A study was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Washington, D.C., Department of Energy & Environment to estimate the loads of suspended-sediment-bound chemical compounds in five gaged tributaries and four ungaged tributaries of the Anacostia River (known locally as "Lower Anacostia River") in Washington, D.C. Tributaries whose discharge is measured by the USGS are the Northeast and Northwest Branches of the Anacostia River, referred to in this report as "Northeast Branch" (NEB) and "Northwest Branch" (NWB), respectively; Watts Branch (WB); and Hickey Run (HR). A USGS streamflow-gaging station was established in 2016 on Beaverdam Creek (known locally as "Lower Beaverdam Creek" [LBDC]) to support this study. The ungaged streams studied include Nash Run; Pope Branch; an unnamed stream at Fort DuPont, referred to in this report as "Fort DuPont Creek"; and an unnamed stream at Fort Stanton, referred to in this report as "Fort Stanton Creek." The gaged streams were sampled during four to five storms and two low-flow events during January, March, May, and July 2017. The ungaged streams were sampled during one storm and one low-flow event during July 2017. Storm sampling involved collecting large-volume (60to 70-liter) composite samples, then removing sediment by filtration in the laboratory. Low-flow samples were obtained by filtering streamwater directly in the field. Continuously recording data sondes were deployed throughout the study to measure turbidity and other water-quality characteristics. During sampling, multiple discrete samples of streamwater were collected to determine suspended-sediment concentration (SSC) and particulate organic carbon (POC) concentration. Shortly after each storm, bed sediment was collected for chemical analysis. Sediment samples were analyzed for 209 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners; 35 polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds, including 20 nonalkylated and 15 alkylated species; and 20 organochlorine pesticide (OP) compounds. Sediment from one storm was analyzed for 23 metals. Relations were developed among turbidity, discharge, and measured SSC by using multiple linear regression of log-transformed data. These relations were used to estimate SSC from continuous records of discharge and turbidity and were subsequently used to estimate sediment loads for the 2017 calendar year. USGS continuous records of turbidity in NEB, NWB, Watts Branch, and Hickey Run were available for 2013–17, which allowed sediment loads to be calculated for these years. Sediment loads for the ungaged streams were estimated by using loads measured in Watts Branch adjusted on the basis of stream-basin areas. Sediment loads for 2017 total 3.10×107 kilograms (kg), with 1.02×107 kg (33 percent of total) from the NEB, 1.55×107 kg (50 percent) from the NWB, 4.45×106 kg (14 percent) from LBDC, 5.62×105 kg (2 percent) from Watts Branch, and 2.82×105 kg (1 percent) from Hickey Run. Sediment yields were highest from NWB and LBDC (3.13×105 kilograms per year per square mile [kg/yr/mi2] and 3.01 kg/yr/mi2, respectively). As a result of gaps in turbidity and discharge data, the load for LBDC reported here was calculated from measurements representing only 88 percent of the year (2017), and thus underestimates the actual load. All other gaged tributaries had datasets covering 100 percent of the year and are considered to fully represent actual loads. Estimated sediment loads for the ungaged streams during 2017 total 3.5×105 kg, with 1.2×105 kg from Nash Run, 6.2×104 kg from Pope Branch, 1.1×105 kg from Fort DuPont Creek, and 5.6×104 kg from Fort Stanton Creek. Concentrations of PCBs, PAHs, and chlorinated pesticides in streamwater are presented for stormflow and low-flow conditions. Average concentrations (in stormflow and lowflow samples) of total PCBs (sum of all congeners, including coelutions) are 5.9 micrograms per kilogram (μg/kg) for NEB, 6.6 μg/kg for NWB, 130 μg/kg for LBDC, 34 μg/kg for Watts Branch, and 69 μg/kg for Hickey Run. Average concentrations of total PAHs (tPAH) (total of nonalkylated and alkylated species) are 2,000 μg/kg for NEB, 3,300 μg/kg for NWB, 2,200 μg/kg for LBDC, 2,400 μg/kg for Watts Branch, and 18,000 μg/kg for Hickey Run. tPAH concentrations among 2 Sediment and Chemical Contaminant Loads in Tributaries to the Anacostia River, Washington, D.C., 2016–17 the ungaged streams were highest in Nash Run (5,500 μg/kg); concentrations in the other ungaged streams were less than (<) 700 μg/kg. The general magnitude of tPCB and tPAH concentrations in streamwater samples was low-flow samples greater than (>) stormflow samples greater than or equal to (≥) bed-sediment samples. PCB congener profiles in the three types of samples were nearly identical in each stream and were similar in all streams except for LBDC, where the dominant PCBs shifted to the lighter dithrough tetrahomologs. LBDC showed higher tPCB concentrations and a distinct congener profile from the other streams. The similarity in congener makeup supported that averaging PCB concentrations in stormflow and low-flow samples was appropriate for calculating chemical loads. Loads of tPCB, tPAH (total of alkylated and nonalkylated forms), and pesticides were estimated for each stream by multiplying average contaminant concentrations by the respective sediment loads. Total PCB loads for 2017 were estimated to be 820 grams (g) with 8 percent (60 g) from NEB, 12 percent (95 g) from NWB, 75 percent (590 g) from LBDC, 3 percent (25 g) from Watts Branch, and 2.5 percent (19 g) from Hickey Run. PCB toxicity totaled 3.8×10−3 μg/kg, with the largest contribution (47 percent) derived from LBDC. Total PAH loads (sum of alkylated and nonalkylated forms) for 2017 were estimated to be 89,000 g, with 23 percent (20,000 g) from NEB, 59 percent (52,000 g) from NWB, 11 percent (9,800 g) from LBDC, 2 percent (1,400 g) from Watts Branch, and 6 percent (5,200 g) from Hickey Run. These results indicate that the largest contributor (75 percent) of PCBs to the Anacostia River is LBDC, although it contributes only 15 percent of the sediment and its basin area represents only 10 percent of the area of the Anacostia River watershed. The majority of the PAH load originates from NWB (59 percent of total) and NEB (22 percent). The ungaged tributaries contribute extremely small loads of PCBs and PAHs, totaling 8.1 g and 765 kg, respectively. More than 94 percent of the total load from the ungaged tributaries is derived from the Nash Run Basin. Various organochlorine pesticides were present in suspended and bed sediment from all gaged and ungaged tributaries; however, elevated detection levels associated with the analytical methods resulted in numerous unquantifiable concentrations in the suspended-sediment samples. Only the pesticide chlordane was found in measurable concentrations in all gaged tributaries. As a result, in this report, a combination of analytical data from suspended-sediment and bed-sediment samples was used to estimate the maximum pesticide loading for each tributary. Chlordane was the principal compound present in the gaged tributaries; the highest average concentration (average of stormflow and low-flow samples from each stream) was 62 μg/kg in sediment from Watts Branch. Chlordane loads for 2017 totaled 1,100 g, of which 7 percent (430 g) was from NEB, 28 percent (320 g) was from NWB, 28 percent (310 g) was from LBDC, 5 percent (56 g) was from Watts Branch, and 1 percent (11 g) was from Hickey Run. Chlordane was not present in suspended or bed sediment from any of the ungaged tributaries. Loads of the other pesticides were estimated by using the highest concentration measured in the combined suspended-sediment and bed-sediment data for each stream. Notable loads include dieldrin (860 g from NWB), methoxychlor (205 g from LBDC), endrin aldehyde (150 g from NWB), and 4,4-DDT (79 g from Watts Branch). Compared with pesticide loads from the gaged streams, those from the ungaged streams were minimal, with only the Pope Branch contribution exceeding 1 gram per year for 4,4-DDE (1.05 g) and 4,4'-DDT (1.3 g). The results of this study show that the dominant source of PCBs and chlordane is LBDC, despite its relatively small basin area. PAHs are ubiquitous throughout the study area, with the largest sources being NEB and NWB; this finding is a result of the large sediment load originating from these basins. The small, ungaged streams supply only minimal PCB and PAH loads, with Nash Run being the largest contributor.


In May 2020, we conducted four online design charrettes with school and district leaders, teachers, students, parents, and other stakeholders to translate design-based practices for leading school change into an online context. In this report, we present two meeting protocols: one for multi-stakeholder meetings and one primarily for students. To accompany these protocols, we have sample agenda, online workbooks, and sample notes and exercises from our discussion to help school and district leaders facilitate these kinds of meetings in their own local contexts.The goal of these meetings was to identify shared values and priorities for reopening schools, to build stakeholder engagement, to seed stakeholder leadership and involvement, and to develop new ideas and structures for reopening schools. In particular, we were interested in "tentpole" ideas, structures and routines that could define a reopening plan and provide an organizational frame for the hundreds of smaller curricular, programmatic, and logistical decisions that will need to be made next year. In a linked report-- "Imagining September: Principles and Design Elements for Ambitious Schools during Covid-19"- -we have published "storyboards" for a variety of school reopening ideas and structures inspired by the participants in our charrettes.Re-opening schools in the fall will be a community-wide effort, requiring leadership, innovation, and experimentation from all parts of school systems. Including diverse stakeholders early in the process of imagining September will bring forth a community's best ideas and invite people through the system to join the work of retooling schools for the challenging year ahead.


