The drilling industry has substantially improved performance based on knowledge from physics-based, statistical, and empirical models of components and systems. However, most models and source code have been recreated multiple times, which requires significant effort and energy with little additional benefit or step-wise improvements.
 The authors propose that it is time to form a coalition of industry and academic leaders to support an open source effort for drilling, to encourage the reuse of continuously improving models and coding efforts.
 The vision for this guiding coalition is to 1) set up a repository for source code, data, benchmarks, and documentation, 2) encourage good coding practices, 3) review and comment on the models and data submitted, 4) test, use and improve the code, 5) propose and collect anonymized real data, 6) attract talent and support to the effort, and 7) mentor those getting started. Those interested to add their time and talent to the cause may publish their results through peer-reviewed literature. Several online meetings are planned to create this coalition, establish a charter, and layout the guiding principles.
 Multiple support avenues are proposed to sustain the effort such as: annual user group meetings, create a SPE Technical Section, and initiating a Joint Industry Program (JIP). The Open Porous Media Initiative is just one example of how this could be organized and maintained.
 As a starting point, this paper reviews existing published drilling models and highlights the similarities and differences for commonly used drillstring hydraulics, dynamics, directional, and bit-rock interaction models.
 The key requirements for re-usability of the models and code are: 1) The model itself must be available as open source, well documented with the objective and expected outcomes, include commented code, and shared in a publicly available repository which can be updated, 2) A user's guide must include how to run the core software, how to extend software capabilities, i.e., plug in new features or elements, 3) Include a "theory" manual to explain the fundamental principles, the base equations, any assumptions, and the known limitations, 4) Data examples and formatting requirements to cover a diversity of drilling operations, and 5) Test cases to benchmark the performance and output of different proposed models.
 In May 2018 at "The 4th International Colloquium on Non-linear dynamics and control of deep drilling systems," the keynote question was, "Is it time to start using open source models?" The answer is "yes".
 Modeling the drilling process is done to help drill a round, ledge free hole, without patterns, with minimum vibration, minimum unplanned dog legs, that reaches all geological targets, in one run per section, and in the least time possible.
 An open source repository for drilling will speed up the rate of learning and automation efforts to achieve this goal throughout the entire well execution workflow, including planning, BHA design, real-time operations, and post well analysis.


This paper reports on impurity behavior in a set of hybrid discharges with Ne seeding-one of the techniques considered to reduce the power load on reactor walls. A series of experiments carried out with light gas injection on JET with the ITER-Like-Wall (ILW) suggests increased tungsten release and impurity accumulation [C. Challis et al., Europhysics Conference Abstracts 41F, 2.153 (2017)]. The presented method relies mainly on the measurements collected by vacuum-ultra-violet and soft X-ray (SXR) diagnostics including the "SOXMOS" spectrometer and the SXR camera system. Both diagnostics have some limitations. Consequently, only a combination of measurements from these systems is able to provide comprehensive information about high-Z [e.g., tungsten (W)] and mid-Z [nickel (Ni), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and molybdenum (Mo)] impurities for their further quantitative diagnosis. Moreover, thanks to the large number of the SXR lines of sight, determination of a 2D radiation profile was also possible. Additionally, the experimental results were compared with numerical modeling based on integrated simulations with COREDIV. Detailed analysis confirmed that during seeding experiments, higher tungsten release is observed, which was also found in the past. Additionally, it was noticed that besides W, the contribution of molybdenum to SXR radiation was greater, which can be explained by the place of its origin.


BACKGROUND
Myxoma virus (MYXV) is a promising oncolytic agent and is highly effective against immortalized glioma cells but less effective against brain tumor initiating cells (BTICs), which are believed to mediate glioma development/recurrence. MYXV encodes various proteins to attenuate host cell apoptosis, including an antiapoptotic Bcl-2 homologue known as M011L. Such proteins may limit the ability of MYXV to kill BTICs, which have heightened resistance to apoptosis. We hypothesized that infecting BTICs with an M011L-deficient MYXV construct would overcome BTIC resistance to MYXV.

METHODS
We used patient-derived BTICs to evaluate the efficacy of M011L knockout virus (vMyx-M011L-KO) versus wild-type MYXV (vMyx-WT) and characterized the mechanism of virus-induced cell death in vitro. To extend our findings in a novel immunocompetent animal model, we derived, cultured, and characterized a C57Bl/6J murine BTIC (mBTIC0309) from a spontaneous murine glioma and evaluated vMyx-M011L-KO efficacy with and without temozolomide (TMZ) in mBTIC0309-bearing mice.

RESULTS
We demonstrated that vMyx-M011L-KO induces apoptosis in BTICs, dramatically increasing sensitivity to the virus. vMyx-WT failed to induce apoptosis as M011L protein prevented Bax activation and cytochrome c release. In vivo, intracranial implantation of mBTIC0309 generated tumors that closely recapitulated the pathological and molecular profile of human gliomas. Treatment of tumor-bearing mice with vMyx-M011L-KO significantly prolonged survival in immunocompetent-but not immunodeficient-mouse models, an effect that is significantly enhanced in combination with TMZ.

CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggest that vMyx-M011L-KO is an effective, well-tolerated, proapoptotic oncolytic virus and a strong candidate for clinical translation.


A 38-year-old woman with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) was admitted with sudden onset of painful proptosis of her left eye (figure 1A). Examination revealed a markedly proptosed left eye with chemosis, ptosis and painful reduction of eye movements. Visual acuity was preserved. Apart from coryzal symptoms, there were no other systemic features of infection. A CT scan of the orbits revealed diffuse thickening of the left lateral rectus muscle (Solid arrows) with retro-orbital fat stranding (Broken arrow), compatible with focal myositis (figure 1B,C). There was no other intracranial space occupying lesion. Her creatine kinase levels and thyroid function were normal, anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody was negative but erythrocyte …


1. Cerebral blood flow, oxygen and glucose consumption, hind-limb blood flow and oxygen consumption, blood pressure and heart rate were measured in seven ventilated dogs. 2. Inhalation of 5% CO 2 caused a significant increase in cerebral blood flow and a significant decrease in cerebral glucose utilization. 3. Isoprenaline infusion (0·4 μg kg −1 min −1 ) caused a rise in cerebral blood flow, oxygen and glucose consumption. There was also an increase in peripheral blood flow and in most instances an increase in peripheral oxygen utilization. 4. The inhalation of 5% CO 2 during isoprenaline infusion abolished the increase in cerebral blood flow, in cerebral glucose consumption and heart rate. Cerebral oxygen consumption was significantly decreased to below control values. Once the administration of 5% CO 2 was discontinued an increase in peripheral oxygen consumption became apparent. 5. The possible therapeutic implications of these findings are outlined.


Abstract— Here we report the results of our petrologic and mineralogical study of enstatite (E) chondrites in order to explore their thermal histories. We studied silica phases in 20 E chondrites by laser micro Raman spectroscopy to determine the silica polymorphs they contain. Silica phases are commonly present in E chondrites and their polymorphs reflect the physical conditions of formation. The samples studied here include EH3–5, EL3–6, E chondrite melt rocks, and an anomalous E chondrite. We identified quartz, tridymite, cristobalite, and silica glass in the samples studied. EH4–5 and EH melt rocks are divided into high and low temperature classes based on niningerite‐alabandite solid solutions. EH3, EL3, and some EH melt rocks of the high temperature class contain tridymite and cristobalite. We suggest that tridymite and cristobalite crystallized in chondrules and E chondrite melts, followed by rapid cooling, leading to the survival of these silica polymorphs. EH4 and EL4 chondrites also contain tridymite and cristobalite in their chondrules, indicating that these silica polymorphs survived low temperature metamorphism (as estimated from opaque mineral geothermometers) because of the sluggishness of the transition to a more stable polymorph. Tridymite and cristobalite in EL6 chondrites reflect the high temperature processes experienced by these meteorites. On the other hand, some EH5 chondrites and EH melt rocks of the low temperature class contain quartz, which may be a product of the transition from tridymite or cristobalite during a long period of low temperature metamorphism. Although the thermal history of E chondrites have been previously estimated from opaque minerals, such compositions mainly reflect low temperature processes. However, we can reconstruct the primordial thermal processes and subsequent cooling histories of E chondrites from their silica polymorphs. The E chondrites have complicated thermal histories, which produced the observed variations among them.


Today radars are used to measure the distance to almost anything. It is used to determine the position of airplanes as well as the level of an oiltank. To achieve high precision in level gauging radars high quality components are demanded. This makes them expensive. In this project we evaluate the possibility to use relatively cheap components, used in radio communication, to measure distances with an OFDM-modulated signal. The components are cheap due to large production volumes rather than low performance. To do this we started with working out the theory needed for length estimation. At our disposal we had the SDR SFF Development Platform from Lyrtech. A simulation model of the platform was built in MatLab. This model was used to verify the theory developed. Finally our algorithms was implemented on the development platform. Both simulations and real life measurements show that OFDM can be used to measure distances. Even though the hardware used in this project is not dedicated for this application we managed to perform measurements with good accuracy at short range. We believe that with more suitable hardware OFDM-radars will be able to compete with todays high end level gauging radars at all ranges.


