the ideas expressed in Propaganda a year later.[2] The work propelled Bernays into media historians' view of him as the "father of public relations."[3]


High-Sensitivity Phased Arrays for Radio Astronomy and Satellite Communications Junming Diao Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, BYU Doctor of Philosophy Radio astronomy is used to study stars, galaxies, black holes and gas clouds radiation at radio frequencies. Detecting extremely weak signals from deep space radio sources requires high sensitive feed system associated with large dish antennas. The key figure of merit is survey speed, or the time required to map a region of the sky to a given source flux density. Survey speed is proportional to the frequency bandwidth, the field of view or observable region of the sky, and the squared sensitivity, where sensitivity is related to reflector aperture efficiency and system noise temperature. Compared to the traditional single feed, phased array feeds with significantly expanded field of view are considered as the next generation feed for radio telescope. This dissertation outlines the design, analysis and measurement of high sensitivity L-band and mm-wave phased array feeds for the 100-meter Green Bank Telescope. Theoretical works for radio astronomy includes design guideline for high sensitivity phased array feed, fundamental frequency bandwidth limit, array antenna loss influenced by mutual coupling and beamformer coefficients and possibility of superdirectivity for radio telescopes and other antennas. These study are helpful to understand and guide the design of a phased array feed system. In the absence of dish antennas, sparse phased arrays with aperiodic structure have been developed for satellite communications. A compromise between the peak side lobe level, array element density, directivity and design complexity is studied. We have found that the array peak side lobe level can be reduced by enhancing the array element direction at the main lobe direction, increasing the array element density and enlarging the array size. A Poynting streamline approach develops to understand the properties of a receiving antenna and the mutual coupling effects between array elements. This method has been successfully used to generate effective area shape for many types of antennas and guide the design of a superdirective antenna. Motivated by this method, a superdirective antenna is experimental demonstrated.


The experience of the past ten years suggests that the potential benefits from electricity industry restructuring are small relative to those that can be achieved from introducing competition into other network industries such as telecommunications and airlines. In addition, the probability of a costly market failure in the electricity supply industry, often due to the exercise of unilateral market power, appears to be significantly higher than in other network industries. A major theme of this chapter is that electricity industry re-structuring is an evolving process that requires market designers to choose between an imperfectly competitive market and an imperfect regulatory process to provide incentives for least-cost supply at various of stages of the production process. The fundamental goal of the market design process in the wholesale market regime is to limit the ability of suppliers to exercise unilateral market power either explicitly through market price-setting mechanisms or implicitly through the regulatory price-setting process. There are a number ways the regulator can limit the ability of suppliers to exercise unilateral market power–namely, (1) alter the market structure, (2) change market rules, (3) impose penalties and sanctions on market participants for their behavior, and (4) even explicitly set the prices that market participants receive for their production. This chapter provides a theoretical framework for understanding how to make these choices in order to design a wholesale market that benefits consumers relative to the former vertically-integrated utility regime. The paper uses this framework to understand the causes of the disappointing experience with wholesale electricity restructuring in the US. This discussion points to a number of ways to increase the likelihood that restructuring in the US will ultimately benefit consumers.


This handbook (1,8 MB; PDF) identifies principles and policy mechanisms to advance community-based learning for sustainable development, based on the commitments endorsed by the participants of the Kominkan-CLC International Conference on Education for Sustainable Development, which was held in Okayama City, Japan, in October 2014. To inform policymakers and practitioners new to this field, the handbook clarifies the international vision and goals for sustainable development and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), and identifies the potential contributions of community-based learning centres and organizations. It documents both policy and practice from different regions and concludes with a summary of principles and policy support mechanisms.


This is a short intro to explain why there's nothing following. I've held back my response to your comments on my track 19 until I can handle these in the context, not only of that track, but of track 20. Since these two are best seen together, I've thought that the brightest and best way with which to end this project is by responding to each together. So there will be an essay on my response to your comments on both track 19 and 20 at bit later this week or perhaps early next week, when I put on the web, the very last contribution from The Rights Future project, which will be the debate between myself and David Davies on Thursday, on the future of rights. I hope that you'll either be there, or indeed that you'll look at the debate when it's up on the website. Thank you.


Summary Accumulating publications on the feeding ecology of the Eurasian badger ( Meles meles Linnaeus, 1758) in different habitats throughout Europe provide a basis for intra-specific comparisons, however, none has described their diet in cork oak "montado" woodlands, found in the southwestern extreme of the species' distribution. This study aims to understand how badgers use the available trophic resources in "Serra de Grândola" (SW Portugal) and is based on 450 scat samples collected between 1999 and 2000. Nine food-items were identified, 3 of which comprise 89 % of the biomass ingested by badgers in the cork oak woodland: fruits (mainly olives, pears and figs), and adult and larval arthropods. Food abundance was measured, and was shown to fluctuate seasonally; the comparison between availability and consumption suggests that food selection is affected by the pattern of olive availability. These findings reinforce the accumulating evidence that badger ecology in many parts of Europe is heavily affected by local patterns of agriculture and reveal that in this habitat the badger is a generalist forager with seasonal specialisms.


Introduction and Purpose: Life satisfaction is the individual's attitude towards life and is closely related to the welfare and prosperity.The aim of this study is to compare Life satisfaction of elderly between nursing home residents and seniors who living in their own homes in Isfahan. Material and Methods: The population of this analytic – cross sectional study was elderly over 60 years old who live in fourteen area of Isfahan as well as seniors living in the Sadeghieh nursing home . Participants in this study were 300 elderly people in which 102 samples were from nursing home residents and 198 samples were from seniors living in their own homes. The elderly living in the community were selected through cluster sampling method and elderly from nursing home residents were selected via convenience sampling method. Data were collected using LSI-Z life satisfaction questionnaire and were analyzed by statistical parametric test such as chi square and independent t-test. Findings: life satisfaction mean score of elderly group i nhabited in their own homes reported at 45.9 ± 19.8 and was significantly higher than nursing home residents ( p= 0.007 ) . Conclusion: Life satisfaction of elderly in nursing home is not satisfactory.Therefore, what should be considered by the relevant authorities is not only to prolong life but, it is also very important to provide comfort, good physical, social and psychological health for the remaining years of aging.