We use grazing incidence x-ray scattering to study the molecular structure and morphology of thin ({lt}70 ML) crystalline films of 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) on Au(111) surfaces as a function of film thickness, substrate temperature, and growth rate. Although the first two PTCDA monolayers grow in a layer-by-layer fashion, the film evolution beyond the second monolayer depends strongly upon the growth conditions resulting in low-temperature [i.e., nonequilibrium (NEQ)] and high-temperature [equilibrium (EQ)] growth regimes. In the NEQ regime, the films roughen monotonically with increasing film thickness, but retain a well-defined film thickness. Furthermore, we find that these films have a lattice strain which is independent of film thickness. In the EQ regime, the film acquires a three-dimensional morphology for thicknesses {gt}2 ML, and the lattice strain decreases rapidly with increasing thickness. We also show that the transition between the NEQ and EQ regimes is sharp and depends upon the balance between the growth rate and substrate temperature. These results suggest that the PTCDA/Au(111) system is thermodynamically described by incomplete wetting, and that strain and kinetics play an important role in determining molecular organic film characteristics. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}


Shrimps are an important food commodity in Europe. Quality control of imported shrimp is essential due to technological and hygienic problems in tropical and sub-tropical areas where the shrimps are cultivated in large scale. In this paper the processing of shrimp is described and microbial formation of indole is discussed. The effect of various process parameters on the presence of indole in shrimps is reviewed in relation to the FDA action levels for indole in shrimps of 25 mu g/100 g and 50 mu g/100 g, respectively. Various analytical procedures for the measurement of indole are evaluated. Temperature abuse is an important critical process parameter for the formation of indole. A number of bacteria has been identified as in-dole positive but only a few (Escherichia coli, Proteus (P.) vulgaris and P. morganii) were detected on shrimp. High indole levels in frozen shrimp can be considered an indicator of poor product quality prior to freezing and thus of hygienic practices far away from Good Hygienic Practice (GHP). High indole levels (> 10 mu g/100 g) are reached at the end of the shelf-life of shrimps when stored at elevated temperature levels. However, a low content of indole does not necessarily imply a good quality. Taking into account the results from the limited storage studies the FDA action level for indole is therefore at least debatable. High pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection seems to be the most effective analytical method for the determination of indole.


The output characteristics of Yb3+-doped fiber laser at different temperatures are investigated. When temperature is increased from 13 to 95 Celsius degree, the center wavelength of laser changes from 1084.9 to 1096.3 nm, the output laser power decreases from 0.95 to 0.58 W, and the slope efficiency drops from 30.7% to 25.5%.


An estimated 80% of marine plastic litter comes from land-based sources, with 50% originating from just five Asian economies: China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand*. As economic growth has increased in these countries, so has plastic consumption, which has outpaced the development of effective solid waste management systems. That is why the first STOP city partnership was launched in 2018 in Muncar, a city of 130,000 residents in Banyuwangi Regency, East Java, Indonesia. The goal of Project STOP is to create an economically viable "zero leakage" system that involves state-based systems, communities and the informal sector, and that can be sustained through secure government revenues, household and business collection fees and valorization of waste. Project STOP has three objectives: zero leakage of waste into the environment; increased resource efficiency and recycling of plastics; and benefits for the local community by creating new jobs in the waste management system and reducing the impacts of mismanaged waste on public health, tourism and fisheries.Early insights from Project STOP's scoping activities, system design and first six months of system change implementation are presented in three areas: 1) An integrated "value chain engineering" approach is key to system change, 2) Institutions, governance and community factors are critical, 3) Economic incentives are a great tool to develop recycling initiatives. Action-innovation partnerships at the city level – Project STOP and many others – can provide much-needed insight into the challenges and potential solutions that could accelerate change toward a plastic system that works, and an environment free from plastic waste.* Jenna R. Jambeck et al., "Plastic Waste Inputs from Land into the Ocean," Science 347, no. 6223 (2015): 768–71, doi:10.1126/science.1260352.


Aim: The objective of the present investigation involves the design of modified release multiunit drug delivery system for the effective treatment of gastroesophageal diseases (GEDs) using hot-melt coating (HMC) technique. Materials and Methods: Ranitidine hydrochloride (R.HCL) pellets were prepared using extrusion-spheronization and coated with different levels of hydrogenated castor oil (HCO) as HMC agent using pan pour method. To achieve the desirable release profile, R.HCL pellets were coated with a hybrid of HCO and sodium lauryl sulfate as a pore former. The pellets were evaluated for micromeritic properties, physicochemical properties, in vitro buoyancy study, dissolution study, and stability study. Optimized formulation was selected by comparison of the drug release profiles with theoretical release profile (TRP). Results: Formulation R6 with low floating lag time, floating time >12 h, and the drug release profile similar to TRP. Therefore, R6 was selected as optimized formulation and molded into unit dosage form by filling the pellets in hard gelatin capsules. The R6 formulation shows significant performance in vitro. Optimized formulation was showed no significant difference in their micromeritic properties, physicochemical properties, in vitro buoyancy, and dissolution release after storing under 40°C ± 2°C temperature and 75% ± 5% relative humidity for 3 months. Conclusion: This study confirms the modified release potential of HCO by successfully designing of modified multiparticulate drug delivery system of R.HCL using HMC technique. This drug delivery system may prove effective for the treatment of GEDs by sustained drug release in absorption window for prolong period.


Many developing countries seem likely to see a substantial downturn in economic growth over the 2015–2030 implementation period of the SDGs, compared with the recent years of strong growth. Since the 2015 WEO, the macroeconomic outlook has deteriorated further, with projected global growth for 2017 falling from 3.8 to 3.5 percent. However, a key result of this study is that projected declines in global poverty rates are not greatly affected by the anticipated slowdown in economic growth. Under the updated projections for 2030, the extreme poverty rate will be 5.2 percent compared to 4.8 percent. For most groups of countries and subgroups of populations, projected 2030 poverty rates will be within one percentage point of the levels projected under the optimistic outlook on global growth. However, there is some variation across countries, and even countries not directly affected by the recent global slowdown are likely to see long-term impacts. And despite this optimistic finding, we should be concerned that the movement in poverty rates is away from the SDG goal of complete elimination of poverty.


Controversy surrounds the way in which the ANMC Competency Standards for Registered Nurses (the Standards) are understood and applied in the assessment of nurses' competence for practice. Adopted by the Australian Nursing Regulatory Authority in the early 1990s the Standards provide a description of the registered nurse on entry to practise, and have been used to determine both beginning level and ongoing competence to practise for over two decades. How nurses' interpret and make sense of the Standards particularly when making an assessment of competence is unknown. The study examines the deeper mechanisms which influence nurses' interpretation and application of the Standards in the context of assessment from a critical realist perspective. This perspective, together with a mixed methods methodology, enabled the re-conceptualisation and critique required to enhance understanding of the assessment of competence landscape.
A two-phase exploratory mixed methods sequential design was employed. The questionnaire was used to gain prior insight into the context and to gain a general understanding of nurse's opinions around competence and its assessment in relation to the Standards. These findings were analysed to inform the qualitative phase. Interviews were then conducted with fifteen nurses comprising of; academics, clinical facilitators, preceptors and graduate nurses. Thematic analysis using a continual cross-comparative approach was used to explore how and why nurses operate at the interface between agency and structures in the context of competency assessment. Threads from both phases were drawn together and mixed at the data interpretation stage to achieve a cohesive set of findings.
The thesis offers unique contributions into understanding the ways in which nurses create, negotiate and perpetuate the status quo of the Standards by focusing on the interface of nursing assessment processes and events, and their interactions with mechanisms and structures. Nurses create and operate in a state of tension created by their perception of the Standards as an important professional structure and the difficulty that they experience putting them into action in the context of practice. On the one hand, nurses support the Standards' as a mechanism to promote the collective identity of the nursing profession and accept the Standards as an integral part of the safety and quality agenda. On the other hand, nurses found the Standards difficult to operationalise for their key function of assessment.
The thesis sheds new light on the way nurses interpret and use the Standards to assess competence; it is these subjectivities that are considered to be a critical new factor in the development of any future assessment framework. This is not only important new knowledge, but given the link between competence and the safety and quality agenda it has implications for the quality of patient care. The implications of the study findings for practice are therefore significant. Research into how competency assessment impacts on the quality of patient care needs to move beyond a quantitative, objective measure, to consider the generative potential of the socio-cultural context of practice.
An urgent critical review of the Standards is needed to determine whether they continue to be a suitable assessment framework. The future success of any framework that assesses competence will be dependent on ensuring that both the structural forces and agentic subjectivities that shape nurses decision making are acknowledged and addressed.


Integrated assessment models often treat land-use change as an external driving force. In reality, land-use is influenced by environmental conditions. This paper explores the merits of endogenising land-use change, i.e. making the land-use change a dynamic internal process, in models used for supporting climate adaptation planning. For this purpose, we extend the Waas model, a hypothetical case study used before for testing new model-based climate adaptation approaches. We use a utility-based land-use change model for endogenising the land-use dynamics, evaluate its implications, and identify the conditions under which it becomes important. We find that endogenising land-use dynamics changes the performance of the policies, allows for assessing policies that affect land-use, and widens the outcomes of interest that can be considered. The relevancy of endogenising land-use dynamics depends on (i) the expected severity of future climate change, (ii) the society's sensitivity to climate events, and (iii) the types of policy options that decision makers want to evaluate. Ignoring the interaction between the environment and the society (in this case land-use) can result in both under- and overestimation of the impacts of adaptation and might limit the adaptation options that are considered.


In the aftermath of the financial crisis, with periphery countries in the European Union even more falling behind the core countries economically, there have been quests for various kind of fiscal policies in order to revert divergence. How these policies would unfold and perform comparatively is largely unknown. We analyze four such stylized policies in an agent-based macroeconomic model and study the economic mechanisms behind their relative success. Our main findings are that the core country sharing the debt burden of the periphery country has almost no effect on the growth dynamics of that region, fiscal transfers have a positive short and long run impact on per capita consumption in the target region, and that technology oriented firm subsidies have the strongest positive long run impact on competitiveness of the periphery country at which they are targeted. The positive effect of the technology oriented policy is reinforced if combined with household transfers.


