For the islanded operation of a microgrid, several control strategies have been developed. For example, voltage-based droop control can be implemented for the active power control of the generators and the control of the active loads. One of the main advantages of a microgrid is that it can be implemented as a controllable entity within the electrical network. This requires the ability of the utility grid to control or influence the power exchange with the microgrid by communicating with only one unit. However, little research has been conducted on controlling the power transfer through the point of common coupling (PCC). This paper addresses this issue by introducing the concept of a smart transformer (ST) at the PCC. This unit controls the active power exchange between a microgrid and the utility grid dependent on the state of both networks and other information communicated to the ST. To control the active power, the ST uses its taps that change the microgrid-side voltage at the PCC. This voltage-based control of the ST is compatible with the voltage-based droop control of the units in the microgrid that is used in this paper. Hence, the microgrid units can automatically respond to changes of ST set points and vice versa. Several simulation cases are included in this paper to demonstrate the feasibility of the ST concept.


Results from 4 experiments demonstrate that learning the other group members' preferences at the beginning of a discussion impedes the solution of hidden profiles. In Experiments 1–3, participants who were not informed about their fellow group members' preferences were more likely to solve a hidden profile than those who received bogus information about the others' preferences. The negative effect of learning the others' preferences on decision quality was mediated by participants paying less attention to the information exchanged when they had been made aware of the others' preferences. Experiments 1 and 2 further ruled out that the effect of learning the others' preferences is due to participants bolstering their position or due to an increase in informational load. Experiment 3 showed that learning the other group members' preferences impedes the solution of hidden profiles even if one of the other members favors the correct alternative. Finally, Experiment 4 replicated these results in face-to-face interacting 3-person groups.


BACKGROUND
Endoscopic epinephrine injection therapy (EIT) is always the first choice of treatment for bleeding peptic ulcers, although it fails in 15% to 30% of patients. The aim of this study was to develop a new scoring system to predict the failure in EIT, and to validate this scoring model prospectively.

METHODS
This study enrolled 125 patients who presented with the stigmata of hemorrhage of peptic ulcers and underwent EIT. Patients with coagulopathy were excluded from the study. Univariate analysis of the clinical and endoscopic parameters to predict failure in EIT was performed first. A multiple logistic regression was used to develop a scoring system. This scoring equation was further applied to 50 prospective patients with bleeding peptic ulcers to validate its predictive value.

RESULTS
EIT failed to arrest bleeding in 32 (25.6%) patients. Shock, blood transfusion of at least 500 ml, active bleeding, and ulcer size were effective in predicting failure in EIT as calculated by univariate analysis, while multivariate analysis showed shock, active bleeding and ulcer size to be the independent predictors. The scoring equation, defined as -3.14 + 1.29 (shock) + 0.99 (active bleeding) + 0.13 (ulcer size in mm), had a sensitivity of 81.8% and a specificity of 76.9% in predicting failure of EIT in the prospective cohort of 50 bleeding patients.

CONCLUSIONS
The presence of shock, active bleeding (spurting or oozing hemorrhage) and ulcer size are risk factors of failure of EIT in Taiwanese patients with bleeding peptic ulcers. The scoring system based on these three parameters can predict failure in EIT, while alternative treatment should be considered in case patients fail EIT.


The alteration of the lung volume, in the form of reduction of total lung capacity (TLC), is regarded to restrictive lung diseases; as a rule the diseases of the chest wall and muscles, neuromuscular apparatus stipulate it; also, there are parenchymal ailments that may adjust the respiratory function of the lungs. The former ones lead to the decrease of TLC and refer to extrapulmonary diseases, and vice versa, the latter ones cause elevated TLC, like in COPD and asthma.


In situ abrasion of shingle beach material is a neglected area of study in coastal geomorphology, with reduction in beach volumes normally attributed to longshore and offshore drift. Results from field abrasion experiments conducted on flint shingle beaches on the East Sussex coast, southern England, show that in situ reductions in volume of beach material may be more significant than has been thought. Two beaches composed almost entirely of flint shingle were seeded with hard quartzite from a Devon beach and less resistant limestone from a South Wales beach that are readily distinguishable from the flint. The seeding commenced in January 2001. The pebbles, similar in size and shape to the natural flint shingle, were left in the surf zone at two sites. Prior to exposure the pebbles were engraved with a code number and weighed. At regular intervals those that could be re-found were re-weighed and returned to the beach. Abrasion rates were calculated for each pebble as percentage weight loss per tide. By the end of October 2001, more than 700 measurements of abrasion rates had been made from a total of 431 pebbles. Average limestone abrasion rates (0.0266% loss of weight per tide) were three times greater than those of quartzite (0.0082% per tide). Measurable abrasion rates were recorded over just a few tidal cycles, not only in severe wave conditions but also in much calmer weather. The maximum abrasion rates recorded exceeded 1% per tide for limestone


Abstract. In this study, we examine the potential of snow water equivalent data assimilation (DA) using the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) to improve seasonal streamflow predictions. There are several goals of this study. First, we aim to examine some empirical aspects of the EnKF, namely the observational uncertainty estimates and the observation transformation operator. Second, we use a newly created ensemble forcing dataset to develop ensemble model states that provide an estimate of model state uncertainty. Third, we examine the impact of varying the observation and model state uncertainty on forecast skill. We use basins from the Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountains, and California in the western United States with the coupled Snow-17 and Sacramento Soil Moisture Accounting (SAC-SMA) models. We find that most EnKF implementation variations result in improved streamflow prediction, but the methodological choices in the examined components impact predictive performance in a non-uniform way across the basins. Finally, basins with relatively higher calibrated model performance (> 0.80 NSE) without DA generally have lesser improvement with DA, while basins with poorer historical model performance show greater improvements.


For adolescents, body weight can be a complicated and sometimes difficult issue. Though the majority of adolescents report being aware of normative gendered body ideals, how adolescents incorporate or reject these ideals into their own weight-control decisions or sense of self can vary dramatically, largely in reaction to their social experiences with body ideals in the local, immediate contexts of their daily lives. The role of one such local context schools has remained largely unexplored in existing literature. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and multi-level modeling, I investigate the role high school weight cultures play in the development of adolescents' weight-loss behaviors, overweight self-perceptions, and self-esteem. I employ social comparison theories, specifically the idea of who may serve as a likely target for social comparison general others, similar others, or high status others to develop hypotheses about which aspects of the school context may be associated with various aspects of adolescents' body weight. Overall, my results indicate x that there is a strong relationship between adolescents' weight-loss behavior, selfperception and self-esteem and the weight-related culture in the school. For example, adolescent boys, on average, are significantly less likely to report perceiving themselves as overweight or engaging in weight-loss behaviors when they attend schools where there are many overweight boys in the student body. I also find that there is some variation within the school in terms of which peers are most salient to adolescents' behaviors and self-perceptions. Both boys and girls are particularly impacted by the values and behaviors of similar others, when similarity is defined by same-sex adolescents of a similar body size. For example, on average, overweight adolescent girls are significantly more likely to report engaging in weight-loss behaviors when a higher proportion of overweight girls in their school also are engaged in weight-loss behaviors. The same pattern is found among adolescent boys. Overall, these findings suggest that meso-level social contexts like schools may be particularly important to how individuals incorporate macro-level beliefs or values like gendered body ideals into their own behaviors and self-concepts.


Political polarization is all the rage. Yet administrative agencies are strikingly absent from leading accounts of contemporary polarization. To the extent they appear, it is largely as acted-upon entities that bear the fallout from the congressional–presidential confrontations that polarization fuels, or as the tools of presidential unilateralism. This failure to incorporate administrative agencies into polarization accounts is a major omission. Agencies possess broad grants of preexisting authority that they can use to reshape governing policy and law, often at presidential instigation, thereby putting pressure on Congress to respond. In the process, they can construct new alliances and arrangements that have the potential to break through partisan divides and alter the political landscape. If nothing else, agencies' preexisting powers mean that the policy gridlock produced by polarization at the political level does not forestall policy development altogether. This Essay, written in honor of Peter Strauss, aims to deepen current understanding of the relationship between administrative agencies and political polarization. Using Professor Strauss's insight that agencies exist in a web of control relationships as a launching point, the Essay probes how polarization affects these control relationships and the extent to which agencies can develop policy and potentially reshape partisan divides. Polarization, or at least polarization combined with divided government, hobbles proactive legislative direction, with the result that congressional oversight is exercised most frequently by inaction, delay, and budget constraints. These moves frustrate agencies' ability to function and meet emerging regulatory challenges, but also create new opportunities for unilateral executive branch action. Polarization and congressional dysfunction also result in greater presidential control of administration and heightens the salience of executive and judicial constraints on how agencies function. Yet focusing simply on the forces empowering or constraining agencies at the federal level misses the critical element of state participation in federal programs and federal regulation. Such state involvement injects a political edge into program implementation and provides a potential mechanism for checking executive branch unilateralism at the same time that it opens up opportunities for bipartisanship. After setting out a conceptual account of the relationship between agencies, polarization, and the states, the Essay examines implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to assess how these complicated dynamics operate in practice. The ACA is a fascinating case study