Abstract There is substantial evidence of the complexity of belenium speciation in living organisms and of the importance of the selective determination of the particular species of this element in order to understand its metabolism and biological significance in clinical chemistry, biology, toxicology, and nutrition. The state-of-the-art of analytical techniques available for this purpose is critically evaluated with particular emphasis on the element-selective detection and identification of the detected selenium compounds. Whereas there are a number of techniques available, which can detect various selenium species in living organisms selectively, few techniques exist that are able to identify and to characterize the species detected.


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To set up patient specific quality control (QC) process that ensures the integrity, deliverability and accurate dose for the SBRT lung plan.

MATERIALS/METHODS
In 11/2012, SBRT Vero system (C-band 6MV linac on gimbals, mounted on a rotating (+/- 60 degree) ring) was commissioned at our facility. The gimbals allow pan/tilt of the linac to mechanically account for gantry sag during gantry rotation, and track the motion of the target by moving the axis of the treatment beam. The linac is equipped with 0.5 mm (at isocenter) MLC. The treatment planning system (BrainLab iPlanTM) has the following algorithms available: Pencil Beam, Monte-Carlo (Dose-to-water and Dose-to-Medium options). For the treated 37 targets (15 patients), 24 were located in lung. Monte-Carlo (dose-to-water) algorithm was used, as it best corresponded to the film/ion chamber commissioning dosimetry. Quality assurance (QA) for lung targets utilizes 0.01cc ion chamber measurements in CIRSTM heterogeneous lung motion phantom with a range of small targets available. Per institutional policy, point dose from the patient plan mapped onto the phantom is compared to measured dose in the same heterogeneous phantom in static configuration. Additionally, the same QC process was repeated using 3D sinusoidally moving target with the amplitudes similar or exceeding the results of patient-specific target motion evaluation performed for each 4DCT patient at UFPTI. A range of planning geometries was used and QC-verified: ring angles within ±15degrees and fields 2.5-5.0cm diameter.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
The measured dose was within 2.5% from the Monte Carlo calculation, with 1.2 % average difference between plan and measurement in the static case, and within 3% with average 1.6% and 1% SD for dynamic case. The agreement was satisfactory and ensured the integrity of the treatment planning and delivery process.


From the Publisher:
The latest release of CORBA boasts many new features that were highly anticipated by developers, including all of the necessary services for building fully distributed applications regardless of platform or programming language. Written by a leading international authority on CORBA and the bestselling author of CORBA 3 Fundamentals and Programming, Second Edition (0-471-29518-3), this book delivers on its title, providing a quick and easy-to-understand reference to CORBA 3 for developers who just need the basics to the upgrade—and don't have the time to read a huge reference guide. After reviewing the features grouped under the CORBA 3 banner, Siegel goes on to describe the integration of CORBA with Java and the Internet, mapping XML to OMG IDL, messaging, QoS control including specializations for Real-Time and embedded systems, and the CORBA Component Model (CCM).


The availability of large amounts of mobility data has stimulated the research in discovering patterns and understanding regularities. Comparatively, less attention has been paid to the study of variability, which, however, has been argued as equally important as regularities, since variability identifies diversity. In a transport network, variability exists from person to person, from place to place, and from day to day. In this paper, we present a set of measuring of variability at individual and aggregated levels using multi-day smart-card data. Statistical analysis, correlation matrix and network-based clustering methods are applied and potential use of measured results for urban applications are also discussed. We take Singapore as a case study and use one-week smart-card data for analysis. An interesting finding is that though the number of trips and mobility patterns varies from day to day, the overall spatial structure of urban movement always remains the same throughout a week. This finding showed that a systemic framework with well-organized analytical methods is indeed necessary for extracting variability that may change at different levels and consequently for uncovering different aspects of dynamics, namely transit, social and urban dynamics. We consider this paper as a tentative work towards such generic framework for measuring variability and it can be used as a reference for other research work in such a direction.


:  In this paper, we summarize a series of studies on the developmental changes in social cognition in mother-raised infant chimpanzees from birth to around 2 years old. The infants preferentially tracked a photograph of their mother's face at 1 month but showed indifferent preferences to faces at 2 months old. This change in facial recognition was correlated with a decrease in neonatal spontaneous smiling, increase in social smiling and a decline in neonatal imitation of facial expressions. Also at around 2 months, the infants began to show preferences for directed-gaze faces over averted gazes, and the amount of mutual gaze time between mother and infant chimpanzees increased. Thus, by 2 months of age, abilities required for dyadic interactions are already developed in chimpanzees as is the case in humans. The development of triadic interactions, however, is rather different between these two species. The infant chimpanzee can follow another's pointing or gaze at around 1 year, but even by 2 years old, does not "share" attention with the others.


The subject of instrument relevance is addressed by examining issues that have arisen in the use of a single scale over a forty year period. The issues revolve around the impact of varying social conditions, changing ethos, differential respondent receptiveness, and evolving research technology. Extended use of an instrument, it is argued, yields information that transcends the conventional techniques for testing instrument adequacy. The lack of opportunities in social work for accessing information on extended use of measurement tools is due, among other factors, to a preoccupation with working on subjects that are new and original and to a lack of coordination among research endeavors


Soil degradation is a major problem in the agriculturally dominated country of Tajikistan, which makes it necessary to determine and monitor the state of soils. For this purpose a soil spectral library was established as it enables the determination of soil properties with relatively low costs and effort. A total of 1465 soil samples were collected from three 10x10 km test sites in western Tajikistan. The diffuse reflectance of the samples was measured with a FieldSpec PRO FR from ASD in the spectral range from 380 to 2500 nm in laboratory. 166 samples were finally selected based on their spectral information and analysed on total C and N, organic C, pH, CaCO₃, extractable P, exchangeable Ca, Mg and K, and the fractions clay, silt and sand. Multiple linear regression was used to set up the models. Two third of the chemically analysed samples were used to calibrate the models, one third was used for hold-out validation. Very good prediction accuracy was obtained for total C (R² = 0.76, RMSEP = 4.36 g kg⁻¹), total N (R² = 0.83, RMSEP = 0.30 g kg⁻¹) and organic C (R² = 0.81, RMSEP = 3.30 g kg⁻¹), good accuracy for pH (R² = 0.61, RMSEP = 0.157) and CaCO3(R² = 0.72, RMSEP = 4.63 %). No models could be developed for extractable P, exchangeable Ca, Mg and K, and the fractions clay, silt and sand. It can be concluded that the spectral library approach has a high potential to substitute standard laboratory methods where rapid and inexpensive analysis is required.


Concrete is often used as a primary material to build protective structures. There is a wide range of research work being performed to simulate the behavior of reinforced concrete under impact and blast loading. This behavior is studied from both material and structural points of view. The research study presented in this thesis focuses on material aspects of modeling. LS-DYNA® is an effective software for modeling and finite element analysis of structural members. It allows the user to define the material through commercially available or user-defined constitutive material models. Each material model has a distinct set of parameters to define a material which is further assigned to elements and used for simulations. This research study presents a user defined material model called Modified Concrete Virtual Internal Bond Model (MC-VIB). The basic constitutive model of VIB assumes the body as a collection of randomly oriented material points interconnected by a network of internal bonds. The model was modified by several researchers for different purposes. This research presents the MC-VIB for concrete under dynamic loading and studies its implementation into LS-DYNA®. The modifications include incorporation of shear behavior and accounting for the difference in behavior of concrete in tension and compression. iii This project includes the calibration of the model based on stress-strain behavior of single element and cylinder model of concrete. The parameters are based on concrete with a uniaxial compressive strength of 27.6 MPa (4 ksi). These numerical curves are compared to those obtained from conventionally used material models for concrete and standard curves obtained by accepted equations to check the accuracy of prediction. The material model available in LS-DYNA® requires a number of input parameters to define concrete behavior. These properties are normally derived from actual tests performed on the concrete under consideration. Often the properties are based on past experiments performed and the values are automatically generated by the material model. This study has attempted to keep the number of variables and hence the number of tests to minimum. This study has derived the values for the input parameters of the MC-VIB and has successfully simulated the stress-strain response of concrete in tension and compression under dynamic loading.


Since the mid-1990s, Cameroon has launched a process of decentralization of the management of its forests. Among other innovations, this decentralization process has transferred powers over forests and financial benefits accruing from their exploitation to local communities. This article explores and profiles such local-level outcomes. It shows that the experiment has not yet brought up expected positive results and very often generates internal conflicts, a new social stratification and the marginalization of traditional authorities. Second, the article argues that decentralized management is not producing positive economic results, as there is no significant economic change in the case study villages. Third, it demonstrates that the experiment is leading to negative environmental results, such as the degradation of many community forests in the forested Cameroon. The author recommends that policy makers, researchers, nongovernmental organizations, and the local communities design a monitoring framework for decentralized management.


Optical networks that support mixed line rates can accommodate diverse connection requests without the need for traffic grooming by assigning the appropriate line rates to match the bandwidth requirements of requests. Higher line rates offer the advantage of a lower per-unit cost of transmission but may suffer from more impairments compared to lower line rates. These impairments result in shorter optical reach for high line rate signals, necessitating the use of electronic regenerators to restore the signal quality. We formulate the regenerator site selection problem as an integer linear program and propose heuristics to solve the design problem in the context of waveband optical networks. We propose four heuristics and study the effect of regenerator site selection on the number of optical switch ports in waveband networks and the electronic cost.