ABSTRACT We study Swedish implementation of the European Union's Water Framework Directive, and compare the current implementation strategy with more flexible 'bubble' schemes, where measures can be traded among various locations within the same river system to reach the overall environmental target. Two different Swedish river systems, the Mörrum system with small-scale hydropower plants, and the Ångerman system with larger plants, are studied. We find that the environmental benefits that current policies are likely to accomplish could be achieved at well under half the cost in the Mörrum system, and at less than a tenth of the cost in the Ångerman system.


Decision tree learning is a popular approach for classification and regression in machine learning and statistics, and Bayesian formulations--which introduce a prior distribution over decision trees, and formulate learning as posterior inference given data-- have been shown to produce competitive performance. Unlike classic decision tree learning algorithms like ID3, C4.5 and CART, which work in a top-down manner, existing Bayesian algorithms produce an approximation to the posterior distribution by evolving a complete tree (or collection thereof) iteratively via local Monte Carlo modifications to the structure of the tree, e.g., using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). We present a sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) algorithm that instead works in a top-down manner, mimicking the behavior and speed of classic algorithms. We demonstrate empirically that our approach delivers accuracy comparable to the most popular MCMC method, but operates more than an order of magnitude faster, and thus represents a better computation-accuracy tradeoff.


An analysis is presented of the radioactive wastes from the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and how those wastes would fit into the regulatory environments of four potential host nations: France, Germany, Japan, and the United States. The reactor described in the ITER Draft Interim Design Report is used as the basis for the radioactive inventory assessments that are carried out using ONEDANTfor the neutron transport calculations and ACAB for the activation calculations. The radioactive material produced by operation of the reactor is rated according to the protocols for waste management in each nation and at specific disposal sites currently operating in those nations. Results of the assessments vary drastically between disposal sites-even between near-surface-burial sites within the U.S. Department of Energy. One disposal site (Westing-house Hanford Company) could accept all of ITER's wastes after a storage and cooling period (all wastes are assessed at 30 yr after shutdown). Other sites (the Savannah River and the Nevada Test Sites) could not accept any components within the toroidalfield coils, similar to the restrictions in Germany. Blanket modules would be excluded from near-surface burial in France and Japan, but other components may qualify.


INTRODUCTION
Primary central nervous system tumours represent the second most frequent neoplasm and are the leading cause of death from solid tumours in children. Our study aimed to provide the most up-to-date epidemiological analysis of primary central nervous system tumours in children living in the north of Portugal and to explore a possible effect of the centralisation of care on outcomes.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
This population-based study included all newly diagnosed and histologically confirmed primary central nervous system tumours in people below 18 years old, living in the north of Portugal, from January 2008 to December 2013. Data were collected through access to clinical files. We described children and tumour characteristics, and analysed patient: paediatric neurosurgeon and histological tumour type: paediatric neurosurgeon ratios.

RESULTS
A total of 147 cases was recorded. Mean age at diagnosis of primary central nervous system tumours was 8.0 ± 5.2 years. Astrocytomas were the most common histological type (34%). We found that World Health Organization Tumour Grade was the only variable of statistically significant influence in mortality (p = 0.001). 1-, 3- and 5-year survivals related to 2008-2013 period were statistically higher than 2005 - 2007. Astrocytomas have the highest survival rate, with statistically significant difference from other tumours (p = 0.015). We estimated a mean of 12.25 treated cases per year by each paediatric neurosurgeon at our institution.

DISCUSSION
Our results are globally consistent with those published all over the world, but we reported the highest survival rates. The number of cases treated per year by each neurosurgeon is accordant to the recommended.

CONCLUSION
We showed an improvement when comparing to data previous to 2008 and better results than those from previous studies, namely higher survival at 1-, 3- and 5-years from the diagnosis, with low complication and relapsing rates. Therefore, the referral of primary central nervous system tumours cases to centres with larger experience can be invaluable for the achievement of the best outcomes.


Stratigraphical and micropaleontological investigations were performed on
Neogene deposits of the Rethymnon Province, Western Crete.
The Neogene succession includes marine as well as brackish and fresh-water
sediments. Eight formations are recognized, several of which have to be regarded
as lateral equivalents. From the sediment types and their distribution along the
north coast it is concluded that to-day's topography still reflects the paleogeographic
conditions existing during the Neogene.
The micropaleontological part of the paper deals with the phylogeny of two
groups of Uvigerinids, the U. melitensis group and the U. cretensis group, both
showing a main trend to uniserial chamber arrangement.
Apart from our Cretan material samples are studied from localities elsewhere
in the Mediterranean region. These samples are derived from Italy, Spain, France
and Malta, and are partly taken from the stratotypes of the Late Neogene stages.
The representatives of the U. melitensis and the U. cretensis groups can be
distinguished by external characters such as the presence or absence of a distinct,
regular, biserial stage in between the triserial and uniserial parts of the test, the
more or less recurved character of the sutures, and the regular or irregular arrangement
of the early uniserial chambers.
The U. cretensis group corresponds to the U. gaudryinoides group in the
literature, whose phylogeny was first emphasized by PAPP(1963). Representatives
of this group are common in younger Neogene deposits throughout the
Mediterranean region. So far the U. melitensis group is restricted to the Maltese
Neogene and to the basal part of the Cretan Neogene succession.
The evolutionary trend is the same in both lineages and comprises among
other things an increase in the average number of uniserial chambers, an increase
in the relative length of the uniserial part of the test, and the development
toward an arrangement of the uniserial chambers in more regular series. Besides,
a general trend is observed to relatively more slender tests. No development is
found in the length or in the breadth of the test. The striate ornamentation appears
to be strongly environment controlled; specimens from deposits close to
evaporites show an aberrant ornamentation.
Since a typological approach of the observed features proves to give unsatisfactory
results, counts and measurements are made on a number of parameters. The latter are based on the number of uniseral chambers, the character of the
uniserial chambers, the length of the uniserial part of the test, and the length
and the breadth of the test.
The uniserial chambers can be divided into primitive uniserial chambers and
fully developed ones, depending on the angle between the upper and lower
sutural planes. In fully developed uniserial chambers these planes are more or
less parallel, whereas they form an angle of 20° and more in primitive uniserial
chambers. In ontogeny, the fully developed uniserial chambers are the younger
ones. In the course of time the relative number of primitive uniserial chambers
decreases, i.e., the uniserial chambers become arranged in more regular series.
By comparing the number of primitive unserial chambers present at the
same growth stage - for instance in all individuals with two uniserial chambers,
or in those with three, or with four - parameters become available that
are independent of the final ontogenetic stage the specimens reached. Apparently
these parameters show the most constant development, evidently not
influenced by external circumstances.
In the course of phylogeny, most of the parameters and their means become
more strongly correlated. In the higher part of the phylogenetic sequences
random fluctuations in test size thus cause significant set-backs of the means
in all other parameters, except in those based on the number of primitive uniserial
chambers in specimens at the same ontogenetic stage.
Both lineages are not synchronous. The melitensis lineage starts approximately
at the Orbulina surface (base Serravallian?). Uvigerina (Hopkinsina) bononiensis
compressa is considered to be the forerunner. The last representatives
of the lineage are found in deposits of Early-Middle Tortonian Age. The
cretensis lineage probably starts in the Early Tortonian, and it ranges up into
the Pleistocene. Its ancestor is as yet unknown.
By statistical methods four morphologically adjoining species, successive in
time, could be distinguished within each lineage. Seven of our eight species are
new, because no meaningful contents could be given in terms of our biometrical
analysis to the existing species names.
Biostratigraphic correlations of our Cretan marine formations with the Late
Neogene stratotypes indicate that marine sedimentation in the Rethymnon
region started in the Early-Middle Tortonian and that it persisted up into the
Pliocene without interruption.
An interval of less than one Uvigerina Range zone, if any, seems to be
present between the uppermost part of the type Tortonian (sensu GIANOTTI
1953, not CITA et aI1965) and the base of the Tabianian stratotype. If we accept
GIANOTTI'S definition of the upper limit of the Tortonian stratotype, there seems to be no need of a separate stage between the Tortonian and the Pliocene.
The Andalusian stratotype is younger than the type Tortonian; actually it
can be correlated with the Tabianian and Piacenzian stratotypes, which correlation
points to its Pliocene Age.
The Maltese Blue Clay and Greensand are considered older than the Cretan
Neogene; the Upper Coralline Limestone may be contemporaneous with the
basal marine deposits of Crete.


In this paper, we take the idea of application-level processing on disks to one level further, and focus on an architecture, called cluster of active disks (CAD), where the storage system contains a network of parallel "active disks". Each individual active disk (which includes an embedded processor, disk(s), caches, memory, and interconnect) can perform some application level processing; but, more importantly, the active disks can collectively perform parallel input/output (I/O) and processing, thereby reducing not just the communication latency but I/O latency and computation time as well. The CAD architecture poses many challenges for the next generation software systems at all levels including programming models, operating and runtime systems, application mapping, compilation, parallelization and performance modeling, and evaluation. In this paper, we focus exclusively on code scheduling support required for clusters of active disks. More specifically, we address the problem of code scheduling with the goal of minimizing the power consumption on the disk system. Our experiments indicate that the proposed scheduling approach is very successful in reducing power and generates better results than three other alternate scheduling schemes tested.