Common scab, caused by plant pathogenic Streptomyces sp., is a major soil and tuber
borne bacterial disease of potato. Whilst the disease seldom affects tuber yield,
infections produce unsightly blemishes on tubers that reduce their value. It causes
significant economic losses in the fresh, processing and seed market sectors of the
potato industry. Despite several decades of research activity, no single measure has
been developed that is able to provide effective control of this disease and comhlon
scab therefore remains a serious threat to the potato production throughout the potato
growing areas of the world. This project investigated links between tuber structural
attributes and susceptibility to infection, an area of study under-represented in the
literature and offering potential to deliver new knowledge on common scab disease
that may lead to improved approaches to disease management.
A series of experiments was conducted under field, glasshouse and hydroponic
conditions to investigate changes in morphology and anatomy of the potato tuber.
Inoculation treatments were developed to investigate relationships between structural
features at the time of inoculation and the subsequent levels of infection. A novel
hydroponic system was developed that allowed inoculation of individual tubers at
specific times or stages of development and permitted non-destructive observation of
the development of common scab symptoms. A second novel system involved the
use of netting in potting bags to separate tubers from the root zone and allowed
inoculation at different times during plant growth. This system facilitated study of
the pathogen infection window on the tubers, and pathogen-induced structural
changes in the tubers, under glasshouse conditions. Field studies were undertaken in
12 commercial crops across a range of production environments, and utilised seed
from a single source to allow assessment of site effects on tuber development and
disease incidence.
Many tuber anatomical and morphological features (stomata and lenticel number,
periderm thickness, lenticel structure, pattern of suberisation and internode expansion
rate on the tubers) were found to be highly variable under different field and
glasshouse conditions, and significant variability within crops/treatments was also observed. Lenticel diameter was determined by growmg environment, but other
structural features varied as much between tubers within sites or treatments as
between sites or treatments. Given the sporadic nature of occurrence of common scab
symptoms within and between crops, the observations of variation in structural
features was sufficient to indicate that anatomical features could be playing a role in
susceptibility to infection.
Detailed study of lenticel development on tubers revealed that two pathways of
lenticel formation exist in potato tubers. Formation of lenticels from stomata, the
commonly accepted pathway in the literature, occurred on all tubers, but when tubers
expanded rapidly, lenticels were found to have also formed directly from peridermal
rupture. In most tubers, the majority of lenticels were concluded to have formed from
this second pathway. The initiation of lenticel formation in both pathways was shown
to be via localised zones of increased cell division in the phellem layer, placing
pressure on the outer cell layers and leading to rupture of the periderm. Continued
cell division and expansion under the rupture site creates the characteristic raised
lenticular shaped structure of a mature lenticel. Suberization in lenticels was
observed to occur very late m Luber development in most glasshouse and
hydroponically grown tubers, and lenticels with no suberisation were found in
mature tubers under all growing conditions in the project.
No relationship was found between tuber anatomical features at the time of exposure
to the pathogen and either incidence or severity of common scab symptoms. While
trends were observed within trials, when data from all experiments were examined
there was no structural attribute that was consistently present or absent in treatments
that induced high levels of common scab symptoms. Under field conditions,
suberisation in the periderm was noted in young tubers in crops that subsequently
developed high incidence of common scab, but under glasshouse conditions nonsuberized
tubers at the point of inoculation were found to be highly susceptible to the
disease. No evidence was found of increased suberisation in lenticels during tuber
maturation being associated with reduced susceptibility to infection, with the timing
of suberisation varying markedly between trials and in many conditions not recorded
until very late in tuber development.
The window of tuber susceptibility to common scab disease infection was shown to
vary with the season or conditions under which the plants were grown. In addition,
the first direct evidence that different intemodes on tubers were susceptible to
infection at different times during tuber development was produced. Basal
intemodes, which are the first sections of the tuber to expand, are susceptible earliest
in tuber development with apical intemodes only becoming susceptible later in tuber
growth by which time the basal intemodes are no longer susceptible.
Basal intemodes in older tubers, which were less susceptible to common scab
infection, were shown to rapidly produce additional phellem cell layers when
exposed to the pathogen, whereas the same internodes in young, susceptible tubers
were slower to respond. A pathogen-induced suberin deposition in phellem and
filling cells was observed in less susceptible tubers in addition to the increased
thickness and number of cell layers in the phellem. This result suggested that the
phellem layer rather than the lenticels may be involved in common scab infection,
with infection occurring directly through the periderm, as suggested by Loria et al.
(2003), rather than through the lenticels as suggested by most other authors.
This project has contributed to a better understanding of the role and relationships
between pre-existing or induced structural features of the tuber and common scab
disease infection of potato. Further investigations on the role of phellem layers in
disease infection and pathogen-induced phellem layer responses are recommended.


Anecdotal reports that time "flies by" or "slows down" during emotional events are supported by evidence that the motivational relevance of stimuli influences subsequent duration judgments. Yet it is unknown whether the subjective quality of events as they unfold is altered by motivational relevance. In a novel paradigm, we measured the subjective experience of moment-to-moment visual perception. Participants judged the temporal smoothness of high-approach positive images (desserts), negative images (e.g., of bodily mutilation), and neutral images (commonplace scenes) as they faded to black. Results revealed approach-motivated blurring, such that positive stimuli were judged as smoother and negative stimuli as choppier relative to neutral stimuli. Participants' ratings of approach motivation predicted perceived fade smoothness after we controlled for low-level stimulus features. Electrophysiological data indicated that approach-motivated blurring modulated relatively rapid perceptual activation. These results indicate that stimulus value influences subjective temporal perceptual acuity; approach-motivating stimuli elicit perception of a "blurred" frame rate characteristic of speeded motion.


The short-term health consequences of smoking include respiratory and non- respiratory effects, addiction to nicotine, and the associated risk of other drug use. Long-term health consequences of youth smoking are reinforced by the fact that most young people who smoke regularly continue to smoke throughout adulthood. Cigarette smokers have a lower level of lung function than those persons who have never smoked,smoking reduces the rate of lung growth.
In adults, cigarette smoking causes heart disease and stroke. Studies have shown that early signs of these diseases can be found in adolescents who smoke....


We propose a new algorithm called DPC+ to enforce partial path consistency (PPC) on qualitative constraint networks. PPC restricts path consistency (PC) to a triangulation of the underlying constraint graph of a network. As PPC retains the sparseness of a constraint graph, it can make reasoning tasks such as consistency checking and minimal labelling of large qualitative constraint networks much easier to tackle than PC. For qualitative constraint networks defined over any distributive subalgebra of well-known spatio-temporal calculi, such as the Region Connection Calculus and the Interval Algebra, we show that DPC+ can achieve PPC very fast. Indeed, the algorithm enforces PPC on a qualitative constraint network by processing each triangle in a triangulation of its underlying constraint graph at most three times. Our experiments demonstrate significant improvements of DPC+ over the state-of-the-art PPC enforcing algorithm.


p27Kip1 (p27) is a tumor suppressor whose stability is controlled by proteasome-mediated degradation, a process directed in part by cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2)-mediated phosphorylation of p27 at Thr187 and its subsequent interaction with the Skp1-Cullin-F-box protein/Skp2 (Skp2) ubiquitin ligase. The present study shows that 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) arrests ovarian cancer cells in G1 by stabilizing the p27 protein. 1,25(OH)2D3 initiates a chain of events by decreasing the amounts of cyclin E and cyclin E-associated CDK2 activity. As a result, p27 phosphorylation at Thr187 and consequently the interaction with Skp2 are decreased. 1,25(OH)2D3 also increases p27 stability by decreasing the abundance of Skp2. It is the combined effect of 1,25(OH)2D3 on both the CDK2-dependent phosphorylation of p27, and thus its affinity for Skp2, and Skp2 expression that dramatically increases the stability of the p27 protein. Similar to its effects in ovarian cancer cells, 1,25(OH)2D3 induces p27 accumulation in wild type mouse embryo fibroblasts and arrests wild type but not p27-null mouse embryo fibroblasts in G1. Stable expression of Skp2 in OVCAR3 cells diminishes the G1 arrest and decreases the growth response to 1,25(OH)2D3. Taken together, the results of this study identify p27 as the key mediator of 1,25(OH)2D3-induced growth suppression in G1 and show that the hormone achieves this by decreasing the activity of CDK2 and reducing the abundance of Skp2, which act together to degrade p27.


Advances in Grid technology enable the deployment of data-intensive distributed applications, which require moving terabytes or even petabytes of data between data banks. The current underlying networks cannot provide dedicated links with adequate end-to-end sustained bandwidth to support the requirements of these Grid applications. DWDM-RAM is a novel service-oriented architecture, which harnesses the enormous bandwidth potential of optical networks and demonstrates their on-demand usage on the OMNInet. Preliminary experiments suggest that dynamic optical networks, such as the OMNInet, are the ideal option for transferring such massive amounts of data. DWDM-RAM incorporates an OGSI/OGSA compliant service interface and promotes greater convergence between dynamic optical networks and data intensive Grid computing.


