The inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP3R) is a ligand-gated ion channel that mediates release of Ca2+ from intracellular stores in response to stimuli that promote hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate. In this crucial role, the channel is, of course, highly regulated, and this occurs in part through interaction with other proteins. In a screen for new interaction partners of the IP3 receptor, Ando et al. identified a protein they call IRBIT (for IP3R-binding protein released with inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate), which has a number of intriguing properties. IRBIT looks like S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase, the enzyme that cleaves S-adenosylhomocysteine to form adenosine and homocysteine, but the authors could find no such enzymatic activity of IRBIT. IRBIT from extracts of rat cerebellar microsomes bound to the NH2-terminal portion of the IP3R in vitro, and the interaction was localized to the IP3-binding region of the IP3R. IRBIT contains numerous potential phosphorylation sites, and treatment of extracts with alkaline phosphatase prevented interaction of IRBIT with the IP3R. Immunoprecipitation of proteins from lysates of mouse cerebellum with an antibody to IRBIT provided evidence that the IP3R and IRBIT interact in vivo. The authors' original screen selected for proteins whose interaction with the IP3R was altered by binding of IP3, and further analysis of in vitro binding showed that concentrations of IP3 estimated to be in the physiological range displaced IRBIT bound to the IP3R. The authors note that IRBIT displaced from the IP3R upon binding of IP3 could generate another signal independent of the well-characterized Ca2+ mobilization. Alternative roles for IRBIT in modulating channel activity, regulating susceptibility of the receptor to proteolytic degradation, or as a linker or scaffold are also possible. H. Ando, A. Mizutani, T. Matsu-ura, K. Mikoshiba, IRBIT, a novel inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) receptor-binding protein, is released from the IP3 receptor upon IP3 binding to the receptor. J. Biol. Chem. 278, 10602-10612 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]


The aim of this study was to assess the mechanical differences calculated from hip acceleration (accelerometer attached to the hip), bar acceleration (accelerometer attached to barbell) and centre-of-mass acceleration (force plate) during vertical countermovement jumps (CMJs) and the reliability of each system. Eighteen elite male rugby players served as participants. In relation to the force plate, the bar accelerometer revealed similar peak velocity (PV [2%]) and peak power (PP [2%]), but predicted greater peak force (PF [24%]) during the concentric phase, whereas the hip accelerometer predicted similar PF (2%) but underpredicted PV (21%) and PP (24%) during the concentric phase. Both accelerometer attachments were deemed reliable for assessing PF (correlation coefficient, ICC = 0.80–0.83 and standard error of measurement, SEM = 3–13%), but were low/moderately reliable for monitoring PV and PP (ICC = 0.35–0.77 and SEM = 11–23%). The eccentric phase variables were unreliable across all devices and attachment sites. The kinematics and kinetics measured by the three systems (hip accelerometer, bar accelerometer and force plate) varied significantly (p < 0.05). Based on the outcomes, it is recommended that the force plate be used as the primary means of assessing CMJ performance until the stability of wireless accelerometry set-ups and protocols are improved.


A new bespoke semi-continuous parallel column supercritical fluid chromatography unit has been developed that solves the problem of effective separation of continuous, multicomponent reaction mixtures. It enables the rapid in-line separation of crude mixtures produced during batch and continuous flow reactions. It overcomes limitations inherent to other systems, enabling it to collect up to five individual fractions from mixtures with any number of constituent components, and adds new machinery to aid the modern synthetic chemist. The success of the system was exemplified using two Appel-type reactions, enabling the recovery of 81% of 1-bromoethylbenzene (with a first pass purity of 92%) and 89% of an intermediate to the anti-cancer drug candidate AZ82 (>99% purity) from batch mixtures. As a notable example, the system was also used in a telescoped flow process to separate an intermediate during the synthesis of isoniazid. In this case, the three-stage synthesis was operated at steady state for four hours during which time 96% recovery of the intermediate, isonicotinamide, was attained (with a purity of >99%).


[1] Vertical profiles of aerosol size, composition, and hygroscopic behavior from Center for Interdisciplinary Remotely Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS) Twin Otter and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration R/V Ronald H. Brown observations are used to construct a generic optical model of the Asian Pacific Regional Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE-Asia) aerosol. The model accounts for sulfate, black carbon, organic carbon, sea salt, and mineral dust. The effects of relative humidity and mixing assumptions (internal versus external, coating of dust by pollutants) are explicitly accounted for. The aerosol model is integrated with a Monte Carlo radiative transfer model to compute direct radiative forcing in the solar spectrum. The predicted regional average surface aerosol forcing efficiency (change in clear-sky radiative flux per unit aerosol optical depth at 500 nm) during the ACE-Asia intensive period is −65 Wm−2 for pure dust and −60 Wm−2 for pure pollution aerosol (clear skies). A three-dimensional atmospheric chemical transport model (Chemical Weather Forecast System (CFORS)) is used with the radiative transfer model to derive regional radiative forcing during ACE-Asia in clear and cloudy skies. Net regional solar direct radiative forcing during the 5–15 April 2001 dust storm period is −3 Wm−2 at the top of the atmosphere and −17 W m−2 at the surface for the region from 20°N to 50°N and 100°E to 150°E when the effects of clouds on the direct forcing are included. The model fluxes and forcing efficiencies are found to be in good agreement with surface radiometric observations made aboard the R.H. Brown. Mean cloud conditions are found to moderate the top of atmosphere (TOA) radiative forcing by a factor of ∼3 compared to clear-sky calculations, but atmospheric absorption by aerosol is not strongly affected by clouds in this study. The regional aerosol effect at the TOA ("climate forcing") of −3 Wm−2 is comparable in magnitude, but of opposite sign, to present-day anthropogenic greenhouse gas forcing. The forcing observed during ACE-Asia is similar in character to that seen during other major field experiments downwind of industrial and biomass black carbon sources (e.g., the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX)), insofar as the primary effect of aerosol is to redistribute solar heating from the surface to the atmosphere.


Abstract : This Validation Summary Report describes the extent to which a specific Ada compiler conforms to the Ada Standard, ANSI/MIL-STD-1815A. This report explains all technical terms used within it and thoroughly reports the results fo testing this compiler using the Ada compiler Validation Capability. An Ada compiler must be implemented according to the Ada Standard, and any implementation-dependent features must conform to the requirements of the Ada Standard must be implemented in its entirety, and nothing can be implemented that is not in the Standard. Even though all validated Ada compilers conform to the Ada Standard, it must be understood that some differences do exist between implementations. The Ada Standard permits some implementation dependencies--for example, the maximum length of identifiers or the maximum values of integer types. Other differences between compilers results from the characteristics of particular operating systems, hardware, or implementation strategies. All the dependencies observed during the process of testing this compiler are given in this report. The information in this report is derived from the test results produced during validation testing. The validation process includes submitting a suite of standardized tests, the ACVC, as inputs to an Ada compiler and evaluating the results.


Recreational fishing is a popular activity in aquatic ecosystems around the globe using a variety of gears including rod and line and to a lesser extent handlines, spears, bow and arrow, traps and nets. Similar to the propensity to engage in voluntary catch-and-release, the propensity to harvest fishes strongly varies among cultures, locations, species and fisheries. There is a misconception that because recreational fishing happens during non-work (i.e. leisure) time, the nutritional motivation is negligible; therefore, the role of recreational fishing in supporting nutrition (and thus food security) at regional, national or global scales is underappreciated. We consider the factors that influence whether fish will be harvested or released by examining the motives that underlie recreational fishing. Next, we provide an overview of the magnitude and role of recreational fishing harvest in supporting nutrition using regional case-studies. Then, we address issues such as contaminants and parasites that constrain the ability of fish harvested by recreational fishers to be consumed. Although recreational fishing is foremost a leisure activity, the harvest of fish for personal consumption by recreational fishers has contributed and will continue to contribute to human nutrition by providing an accessible, affordable and generally highly sustainable food source, notwithstanding concerns about food safety and possibly overfishing. Attempts to better quantify the role of fish harvested by recreational fishers and the relative contribution to overall food security and personal nutrition will provide resource managers and policymakers the information needed to guide management activities and policy development.


Internet of Things: Connecting Objects… puts forward the technologies and the networking architectures which make it possible to support the Internet of Things. Amongst these technologies, RFID, sensor and PLC technologies are described and a clear view on how they enable the Internet of Things is given. This book also provides a good overview of the main issues facing the Internet of Things such as the issues of privacy and security, application and usage, and standardization.


BACKGROUND
Neisseria meningitidis continues to be an important cause of invasive bacterial disease among children and young adults worldwide. In Canada, N. meningitidis strains that bear serogroups B and C polysaccharide capsules predominate. We report the first documented case of invasive meningococcal disease in an immunocompetent host caused by an acapsular strain of N. meningitidis containing the capsule null locus (cnl).

METHODS
Analysis of the isolate was performed with use of serological and molecular methods, including multilocus sequence typing and cnl gene identification. Analysis of 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and porA genes was also performed to confirm the identity of the bacterium.

RESULTS
The patient was a healthy, immunocompetent 13-year-old child, and N. meningitidis was recovered from a sample of her cerebrospinal fluid before death. The isolate was nontypeable by both conventional antisera and indirect whole-cell enzyme-linked immuosorbent assay methods using antibodies to serogroups B, C, Y, and W135. The isolate was further identified as a cnl strain, serotype 15 (ST-198). N. meningitidis-specific DNA was identified in the isolate and in the pre- and postmortem specimens by 16S rRNA and porA gene analysis.

