1. Doubt has existed as to whether the tube feet of a starfish in locomotion act as a system of levers or whether they form a traction system, attaching to the substratum and contracting so as to pull the animal along. 2. This problem has been investigated by recording the forces exerted by a single tube foot. The recording apparatus is described. 3. It is shown that both lever and traction methods can be used according to circumstances. ( a ) When the starfish is walking on a horizontal surface it is shown that the tube feet certainly act as struts and that they probably also act as levers. ( b ) When the starfish is climbing upon a vertical surface (or meeting with resistance upon a horizontal surface) the tube feet attach themselves to the substratum and form a traction system.


Popular marriage counselor and seminar leader John Gray provides a unique, practical and proven way for men and women to communicate and relate better by acknowledging the differences between them. Once upon a time Martians and Venusians met, fell in love, and had happy relationships together because they respected and accepted their differences. Then they came to earth and amnesia set in: they forgot they were from different planets. Using this metaphor to illustrate the commonly occurring conflicts between men and women, Gray explains how these differences can come between the sexes and prohibit mutually fulfilling loving relationships.Based on years of successful counseling of couples, he gives advice on how to counteract these differences in communication styles, emotional needs and modes of behavior to promote a greater understanding between individual partners. Gray shows how men and women react differently in conversation and how their relationships are affected by male intimacy cycles ('get close, ' 'back off'), and female self-esteem fluctuations ('I'm okay, ' 'I'm not okay'). He encourages readers to accept the other gender's particular way of expressing love, and helps men and women learn how to fulfill one another's emotional needs.With practical suggestions on how to reduce conflict, crucial information on how to interpret a partner's behavior and methods for preventing emotional 'trash from the past' from invading new relationships, "Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus" is a valuable tool for couples who want to develop deeper and more satisfying relationships with their partners.


SUMMARY We investigate the importance of wide-band coupling of normal modes due to inner core anisotropy. We compare four different seismic models of inner core anisotropy, which were obtained by others using the splitting of Earth's normal modes. These models have been developed using a self-coupling (SC) approximation, which assumes that coupling between nearby modes through anisotropic inner core structure is negligible. We test the SC approximation by comparing the frequencies and quality factors of 90 inner core sensitive modes, computed for these models using either the SC approximation or full-coupling (FC) among large groups of modes. We find significant shifts in the quality factors and frequencies for some modes. Groups of modes which significantly couple together are constructed for six target modes. These groups are model dependent and in some cases contain large numbers of modes. Synthetic seismograms are calculated to show that the difference between SC and FC is observable on the scale of seismograms and of the same order of magnitude as the difference between synthetic and observed seismograms. Thus, future models of inner core anisotropy should take cross-coupling between large groups of modes into account.


A novel framework is proposed to model downlink resource allocation problem in multiservice direct-sequence code division multiple-access (DS-CDMA) cellular networks. This framework is based on a defined utility function, which leads to utilizing the network resources in a more efficient way. This utility function quantifies the degree of utilization of resources. As a matter of fact, using the defined utility function, users' channel fluctuations and their delay constraints along with the load conditions of all BSs are all taken into consideration. Unlike previous works, we solve the problem with the general objective of maximizing the total network utility instead of maximizing the achieved utility of each base station (BS). It is shown that this problem is equivalent to finding the optimum BS assignment throughout the network, which is mapped to a multidimensional multiple-choice knapsack problem (MMKP). Since MMKP is NP-hard, a polynomial-time suboptimal algorithm is then proposed to develop an efficient base-station assignment. Simulation results indicate a significant performance improvement in terms of achieved utility and packet drop ratio.


This study examined the uptake, tissue distribution and elimination of the antibacterial agents oxolinic acid and flumequine in lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus L.) by use of LC-MS/MS following a single oral administration of 25 mg/kg fish given in feed. Lumpfish are increasingly used as cleaner fish for removal of sea lice on commercially farmed salmon. The production of lumpfish is successful, but there are challenges with bacterial infections and the number of antibacterial treatments has increased in recent years. As the lumpfish is a novel species to farming, there is a need for pharmacokinetic data and establishment of protocols for efficient antibacterial treatment. The current study describes the pharmacokinetic properties of oxolinic acid and flumequine in lumpfish. Absorption of oxolinic acid was moderate and was characterized by a calculated peak plasma concentration (Cmax) of 2.12 μg/ml after 10.3 h (Tmax) and an elimination half-life (t1/2β) of 21 h. Area under curve (AUC) and AUC from 0 to 24 h (AUC0−24h) were calculated to be 60.9 and 34.0 h μg/ml, respectively. For flumequine, plasma Cmax was found to be 2.77 μg/ml after 7.7 h (Tmax) with t1/2β of 22 h. The area under the curve (AUC) and AUC from 0 to 24 h (AUC0−24) were calculated as 104.3 and 50.3 h μg/ml, respectively. Corresponding Cmax values in muscle, liver, and head-kidney for oxolinic acid were 4.01, 3.04, and, 4.68 μg/g, respectively and Tmax of 11.1, 9.2, and 10.0 h, respectively. For flumequine, Cmax values of 4.16, 4.01, and 7.48 μg/g were obtained in muscle, liver, and head kidney, respectively, with corresponding Tmax values of 10.2, 10.3, and 6.0 h. Antimicrobial susceptibility values as determined by minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) analyses against 28 isolates of Aeromonas salmonicida isolated from diseased lumpfish ranged from 0.06 to 15 μg/ml for oxolinic acid and 0.024 to 6.25 μg/ml for flumequine. Bimodal distributions in susceptibility to both oxolinic acid and flumequine were observed. The combination of pharmacokinetic properties and MIC data make possible calculation of efficient treatment doses, which are needed to improve the welfare of lumpfish and minimize development of antibiotic resistant bacteria.