This study investigates the perception of accountants and auditors on the impact of XBRL adoption in Malaysia. This study also examines the possible challenges and strategies for XBRL adoption success. Using questionnaire survey, this study show that the accountants and auditors perceived the impact of XBRL adoption would be on business decision-making, regulatory compliance, continuous reporting, financial reports availability and analysis, and continuous auditing. This study also shows that lack of accounting qualification and lack of training are among the challenges for XBRL adoption in Malaysia. The implication of this study is that the accountants and auditors need to be given exposure on XBRL taxonomies and voluntarily filing programs. This study provides understanding to the government, regulators and standard setters on strategizing the initiative programs on voluntarily adopting XBRL in future. This would reduce the negative perception on the challenges that might be faced by the accountants and auditors prior to XBRL adoption.


In this paper we focus on a long-term dynamic analysis of the optimal adaptation/mitigation mix in the presence of a pollution threshold above which adaptation is no longer efficient. We account for accumulation in abatement capital, greenhouse gases, and adaptation capital in order to better capture the arbitrage between abatement and adaptation investments. Pollution damages arise from the emissions due to the country consumption but also from the emissions of the rest of the world (ROW). A pollution threshold is then introduced, above which adaptation is no longer efficient. We obtain that if this threshold is lower than the steady-state level of pollution, there is no way for the modeled economy to avoid it. In particular, such a situation will appear if the ROW's emissions are high. Next step is then to introduce another type of investment allowing for lower ROW pollution ie. emissions eduction abroad through CDM for instance. We obtain that CDM may be a means to avoid a pollution threshold above which adaptation becomes of no use.


With rising turnover in institutional portfolios, investment managers are paying increasing attention to transaction costs. The authors provide some insight into managing costs in an approach that assumes trading is a process, not an event. In the process, there are three actors: portfolio manager, in–house trader, and broker, each with its own period of discretion. Costs of transacting should be attributed to the different actors according only to their periods of discretion. High–turnover portfolios should invest in systems that would allow estimation of the costs attributable to each actor's decisions. The authors illustrate how this might be done.


Following the recent discovery of γ rays from the radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy PMN J0948+0022 (z = 0.5846), we started a multiwavelength campaign from radio to γ rays, which was carried out between the end of 2009 March and the beginning of July. The source displayed activity at all the observed wavelengths: a general decreasing trend from optical to γ-ray frequencies was followed by an increase of radio emission after less than two months from the peak of the γ-ray emission. The largest flux change, about a factor of about 4, occurred in the X-ray band. The smallest was at ultraviolet and near-infrared frequencies, where the rate of the detected photons dropped by a factor 1.6–1.9. At optical wavelengths, where the sampling rate was the highest, it was possible to observe day scale variability, with flux variations up to a factor of about 3. The behavior of PMN J0948+0022 observed in this campaign and the calculated power carried out by its jet in the form of protons, electrons, radiation, and magnetic field are quite similar to that of blazars, specifically of flat-spectrum radio quasars. These results confirm the idea that radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies host relativistic jets with power similar to that of average blazars.


This article uses the General Social Survey (GSS) to compare the effects of "social" work rewards on job satisfaction and turnover intent for nonprofit, public, and for-profit workers. Drawing on properties of the nonprofit sector, we hypothesize that social rewards should be more prevalent in nonprofit workplaces and have a larger impact on job decisions for nonprofit than for government and for-profit workers. Consistent with this, we find that social rewards are perceived as more prevalent in nonprofit organizations. In addition, having helpful coworkers and having a supervisor who cares about one's welfare have larger effects on job satisfaction for nonprofit workers than for workers in the other two sectors, and having a helpful supervisor discourages turnover intent to a larger extent in the nonprofit sector than in the for-profit and public sectors. Overall, however, we find that differences in the magnitude of impact of social rewards by sector are less pronounced than theory would suggest.


This study aim to identify the measurement invariance of the moral identity scale among adolescents, according to the student gender, and to achieve this goal the descriptive analytical method was used to analyze the results of moral identity scale among adolescents. In particular, the responses of 611 male and female adolescents have been analyzed on 12 items, after excluding one item from the internalization dimension. Data were analyzed using the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and the Multiple Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis (MGCFA) through the statistical programs: (AMOS 25). To judge the suitability level of test factorial structure, the following four indexes were used for the goodness of fit test in the structural equation models (SEM): Chi-Square (i£2), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Root Mean Square Error of Approximation Index (RMSEA), Standardized Root Mean Residual Index (SRMR) and (ΔCFI, ΔRMSEA, ΔSRMR). Results show the suitability of proposed model, within its two dimensions (internalization, symbolism) of moral identity scale content among adolescents. Results also show the presence of configures, metric, and scalar invariance in the scale items, according to the student gender variable.


Metadata is important for the interpretation of scientific data, quality assessment and long term usability of data sets. The sharing of spectral data collections among research groups is uncommon and one of the reasons for this is the missing standardisation of the sampling process. Appropriate metadata serves the purpose of detailing the sampling procedure and the surrounding conditions during data capture, thus providing necessary information for data sharing. Reliable data retrieval requires the organised storage of spectral and metadata. To this means RSL developed the SPECCHIO system which is based on a relational database and provides data input, query and output mechanisms that strive to minimize the manual data capture. SPECCHIO serves as a nonredundant repository and source for spectral signatures which can be retrieved by metadata queries. The system will be used in the level 2/3 processing of the APEX (Airborne Prism Experiment) product generation to support the classification of natural and manmade materials and landcovers.


Over the years many techniques have been developed for simulating and modelling trees, ferns, crystals and natural structures. Indeed, many complex and realistic images have been formed. Often, these rely on rule based systems to create the structure, they start with a simple form and progressively refine it into a more complex form by applying rules. We use the notion of Sticky Pixels to form textures. The pixels (or objects) move around the space, when they touch another object they stick together to form a larger cluster. The objects aggregate and stop at the place and position where they first touched. Such an aggregation generates neighbourhoods of pixels that form natural looking shapes. The pixels may randomly walk around (such as using Brownian motion), or be guided along pre-defined routes (often described as ballistic), to obtain different structures. We use a ballistic aggregation technique, where the particles are randomly dropped onto a canvas, migrate and stick onto the closest position of the nearest cluster. We present Sticky Pixels, explain different parameters and describe our algorithm.


The Platonic idea of justice is based on the historical possibility of a flourishing political community. From this perspective, it may be argued that the fundamental principle of the right to life provides the normative basis for Plato's investigation into the question of justice. Although the popular image of Plato as a utopian and esoteric thinker still dominates much of the contemporary readings of his political thought, thus given rise to persistent allegations of a "hidden agenda" of totalitarianism, racism and political elitism, I seek to demonstrate in this essay that Plato's concern with the question of justice, when viewed from the perspective of the historical possibility a flourishing political community, lends itself to a more 'practical" (concrete) analysis, whose moral significance is still relevant today. The all too familiar images of millions of people across the global South (the so-called developing world) suffering and dying from the devastating impact of globalised poverty, as the rich and powerful nations of the West continue to dictate to "the rest" how to live, seriously undermines the human right to life within a flourishing political community .


In 2002, Susan Schmidt retraced John Smith's 1608 voyage on the Chesapeake Bay. In Landfall along the Chesapeake, a cruising guide for Chesapeake boaters and a field log for naturalists, Schmidt compares the beauty of ancestral legacy and childhood memory to her observations on a 100-day voyage in a 22-foot boat. As she circles the Bay counterclockwise from Jamestown, she explores Smith's encounters with Native Americans and the Bay's ecological changes over the past four hundred years. On each river and creek, she quotes Smith's journals on matching wits with Powhatan, meeting Pocahontas, surviving thunderstorms, ambush, and a stingray's barb. Anchored on wild creeks, Schmidt observes swans and dragonflies, lightning and sunsets; in port she interviews colorful characters and working watermen about blue crabs and oysters. Scientists explain the Bay's nitrogen overload, water-level rise, anoxia, Pfiesteria, Kepone, and the Ghost Fleet. Native American chiefs discuss their heritage then and now. Ashore, Schmidt walks on her ancestor's farm, now a military chemical dump, and climbs her grandfather's lighthouse. Despite her despair at bad air quality and diminished fisheries, and her dread of high wind and rough seas, Schmidt expresses gratitude for small-town hospitality and the navigation skills her father taught her.


Purpose
Using the holistic approach to migrant exclusion, the purpose of this paper is to examine the refugee crisis as a preparation stage for future exclusion in the host countries. In previous migration analyses, the preparation stage involved only the country of origin, where people were becoming acclimatized to casual and low-status work and an ethos of survival. In the refugee crisis, this important stage spans across three spaces: the country of origin, Turkey as an intermediate stage and the hotspots of Greece.

Design/methodology/approach
This is a qualitative research that was based on 22 semi-structured interviews with refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan who live in the hotspot of Moria which is situated in Lesvos, Greece.