Denmark is a leader among OECD member countries in terms of its well-designed policies for renewable energy, energy efficiency and climate change. The country is a forthright voice in international fora for climate policy and a strong advocate of tougher climate-change mitigation measures. A long history of consensus-based policy making and political stability has been leveraged to develop Denmark�fs far-reaching and comprehensive energy policies, and also allowed a clear long-term vision to emerge.
Denmark�fs long-term energy goal is to become completely independent of fossil fuels use by 2050. In 2011, the government published the Energy Strategy 2050, a detailed and ambitious policy document that sets out a series of new energy-policy initiatives. The strategy aims to transform Denmark into a low-carbon society with a stable and affordable energy supply.
The first phase of the strategy focuses on a series of short-term initiatives that significantly reduce dependence on fossil fuels by strengthening and expanding existing policies in energy efficiency and renewable energy. The second and third phases will involve development and implementation of long-term energy solutions including building a green transport sector and promotion of smart grids.
This review analyses the energy-policy challenges facing Denmark as it develops and implements the ambitious policies outlined in the Energy Strategy 2050, and provides critiques and recommendations for further policy improvements in particular sectors. The intent of the review is to assist Danish policy makers as they move towards a sustainable, low-carbon energy future.


Abstract: In the following presentation the problem of the compliance or compliment officer like an imputation factor of corporate criminal liability is approached. This is, when opting for a model of criminal liability of the legal person for their own facts and not a model of criminal liability derived from their executives facts anymore, the compliance appears like a key figure for the criminal imputation of the entity. In this way, different arguments whereby an adequate program of law enforcement must act as an exoneration of criminal liability for the companies and not only like an extenuating of the penalty that will finally be attribute to the corporations are board. From there, the discussion will go through the requirements that the fulfillment programs must have and the bodies of corporate control, in order to prevent the criminal risk of both the entity and its managers.


We present an optimal control methodology, which we refer to as concentration-of-measure optimal control (COMOC), that seeks to minimize a concentration-of-measure upper bound on the probability of failure of a system. The systems under consideration are characterized by a single performance measure that depends on random inputs through a known response function. For these systems, concentration-of-measure upper bound on the probability of failure of a system can be formulated in terms of the mean performance measure and a system diameter that measures the uncertainty in the operation of the system. COMOC then seeks to determine the optimal controls that maximize the confidence in the safe operation of the system, defined as the ratio of the design margin, which is measured by the difference between the mean performance and the design threshold, to the system uncertainty, which is measured by the system diameter. This strategy has been assessed in the case of a robot-arm maneuver for which the performance measure of interest is assumed to be the placement accuracy of the arm tip. The ability of COMOC to significantly increase the design confidence in that particular example of application is demonstrated.


In order to ensure the optimum therapeutic effect of drug it is necessary to prepare the proper dosage form. Solubility is a significant physicochemical factor affecting absorption of drug and its therapeutic effectiveness. Poorly water soluble compounds have both solubility and dissolution related problems which can dramatically affect their bioavailability resulting in reduction of their therapeutic efficacy. To overcome such a problem solid dispersions of poorly soluble drugs like Cefixime, Valsartan and Ibuprofen were prepared and evaluated. Suitable carriers such as PVP K30 and HMPC etc. in different ratios were chosen. They were prepared by physical mixing and kneading method. The standard curves were prepared for cefixime, ibuprofen and valsartan in methanol. The release studies were carried out and compared. The results showed a marked increase in release of the drug from solid dispersions compared to the drug in its pure form. The percentage of the drug released for Ibuprofen increased from 12.78 to 52.4% (1:1 ratio), 70.2% (1:2 ratio) and 68.2% (1:3 ratio). The use of cefixime with hydroxypropymethylcellulose (HPMC) greatly improved the solubility of the drug and enhanced its dissolution rate. The percentage of the drug released increased from 13.2 to 31.4% (1:1 ratio), 34.9% (1:2 ratio) and 43.9% (1:3 ratio). The ratios which showed the best release were considered as the optimized formulations.


Colors have exceptional visual, semantic and mystical properties and are considered as the most significant tool for creating works of art. The concealed and inner meanings of colors in traditional coloring have remained unknown till today. In the art of creating traditional Iranian paint, functional elements have a distinct place and uniqueness. This research is pathway for the better understanding of traditional colormaking and refers to the sciences in the Islamic tradition. Recognizing how color is used in art and its nature is a matter for reflection. Familiarity with the general principles of traditional Iranian painting is significant for the construction, promotion and revitalization of multifarious painting in Iranian traditional art. This research is completed via a descriptive and analytical method and relying on the data of library resources. The research findings indicate that the correct method of color-making in traditional Iranian art is based on previous instructions and its association with other sciences. Achieving how the methods of making the four elements, the four natures and the temperament qualities of each element in combination with the other component and how they are related, are the significant achievements of this research in the field of traditional coloring in Islamic Iran. The combination and generation of colors in the past was primary based on method of the four basics (thermal, wetting, compressible, pulverizable), the four elements of nature (fire, air, water, soil) and the temperament of the elements (warm, cold, wet, dry). The quality of the application of such colors and their nature are observable in the illustrated versions of the 4th to 6th centuries AH.


Microscopic density matrix analysis on the linewidth enhancement factor (LEF) of both mid-infrared (mid-IR) and Terahertz (THz) quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) is reported, taking into account of the many body Coulomb interactions, coherence of resonant-tunneling transport and non-parabolicity. A non-zero LEF at the gain peak is obtained due to these combined microscopic effects. The results show that, for mid-IR QCLs, the many body Coulomb interaction and non-parabolicity contribute greatly to the non-zero LEF. In contrast, for THz QCLs, the many body Coulomb interactions and the resonant-tunneling effects greatly influence the LEF resulting in a non-zero value at the gain peak. This microscopic model not only partially explains the non-zero LEF of QCLs at the gain peak, which observed in the experiments for a while but cannot be explicitly explained, but also can be employed to improve the active region designs so as to reduce the LEF by optimizing the corresponding parameters.


In this thesis, a gravity wave climatology for the altitude range of the airglow (hydroxyl) layer of 83 to 91km have been made using data from a meteor radar located at Dragvoll (64,4$^{o}$N, 10,5$^{o}$E) in Trondheim. The climatology stretches from the 9th of September until the 30th of April. The wave "activity" results, from the average daily variance in the perturbed line of sight velocity, show two minima at the equinoxes and a maxima between them in mid winters. The results agree with similar studies from Rothera (68$^{o}$S) and Esrange (68$^{o}$N) which is comparable with Trondheim in latitude. A case study is made for the 3rd of December comparing wave propagation directions shown in airglow images with hourly direction plots from the meteor radar. The comparison shows agreement between the two methods proving that meteor radars can be used to study preferred wave propagation directions. Monthly averaged preferred wave propagation direction results for the period 9th of September 2012 to the 30th of April 2013, show equatorward preferred wave propagation direcion during fall, abruptly changing through end of fall to strictly polewards in November. End of winter through start of spring shows an equatorwards and westwards preferred wave direction rotating counter clockwise to equatorwards and eastwards. The results were comparable with climatologies made with airglow imagers due to the chosen altitude range. Comparisons showed both agreement and disagreement in preferred wave propagation direction.


Understanding the relationship between housing wealth and consumption is important, because it informs the extent to which fluctuations in house prices might affect the broader economy. We investigate the relationship between housing wealth and consumption using postcode-level variation in house prices and administrative data on new passenger vehicle registrations as a proxy for consumption. In our preferred specification, we estimate an elasticity of new passenger vehicle registrations with respect to gross housing wealth of 0.4–0.5, and an average marginal propensity to consume (MPC) for new passenger vehicles of about 0.06 cents per dollar change in gross housing wealth. Assuming new vehicle registrations and total consumption have the same sensitivity to changes in housing wealth implies an MPC for total consumption of 2 cents per dollar change in gross housing wealth. But US evidence indicates that new vehicle consumption is particularly sensitive to changes in housing wealth. Assuming the same is true for Australia, our estimates imply an MPC for total consumption of less than 0.25 cents. Notably, we find evidence that the relationship between house prices and new vehicle registrations is heterogenous in income, with low-income households having a higher propensity to purchase a new vehicle following a rise in housing wealth than high-income households. This implies that the distribution of changes in house prices is relevant for understanding its effect on aggregate consumption.


A number of states have adopted laws that require employers to use the federal government's E-Verify program to check workers' eligibility to work legally in the United States. Using data from the Current Population Survey, this study examines whether such laws affect labor market outcomes among Mexican immigrants who are likely to be unauthorized. We find evidence that E-Verify mandates reduce average hourly earnings among likely unauthorized male Mexican immigrants while increasing labor force participation and employment among likely unauthorized female Mexican immigrants. In contrast, the mandates appear to lead to better labor market outcomes among workers likely to compete with unauthorized immigrants. Employment and earnings rise among male Mexican immigrants who are naturalized citizens in states that adopt E-Verify mandates, and earnings rise among U.S.-born Hispanic men.


We propose a methodology for studying changes in bilateral commodity trade due to goods not exported previously or exported only in small quantities. Using a panel of 1,900 country pairs, we find that increased trade of these "least-traded goods" is an important factor in trade growth. This extensive margin accounts for 10 percent of the growth in trade for NAFTA country pairs, for example, and 26 percent in trade between the United States and Chile, China, and Korea. Looking at country pairs with no major trade policy change or structural change, however, we find little change in the extensive margin.