CONCLUSIONS
This is the first reported case of fatal meningococcal disease caused by an acapsular cnl strain of N. meningitidis that was isolated from an immunocompetent host. Routine molecular diagnostic methods targeted at the cnl locus failed to detect this organism, indicating a need to determine the incidence of infection with cnl strains among patients with culture-negative invasive disease.


This paper explores the 2004 Kilwa massacre in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) through a decolonial perspective, explaining how the massacre is situated within the history of colonial power and global capitalist relations. As such, the convergence of mining and political interests that created the context in which this violence was possible is examined, rather than the specific human rights abuses committed during the massacre. This approach highlights how such acts of violence are an ongoing factor of colonial and postcolonial exploitation, as well as the difficulties in holding the responsible parties accountable. This investigation shows the importance of developing a decolonial Southern criminology that contextualizes human rights abuses within local and international systems of power and locates acts of criminal violence within the broader networks of structural violence.


The changing character of the political settlement in Uganda since independence has closely shaped the character and performance of the institutions and actors responsible for delivering development. Successive political leaders sought to establish 'dominant ruler' forms of political settlement, with little sustained effort to depersonalise public institutions or build stable and inclusive ruling coalitions. This seemed to change in 1986, as Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Movement (NRM) sought to establish a new settlement, based on a broad-based coalition and an ostensible commitment to development. However, the NRM's record of generating the commitment and capacity required to deliver development has been mixed. On the one hand, a mixture of elite commitment, pockets of bureaucratic excellence and external support has enabled impressive levels of economic growth, macroeconomic stability and social expenditure. However, the current settlement – characterised by deepening levels of competitive clientelism, highly personalised forms of public bureaucracy, collusive state–business relations, and a ruling coalition that is (expensively) inclusive at the lower levels while becoming narrower and more nepotistic at the pinnacle – has failed to provide the basis for tackling the more difficult challenges of achieving structural transformation, delivering high-quality public services and challenging social inequalities. The case of Uganda reveals the need to extend the current boundaries of political settlement analysis beyond a narrow focus on incentives at the national level, to incorporate a stronger focus on ideas and transnational factors. Dominant ideas around state legitimacy and development have played an important role in shaping governance and development in Uganda, and this has often involved a role for the shifting sets of transnational actors on which the regime relies to maintain itself in power. This paper includes suggestions for further research on the politics of development in Uganda, including around the extent to which the discovery of oil will both be shaped by and help reshape the political settlement.


Air pollution is today a serious problem, caused mainly by human activity. Classical methods are not considered able to efficiently model complex phenomena as meteorology and air pollution because, usually, they make approximations or too rigid schematisations. Our purpose is a more flexible architecture (artificial neural network model) to implement a short-term CO2 emission forecasting tool applied to the cereal sector in Apulia region – in Southern Italy - to determine how the introduction of cultural methods with less environmental impact acts on a possible pollution reduction.


In this study, LS-DYNA was used to predict the experimental forming limit diagrams (FLDs) for prestrained sheets in aluminum alloy Al2008-T4 found by Graf and Hosford [1]. The original data of Graf and Hosford [1] includes numerous pre-straining situations, but it was here chosen only to investigate pre-straining by biaxial and uniaxial tension. In order to generate the FLDs, several analyses of a square patch were run systematically to construct the different points. Pre-straining was applied by first stretching a somewhat larger patch to a given pre-strain, and then trimming this patch to the standard square patch. The material model used in the analyses includes two instability criteria; a nonlocal criterion to detect incipient localized necking and a through-thickness shear instability criterion [2-5]. The objective was to study whether the effects of pre-straining on the FLD could be predicted by the chosen modelling approach, and good results were obtained.


Seventeenth-century Kent indictments have survived in larger numbers then have those of any other county, and they therefore provide a particularly full picture of the adminstration of criminal justice, the organisation of the assizes, the role of the judges and officials, and the whole process of criminal trial. This volume contains a full calendar of all the material relating to Kent from 1625 to 1688 which exists among the assize indictment files for the Home Circuit. The calendar also includes judges' commissions; writs and precepts; lists of local officials; coroners' inquests; and appeals of felony. This volume is the last in a series of four, all edited by Professor J.S. Cockburn, with earlier titles covering Kent from 1625-1675; they are available upon enquiry from HMSO. Professor J.S. COCKBURN teaches in the History Department at the University of Maryland.


Background: The mediastinum is composed primarily of fatty tissue that is surrounded by the lungs bilaterally.
There is a lack in the published literature in studying changes in mediastinal fat in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
(IPF). The purpose of this study was to determine whether the shape and dimensions of the anterior mediastinal fat in patients with IPF are different from that of a normal control group and to correlate the changes with disease severity. Design and Setting: This prospective case control study was done at the chest department of Assiut University Hospital on IPF patients from May 2010-September 2012. A questionnaire containing questions such as age, sex, clinical findings, high resolution computerized tomography (HRCT) score and pulmonary function tests (PFTs) was filled for patients and normal controls. Results: The IPF retrosternal AP dimension was significantly shorter (p = 0.03) and the transverse dimension was longer (p = 0.001) than that in the normal control group. The convex shape of the anterior mediastinum was predictive of IPF (p = 0.001), whereas concave shape was predictive of normal controls (p = 0.001). The change in anteroposterior diameter (AP) and transverse diameters showed significant correlation with the changes in FVC, DLCO and HRCT score. Conclusions: IPF patients had reduced retrosternal AP and increased transverse dimensions than those of the controls with convex shape of their anterior mediastinal fat. Changes in anterior mediastinal fat dimensions are correlated with lower FVC, DLCO and higher HRCT score. A larger sample size, better multicenteric study is needed to confirm the results of this study.


Vehicle technology has increased rapidly in recent years, particularly in relation to braking systems and sensing systems. The widespread introduction of anti-lock braking has provided the building blocks for a wide variety of braking control systems. In parallel to the development of braking technologies, sensors have been developed that are capable of detecting physical obstacles, other vehicles or pedestrian around the vehicle. A method of preventing an accident using a technology is called ultrasonic. This project focuses on building a user-friendly device that specializes in detecting intrusions besides doing close range obstacle detection. Automobile safety can be improved by anticipating a crash before it occurs and thereby providing additional time to deploy safety technologies. Warnings can be like buzzer if the driver is approaching a pothole or any obstruction, driver may be warned in advanced regarding what the road entails. The project's ultimate aim thus finalized as, one to build a general, easy-to-use and versatile system that can prevent fatal accidents.


Abstract. In this paper, we compare the diurnal variations in middle-atmospheric water vapor as measured by two ground-based microwave radiometers in the Alpine region near Bern, Switzerland. The observational data set is also compared to data from the chemistry–climate model WACCM. Due to the small diurnal variations of usually less than 1%, averages over extended time periods are required. Therefore, two time periods of five months each, December to April and June to October, were taken for the comparison. The diurnal variations from the observational data agree well with each other in amplitude and phase. The linear correlation coefficients range from 0.8 in the upper stratosphere to 0.5 in the upper mesosphere. The observed diurnal variability is significant at all pressure levels within the sensitivity of the instruments. Comparing our observations with WACCM, we find that the agreement of the phase of the diurnal cycle between observations and model is better from December to April than from June to October. The amplitudes of the diurnal variations for both time periods increase with altitude in WACCM, but remain approximately constant at 0.05 ppm in the observations. The WACCM data are used to separate the processes that lead to diurnal variations in middle-atmospheric water vapor above Bern. The dominating processes were found to be meridional advection below 0.1 hPa, vertical advection between 0.1 and 0.02 hPa and (photo-)chemistry above 0.02 hPa. The contribution of zonal advection is small. The highest diurnal variations in water vapor as seen in the WACCM data are found in the mesopause region during the time period from June to October with diurnal amplitudes of 0.2 ppm (approximately 5% in relative units).


The diversity of characteristics for the host of recently discovered exoplanets opens up a great deal of fertile new territory for geophysical fluid dynamics, particularly when the fluid flow is coupled to novel thermodynamics, radiative transfer or chemistry. In this paper, we survey one of these new areas—the climate dynamics of atmospheres with a non-dilute condensible component, defined as the situation in which a condensible component of the atmosphere makes up a substantial fraction of the atmospheric mass within some layer. Non-dilute dynamics can occur for a wide range of condensibles, generically applying near both the inner and the outer edges of the conventional habitable zone and in connection with runaway greenhouse phenomena. It also applies in a wide variety of other planetary circumstances. We first present a number of analytical results developing some key features of non-dilute atmospheres, and then show how some of these features are manifest in simulations with a general circulation model adapted to handle non-dilute atmospheres. We find that non-dilute atmospheres have weak horizontal temperature gradients even for rapidly rotating planets, and that their circulations are largely barotropic. The relative humidity of the condensible component tends towards 100% as the atmosphere becomes more non-dilute, which has important implications for runaway greenhouse thresholds. Non-dilute atmospheres exhibit a number of interesting organized convection features, for which there is not yet any adequate theoretical understanding.