Cognitive fatigue is a problem for the safety of critical systems (e.g., aircraft) as it can lead to accidents, especially during unexpected events. In order to determine the extent to which it disrupts adaptive capabilities, we evaluated its effect on online and anticipatory control. Despite numerous studies conducted to determine its effects, the exact mechanism(s) affected by fatigue remains to be clarified. In this study, we used distribution and electromyographic analysis to assess whether cognitive fatigue increases the capture of the incorrect automatic response or if it impairs its suppression (online control), and whether the conflict adaptation effect is reduced (anticipatory control). To this end, we evaluated the evolution of the performance over time during the Simon task, a classic conflict task that elicits incorrect automatic responses. To accentuate the presence of fatigue during the Simon task, two groups previously performed a dual-task with two different cognitive load levels to create two different levels of fatigue. The results revealed that time on task impaired online control by disrupting the capacity to suppress the incorrect response but leaving unaffected the expression of the automatic response. Furthermore, participants emphasized speed rather than accuracy with time on task, with in addition more fast guesses, suggesting that they opted for a less effortful response strategy. As the implementation of the suppression mechanism requires cognitive effort, the conjunction of these results suggests that the deficits observed may be due to disengagement of effort over time rather than reflecting an incapacity to make an effort.


Through careful historical and ethnographic research and extensive use of local scholarly works, this book provides a persuasive and careful analysis of the production of knowledge in Central Asia. The author demonstrates that classical theories of science and society are inadequate for understanding the science project in Central Asia. Instead, a critical understanding of local science is more appropriate. In the region, the professional and political ethos of Marxism-Leninism was incorporated into the logic of science on the periphery of the Soviet empire. This book reveals that science, organizes and constructed by Soviet rule, was also defined by individual efforts of local scientists. Their work to establish themselves 'between Marx and the market' is therefore creating new political economies of knowledge at the edge of the scientific world system.


According to public goods theory, there should be a deficiency of knowledge shared in electronic discussion groups (EDG) because self-interested individuals would be motivated to receive others' knowledge but not to share their own. A number of motivators (such as generalized reciprocity, altruism, and normative obligations) have been proposed to explain why people actually do share their knowledge in such settings, and empirical research has confirmed that people do express these motivations for sharing their knowledge. However, the simple picture of individuals sharing knowledge that is known to be true limits our ability to understand what actually is going on in EDG. This paper develops a typology of interactions that may arise in electronic discussion groups and argues that several of these types of interactions confer benefits onto participants that may well motivate them to contribute their knowledge, even in settings where traditional motivators may be weak or absent. In particular, the process whereby anomalies are reconciled and the provision of knowledge to conduct remote-controlled experiments both stand to generate returns to those who contribute that are not available to those who "lurk."


The role of migration in reducing poverty in developing countries has been investigated mainly from the perspective of migrants and their relatives. This paper exploits the time and spatial variations in the way households in the region of Kagera (Tanzania) traced between 1991 and 2004 have been affected by massive refugee inflows to assess how migration may affect poverty in the hosting communities. Large population inflows from Burundi and Rwanda have improved the welfare of the hosting population, particularly for the poor. Despite the process of structural transformation observed in the refugee-hosting economy, such pro-poor development is mainly explained by improved agricultural labor productivity and income diversification among the poor.


Abstract:How should we understand performance's role in shaping gendered desires? I theorize how masculinity is managed through nō performance by examining how fraternal bonds depend upon particular forms of theatricality to thrive. In the play Dōjōji, especially, the aspiring professional actor's virtuosity relies on a feminine protagonist's riveting display of physical restraint. I consider how this spectacle functions within two overlapping homosocial spheres: the all-male temple community depicted in Dōjōji and the overwhelmingly male community of professional nō actors for which Dōjōji serves as an initiation. I read the play allegorically to theorize "spectacular discipline," a distinctive form of virtuosic restraint that bridges these two spheres and enthralls viewers in part by sublimating subjection. I argue that transgressive femininity proves serviceable to patriarchal regimes operating both onstage and off.


The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate how the tool of re-engineering can successfully be used to dissect competitive packaging and, in turn, stimulate new, innovative packaging developments. The organizational challenges and hurdles in achieving innovation have changed in recent years. Mergers and acquisitions have resulted in the creation ofmega-corporations. The result has been a change in business philosophy from generalization to specialization for maximum profitability. The challenge of specialization is that it stifles creativity, and this includes the development of innovative packaging. One of the ways the packaging engineer can overcome these challenges and drive innovation is through the re-engineering ofcompetitive packages. The key to successful re-engineering is the complete dissection ofcompetitive packaging in order to define its characteristics and ultimately improve on the concept. It is through this improvement of design, form, or function that innovation is achieved. The use of re-engineering can save organizations time and money as it dramatically shortens the development process. The ability to develop and execute innovation is key to the long-term health ofcorporations. This thesis will review two successful applications of the re-engineering tool in developing innovative packaging. Both projects, Halloween 2000 and Major League Baseball 2001, involved packages that were developed and executed at Kraft Foods, Inc. in the Post cereals division. In both cases, the problem presented to the R&D teamwas to quickly develop new promotional packaging that provided added consumer value. The first step was to conduct a competitive scan of the marketplace to identify potential packaging concepts. These packages were then dissected and analyzed, and a process to improve on the design to meet the project needs was developed. A patent search was conducted to ensure the new packages would not infringe on existing patents. The result was two ofthe most successful promotional programs in a dramatically compressed development time line. The Post organizationwas able to gain competitive market share during these promotional periods, and the packaging innovation proved to be a key driver in this success. The researcher suggests that the use of the re-engineering as stimuli for innovation is a proven and powerful tool for packaging development.


This paper describes an alternative approach to the teaching of concepts related to the English Curriculum. It combines a shift in the theory of school teaching with psychological theory development. This research was conducted at a private, Catholic Secondary School in Johannesburg over a period of almost six months with a class of twenty Grade Ten students. The research was designed in response to the fact that many traditional, 'rote' teaching methods are not effective in the classroom and that an alternative needs to be found. This research aimed at testing the theories of the Sociohistorical school in order to ascertain whether they could provide clues as to methods that might be more conducive to real learning. Vygotsky's (1978) theoretical construct of the Zone of Proximal Development, Hedegaard's (1996) idea of a 'double move' and the ideas posited by Wells (1996, 1999) and Tharp and Gallimore (1988, 1992) form the theoretical basis for these 'alternative' teaching methods. The results shown in this paper indicate that a 'double move' is possible within the context of the English classroom and that the ideas of the Socio-historical school indeed provide an alternative method that is far more successful than those traditionally used in most classrooms. Socio-historical school / zone of proximal development / Vygotsky / double move / Hedegaard / Wells / Tharp and Gallimore / generative teaching / collaboration / mediation I hereby declare that this is my own unaided work, and has not been submitted to any other institution. ______________________________________ Michelle Ann Pinheiro At ___________________________ on _______________________ Why Vygotsky? A look at alternative methods of Teaching and Learning in the English Classroom.


A common belief is that individual investors are noise traders that distort stock prices. Because accurate share prices are important for economic functioning, the market effect of retail investors has significant regulatory implications. This paper, employing a new NYSE retail trading data set and the R2 metric of share price informedness, contributes to the debate by demonstrating that as the proportion of trading by individual investors increases, the R2 of firms decreases. Adherents of the R2 methodology hold that lower R2's imply more accurate stock prices. The results of an instrumental variable estimation suggest that this relationship is a causal one (that is, retail trading causes changes in R2). Thus, if a low R2 indeed signifies share price accuracy, the findings of this study provide evidence that, contrary to the received wisdom, retail trading increases share price accuracy.


How should we then live? The present volume explores how this question may be answered by learning from biblical authors how they read normative texts. This study therefore goes beyond questions of how the Bible can function as norm for contemporary ethics, biblical law, reuse and direction of dependence within the Bible, and the memorization of revered texts in the ANE. It rather combines research within these areas in a quest for forms of life reading the biblical texts as close as possible to how they were intended by their authors. This volume argues that Torah is best characterized as normative covenantal instruction, and that Torah and the Latter Prophets participated in a scribal culture that did not conform to our standards of literary exactness. Repetition with variation is found to be typical in texts that reuse a normative text. Neither conflict nor harmony can adequately explain this phenomena. In the borrowing text, we rather see a close reading that reads its source(s) expansionistically. There is an interpretative response interwoven with the reading along with various trajectories the borrowing author would have viewed as indicated in the very source(s) themselves. The cases studied attest to the importance of an immersion into the normative texts in order to clarify how we should live. These cases also demonstrate the need for finding new life through texts and forms of life that creatively reuse the biblical text while all the while staying rooted in the ancient words.


This software provides an automated capability to measure and qualify the frequency stability performance of the Deep Space Network (DSN) ground system, using daily spacecraft tracking data. The results help to verify if the DSN performance is meeting its specification, therefore ensuring commitments to flight missions; in particular, the radio science investigations. The rich set of data also helps the DSN Operations and Maintenance team to identify the trends and patterns, allowing them to identify the antennas of lower performance and implement corrective action in a timely manner. Unlike the traditional approach where the performance can only be obtained from special calibration sessions that are both time-consuming and require manual setup, the new method taps into the daily spacecraft tracking data. This new approach significantly increases the amount of data available for analysis, roughly by two orders of magnitude, making it possible to conduct trend analysis with good confidence. The software is built with automation in mind for end-to-end processing. From the inputs gathering to computation analysis and later data visualization of the results, all steps are done automatically, making the data production at near zero cost. This allows the limited engineering resource to focus on high-level assessment and to follow up with the exceptions/deviations. To make it possible to process the continual stream of daily incoming data without much effort, and to understand the results quickly, the processing needs to be automated and the data summarized at a high level. Special attention needs to be given to data gathering, input validation, handling anomalous conditions, computation, and presenting the results in a visual form that makes it easy to spot items of exception/ deviation so that further analysis can be directed and corrective actions followed.