This study aims to examine the characteristics of unemployment and migration of labor in the Northeastern of Thailand and to study the unemployment problems faced by local workers. The samples used in the study were 455 unemployed workers in Khon Kaen province, that is, 204 male and 251 female workers. Most workers, 36.04%, were between the ages of 26-30 years old. The unemployed were mostly single at 52.97%. Factors that relate to the severity of the unemployment problem are the number of times that one has been unemployed and the household expenditure. Factors that are associated with the severity of poverty are educational levels, the number of unemployed in a household, and the income prior to unemployment. Factors that relate to the demand for permanent job positions are age, marital status, and income prior to unemployment. Factors that relate to migration are gender, age, household size, household income, and expenditure.


Abstract Google Ancient Places (GAP) is a Google Digital Humanities Award recipient that will mine the Google Books corpus for classical material that has a strong geographic and historical basis. GAP will allow scholars, students, and enthusiasts world-wide to query the Google Books corpus to ask for books related to a geographic location or to ask for the locations referred to in a classical text. The traditional difficulty of identifying place names will be overcome by using a combination of URI-based gazetteers and an identification algorithm that associates the linear clustering of places within narrative texts with the geographic clustering of locations in the real world.


Abstract. By reconstructing past hydrologic variations in the Northern Caribbean Sea and their influence on the stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) during the last 940 ka, we seek to document climate changes in this tropical area in response to the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT). Using core MD03-2628, we estimated past changes in sea surface salinity (SSS) using Δδ18O, the difference between the modern, and the past δ18O of seawater (obtained by combining alkenone thermometer data with the δ18O of the planktonic foraminifera Globigerinoides rube (white) and corrected for ice-sheet volume effects). Today, the lowest SSS values in the area studied are associated with the northernmost location of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The Δδ18O record obtained from core MD03-2628 exhibits glacial/interglacial cyclicity with higher values during all glacial periods spanning the last 940 ka, indicating increased SSS. A long-term trend was also observed in the Δδ18O values that exhibited a shift toward lower values for interglacial periods during the last 450 ka, as compared to interglacial stages older than 650 ka. A rise in SSS during glacial stages may be related to the southernmost location of the ITCZ, which is induced by a steeper cross-equator temperature gradient and associated with reduced northward cross-equatorial oceanic transport. Therefore, the results suggest a permanent link between the tropical salinity budget and the AMOC during the last 940 ka. Following the MPT, lower salinities during the last five interglacial stages indicated a northernmost ITCZ location that was forced by changes in the cross-equator temperature gradient and that was associated with the poleward position of Southern Oceanic Fronts that amplify the transport of heat and moisture to the North Atlantic. These processes may have contributed to the amplification of the climate cycles that followed the MPT.


Abstract Errazurizia (Fabaceae) is a genus comprised of four species of New World desert shrubs with an ambiguous evolutionary history. Prior studies determined the North American species of Errazurizia were polyphyletic and the relationship of E. rotundata with other genera in the tribe Amorpheae remained undetermined. The sole South American species, which is also the type species, has never been included in a molecular study. We inferred the phylogenetic relationships of Errazurizia and six closely related genera using data from the cpDNA genome and nrDNA cistron from reference guided assemblies. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses found two of the North American and the South American species were a monophyletic group, but that E. rotundata was sister to the monotypic genus Parryella. Gland and pollen surface characters confirm the close relationship between P. filifolia and E. rotundata. Cytonuclear discordance yielded partially incongruent tree topologies, and while the cpDNA phylogeny indicated a monophyletic Amorpha was sister to the E. rotundata and P. filifolia clade, the nrDNA cistron phylogeny recovered a paraphyletic Amorpha, with A. californica sister to the E. rotundata and P. filifolia clade. Molecular and morphological evidence support the elevation of E. rotundata to its own monotypic genus, Pictarena. The new genus Pictarena is defined by subsessile, suborbicular leaflets, mammiform leaflet glands, spicate inflorescences, and flowers with either all petals absent or rarely with a banner petal. Elevating E. rotundata to Pictarena resolves the confusing classification of the species, an imperiled endemic known only from four localities in northern Arizona and lends support for continued conservation.