When university professors or other educators teach or conduct research abroad, tax planning before and during the foreign visit can often result in substantial tax savings. The United States has tax treaties with most foreign countries providing that academics who study or teach abroad are exempt from income taxation in the host country. In seeking to reduce U.S. income tax liability, most academics who work overseas will be able to take advantage of one of two mutually exclusive tax benefits. The first is a deduction in calculating taxable income for away-from-home traveling expenses (including food and lodging) under section 162(a) of the Internal Revenue Code. The deduction is available for taxpayers whose tax home remains at the vicinity of their U.S. home institution. The other is an exclusion of foreign earned income from gross income under section 911 of the Code. The exclusion is available for taxpayers whose tax home has shifted to a foreign country and who meet certain other conditions, the most important of which is that they be physically present in a foreign country for at least 330 full days out of any consecutive twelve-month period. Taxpayers eligible for the deduction are ineligible for the exclusion, and vice versa. The exclusion generally results in greater tax savings for persons who have significant foreign earned income (such as sabbatical salaries or foundation grants). The deduction may result in greater savings for taxpayers who have small amounts of foreign earned income, or substantial amounts of deductible traveling expenses. This article discusses the basic choices available to academics who work abroad while maintaining employment ties to a U.S. academic institution and explains how planning can optimize those choices. Keywords: Tax Deduction, Foreign Visit Tax Planning, Academics


In 2000-2001, Judge Ponsor presided over the first death penalty case in Massachusetts in nearly 50 years, United States v. Gilbert. Gilbert's trial marked only the third time that a federal capital case had gone to trial in a state without the death penalty. According to Ponsor, he felt a particularly heavy responsibility to ensure that both the government and the defense got a fair trial. In fact, in 2001, after the conclusion of the trial, Ponsor did something somewhat unusual for a judge; he wrote a lengthy editorial about the death penalty. He wrote: "[t]he simple question - not for me as a judge, but for all of us as citizens - is: Is the penalty worth the price?" In 2013, Ponsor published his first novel, The Hanging Judge, a novel about a fictionalized death penalty case. Ponsor develops a compelling narrative to grapple with that very question. The book explores issues including the death penalty, mandatory sentencing, and racial bias, all against the backdrop of love and loss and how the complexities of individual lives intersect in communities and courtrooms. The book is a captivating and engaging read that can easily be adopted as part of a community read in colleges and law schools. Western New England University School of Law incorporated the book into orientation for first-year law students. This had all of the benefits of a community read; students had a shared experience, a common language, and a vehicle to discuss diverse perspectives to help navigate their entry into a new and challenging academic environment. The book also generated added enthusiasm for discussing an array of important social justice issues.


Abstract Core electron-root confinement (CERC), observed in the Large Helical Device as well as in other helical devices, is an improved electron energy confinement mode. It is characterized by a highly peaked electron temperature profile in the core region and appears when the centrally focused electron cyclotron resonance heating power exceeds a certain threshold value. This threshold value has been clarified to associate with the transition of the radial electric field (Er) from the ion root (small negative value) to the electron root (large positive value greater than a few kV/m), based on the bifurcation nature of Er due to the ambipolarity condition of neoclassical transport fluxes that is specific in nonaxisymmetric configurations. It has been experimentally recognized that a steeper Te gradient is realized with a clear transition (power threshold nature) in target plasmas with counter neutral beam injection (NBI) than ones with codirectional NBI. It has been interpreted, based on the heat pulse propagation experiment, to be related to the rational surface or the island induced by the NBI-driven current. Transport analyses have shown that the incremental thermal diffusivity of electron heat transport becomes lower, and the standard thermal diffusivity decreases with the increase of heating power in CERC plasmas.


Guerrilla commanders Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Ethiopia's Meles Zenawi seized power in 1986 and 1991. Both made press freedom a prominent and credible policy to differentiate themselves from their predecessors in seeking domestic and international support in their efforts to consolidate power. Nevertheless, each still presides over a highly centralized autocratic regime, with limited opportunities for political contenders to contest free and fair national elections. There are, however, important differences. In Uganda the press has remained vibrant and open despite 2006 election tensions, while in Ethiopia much of the private press was dramatically closed after the 2005 electoral contests. Why the press has evolved differently in Ethiopia than in Uganda and what the role of the press has been under the current systems are core questions to be addressed in this research. In neither country can the media be studied separately from politics. The analytic framework of the thesis therefore highlights four key political variables, as well as four key media variables. The selected media variables are: the polarisation of the press; ideologies of journalists; institutionalisation of the press; and government interventions; and the selected political variables are: the ideology of the liberation movement; the process of state construction and the consolidation of power; reconciliation, trust and confidence building; and international dimensions. Each case study also includes a brief history highlighting the differences in the earlier development of the press in Ethiopia and Uganda. Because of the dearth of existing literature, the thesis has built on comparative literature from other regions and has relied on extensive field research, including semi-structured interviews and oral histories with key political and media actors for what is one of the first substantial pieces of research examining the press in contemporary Ethiopia and Uganda. The argument that emerges from this analysis is that the press can play an important role in building peace, encouraging reconciliation and facilitating dialogue in the aftermath of civil wars. It primarily does so through providing a space for different elite factions to negotiate power, reconcile competing versions of history and build a common national vision. This process has developed differently in Ethiopia and Uganda and accounts for some current discrepancies in their political and press systems.


The school-to-prison pipeline refers to the disturbing national trend in which children are funneled out of public schools and into juvenile and criminal justice systems. The purpose of this article is to theorize how this pipeline fulfills societal commitments to black male over-incarceration. First, the author reviews the troublesome perceptions of black boys and men in educational settings throughout the educational pipeline. Next, the ways in which black American boys are scripted out of childhood humanity are discussed, drawing upon tenets of discipline and punishment theory. Second, drawing from additional theories of power, the article re-interprets school discipline and achievement data in the educational pipeline as tools of containment that support school-to-prison pipelines for black males. The third section synthesizes the literature on black male behavioral responses in disempowering educational settings. The article closes with discussion and implications for schools and society.


Epithelial tumors synchronous with hematologic malignancies are very rare. The hystopathologic type and stage of synchronous tumors are very important for prognosis. A 77-year-old male patient was diagnosed with lymphoma after an excisional biopsy was taken from the retroauricular region. Positron emission tomography, performed for lymphoma staging, revealed a positive solid nodule (SUVmax: 24.3) in the posterobasal segment of the right lower lobe and a negative subsolid nodule in the anterior segment of the upper lobe. Right lower lobectomy and wedge resection for subsolide nodule in the upper lobe were performed. Histopathological examination revealed mildly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma for the solid nodule and mildly differentiated adenocarcinoma with lepidic pattern for the subsolid nodule. The patient was treated for only lymphoma according to the decision of the tumor board, and his condition is stable for 1 year without any evidence of lung cancer recurrence. This case presents the treatment approach and the fact that triple synchronic malignant cases are rare in the literature.


Cerebral small vessel disease is an important cause of vascular cognitive impairment and dementia. On brain imaging, discrete lacunar infarcts and/or more diffuse regions of white matter hyperintensities or leucoaraiosis are seen. Magnetic resonance imaging plays a crucial role in diagnosis, and advanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques are providing new information on disease mechanisms and offering potential as surrogate disease markers. Longitudinal studies have demonstrated detectable progression of lesion load over short time periods, and weak correlations with cognition. Stronger correlations with cognition have been found with diffusion tensor imaging, which is more sensitive to white matter tract structure, supporting a role for disconnection in the pathogenesis of cognitive impairment. Brain volume also consistently correlates with cognition in asymptomatic small vessel disease, sporadic small vessel disease, and Cerebral Autosomal Dominant Arteriopathy with Subcortical Infarcts and Leukoencephalopathy. Gradient echo magnetic resonance imaging identifies microbleeds in a significant proportion of patients with small vessel disease, although their role in clinical management remains to be determined. Surrogate markers to monitor disease progression and evaluate new therapies would have major clinical use. The greater sensitivity of diffusion tensor imaging parameters and brain volume to change, and the stronger correlation of these parameters with cognition, suggest that they may be more powerful surrogates. However, data from longitudinal and intervention studies are required to determine if this is indeed the case. In this systematic review, we describe the use of both conventional and advanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques in patient groups with the full spectrum of clinical small vessel disease, from normal populations with WMH to patients groups with lacunar stroke and dementia.


The IETF is specifying a protocol for network-based localized mobility
management, which takes basic operation for registration, tunnel
management and de-registration into account. This document specifies a
protocol for route optimization in networks, which support network-
based mobility management. The specified protocol focuses on efficient
set up and maintenance of a route optimized path between two mobile
nodes and suits complex mobility scenarios as well as networks with
multiple mobility anchors.


'Mobility' is a zeitgeist of the European Union. European enlargement and the removal of borders in Central and Eastern Europe has reinvigorated geographical mobility in Europe while the extension of neo-liberal economic reform across the region has been said to offer opportunities for social mobility to a new demography. The right to spatial and social mobility in the EU is described as enhancing freedom, opportunity and choice for large numbers of people living in Central and Eastern Europe, yet the reality for many people living and working across borders in the EU is marked still by poverty, uncertainty and immobility. How do we conceptualise this inequality within a discourse of 'free movement' and 'equality of opportunity' in Europe? In this paper I will discuss theories of mobility that have shaped the discourse on mobility and immobility in the EU in recent times. I will explore the ways in which this discourse has contributed to an almost immutable acceptance of the EU as a 'mobile space'. Adding to this I will present some early empirical findings from case studies in the Edinburgh, Scotland and Krakow, Poland to show that the everyday experiences of young Polish people who negotiate the invisible borders of the EU to find 'opportunities' has many dimensions, raising further questions about how 'mobility' is perceived and enacted by young Polish people living and working in the UK.