The present study aimed to determine quality and parameters traits of both fresh and frozen semen in 4-year old Brahman bulls. Semen was collected from 5 bulls twice a week using artificial vagina in Ungaran Artificial Insemination Center, Central Java, Indonesia. Immediately after collection, samples were evaluated for semen volume, color, odor, viscosity, mass movement, individual movement, spermatozoa concentration and live spermatozoa percentage. Sperm concentration was measured using a spectrophotometer. Good quality fresh semen was processed to be frozen semen. Parameters evaluated for frozen semen include spermatozoa individual movement, live spermatozoa, and abnormal spermatozoa percentage. The results showed that the semen volume is 6.90 ± 0.54 whereas the average of sperm concentration, individual motility and live sperm are 1754.54 ± 212.67; 65.50 ± 3.74% and 76.30 ± 2.64%, respectively. Meanwhile, for frozen semen, the average percentage of motility is 38.00 ± 2.74% while the average proportions of live sperm and abnormal sperm are respectively 45.20 ± 9.86% and 6.00 ± 2.83%. In conclusion, in average, all parameters of fresh and frozen semen of Brahman bulls are in normal range. Based on the Indonesian National Standard, frozen semen produced could be used for insemination


Antimony (Sb 3+ ) doped nickel ferrites (NiSbxFe2-xO4) with x=0.0, 0.035, 0.065 and 0.1, have been synthesized by hydrothermal route using an autoclave at 160 0 C for 12 hrs. AC conductivities for all the samples have been observed in the frequency range of 1MHz to 3 GHz, where AC conductivity increases due to the addition of antimony in nanocrystalline nickel ferrites. Electromagnetic properties were studied by measuring complex dielectric permittivity (ɛ*), complex magnetic permeability (μ*) in the frequency range of 1 MHz to 3 GHz at room temperature using RF/impedance analyzer. Reflection losses (RL) were calculated for all the samples using permittivity and permeability measurements according to the transmission line theory. Maximum RL of -54dB was obtained for antimony doped nickel ferrite x=0.065 at 2.4 GHz with a band width of 1.2 GHz and decreases for high antimony concentration x=0.1 (-49dB). Low dielectric permittivity, high permeability and conductivity made this material a compatible option for single layered and multilayered chip inductors. While low RL values suggest nickel ferrite a possible candidate for electromagnetic absorption devices and radar absorbing material.


Abstract Two rapid, nondestructive assays were developed and tested for their potential in differentiating glyphosate-resistant from glyphosate-susceptible biotypes of horseweed. In one assay, leaves of glyphosate-resistant and -susceptible corn, cotton, and soybean plants, as well as glyphosate-resistant and -susceptible horseweed plants, were dipped in solutions of 0, 300, 600, and 1,200 mg ae L−1 glyphosate for 3 d, and subsequent injury was evaluated. In the second assay, plant sensitivity to glyphosate was evaluated in vivo by incubating excised leaf disc tissue from the same plants used in the first assay in 0.7, 1.3, 2.6, 5.3, 10.6, 21.1, 42.3, and 84.5 mg ae L−1 glyphosate solutions for 16 h and measuring shikimate levels with a spectrophotometer. The leaf dip assay differentiated between glyphosate-resistant and -susceptible crops and horseweed biotypes. The 600 mg L−1 rate of glyphosate was more consistent in differentiating resistant and susceptible plants compared with the 300 and 1,200 mg L−1 rates. The in vivo assay detected significant differences between susceptible and glyphosate-resistant plants of all species. Shikimate accumulated in a glyphosate dose–dependent manner in leaf discs from susceptible crops, but shikimate did not accumulate in leaf discs from resistant crops, and levels were similar to nontreated leaf discs. Shikimate accumulated at high (≥ 21.1 mg ae L−1) concentrations of glyphosate in leaf discs from all horseweed biotypes. Shikimate accumulated at low glyphosate concentrations (≤ 10.6 mg L−1) in leaf discs from susceptible horseweed biotypes but not in resistant biotypes. Both assays were able to differentiate resistant from susceptible biotypes of horseweed and could have utility for screening other weed populations for resistance to glyphosate. Nomenclature: Glyphosate; horseweed, Conyza canadensis (L.) Cronq. ERICA; corn, Zea mays L. 'Dekalb 687RR', 'Pioneer 31B13'; cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L. 'Delta and Pine Land 444RR', 'Suregrow 747'; soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr. 'Delta and Pine Land 4748', 'Asgrow 4702RR'.


Purpose To investigate the relation of factors from multiple levels of ecological models (ie, individual, interpersonal and environmental) to active travel to/from school in an observational study of young adolescents. Methods Participants were 294 12–15-year olds living within two miles of their school. Demographic, psychosocial and perceived built environment characteristics around the home were measured by survey, and objective built environment factors around home and school were assessed in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Mixed effects multinomial regression models tested correlates of engaging in 1–4 (vs 0) and 5–10 (vs 0) active trips/week to/from school, adjusted for distance and other covariates. Results 64% of participants reported ≥1 active trip/week to/from school. Significant correlates of occasional and/or habitual active travel to/from school included barriers (ORs=0.27 and 0.15), parent modelling of active travel (OR=3.27 for habitual), perceived street connectivity (OR=1.78 for occasional), perceived pedestrian safety around home (OR=2.04 for habitual), objective street connectivity around home (OR=0.97 for occasional), objective residential density around home (ORs=1.10 and 1.11) and objective residential density around school (OR=1.14 for habitual). Parent modelling interacted with pedestrian safety in explaining active travel to/from school. Conclusions Results supported multilevel correlates of adolescents' active travel to school, consistent with ecological models. Correlates of occasional and habitual active travel to/from school were similar. Built environment attributes around schools, particularly residential density, should be considered when siting new schools and redeveloping neighbourhoods around existing schools.


This paper aims to examine the perception of key actors regarding the costs and benefits that result from adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Ukraine. Authors showed that IFRS implementation impacts on internal reporting quality, the relationship with customers, creditors and shareholders, the access to international markets and external financing. They also indicated that financial managers have serious concerns about implementation costs related to the introduction of IFRS. These costs relate to training, instruction on IFRS adoption and translation of current IFRS, changes in software systems, double purpose accounting and deadlines for IFRS adoption and consulting services.


Published surveys concerning roof service life incorporate estimates from roofing professionals based on their observations and opinions. In cases where roofing products have been in service long enough for the end of life to be observed, these data have some merit, but when end-of-life empirical data are not available, accurate projections are difficult to verify. Other attempts at defining the service life relate to product warranties or lab testing. In the case of standing seam metal roofing, the variability of the materials and installation methods strongly colors the survey opinions. In steel roofing, this variability includes that of the steel thickness, the metallic coating type and thickness, the presence or absence of paint films, the types of sealants, the seam-folding details, and other construction or installation details. Related accessories and flashings of different materials and designs further confuse survey criteria and results. In the case of 55 % Al–Zn alloy-coated steel roofing systems, the prediction of service life is complicated by the fact that the product has been commercially available for under 40 years, and end of life has rarely been observed. In this paper, we combine field inspection procedures with a novel technique for securing roof samples for subsequent laboratory analysis in order to enable the prediction of roof service life for a 55 % Al–Zn alloy-coated steel roof in Denver, CO. The performance of other roof components is also quantified. A methodology is then presented that utilizes the current best practices, together with the results of this roof analysis, to predict the total roof service life of similar constructions when built using today's practices. This work confirms previously published work that used experimental corrosion specimens to establish the long-term durability of 55 % Al–Zn alloy-coated steel. It is suggested that this work can be replicated in order to develop meaningful corrosion and material performance data for any climate in which this type of roof is constructed.


An impact tensile test was performed by means of the split-Hopkinson bar method to clarify the influence of strain rate on high temperature embrittlement in Al–5%Mg alloys containing traces of sodium. When the specimen was tested at a strain rate of 500s (cid:1) 1 , the hot ductility of the Al–5%Mg–2ppm Na alloy decreased with increasing testing temperature, and the recovery of the ductility above 400°C was not identified. As a result of the impact test, the temperature lowering the hot ductility shifted to higher temperature in comparison with the quasi static test. Intergranular fracture was observed around 300°C in both the quasi static test and the impact test. However, area fraction of the intergranular fracture decreased in the impact test around 300°C. Observation of intergranular fracture surfaces revealed that a number of intergranular dimples were observed at grain boundary after the quasi static test, while the ledge patterns were observed at grain boundary after the impact test. It was also clarified that the high temperature embrittlement was suppressed by 200ppm of bismuth addition below 400°C even when the specimen was deformed at high strain rate of 500s (cid:1) 1 .


Summarization evaluation remains an open research problem: current metrics such as ROUGE are known to be limited and to correlate poorly with human judgments. To alleviate this issue, recent work has proposed evaluation metrics which rely on question answering models to assess whether a summary contains all the relevant information in its source document. Though promising, the proposed approaches have so far failed to correlate better than ROUGE with human judgments. In this paper, we extend previous approaches and propose a unified framework, named QuestEval. In contrast to established metrics such as ROUGE or BERTScore, QuestEval does not require any ground-truth reference. Nonetheless, QuestEval substantially improves the correlation with human judgments over four evaluation dimensions (consistency, coherence, fluency, and relevance), as shown in extensive experiments.


Maximizing the network lifetime is one important factor in covering a set of targets in directional sensor networks (DSNs). The targets may take time to be located, and a good tracking management system is necessary to locate them. Target coverage problem arises due to limitation in the sensing angle and battery power of directional sensors. The problem becomes more challenging when the targets have different coverage quality requirements. In the present study, this problem is referred to as Priority-based Target Coverage (PTC) that has been proven to be an NP-complete problem. As sensors are often deployed densely, a promising solution to this problem is the use of scheduling technique through which the sensors are partitioned into several cover sets, then the cover sets are activated successively. In this paper, we propose a genetic-based scheduling algorithm to solve the problem. In order to examine the impact of different factors on the size of the resulting subset, three different experiments were performed to test the effectiveness of our algorithm. The results demonstrated that the proposed algorithm was able to contribute to solving the problem significantly.