This paper addresses a novel approach for damage identification in Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Delaunay Triangulation (DT). The proposed method explores Electromechanical Impedance (EMI) principle, in the time domain, to identify structural damage in an aircraft aluminum panel. The procedure is carried out exciting the PZT (Pb-Lead Zirconate Titanate) transducers using a wide band chirp signal and measuring their time responses. The PCA is performed using structural response signals and PCA loadings are considered as input to compute the DT. Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD) metrics are computed from the area formed by the triangles obtained from the DT. Such areas vary due to the displacement of loadings caused by changes in the structural condition for each PZT sensor. These variations have provided good evidence about the effectiveness of the proposed method applied to SHM systems. doi: 10.12783/SHM2015/88


A bacteriophage method of classifying strains of Escherichia coli which inhabit the alimentary tract of cattle has been evolved. It was possible to divide the strains into a large number of types by this method. Varying proportions of strains isolated from the faeces of human beings, sheep, pigs and poultry were also typable by the phages employed. This method of phage typing was used to study the origin and behaviour of the E. coli population in the alimentary tract of healthy cows and calves, and of calves suffering from white scours, in one self-contained herd (herd A) and to a lesser extent in twenty-seven other herds. Several types of E. coli were often found in the same faecal specimen in cases of scouring, as well as in healthy calves. Seventy different phage types were found in the faeces of the healthy calves in herd A, m y occurring infrequently. Thirty-two different types were discovered in the faeces of the scouring calves in this herd ; only one strain of one type was found in scouring calves that was not found also in healthy calves. Two types were found commonly in the calves but rarely in the cows. The examination of strains of E. coli isolated from faeces of cows and calves a t daily and weekly intervals indicated that some types usually remained dominant for a week or so and were then gradually succeeded in dominance by other types. In some animals frequent and sudden changes were apparent; in others one type might be the only type isolated from the faeces for a number of weeks continuously. Changes of dominant phage-type commonly occurred in faeces of calves during the time they were suffering from white scours. The mother did not appear to be a frequent source from which a calf acquired its E. coli; the calf pens themselves seemed a more probable source. Exceedingly large numbers of E. coli were found in the faeces of healthy and scouring calves during the fiFst 14 days of life, a period when white scours occurs; very much smaller numbers were found in older animals. Studies on material from the twentyseven other herds supported the findings in herd A ; many phage types of E. coli were found in these herds that had not been found in herd A. The aetiology of calf scours is d i s c d i n the light of these and other observations.


Although totally overlooked by mainstream aesthetic theory, various paths were nevertheless left open for addressing everyday aesthetics, a natural yet surprisingly controversial topic. Why they were never taken until recently, when the theme of everyday aesthetics is now becoming fashionable, can be explained not only by the obvious fact of philosophical aesthetics' restrictive focal point on art but, among other reasons, by a kind of fetishism that demands an object of recognized value for legitimating an aesthetic inquiry. This new popularity entails, however, certain theoretical risks such as clinging to traditional artcentric and beauty-centric categories to explain the everyday and borrowing their concepts uncritically. In this paper I will examine some of these paths and risks with special emphasis on current events which exude aesthetics throughout their pores and require attention from this discipline.


BACKGROUND
Multiple organizations have issued guidelines to address the prevention, diagnosis and management of diabetic foot ulcers. These guidelines are based on evidence review and expert opinion. METHODS: Literature review was conducted and guidelines were reviewed to identify consensus (or lack thereof) on the nature of these recommendations, the strength of the recommendations and the level of evidence. RESULTS: Most guidelines were not based on highest level of evidence (randomized controlled trials). A listing of recommendations for prevention, diagnosis and management was created with evidence basis for all recommendations. CONCLUSIONS: Areas for future research were identified among recommendations based on minimal evidence, areas of controversy, or in areas of clinical care without recommendations..


This volume of fourteen interviews covers the prolific and rich career of author Jerome Charyn (b. 1937). Four of the interviews appear in English for the first time, and two interviews appear here in print for the first time as well. As one of his autobiographical volumes claims, Jerome Charyn is a "Bronx Boy," a child born from immigrant parents who went through Ellis Island in the 1920s like so many other travelers without luggage, a "little werewolf" who grew up on his own in the chaos of the Bronx ghetto. "I think I was defined by two things: World War Two and the movies." His work remains deeply marked by this childhood largely forgotten by the American Dream. If Charyn has spent much of his life in Paris, he has paradoxically never left the Bronx: "'El Bronx' is there inside my head, and I revisit it the way Hemingway would fish the Big Two-Hearted River in his dreams." His whole work is a long attempt at evoking his own history and celebrating his lifelong marveling at the power of language--"our second skin"--as well as his deep, unflinching belief in the promises of fiction. Since 1964, Charyn has published more than fifty books ranging from fiction to nonfiction and including short stories, very popular crime novels, graphic novels co-written with European artists, essays on American culture and cinema as well as on New York, autobiography and biography--an ever-changing production that has made it difficult for critics to classify him. And yet in many ways Charyn's writing thrives on constant currents: the words "voice," "song," "undersong," or "rhythm" return frequently in his interviews as he explains what literature is to him and ceaselessly asserts that he is trying "to find a music for a musicless world," a language for "people who cannot speak."


Aquatic nematode-trapping hyphomycetes have rarely been studied. The current study examined 1000 waterlogged soil samples in order to systematically investigate resources of aquatic nematode-trapping hyphomycetes and to compare species diversity and community similarities in polluted and unpolluted aquatic environments. Many nematode-trapping hyphomycetes live in shallow freshwater (at a water depth of 20 cm). No nematode-trapping hyphomycetes were isolated from the 20 samples collected at the bottom (at a water depth of 4 m) of Dianchi Lake. Among the 35 isolated species of predacious fungi, Arthrobotrys oligospora, A. musiformis, Monacrosporium thaumasium and M. longiphorum were the most common species. Species with adhesive networks were the most frequently isolated. The similarity indices between fungal communities living in similar aquatic environments were higher than those from dissimilar aquatic environments, and the level of species diversity for the brooks of the nature reserves was higher than that for the conta- minated lake or river.