The "Wandering Falcon" is Jamil Ahmad's harsh and beautiful portrait of a tribal landscape. It is shortlisted for the man Asian prize 2011. It is longlisted for the dsc South Asian prize 2013. The boy known as Tor Baz - the black falcon - wanders the tribal landscape of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. He meets men who fight under different flags, and women who risk everything if they break their society's code of honour. Where has he come from, and where will fate take him? "Striking. One of the finest collections of short stories to come out of south Asia in decades. Rarely has a writer shown greater empathy for its people, or brought such wisdom and knowledge to writing about a terrain largely inaccessible. The power and beauty of these stories are unparalleled in most fiction to come out of south Asia". ("Guardian"). "Astonishing". ("Independent"). "Remarkable. Written in a style that has about it the reverberant clarity of fables, but their intention is realist, uncovering a largely neglected world, and their cumulative effect is deeply moving". ("Sunday Times"). "Its setting alone, in the cruel and punishing highlands, deserts and rocky altitudes where the borders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran meet, is worth the price of admission. Here is a book, to my knowledge the first in fiction, that gives an insider's account of the hard-bitten lives of the scores of tribes, collectively known as the Pawindas, or foot-people. The result is mesmerising". ("The Times"). "Brilliantly evokes the harshness of nomadic life. Chilling". ("Metro"). Jamil Ahmad was born in Jalandhar in 1933. As a member of the Civil Service of Pakistan, he served mainly in the Frontier Province and in Balochistan. He was Political Agent in Quetta, Chaghi, Khyber and Malakand and later, commissioner in Dera Ismail Khan and Swat. He was posted as minister in Pakistan's embassy in Kabul at a critical time, before and during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and his last assignment in the government was Chief Secretary Balochistan. He lives in Islamabad with his wife, Helga Ahmad.


Introduction and aims: In 1981, the diagnostic label of Asperger Syndrome (AS), was coined after the Austrian paediatrician Hans Asperger, by the English psychiatrist Lorna Wing, who reintroduced his 1944 work about "die autistischen Psychopathen im Kindesalter", so as to have a concept for relatively high functioning individuals with problems in the "autism spectrum". Little is known about the risk factors and outcome of AS and whether or not they are different from those of autism. The present study were to examine (1) a large number of background and associated factors in AS; (2) how aims of the different kinds of background factors influence IQ, neuropsychological skills, and psychomotordevelopment in males with AS; (3) the outcome of AS in males, and compare it to that of a similarlyaged group of males with autism; and (4) to what extent males with AS acknowledge problems related to their diagnosis, and agree with their parents on these matters. Subjects and methods: Medical records of 100 clinical cases of males with AS diagnosed at least five years prior to the present study were searched for information concerning background and associated factors. Sub-grouping in accordance with operationalised "pathogenetic" factors was attempted, and the influence of subgroup on psychomotor development, IQ, and degree of autism spectrum problems was investigated. These 100 males (and their parents) were approached for inclusion in a follow-up study. Seventy-six of the families participated in this in-depth study. The individuals with AS were evaluated at neuropsychiatric examinations, neuropsychological testing, and by interview schedules and questionnaires, some of which were used with their parents as well. Those 70 males with AS whose parents/carers had been given the Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication disorders were compared with 70 males with autism of similar age. Specific outcome criteria were used taking into consideration, employment, education/vocational training, independent living, and peer relations. Results and Discussion: Mean age at original diagnosis was 11.3 years. In 28 cases there was a strong suspicion of autism spectrum problems in close relatives, 12 of whom had been formally diagnosed with autism or AS. Some pre- and perinatal risk factors were much more common than in the general population. No definite clue as to "pathogenesis" could be established in 13%. Intellectual ability was average, and more than half the group had a verbal over performance IQ difference of 15 points or more at original diagnosis, consistent with so called Non-Verbal Learning Disability (NVLD). However, at follow-up fewer than 20% had indications of NVLD. For the AS cases followed up diagnosis and overall IQ were stable over time. However, 12% no longer met criteria for an autism spectrum disorder. Overall outcome was good in 27% of cases, but 26% had a very restricted life, with no occupation/activity and no friends. Outcome in the autism group was significantly worse, possibly due to the much lower IQ in this group. The males with AS had a good understanding of their own problems in some areas, but disagreed with their parents regarding some core AS symptoms. In spite of the much better outcome than in the autism group, prognosis in clinical cases of AS appears to be restricted as compared with individuals at the same IQ-level in the general population. However, given the lack of a general population comparator group, no generalized conclusions can be drawn in this respect.


It is well known that a light spot of sub-wavelength will diverge in all directions. In this letter, A method is presented for generating sub-wavelength (0.44\lambda) longitudinally polarized beam, which propagates without divergence over lengths of about 2\lambda in free space. This is achieved by a high numerical aperture (NA) lens axicon that utilizes spherical aberration to duplicate the performance of an axicon and to create an extended focal line.


The study explored the common students' indiscipline at Islamic University in Uganda. The study was quantitative and a cross-sectional survey design was used. The population of the study was 3,486 registered students in the academic year 2019/2020. They were selected from the Faculty of Education, Faculty of Management Studies, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Social Sciences, and Faculty of Science. A sample of 265 respondents was selected for the study using proportionate and random sampling. The mean score was computed to analyse the data. To conclude, the point range of the arithmetic mean was considered. The study found that the common indiscipline among learners in IUIU included disrespect to teachers and school rules and regulations, theft, and irregular attendance. The study recommended IUIU administration improves staff remuneration to change the status of the teachers. Furthermore, the administration needs to tighten security in the university and residents need to take care of their property to avoid theft. The researcher also


OBJECTIVE: To estimate the accuracy of Pap testing for women who are human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–seropositive, with a focus on negative predictive value. METHODS: Participants in the Women's Interagency HIV Study were monitored with conventional Pap tests every 6 months. After excluding those with abnormal Pap test results before study, cervical disease, or hysterectomy, women with negative enrollment Pap test results were monitored for development of precancer within 15 or 39 months, defined as a Pap test result read as high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion, atypical glandular cells favor neoplasia, or adenocarcinoma in situ, or a cervical biopsy read as cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2 or worse. Correlations between one or more consecutive negative Pap test results and subsequent precancer were assessed using Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: Among 942 HIV-infected women with negative baseline Pap test results, eight (1%) developed precancer within 15 months and 40 (4%) within 39 months. After three consecutive negative Pap test results, precancer was rare, with no cases within 15 months and 10 of 539 (2%) within 39 months. No women developed precancer or cancer within 39 months after 10 consecutive negative Pap test results. Risks for precancer within 15 months after negative Pap test result included current smoking (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2–2.0 compared with nonsmokers), younger age (adjusted HR 1.5, 95% CI 1.1–2.1 for women aged younger than 31 years compared with older than 45 years), and lower CD4 count (adjusted HR 11.8, 95% CI 1.3–2.3 for CD4 200–500/microliter, adjusted HR 2.2, 95% CI 1.6–2.9 for CD4 less than 200/microliter, compared with CD4 more than 500/microliter). CONCLUSION: Annual Pap testing appears safe for women infected with HIV; for those with serial negative tests, longer intervals are appropriate. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II


Abstract As citizenship regulations have tightened across the world, protest and activist movements have also emerged to challenge the violence of border and migration control. Positioned at the intersection of citizenship studies and critical geography, this special issue explores how space is conceived, mobilised, used and, in turn, shaped by these political struggles. The authors argue that citizenship is inextricably and irreducibly spatial, and therefore entangled with the material and discursive dimensions of geographical places and scales. Drawing on a rich set of examples, the contributions of this issue trace how space is actively and strategically used within multiple processes of political subjectivation. Focusing on critical sites through which exclusionary logics materialise – such as camps, borders and the urban space, the papers investigate how marginal(ised) political subjects claim their rights in and through space in different and often ambiguous ways, including contestation and solidarity.


Wolfgang Tillmans is one of the most significant artists to have emerged in Europe in the 1990s. Working almost exclusively with the photographic image, the visual language and sensibility he has created have had a profound influence on both photography-based art practice and commercial photography. Tillmans first came to prominence in the early 1990s with the photo-spreads and fashion shoots he did for cult magazines such as "I-D", "Index" and "Interview". Blurring the distinctions between fine art and photography, fashion shoot and reportage, his apparently spontaneous images of gay pride activists, clubbers and eco-warriers led to him being hailed as a chronicler of his generation, a tag he insistently rejected. Published to coincide with a major exhibition at Tate Britain, Summer 2003, this book includes many previously unpublished images and presents an artist constantly developing his vision to encompass new aspects of the world that surrounds us.


Herein, we report the impact of single- and co-doping of nanoparticle TiO2 films with carbon and nitrogen on the photovoltaic characteristics of their corresponding dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) devices. Different DSCs with various compositions of the photoanode electrodes are fabricated to study their structural and electronic properties by X-ray diffraction (XRD), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). We find that the interstitial nitrogen atoms for single N doping have a greater impact on the band gap energy (Eg) than the substitutional (to Ti) carbon atoms for single C doping. The short circuit current and efficiency of DSCs are enhanced by C and N single- and co-doping with dominant impression of carbon doping. Furthermore, the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements reveal that the electron lifetime, charge transport and recombination resistance of DSCs are improved by C and N single- and co-doping with prominent impact of carbon doping. Therefore, we achieve the highest cell efficiency of 10.2% as a result of a balance between the band gap, surface area, and diffused reflection of the photoanode electrode.