Detailed maps, appropriate for decision making at the local level are outdated or currently not available in Mozambique. The community map presented in this paper is built on participatory mapping and Participatory GIS practices (especially photo mapping) and links to advanced spatial analysis in the context of disaster risk reduction and flood hazard assessment. Based on a very high-resolution satellite imagery, community members mapped different features such as the community boundary, settlement areas and their names, agricultural areas, important infrastructure and most importantly 'low' and 'high risk' zones for floods. It has been for the first time that a community was mapped in Mozambique in such a way integrating local knowledge. The identification of hazard zones in a participatory manner was seen as one way to overcome the bottleneck of limited available data for a proper GIS-based hazard modeling. Next to the digitization of the community mapped features, an image classification on land use, settlement areas (houses), and the integration of GPS collected points (infrastructure, photos) was carried out. In a final step the map was printed and handed-over to the community members. In the applied methodology it has been demonstrated that the assessment of risks through the integration of community knowledge and paper-based satellite images is valid. Next to the result of deriving a community-based hazard map, the process of mapping is understood as essential to sensitize and learn about local flood hazard risk.


: Based primarily on reconstructions and various model calculations, quantitative estimates are compiled concerning ice conditions in northern Switzerland during the past Ice Age. The penetration of winter sea ice to low latitudes and the corresponding closure of the Atlantic Ocean as a humidity source caused extremely cold/dry conditions in central Europe during the time period of maximum cold and most extended area of surface ice. At this stage, the large lobes of the piedmont glaciers spreading out over much of the Swiss Plateau were predomi- nantly polythermal to cold, surrounded by continuous periglacial permafrost up to 150 m thick and characterised by low driving stresses (typically 30 to 50 kPa). Mass balance gradients, mass turnover and ice flow velocities on these piedmont glaciers were correspondingly low. Sub- surface temperatures and groundwater conditions were strongly influenced by the presence of extended surface and subsurface ice. Glacial erosion in the ice-marginal zones was probably limited due to strongly reduced basal sliding and melt-water flow. More humid conditions with higher flow velocities, more basal sliding and stronger erosion by abrasion and melt-water effects must have prevailed during ice advance across the Swiss Plateau, and rapid down- wasting or even collapse (calving instability in lakes) is likely to have taken place during the retreat phase back into the Alpine valleys. It appears plausible to assume that similar cycles were characteristic for past Ice Ages in general and could also be characteristic for future Ice Age conditions in northern Switzerland. Some key questions concerning effects of deep glacial erosion are formulated. Abstract Based primarily on reconstructions and various model calculations, quantitative estimates are compiled concerning ice conditions in northern Switzerland during the past Ice Age. The penetration of winter sea ice to low latitudes and the corresponding closure of the Atlantic Ocean as a humidity source caused extremely cold/dry conditions in central Europe during the time period of maximum cold and most extended area of surface ice. At this stage, the large lobes of the piedmont glaciers spreading out over much of the Swiss Plateau were predomi-nantly polythermal to cold, surrounded by continuous periglacial permafrost up to 150 m thick and characterised by low driving stresses (typically 30 to 50 kPa). Mass balance gradients, mass turnover and ice flow velocities on these piedmont glaciers were correspondingly low. Subsurface temperatures and groundwater conditions were strongly influenced by the presence of extended surface and subsurface ice. Glacial erosion in the ice-marginal zones was probably limited due to strongly reduced basal sliding and melt-water flow. More humid conditions with higher flow velocities, more basal sliding and stronger erosion by abrasion and melt-water effects must have prevailed during ice advance across the Swiss Plateau, and rapid down-wasting or even collapse (calving instability in lakes) is likely to have taken place during the retreat phase back into the Alpine valleys. It appears plausible to assume that similar cycles were characteristic for past Ice Ages in general and could also be characteristic for future Ice Age conditions in northern Switzerland. Some key questions concerning effects of deep glacial erosion are formulated.


Increased attention to the issue of aid effectiveness has sparked a flurry of empirical studies attempting to measure the macro-level impact of aid flows on the performances of developing countries. These studies yield ambiguous and even contradictory results and one possible source of confusion is the fact that they are not grounded in solid theorizing. This paper tries to remedy this lacuna by proposing a principal-agent model in which the donor monitors the use of aid and metes out sanctions in the event of fraud detection. Its most original feature lies in the assumed comparability between internal (domestic) and external (donor-imposed) disciplines and the resulting possibility of studying the behaviour of aggregate discipline. We show that, contrary to intuition, an (exogenous) improvement of domestic discipline may be over-compensated by the donor so that total discipline actually decreases and elite capture paradoxically increases. This implies that the relationship between domestic and total disciplines may be non-monotonous. We highlight the crucial role of the shape of the cost functions to obtain not only the above paradox but also corner solutions in which the donor optimally chooses to refrain from imposing any external discipline. The central lesson to draw from the whole exercise is therefore that no simple general testable prediction can be inferred from economic theory regarding the impact of aid on the donors' objective even when the quality of domestic governance or the policy environment is considered.


The population synthesis of cataclysmic variable binary systems at short orbital periods (<2.75 hr) is investigated. A grid of detailed binary evolutionary sequences has been calculated and included in the simulations to take account of additional angular momentum losses beyond that associated with gravitational radiation and mass loss, due to nova outbursts, from the system. As a specific example, we consider the effect of a circumbinary disk to gain insight into the ingredients necessary to reproduce the observed orbital period distribution. The resulting distributions show that the period minimum lies at about 80 minutes, with the number of systems monotonically increasing with increasing orbital period to a maximum near 90 minutes. There is no evidence for an accumulation of systems at the period minimum, which is a common feature of simulations in which only gravitational radiation losses are considered. The shift of the peak to about 90 minutes is a direct result of the inclusion of systems formed within the period gap. The period distribution is found to be fairly flat for orbital periods ranging from about 85 to 120 minutes. The steepness of the lower edge of the period gap can be reproduced, for example, by an input of systems at periods near 2.25 hr due to a flow of cataclysmic variable binary systems from orbital periods longer than 2.75 hr. The good agreement with the cumulated distribution function of observed systems within the framework of our model indicates that the angular momentum loss by a circumbinary disk or a mechanism that mimics its features, coupled with a weighting factor to account for selection effects in the discovery of such systems and a flow of systems from above the period gap to below the period gap, is an important ingredient for understanding the overall period distribution of cataclysmic variable binary systems.


Knowledge is getting increasingly more complex. Learners, from Kindergarten to higher education, require powerful tools to connect complex ideas. This paper explores the range of studies that investigated concept maps as learning, metacognitive, collaborative, and assessment tools to support integrating complex ideas. Research suggests that concept maps can be successfully implemented in a wide variety of settings, from K12 to higher and professional education. However, the effectiveness of concept maps depends on different factors, such as concept map training and choosing a suitable form of concept map to match the task and learner. Developing proficiency in concept mapping takes time and practice and should not be first introduced in higher education. Concept map training could start as early as Kindergarten and include concept map generation, interpretation, and revision. This paper concludes that, if implemented thoughtfully, concept maps can be versatile tools to support knowledge integration processes towards a deeper understanding of the relations and structures of complex ideas and facilitate life-long learning.


The effect of light on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) release of benthic primary producers (BPPs) was investigated on the coral reefs of Curacao. Incubation experiments revealed a positive relation between the DOC release of four Caribbean reef algae (Cladophora sp., Dictyota menstrualis, Lobophora variegata, turf algae) and light availability (light-driven DOC release). In contrast, the DOC release of two tested scleractinian coral species (Madracis mirabilis, Orbicella annularis) was either minimal or DOC uptake occurred independent of light availability. Complementary in situ measurements in close proximity to BPPs and the water column showed a positive correlation between DOC concentrations and light intensity. Furthermore, average DOC concentrations were twice as high during the sampling in May-June compared to the sampling in November-December. This can at least be partly explained by a significantly higher light availability in May-June. However, in situ DOC concentrations near the reef alga Dictyota sp. did not follow a natural light gradient from 5 to 20 m depth, suggesting that apart from light availability also other factors such as photoinhibition and water movement may affect DOC concentrations near BPPs. Additional incubations were performed with turf algae under elevated nutrient conditions. Interestingly, when additional nutrients were added, DOC release at low and high light intensities were similar (light-independent DOC release). The availability of nutrients therefore determined whether light-driven or light-independent DOC release occurred. Similar to reef algae benthic cyanobacterial mats (BCMs) displayed high DOC release rates in in situ incubations during the day. However, DOC release at night was more than twice that high. This DOC release in the dark is proposed to be the result of incomplete organic matter degradation and fermentation under anoxic conditions. When integrating the day and night DOC release over a 24 hrs diurnal cycle, BCMs (benthic cover: 24%) were estimated to release four times more DOC than reef algae (benthic cover: 36%). BCMs thereby display the highest contribution to the benthic DOC production (80%). Excavating sponges are the most important bioeroders on Caribbean reefs. If they, similar to other sponges, can directly feed on DOC, they may benefit from an increase in DOC production due to ongoing coral-algal phase shifts. Therefore, the potential DOC and bacterial uptake of the common excavating sponges Siphonodictyon sp. and Cliona delitrix were investigated in situ. Despite high bacterial retention efficiencies, both species relied mainly on the uptake of DOC to meet their carbon demand. This utilization of DOC indicates that excavating sponges might benefit from an increase in DOC production as result of coral-algal phase shifts.