Findings
The research shows that in the first two countries of the preparation stage, refugees have become accustomed to casual and low-status jobs, which results in the loss of their labor identity and the development of instrumental work orientations. Similarly, the living conditions at the hotspots are so problematic that refugees are becoming desperate to escape this environment. These can have serious consequences for integration in the host countries, as refugees become pacified and at the same time strongly inclined to enter casual and low-status employment. Both developments can drastically undermine the refugees' relation to the societies of the host countries.

Originality/value
The paper suggests that, given the preparation stage in these three settings, migration policy in the host countries should focus on recognizing long marginalization processes, immediately decongesting the hotspots and pay particular emphasis on the acknowledgment or creation of skills that can distance refugees from casual and low-status work.


Online harassment is a pervasive and pernicious problem. Techniques like natural language processing and machine learning are promising approaches for identifying abusive language, but they fail to address structural power imbalances perpetuated by automated labeling and classification. Similarly, platform policies and reporting tools are designed for a seemingly homogenous user base and do not account for individual experiences and systems of social oppression. This paper describes the design and evaluation of HeartMob, a platform built by and for people who are disproportionately affected by the most severe forms of online harassment. We conducted interviews with 18 HeartMob users, both targets and supporters, about their harassment experiences and their use of the site. We examine systems of classification enacted by technical systems, platform policies, and users to demonstrate how 1) labeling serves to validate (or invalidate) harassment experiences; 2) labeling motivates bystanders to provide support; and 3) labeling content as harassment is critical for surfacing community norms around appropriate user behavior. We discuss these results through the lens of Bowker and Star's classification theories and describe implications for labeling and classifying online abuse. Finally, informed by intersectional feminist theory, we argue that fully addressing online harassment requires the ongoing integration of vulnerable users' needs into the design and moderation of online platforms.


A frequency domain approach for reducing linear, time-invariant systems is presented which produces stable approximations of stable systems. The method is based upon the Schwarz canonical form and is shown to have a continued-fraction representation. A link between this method and the popular Routh approximation is also given. Further, the Schwarz approximation is combined with a moments-matching technique to improve steady-state responses to step and polynomial inputs. Examples are given to illustrate the methods.


Melodramas are sometimes called "tearjerkers" because of their ability to make viewers cry, but there is currently no detailed account of how they succeed at this task. Psychological research suggests that crying occurs when people feel helpless in the face of intense emotion. The emotion felt most intensely when watching melodramas is sadness, and sadness has a structure and specific features that determine its intensity. I describe the ways the conventions of melodrama fulfill the criteria for intense sadness and perceived helplessness that underlie these films' ability to make viewers cry. I illustrate this model with a detailed analysis of Stella Dallas (1937).


We provide a way to ease the verification of programs whose state evolves monotonically. The main idea is that a property witnessed in a prior state can be soundly recalled in the current state, provided (1) state evolves according to a given preorder, and (2) the property is preserved by this preorder. In many scenarios, such monotonic reasoning yields concise modular proofs, saving the need for explicit program invariants. We distill our approach into the monotonic-state monad, a general yet compact interface for Hoare-style reasoning about monotonic state in a dependently typed language. We prove the soundness of the monotonic-state monad and use it as a unified foundation for reasoning about monotonic state in the F⋆ verification system. Based on this foundation, we build libraries for various mutable data structures like monotonic references and apply these libraries at scale to the verification of several distributed applications.


We present an experimental and theoretical study of long distance optical binding effects acting upon micro-particles placed in a standing wave optical field. In particular we present for the first time quantitatively the binding forces between individual particles for varying inter-particle separations, polarizations and incident angles of the binding beam. Our quantitative experimental data and numerical simulations show that these effects are essentially enhanced due to the presence of a reflective surface in a sample chamber. They also reveal conditions to form stable optically bound clusters of two and three particles in this geometry. We also show that the inter-particle separation in the formed clusters can be controlled by altering the angle of the beam incident upon the sample plane. This demonstrates new perspectives for the generation and control of optically bound soft matter and may be useful to understand various inter-particle effects in the presence of reflective surfaces.


Malicious crowdsourcing forums are gaining traction as sources of spreading misinformation online, but are limited by the costs of hiring and managing human workers. In this paper, we identify a new class of attacks that leverage deep learning language models (Recurrent Neural Networks or RNNs) to automate the generation of fake online reviews for products and services. Not only are these attacks cheap and therefore more scalable, but they can control rate of content output to eliminate the signature burstiness that makes crowdsourced campaigns easy to detect. Using Yelp reviews as an example platform, we show how a two phased review generation and customization attack can produce reviews that are indistinguishable by state-of-the-art statistical detectors. We conduct a survey-based user study to show these reviews not only evade human detection, but also score high on "usefulness" metrics by users. Finally, we develop novel automated defenses against these attacks, by leveraging the lossy transformation introduced by the RNN training and generation cycle. We consider countermeasures against our mechanisms, show that they produce unattractive cost-benefit tradeoffs for attackers, and that they can be further curtailed by simple constraints imposed by online service providers.


This article presents analytical and computational fluid-dynamics (CFD) solutions of the unsteady flow resulting from a horizontal circular disk moving downward at a constant velocity toward a horizontal floor seeded with spherical micro-particles, and the effect of this flow on particle detachment and levitation. The selected configuration is a simplification of numerous practical applications in which particle resuspension is important, for example a foot or an object impacting a dusty floor, or a squeeze film thrust bearing with particle contamination. The resulting radial and axial velocity field, coupled with a particle detachment model and the particle equations of motion were employed to compute particle trajectories in the gap. The CFD solutions were utilized to describe the high-speed radial wall jet and the vortices developing outside the disk and to explain their role in particle levitation and entrainment. It is shown that as the gap narrows the resulting radial velocity close to the disk perimeter is high enough to detach and levitate μ m-size particles, and that the vortices shed by the descending disk and its high-velocity radial wall jet create an upward convective motion that contributes to particle resuspension from the floor and entrainment in any far-field flow that might be present around the descending disk.


Children's fascination with buildings is a natural outgrowth of their curiosity about anything strange or huge or complex. This unique book brings together thirteen architectural wonders that have intrigued children for years. Through activities such as games, quizzes, drawings and other activities, it teaches them the history behind each of the buildings, and presents fascinating facts about the design, historical use, and construction techniques. This book features pyramids built by men with pulleys, a tower that leans, an opera house shaped like a sailboat, a museum built like a spiral, and the most recent example, a bird's nestA" stadium where the 2008 summer Olympics were held. Each of these buildings and more are introduced to young readers through lively texts and illustrations that will serve to heighten their interest and knowledge about the world's most important architecture, and perhaps inspire them to dream and build on their own.


Salinity in estuaries is influenced by a variety of processes including tidal advection and diffusion and river discharge. The effect of hydrodynamic features on salinity was studied in the Senegal River Estuary (SRE). This estuary is of strategic importance for large populations, but it has been greatly affected by human action (regulation of the freshwater inflow, change in the location of the river mouth ...), which has caused major changes in salinity and ecological functioning. To analyse the impacts of these changes and to determine the spatial and temporal variations in salinity in the SRE, we used a combination of three-dimensional modelling and field measurements. The overall salinity depends on freshwater inflow and tidal fluctuations. Salinity variation is mainly driven by ebb and flood near the mouth and by fortnightly cycles upstream. The enlargement of the mouth increases salinity, whereas its shifting location changes the location of the salinity front and creates a slack water zone downstream. Connection and disconnection of the tributaries also affects the salinity. The present study explains how the recent modifications have increased spatial variation and reduced seasonal differences of salinity and provides a tool for managing the water in the estuary.


This article explores the relationship between the method of process tracing and the data collection technique of elite interviewing. The process tracing method has become an increasingly used and cited tool in qualitative research, a trend that has recently accelerated with the publication of Alexander George and Andrew Bennett's text (2005), Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences. That book outlines and explores the process tracing method in detail, highlighting its advantages for exploring causal processes and analyzing complex decision-making. Yet while the book presents a rigorous and compelling account of the process tracing method and its critical importance to case study research, the value of the method itself remains contested in some quarters, and there are aspects of George and Bennett's treatment of it that require further exploration.


Taipei Public Library Qiming Branch offers library services different to other branches which are specially for visually impaired people. As you know, visually impaired people have difficulty in reading so they rely on listening and touching to live and learn. Qiming Branch is devoted to not only providing braille books, audio books, e-books and large-print books but also meticulously designing a variety of activities to encourage the visually impaired to participate, such as a reading club, exhibition of touching art, and "watching" movies.
 It is not that kind of movie watching that uses the eyes. The program "Watching Movies Through Listening" intends to give the visually impaired the same opportunity to watch and learn from videos.
 "Watching Movies Through Listening" is an entertaining activity. We hope it can share joy and be fulfilling. Moreover, it's a cultural activity. By participating, the visually impaired can broaden their horizons and gain much food for thought; and it's also a social activity. We encourage the visually impaired to come out of their homes to attend.
 The event is guided by a professional storyteller and volunteer team. They orally describe the characters, scenes, sounds and plots of the movie. Through the interactive discussions, participants are able to deeply understand the implications and what the movie director wants to express.
However, still many visually impaired people can't come to library in person. In order to let the ones who can't conveniently participate, audio recording is available. We upload the mp3 files on to the Taipei Public Library website and visually impaired people can listen online or download the record by inputting the ID and password. It supports computer, mobile phones and tablets and they can listen at any place they want;and it's all free, mainly funded by the city government.
 Started in 2003, the program has been executed for well over 10 years. We upload 6 to 8 movies on average every month and have had 540 movies so far. 31,233 people have used this service in total. This thoughtful service helps to open another door for visually impaired people and lets them experience the colors of life. We have also built up a database of oral movies that can be shared with other institutions providing services for the visually impaired and wish to bridge the information access gap.