Telephone-based videotex systems are slowly changing from systems based on numeric, menu-type access methods that permit only information retrieval and limited message sending to more sophisticated, multiuser, interactive, transactional systems. This is partly due to the concept of adding external computers to the videotex network and partly due to the emergence of more intelligent terminals.

In this paper, some major application areas that have been made possible by these developments, but have not yet received the attention they merit, are discussed in some detail: teleplaying, telegambling, telesoftware, telecomputing, and public-key cryptosystems.

We maintain, and try to demonstrate, that these areas will significantly influence the market penetration and social impact of videotex. A number of the applications discussed will be available in Austria's videotex trial by September 82, making Austria the first country to offer such services on a nationwide videotex system.


Insider threats, or attacks against a company from within, are a pressing issue both domestically and internationally. Frequencies of these threats increase each year adding to the overall importance of further research analysis. In fact, many case studies have been conducted which state that these employees who participate in insider attacks tend to exhibit certain personality and characteristic traits, as well as certain observable behaviors, that would indicate to other employees that an attack is imminent. It is hypothesized that companies will be able to take a more preventative stance of security as opposed to a reactive stance by identifying these characteristics and behaviors, as well as the motivations that drive them. In order to accomplish this task, companies must implement multiple layers of technological means of security, as well as take a more hands-on, holistic approach with company-wide involvement.


Microwave Photonics, a symbiotic field of research that brings together the worlds of optics and radio frequency is currently facing several challenges in its transition from a niche to a truly widespread technology essential to support the ever-increasing values for speed, bandwidth, processing capability and dynamic range that will be required in next generation hybrid access networks. We outline these challenges, which are the subject of the contributions to this focus issue.


We consider the functional equation $f(xf(x))=\varphi (f(x))$ where $\varphi \: J\rightarrow J$ is a given increasing homeomorphism of an open interval $J\subset (0,\infty )$ and $f\:(0,\infty )\rightarrow J$ is an unknown continuous function. In a previous paper we proved that no continuous solution can cross the line $y=p$ where $p$ is a fixed point of $\varphi $, with a possible exception for $p=1$. The range of any non-constant continuous solution is an interval whose end-points are fixed by $\varphi $ and which contains in its interior no fixed point except for $1$. We also gave a characterization of the class of continuous monotone solutions and proved a sufficient condition for any continuous function to be monotone. In the present paper we give a characterization of the equations (or equivalently, of the functions $\varphi $) which have all continuous solutions monotone. In particular, all continuous solutions are monotone if either (i) 1 is an end-point of $J$ and $J$ contains no fixed point of $\varphi $, or (ii) $1\in J$ and $J$ contains no fixed points different from 1.


As cells interact with substrates and engage their integrins, several signaling cascades are initiated, including one involving eicosanoids [leukotrienes (LTs) and prostaglandins (PGs)] produced from metabolism of arachidonic acid (AA). Stockton and Jacobson studied signals produced from AA during cell spreading and then migration. A biphasic AA signal was seen in cells plated on fibronectin, with the first increase important for cell spreading and the second sustained increase important for cell migration. Pharmacological agents were used to modulate AA production and metabolism. Treatment of cells with these agents demonstrated that spreading was dependent on metabolism of AA to LTs produced from the activity of 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) and could be mimicked by the addition of LTB4. Inhibition of the cyclooxygenase (COX) metabolic pathway led to increased cell surface area, suggesting that COX activity may help to terminate the cell spreading signal. A connection between AA metabolism by COX and the extracellular signal-regulated kinases ERK1 and ERK2 was uncovered using an inhibitor of these enzymes. Inhibition of COX or ERKs promoted cell spreading and inhibited cell migration, both of which could be reversed by exogenous application of PGE2. Kinetic analysis of the activity of the LOX, ERKs, and COX suggests the following order of events after integrin engagement: AA accumulates and then is metabolized by LOX to produce a cell spreading signal; ERK is also activated early in the process, which stimulates the expression of inducible COX-2; increased COX activity decreases the AA pool for LOX metabolism to terminate cell spreading and produces PGs needed for cell migration. R. A. Stockton, B. S. Jacobson, Modulation of cell-substrate adhesion by arachidonic acid: Lipoxygenase regulates cell spreading and ERK1/2-inducible cyclooxygenase regulates cell migration in NIH-3T3 cells. Mol. Biol. Cell 12, 1937-1956 (2001). [Abstract] [Full Text]


A finite-element method was employed to analyze axisymmetric unsteady motion of a deformable bubble near the wall. In the present study a deformable bubble in a Newtonian medium near the wall was considered. In solving the governing equations a structured mesh generator was used to describe the collapse of highly deformed bubbles with the Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) method being employed in order to capture the transient bubble boundary effectively. In order to check the accuracy of the present FE analysis we compared the results of our FE solutions with the result of the collapse of spherical bubbles in a large body of fluid in which solutions can be obtained using a 1D FE analysis. It has been found that 1D and 2D bubble deformations are in good agreement for spherically symmetric problems confirming the validity of the numerical code. Non-spherically symmetric problems were also solved for the collapse of bubble located near a plane solid wall. We have shown that a microjet develops at the bubble boundary away from the wall as already observed experimentally. We have discussed the effect of Reynolds number and distance of the bubble center from the wall on the transient collapse pattern of bubble.


Over-the-counter (OTC) stocks are far less liquid, disclose less information, and exhibit lower institutional holdings than listed stocks. We exploit these different market conditions to test theories of cross-sectional return premiums. Compared to premiums in listed markets, the OTC illiquidity premium is several times higher, the size, value, and volatility premiums are similar, and the momentum premium is three times lower. The OTC illiquidity, size, value, and volatility premiums are largest among stocks held predominantly by retail investors and those not disclosing financial information. Theories of differences in investors' opinions and limits on short sales help explain these return premiums.