The pillars of quantum theory include entanglement and operators' failure to commute. The Page curve quantifies the bipartite entanglement of a many-body system in a random pure state. This entanglement is known to decrease if one constrains extensive observables that commute with each other (Abelian ``charges''). Non-Abelian charges, which fail to commute with each other, are of current interest in quantum thermodynamics. For example, noncommuting charges were shown to reduce entropy-production rates and may enhance finite-size deviations from eigenstate thermalization. Bridging quantum thermodynamics to many-body physics, we quantify the effects of charges' noncommutation -- of a symmetry's non-Abelian nature -- on Page curves. First, we construct two models that are closely analogous but differ in whether their charges commute. We show analytically and numerically that the noncommuting-charge case has more entanglement. Hence charges' noncommutation can promote entanglement.


Growing evidence of the prevalence of school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) has raised concerns about negative effects on education. Previous quantitative research on this topic has been limited by descriptive and cross-sectional data. Using longitudinal data from the Malawi Schooling and Adolescent Study, we investigate associations between school and domestic violence and three education outcomes: absenteeism, learning, and dropout. Half of respondents had experienced both SRGBV and domestic violence by ages 18–21. Associations between violence and education were mixed: school-related sexual violence was associated with poorer subsequent education outcomes for males and, to a lesser extent, for females; domestic violence was associated with higher absenteeism for males and subsequent dropout for females; and physical violence was associated with lower absenteeism and better subsequent numeracy performance for females. Additional longitudinal research is needed and should integrate a broad understanding of the influence of gender norms and experiences of violence on young people's educational success.


This thesis investigates the potential of narrative theory to inform the design of tools for sharing and annotating stories, in the context of professional knowledge sharing. We begin with a detailed review of the literature on modelling narrative, to establish the theoretical foundations for a narratologically-grounded annotation schema. Medicine is then selected for a tri-part study, since narrative-based approaches in healthcare education and practice are seen by many as significant.

The first part seeks evidence of narrative among medical professionals communicating spontaneously and informally online. The frequency and range of stories identified shows that this appears to be a common and valued mode of communication.

The second part envisions a Web story database ("storybase") supporting flexible annotation grounded in a narratological metadata scheme. The model draws on various narrative structure theories, and in particular, point-structure. A story can be annotated via a graphical user interface on various dimensions, enabling multiple interpretations.

The third part analyses users annotating representative samples of the stories abstracted from the corpus in part 1. Data is analysed quantitatively (annotation value clustering, questionnaire responses and task phase durations) coupled with a qualitative account of participant behaviour based on grounded theory video analysis. While this study has limitations, it validates both the expressiveness and usability of the story annotation schema, and shows that participants found the experience to be enjoyable and stimulating. Interaction analysis demonstrates the centrality of interface design in shaping annotation behaviour. This work motivates further storybase research, in forming the design of future studies and storybase technologies.


Governance and Nationbuilding describes how aid donors have attempted to improve the performance of government in developing countries and countries in crisis. Kate Jenkins and William Plowden review the widespread lack of success, tracing the history of international government intervention, the roles of donors and recipient countries, the ways in which expert advice and support have been provided, and the donors' own evaluation of their work.


The thesis describes the design and construction of a local
area computer network to provide a distributed industrial control
and monitoring system for glass container manufacture. In
particular, a commercially available local area network, originally
manufactured to link industrial programmable controllers, has been
used to allow the implementation of multi-processor control scheme
for container forming and to achieve an integrated data processing
link with other plant computers concerned with inspection and
quality data collection.
A microprocessor-based I.S. machine controller was designed
to replace conventional Timing Drum controllers used in many
container manufacturing plants, and linked to the local area
network. The control system developed provided the usual machine
sequencing functions but also provided adaptive control of the
invert mechanism speed using a specially designed electropneumatic
servo mechanism valve. A data capture system was also designed, developed and tested
to allow' on-line monitoring of container inspection machines. The
system utilises the local area network to provide access to a file
server (for data storage), to allow remote access (e.g. in Quality
Control) and to establish a link with the I.S. machine controllers.
The distributed control and monitoring scheme produced allows
the convenient integration of other data processing functions in
other plant areas such as batch, furnace, forehearth, and packing
and can facilitate the integration of organisational functions such
as planning, scheduling, and data base management in a planned step
by step manner.


Budgerigars were trained by operant conditioning to produce contact calls immediately after hearing a stimulus contact call. In Experiments 1 and 2, playback stimuli were chosen from two different contact call classes from the bird's repertoire. Once this task was learned, the birds were then tested with other probe stimulus calls from its repertoire, which differed from the original calls drawn from the two classes. Birds failed to mimic the probe stimuli but instead produced one of the two call classes as in the training sessions, showing that birds learned that each stimulus call served as a discriminative stimulus but not as a vocal template for imitation. In Experiment 3, birds were then trained with stimulus calls falling along a 24-step acoustic gradient which varied between the two sounds representing the two contact call categories. As before, birds obtained a reward when the bird's vocalization matched that of the stimulus above a criterion level. Since the first step and the last step in the gradient were the birds' original contact calls, these two patterns were easily matched. Intermediate contact calls in the gradient were much harder for the birds to match. After extensive training, one bird learned to produce contact calls that had only a modest similarity to the intermediate contact calls along the gradient. In spite of remarkable vocal plasticity under natural conditions, operant conditioning methods with budgerigars, even after extensive training and rigorous control of vocal discriminative stimuli, failed to show vocal learning.


Features a murder mystery in the finest tradition of English detective novels, John le Carre's A Murder of Quality is an ingenious puzzle featuring his best-loved character George Smiley, published in Penguin Modern Classics. Stella Rode has twice disturbed the ancient cloisters of Carne School: firstly by being the wrong sort, with her doilies and china ducks, and secondly by being murdered. George Smiley, who has his own connection with the school, is asked by an old Service friend to investigate. Smiley knows that Stella feared her husband would murder her, but as he probes further beneath Carne's respectable veneer, he uncovers far more than a simple crime of passion. In his second George Smiley novel, le Carre moves outside the world of espionage to reveal the secrets at the heart of another particularly English institution. The result is a pitch-perfect murder mystery, with Smiley as master detective. If you enjoyed A Murder of Quality, you might like le Carre's Call for the Dead, also available in Penguin Modern Classics. "Beautifully intelligent, satiric and witty." (Daily Telegraph).


Secretory phospholipase A2 group IIA (sPLA2-IIA) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases. Catalytic activity of this enzyme that generates arachidonic acid is a major target for development of anti-inflammatory agents. Independent of its catalytic activity, sPLA2-IIA induces pro-inflammatory signals in a receptor-mediated mechanism (e.g. through the M-type receptor). However, the M-type receptor is species-specific: sPLA2-IIA binds to the M-type receptor in rodents and rabbits, but not in human. Thus sPLA2-IIA receptors in human have not been established. Here we demonstrated that sPLA2-IIA bound to integrin αvβ3 at a high affinity (KD = 2 × 10-7 m). We identified amino acid residues in sPLA2-IIA (Arg-74 and Arg-100) that are critical for integrin binding using docking simulation and mutagenesis. The integrin-binding site did not include the catalytic center or the M-type receptor-binding site. sPLA2-IIA also bound to α4β1. We showed that sPLA2-IIA competed with VCAM-1 for binding to α4β1, and bound to a site close to those for VCAM-1 and CS-1 in the α4 subunit. Wild type and the catalytically inactive H47Q mutant of sPLA2-IIA induced cell proliferation and ERK1/2 activation in monocytic cells, but the integrin binding-defective R74E/R100E mutant did not. This indicates that integrin binding is required, but catalytic activity is not required, for sPLA2-IIA-induced proliferative signaling. These results suggest that integrins αvβ3 and α4β1 may serve as receptors for sPLA2-IIA and mediate pro-inflammatory action of sPLA2-IIA, and that integrin-sPLA2-IIA interaction is a novel therapeutic target.


A laser beam impinging at grazing incidence on a 3-D surface produces a diffraction edge wave whose obliquity factor contains, among other things, the information concerning the local radius of curvature of the surface in the plane of incidence. In this paper we show how to retrieve this curvature radius information from light irradiance measurements of the edge wave and from exact electromagnetic diffraction calculations. This new method of optical metrology gives the curvature radius of a surface in the incident plane and at a given point by a single measurement at that point, while other techniques depend on a scanning or a mapping in the vicinity of the point of interest. Moreover, a measuring system using this diffractional method is very easily implemented and can yield a precision in the 5–10-μm range. Experimental results are presented for six metallic circular cylinders and two metallic spheres.


X-ray film response in the 9–70-keV range was measured for exposures as short as 3 nsec corresponding to dose rates as high as 1017 photons/cm2/sec. Thermoluminescent dosimeters were used as calibration standards to normalize the film results. The ratio of film response at high dose rate divided by film response at low dose rate was used as a measure of reciprocity failure. No definitive reciprocity failure could be observed within the experimental error of 10%–15%, but there appears to be a slight trend towards reciprocity failure at lower energies.


Patterns of growth, development, and reproduction have been observed in many Daphnia species, and there have been some attempts to explain them using models that take into account rates of intake, assimilation, maintenance, and energy allocation rules. We show, however, that existing models cannot capture some essential features of individual growth, especially under conditions of low food supply that are typical of field conditions. These features include: (1) a sigmoid growth curve, and (2) the time to starvation or the performance of individuals during periods of low food availability. We propose and test a new hypothesis based on the idea that allometric relationship for physiological rates are stage dependent. We show that ingestion rates increase much faster with juvenile body size than with adult body size for several Daphnia species. Existing data suggest that allometric relationships for respiration are not stage dependent, and we derive a maintenance function that takes into account overheads associated with growth and basal metabolic rates. The new allometric relationships for ingestion and maintenance, along with an accurate description of the onset of maturity and partitioning of energy between growth and reproduction, can account for the sigmoid growth pattern displayed by Daphnia. Existing models cannot explain Daphnia's performance when food availability is low, and this led us to examine how Daphnia stores energy and uses reserves. Our review synthesizes disparate observations on the structure and dynamics of reserves, and forms the basis for a new model of Daphnia pulex.