Lower Triassic platforms in the Nanpanjiang Basin contain extensive oolites. Interior oolites are stacked in meter-scale cycles arranged into larger coarsening-upward sequences. Oolites thicken toward margins to include grainstones up to 50 m (164 ft) thick and contain giant ooids (up to 1 cm [0.4 in.]) and composite coated grains. Cross-bedding, ripples, and abraded ooids indicate deposition in high-energy shoals. Apparent layer-cake correlation across interiors indicates amalgamation of shoals. Thinner interior lenses represent spillover lobes. Ooids are interpreted to have originally been bimineralic with cortices of radial or micritic fabrics (high-magnesium calcite), alternating with coarse pseudospar or brickwork (originally aragonite). Distorted ooids formed by brittle compaction of micritic cortices around voids are interpreted to have been dissolved aragonite. Abundant potential nuclei indicate that limited supply was not a factor contributing to the large ooid size. High-energy and abnormally high–seawater CaCO3 saturation are interpreted to be causes of the giant ooids. Most previous reports of giant ooids come from the Neoproterozoic, a period of increasing surface-water oxygenation and high CaCO3 saturation caused by a minimal skeletal carbonate precipitation. We interpret similar seawater chemistry in the aftermath of the end-Permian extinction to explain the genesis of the giant ooids in the Early Triassic. The genesis of bimineralic ooids during an Early Triassic period of rapidly increasing pCO2 and low indicates that an increasing Ca/Mg ratio was the primary mechanism driving the change from aragonite to calcite seas. The architecture, textures, and diagenesis of the Lower Triassic oolites of the Nanpanjiang Basin provide useful analogs for coeval reservoirs in Sichuan and the Middle East.


For the last three decades, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, comprising
Bahrain, Kuwait, Sultanate of Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) have relied heavily on doctors, nurses and allied health professionals
recruited from other countries. Globally, there is a persistent shortage of doctors and
nurses and the GCC countries are no longer able to meet their human resource
requirements through international recruitment. They have thus pursued policies that
aim to increase the supply of qualified indigenous health-care professionals -
indigenization.
This study aims to understand and examine why and how an indigenization policy has
been formulated and implemented in a purposively selected sample of three Gulf
States. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman have many commonalities and the structures
of their health-care services, labour force and indigenization policies confront similar
broad issues and challenges. However, they were selected to represent different social,
cultural and policy environments in the region and different levels of success in
creating an indigenous nursing workforce.
This study employs a qualitative research approach to generate an in-depth
understanding of the factors that facilitate or inhibit the implementation of
indigenization policies in nursing. This includes semi-structured interviews with 78
stakeholders comprising current and former policy-makers, human resource
managers, religious leaders and nursing officials living and working in one of the
three Gulf States. Document analysis provided the historical and technical
background for understanding the mechanism of the indigenization policy process and
practices. Findings reveal that cultural, economic and political issues play important
roles, as do society's views on education, the role of women and the image of nursing.
The recommendations to address these issues, particularly in respect of increasing
women's participation in the workforce, may contribute to the development of nursing
in the Gulf.


Lysosome associated membrane proteins (LAMPs) constitute a family of vertebrate proteins located predominantly in lysosomes, with lesser amounts present in endosomes and at the cell surface. Macrosialin/CD68s are similar to LAMPs in their subcellular distribution and amino acid sequence and presumed structure across the carboxyl terminal two thirds of their length. The functions of LAMPs and CD68s are not known. In the present study, a bioinformatics approach was used to identify a Caenorhabditis elegans protein (LMP-1) with sequence and presumed structural similarity to LAMPs and CD68s. LMP-1 appears to be the only membrane protein in C. elegans that carries a GYXX(phi) vertebrate lysosomal targeting sequence at its C terminus (where (phi) is a large, hydrophobic residue). LMP-1 was found to be present from early embryonic stages through adulthood and to be predominantly localized at the periphery of a population of large, membrane-bound organelles, called granules, that are seen throughout the early embryo but in later stages are restricted to the cells of the intestine. Analysis of an LMP-1 deficient C. elegans mutant revealed that LMP-1 is not required for viability under laboratory conditions, but the absence of LMP-1 leads to an alteration in intestinal granule populations, with apparent loss of one type of granule.


This article highlights the substantial role of Irish state governmentalities in structuring migrants' 'possible fields of action' (Foucault 1982: 790), while taking account of the agency of migrant subjects, albeit constrained, in negotiating Irish immigration regulation. It is based on data gathered from eighteen migrant mothers of Irish citizens and argues that it is important to recognise the political agency of migrants in generating new transnational modes of belonging despite the ways in which the state circumscribes their capacities to engage in transnational practices and maintain transnational relationships. This group of migrants simultaneously endeavoured to maintain transnational practices and relationships while cultivating local identifications. Although they had complex and contradictory attitudes to citizenship, the unifying theme was that social and spatial mobility are not inimical to local belonging. However, their local and transnational practices were impeded by prevailing discourses and regulations drawing on exclusionary configurations of citizenship which combined racialised notions of Irishness with neoliberalised concepts of the ideal citizen.


This article describes findings from research funded by the Metropolitan Police and Crimestoppers which aimed to explore children's online experiences. A non-random, stratified sample of 200 London school children aged 10- 13 participated in focus groups. Preliminary findings are also presented from unpublished ongoing PhD research, which seeks to explore sex offender behaviour online and the policing of the internet (Martellozzo, 2005 ongoing). The findings are discussed in the context of sex offender's use of the internet. This research indicates that children do have some basic knowledge about 'stranger danger' but are not necessarily applying these lessons to cyberspace. The children in this study had sufficient awareness to not give personal details to strangers on the internet, and would not arrange to meet them. However, they made a distinction between 'strangers' and 'virtual friends' and this is an important point. Preliminary findings also highlight the difficulty of policing the internet and serve to illustrate the manner in which the Sexual Offences Act 2003 is applied to internet sexual offending in practice.


The aim of the paper is the development of an all-dry photolithographic process in which the film preparation step as well as the development step is performed without the use of solvent. To implement an all-dry photoresist system we focused on coumarin derivatives, as this class can be photodimerized in the solid state and features sufficient high thermal stability. The dimerized product exhibits sufficiently different physical properties. The monomer can be evaporated at elevated temperatures whereas the dimerized product remains non-volatile under these conditions. With a tailored glass forming coumarin derivative we demonstrated the capability to develop clear patterns. A combinatorial approach, i.e. producing a compositional library in combination with the variation of exposure dose was utilized to efficiently optimize the all-dry photoresist system.


Abstract. Drained peatlands often act as carbon dioxide (CO2) hotspots. Raising the groundwater table is expected to reduce their CO2 contribution to the atmosphere and revitalise their function as carbon (C) sink in the long term. Without strict water management rewetting often results in partial flooding and the formation of spatially heterogeneous, nutrient-rich shallow lakes. Uncertainties remain as to when the intended effect of rewetting is achieved, as this specific ecosystem type has hardly been investigated in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) exchange. In most cases of rewetting, methane (CH4) emissions increase under anoxic conditions due to a higher water table and in terms of global warming potential (GWP) outperform the shift towards CO2 uptake, at least in the short term. Based on eddy covariance measurements we studied the ecosystem–atmosphere exchange of CH4 and CO2 at a shallow lake situated on a former fen grassland in northeastern Germany. The lake evolved shortly after flooding, 9 years previous to our investigation period. The ecosystem consists of two main surface types: open water (inhabited by submerged and floating vegetation) and emergent vegetation (particularly including the eulittoral zone of the lake, dominated by Typha latifolia). To determine the individual contribution of the two main surface types to the net CO2 and CH4 exchange of the whole lake ecosystem, we combined footprint analysis with CH4 modelling and net ecosystem exchange partitioning. The CH4 and CO2 dynamics were strikingly different between open water and emergent vegetation. Net CH4 emissions from the open water area were around 4-fold higher than from emergent vegetation stands, accounting for 53 and 13 g CH4 m−2 a−1 respectively. In addition, both surface types were net CO2 sources with 158 and 750 g CO2 m−2 a−1 respectively. Unusual meteorological conditions in terms of a warm and dry summer and a mild winter might have facilitated high respiration rates. In sum, even after 9 years of rewetting the lake ecosystem exhibited a considerable C loss and global warming impact, the latter mainly driven by high CH4 emissions. We assume the eutrophic conditions in combination with permanent high inundation as major reasons for the unfavourable GHG balance.