Abstract Contemporary society is dominated by visual communication, yet visual literacy is a learned skill that requires training. Gender issues, particularly the subjects of gender diversity and power struggles, are deeply pertinent to today's visual culture. The critical consumption of information has long been taught in libraries, though instruction has typically prioritized text-based sources. However, visual literacy instruction has the capacity to provoke critical inquiry into issues of gender, race, social class, and ethnicity. As institutions that promote social justice, libraries can help improve diversity and inclusion in their communities through teaching visual literacy skills at all levels. Critical visual literacy instruction can also help academic libraries advance student scholarship, which can only be achieved if they are literate in all forms of knowledge production.


Anti-Hermitian mass terms are considered, in addition to Hermitian ones, for PT-symmetric complex-scalar and fermionic field theories. In both cases, the Lagrangian can be written in a manifestly symmetric form in terms of the PT-conjugate variables, allowing for an unambiguous definition of the equations of motion. After discussing the resulting constraints on the consistency of the variational procedure, we show that the invariance of a non-Hermitian Lagrangian under a continuous symmetry transformation does not imply the existence of a corresponding conserved current. Conserved currents exist, but these are associated with transformations under which the Lagrangian is not invariant and which reflect the well-known interpretation of PT-symmetric theories in terms of systems with gain and loss. A formal understanding of this unusual feature of non-Hermitian theories requires a careful treatment of Noether's theorem, and we give specific examples for illustration.


OBJECTIVE To determine anatomic reference points for 4 turtle species and to evaluate data on relative anatomic dimensions, signal intensities (SIs), and position of selected organs within the coelomic cavity by use of MRI. ANIMALS 3 turtle cadavers (1 red-eared slider [Trachemys scripta elegans], 1 yellow-bellied slider [Trachemys scripta scripta], and 1 Coastal plain cooter [Pseudemys concinna floridana]) and 63 live adult turtles (30 red-eared sliders, 20 yellow-bellied sliders, 5 Coastal plain cooters, and 8 hieroglyphic river cooters [Pseudemys concinna hieroglyphica]). PROCEDURES MRI and necropsy were performed on the 3 turtle cadavers. Physical examination, hematologic evaluation, and whole-body radiography were performed on the 63 live turtles. Turtles were sedated, and MRI in transverse, sagittal, and dorsal planes was used to measure organ dimensions, position within the coelomic cavity, and SIs. Body positioning after sedation was standardized with the head, neck, limbs, and tail positioned in maximum extension. RESULTS Measurements of the heart, liver, gallbladder, and kidneys in sagittal, transverse, and dorsal planes; relative position of those organs within the coelom; and SIs of the kidneys and liver were obtained with MRI and provided anatomic data for these 4 turtle species. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE MRI was a valuable tool for determining the position, dimensions, and SIs of selected organs. Measurement of organs in freshwater chelonians was achievable with MRI. Further studies are needed to establish reference values for anatomic structures in turtles. Results reported here may serve as guidelines and aid in clinical interpretation of MRI images for these 4 species.


Background: Only a few and relatively outdated population studies with respect to CAM use among the general population in Sweden exists. Those who has been made indicates that CAM usage is relatively high where 30-39% reports lifetime use and 20% use the last year, with massage, Naprapathy and Chiropracy being most common. Nurses are often involved in direct patient care and hold a unique role where issues of CAM can be communicated, but little is known about them as a group on the topic of CAM. Objective: The objective of this cross-sectional study was to describe licensed nurses' use, practice, attitudes and knowledge about CAM. Method: In a web based survey Licensed Nurses were invited for participation through two different approaches: firstly from the member register of Vardforbundet (the Swedish Association of Health Professionals), and secondly via a general invitation to formal and informal nursing associations, web communities and workplaces. A total number of 960 nurses responded to the survey, 83% were female and the mean age of the respondents were 46 years (±10.8). Results: Among the respondents, 83.4% reported to have used at least one CAM method within the last two years. The most prevalently used methods are within the categories of massage and Dietary supplements/probiotics/herbal remedies and Mind-Body therapies. Fifteen percent of respondents are practicing some form of CAM method; 69% of those among family and friends, 25% in a private business, and 37% (n=52) within the public health care (mostly different form of massage and mind-body practices). Of the respondents, 11.7% express that they ask patients about CAM use, the most common reason 38% (n=366) not to is lack of knowledge about CAM (and their legal position with respect to CAM). A high proportion (66%) agrees that healthcare personnel should inform clients about CAM treatments when asked about it. Conclusion: Swedish nurses do to a very high extent use different CAM methods for themselves, and also practice it to some degree. In spite of this, due to lack of knowledge, they do not regularly ask or inform patients about CAM methods. From the results of the study we can see that nurses are in need of better training and education about CAM, both in order to be able to meet the needs of the patients, but also for reasons of safety since interactions exist between dietary supplements/probiotics/herbal remedies and conventional drugs.


Many Italian verbs display complex alternations involving regular/irregular stem forms in the simple past tense, the so-called Passato Remoto. Vogel (1994), Pirelli and Battista (2000), Maiden (2005, 2010) among many others, including traditional neo-grammarian and structuralist accounts, assume that the alternations found in the irregular forms of the Passato Remoto must be accounted for in terms of memorized stem and ending alternants. In this paper, I will argue instead that the best synchronic and diachronic analysis of these alternations involves notions such as roots, abstract morphemes, Readjustment Rules and Impoverishment as expected by the Distributed Morphology (DM) model (Halle and Marantz 1993; Embick 2010; Embick and Marantz 2008). There is no need for memorized stem alternants to account for them.