SUMMARY The Eycott Volcanic Group, at the northern margin of the Lower Palaeozoic inlier in the Lake District, is the smaller of two substantial middle Ordovician (Caradoc) subduction-related volcanic successions that stratigraphically separate marine sedimentary successions of the Skiddaw Group and Windermere Supergroup. Tabular lavas and subordinate sills, in a sequence up to 2400 m thick, mainly comprise porphyritic basalt, basaltic andesite, andesite and dacite, and are locally interbedded with thin units of volcaniclastic sandstone and pyroclastic rocks; these are overlain by 800 m of acid andesitic pyroclastic rocks. The distribution and form of the lava/sill fades association are consistent with emplacement as a lava plateau sequence, remarkably similar to the Birker Fell Formation, the lower part of the Borrowdale Volcanic Group in the central Lake District. The Eycott Volcanic Group rocks are geochemically coherent with characteristics transitional between medium-K, continental-margin tholeiitic, and calc-alkaline andesite suites. Rocks within the suite can be linked by fractionation of an assemblage of plagioclase, pyroxene, Fe–Ti oxide and apatite. A prominent compositional gap between about 58 and 65% SiO 2 is attributed to the rapid precipitation and segregation of Fe–Ti oxide. Incompatible element concentrations in the mafic members suggest that magmas were derived possibly from a subcontinental lithosphere source, similar to that of the Borrowdale Volcanic Group. The geochemical differences between these two suites arose through the incorporation of different amounts of the subduction component and different fractionation histories.


Anxiety and depression are common responses to trauma and bereavement.  However, gratitude and spirituality may be helpful to individuals experiencing anxiety and depression in response to a loss, and therefore empirical investigation into the links between these variables is warranted.  This study investigated the relationships between gratitude, spiritual/religious variables, anxiety and depression across multiple religious groups.  Two independent samples consisting of n = 120 Christians (Catholic, Mainline Protestant, Evangelical Protestant and Morman) and n = 234 Jews (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Other) were recruited.  Measures of gratitude, general religiousness, religious practices, and positive core beliefs about God (trust in God) were administered alongside measures of trait anxiety and depression.  Statistically significant correlations emerged between all variables, suggesting that gratitude and spirituality are protective factors against anxiety and depression.


Its show and tell time at Olivia's school and she's telling her class about the time she went to the circus and all the performers were sick...so Olivia had to do everything. She tamed the lions, balanced on stilts, juggled and even played the clown. "Was that true?" Olivia's teacher asks. "Quite true," says Olivia."Are you sure Olivia?". "To the best of my recollection" she says.


Technological revolutions bring opportunities, but sometimes even greater threats. This 'paradox of progress' affects cyberspace and threatens the very principle and foundation of the open internet. The global debate on cyber-governance is currently in a stalemate on the norms for global stability of cyberspace and the fight against cybercrime, although the EU is making considerable efforts to strengthen cyberspace resilience and the critical information infrastructure. The author argues that the newly proposed Cybersecurity Act should be supported by additional measures to increase awareness, devise smarter policy and enable effective governance. Too many users and businesses are still failing to take cybersecurity and computer hygiene seriously. And there is a need to strengthen the pan-European coordination of deterrence, detection, and defence. This paper looks at the possibilities for the EU in this domain and argues that at a time of American diplomatic and political retrenchment from Europe and the world, it has an opportunity to play a leading role in global cybersecurity policy and governance.


Ward Churchill has achieved an unparalleled reputation as a scholar-activist and analyst of indigenous issues in North America. Here, he explores the history of holocaust and denial in this hemisphere, beginning with the arrival of Columbus and continuing on into the present. He frames the matter by examining both "revisionist" denial of the nazi-perpatrated Holocaust and the opposing claim of its exclusive "uniqueness," using the full scope of what happened in Europe as a backdrop against which to demonstrate that genocide is precisely what has been-and still is-carried out against the American Indians. Churchill lays bare the means by which many of these realities have remained hidden, how public understanding of this most monstrous of crimes has been subverted not only by its perpetrators and their beneficiaries but by the institutions and individuals who perceive advantages in the confusion. In particular, he outlines the reasons underlying the United States's 40-year refusal to ratify the Genocide Convention, as well as the implications of the attempt to exempt itself from compliance when it finally offered its "endorsement." In conclusion, Churchill proposes a more adequate and coherent definition of the crime as a basis for identifying, punishing, and preventing genocidal practices, wherever and whenever they occur. Ward Churchill (enrolled Keetoowah Cherokee) is Professor of American Indian Studies with the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder. A member of the American Indian Movement since 1972, he has been a leader of the Colorado chapter for the past fifteen years. Among his previous books have been Fantasies of a Master Race, Struggle for the Land, Since Predator Came, and From a Native Son.


This paper uses a rich dataset from a survey undertaken by the Ethiopian Economic Association (EEA) and the Interna-tional Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in 2009 in eight woredas in seven regions of Ethiopia with a sample of 1,117 households and 73 agricultural cooperatives. Using descriptive statistics and econometric analysis under a critical gender lens, the paper identifies which cooperative, household, and individual level characteristics influence women's participation in agricultural cooperatives. The findings suggest that a major barrier to women's access are gender biases within households, communities, and cooperatives themselves that favor educated male household heads and land owners over resource-poor women.


Beautiful, striking reissue of this classic Lessing novel. Widely regarded as one of the most influential books of the twentieth century Anna Wulf is a young novelist with writer's block. Divorced, with a young child, and disillusioned by unsatisfactory relationships, she feels her life is falling apart. In fear of madness, she records her experiences in four coloured notebooks. The black notebook addresses her problems as a writer; the red her political life; the yellow her relationships and emotions; and the blue becomes a diary of everyday events. But it is the fifth notebook -- the Golden Notebook -- which is the key to her recovery and renaissance. Bold and illuminating, fusing sex, politics, madness and motherhood, The Golden Notebook is at once a wry and perceptive portrait of the intellectual and moral climate of the 1950s -- a society on the brink of feminism -- and a powerful and revealing account of a woman searching for her own personal and political identity.


Abstract. Remote sensing has been widely used for landslide inventory mapping and monitoring. Landslide activity is one of the important parameters for landslide inventory and it can be strongly related to vegetation anomalies. Previous studies have shown that remotely sensed data can be used to obtain detailed vegetation characteristics at various scales and condition. However, only few studies of utilizing vegetation characteristics anomalies as a bio-indicator for landslide activity in tropical area. This study introduces a method that utilizes vegetation anomalies extracted using remote sensing data as a bio-indicator for landslide activity analysis and mapping. A high-density airborne LiDAR, aerial photo and satellite imagery were captured over the landslide prone area along Mesilau River in Kundasang, Sabah. Remote sensing data used in characterizing vegetation into several classes of height, density, types and structure in a tectonically active region along with vegetation indices. About 13 vegetation anomalies were derived from remotely sensed data. There were about 14 scenarios were modeled by focusing in 2 landslide depth, 3 main landslide types with 3 landslide activities by using statistical approach. All scenarios show that more than 65% of the landslides are captured within 70% of the probability model indicating high model efficiency. The predictive model rate curve also shows that more than 45% of the independent landslides can be predicted within 30% of the probability model. This study provides a better understanding of remote sensing data in extracting and characterizing vegetation anomalies induced by hillslope geomorphology processes in a tectonically active region in Malaysia.


A 10 percent sample of a 2016 dataset of 25.76 million spam emails provided by the Australian Communications and Media Authority's Spam Intelligence Database was scanned for malware using the VirusTotal Malware database. Nearly one in 10 (9.9% or 255,222) emails were identified as malware compromised and, similarly, 9.9 percent were identified as inactive. Of the compromised URL sites, nearly one-third (31.8% or 81,176) could be further classified as phishing (58.4%) or trojan-compromised URLs (40.6%) or dedicated malicious websites (1%). All 115,025 unique file attachments found in the entire sample (0.5% of all spam) were also scanned and 31.4 percent (36,405) were compromised with various forms of malware. The majority of compromised attachments were found in images (55.6%), followed by PDFs (15.0%) and binary files (10.0%). Various trojans and ransomware were the most common malware, and these and others identified in the sample are described.


Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are increasingly prominent in economics, with pre-registration and pre-analysis plans (PAPs) promoted as important in ensuring the credibility of findings. We investigate whether these tools reduce the extent of p -hacking and publication bias by collecting and studying the universe of test statistics, 15,992 in total, from RCTs published in 15 leading economics journals from 2018 through 2021. In our primary analysis, we find no meaningful difference in the distribution of test statistics from pre-registered studies, compared to their non-pre-registered counterparts. However, pre-registerd studies that have a complete PAP are significantly less p -hacked. This results point to the importance of PAPs, rather than pre-registration in itself, in ensuring credibility. distributions.