In this paper, partial knowledge about the possible transitions which can take place in a dynamical environment is represented by a set of pairs of propositional formulae, with the following intended meaning: If the first one is true then the second will be true at the next step. More generally, a certainty level representing the lower bound of a necessity measure can be associated with the second formula for modelling uncertain transitions. A possibilistic transition graph relating possible states can be deduced from these pairs and used for updating an uncertain knowledge base encoded in possibilistic logic and semantically associated to a possibility distribution. The updating of the base can be directly performed at the syntactic level from the transition pairs and the possibilistic logic formulas, in agreement with the semantics of the base and of the transitions. As there are many sets of pairs that represent the same transition graph, it is convenient to find a representative in this class that gives the easiest syntactic computations. Besides, a second type of weighted pairs of formulas is introduced for refining the representation of the available information about transitions. While the first type of pairs encodes the transitions that are not non-impossible (using necessity measures), the second type of pairs provides the transitions whose possibility is guaranteed. This constitutes a bipolar description of the possible transitions.


Soil is a fundamental part of the ecosystem and one that humans depend on for a variety of services. Our interaction with the soil yields artifacts, or legacies. Soil legacies are studied by archaeologists to infer human history and soil scientists to interpret natural processes; consequently, legacies reveal our history and how that history impacts the broader ecosystem. This project investigated: the influence of historic agriculture on soil properties and vegetation and geophysical methods, electromagnetic induction and resistivity, for identification of soil legacies at Wormsloe State Historic Site. Results indicated that soil pH and extractable P remained significantly elevated over 80 years since abandonment of agriculture and that vegetation patterns were not significantly related to soil legacies. Geophysical methods guided soil sampling, identifying artifacts and distinguishing between sites of land use intensity. Results can be used to update land use history maps and provide non-invasive field techniques for future studies. INDEX WORDS: Land Use History, Agricultural Legacy, Wormsloe, Phosphorous, Shell Middens, Geophysical Methods, EMI, Resistivity SOIL INDICATORS OF POST COLONIZATION LAND USE CHANGE AT WORMSLOE STATE HISTORIC SITE, GEORGIA, USA


This study sought to identify specific types of discussion-based strategies that two successful high school physics teachers using a model-based approach utilized in attempting to foster students' construction of explanatory models for scientific concepts. We found evidence that, in addition to previously documented dialogical strategies that teachers utilize to engage students in effectively communicating their scientific ideas in class, there is a second level of more cognitively focused model-construction-supporting strategies that these teachers utilized in attempting to foster students' learning. A further distinction between macro and micro strategy levels within the set of cognitive strategies is proposed. The relationships between the resulting three levels of strategies are portrayed in a diagramming system that tracks discussions over time. The study attempts to contribute to a clearer understanding of how discussion-leading strategies may be used to scaffold the development of conceptual understanding.


Skeleton-based action recognition models have recently been shown to be vulnerable to adversarial attacks. Compared to adversarial attacks on images, perturbations to skeletons are typically bounded to a lower dimension of approximately 100 per frame. This lower-dimensional setting makes it more difficult to generate imperceptible perturbations. Existing attacks resolve this by exploiting the temporal structure of the skeleton motion so that the perturbation dimension increases to thousands. In this paper, we show that adversarial attacks can be performed on skeleton-based action recognition models, even in a significantly low-dimensional setting without any temporal manipulation. Specifically, we restrict the perturbations to the lengths of the skeleton's bones, which allows an adversary to manipulate only approximately 30 effective dimensions. We conducted experiments on the NTU RGB+D and HDM05 datasets and demonstrate that the proposed attack successfully deceived models with sometimes greater than 90% success rate by small perturbations. Furthermore, we discovered an interesting phenomenon: in our low-dimensional setting, the adversarial training with the bone length attack shares a similar property with data augmentation, and it not only improves the adversarial robustness but also improves the classification accuracy on the original data. This is an interesting counterexample of the trade-off between adversarial robustness and clean accuracy, which has been widely observed in studies on adversarial training in the high-dimensional regime.


In this paper we analyze the role of marketing in the construction of what can be called the hegemony of development. Through an investigation of the marketing practices of the pulp and paper industry in South America and the resistances that are articulated by a range of civil society actors against the expansion of this industry, we problematize marketing as a political and contested discourse and practice. By using Laclau and Mouffe's (1985, 2001) theoretical framework, which is centered on the concept of `hegemony', we highlight the crucial role marketing plays in the social and cultural legitimation of the highly controversial development of the pulp and paper industry — regarded as one of the most polluting industries in the world — in South America. We build on existing `critical marketing' literatures to critique marketing's role in spreading `development' practices around the world, and we introduce Laclau and Mouffe's theories to the marketing field in order to understand better the way marketing helps to produce `development' as a hegemonic discourse in a particular social and cultural field. In this way we contribute to a growing understanding that critical marketing research is not only about exposing and analyzing the discourses and practices that drive consumption. Rather, we see marketing as an ontological discourse and practice that is crucial for the cultural and social legitimation of the development of entire industries and economic spheres.