Tumor resistance to current drugs prevents curative treatment of human colon cancer. A pressing need for effective, tumor-specific chemotherapies exists. The non-receptor-tyrosine kinase c-Src is overexpressed in >70% of human colon cancers and represents a tractable drug target. KM12L4A human metastatic colon cancer cells were stably transfected with two distinct kinase-defective mutants of c-src. Their response to oxaliplatin, to SN38, the active metabolite of irinotecan (drugs active in colon cancer), and to activation of the death receptor Fas was compared with vector control cells in terms of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Both kinase-defective forms of c-Src co-sensitized cells to apoptosis induced by oxaliplatin and Fas activation but not by SN38. Cells harboring kinase-defective forms of c-Src carrying function blocking point mutations in SH3 or SH2 domains were similarly sensitive to oxaliplatin, suggesting that reduction in kinase activity and not a Src SH2-SH3 scaffold function was responsible for the observed altered sensitivity. Oxaliplatin-induced apoptosis, potentiated by kinase-defective c-Src mutants, was dependent on activation of caspase 8 and associated with Bid cleavage. Each of the stable cell lines in which kinase-defective mutants of c-Src were expressed had reduced levels of Bcl-xL. However, inhibition of c-Src kinase activity by PP2 in vector control cells did not alter the oxaliplatin response over 72 h nor did it reduce Bcl-xL levels. The data suggest that longer term suppression of Src kinase activity may be required to lower Bcl-xL levels and sensitize colon cancer cells to oxaliplatin-induced apoptosis.


Festival ensemble, Akha Hill Tribe, Thailand.

a) Jacket/bodice. Jacket or bodice of black cotton, waist-length, with no collar, shaped neckline, and front opening with no closures. On right side of bodice at upper breast/collarbone is applied panel/section which forms edge of opening. Panel has "zig-zag" effect of three points created by patchwork of various printed fabrics and applied thin bands. Long sleeves with blue fabric sewn at ends to create cuffs. At back, "hanging" from collar is patchwork panel of patterned cloths shaped as a trapezoid with curved long side. Primarily lined in blue cloth with white geometric/linear designs, part of embroidery panel at front lined with a printed brown fabric with small black/yellow geometric design. (zig-zag panel at front)

b) Pants. Pants of black cotton embellished with multicolored embroidery. Full-length depending on height of wearer. Wide plain waistband in front, elasticized section at back, and with attached string belt at side which has pom-pom terminals. At front, from waistband, are two "flaps" over upper legs, one forming a pocket with wide decorative band at top consisting of red strips of fabric on dark blue fabric band. The second flap has wide horizontal band of embroidered fabric, with bands of diamonds, squares, "x" shapes, etc. in yellow, blue, white, black, etc. on primarily orange ground. Cuffs of pants, at outer side of each leg, has rectangular applied panels of cross-stitch embroidered fabric in reddish, white, and mustard, with applied machine-woven decorative ribbon with pink squares and blue shapes. Unlined. No labels or tags in garment.

c) Hat. Black with beading and silver and shells, with red decorations and pendant parts

d) Belt. Black cotton(?) belt formed as a rectangle, upper and side edges straight, lower edge gently scalloped to form points at center front and at sides. Belt is edged with border of small blue/green, brownish/tan seeds, with two horizontal bands of same seeds running across belt. Between bands of seeds are bands of silver-colored cabochon discs. Just above each point is a star-burst made of oval white beads/seeds, colored beads, and a cowrie(?) shell. From each point hangs 3 beaded pendants with a bell at end of each. Belt secures with black ties. No labels or tags. ca. 35 1/2" long w/out ties; 5" wide w/out fringe/pendants.

e & f) Over-sleeves. Detachable sleeves formed as two 15 1/2" long fabric cylinders, slightly wider at top than cuff, which slide over sleeves of jacket. The cylinders are made of horizontal bands of different woven patterned fabrics of primarily pinks with green, white, and orange decorations, sewn together, with alternating bands of red cloth with applied rick-rack in blue, white, green, yellow, pink, etc., each with silver threading. Sleeves are lined with a printed white fabric with blue linear stripe/band designs. No labels or tags in garment.

g) Bag of black cotton, embellished with embroidery, bead-work, silver discs, and a single coin. Long black cotton strap.


Unobtrusive human activity recognition plays an integral role in a lot of applications, such as active assisted living and health care for elderly and physically impaired people. Although existing Wi-Fi-based human activity recognition methods report good results, their performance is susceptible to changes in the environment. In this work, we present an approach to extract environment independent fingerprints of different human activities from the channel state information. First, we capture the channel state information by using the standard Wi-Fi network interface card. The channel state information is processed to reduce the noise and the impact of the phase offset. In addition, we apply the principal component analysis to removed redundant and correlated information. This step not only reduces the dimensions of the data but also removes the impact of the environment. Thereafter, we compute the spectrogram from the processed data which shows the environment independent fingerprint of the performed activity. We use these spectrogram images to train a convolutional neural network. Our approach is evaluated by using a human activity data set collected from 9 individuals while performing 4 activities (walking, falling, sitting, and picking up an object). The results show that our approach achieves an overall accuracy of 97.78%.


This paper covers working from home as an employee benefit and looks to gauge the advantages and disadvantages for both employees and employers. The focus is on employees that work from home on behalf of an employer, not self-employed individuals. The article reviews secondary research on working from home. The primary research included in this paper was conducted via anonymous online surveys. Respondents were assured of anonymity, and ranged in their functional roles. The survey included ranking questions, as well as freeform short answer questions. This primary research is not positioned to be statistically representative of all employees and employers. This primary research does reflect a gauge on perspectives on working from home as a job benefit. Ultimately the results suggest that employees hold a very positive perspective on working from home, however, more can be done to help ensure perceptions on workplace promotional opportunities remain consistent for employees that work in an office or for home. Research also suggests that the greatest challenge for managers remains a lack of trust in results from employees they cannot physically see in the same location. Managers will find driving their employees' performance through clearly defined metrics which will improve the trust.


Pacific Gas & Electric Company's recently completed Newcastle Powerhouse is located on the shore of Folsom Lake near Auburn, California. The $26 million facility uses a single vertical Francis turbine to generate 12.7 nw of power. Unusual and innovative design features include: siting the powerhouse completely below grade to maximize net head during 50 ft. seasonal tailwater fluctuations, accommodate steep topography, and minimize visibility; use of a unique shape for the powerhouse structure to minimize excavation support and facilitate multi-stage construction; use of a 266 ft. long, 47 ft. high, curved reinforced earth cofferdam loaded on one side during powerhouse construction then loaded on the opposite side as a retaining wall during project operation; use of a water-reactive chemical applied to the excavated rock surface, prior to concrete placement, to waterproof the exterior walls of the powerhouse; use of both steel and concrete pipe on the 7 ft. diameter by 5600 ft. long penstock. Additional design features are discussed in the paper.


Sleep slow-wave activity (SWA) is thought to reflect sleep need, increasing in proportion to the previous time awake and decreasing during sleep, although the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Recent studies have shown that procedures presumably leading to local plastic changes in the cerebral cortex can lead to local changes in SWA during subsequent sleep. To further investigate the connection between cortical plasticity and sleep SWA, in this study we used a paired associative stimulation (PAS) protocol, in which median nerve stimuli were followed at different intervals (25 or 10 ms) by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) pulses to the contralateral cortical hand area. As expected, such a protocol led to a sustained increase (long-term potentiation-like) or decrease (long-term depression-like) of cortical excitability as measured by motor evoked potentials. By using a TMS-compatible high-density electroencephalographic (EEG) system, we also found that, in individual subjects, TMS-evoked cortical responses over sensorimotor cortex changed with different interstimulus intervals. Moreover, during subsequent sleep, SWA increased locally in subjects whose TMS-evoked cortical responses had increased after PAS, and decreased in subjects whose cortical responses had decreased. Changes in TMS-evoked cortical EEG response and change in sleep SWA were localized to similar cortical regions and were positively correlated. Together, these results suggest that changes in cortical excitability in opposite directions lead to corresponding changes in local sleep regulation, as reflected by SWA, providing evidence for a tight relationship between cortical plasticity and sleep intensity.


The purpose of this thesis is to implement stochastic models that are currently used to analyze the impact of different drug treatments on cancer and to model drug resistance by cancer cells. Mathematical models are used to compare single-cancer treatment results with those that involve multiple drugs at the same time. Using various parameters for the model the probability of treatment success was calculated. A comparison was made with a probability theory approach and good agreement was obtained.


Youth unemployment is an important problem all over the world in general and in developing countries in particular. This is also true for Islamic countries. This study examines youth unemployment problem in Islamic countries (54 countries). Based on the foregoing analysis regarding the unemployment and youth unemployment profile of the Islamic countries, the study recommends policy areas, such as investing more on technical training and education, for these countries. Furthermore, the relationship between education and unemployment and applied policies against youth unemployment are examined in the study.