Abstract Over the past quarter-century there has been considerable innovation in methods for assessing the tempo and mode of evolution in paleobiological data sets. The current literature of these methods centers on three competing hypotheses—stasis, random walk, and directional trend—corresponding to an increasing scaling of variance with time interval (unchanging, for stasis; linear, for random walk; quadratic, for trend). For applications to a single trait there are powerful methods for discriminating among these hypotheses; but for multivariate data sets, especially the very high-dimensional multivariate data arising in image-feature-based and morphometric studies, current statistical approaches appear to be of less help. This paper proves that in the limiting case of high-dimensional morphospaces, the principal component or principal coordinate ordination of every sufficiently lengthy isotropic random walk tends to the same geometrical shape, which is not that of an ellipsoid and for which the principal components or coordinates are not independent even though they are uncorrelated. Specifically, the "scatter" of PC1 against PC2 is just a parabolic curve. The quantitative characteristics of this specific shape are not described appropriately by the corresponding "covariance structure" or Gaussian model, and the discrepancy may be pertinent to much of the existing literature of methods for differentiating among those three models of evolutionary multivariate time series. From a close examination of this common geometry of the ideal random walk model as seen in its principal components, I suggest a test for stasis, along with a mixed model illustrated by a reanalysis of some data of Gunz et al., and a related test for directional trend. These comments are intended to apply to all high-dimensional morphospaces, not just those arising in geometric morphometrics. Applications of principal components in this context distort high-dimensional data in ways that have a tendency to mislead; but these distortions can be intercepted so that studies of tempo and mode can nevertheless proceed.


Background: Unintended intra-operative awareness is a serious complication
 of general anesthesia. The incidence of such awareness has been reported to
 be about 0.1-0.6% of patients under general anesthesia. Reminiscence of what
 occurred during the operation can be felt by patients, which can be stressful and
 leave lasting mental suffering afterward the operation. Patients that experience
 unintended intra-operative awareness may have some combination of auditory
 function, tactual feeling, a sense of weakness, an inability to move, pain, and
 dread. Bispectral Index (BIS) monitoring has been shown to decrease awareness
 and boost recovery time from anesthesia. Aims of the study is to evaluate the
 clinical impact of BIS monitoring to reduce the incidence of awareness and its
 impact on hemodynamic parameters, drug consumption, the recovery time and
 the end-tidal concentration of volatile anesthetics in adult patients undergoing
 various types of surgery under general anesthesia.
Methods: The design adopted for this study is a prospective, randomized, doubleblind
 trial. The study involved fifty-nine adult patients with American Society of
 Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I-III, aged 18 to 72 years. 41 males and
 18 females scheduled for different types of operations under general anesthesia
 participated in the study. Patients were randomized for inclusion in the BIS-handled
 anesthesia group (n=30), with the BIS value controlled between 40 and 60, which
 is considered convenient for surgical anesthesia; or the regular care (RC) group
 without BIS-control (n=29). A BIS sensor was placed on the forehead of patients.
 Hemodynamic specifications were recorded before induction of anesthesia and
 every five minutes during surgery until the removal of the endotracheal tube. The
 patients were interviewed by a blinded observer at 24-36 hours after operation
 through the use of a structured questionnaire. Two independent endpoint
 adjudication committees blinded to group identity assessed the interview results
 and identified the confirmed awareness cases.
Findings: There were no significant differences between the two groups in all the
 general characteristics of the patients. Regarding anesthetic time, the mean ± SD
 in the RC group was 76.6 ± 84.3 minutes, and 124.2 ± 124.4 minutes in the BIS
 group; the difference was not significant. Surgical time was 73.8 ± 85.8 minutes
 in the RC group and 116.4 ± 106.2 minutes in the BIS group; the difference was
 not significant. Of the total 59 patients 29 patients were assigned to the routine
 control group and 30 patients to the BIS group. No case of awareness was reported
 in the BIS-guided group but 4 reports (13.8%) in the control group (P=0.035), BISguided
 anesthesia decreased awareness by 13.8% (95% CI (1.3%-26.4%). The most
 common forms of awareness was auditory perceptions, tactile perception and the
 sense of paralysis.
There was a statistically significant difference in the mean dose of inhaled anesthetic agents between the RC group (0.029 ±0.008
 %) and the BIS group (0.025 ± 0.009%), P=-0.023, which indicates that BIS monitoring could reduce the needed use of inhalation
 anesthesia. Regarding the opioid fentanyl there was also a significant difference in the used dose of fentanyl for the BIS group
 (115.56 ± 94.18 mcg and the RC group (77.76 ± 40.52 mcg), P=0.035.There was found to be a difference in the propofol dosage
 between the BIS group (474.07 ± 711.3 mg) and the RC group(230 ± 59.938 mg), P=0.235. It is clear that patients in the RC group
 had a lower dosage of propofol than patients in the BIS group, but the difference was not significant. Low doses of fentanyl and
 propofol may be one of the causes of awareness in the RC group. We found no significant differences in somatic responses of
 sweating, tearing, pupil dilation and coughing intra-operatively between BIS-monitored and RC patients. However, a significant
 reduction in intra-operational jerking was recorded for the favor of BIS group .The percentage of patients who experienced jerking
 movements intra-operatively was 27.6% in the RC group and 6.9% in the BIS group, P=0.037.
There were no statistically significant differences between the two study groups in any of the time measures under study which
 are: time from cessation of inhalational agents to eye opening; time to respond to commands; time to eye opening (either
 spontaneously or in response to command, time to first movement response; and time to extubation. The time to phonation for
 the RC group was 12.82 ± 6.11 minutes and only 10.21 ± 5.127 minutes for the BIS group, P=0.026, this occurs for the favor of BIS
 group.
There is a statistically significant difference between the two groups in the time to discharge from the PACU at 12.38 ± 4.989
 minutes for the RC group and 9.23 ± 3.819 minutes for the BIS group, P=0.007. In other words, patients in the BIS-monitored
 group were discharged earlier from the Post Anesthetic Care Unit (PACU) than the RC patients.
Conclusions: BIS-guided anesthesia where the BIS score is kept between 40 and 60, reduced the risk of awareness compared
 to routine care. The main reason for the occurrence of awareness in the RC group could be due to a light general anesthetic. In
 addition, BIS monitoring reduces the usage of volatile anesthesia and the time of discharge from the Post Anesthetic Care Unit.


States are looking for ways to improve the accuracy of payments to Medicaid managed care plans that provide long-term services and supports (LTSS) to Medicaid beneficiaries. The range of demographic and functional characteristics of seniors and individuals with disabilities receiving LTSS and other limitations makes it particularly difficult to predict the need for LTSS. This brief, supported through the West Health Policy Center, describes the challenges of predicting costs for MLTSS enrollees, as well as solutions to overcome these challenges. Given the diversity of the LTSS population, states developing a risk adjustment strategy for Medicaid managed long-term services and supports programs should start by reviewing the characteristics of various subpopulations and their functional status. Although incorporating this information into a risk model does not account for all factors, such as the availability of family caregivers, disease progression, and social determinants of health, states seeking to develop risk adjustment models should consider investing in analyses to better understand the diversity of their population and further improve payment accuracy.


Herbs and spices are plant parts (herbs from leaves and spices from other parts) that are conventionally used in their fresh or dried state for flavouring, natural condiments, preservatives and for medicinal purposes. Worldwide, most spices are classified on the basis of taste, season of growth, economic importance, growth habit and plant part used. Black pepper, chilies, small cardamom, ginger and turmeric are some of the widely used spices while common herbs include thyme, basil and bay leaves. These herbs are basically classified according to usage, active constituents and period of life. Secondary metabolites such as Eugenol, thymol, limonene, cuminaldehyde, curcumin, piperine, quercetin, luteolin in these plant parts have been found to be responsible for anticancer, antimicrobial, antiviral, antidiabetic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and hypocholesterolemic effects. Their application in water fortification, milk and cheese processing, production of beauty products and pesticides among others could not be underestimated. Finally, adulteration, toxicity and allergic reactions are some of the identified limitations and challenges often encountered in the use of herbs and spices.


Monroe presented a quiet modest demeanor when he first arrived in the history department. There was with him, affability and a decency which marked his relations with his colleagues from the beginning of his tenure to his retirement. There was with him, professionalism, and a determination to be a first rate historian which led him to think through, and carry out a professional plan that affected his scholarly activity, his teaching priorities, and his community service. It was clear from the beginning that he had determined to devote his professional carrier to the preservation and promulgation of African-American history as seen, as lived and as preserved on the local level. For thirty-some years, he preserved, catalogued, microfilmed, and archive materials that represented key agencies, institutions as well as individuals in the African-American community of Western New York. Organizations such as the NAACP. H.O.M.E., the Colored Musician's Club, and various papers of prominent African-American leaders form the core of what became the Monroe Fordham African American local history project. Colleagues often asked "Why this emphasis on local history?" To which, Fordham responded that to understand Afro-American history on the national level, it was important to have an understanding and basis on the local level. Fordham, often suggested that too many generalizations were made by historians without adequate know ledge of local conditions and documentation. The interrelationship between national and local historical forces became a strong factor in Fordham's philosophy of history. This is an approach which he shared with his colleagues, students, and community groups. Hence, he made sure that these treasures of local history were deposited at E.H. Butler library, so that the entire academic community could access them. To share these resources with the Buffalo community, he simultaneously deposited historical materials in the Jefferson Avenue public library branch that is now known as the Mernweather Library. Monroe had a special interest in local church history, such that he involved interested colleagues: Jim McDonnell John Aiken, Nuala Drescher and E.O. Smith in his efforts to preserve that history. He involved us in seminars for congregations such as the Edison Street Baptist Church and the Ripley United Methodist Church. He involved us with these congregations to help them in preserving their histories. The result of those efforts with colleagues has meant that the preserved records are still being accessed by researchers and members of the community. We can all remember his dedicated work on the history of Bethel A.M.E. Church. His interests in the history of local churches, whether black or white, affirmed his commitment to that proposition that local history was the basis for genuine historical study. Here we see that blend of localism and nationalism, that illustrates the richness of African American history in his work. He published a book Major Themes in Northern Black Religious Thought, 1975. This book was published by Exposition Press, which had a series of African American studies for new aspiring authors. To many, Exposition Press was referred to as a "Vanity Press". The nationally known authority on African American history, John Hope Franklin, had encouraged young scholars like Fordham to publish in this series for African Americans. Some of our local department members thought such a publication with Exposition Press was inappropriate for scholarly work. This internal department squabble, brought out in Fordham, a determination to tell the story of his people regardless of what department colleagues, or the institution at large thought of this presentation. Subsequent reviews of the work of course, underscored the soundness of his research and the excellence of his conclusions. His commitment to the serious academic study of the Afro-American experience was to be seen in his development of courses in that area offered by the history department. …