Automated laser welding with filler wires for bridging gaps and for connecting complex devices has been established for different metal materials. In spite of that, it is still a challenge to transfer this welding process to the brittle material glass. Therefore, glass welding is often realized through a manual process by heating the glass with a gas flame. In addition, welding of non-rotational components requires filler material for gap bridging between the joining partners, which is applied manually today.This work presents an experimental and numerical study on laser welding of fused silica using glass fiber as a filler material to bridge gaps. The goal was to achieve a defined weld penetration depth and heat affected zone which is important for the production of optical elements. Therefore, a CO2 laser heats up the glass components as well as the glass fiber within a temperature controlled welding process. The numerical investigations were used to identify the general process window for welding fused silica.Within the experimental study, the process parameters, such as the defined welding temperature, laser focal spot size, and feed rate were varied to investigate their impact on the welding outcome. In addition, the impact of the filler wire coating on the material composition of the welded component in the joint zone was investigated.Compared to the manual process, laser welding with glass fiber as a filling material leads to a highly reproducible process enabling a high automation level.Automated laser welding with filler wires for bridging gaps and for connecting complex devices has been established for different metal materials. In spite of that, it is still a challenge to transfer this welding process to the brittle material glass. Therefore, glass welding is often realized through a manual process by heating the glass with a gas flame. In addition, welding of non-rotational components requires filler material for gap bridging between the joining partners, which is applied manually today.This work presents an experimental and numerical study on laser welding of fused silica using glass fiber as a filler material to bridge gaps. The goal was to achieve a defined weld penetration depth and heat affected zone which is important for the production of optical elements. Therefore, a CO2 laser heats up the glass components as well as the glass fiber within a temperature controlled welding process. The numerical investigations were used to identify the general process window for welding fused...


Disease summary: Distal arthrogryposis type 3 (DA3) is a congenital non-progressive myopathy that includs contractures of the hands and ankle-foot complex plus cleft palate, blepharoptosis, and abnormal spinal curvatures. DA3 lacks specific craniofacial findings required for either Freeman-Burian or Sheldon-Hall syndromes. Limb malformations accepted in the diagnostic criteria included two or more of the following: talipes equinovarus, metatarsus varus, vertical talus, talipes equinovalgus, calcaneovalgus, camptodactyly, ulnar deviation of wrists and fingers, overlapping fingers or toes, and hypoplastic or absent interphalangeal creases. Most instances of DA3 are sporadic, but autosomal dominant inheritance is established, as well. There is no apparent gender, ethnic, or geographical preference, and environmental and parental factors are not implicated in pathogenesis.


The compelling need for an efficient supply of gases into liquids or degassing of fluids within confined microchannels triggered our study on membrane assisted microchemical systems. Porous hydrophobic flat/micro-structured polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes were fabricated and integrated in a glass G/L contacting microfluidic device with the aid of optical adhesives. The oxygen transport in microchannels, driven by convection and diffusion, was investigated both experimentally and numerically. The effects of intrinsic membrane morphology on the G/L contacting performance of the resultant membranes were studied. The experimental performance of the flat membranes are shown to obey the simulation results with the assumptions of negligible gas phase and membrane mass transfer limitations. Micro-structured membranes revealed apparent slippage and enhanced mass transport rates, and exceeded the experimental performance of the flat membranes.


Southwest China's Chongqing is a city with unique development history which experienced critical junctures. This study collected and organized political, economic and cultural events in Chongqing from 1949 to 2010, and then analysed how its city planning responded to those critical junctures, and evaluate whether it was successful or not; furthermore, it traced the evolution of motive forces in Chongqing. The analysis has led us to the conclusion that critical junctures constituted pivotal motive forces in Chongqing's urbanization; generally, each version of Master Plans responded them effectively and timely, especially by giving the priority to natural geography and continually developing the polycentric structure at different scale. The result of this study shows that Chongqing has built a comprehensive development framework for settlement hierarchy structure, transportation, economy and ecology. For the future, it should pay more attention to improve its infrastructure, conserve its historic heritage, strengthen its identity as a city of mountain and river, and achieve more sustainable development both ecologically and socially. Moreover, besides making sure that politic and economic forces fulfil their role, decision makers should also value social forces, make multiple objectives, exercise public participation and achieve social justice in the policy making and implementing process.


"Since the early 1990s, Uganda has been one of Africa's fastest growing countries. However, at the sub-national level, growth has been uneven due to civil conflict in the northern region. Using a panel of household and community level data, this paper examines the links between security and economic growth. It is found that security is a pre-condition for successful economic development and that there is in fact a threshold level of security below which public investments in infrastructure and education have little impact on growth. Only when security exceeds this threshold do public investments stimulate economic growth. Economists and policy advisors living in peaceful countries often prescribe economic policies that hinge on the assumption of good security. In this manner, security, like oxygen, is taken for granted." Authors' Abstract


Union worker-owned cooperatives (union co-ops) offer a means to combat growing income and wealth inequality, create jobs, and recirculate money in the communities in which they are located. This article contributes to the academic literature about cooperative economics, worker ownership, and labor relations in two distinct ways. First, it relies on original author-collected data from interviews of those involved in establishing Our Harvest, an urban farm in Cincinnati, to discuss the issues involved in establishing a union co-op. Our Harvest was the first union co-op created because of a 2009 partnership to foster union co-ops in the United States. Second, the article addresses the labor law issues involved in establishing a union co-op. The issues include whether worker-owners are covered by the National Labor Relations Act, whether a co-op is required to bargain about worker ownership with the union representing its employees, whether a union co-op can require its employees to join a union, and how union co-ops can use interest-based collective bargaining. The article suggests ways that unions can legally support and finance union co-ops, provides an appendix of legal services, and includes tables to simply complex legal issues. At its best, the article will contribute to the scaling up of union co-ops and a concurrent revival of labor law that enables a more equitable economy for all.