We present a simple design rule for a passive temperature-compensating optical package. We also present experimentally that a package fabricated by using the design rule compensates the temperature dependence of the resonant wavelength of an optical long period fiber grating by varying the strain inside the fiber, The package fabricated in this work consists of two pieced of brass tube, 10 mm long, and a piece of nylon rod, 45.4 mm long. It is shown that the package can compensate the temperature-induce wavelength shifts of the long period grating to a range of 6.8 pm/ $^{\circ}C$ , compared with 0..48 nm/ $^{\circ}C$ for an uncompensated grating. The reduced strength of the fiber caused by exposure to ultraviolet limits the performance of the package to the range operating temperature form -3 $^{\circ}C$ to 7 $0^{\circ}C$ .


Consider the task under which I labour: These are supposed to be talks in the millennial spirit. My charge is to find, somewhere in the philosophical landscape, a problem of whose current status I can give some coherent account, and to point the direction in which it seems to me that further research might usefully proceed, And I'm to try to sound reasonably cheerful and optimistic in the course of doing so. No sooner did I begin to ponder these terms of engagement, than it occurred to me that cheer and optimism aren't really my thing; also that I hadn't heard of a topic in the philosophy of mind (which is the only part of philosophy that even I think that I know anything about) which seems to me to be other than a godawful mess. It struck me that my best course would be for me to change my name and go into hiding. Thus my first choice of a title for this lecture, which was 'To Be Announced'.


"The story of Stoppard's life is a compelling one and it is laid out with extraordinary detail in this first major biography" - Evening Standard Double Act is the first major biography of one of the world's celebrated most writers, From his early theatrical success as the youngest playwright ever produced at the National Theatre, to his Academy Award for Shakespeare in Love, Tom Stoppard's work is renowned for its dazzling wit, invention and box-office appeal. But his real life is a more complicated affair still; and this acclaimed and authoritative book reveals the remarkable private story of a man who from childhood had to invent his own personality, and whose multi-layered dramas reflect the enduring contradictions of his life."An impressive biography ...it makes a good story out of that most unpromising subject, an unqualified and extended triumph." Spectator "Appealingly embellished with Stoppard's shrewd witticisms about his work and full of keen perceptions of its own, Double Act offers an exhaustive and enlightening overview of a singular talent that is happiest when expressing itself in dual ways." Sunday Times "Nadel is excellent at providing an exposition of Stoppard's ideas and the wider social context in which he lives." Independent on Sunday "A searching biography of this mercurial writer ...Nadel builds an engrossing picture of someone in continual self-reinvention." Jewish Chronicle "Stoppard's playwriting career, unsurprisingly, constitutes the largest component of the biography, and the production details, gossip and contractual facts make for fascinating reading." Irish Times "If the genius of Nadel's subject lies in paradox, it also needs genius to turn that paradox into an event. This book is one, and a palpable hit." Good Book Guide "Essential reading for all students of theatre." Hampstead & Highgate


Education is essential for solving the complex water-related challenges facing society. The Learning Enhanced Watershed Assessment System (LEWAS) and the Online Watershed Learning System (OWLS) provide data creation and data sharing infrastructures, respectively, that combine to form an environmental learning tool. This system collects, integrates and stores real-time, high-frequency environmental monitoring data and imagery from a small urbanized watershed and makes it available to users at anytime from anywhere they have internet access. This paper discusses both the developmental and maintenance challenges associated with the LEWAS and the design details of the OWLS. A pilot test of the OWLS was implemented in a senior level hydrology course as a part of an NSF funded project. Results indicate that 80% of students (n = 30) valued the anywhere, anytime access to the data and 97% of students believed that access to the OWLS helped them to learn hydrologic concepts. A similar pilot test implemented in a community college freshman engineering course as part of the same project indicates that students (n=27) who used the OWLS felt that the OWLS assignment was valuable and relevant to their coursework even when their academic performance was underwhelming (40% correct on multiple choice questions). Future plans to expand the scope of the LEWAS-OWLS to cover environmental data from other geographical regions are discussed.


This paper investigates face-to-face lying and beliefs associated with it. In experiments in Sweden and Japan, subjects answer questions about personal characteristics, play a face-to-face sender-receiver game and participate in an elicitation of lie-detection beliefs. The previous finding of too much truth-telling (compared to the equilibrium prediction) also holds in the face-to-face setting. A new result is that although many people claim that they are good at lie-detection, few reveal belief in this ability when money is at stake. Correlations between the subjects' characteristics and their behavior and performances in the game are also explored.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether oral corticosteroids can prevent early deterioration in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia.

DESIGN
Prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial.

METHODS
Included patients were having their first P. carinii pneumonia episode, had no other known active pulmonary pathology, had no contraindications for corticosteroids, received no anti-P. carinii pneumonia medications for more than 48 hours, and had oxygen saturation by pulse oximetry of 85% or more and less than 90% at rest or a 5-percentage-point decrease in oxygen saturation with exercise while breathing room air. Consenting subjects were randomly assigned to prednisone, 60 mg/d for 7 days, followed by a progressive tapering over 14 days or to an identical placebo. Early deterioration, the endpoint of the trial, was defined as a 10% decrease in baseline oxygen saturation on day 3 or thereafter. The cases of patients developing early deterioration were considered to be failures of treatment; the code was then broken, and the patient's treatment was left to the judgment of the treating physician. Sequential analysis was done with the primary variable being development of early deterioration.