Purpose To measure Vernier acuity and resolution development after 3 years of age. Methods Observers were 39 children with normal vision (aged 3 to 12 years), 10 adult observers with normal vision (aged 19 to 24 years), and 7 adults with amblyopia. Vernier acuity and resolution were measured using uncrowded static stimuli and a 3AFC psychophysical paradigm. Curve fitting was used to estimate A2, the age at which thresholds are twice asymptotic levels. Results Vernier acuity was hyperacute (i.e., finer than predicted from foveal cone size or spacing) in 3- to 4-year-old observers, but developed later (A2=5.6 ± 1.5 years) than resolution acuity (A2=2.2 ± 0.9 years). Conclusions Children's Vernier thresholds are poorer than would be predicted solely from their decreased foveal photon capture. Therefore cortical immaturity may play a role in children's relative position acuity deficit. R/V ratios (resolution/Vernier thresholds) for the youngest age group are similar to those for adult nonstrabismic amblyopes, but better than for strabismic amblyopes.


The majority of studies on youth gangs are in the tradition of positivistic social science. When natural science is taken as the paradigm, a premium is placed on the value neutrality of the observer, the scientific rigor of the methodology, the unpolluted character of the data, and the generalizability of the findings—all with the aim of proving or disproving ideologically free testable hypotheses. In contrast, critical gang studies adopt a different lens that is best suited to the study of subaltern groups whose lifestyles, "habitats," and characteristics are stigmatized and pathologized by the larger society. Critical gang studies are based on the premise that all social and cultural phenomena emerge from tensions between the agents and interests of those who seek to control everyday life and those who have little option but to resist this relationship of domination. In this way, critical gang studies adopt interpretive, reflexive, holistic, and probing approaches to research, rejecting the penchant for survey-based truth claims and studies whose findings uncritically reflect the race, class, and gendered positions of the investigators.
 Thus, practitioners of critical gang studies contend that the key to understanding the gang is found in its dialectical relationship between inclusion and exclusion viewed historically and holistically. Therefore, critical gang students create a counter body of knowledge and an alternative methodology to illuminate (over)shadowed spaces of criminalized social action where hope mixes with survival, creativity with accommodation and, resistance with social reproduction. The data on critical gang studies draw from the entire world of gang members, revealing their agency as well as their structured environments, their organizational systems, rites, rituals, performances, ideologies and cultural products. The critical approach places emphasis on the meaning systems of gangs, their changes across time, and the possibilities that lie within their specific subcultural formations. Welcome to critical gang studies!


Purpose

This paper aims to study and explore the activities and the use of institutional network resources by industrial business associations (IBAs) to support and facilitate internationalisation processes of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Other goals are to understand the internationalisation follow-up process and the future vision of IBAs to improve this internationalisation support.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on empirical evidence and following an abductive approach, this paper presents a qualitative exploratory field research, providing insights from interviews performed with 20 IBAs based in Portugal.

Findings

The findings suggest that the current institutional network support to internationalisation is mainly provided through promotional activities; counselling, training and technical and legal support; information sharing; and cooperation with other institutional entities. Each support category is explored and explained and a new conceptual model is developed to represent these findings. Regarding the internationalisation follow-up, IBAs provide a continuous support for the international operations by using some instruments and mechanisms to assist SMEs after an internationalisation initiative. Finally, collaboration and the use of new information technology are the main aspects to improve IBAs' support in a near future.

Research limitations/implications

The qualitative methodological approach adopted in this work can imply a larger difficulty to obtain a generalisation of the findings. Another limitation is that the participating IBAs are based in only one country.

Practical implications

Findings can help SMEs to understand the functioning and the benefits of using the institutional network resources of IBAs in overcoming their lack of resources to operate in international markets. IBAs can also understand their current position in terms of internationalisation support and think about new ways for improving this support.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to a better understanding of the influence of institutional networks in SME internationalisation by exploring the specific role of one of the institutional actors rather than focusing on the institutional network as a whole. Therefore, this study details the current activities and uncovers other types of support provided by IBAs that are not based on export promotion programmes. New knowledge is also obtained about the specific information content, information sources and means and channels of information sharing used by IBAs for supporting SME internationalisation.


This essay considers whether the organizational arrangements established by the Constitution of the United States remain effective in promoting "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," which are the purposes of government according to Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. I conclude that they are no longer effective, and explore organizational reforms to address this failure. Specifically, the Constitution lacks a provision for substantive review of laws and regulations for consistency with the purposes of government—a function known in the private sector as quality assurance. The judicial power deals with legislative threats to life and liberty, but we need a better way to interdict threats to well-being. I propose the creation of a new branch, provisionally called the United States Board of Overseers, with responsibilities and powers analogous to those of the Supreme Court, but focused chiefly on the people's opportunities for well-being rather than protecting life and liberty through the rule of law. For reasons of political legitimacy the eleven Overseers are chosen by lot from a College consisting of millions of citizens qualified by age, education and (middle) income. In political terms, the proposal is intended to counter the current power of the oligarchy over the legislature and the administrative state with a strongly democratic institution representing the principal victims of oligarchic power, the middle class. Given the difficulty faced by the oligarchy in containing the destabilizing and inefficient excess greed of its members, the proposal is also in the collective interest of the one percent. Protection for the poorest is included in the proposal.


Managing of supply and demand is becoming more and more important within recent construction management research and practices. The concept of aggregation is now being introduced not only to manage the supply of the construction services by the downstream supply chain participants, but at the same time, the concept of aggregating the demand is being adopted by leading clients to make most out of service providers and suppliers in terms of value. This concept of aggregation or bundling the supply and demand could be seen in practice within the UK construction industry. One of the elements which contributed towards the aggregation is the integration of the supply chain participants to adopt and respond to the current market situation. This paper will not only discuss the concept of aggregation but win also talk briefly about the other supply chain integration related concepts including client led supply chain, knowledge about the whole supply chain, effects of procurement on integration of supply chain, etc. The paper will also include examples from the UK construction industry on bundling the supply and demand. The paper will also include the recommendations/suggestions for aggregation in the light of some reports published in the UK. The paper also argues that lean practices could be adopted in managing demand and supply of services and products within the construction industry but trust, integration and collaboration among the supply chain participants are pre-requisite.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the main cause of dementia worldwide. Emerging non-invasive treatments such as photobiomodulation target the mitochondria to minimize brain damage, improving cognitive functions. In this work, an experimental design was carried out to evaluate the effect of transcranial light therapy (TLTC) on synaptic plasticity (SP) and cognitive functions in an AD animal model. Twenty-three mice were separated into two general groups: an APP/PS1 (ALZ) transgenic group and a wild-type (WT) group. Each group was randomly subdivided into two subgroups: mice with and without TLTC, depending on whether they would undergo treatment with TLTC. Cognitive function, measured through an object recognition task, showed non-significant improvement after TLTC. SP, on the other hand, was evaluated using four electrophysiological parameters from the Schaffer-CA1 collateral hippocampal synapses: excitatory field potentials (fEPSP), paired pulse facilitation (PPF), long-term depression (LTD), and long-term potentiation (LTP). An improvement was observed in subjects treated with TLTC, showing higher levels of LTP than those transgenic mice that were not exposed to the treatment. Therefore, the results obtained in this work showed that TLTC could be an efficient non-invasive treatment for AD-associated SP deficits.


Air traffic is generally characterized by simple indicators like the number of aircraft flying over a given area or the total distance flown during a time window. As an example, these values may be used for estimating a rough number of air traffic controllers needed in a given control center or for performing economic studies. However, this approach is not adapted to more complex situations such as those encountered in airspace comparison or air traffic controllers training. An innovative representation of the traffic data, relying on a sound theoretical framework, is introduced in this work. It will pave the way to a number of tools dedicated to traffic analysis. Based on an extraction of local covariance, a grid with values in the space of symmetric positive definite matrices is obtained. It can serve as a basis of comparison or be subject to filtering and selection to obtain a digest of a traffic situation suitable for efficient complexity assessment.


Economically relevant factors in asset pricing models should impound information on the future path of state variables that drive asset risk premia. Imposing this condition, we investigate which publicly available characteristics predict individual stock returns during the sample period used by Fama and French (1993) i.e. their discovery period and the post-1993 or out-of-sample period. We find four characteristics have significant predictive power, in the cross-section, over and above that of their factors. In the out-of-sample period, five new characteristics become significant predictors. Similar results are seen for the Chen and Zhang (2010) model. Next, we find that characteristics that forecast stock returns before and after major economic events are very different. Finally, we find that the ability of characteristics to reflect economic uncertainty and sentiment changes in sign and magnitude over time- often vanishing altogether. Our results suggest that the search for a unique characteristic-based asset pricing model is unlikely to be fruitful given the secular variation in the relation between the sources of macroeconomic risks and firm-level characteristics.