Translation validation establishes a posteriori the correctness of a run of a compilation pass or other program transformation. In this paper, we develop an efficient translation validation algorithm for the Lazy Code Motion (LCM) optimization. LCM is an interesting challenge for validation because it is a global optimization that moves code across loops. Consequently, care must be taken not to move computations that may fail before loops that may not terminate. Our validator includes a specific check for anticipability to rule out such incorrect moves. We present a mechanically-checked proof of correctness of the validation algorithm, using the Coq proof assistant. Combining our validator with an unverified implementation of LCM, we obtain a LCM pass that is provably semantics-preserving and was integrated in the CompCert formally verified compiler.


In 1992 author Paul Auster borrowed eight projects from French artist Sophie Calle for Maria, a fictional character in his novel Leviathan; Auster also included two projects of his own invention. Calle, in return, enacted and documented these projects created by Auster and included them, along with her initial projects, in her book Double Game. Double Game begins with these words: "Intrigued by this double, I decided to turn Auster's novel into a game and to make my own particular mix of reality and fiction."1
Calle's autofictional projects seemingly describe events in her life: a job as
a chambermaid, a job as a striptease artist, a day spent being followed by a detective. Calle's use of autofiction, a self-conscious play between autobiography and the novel, emphasizes the impossibility of a coherent and unified subject. I argue that Calle's book plays with structures and forms usually associated with truth telling (autobiography, archives, photography, the report, the diary) by constructing evidence that relies on these structures for legitimacy, only to expose gaps, inconsistencies, and fictions as a space for play and critique.
The French version of Double Game, a
series of seven separate books, has the title Doubles-jeux. Jeu in French is understood to mean both game and play, while also a homonym for 'I' [je]. Doubles-jeux is a double-cross—to deceive and betray, in the sense of a red herring. Thus the title, Double Game, already speaks to Calle's autofictional accounts in which the narrating "I" is always unreliable and the events described always undecideable.
My dissertation focuses on the contingency of Calle's documents by highlighting the spaces between what is said to have happened, what we are shown, and what may have taken place.
Aligning Calle's work with performance, and recent discussions about performance documentation, enables a more focused interrogation of the relationship between the event and its representation. My dissertation argues that as a collection of autofictional traces, Double Game performs the autofictional subject at play in the archive.
1. Sophie Calle with the participation of Paul Auster, Double Game (Paris: Violette Editions, 1999), 1.


It has been perceived that many networks observed in the social sciences, including that involving inter-company, show the characteristics of a small world, in which many subjects are very closely related. Because the competitiveness of the Japanese industry is thought to depend on the strong linkages between transaction partners, such competitiveness is considered to be vulnerable to linkage-cutting phenomena, such as earthquakes. In this paper, we examine how many companies in the non-affected areas have relationship with those in the affected area, using inter-company transaction data from approximately 800,000 companies. We find the following results. While the proportion of companies with transaction partners in the affected area is very small, accounting for less than 3% of total companies in areas other than Tohoku, the figure increases to 50% to 60% if second order companies, whose transaction partners have transaction partners in the affected areas, are included. Furthermore, the figure increases to nearly 90% if third order companies are included, indicating that most companies are indirectly related with those in the affected area.


Background: Leverage is a particular type of treatment pressure that is used within community mental health services to increase patients' adherence to treatment. Because leverage involves practitioners making proposals that attempt to influence patients' behaviours and choices, the use of leverage raises ethical issues. Aim: To provide guidance that can assist practitioners in making judgements about whether it is ethically acceptable to use leverage in a particular clinical context. Method: Methods of ethical analysis. Results: Four ethical duties relevant to making such judgements are outlined. These four duties are (1) benefitting the individual patient, (2) benefitting other individuals, (3) treating patients fairly and (4) respecting patients' autonomy. The practical requirements that follow from each of these duties are considered in detail. It is argued that practitioners should determine whether the use of leverage will mean that care is provided in ways that are consistent with the requirements of these four duties, regardless of whether the patient accepts or rejects the terms of the proposal made. Conclusion: Particular attention must be paid to determine how the requirements of the four duties should be applied in each specific treatment scenario, and in making careful judgements when these duties pull in opposing directions.


Techniques using automatic vehicle identification (AVI) currently provide the most efficient form of electronic toll collection. Several systems have been installed in the U.S. in the last few years, generally at the pilot scale, but the true potential of this technology will be realized in applications on roads designed specifically for AVI collection. Three new toll roads being built in Orange County, Calif., will feature the most extensive use of AVI toll collection ever in the United States. This $2.1 billion project will add approximately 65 mi of new road, alleviating congestion on the Santa Ana (I-5), the Newport (I-55), the Riverside (91) and the San Diego (I-405) Freeways. Key elements of the planned system include bypass lanes for AVI users that allow nonstop, high-speed passage separate from conventional toll plazas, and an open median to permit adding AVI-only high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes in the future. It also includes integration of traffic management with toll-collection facilities, and capabilities for variable pricing under both debit and credit operating systems.


The migrant mortality advantage posits that immigrants have low mortality relative to non-migrants living in western countries, even among immigrants with a low socioeconomic status. Over time, the advantage is said to diminish as mortality among immigrants attenuates to the higher mortality rate among the host population. Among the descendants of immigrants, this mortality advantage can persist, wear off or even reverse. While immigrant mortality has been studied before in the U.S. and Europe, the actuality of the migrant mortality advantage remains contested and its causes (selection effects, cultural factors and the immigrant health transition) poorly understood. This is because two confounding factors exist which are rarely accounted for in studies. Registration uncertainty relates to the accuracy and timeliness of move reporting, stating that uncertainty in migrants' entry and exits dates lead to overestimation of migrants' time-at-risk in the host country. Health-related remigrations include returns to the country of origin at older ages which reflect a desire to die in the place of birth (a salmon bias effect) and at younger ages based on poorer general health (an unhealthy remigration effect). This can lead to an undercount of deaths in the host country statistics. Both of these confounding factors can cause a downward bias in migrant mortality rates, creating artificially low mortality and a data artefact. The aims of this thesis are to examine mortality patterns, and investigate the cause of mortality differences, between immigrants, their descendants and England and Wales-born population. The thesis makes several contributions to the literature. First, by adopting a rounded approach to the study of immigrant mortality through explicitly modelling the impact of registration uncertainty and investigating if immigrants remigrate in poor health from England and Wales, the research will show whether the migrant mortality advantage is an actuality or a data artefact. If the advantage is shown to be real, and registration uncertainty and health-related remigration can be dismissed as confounding causes, this will reduce much of the uncertainty surrounding the causes of the advantage. Second, the analysis of migrant mortality by sex, cause of death, generation, over age (as a proxy for length of stay) and migrants' socioeconomic characteristics will significantly improve our understanding of the remaining causes of the migrant mortality advantage. There are few large-scale, robust international studies of immigrant mortality. This thesis thus offers a significant contribution to the international literature in a growing field of research. The analysis shows that the migrant mortality advantage cannot be accounted for by uncertainty in the registration of events and little support was found for health-related remigration among immigrants living in England and Wales. The migrant mortality advantage is an actuality and we can be confident that some combination of the healthy migrant effect, cultural factors and health transition explain the advantage. Low immigrant mortality (in nearly all groups after adjusting for socioeconomic characteristics) is driven primarily by low mortality from cancers (and in some populations from low cardiovascular disease mortality). Among many immigrant groups, low mortality coexists with low respiratory disease mortality and, among non-western immigrants, high infectious disease mortality. Low mortality among immigrants does wear off over time, but even at older ages some groups still have low mortality relative to non-migrants living in England and Wales. The descendants of immigrants do not experience a mortality advantage. They have higher mortality both before and after adjusting for their socioeconomic characteristics relative to immigrants and only similar mortality to the England and Wales-born population.


In this Article, Professor Ackerman examines the work of the Roberts Court through a communitarian lens. Communitarians trive for a reasonable balance between individual rights and the collective good. They believe that even in a rights-conscious ociety, rights have limits, and involve responsibilities. And so, communitarians will often consider whether the Supreme Court has struck a proper balance between individual liberty and the public interest. But communitarian theory has other, multidimensional aspects. Communitarians view people as social animals, who are not mere autonomous agents with nobody to care about but themselves. They therefore see the value not only of large-scale communities (such as an entire nation) but of smaller, intermediate communities, such as states, labor unions, civic organizations, religious congregations, and-at the most intimate level-families. As a consequence, Professor Ackerman asks whether, in cases ranging from Citizens United to Obergefell, the Court has adequately considered the role of intermediate communities-what we call "civil society'"-in pursuing the good and animating citizens to connect with one another. Finally, Professor Ackerman sees communitarianism as a way to view the world in a non-binary manner, thereby breaking down the political barriers that impair our ability to reason together and formulate good law and policy.


The Constrained Multiple Sequence Alignment problem is to align a set of sequences subject to a given constrained sequence, which arises from some knowledge of the structure of the sequences. This paper presents new algorithms for this problem, which are more efficient in terms of time and space (memory) than the previous algorithms [14], and with a worst-case guarantee on the quality of the alignment. Saving the space requirement by a quadratic factor is particularly significant as the previous O(n(4))-space algorithm has limited application due to its huge memory requirement. Experiments on real data sets confirm that our new algorithms show improvements in both alignment quality and resource requirements.