A design optimization campaign was conducted to search for improved combustion profiles that enhance gasoline compression ignition in a heavy-duty diesel engine with a geometric compression ratio of 17.3. A large-scale design of experiments approach was used for the optimization, employing three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulations. The main parameters explored include geometric features, injector specifications, and swirl motion. Both stepped-lip and re-entrant bowls were included in order to assess their respective performance implications. A total of 256 design candidates were prepared using the software package CAESES for automated and simultaneous geometry generation and combustion recipe perturbation. The design optimization was conducted for three engine loads representing light to medium load conditions. The design candidates were evaluated for fuel efficiency, emissions, fuel–air mixing, and global combustion behavior. Simulation results showed that the optimum designs were all stepped-lip bowls, due to improvements in fuel–air mixing, as well as reduced heat loss and emissions formation. Improvements in indicated specific fuel consumption of up to 3.2% were achieved while meeting engine-out NOx emission targets of 1–1.5 g/kW · h. Re-entrant bowls performed worse compared to the baseline design, and significant performance variations occurred across the load points. Specifically, the re-entrant bowls were on par with the stepped-lip bowls under light load conditions, but significant deteriorations occurred under higher load conditions. As a final task, selected optimized designs were then evaluated under full-load conditions.


A combined subtraction hybridization and polymerase chain reaction/amplification technique was used to develop a DNA probe which was specific for the Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar phaseoli and the Rhizobium tropici group. Total genomic DNA preparations from Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar viciae, Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar trifolii, Rhizobium sp., Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Rhizobium fredii, Bradyrhizobium japonicum, Bradyrhizobium ssp. and Rhizobium meliloti were pooled and used as subtracter DNA against total genomic DNA from the Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar phaseolo strain KIM5s. Only one round of subtraction hybridization at 65°C was necessary to remove all cross-hybridizing sequences. Dot blot hybridizations with total genomic DNA of the eight subtracter organisms and 29 bacteria of different groups confirmed the high specificity of the isolated DNA sequences. Dot blot hybridizations and total genomic DNA from ten different R. Leguminosarum biovar phaseoli and R. tropici strains resulted in strong hybridization signals for all strains tested. The DNA probe for the R. tropici and R. leguminosarum biovar phaseoli group was used for dot blot hybridization with DNA extracts from three tropical and one boreal soil. When correlated with data from Most Probable Number analyses the probe was capable of detecting as low as 3 × 104 homologous indigenous rhizobia per g soil. The technique offers great benefits for the development of DNA probes for monitoring bacterial populations in environmental samples.


The question of subtitling has received little attention in Film Studies, despite being the primary means by which foreign-language cinema is experienced. Current literature focuses on important matters of language and translation, but there are other aspects that exceed these matters when we watch subtitled films, aspects which are able to affect and move viewers without relying on explanation through translation. My paper shows how viewers have to negotiate these affective elements in order to apprehend foreign-language films, with special attention on their indeterminate characteristics that escape representation. It considers the negotiation of subtitled cinema from numerous theoretical perspectives. Gilles Deleuze's film-philosophy is popular in Film Studies for its theoretical flows and lines of flight, but this paper engages another Deleuzian thread—one of gaps and fissure—in order to explore the indeterminate negotiations of subtitled films. But in thinking about subtitling, we also have to reconsider the constitution of media. Cinema is not just made up of individual parts; rather, it is made of many interacting media, which cannot be separated. I argue that subtitled cinema consists of multiple affective elements that go beyond the interpretive methods of language and translation, and that the practice of negotiation is one way to apprehend them. In conclusion, this article, by exploring non-linguistic issues, argues that subtitling is not simply supplementary to cinema.


Sectoral approaches to mitigating climate change depend on setting goals that incorporate performance indicators – such as benchmarks and the effective application of measurement, reporting and verification requirements – supported by well-developed data systems. At the same time, each host country deciding to adopt these approaches needs to develop and demonstrate the ability to implement the scheme. This report briefly introduces the basic requirements for sectoral approaches while drawing lessons from current efforts. It discusses major issues related to the capacities of a host country with a focus on data availability, accessibility and measurability. Finally, the report proposes six operational steps to accelerate capacity building. This report is a result of the study on "Global sectoral approaches as part of the post-2012 framework" by an international consortium and supported by the European Commission, DG Enterprise and Industry.


ABSTRACT The Anglo-American and Israeli-American special relationships have proved to be unusually close and have confounded expectations that they would wither away with the changing international environment. In order to explain this, the article proposes a theory of 'alliance persistence' that is based on reciprocity over shared geostrategic interests, sentimental attachments and institutionalised security relations. The article employs this theoretical framework to explore how Anglo-American and Israeli-American relations have developed during the Obama administration. It argues that the Anglo-American relationship has been closer because of the two countries' shared strategic interests, whilst the Israeli-American relationship has experienced divergences in how the security interests of the two sides have been pursued. The article concludes by assessing how the two relationships will fair in the post-Obama era and argues that there are numerous areas of tension in the US-Israeli relationship that risk future tensions.


Our society's growing dependence on software makes the need for effective software assurance imperative. Motivation to address software assurance requires, at a minimum, an understanding of what to do, how to go about it, and why it is needed. Two key foundation elements are principles for software assurance and a curriculum to educate those who must address this need. This paper highlights efforts underway to address both of these elements.


This paper investigates the intergenerational transmission of health in the very long run. Using a unique purpose-built administrative dataset on individuals born in Sweden between 1930-34 and their parents, we study the intergenerational transmission (IGT) of health and the impact of previous generations' health shocks on socioeconomic outcomes. Our results provide strong evidence in favour of IGT of health, in particular for males. In contrast to the existing literature that focuses on early life health outcomes, our paper shows that the effect on later-life mortality might be even more relevant. However, the story appears to be complex and multi-faceted: the IGT exhibits an inverted socioeconomic gradient, and the impact on socioeconomic outcomes is often very different from the effect on health.