RESULTS
The trial was terminated 5 April 1989 on the basis of the sequential analysis when a total of nine episodes of early deterioration had occurred in the first 37 patients at an overall significance level of P = 0.0136. A total of 8 of 19 placebo-treated patients (42.1%) developed early deterioration compared with only 1 of 18 patients (5.6%) treated with corticosteroids. Baseline characteristics were not statistically different between the two treatment groups. The adjusted odds ratio for the treatment effect was 5.87 (95% CI, 1.27 to 27.4). The adjusted point estimates for the probability of early deterioration in the placebo and corticosteroid groups were 43% and 12%, respectively. All 8 patients in the placebo group developing early deterioration recovered rapidly with addition of corticosteroid treatment. The single patient with early deterioration in the corticosteroid group died on day 6 from overwhelming P. carinii pneumonia, as documented at autopsy. The corticosteroid group had an increased exercise tolerance on day 7 that persisted at day 30.

CONCLUSION
Oral corticosteroids prevent early deterioration and increase exercise tolerance in patients with moderately severe AIDS-related P. carinii pneumonia.


Egg in half cooked food prepared by boiling an egg approximately 5 minutes in order to get high protein from the eggs. Eggs can contain bacteria harmful food called Salmonella sp. Because of that the authors consider it necessary to conduct research on analysis of Salmonella sp. the food half cooked eggs. The purpose of this study is to find out about the analysis of Salmonella sp. the food half-cooked eggs are sold in the village Samanhudi Hamdan Maimoon Medan Medan District. The method used in this study is a descriptive to see observations and laboratory analysis to determine the content of the bacteria Salmonella sp. the food half cooked eggs. The results showed that in a sample of 10 egg mixture before brewed with hot water, 2 of 10 samples found to be contaminated with Salmonella sp eggs. Meanwhile, mix eggs for 10 samples, after brewed with hot water, discovered the bacterium Salmonella sp. Sp salmonella bacteria content in food is expected to meet the standards that refer to SNI 01-6366-2000 that is negative or zero (0). The conclusion of this study indicate that the bacterial content in foods by processing existing health ineligible because eggs contain bacteria that were previously brewed still contain bacteria after Salmonella sp. Eggs containing bacteria probably caused long storage and processing methods that do not meet the standards. The expected need for supervision and counseling to the holding of merchants by the local government on the importance of food processing eggs and to increase efforts to restructure the food so that the food received eggs already qualified healthcare consumers.


Magnetorheological (MR) fluid is a smart fluid containing ferrous particles that allow it to change its apparent viscosity in the presence of a magnetic field. Dampers consisting of MR fluids provide a means of active damping by using a current input to an electromagnet to control the damping properties. A swing arm suspension system is unique to two-wheeled vehicles, and links the rear wheel to the frame of the vehicle through a pivot. The swing arm also connects the rear suspension system to the frame. The goal of this study is to experimentally analyze the vibration mitigation capabilities of MR dampers in a (rear) swing arm suspension system in a motorcycle. A set of commercially available MR dampers is used in a fixture that has been developed to represent the rear swing arm system. The dampers are characterized and preliminary mathematical models have been developed to investigate the capability of the damping system. Multiple iterations of testing are performed on the shaker table to evaluate the performance of the damping system at different locations of the frame. Accelerometers are used for this evaluation, and the analysis of the acceleration data is performed in time domain as well as frequency domain. Results indicate that the mitigation in root mean square (RMS) acceleration ranges from 50 to 80% at varying levels of damping. Significant mitigation is observed at different locations of the fixture that correspond to the rider seat and the position of the foot pegs on a motorcycle. The semi-active behavior of the damper is a critical property that can be used to overcome the constraints of a traditional passive suspension system, where the stiffness and damping is tuned to provide enhanced ride comfort or improved handling. In a passive system, some compromise is necessary between the two competing requirements of ride comfort and handling. The MR damping system could be used to overcome this constraint by exercising direct control over the input current of the electromagnet. The results from this study indicate that an MR damping system would allow the swing arm suspension to adapt so as to provide improved ride comfort as well as enhanced handling.


In this paper, we seek to examine the effect of comparisons and social capital on subjective well-being. Furthermore, we test if, through social influence and exposure, social capital is either an enhancer or appeaser of the comparison effect. Using the Latinobarometro Survey (2007) we find that in contrast to most previous studies, the comparison effect on well-being is positive; that is, the better others perform, the happier the individual is. We also find that social capital is among the strongest correlates of individuals' subjective well-being in Latin American countries. Furthermore, our findings suggest that social contacts may enhance the comparison effect on individual's happiness, which is more intense for those who perform worse in their reference group.