Purpose: This longitudinal study examines measures of temporal auditory processing
in pre-reading children with a family risk of dyslexia. Specifically, it attempts to ascertain
whether pre-reading auditory processing, speech perception, and phonological
awareness (PA) reliably predict later literacy achievement. Additionally, this study
retrospectively examines the presence of pre-reading auditory processing, speech
perception, and PA impairments in children later found to be literacy impaired.
Method: Forty-four pre-reading children with and without a family risk of dyslexia
were assessed at three time points (kindergarten, first, and second grade). Auditory
processing measures of rise time (RT) discrimination and frequency modulation (FM)
along with speech perception, PA, and various literacy tasks were assessed.
Results: Kindergarten RT uniquely contributed to growth in literacy in grades one and
two, even after controlling for letter knowledge and PA. Highly significant concurrent and
predictive correlations were observed with kindergarten RT significantly predicting first
grade PA. Retrospective analysis demonstrated atypical performance in RT and PA at
all three time points in children who later developed literacy impairments.
Conclusions: Although significant, kindergarten auditory processing contributions to
later literacy growth lack the power to be considered as a single-cause predictor; thus
results support temporal processing deficits' contribution within a multiple deficit model
of dyslexia.


User detection, recognition, and tracking is at the heart of human–robot interaction, and yet, to date, no universal robust method exists for being aware of the people in a robot's surroundings. The present article imports into existing social robotic platforms different techniques, some of them classical, and other novel, for detecting, recognizing, and tracking human users. The outputs from the parallel execution of these algorithms are then merged, creating a modular, expandable, and fast architecture. This results in a local user mapping through fusion of multiple user recognition techniques. The different people detectors comply with a common interface called PeoplePoseList Publisher, while the people recognition algorithms meet an interface called PeoplePoseList Matcher. The fusion of all these different modules is based on the Unscented Kalman Filtering technique. Extensive benchmarks of the subcomponents and of the whole architecture demonstrate the validity and interest of all levels of the architecture. In addition, all the software and data sets generated in this work are freely available.


Paul's correspondence encounters the vicissitudes of a postal system that sets in motion several forms of differential experience between addressor and addressee. In Paul's epistles, desire for his own parousia (coming/presence) is given more prominence than the parousia of Christ. This desire is inscribed in the tension between absence and presence to his congregations in his letters, which in turn generates several spectral factors in Paul's assertions of presence, authority, and paternity. Derrida's earlier work on issues of speech vs. writing and presence vs. absence (which continue to be implicit in later works, especially in the variegated performances of iterability), are pertinent to these issues in Paul. What readings could emerge then, if Pauline correspondence is read through a Derridean prism? Does a "Derridean proposal" that, writing "writes itself" out of desire for arrival at a destination yet to come, have value for elucidating an "authority of the text"? This article is a performative engagement with such questions.


This thesis explores a few geometric optimization problems that arise in robotics and sensor networks. In particular we present efficient algorithms for the hitting-set problem and the budgeted hitting-set problem. Given a set of objects and a collection of subsets of the objects, called ranges, the hitting-set problem asks for a minimum number of objects that intersect all the subsets in the collection. In geometric settings, objects are typically a set of points and ranges are defined by a set of geometric regions (e.g., disks or polygons), i.e., the subset of points lying in each region forms a range.
The first result of this thesis is an efficient algorithm for an instance of the hitting-set problem in which both the set of points and the set of ranges are implicitly defined. Namely, we are given a convex polygonal robot and a set of convex polygonal obstacles, and we wish to find a small number of congruent copies of the robot that intersect all the obstacles.
Next, motivated by the application of sensor placement in sensor networks, we study the so-called "art-gallery" problem. Given a polygonal environment, we wish to place the minimum number of guards so that the every point in the environment is visible from at least one guard. This problem can be formulated as a hitting-set problem. We present a sampling based algorithm for this problem and study various extensions of this problem.
Next, we study the geometric hitting-set problem in a dynamic setting, where the objects and/or the ranges change with time and the goal is to maintain a hitting set. We present algorithms which maintain a small size hitting set with sub-linear update time.
Finally, we consider the budgeted hitting-set problem, in which we are asked to choose a bounded number of objects that intersect as many ranges as possible. Motivated by applications in network vulnerability analysis we study this problem in a probabilistic setting.


Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) aims at evolving the way network
operators design, deploy and provision their networks by leveraging on
standard IT virtualisation technologies to move and consolidate a wide
range of network functions and services onto industry standard high
volume servers, switches and storage. The primary target for
operators, stimulated by the recent updates on NFV and SDN, is the
network edge. In fact, operators are considering their future
datacentres and Points of Presence (PoPs) as increasingly dynamic
infrastructures where Virtualised Network Functions (VNFs) and on-
demand chained services with high elasticity will be deployed. This
document presents an orchestration framework for automated deployment
of highly available VNF chains. Resiliency of VNFs and chained
services is a key requirement for operators to improve, ease, automate
and speed up services lifecycle management. The proposed VNFs
orchestration framework is also positioned with respect to current NFV
and Service Function Chaining (SFC) architectures and solutions.


This paper discusses the causes and effects of humidity within indoor substation environments and methods of mitigating these factors. This report briefly explains relative humidity and partial discharge, and the effect of high relative humidity on the inception or level of partial discharge. The report covers the environmental factors in switchgear design standards and the manufacturer's literature. The report covers best practice for the design of substations and internal environment control, the factors affecting the environment within a substation and methods of mitigating these factors. This report demonstrates why it is extremely important to control the substation environment and this can be achieved by minimising moisture ingress into substations and controlling the temperature and humidity within the building.


Administrative law scholars and governmental reformers argue that advances in information technology will greatly expand public participation in regulatory policymaking. They claim that e-rulemaking, or the application of new technology to administrative rulemaking, promises to transform a previously insulated process into one in which ordinary citizens regularly provide input. With the federal government having implemented several e-rulemaking initiatives in recent years, we can now begin to assess whether such a transformation in the works -- or even on the horizon. This paper compares empirical observations on citizen participation in the past, before e-rulemaking, with more recent results on citizen participation after the introduction of various types of technological innovations. Contrary to prevailing predictions, empirical research shows that e-rulemaking makes little difference: citizen input remains typically sparse, notwithstanding the relative ease with which individuals can now learn about and comment on regulatory proposals. These findings indicate that the more significant barriers to citizen participation are cognitive and motivational. Even with e-rulemaking, it takes a high level of technical sophistication to understand and comment on regulatory proceedings. Moreover, even though information technology lowers the absolute cost of submitting comments to regulatory agencies, it also dramatically decreases the costs of a wide variety of entertainment and commercial activities that are much more appealing to most citizens. Given persistent opportunity costs and other barriers to citizen participation, even future e-rulemaking efforts appear unlikely to lead to a participatory revolution, but instead can be expected generally to deliver much the same level of citizen involvement in the regulatory process.


Although considerable research has been conducted in the arena of teacher effectiveness, important questions continue to persist: What is effective teaching? How may it be defined? How may it be measured? To date, educators and researchers have failed to reach agreement about clear-cut answers to these questions; indeed, consensus may not be possible. The answers undoubtedly are affected by a number of things, including the recognition that teaching effectiveness comprises multiple perspectives (Abrami, d'Apollania, & Rosenfield, 1997; Marsh & Dunkin, 1997) as well as such characteristics as the type of course, class size, student abilities, and grading practices (Abrami, d'Apollonia, & Cohen, 1990; Greenwald & Gillmore, 1997). Additionally, methodology may have a differential effect on findings. For example, according to d'Apollonia and Abrami (1997), reviews of multisection validity studies often reach different conclusions due, in part, to reviewers' biases. The primary issues addressed in this study deal with how teaching effectiveness might be defined or, more accurately, whether it might be defined in multiple ways, and if so, how it might be defined. For example, does the multidimensionality of the construct dictate multiple definitions, or might a single definition be able to capture it? We have addressed these matters in this study from the standpoint of student-rated teacher effectiveness and with methodology that, though somewhat unconventional, was selected in an effort to maximize interpretability of results by magnifying relationships and at the same time minimizing measurement error. Our approach was to ask students to rate instructors from whom they had taken a college or university course in the recent past, using high-inference items garnered from the teaching effectiveness literature that have shown to be strong correlates of teaching effectiveness. Prior to conducting their ratings, the students were provided with a brief training and question/answer session that dealt with avoidance of rating errors and clarification of items, procedures, the referent, and the like. The data they provided us were analyzed to see if multiple definitions of teacher effectiveness were indicated. A large segment of the teacher effectiveness literature describes investigations that seek identifying characteristics, factors, traits, classroom behaviors, and so on, of effective teachers by rating instruction; student ratings, in particular, have received a great deal of attention. The validity of student ratings has been thoroughly analyzed and generally supported in the literature during the past 25 years (Centra, 1994; Cohen, 1981, 1987; Feldman, 1989; Marsh, 1987; Marsh & Bailey, 1993). Indeed, Greenwald (1997) suggests that reviews of research conducted since about 1980 indicate overwhelming evidence supporting the construct, convergent, discriminant, and consequential validity of student ratings. Student ratings of instruction have been found to correlate highly with instructor personality traits (Feldman, 1986; Murray, Rushton, & Paunonen, 1990; Renaud & Murray, 1996). The Dr. Fox experiments of the 1970s (Marsh, 1987; Naftulin, Ware, & Donnelly, 1973) illustrated that students rated charismatic and expressive instructors as highly effective, regardless of the substantive content of a lecture. Murray et al. (1990) correlated peer ratings of personality traits with student ratings and found that personality traits differed among course types. Renaud and Murray (1996) also investigated relationships between instructor personality and student ratings but did not differentiate between course types. Their patterns of correlations were stronger than those found in the Murray et al. study, but could be due to restricted ranges in the earlier study. Student achievement and student ratings have been found to be related (Cohen, 1981, 1987; Greenwald & Gillmore, 1997; Marsh, 1987). …