Normal 0 21 false false false TR X-NONE X-NONE Abstract Based on the consideration that learning about different action alternatives and strategies are essential parts of ESD, this quantitative study focuses Eco-School teachers' and instructors' views on including different sustainability-promoting actions in teaching practices. Direct actions, and actions that take place in the private sphere were viewed by both groups as the most appropriate actions to include in teaching practices. However, actions related to individuals as consumers were seen as less appropriate by teachers than by instructors, and consequently have been less included in teaching practices. The actions considered least appropriate by both groups were two indirect actions occurring in the public sphere aiming at solutions on a structural level, engaging with political parties and engaging with NGOs . The results highlight teaching that addresses the individual's moral responsibility in the private sphere, and that different action strategies for the democratic change of social structures tend to be excluded.


A classic textbook that has guided generations of students through the intricacies of property valuation, The Income Approach to Property Valuation remains a keen favourite amongst students and teachers alike. This new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to meet the increasingly international perspectives of modern Real Estate students. The links between theory and practice are clearly demonstrated throughout, with a range of new international case studies and practice-based examples. The Income Approach to Property Valuation teaches readers: how to analyse market rents and sales prices to derive market evidence to support an opinion of market value; the investment method of valuation and how it is applied in practice; how specific legal factors can impact on market value when they interfere with market forces; what the market and the profession may consider to be the 'right' methodology in today's market place; and how to use spreadsheets in valuation.

This extensively revised new edition is perfect both for students on Real Estate courses worldwide and for professional candidates working towards their final assessment of professional competence (APC) for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, needing to demonstrate a valuation competence at levels 2 and 3.


A powerful tool, that contemporary society uses not only to entertain but also to communicate and educate, there is an ever-present availability to media access. However, there is an ongoing debate over whether or not the power of this influence and its ubiquitous availability yields positive or negative consequences in different aspects of our lives. One area of concern, in particular, is the dynamics of the American family. With the rapid progression of technological advances it is difficult to observe the influence that these devices are having on the ways in which a family interacts. There is research to support both sides of the argument that media is hindering our family relations or conversely, that it is fostering it. I analyze how this constant immersion in the "media bubble" affects the foundation of a family. To examine the possible influence of media on family relationships, I looked at the effects of computers, the Internet, mobile media


Data collected at the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) Central Facility (SCF) are analyzed to determine the monthly and hourly variations of cloud fraction and radiative forcing between January 1997 and December 2002. Cloud fractions are estimated for total cloud cover and for single-layered low (0-3 km), middle (3-6 km), and high clouds (more than 6 km) using ARM SCG ground-based paired lidar-radar measurements. Shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) fluxes are derived from up- and down-looking standard precision spectral pyranometers and precision infrared radiometer measurements with uncertainties of approximately 10 Wm(exp -2). The annual averages of total, and single-layered low, middle and high cloud fractions are 0.49, 0.11, 0.03, and 0.17, respectively. Both total and low cloud amounts peak during January and February and reach a minimum during July and August, high clouds occur more frequently than other types of clouds with a peak in summer. The average annual downwelling surface SW fluxes for total and low clouds (151 and 138 Wm(exp-2), respectively) are less than those under middle and high clouds (188 and 201 Wm(exp -2), respectively), but the downwelling LW fluxes (349 and 356 Wm(exp -2)) underneath total and low clouds are greater than those from middle and high clouds (337 and 333 Wm(exp -2)). Low clouds produce the largest LW warming (55 Wm(exp -2) and SW cooling (-91 Wm(exp -2)) effects with maximum and minimum absolute values in spring and summer, respectively. High clouds have the smallest LW warming (17 Wm(exp -2)) and SW cooling (-37 Wm(exp -2)) effects at the surface. All-sky SW CRF decreases and LW CRF increases with increasing cloud fraction with mean slopes of -0.984 and 0.616 Wm(exp -2)%(exp -1), respectively. Over the entire diurnal cycle, clouds deplete the amount of surface insolation more than they add to the downwelling LW flux. The calculated CRFs do not appear to be significantly affected by uncertainties in data sampling and clear-sky screening. Traditionally, cloud radiative forcing includes, not only the radiative impact of the hydrometeors, but also the changes in the environment. Taken together over the ARM SCF, changes in humidity and surface albedo between clear and cloudy conditions offset approximately 20% of the NET radiative forcing caused by the cloud hydrometeors alone. Variations in water vapor, on average, account for 10% and 83% of the SW and LW CRFs, respectively, in total cloud cover conditions. The error analysis further reveals that the cloud hydrometeors dominate the SW CRF, while water vapor changes are most important for LW flux changes in cloudy skies. Similar studies over other locales are encouraged where water and surface albedo changes from clear to cloudy conditions may be much different than observed over the ARM SCF.


A geographic index of the decline in the distribution and abundance of granivorous birds in tropical northern Australia shows that declines are greatest in Queensland and especially in the south-eastern tropics and in inland areas, and lowest in the north Kimberley and east Arnhem districts. In this paper, we use generalised linear models to investigate interrelationships among an index of decline in 1° by 1° cells and measures of grazing intensity and contemporary patterns of burning, together with the environmental variables of rainfall, vegetation and topographic patterning in the landscape. Grazing intensity was the single strongest human effect but strong correlations between grazing intensity and other human influences suggest that these may have been subsumed within the grazing intensity measure. Impacts of grazing may be worse where pastoral settlement occurred earlier. Topographic variation appeared to be a mitigating effect, suggesting a role for 'topographic refuges' from human activities. Relationships among granivore declines, grazing and rainfall are difficult to disentangle using inferential statistics, but a consistent effect is that declines are more severe in areas with greater year-to-year variation in rainfall. We do not suggest that our analyses are conclusive. However, they do support the proposition that better understanding of the causes of decline at finer spatial scales will emerge most strongly in studies that link habitat quality with granivore demography at inland sites of highly variable year-to-year rainfall and with strongly contrasting grazing histories.