In November of 1993, Diapolis Smith was convicted of second degree murder by an all-white jury in Kent County, Michigan. On appeal, Smith challenged the constitutionality of Kent County's jury-selection procedure, claiming he had not been afforded his Sixth Amendment right to a jury drawn from a fair cross-section of the community. This Comment examines Smith's claim and argues that the Supreme Court ultimately erred in ruling that Smith failed to make a prima facie case for a Sixth Amendment claim. First, this Comment argues that Smith presented sufficient evidence for the Court to draw a reasonable inference, under Duren v. Missouri, that Kent County's jury-selection procedures systematically excluded African Americans. Second, in the face of extensive academic research that demonstrates the nexus between socioeconomic disparity and minority underrepresentation on juries, this Comment argues that the Supreme Court should be more amenable to claims that hinge on the presence of socioeconomic factors. Finally, this Comment addresses the consequences of the Berghuis v. Smith decision and the solutions to minority underrepresentation in jury venires.


Often, large, high-dimensional datasets collected across multiple modalities can be organized as a higher-order tensor. Low-rank tensor decomposition then arises as a powerful and widely used tool to discover simple low-dimensional structures underlying such data. However, we currently lack a theoretical understanding of the algorithmic behavior of low-rank tensor decompositions. We derive Bayesian approximate message passing (AMP) algorithms for recovering arbitrarily shaped low-rank tensors buried within noise, and we employ dynamic mean field theory to precisely characterize their performance. Our theory reveals the existence of phase transitions between easy, hard and impossible inference regimes, and displays an excellent match with simulations. Moreover it reveals several qualitative surprises compared to the behavior of symmetric, cubic tensor decomposition. Finally, we compare our AMP algorithm to the most commonly used algorithm, alternating least squares (ALS), and demonstrate that AMP significantly outperforms ALS in the presence of noise.


In schema and ontology matching, background knowledge such as dictionaries and thesauri can considerably improve the mapping quality. Such knowledge resources are especially valuable to determine the semantic relation type (e.g., equal, is-a or part-of) that holds between related concepts. Previous match tools mostly use WordNet as their primary resource for background knowledge, although WordNet provides only a limited coverage and currentness. We present the design and use of a new comprehensive repository called SemRep that combines concepts and semantic relationships from different resources. It integrates both manually developed resources (including WordNet) and semi-automatically extracted relations from Wikipedia. To determine the semantic relationship between two concepts of interest, SemRep also considers indirect relationships of possibly different types. An initial evaluation shows the general effectiveness and efficiency of using SemRep for ontology matching.


Satellite imagery of cloud cover is extremely important for understanding and predicting weather. We demonstrate how this imagery can be constructed "from the ground up" without requiring expensive geo-stationary satellites. This is accomplished through a novel approach to approximate continental-scale cloud maps using only ground-level imagery from publicly-available webcams. We collected a year's worth of satellite data and simultaneously-captured, geo-located outdoor webcam images from 4388 sparsely distributed cameras across the continental USA. The satellite data is used to train a dynamic model of cloud motion alongside 4388 regression models (one for each camera) to relate ground-level webcam data to the satellite data at the camera's location. This novel application of large-scale computer vision to meteorology and remote sensing is enabled by a smoothed, hierarchically-regularized dynamic texture model whose system dynamics are driven to remain consistent with measurements from the geo-located webcams. We show that our hierarchical model is better able to incorporate sparse webcam measurements resulting in more accurate cloud maps in comparison to a standard dynamic textures implementation. Finally, we demonstrate that our model can be successfully applied to other natural image sequences from the DynTex database, suggesting a broader applicability of our method.


Abstract The article analyses the individual communications of the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) on how the latter conceptualizes equality under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). It finds an implicit taxonomy in the case law that is not reflected in the doctrinal formulae that the HRC applies. The argument proceeds in several steps: First, I argue that the concept of equality in human rights treaties depends heavily on its operationalization by courts and quasi-judicial bodies, like the HRC. Second, I analyse the doctrinal formulae that the HRC has developed in order to specify equality. I argue that the doctrine is rather inconsistent and does not give significant guidance for resolving actual cases. Third, I present the results of a systematic analysis of the case law of the HRC. The latter shows a rather stable pattern which is not reflected in the doctrinal formulae: The best predictor whether the HRC finds a violation of Article 26 ICCPR or another equality norm of the Convention is the existence of a suspect criterion on which the challenged distinction was based. There are only very few cases in which a violation is found in the absence of a suspect criterion. The majority of these cases arguably concern arbitrary state actions. At the same time, the HRC has only rarely held that a state has not violated an equality norm despite the existence of a suspect criterion.


This essay argues that modern doctrine has not been faithful to the text, history and structure of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. These amendments were designed to give Congress broad powers to protect civil rights and civil liberties; together they form Congress's Reconstruction Power.Congress gave itself broad powers because it believed it could not trust the Supreme Court to protect the rights of the freedmen. The Supreme Court soon realized Congress's fears, not only limiting the scope of the Reconstruction Amendments but also Congress's powers to enforce them in decisions like United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542 (1875) and the Civil Rights Cases 109 U.S. 3 (1883). Due to these early cases, Congress was often forced to use its Commerce Power to protect civil rights. Modern decisions beginning with City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 (1997) and United States v. Morrison, 529 U.S. 598 (2000) have compounded these errors.When we strip away these doctrinal glosses and look at the original meaning and structural purposes underlying the Reconstruction amendments, we will discover that the Reconstruction Power gives Congress all the authority it needs to pass modern civil rights laws, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That was the original point of these amendments, and that should be their proper construction today.When it enforces the Reconstruction Amendments, Congress is not limited to remedying or preventing state violations of rights. It has long been recognized that Congress may reach private conduct through its Thirteenth Amendment powers to eradicate the badges and incidents of slavery. But Congress also has the power to enforce the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause-- a guarantee of equal citizenship that, like the Thirteenth Amendment, contains no state action requirement. The Citizenship Clause, designed to secure equality of citizenship for freedmen, gives Congress the corresponding power to protect the badges and incidents of citizenship. Congress may therefore ban discriminatory private conduct that it reasonably believes will contribute to or produce second-class citizenship.In addition to its powers to enforce the Citizenship Clause, Congress may also reach private action to prevent interference with federal constitutional rights. In conjunction with its powers to enforce the Guarantee Clause, Congress may therefore reach private violence designed to deter political participation, terrorize political opponents, or undermine representative government.The failure of state and local governments to guarantee equal protection of the laws was a central concern of the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment, and giving Congress the power to remedy this violence was one of the central purposes of the Fourteenth amendment. Today this same power enables Congress to pass laws banning violence directed at women and other federal hate crimes legislation.Finally, because of institutional differences between courts and legislatures, Congress may implement the state action requirement more broadly than courts currently do, for example, by imposing antidiscrimination norms on government contractors and operators of public accommodations. For this reason Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which bans discrimination in public accommodations, is not only a legitimate exercise of Congress's power to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment; it is a paradigmatic example of that power.The Supreme Court did not reach these questions in 1964 because it feared that overturning old precedents like the 1883 Civil Rights Cases would encourage Southern resistance to the new Civil Rights Act. But we should have no such compunction today. It is long past time to remedy the Supreme Court's errors, and reconstruct the great Reconstruction Power of the Constitution.


This interdisciplinary paper is about applying Adult Education methods of learning and teaching to higher education. I argue that higher education students need to be stimulated via interactive methods that improve their motivation and lead them to question the value system/s that exist around them. A Freirean approach as used in the teaching of Adult Literacy and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) was applied to a group of 'elite' students at the University of Birmingham who were taking a language foundation course. As a sociolinguist and ESOL practitioner from a black perspective, I argue that the understanding of concepts of language and racism, imperialism and social class can best be facilitated using such an approach. Taking groups of students through this learning journey is challenging for higher education
practitioners and the results add a relatively new dimension to the collective reflection on learning and teaching in higher education today.


Modern deep neural networks (DNNs) have achieved state-of-the-art performances but are typically over-parameterized. The over-parameterization may result in undesirably large generalization error in the absence of other customized training strategies. Recently, a line of research under the name of Sharpness-Aware Minimization (SAM) has shown that minimizing a sharpness measure, which reflects the geometry of the loss landscape, can significantly reduce the generalization error. However, SAM-like methods incur a two-fold computational overhead of the given base optimizer (e.g. SGD) for approximating the sharpness measure. In this paper, we propose Sharpness-Aware Training for Free, or SAF, which mitigates the sharp landscape at almost zero additional computational cost over the base optimizer. Intuitively, SAF achieves this by avoiding sudden drops in the loss in the sharp local minima throughout the trajectory of the updates of the weights. Specifically, we suggest a novel trajectory loss, based on the KL-divergence between the outputs of DNNs with the current weights and past weights, as a replacement of the SAM's sharpness measure. This loss captures the rate of change of the training loss along the model's update trajectory. By minimizing it, SAF ensures the convergence to a flat minimum with improved generalization capabilities. Extensive empirical results show that SAF minimizes the sharpness in the same way that SAM does, yielding better results on the ImageNet dataset with essentially the same computational cost as the base optimizer.