We examine the pervasive view that "equity is expensive," which leads to claims that high capital requirements are costly and would affect credit markets adversely. We find that arguments made to support this view are either fallacious, irrelevant, or very weak. For example, the return on equity contains a risk premium that must go down if banks have more equity. It is thus incorrect to assume that the required return on equity remains fixed as capital requirements increase. It is also incorrect to translate higher taxes paid by banks to a social cost. Policies that subsidize debt and indirectly penalize equity through taxes and implicit guarantees are distortive. Any desirable public subsidies to banks' activities should be given directly and not in ways that encourage leverage. And while debt's informational insensitivity may provide valuable liquidity, increased capital (and reduced leverage) can enhance this benefit. Finally, suggestions that high leverage serves a necessary disciplining role are based on inadequate theory lacking empirical support. We conclude that bank equity is not socially expensive, and that high leverage is not necessary for banks to perform all their socially valuable functions, including lending, deposittaking and issuing money-like securities. To the contrary, better capitalized banks suffer fewer distortions in lending decisions and would perform better. The fact that banks choose high leverage does not imply that this is socially optimal, and, except for government subsidies and viewed from an ex ante perspective, high leverage may not even be privately optimal for banks. Setting equity requirements significantly higher than the levels currently proposed would entail large social benefits and minimal, if any, social costs. Approaches based on equity dominate alternatives, including contingent capital. To achieve better capitalization quickly and efficiently and prevent disruption to lending, regulators must actively control equity payouts and issuance. If remaining challenges are addressed, capital regulation can be a powerful tool for enhancing the role of banks in the economy.


A national treasure is celebrated in this landmark publication. The Birds of America is a monumental classic, but it has never been explored like this before. This important new volume presents all the dazzling watercolors that Audubon painted for these monumental engravings. We are familiar with the prints engraved by Robert Havell Jr., but Audubon's Aviary illuminates the original masterpieces that were created by Audubon himself and tells the story behind their creation with fresh insights and engaging quotes from his writings. These powerful paintings--all newly photographed using state-of-the-art techniques--possess a startling immediacy, vibrancy, and fluidity that link natural history, art, and a respect for the environment. These watercolors transmit Audubon's devotion to his craft with their inscriptions and layers of media wrought with a miniaturist's attention to detail and their revolutionary compositions, which for the first time in history depicted all the birds life-size. Audubon is considered America's first great watercolorist, introducing innovative approaches developed over a lifetime of study. Even judged alongside today's technology, his dramatic tableaux remain some of the most spectacular natural history documents and visually arresting works of art ever produced.


Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition is changing in both load quantity and chemical composition. The load effects have been studied extensively, whereas the composition effects remain poorly understood. We conducted a microcosm experiment to study how N chemistry affected the soil microbial community composition characterized by phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) and activity indicated by microbial CO2 release. Surface and subsurface soils collected from an old-growth subtropical forest were supplemented with three N-containing materials (ammonium, nitrate, and urea) at the current regional deposition load (50 kg ha-1 yr-1) and incubated at three temperatures (10, 20, and 30°C) to detect the interactive effects of N deposition and temperature. The results showed that the additions of N, regardless of form, did not alter the microbial PLFAs at any of the three temperatures. However, the addition of urea significantly stimulated soil CO2 release in the early incubation stage. Compared with the control, N addition consistently reduced the temperature dependency of microbial respiration, implying that N deposition could potentially weaken the positive feedback of the warming-stimulated soil CO2 release to the atmosphere. The consistent N effects for the surface and subsurface soils suggest that the effects of N on soil microbial communities may be independent of soil chemical contents and stoichiometry.


The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) search operation
provides mechanisms for clients to request all user application
attributes, all operational attributes, and/or attributes selected by
their description. This document extends LDAP to support a mechanism
that LDAP clients may use to request the return of all attributes of
an object class. This memo provides information for the Internet
community.


The genus Eucalyptus is part of the Myrtaceae family and contains over 700 species with all but two tropical species being endemic to Australia (Brooker, 2000). The wide range of habitats present in Australia has fostered a high degree of genetic variation both between and within species (Florence, 2004). Starting in the mid-19th century, a wide range of Eucalyptus species have been planted in many countries, including Britain, facilitated by improved understanding of the taxonomy of the genus and increasing availability of seed of well-defined origins (Zacharin, 1978). Until the 1950s interest in Eucalyptus in the UK was focussed on their arboricultural potential on estates and in gardens. The performance of 19th century plantings were comprehensively reviewed by Elwes and Henry (1906-13), and again by Martin (1948) and MacDonald et. al. (1957). Trial forestry plots were first established in Ireland in 1909 (Mooney, 1960), although not until the 1950s in the UK (MacDonald et. al., 1957). Plantings made after 1950 were reviewed by Evans (1980). All these plantings generated interest because of the fast growth of many species. They also highlighted that most species are insufficiently hardy to survive for long in Britain, especially in colder inland areas. Nevertheless, a few species have proved to be sufficiently hardy to survive extremely cold winters. Some individuals of a small number of species have proved to be long-lived, and have grown to large dimensions. The oldest specimen still living is probably an Eucalyptus urnigera, recorded as having been planted in 1881 in the grounds of Stonefield Castle, Argyll (TROBI, 2015). The Tree Register of the British Isles (TROBI) database provides a host of other examples, some of which have outstanding form as well as impressive dimensions.

In recent years there has been increased interest in using woody biomass for energy, and in alternative species for UK forestry due to the concerns about the impact of climate change (Read et. al., 2009), and due to the risk of growing traditional forestry species because of new pests (Logan et. al., 2003) and diseases (Sturrock et. al., 2011). This has led to renewed interest in the use of certain Eucalyptus species in forestry in Britain. Some very interesting and impressive trial stands have resulted, as well as poorly-established and failed plantings. In this article we review the Eucalyptus species that appear to have potential for forestry in Britain. In the next issue we will evaluate forestry trials and recent plantings in Britain, and prospects for more widespread use of Eucalyptus species (Purse and Leslie, 2016).


Cocoa and Chocolate,1765-1914 focuses on the period from the Seven Years War, to the First World War, when a surge of economic liberalism and globalisation should have helped cocoa producers to overcome rural poverty, just as wool transformed the economy of Australia, and tea that of Japan. The addition of new forms of chocolate to Western diets in the late nineteenth century led to a great cocoa boom, and yet economic development remained elusive, despite cocoa producers having certain advantages in the commodity lottery faced by exporters of raw materials. The commodity chain, from sowing a cocoa bean to enjoying a cup of hot chocolate, is examined in Cocoa and Chocolate, 1765-1914 under the broad rubrics of chocolate consumption, the taxation of cocoa beans, the manufacture of chocolate, private marketing channels, land distribution, ecological impact on tropical forests, and the coercion of labour. Cocoa and Chocolate, 1765-1914 concludes that cocoa failed to act as a dynamo for development.


This publication is intended to serve researchers and teachers as well as development practitioners. It was prepared based on requests from CIFOR's national partners in Ethiopia and the region to compile existing information and help address the lack of documents available for teaching graduate and undergraduate students about the management of forests in dryland areas in general, and the production and marketing of gums and resins in particular. By describing the current status of the dry forest resource base and the production and marketing of gums and resins, this publication contributes toward filling the existing knowledge gap. Chapter 1 presents an overview of challenges and forest-based opportunities in the drylands of Ethiopia. Chapter 2 describes in detail the resource base of gums and resins as well as the challenges to their productivity. Chapter 3 discusses production, handling and quality control, while Chapter 4 addresses value-added processing and the marketing of gums and resins. Finally, Chapter 5 summarises challenges and opportunities as well as actions for sustainable gum and resin production