Mouse hybridomas producing antibodies against the structural proteins of strain WV4843, a subgroup B strain of respiratory syncytial (RS) virus, were produced by fusion of Sp2/0 myeloma cells with spleen cells from BALB/c mice immunized with purified preparations of the virus. After immunoprecipitation test with [35S]methionine-labelled extracellular virions, 35 clones found to produce antibodies against the fusion (F) protein, six against the member (M) protein, 21 against the nucleocapsid (NP) and eight against the phospho- (P) protein were further characterized. Immunoprecipitation with [3H]glucosamine-labelled intracellular virus polypeptides detected nine hybridoma cell lines producing antibodies against the large glyco- (G) protein of the virus. By competitive binding ELISA tests with monoclonal antibodies against each of the structural components, a minimum of two, 24, four, 15 and three epitopes were detected on the G, F, M, NP and P proteins, respectively. Eleven monoclonal antibodies directed against nine epitopes of the F protein could neutralize the infectivity of the virus. In contrast, none of the nine monoclonal antibodies against G could neutralize the infectivity of the virus. In order to find out more about the antigenic relationship between human and bovine RS virus strains all monoclonal antibodies were reacted with subgroup A RS virus and also with three different strains of bovine RS virus and one strain of caprine RS virus in immunofluorescence, ELISA and immunoprecipitation tests. In addition, 31 previously developed monoclonal antibodies against subgroup A virus were reacted with the bovine and caprine strains. The numbers of monoclonal antibodies of subgroup B specific for the B type of the two human subgroups were 9/9, 3/35, 0/6, 0/21, 0/8, for the G, F, M, NP and P proteins, respectively. No antigenic variations were found between the three bovine strains and the caprine strain. They did not react with the nine monoclonal antibodies against the G protein of subgroup B, nor did they react with nine monoclonal antibodies against subgroup A. Most but not all of the monoclonal antibodies against the other structural proteins of the two human RS virus subgroups reacted with the four strains. All 11 monoclonal antibodies against the F protein of subgroup B that could neutralize the infectivity of subgroup B also reacted with the bovine strains and neutralized their infectivity. It is concluded that although the bovine strains share many epitopes with the two human subgroups, they are antigenically distinct from the human viruses.


Internet-enabled cell phones typically accommodate only three to 12 text lines, and their design emphasizes portability. Web interaction has, so far, been a secondary concern. For the most part, automated techniques to address the feature gap between the desktop and these phonetops rely on the notion of transducing-translating HTML and images into formats compatible with small devices, which typically cannot handle HTML content. The authors have developed a Web browsing model that supports navigation and action in separate interfaces, To demonstrate the model, they created m-Links, a middleware proxy system that retrieves Web documents using HTTP, lets users navigate and apply services to Web content, and delivers a suitable user interface to a variety of small Web-capable wireless devices.


Performance drop due to domain-shift is an endemic problem for NLP models in production. This problem creates an urge to continuously annotate evaluation datasets to measure the expected drop in the model performance which can be prohibitively expensive and slow. In this paper, we study the problem of predicting the performance drop of modern NLP models under domain-shift, in the absence of any target domain labels. We investigate three families of methods (\mathcal{H}-divergence, reverse classification accuracy and confidence measures), show how they can be used to predict the performance drop and study their robustness to adversarial domain-shifts. Our results on sentiment classification and sequence labelling show that our method is able to predict performance drops with an error rate as low as 2.15% and 0.89% for sentiment analysis and POS tagging respectively.


Many metropolitan areas have experienced extreme boom-bust cycles over the past century. Some places, like Detroit, grew enormously as industrial powerhouses and then declined, while other older cities, like Boston, seem quite resilient. Education does a reasonable job of explaining urban resilience. In this paper, we present a simple model where education increases the level of entrepreneurship. In this model, human capital spillovers occur at the city level because skilled workers produce more product varieties and thereby increase labor demand. We decompose empirically the causes of theconnection between skills and urban success and find that skills are associated with growth in productivity or entrepreneurship, not with growth in quality of life, at least outside of the West. We also find that skills seem to have depressed housing supply growth in the West, but not in other regions, which supports the view that educated residents in that region have fought for tougher land-use controls. We also present evidence that skills have had a disproportionately large impact on unemployment during the current recession.


The application of biofiltration is a hot topic in the drinking water treatment field, and the mathematical modeling of biofilters has received considerable attention. However, no practical model is available for designing the biofiltration process. The aim of this research is to develop a representative model which simulates NOM (natural organic matter) removal in water treatment biofilter.

A steady-state model was applied. Monod-type substrate utilization was used and the external and internal mass transfer was neglected in this model. The model described the process of substrate biodegradation, bacterial attachment onto filter media and detachment of suspended bacteria. It simulated the NOM and biomass profiles in a biofilter as a function of filter depth and filtration velocity. The key biokinetic parameters k and K s were estimated through a special experiment.

The results of the model testing show that the model prediction agrees well with the experimental data. It is possible to adapt the model under various conditions by changing the parameters such as flow rate, bacteria and DOC concentration et al. Therefore, the model is an effective tool for designing and operation.


In the Principles of the Penal Code, Jeremy Bentham described offences that he labelled presumed or evidentiary. The conduct penalized under such offences is punished not because it is intrinsically wrong, but because it probabilistically indicates the presence of an intrinsic wrong. Bentham was sceptical of the need to create offences, but grudgingly accepted their value in light of deficiencies in procedure and the judiciary. These days the scepticism is even greater, with courts and commentators in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and elsewhere believing that such 'proxy' offences deny a defendant the right to establish that he did not engage in the conduct that the presumed offence probabilistically but not necessarily indicates. On closer analysis, however, such scepticism appears unjustified. Almost all offences, and indeed almost all legal rules, are premised on a probabilistic relationship between the behaviour the rule encompasses and the behaviour that is the rule-maker's real concern. Presumed offences may make this relationship especially obvious, but it is a relationship that exists whenever the law operates by the use of rules.


This paper investigates whether there is energy intensity convergence in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries or not by using annual data from the 1980-2011 period. OECD countries are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, and USA. Energy intensity is measured by the ratio of total energy consumption to total output. Energy intensity measures the energy consumption of an economy and its overall energy efficiency. We used linear and nonlinear unit root tests from the recent literature to accomplish this goal. An analysis of the test results shows that there is no convergence in Chile, Finland, Greece, Ireland, South Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. These countries should start implementing changes to their energy policies to achieve effective energy use.


At first glance it might appear that experimental philosophers and feminist philosophers would make good allies. Nonetheless, experimental philosophy has received criticism from feminist fronts, both for its methodology and for some of its guiding assumptions. Adding to this critical literature, I raise questions concerning the ways in which "differences" in intuitions are employed in experimental philosophy. Specifically, I distinguish between two ways in which differences in intuitions might play a role in philosophical practice, one which puts an end to philosophical conversation and the other which provides impetus for beginning one. Insofar as experimental philosophers are engaged in deploying "differences" in intuitions in the former rather than the latter sense, I argue that their approach is antithetical to feminist projects. Moreover, this is even (and perhaps especially) the case when experimental philosophers deploy "differences" in intuitions along lines of gender.


For the public and for most policy makers there is no doubt that the career of heroin addiction necessarily involves gradually losing everything one has: health, income, a home, a stable network of relatives and friends, and, last but not least, any sense of self as a moral agent. Although this view is factually incorrect insofar as there are examples of controlled heroin use without such negative effects (cf. Zinberg, 1984), the image of the addiction career as a necessarily downward spiral is represented in the literature as well. The clearest example is the medical model of addiction, in which the addiction career is described as a process of inevitable social deterioration: the drug addict becomes more and more involved in deviant and illegal behavior. The addiction career can be terminated only by therapy or death. Other literature, however, describes the course of addiction as a process of "maturing out" (Prins, 1995), in which a considerable number of addicts are able to kick the habit by themselves, step by step (Winick, 1962). The latter implies that addicts are able to control their career to a certain extent. The two approaches can be represented by different metaphors: downward spiral and controlled descent. This article, which is based on 48 interviews, discusses how heroin addicts portray their careers and the extent to which they control the downward process. It is supposed that information of this kind will enhance our knowledge of addicts' methods of controlling their situation, which can be relevant for policy and therapy. Our main question, therefore, is whether addicts portray themselves as victims of forces beyond their control or, at least partially, as capable of regulating their situation. Methods In the frame of a more extensive study of differences between heroin addicts in and outside treatment settings in the city of The Hague (The Netherlands), interviews were conducted with 48 addicts who had been using heroin regularly (three days a week or more) for at least two years. Among the respondents were eight women. The sample consisted of 21 heroin addicts who had not been in contact with drug treatment agencies for at least two years, five clients of an outpatient methadone program, 11 participants in a clinical detoxification center, and 11 addicts staying in a drug-free therapeutic community. The 21 non-treatment respondents were selected by a snowball sampling method (see ElandGoossensen et al., in press). The treatment group were interviewed between two and four weeks after admission. Respondents were invited to tell about how heroin use was embedded in their lives. Experiences with treatment and, if relevant, reasons for rejecting and quitting treatment were also explored. In the interviews we used a topic list corresponding to the life areas that are distinguished in the Addiction Severity Index (McLellan et al., 1981; Hendriks et al., 1993); these include chemical abuse, medical, psychological, legal, family/social, employment/support. Housing was added as a topic. Obviously, in the respondents' stories the different life areas were not so clearly separated. Interviews took approximately one hour each and were audio-taped. The interviews were transcribed. Results are presented in three sections. First we discuss to what extent respondents portray their careers as dominated by forces beyond their control. Next we present data on respondents' descriptions of controlling behaviors. Finally we show how personal values are related to control and, consequently, are of influence on the addiction career. Downward spiral In response to the request to tell about how heroin use was embedded in their lives, all respondents spontaneously described aspects of their careers as (part of) a downward spiral. The following extract from the interview with a respondent in the detox group is an example: I: Our first question is . . . What has been the meaning of heroin use in your life, what has been its influence? …


Abstract. The aim of the present paper is the geometric documentation of the church of St Spyridon using modern digital methods of data collection and processing. The church is located in the Medieval City of Rhodes and the residues of several different historical phases found in the church prove the rarity and the amount of alterations it underwent over the years. Geodetic measurements, laser scanning and acquisition of photographic data were performed, in order to construct the 3D model of the church. 23 drawings were drafted at a scale of 1:50, including horizontal sections, exterior and vertical sections. The projected information of each drawing is described with the help of the corresponding orthophotographs. Moreover, the three-dimensional photorealistic model (textured model) of the church was created, as well as a stereoscopic video and interactive virtual tour, via the 3DHOP platform.