A reliable, robust and low cost fibre optic oxygen sensor for measuring rapid changes in oxygen partial pressure has been developed using a polymer optical fibre and a polymer sensing matrix which is biocompatible with human tissue. These materials have been used in many medical and biomedical applications. The polymer fibre optic oxygen sensor is based on the fluorescence quenching of a fluorophore by oxygen. The sensing matrix, containing immobilized Pt(II) complexes, was coated at the end of the polymer optical fibre. The sensitivity and time response of the sensor were evaluated using the method of luminescence intensity measurement. The polymer substrate influence on the sensor time response was reduced by using a fibre taper design, and the response time of the optimized sensor was less than 200ms. This all polymer fibre optic oxygen sensor is more suitable for clinical use in terms of safety, robustness, flexibility, and low cost.


OBJECTIVE
The goal of the present study was to assess knowledge and attitudes related to HIV/AIDS among the migrant female workers in the restaurant industry in Guangzhou City, China.

METHODS
We performed a questionnaire survey using a judgmental sampling method in the health examination clinic of Yuexiu District of Guangzhou during March 2011. A total of 428 participants completed and returned the questionnaires and data were analysed by descriptive statistics, t-test, one way ANOVA, and Wilcoxon test.

RESULTS
Of 428 respondents, the average score of HIV/AIDS-related knowledge was 19.6 (full marks, 26). Knowledge on HIV/AIDS among respondents was classified as poor for 8.2%, fair for 42.5%, and good for 49.3%. The average score of AIDS-related attitudes of respondents was 7.2 (full marks, 10). Most of the respondents (88.8%) had relatively positive attitudes toward AIDS. Unmarried status, ages less than 30 years old and higher levels of education had higher scores of knowledge. Among the respondents who had sex experiences, 57.7% (130/225) reported that they never or only some of the time used condom. The young, unmarried women had significantly higher proportion of condom use than those above 30 years old, and/or married ones.

CONCLUSION
Overall, a half of respondents had only moderate and low levels of awareness about HIV/AIDS knowledge, although most of them had tolerant and positive attitudes toward HIV/AIDS. In addition, a relatively lower rate of condom use was reported. The findings indicate that there exists broad space for improvement of knowledge and behaviours toward HIV/AIDS for migrant women in China.


Bank leverage ratios have made an impressive and largely unopposed return; they are mostly used alongside risk-weighted capital requirements. The reasons for this return are manifold, and they are not limited to the fact that bank equity levels in the wake of the global financial crisis (GFC) were exceptionally thin, necessitating a string of costly bailouts. A number of other factors have been equally important; these include, among others, the world's revulsion with debt following the GFC and the eurozone crisis, and the universal acceptance of Hyman Minsky's insights into the nature of the financial system and its role in the real economy. The best examples of the causal link between excessive debt, asset bubbles, and financial instability are the Spanish and Irish banking crises, which resulted from nothing more sophisticated than straightforward real estate loans. Bank leverage ratios are primarily seen as a microprudential measure that intends to increase bank resilience. Yet in today's environment of excessive liquidity due to very low interest rates and quantitative easing, bank leverage ratios should also be viewed as a key part of the macroprudential framework. In this context, this paper discusses the role of leverage ratios as both microprudential and macroprudential measures. As such, it explains the role of the leverage cycle in causing financial instability and sheds light on the impact of leverage restraints on good bank governance and allocative efficiency.


The new millennium has brought with it major technological advances; signi®cant improvements in robotic technology have increased the accuracy with which certain mechanical tasks are performed. A recent issue of Nature reports a computerized system which designs, evolves and manufactures simple robots with almost no human intervention [1]. The word `robot' is derived from the Czechoslovakian term robota, which means `worker'. The use of robots in surgery has been one of the most challenging applications in medicine. Robots were ®rst used in neurosurgery and orthopaedic surgery. In the late 1980s a collaborative venture between Imperial College and Guy's Hospital, London, saw the introduction of robotics in urology in the form of a TURP robotic frame. This was developed into the Probot, a robot to automate transurethral electrovaporization of the prostate. A preliminary clinical trial in ®ve patients showed a signi®cant improvement in symptoms and peak ̄ow rates [2]. Dr Louis Kavoussi and his team have further developed these initial efforts in robotic urology at Johns Hopkins, USA. In August 2000 I had the opportunity to visit his department and robotics laboratory, headed by Dr Dan Stoianovici, a mechanical engineer. This group has developed a robotic system to perform percutaneous renal access as a preliminary step in percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Percutaneous renal access can be a challenging technique, particularly when the collecting system is not distended, and precise entry into a selected calyx requires extensive experience. The robot consists of a mechanical arm with six degrees of freedom, mounted on the operating table, and a radiolucent needle driver controlled by real-time ̄uoroscopic imaging [3]. Further innovations are the YIM needle, which con®rms accurate percutaneous access by electronic measurement of urinary impedance at its tip, and the SMART needle, which uses laser impedance. The rate of successful needle placement with this system is 92% [4]. It has been tested in a pig model [5] as well as in patients [6]. The other major use of robotics in Dr Kavoussi's department is in laparoscopic urology. They use a robotic arm (`AESOP') to hold the laparoscope, in place of a human assistant. The arm can be controlled by a foot pedal, hand controller or voice activation, the last method being the most accurate. This FDA approved device has six degrees of freedom and is developed such as to avoid any accidental injury to the patient. The team at Johns Hopkins has objectively shown the AESOP to have more accurate camera movements than a human assistant, and to be cost-effective [3]. They also use another voice-activated robot (HERMES) to control insuf ̄ation during laparoscopy. I saw this technology being used during laparoscopic simple and radical nephrectomy, donor nephrectomy, nephroureterectomy, pyeloplasty, renal biopsy, cord ablation and even a laparoscopic cystectomy. Dr Kavoussi and his colleagues have also used robotic arms for telerobotic laparoscopic surgery between the USA and other countries [7]. An experienced urological laparoscopist at a remote site can tele-operate the robotic arm to position the laparoscope, use electrocautery and provide guidance and teaching to the primary surgeon during a procedure. This kind of interaction requires the use of telephone lines similar to those used for Internet access. An obvious problem with this approach is the time delay that occurs while information is transferred over long distances. Time delay affects surgical performance but surgeons are able to compensate for this effect if the lag is <700 ms [8]. Methods of reducing such time delays will need to be examined in future.


First data on the genus Tachydromia Meigen from Australia are provided including descriptions of five new species: T. australiensis n.sp. (New South Wales), T. bickeli n.sp. (New South Wales), T. carnarvonensis n.sp. (Queensland), T. corticola n.sp. (New South Wales, Queensland), T. nowendociensis n.sp. (New South Wales). Hypothesized phylogenetic relationships of the new species (also T. papuana Grootaert known from Papua New Guinea) are briefly discussed. A key to Australasian Tachydromia is provided.


This research focuses on a study of the material parameters of horse hoof. The study of the problem with the factors that affect to the fastening of the shoe is not performed. Three different tests are carried out to obtain the behavior of the horn wall of the horse hoof in different ways, under physiological conditions and variation of hydration level. The first one is a tensile test to obtain both the force/displacement relation and the stress/strain relation and the parameters derived from them. The second is a hardness test to determine how the material resists to several kinds of permanent-shape changes when a force is applied.Finally, a microscopic study is performed to analyze the fracture surface after testing the specimens. A meticulous analysis of the results and a broad comparison with several researches are performed. The end of the thesis work suggests future works needed to solve the problem.


Electronic commerce will generate a number of new policy issues, few of which are presently being considered. Lawmakers and regulators have been so focused on establishing appropriate rules for vendors and service providers that they have failed to consider the larger consequences that the ensuing network architecture may have for the economy as a whole. Examining the forces driving electronic commerce and its likely impact on network deployment given recent telecom reform, this article argues that the government should reconsider common carriage as a means of assuring network access in the future.


This paper assesses the antitrust fines and private penalties imposed on the participants of 260 international cartels discovered during 1990–2005, using four indicators of enforcement effectiveness. First, the United States is almost always the first to investigate and sanction international cartels, and its investigations are about seven times faster than EU probes. Second, US investigations were more likely to be kept confidential than those in Europe, but the gap nearly disappeared since 2000. Third, median government antitrust fines average less than 10% of affected commerce, but rises to about 35% in the case of multi-continental conspiracies. Civil settlements in jurisdictions where they are permitted are typically 6 to 12% of sales. Canadian and US fines and settlements imposed higher penalties than other jurisdictions. Fourth, fines on cartels that operated in Europe averaged a bit more than half of their estimated overcharges; those prosecuted only in North America paid civil and criminal sanctions of roughly single damages; and global cartels prosecuted in both jurisdictions typically paid less than single damages.


The degradation of streams caused by urbanization tends to follow predictable patterns; however, there is a growing appreciation for heterogeneity in stream response to urbanization due to the local geoclimatic context. Furthermore, there is building evidence that streams in mildly sloped, permeable landscapes respond uncharacteristically to urban stress calling for a more nuanced approach to restoration. We evaluated the relative influence of local-scale riparian characteristics and catchment-scale imperviousness on the macroinvertebrate assemblages of streams in the flat, permeable urban landscape of Perth, Western Australia. Using a hierarchical multi-taxa model, we predicted the outcomes of stylized stream restoration strategies to increase the riparian integrity at the local scale or decrease the influences of imperviousness at the catchment scale. In the urban streams of Perth, we show that local-scale riparian restoration can influence the structure of macroinvertebrate assemblages to a greater degree than managing the influences of catchment-scale imperviousness. We also observed an interaction between the effect of riparian integrity and imperviousness such that the effect of increased riparian integrity was enhanced at lower levels of catchment imperviousness. This study represents one of few conducted in flat, permeable landscapes and the first aimed at informing urban stream restoration in Perth, adding to the growing appreciation for heterogeneity of the Urban Stream Syndrome and its importance for urban stream restoration.