Three-dimensional simulation of the whole domain (initial, transition and fully developed regions) of round jet is essential in order to predict and to study the flow behavior of multiple jets (e.g. confluent jets). According to authors knowledge, numerical prediction of round jet with RANS models that has been presented by other researchers, are only in twodimensional (axisymmetric) and mostly for the fully developed region. The inlet boundary conditions, inlet velocity profile, turbulent kinetic energy and its dissipation rate at the diffuser exit has been governed from an earlier verified numerical simulation. In the present paper, results of three-dimensional modeling of isothermal, free, turbulent round jet with two two-equation (Low Re and SST ), a transition three-equation ( ) and a transition four-equation (SST) eddy-viscosity turbulence models with resolved inlet profiles are compared and validated with hot-wire anemometry. This study shows that numerical simulation of round jet with SST gives good agreement with measured mean longitudinal velocities, while transition models could only predict the initial region of round jet.


This study focuses on energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence determination of minor and major elements in selected soils of Mambilla Plateau. The 12 sampled soil composites analysed were done by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence technique for minor and major elements. The elemental oxides determined were Al2O3, CaO, K2O, TiO2, SiO2, BaO, Fe2O3, and MnO. The result obtained in the study showed that the general percentage concentration of elemental values were in decreased order of Si>Al>Ti>K>Ca for major elements and Fe>Mn>Ba minor elements accordingly. The major elements category showed silicon as the highest mean concentration at location S 84.09%±6.40 and calcium lower mean concentration with value of 0.32%±0.02. The minor elements concentration percentage revealed Fe with a mean value at location N 23.18%±3.1 being the highest and Ba is the lowest at location S 0.14%±0.1. The soil analysis revealed low concentration of essential major and minor elements, however, high concentration of Al and Fe that may solubilized at low pH and splitting H+ from water molecule showed increased soil acidity.

 Key words: Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF), minor elements, major elements, percentage, Mambilla Plateau.


This paper presents dsync, a file transfer system that can dynamically adapt to a wide variety of environments. While many transfer systems work well in their specialized ontext, their performance comes at the cost of generality, and they perform poorly when used elsewhere. In contrast, dsync adapts to its environment by intelligently determining which of its available resources is the best to use at any given time. The resources dsync can draw from include the sender, the local disk, and network peers. While combining these resources may appear easy, in practice it is difficult because these resources may have widely different performance or contend with each other. In particular, the paper presents a novel mechanism that enables dsync to aggressively search the receiver's local disk for useful data without interfering with concurrent network transfers. Our evaluation on several workloads in various network environments shows that dsync outperforms existing systems by a factor of 1.4 to 5 in one-to-one and one-to-many transfers.


Monocots: Systematics and Evolution presents leading work from around the world on non-grass monocotyledons and includes reviews and current research into their comparative biology, phylogeny and classification.

The papers are based on presentations at the Second International Conference on the Comparative Biology of the Monocotyledons, Monocots II, held in Sydney, Australia in late 1998. Many were subsequently updated or extended to take into account new information. All 72 papers have been peer-reviewed.


Nine patients with chronic obstructive airways disease performed a 6 min self-paced walk (breathing air) on a treadmill and then identical (but operator-controlled) treadmill walks breathing either air or supplemental oxygen sufficient to just prevent arterial oxygen desaturation during the exercise. During the exercises, ventilation was recorded and patients recorded their sensation of breathlessness on a visual analogue scale (VAS) every 30 s. Breathing supplemental oxygen produced a small fall in mean exercise ventilation and a large and consistent reduction in mean exercise breathlessness. In seven patients the VAS scores were higher on air than with supplemental oxygen, at similar levels of ventilation. An analysis of covariance, to control for reduction in ventilation, showed a decrease in mean breathlessness when breathing supplemental oxygen, significant at the 8% level. The reduction in breathlessness produced by preventing exercise desaturation cannot be explained by the decrease in ventilation. This suggests that hypoxia may be a stimulus for breathlessness. The mechanism is unknown.


Collisions between cyclists and trucks are a
concerning contributor to road traffic crash fatalities within the UK. This paper applied a systems approach using the accimap method of analysis to probe deeper into contributory factors involved in cyclist/truck crashes occurring in London. In a single example case study of a cyclist/truck collision it is apparent that high level systems factors such as road design and vehicle regulations play a contributory role in such crashes. Considering the physical process and actor activates from 27 crashes it is apparent that decisions made by both the cyclist and truck driver have individual and interacting effects on crash
causation. Overall, accimaps appear to be an appropriate method for considering the
contributory factors of cyclist/truck collisions, however, it is acknowledged that the robustness of findings is limited
by the scope of information included in the original incident reports.


This ground-breaking anthology presents in chronological order over 400 poems written in the twentieth century. The authors, both published poets themselves, give an overview of each period of history, while notes to the poems place each one in its historical context and trace the century's poetic development. Concise biographies for each poet complete the anthology. By organizing the poems in chronological order, readers will see poets in a new light. Here A.E. Houseman, for example, rubs shoulders with T.S. Eliot, showing that traditional forms can hold their own against the modernist orthodoxy. Here are poets rescued from oblivion, such as the suffragette who wrote a compelling poem about her mistreatment in Holloway Prison in 1912 or the medical offer who went into Belsen with the British troops producing an eye-witness poem of lasting power. All the major events of the twentieth century are reflected in the choice of poems within these pages. This richly rewarding collection makes invaluable reading for poetry lovers all over the world.


The traditional power grid has been designed in a hierarchical fashion, with energy pushed from the large scale production factories towards the end users. With the increasing availability of micro and medium scale generating facilities, the situation is changing. Many end users can now produce energy and share it over the power grid. Of course, end users need incentives to do so and want to act in an open decentralized energy market. In the present work, we offer a novel analysis of the medium and low voltage power grids of the North Netherlands using statistical tools from the complex network analysis field. We use a weighted model based on actual grid data and propose a set of statistical measures to evaluate the adequacy of the current infrastructure for a decentralized energy market. Further, we use the insight gained by the analysis to propose parameters that tie the statistical topological measures to economic factors that influence the attractiveness of participating in such decentralized energy market, thus identifying the important topological parameters to work on to facilitate such open decentralized markets.