We propose to use Constraint Logic Programming (CLP) for the specification and implementation Qualitative Reasoning (QR) problems that are spedalized Constraint Satisfaction Problems. The use of CLP has two advantages: (i) CLP gives a well defined and understood logical framework for the problem specification, and (ii) CLP is not only a logical framework, it is also a family of languages specially developed for solving classes of CSP problems. Thus we obtain a class of powerful implementation languages for rap!d prototyping. To illustrate the steps of specification and implementation we describe in detail the core of the QSIM algorithm (Knipers 1994), namely the filtering of the state transitions in the CLP framework. We show how the basic constraints are specified in this framework and describe the technical aspects of an implementation. We want to demonstrate the advantages of CLP through an example for a large and complex qualitative reasoning algorithm.


The distinctive driving scheme makes the stator windings of doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) be coupled with the power grid directly. When the grid fault occurs, dc component will appear in stator flux, ready to induce large electromotive force (EMF) in its rotor circuit. As a result, both the rotor circuit and the rotor-side converter (RSC) would suffer from over-currents and over-voltages without proper measures being taken. Although the crowbar is widely used to protect the driving converter and keep DFIG tied to grid, the flexibility of DFIG control system has not been exploited and it's hard to meet the ever stringent requirements of grid codes in the near future. Although, today some transient flux compensation based LVRT strategies have been reported for DFIG-based WTs, the strongly dependence on stator flux linkages makes this kind of algorithms a little complicated and dependent on DFIG parameters. Following the analysis of the transient electromagnetic characteristics of DFIG on grid fault, a novel LVRT control strategy based on virtual inductance self-demagnetization algorithm is proposed. With the novel strategy not only the rotor transient voltage surge is suppressed very well, beneficial to enlarging the controllable voltage dip range, but also the transient flux observation is removed completely, decreasing the computation complexity and the dependence on DFIG parameters, therefore, the rapidity and robustness of the control system is improved. The analysis and design in the paper is validated with the simulation and experiment results on 11kW test-rig for WTs.


ABSTRACT
In considering the challenges faced by educators as a result of the rapid acceleration of globalization, the need for professional development programs to assist educators' awareness of how to respond to these challenges is now more critical than ever. Since the establishment of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), in December of 1999, when the Portuguese Government handed administration of the territory back to China, there has been an increased focus on how to attract and sustain international investment in the region. Within the last ten years Macao has seen unusually rapid growth, especially in the Gaming, Hotel and Events industries, with a significant proportion due to the entry of American Corporations such as MGM, Wynn, and Galaxy. Now more than ever the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Government would like to see an enhancement of the English Language acquisition process in schools throughout the territory. The purpose of this research investigation is to explore the effectiveness of a professional development program on the professional efficacy of local Macao English language teachers to affect student motivation in English as foreign language (EFL) classrooms throughout the territory. The constructs which frame this study will be defined in the literature as areas of collaborative action research, reflective teacher education, teacher professional development, social constructivism, teacher efficacy and student motivation. This qualitative study, which employs a collaborative action research methodology in its design, comprised two levels of examination:
I. What are the effects of an intensive professional development program on;
a. an EFL teacher's practice?
b. an EFL teacher's feelings of professional efficacy?
II.a. Can changes in a teacher's practice affect student motivation?
b. Can changes in a teacher's professional efficacy affect student motivation?
The following six sub-questions assist in focusing the examination:
1. Do teachers consider the professional development training beneficial?
2. Are participating teachers' willing to or capable of applying what they've learned in the training to their respective classrooms?
3. As a result of the training what changes do teachers report / facilitator observe as having occurred in EFL classrooms?
4. Have teachers perceived an increase in their students' motivation to learn English as a result of change efforts implemented?
5. Do teachers feel they can influence their students' motivation to learn English?
6. Do teachers feel adequately supported throughout the program?
Data sources comprising; the facilitator's notes and classroom observations, survey responses, professional teaching journals, students' pre & post responses to the motivational survey and documents including student work provided by the teacher participants were collected over an eight month period from October 2003 – June 2004. Triangulation using both quantitative and qualitative data collection tools was incorporated into the design to ensure reliability of the interpretation. The professional development program focused on in this study aimed for teachers to:
• Collectively set and work towards achieving common goals related to the facilitation of a communicative learning environment in the classroom.
• Reflect upon factors in their respective classrooms that could be impeding students' success with learning English.
• Understand how to select appropriate curricular materials to enhance the communicative learning environment in the classroom.
• Become equipped with tools and knowledge to design, initiate and assess a change program within their respective classrooms
Student motivation to learn English became the problem focused on throughout the training due to the fact that teachers unanimously identified it as a difficulty faced, in both primary and secondary EFL classrooms.
Though there is no intention to universally generalize the results of this study; within the limited context of the case studied here in the Macao SAR, teacher participants in the program perceived changes in their students' behavior which suggested an increase in motivation in their respective classrooms as a result of change efforts they initiated via this program. The experiences documented herewith warrant justification for further research.


This article reports on an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis study that provides a description of the experiences of a sample of college students who were mentored by police officers. It includes an account of personal motivation for the topic and the features of the investigation, specifically with regard to academically underachieving youth. Throughout the study, there was a heavy concentration on any 'high risk' circumstances present and their possible influence. The article provides a brief description of findings to illustrate the holistic effect of the mentoring journey and concludes with the limitations of the study and the implications for practice and further research.


ABSTRACT Formation of the Escherichia coli division septum is catalyzed by a number of essential proteins (named Fts) that assemble into a ring-like structure at the future division site. Many of these Fts proteins are intrinsic transmembrane proteins whose functions are largely unknown. In the present study, we attempted to identify a novel putative component(s) of the E. coli cell division machinery by searching for proteins that could interact with known Fts proteins. To do that, we used a bacterial two-hybrid system based on interaction-mediated reconstitution of a cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling cascade to perform a library screening in order to find putative partners of E. coli cell division protein FtsL. Here we report the characterization of YmgF, a 72-residue integral membrane protein of unknown function that was found to associate with many E. coli cell division proteins and to localize to the E. coli division septum in an FtsZ-, FtsA-, FtsQ-, and FtsN-dependent manner. Although YmgF was previously shown to be not essential for cell viability, we found that when overexpressed, YmgF was able to overcome the thermosensitive phenotype of the ftsQ1(Ts) mutation and restore its viability under low-osmolarity conditions. Our results suggest that YmgF might be a novel component of the E. coli cell division machinery.


The paper reports some influences of the mother tongue uses on the majority language writing in a simultaneously bilingual child. The child was observed over a five-year period (from the pre-school through mid-primary years) when receiving mainstream schooling in English, whereas her communication with the parents largely occurred in a minority language (Russian). The written texts produced by the child in both her languages over this five-year period, both in the school and at home, were analysed using the systemic functional methodology (Halliday 1994). The written texts of the child's classroom peers were sampled for comparative analysis. The findings provide evidence that language development in one of the bilingual's languages tends to enhance the development in the other. Thus there have been differentiated text types in the child's English writing that were not explicitly taught in English, and also some genres not typically found in the same age monolinguals' writing. These genres have been scaffolded using the minority language, thus indicating that aspects of the schematic structure and grammar mastered in one of a bilingual's languages can be carried across to their second language and stimulate the emergence of new written genres in it. Overall the findings support the hypothesis of the interdependence of bilinguals' languages development (Cummins, 1981; 1984), in the area of written genre learning.


Social sensing aims to collect sensory data by using human population as sensor carriers (e.g., location), sensor operators (e.g., taking photos), and sensors themselves (e.g., Twitter). The Internet of Things (IoT) applications facilitate social sensing tasks. However, designing and developing IoT applications is much more complicated than designing and developing desktop, mobile, or web applications. The IoT applications require both software and hardware (e.g., sensors and actuators) to work together on multiple different type of nodes (e.g., micro-controllers, system-on-chips, mobile phones, single-board computers, cloud platforms) with different capabilities under different conditions.


A 35 year-old Caucasian woman with history of Systemic Lupus Erythematous (SLE) complicated by Lupus glomerulonephritis presented to the Emergency Department complaining of worsening bilateral lower extremity rash and leg pain. The rash had been present for over a month and a recent biopsy of the lesion revealed leukocytoclastic vasculitis. Her usual dose of prednisone 120mg every other day had been increased to 60mg daily over the past few weeks with the worsening rash. In addition to the rash and leg pain, she also reported some right-sided pleuritic chest pain. Otherwise, the patient noted no shortness of breath, cough, fevers, or chills. Of note, she was recently treated for both pneumonia and a pulmonary embolism at an outside hospital.