Many Calathea species in the family Marantaceae are beautiful ornamental plants with variegated foliage. Among them, C. picturata 'Argentea', an evergreen perennial that has pale green leaves with dark green margins and a red underside, is a popular houseplant in Taiwan. In 2004, a new foliage disease that caused leaf blight of C. picturata 'Argentea' was first observed in a nursery in southern Taiwan. Initial symptoms were tiny, brown spots that appeared on the leaves of all ages, which quickly enlarged and coalesced. These necrotic lesions spread to cover the entire leaves in high temperature and moisture conditions and caused leaves to shrivel and eventually die. A dematiaceous hyphomycete with multicelled conidia was consistently isolated from the diseased leaves after being surfaced sterilized with 10% Clorox and placed on vegetable juice agar (10% V8 juice, 0.02% CaCO3, and 2% agar [VJA]). Pathogenicity of the isolate was tested by spraying 'Argentea' calathea leaves with a conidia suspension (1.6 × 105 conidia/ml) prepared from a culture grown on VJA at 28°C for 7 days. Plant leaves sprayed with distilled water were used as a control. Three pots of 15-cm high 'Argentea' calathea plants were inoculated with 10 ml of a conidia suspension and the experiment was conducted twice at 28°C and 90% relative humidity in a growth chamber. Tiny, brown spots started to show on all inoculated leaves 5 days after inoculation and the progression of symptom development was similar to that observed in nature. Control leaves remained asymptomatic. The same dematiaceous hyphomycete fungus was reisolated from 13 of 16 disease tissues taken from four symptomatic leaves. A colony of the calathea isolate was olive green when grown on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and conidia production was observed 7 days after incubation in darkness. The conidiophores were either branches from or the ends of normal mycelium, some of them geniculate with conidium produced at each bend measuring 142 to 602 (340) × 3 to 6 (4) μm on disease tissues and 51 to 150 (103) × 3 to 5 (4) μm on PDA. Conidia were multicelled with protruding hilum at the base, terminal cells thickened, olivaceous brown or golden brown in fusiform shape with blunt tips, 5 to 11 septate on disease tissues and 6 to 11 septate on PDA, measuring 46 to 166 (95) × 8 to 19 (13) μm on disease tissues and 58 to 145 (94) × 6 to 15 (11) μm on PDA, germinating by producing germ tubes semiaxially from each end. Morphological characteristics of the calathea isolate fit the description of the genus Exserohilum (2). Comparison of rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence of the calathea isolate with those in GenBank revealed that it shared 99.5% (549 of 552) similarity with a published sequence (GenBank Accession No. EU571210) (3) and Exserohilum rostratum was its closest species. ITS sequence analysis was done as previously described (1). Morphological and molecular data identified the pathogen as E. rostratum (Drechs.) Leonard & Suggs (= Bipolaris rostrata (Drechs.) Shoemaker). To our knowledge, this is the first report of leaf blight caused by E. rostratum on C. picturata in Taiwan. References: (1) L. L. Chern et al. Plant Dis. 94:1164, 2010. (2) K. J. Leonard. Mycologia 68:402, 1976. (3) R. Sappapan et al. J. Nat. Prod. 71:1657, 2008.


Thin films play an important role in science and technology today. By combining different materials, properties for specific applications can be optimised. In this thesis growth of copper, copper(I) oxide and copper(I) nitride on two different substrates, amorphous SiO2 and single crystalline α-Al2O3 by the so called Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) techniques has been studied. This technique allows precise control of the growth process at monolayer level on solid substrates. Other characteristic features of ALD are that it produces films with excellent step coverage and good uniformity even as extremely thin films on complicated shaped substrates.Alternative deposition schemes were developed for the materials of interest. It was demonstrated that use of intermediate water pulses affected the deposition pathways considerably. By adding water, the films are thought to grow via formation of an oxide over-layer instead of through a direct reaction between the precursors as in the case without water.For growth of copper(I) nitride from Cu(hfac)2 and ammonia no film growth occurred without adding water to the growth process. The Cu3N films could be transformed into conducting copper films by post annealing. In copper growth from CuCl and H2 the water affected film growth on the alumina substrates considerably more than on the fused silica substrates. The existence of surface -OH and/or -NHx groups was often found to play an important role, according to both theoretical calculations and experimental results.


We analyze a new management survey for around 1,000 firms and 10,000 employees across two large provinces in China. The unique aspect of this survey is it collected management data from the CEO, a random sample of senior managers and workers. We document four main results. First, management scores, much like productivity, have a wide spread with a long left-tail of poorly managed firms. This distribution of management scores is similar for CEOs, senior managers and workers management, and appears broadly reasonably compared to US scores for similar questions. Moreover, for all groups these scores correlate with firm performance, suggesting all employees within the firm are (at least partly) aware of the their firms' managerial abilities. Second, the scores across the groups are significantly cross-correlated, but far from completely. This suggests that while different levels of the firm have similar views on the firms' management capabilities, they do not fully agree. Third, we find that the CEO's management scores are the most predictive of firm performance, followed by the senior managers and then the workers. Hence, CEOs do appear to know best about their firms management strengths and weaknesses. Fourth, within-firm management score dispersion is negatively correlated with investment and R&D intensity, suggesting long-run planning is linked with greater consistency in management across levels in firms.


Attempts to clamp down on the transfer of funds for terrorism following the attacks of September 11 2001 have included calls to regulate and supervise informal monetary transfer systems. This paper outlines how informal transfer systems operate, and points to the difficulties inherent in investigating and regulating them. The recent efforts on the part of the Financial Action Task Force to regulate informal remittance organizations are described. The authors argue that because there is insufficient theoretical and practical experience with formal and informal remittance regulation and supervision, international and domestic policies currently being developed should not impose an overly excessive level of regulation, which might stifle rather than promote the growth of an innovative yet accountable and transparent sector.


This article summarizes an approach that enhances adult student engagement and success by consciously incorporating student experiences that relate to topics covered in class. A specific form of didactic exercise is used to incorporate student experience. This approach also provides an opportunity for exploration and discussion of less formal kinds of knowledge that may nevertheless be of value and significance to students and contribute to their engagement in learning. Some implications for the epistemology of learning are discussed.


Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has been closely associated with stroke. Although a large number of studies reported the relationship between CKD and different types of asymptomatic brain lesions, few comprehensive analyses have been performed for all types of silent brain lesions. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study involving 1,937 neurologically normal subjects (mean age 59.4 years). Mild CKD was defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate between 30 and 60 ml/min/1.73 m2 or positive proteinuria. Results: The prevalence of mild CKD was 8.7%. Univariate analysis revealed an association between CKD and all silent brain lesions, including silent brain infarction, periventricular hyperintensity, subcortical white matter lesion, and microbleeds, in addition to hypertension and diabetes mellitus after adjusting for age and sex. In binary logistic regression analysis, the presence of CKD was a significant risk factor for all types of silent brain lesions, independent of other risk factors. Conclusions: These results suggest that mild CKD is independently associated with all types of silent brain lesions, even in neurologically normal subjects.


Observations of the types of female genital cutting and possible associated gynecological and delivery complications were undertaken in 21 clinics in rural Burkina Faso and in four rural and four urban clinics in Mali. Women who came to the clinics for services that included a pelvic exam were included in the study, and trained clinic staff observed the presence and type of cut and any associated complications. Ninety-three percent of the women in the Burkina Faso clinics and 94 percent of the women in the Mali clinics had undergone genital cutting. In Burkina Faso, type 1 (clitoridectomy) was the most prevalent (56 percent), whereas in Mali the more severe type 2 cut (excision) was the most prevalent (74 percent); 5 percent of both samples had undergone type 3 cutting (infibulation). Logistic regression analyses show significant positive relationships between the severity of genital cutting and the probability that a woman would have gynecological and obstetric complications.


The ability to detect the chaotic signal from a finite time series observation of hydrologic systems is addressed in this paper. The presence of random and seasonal components in hydrological time series, like rainfall or runoff, makes the detection process challenging. Tests with simulated data demonstrate the presence of thresholds, in terms of noise to chaotic-signal and seasonality to chaoticsignal ratios, beyond which the set of currently available tools is not able to detect the chaotic component. The investigations also indicate that the decomposition of a simulated time series into the corresponding random, seasonal and chaotic components is possible from finite data. Real streamflow data from the Arkansas and Colorado rivers are used to validate these results. Neither of the raw time series exhibits chaos. While a chaotic component can be extracted from the Arkansas data, such a component is either not present or can not be extracted from the Colorado data. This indicates that real hydrologic data may or may not have a detectable chaotic component. The strengths and limitations of the existing set of tools for the detection and modeling of chaos are also studied.


In the age of Enlightenment the concept of night evolved from being a time of dread to a time for pleasure. Between the start of the Régence (1715-1723) and the French Revolution the nocturnal and the erotic became intrinsically connected: shadows and darkness were reconfigured as the object of the philosophes' fascination, while night was increasingly experienced as the realm of the self. Nowhere is this paradigmatic shift better recorded than in French libertine literature of the long eighteenth century. Marine Ganofsky delves into the night scenes of libertine fiction to analyse how the idea of night was reimagined and represented by writers ranging from Crébillon to Sade. Her original analysis of erotic encounters in pornographic novels, gallant stories and sensual fairy tales reveals how they capture the period's emancipation from superstitions and traditions. The nocturnal settings of these libertine narratives were the primary means of staging men and women's hitherto hidden sexual encounters and innermost fantasies, and ultimately illustrate the conquest of night-time terrors in favour of social encounters and amorous intimacy. Libertine nocturnal scenes reflect above all the Enlightenment's re-invention of shadows less as an obstacle than an incentive to discover the mysteries they harbour. Through her innovative research Marine Ganofsky presents the erotic nights of libertine fiction as a sign that the siècle des Lumières, free to enjoy the charms to be found in, or under, the cover of darkness, was also the siècle de la nuit.