Handwritten text in any language is believed to convey a great deal of information about writers' personality and identity. Indeed, handwritten signature has long been accepted as an authentication of the writer's physical stamp on financial and legal deals as well official/personal documents and works of art. Handwritten documents are frequently used as evidences in forensic tasks. Handwriting skills is learnt and developed from the early schooling stages. Research interest in behavioral biometrics was the main driving force behind the growth in research into Writer Identification (WI) from handwritten text, but recent rise in terrorism associated with extreme religious ideologies spreading primarily, but not exclusively, from the middle-east has led to a surge of interest in WI from handwritten text in Arabic and similar languages.
This thesis is the main outcome of extensive research investigations conducted with the aim of developing an automatic identification of a person from handwritten Arabic text samples. My motivations and interests, as an Iraqi researcher, emanate from my multi-faceted desires to provide scientific support for my people in their fight against terrorism by providing forensic evidences, and as contribute to the ongoing digitization of the Iraqi National archive as well as the wealth of religious and historical archives in Iraq and the middle-east. Good knowledge of the underlying language is invaluable in this project.
Despite the rising interest in this recognition modality worldwide, Arabic writer identification has not been addressed as extensively as Latin writer identification. However, in recent years some new Arabic writer identification approaches have been proposed some of which are reviewed in this thesis. Arabic is a cursive language when handwritten. This means that each and every writer in this language develops some unique features that could demonstrate writer's habits and style. These habits and styles are considered as unique WI features and determining factors.
Existing dominating approaches to WI are based on recognizing handwriting habits/styles are embedded in certain parts/components of the written texts. Although the appearance of these components within long text contain rich information and clues to writer identity, the most common approaches to WI in Arabic in the literature are based on features extracted from paragraph(s), line(s), word(s), character(s), and/or a part of a character. Generally, Arabic words are made up of one or more subwords at the end of each; there is a connected stroke with a certain style of which seem to be most representative of writers habits. Another feature of Arabic writing is to do with diacritics that are added to written words/subwords, to add meaning and pronunciation. Subwords are more frequent in written Arabic text and appear as part of several different words or as full individual words. Thus, we propose a new innovative approach based on a seemingly plausible hypothesis that subwords based WI yields significant increase in accuracy over existing approaches. The thesis most significant contributions can be summarized as follows:
- Developed a high performing segmentation of scanned text images, that combines threshold based binarisation, morphological operation and active shape model.
- Defined digital measures and formed a 15-dimensional feature vectors representations of subwords that implicitly cover its diacritics and strokes. A pilot study that incrementally added features according to writer discriminating power. This reduced subwords feature vector dimension to 8, two of which were modelled as time series.
- For the dependent 8-dimensional WI scheme, we identify the best performing set of subwords (best 22 subwords out of 49 then followed by best 11 out of these 22 subwords).
- We established the validity of our hypothesis for different versions of subwords based WI schemes by providing empirical evidence when testing on a number of existing text dependent and in text-dependent databases plus a simulated text-in text-dependent DB. The text-dependent scenario results exhibited possible present of the Doddington Zoo phenomena.
- The final optimal subword based WI scheme, not only removes the need to include diacritics as part of the subword but also demonstrating that including diacritics within subwords impairs the WI discriminating power of subwords. This should not be taken to discredit research that are based on diacritics based WI. Also in this subword body (without diacritics) base WI scheme, resulted in eliminating the presence of Doddington Zoo effect.
- Finally, a significant but un-intended consequence of using subwords for WI is that there is no difference between a text-independent scenario and text-dependent one. In fact, we shall demonstrate that the text-dependent database of the 27-words can be used to simulate the testing of the scheme for an in text-dependent database without the need to record such a DB.
Finally, we discussed ways of optimising the performance of our last scheme by considering possible ways of complementing our scheme using the addition of various image texture analysis features to be extracted from subwords, lines, paragraphs or entire file of the scabbed image. These included LBP and Gabor Filter. We also suggested the possible addition of few more features.


The fracture problems of ecomaterial (aluminum alloyed cast iron) under extra-low cycle rotating bending fatigue loading were studied using artificial neural networks (ANN) in this paper. The training data were used in the formation of training set of ANN. The ANN model exhibited excellent in results comparison with the experimental results. It was concluded that predicted fracture design parameters by the trained neural network model seem more reasonable compared to approximate methods. It is possible to claim that, ANN is fairly promising prediction technique if properly used. Training ANN model was introduced at first. And then the Training data for the development of the neural network model was obtained from the experiments. The input parameters, notch depth, the presetting deflection and tip radius of the notch, and the output parameters, the cycle times of fracture were used during the network training. The neural network architecture is designed. The ANN model was developed using back propagation architecture with three layers jump connections, where every layer was connected or linked to every previous layer. The number of hidden neurons was determined according to special formula. The performance of system is summarized at last. In order to facilitate the comparisons of predicted values, the error evaluation and mean relative error are obtained. The result show that the training model has good performance, and the experimental data and predicted data from ANN are in good coherence.