Increasing concern on global warming and corporate social responsibility have made environmental issues an area of importance to address for governments and businesses across the world. Among the Middle East countries, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) tops the list in terms of per capita energy spending and per capita carbon footprints. The construction industry is the major contributor to environmental pollution due to its size and nature of activity. The rapid growth of construction sector has a significant environmental impact with increase in carbon footprints. This paper analyses the environmental implications of the rapidly growing construction industry in UAE using system dynamics approach. Quantitative modelling of the construction industry supply chain helps to measure the dynamic interaction between its various factors under multiple realistic scenarios. The potential carbon savings and the impact of each factor are calculated using scenario development analysis. The paper has addressed in detail the various drivers and inhibitors of carbon emission in the construction industry supply chain and ways to evaluate the carbon savings. The paper provides an analytical decision framework to assess emissions of all stages applicable to the construction industry supply chain.


The Longitudinal Valley in Eastern Taiwan sits at the collision suture between the Eurasian and Philippine Sea plates. Based on repeated GPS campaigned measurements from 25 stations six times in 2007 - 2009, we characterize the surface deformation in the northernmost Longitudinal Valley where the Coastal Range of the Philippine Sea plate turns northward diving under the Eurasian plate producing two major active faults: the Milun fault and the Longitudinal Valley fault. We reconstructed a GPS velocity field and conducted strain analyses and elastic block modeling. Our results suggest a rapid clockwise rotation of 33° Myr -1 and an eastward tectonic escape in the small Hualien City block (HUAL) area of ~10 ! 10 km, which is apparently detached from the regional rotating RYUK block defined by previous studies. We interpret it as being initiated locally by the northwest indentation of the Coastal Range, which pushed the HUAL block to move upward and eastward. According to our strain analyses, the HUAL block shows a significant internal elastic strain inside the Milun Tableland, the hanging wall of the Milun fault. No significant deformation was observed across the surface trace of the fault, indicating that the Milun fault is now probably locked in the near surface. The deformation in the footwall of the fault was accommodated by pure-shear strain with a major NNW-compression and a minor ENE-extension. The deformation in the hanging wall is characterized by simple-shear strain with ENE-extension in its northern part and little deformation in the southern part, separated by a little known NW-trending active fault zone (Dongmingyi fault), which needs further investigation.


Standard ISO 9001: 2015 brings some novelties which caused changes in the work of already certified organizations. Except of changes in terminology and structure of the standard, there has been a substantial change which opens up the possibility for the realization of effective quality management system. One such change is the introduction of the new standard's requirement "7.1.6 Knowledge", which emphasizes the obligation of establishing, maintaining and updating the knowledge of the organization. Knowledge has become the main driving force in society and a major success factor. Knowledge of individuals integrated into a particular entity or organization, represents the highest value and intellectual capital of the organization. Since the knowledge is the main factor of organization's success, it is necessary to adequately organize knowledge management in order to provide sustainable development of the organization. Knowledge management is a broad multidisciplinary and complex field that is constantly evolving and represents an essential driver of innovation in organizations. In contrast of previous version of the standard, ISO 9001: 2015 has more requirements focused on providing knowledge and information, through which can be made the integration of knowledge management. Thus, the paper is focused on research of correlation between standards ISO 9001: 2015 and knowledge management. Accordingly, the paper gives an overview of identified techniques and methods of knowledge management and analysis of their correlation with the requirements of ISO 9001 standard.


We report on the investigation of refractive microlens arrays with diffractive grating surfaces in the context of a microspectrometer array system. The elements fabricated combine the fairly large dimensions of the refractive microlens (990-μm diam, 60-μm height) with the submicron features of the diffraction grating (1-μm grating period) on one transmitting surface. The fabrication process of these elements was studied, as well as their performance with respect to resolution and stray-light suppression. The maximum resolution was 3 nm, and the stray-light suppression 25 dB. We present a concept for a system of miniaturized spectrometer arrays for chemical analysis.


ABSTRACT: This experimental study determines the effects of pore pressure on the compressive strengths and elasticity of six ornamental stones. An approach to determine the pore pressure in low porosity rocks is presented. Rectangular rock specimens (50×50×100 mm3) under dry and wet conditions were axially loaded under different rates from 0.001–10 MPa/s using a polyaxial load frame. The confining pressures ranged from 0 to 12 MPa. Wet granite, marl, marble, Phra Wihan sandstone, Phu Phan sandstone, and siltstone specimens have an average water content of 0.14%, 2.7%, 0.09%, 2.05%, 4.9%, and 1.5%, respectively. Compressive shear failure was observed in specimens under slow loading rate while extension failure was found in specimens under high loading rate. The strength values of the wet specimens were lower than those of the dry ones, particularly under the high confining pressure and loading rates. The strength values obtained from the dry testing were used to quantitatively calibrate the loading rate effect from the wet strengths, and hence the effect of pore pressure could be calculated. The pore pressures notably reduced the compressive strength and elastic modulus, and slightly increased Poisson's ratio of the rocks tested.


This article traces the history of women's participation in consumer politics and the gendering of the consumer in twentieth-century Britain. It does so by focusing on two important moments in the official discussion of the consumer interest: the Consumers' Council of the First World War and the Molony Committee on Consumer Protection, 1959–1962. It argues that notions of consumer-citizenship have been varied and forever in flux and that the involvement of women in consumer issues within the state apparatus has always been at once both disputed and encouraged. Within this complex history, however, a number of discernible trends are apparent. In the first half of the twentieth century, consumer issues were articulated by women's organizations on the political left and the consumer was considered largely a working-class housewife within official consumer politics. By mid-century, an increasingly dominant view of the consumer was that of the middle-class housewife, and a host of socially conservative women's groups came to speak for the consumer. By the 1950s, while the definition of the consumer remained contested, it had increasingly become a gender-neutral category, as business groups defined consumer interests in government committees and an emerging affluent consumer movement inscribed consumerism with the values of a male professional class.