Spanish villagers tell many folktales that describe in metaphorical language the struggles of young men and women as they emerge from their parental families and join in love. In this book James Taggart presents dozens of orally transmitted tales, including "Snow White," "Cinderella," "Beauty and the Beast," "Blancaflor," and dragonslayer stories, collected from seven villages in the region of CNBceres, and analyzes the differences in male and female approaches to telling them. His study shows how men and women use the tales to grapple with some of the contradictions found in gender relations in their culture, which conditions men to be sexually assertive and to marry virgins and which teaches women to fear the men who court them. Taggart interprets the male-female dialogue voiced through storytelling by linking the content of specific tales to the life experiences and gender of the storyteller. Men and women, he finds, carry out an exchange of ideas by retelling the same stories and altering the plots and characters to express their respective views of courtship. This indirect narrative dialogue conveys an understanding of the opposite sex and establishes a common model of marriage that permits men and women to overcome their fear of each other and bond in heterosexual love.


Abstract The objective of this paper is to present the edutainment learning games that we are developing for Qatari children with moderate intellectual disability. These games will help them to learn effectively in funny and enjoyable ways. We use multimedia technology merged with intelligent algorithms to guide the children in play. As the number of children with intellectual disability is increasing, an early intervention to teach them properly using information technology is very important. Few research projects on disability are being conducted in the Arab world however, and these projects are still not enough to respond to the real needs of the disabled and achieve satisfactory outcomes. Developing edutainment games for children with intellectual disability is a very challenging task. First, it requires content developed by specialized instructors. Second, the interface design of the games must be presented clearly and be easy to interact with. Third, the games must run slowly, in order to give the children some time to think and interact. Fourth, regardless of the results, the game must allow a minimum level of general satisfaction, to avoid depressing the children. Fifth, the game must make maximum use of multimedia elements to draw the attention of the children. We show some multimedia applications for children with different disabilities, which were developed in Qatar University (enhancing mathematics skills with symbolic gift reward in case of guessing the answer). This feature motivated the children to play the game several times in the day. The applications also used some videos to illustrate the game before they play it. The purpose of the second multimedia application is to test the children's memory. The application uses different multimedia elements to present different games, which requires deep concentration in order to guess the answer. These games helped the children develop a strong sense of self-confidence. Learning puzzles that we have developed were based on intelligent algorithms to avoid cycling and which allow the children to reach a solution. Two different approaches were used: Simulated Annealing and Tabu Search.


The influence of biofilm areal cell density, species composition, and the presence of abiotic particles on the disinfection and removal of bacterial biofilms by monochloramine was investigated. Mono‐ and binary population biofilms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae were grown on stainless‐steel slides in a continuous flow annular reactor. Biofilms were treated in the reactor with a pulse/step dose of 4 mg/L monochloramine for 2 h. Biofilm samples were disaggregated and assayed for colony formation on R2A agar and for total cell numbers by acridine orange direct counts. These data were used to determine apparent first order rate coefficients for the processes of disinfection and detachment. Disinfection rate coefficients exceeded detachment rate coefficients by as much as an order of magnitude and the two coefficients were poorly correlated (r = 0.272). The overall decay rate coefficient (disinfection plus detachment) depended strongly on the initial biofilm areal cell density. It displayed a parabolic dependence on cell density with a maximum near 108 cfu/cm2. This result points to multiple factors influencing biofilm susceptibility to antimicrobial challenge. Decay rates of K. pneumoniae measured in binary population biofilms were comparable with those measured in monopopulation biofilms (p = 0.61). P. aeruginosa decayed more slowly in biofilsm dominated by K. pneumoniae (p = 0.028), indicating some interaction between species. The presence of kaolin and calcium carbonate particles in the biofilm reduced disinfection efficacy. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


A considerable amount of statistical investigation of security price movements by economists and statisticians indicates that successive changes in security prices are (for all practical purposes) independent random variables. That is, all the statistical evidence indicates that future security price changes cannot be predicted by using the past price series. This has become known as the theory of random walks. It implies that the trading rules and security selection procedures long advocated by "technical" analysts or "chartists", which are based solely on past price movements, will not be useful in aiding the investor to increase his returns. The technical analysts have responded to the evidence presented by the academicians by claiming their models and theories are not really captured by these statistical tests. Alexander (1961; 1964) and Fama and Blume (1966) have examined the returns earned by various "filter" rules for selecting securities which purportedly capture the essence of many technical theories. The evidence indicates these trading rules are not able to consistently earn returns superior to those of a simple buy and hold policy. Thus, the results of these studies also support the random walk hypothesis. Robert Levy (1966; 1967) has recently tested a number of additional trading rules based on technical theories. Some of his results seem to be inconsistent with the theory of random walks. In particular Levy's article, "Random Walks: Reality or Myth" (1967) contains interesting results regarding the returns earned by several mechanical stock market trading rules in the five-year period October 1960 to October 1965. Levy calculates the returns earned by a number of variations of his trading rules and finds these returns generally higher than the returns earned on a "random selection policy." Commenting on these results Levy states: "The evidence above conclusively proves that technical stock analysis could have produced greater-than-random profitability at less-than-random risk for the 1960-1965 period." On this basis he concludes that "...the theory of random walks has been refuted." Unfortunately, his results do not completely support these strongly worded statements. His results have not refuted the random walk hypothesis and indeed they are subject to criticism on a number of points. It is the purpose of this "Comment" to point out and clarify some of the issues not adequately treated by Levy.


This article analyses whether and how competition soft law instruments are taken into consideration by the European Courts and the Advocates General. The quantitative analysis of the case-law reveals that even if arguments based on competition guidelines or notices were brought to court since the early days of European law, it is only during the last two decades that they have been taken seriously. The results of the qualitative analysis point to the fact that soft law instruments are considered by the European Courts an important and specific part of the body of European norms that they should use when deciding cases submitted for their judgment. Legal effects are recognised to these not legally binding instruments, but only when it serves the enforcement of hard, general principles of law.


With the move in South Africa towards equal employment opportunities in the open labour market, schools as well as business face the challenge of preparing individuals with disabilities for successful transition from school to work. This study examined the extent to which schools and business are working towards helping with this transition process for the disabled. The study explored how individuals with physical disabilities, who have moved into the open labour market, have experienced vocational transition planning at school level, and whether or not these programmes have adequately prepared them for the workplace. The study used a qualitative research methodology. The sample comprised 5 learners who had attended a special needs school in KwaZulu-Natal. The data collection techniques used were semi-structured interviews, which were audio-taped, and transcribed. The findings indicate that the principles of human rights and social justice for all citizens enshrined in policy documents that have emerged in South Africa since 1994, have not been translated into practice. The rights of individuals with disabilities to achieve equality of opportunity and equal access to service in society and their right to full citizenship continues to be violated. The results also revealed that, although the special needs school was concerned with developing relevant curriculum for students with disabilities, very little is done to prepare students for transition from school to the work environment. The study has revealed that students with disabilities require a far more structured, needs driven vocational transition programme, that will enable them to compete more favourably with their able bodied colleagues in the work place. Legislation must be developed to protect and guarantee the vocational transition services of students with disabilities. This legislation must be augmented by an administrative framework to ensure the smooth management and running of a national vocational transition programme.


The highly-regulated character of the predominantly municipal community gardens in the canton of Geneva (Switzerland) makes them only uneasily fit dominant analyses framing community gardens as contestatory, grassroots spaces. These gardens, however, do not map perfectly either onto the accounts of institutional "organized garden projects" deemed to accompany municipal entrepreneurial strategies and/or the implementation of neoliberal governmentality. Critically engaging with municipal involvement in community garden and urban agriculture development, this paper draws attention to the contradictory ways in which municipal actors frame and govern these issues. Drawing upon a case study in the municipality of Vernier, it argues that the municipality' urban agriculture program serves different and contradictory functions and is simultaneously progressive and neoliberal. Indeed, while Vernier's program clearly attempts at reversing processes of space privatization and nature commodification, it also reinforces the neoliberal production of individualized, self-responsible and self-entrepreneur subjectivities. This analysis, I hope, will encourage urban agriculture scholars to question their reliance upon a dichotomy between benevolent civil organizations and profit-oriented public institutions, and to account more precisely for the singular processes of neoliberalization at play within the boundaries of their case studies.


Parametric resonance, as a resonant amplification phenomenon, is a superior mechanical amplifier than direct resonance and has already been demonstrated to possess the potential to offer over an order of magnitude higher power output for vibration energy harvesting than the conventional direct excitation. However, unlike directly excited systems, parametric resonance has a minimum threshold amplitude that must be attained prior to its activation. The authors have previously presented the addition of initial spring designs to minimise this threshold, through non-resonant direct amplification of the base excitation that is subsequently fed into the parametric resonator. This paper explores the integration of auto-parametric resonance, as a form of resonant amplification of the base excitation, to further minimise this activation criterion and realise the profitable regions of parametric resonance at even lower input acceleration levels. Numerical and experimental results have demonstrated in excess of an order of magnitude reduction in the initiation threshold amplitude for an auto-parametric resonator ( ∼ 0.6 ms − 2 ) as well as several folds lower for a parametric resonator with a non-resonant base amplifier ( ∼ 4.0 ms − 2 ), as oppose to a sole parametric resonator without any threshold reduction mechanisms (10's ms − 2 ). Therefore, the superior power performance of parametric resonance over direct resonance has been activated and demonstrated at much lower input levels.