In this article, the underlying forces and the extent of brain drain from Iran to the United States are studied. The brain drain is measured by the migration rates of Iranian nationals to the US with tertiary education, including physicians and professors. The universities' admission policies and inclusion of Islamic subject matters in the academic curricula are reviewed to evaluate the quality of higher education. In addition, the possibility of reversing the brain drain and its impact on the economy are discussed. INTRODUCTION Emigration of the highly educated elite from the developing countries to the developed countries is an important issue that deserves attention. The Middle East with its vast oil resources needs educated professionals to enhance economic development and modernize the region. Iran, one of the oldest countries in the region, has lost a good portion of its educated professionals in the past few decades. The extent of the "brain drain" from Iran is a major concern. It is a vital matter in the US-Iranian relations due to the fact that educated elite are the medium for transferring technology and know how. This article brings to the fore the issue of the brain drain from Iran that has not been examined recently. Educated and skilled workers are the scarcest resources of any developing country. They comprise the core workforce for sustainable economic development programs. Their training is time-consuming and expensive. The departure of a large number of highly educated elite from Iran has definitely caused a disastrous social loss to the country. In Iran, the government subsidizes students' higher education expenses by means of no-interest loans, little or no tuition, free accommodation in dormitories, various financial aids, grants, and scholarships for studying abroad. Even if education and training in Iran were privately financed, still there would have been significant national loss caused by the brain drain, due to the fact that education is a public good, and it has positive external benefits to the society. Educated people not only increase their own productivity but also contribute to the society's well being and knowledge; examples are the physicians and educators. The developed countries and especially the US have greatly benefited from the pool of the highly educated and experienced Iranian immigrants. These countries are getting a "free ride" from the education and expertise of the Iranian elite. Most of the Iranian immigrants in the US are working in fields such as education, engineering, medicine, and other professional services. Their work has important external social benefits for the host countries that are missed in Iran. Carrington and Detragiache have done a comparative study of brain drain from developing countries to the United States and the other member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.' They show that brain drain from Iran to the US, measured by migration rates of the individuals with tertiary education, is the highest in Asia. After Iran, sizable brain drains to the US are from Korea, the Philippines, and Taiwan, while the brain drain from other Middle Eastern countries is low. The subject of international migration of manpower from the Middle East has been under scrutiny since the 1960s. George B. Baldwin has studied this problem for the case of Iran. He examined whether the high-level brain drain was an obstacle to Iran's economic development? He found that brain drain from Iran was not a serious problem at the time and some foreign educated Iranians could be repatriated home by the efforts of public institutions. Askari and Cummings also have studied the brain drain from Iran and several other Middle Eastern countries to the United States.3 They point out that, given the need for high-level manpower in these countries, it is essential to adopt policies to reverse the brain drain. They suggest economic incentive policies for encouraging expatiates to return. …


Introduction When people are dying and unable to take oral medication, injectable medication is commonly used, usually administered by healthcare professionals. There may be delays to symptom relief due to travel to the person's home. In a randomised controlled trial (RCT) previously reported, nasal fentanyl (NF) or buccal midazolam (BM) were administered by lay carers in a hospice. Objective (1) To report experiences of lay carers who administered NF and BM for symptom control and (2) To use feedback to develop guidance informing a future definitive RCT to determine whether NF and BM administered by lay carers can lead to timely, improved symptom control for people dying at home and fewer 'emergency' community nursing visits than standard breakthrough medication administered by healthcare professionals. Material and methods Semistructured interviews with lay carers who gave trial medication were conducted. Interview data were analysed using a stage by stage method to code and categorise transcripts. Findings The six themes were: (1) Participation—lay carers welcomed the opportunity to administer medication; (2) Ease of use—lay carers found preparations easy to use; (3) How things could have been done differently—lay carers would have liked access to trial drugs at home; (4) Training—lay carers were happy with the training they received; (5) Timing—lay carers liked the immediacy of trial drugs and (6) Evaluation—assessing symptom intensity and drug efficacy. Conclusions Participation was acceptable to patients and lay carers, and beneficial for symptom relief. The findings will inform planning for a future community-based study.


The application of angle-resolved light scattering (ARLS) to the measurement of the surface roughness of glossy coatings on paper was investigated. To this end, ARLS patterns were measured for laser light scattered from several glossy paper samples, and these patterns were compared with those calculated using a theoretical model based on plane-wave scattering from an isotropic rough surface. Mechanical stylus profilometry data for the rms roughnesses and the autocorrelation functions of the coatings were used as input to calculate the patterns. For all the paper samples measured, as well as for all the incidence angles used, there was good agreement between the experimental and the calculated patterns when all the rms roughnesses measured by profilometry were reduced by 30%. The indication from these experiments is that ARLS may be used to determine the roughness parameters of the coatings. As a check on these results, measurements were also performed with a commercial optical surface probe; these data agreed well with both the ARLS and the stylus profilometry results.


Parallel corpora can be defined as collections of aligned, translated texts of two or more languages. They play a major role in translation and contrastive studies, and are also becoming popular in translation training and language teaching, with the advent of the data-driven learning (DDL) approach. Despite their significance, however, Arabic seems to lack a satisfactory general-use parallel corpus resource. The literature describes few Arabic–English parallel corpora, and these few are usually inaccurate and/or expensive. Some are small in size, while others are restricted in terms of genre, failing to meet the requirements of many academics and researchers. This paper describes an ongoing project at the College of Languages and Translation, King Saud University, to compile a 10-million-word Arabic–English parallel corpus to be used as a resource for translation training and language teaching. The bidirectional corpus can be used to compare translated and source language and identify differences. The corpus has been manually verified at different stages, including translation, text segmentation, alignment, and file preparation; it is available as full-text in XML format and through a user-friendly web interface that provides a concordancer to support bilingual search queries and several filtering options.


Logic soft errors are radiation induced transient errors in sequential elements (flip-flops and latches) and combinational logic. Robust enterprise platforms in sub-65nm technologies require designs with built-in logic soft error protection. Effective logic soft error protection requires solutions to the following three problems: (1) accurate soft error rate estimation for combinational logic networks; (2) automated estimation of system effects of logic soft errors, and identification of regions in a design that must be protected; and, (3) new cost-effective techniques for logic soft error protection, because classical fault-tolerance techniques are very expensive.


We study the information brokerage schemes in wireless sensor networks, which allow consumers to obtain data from producers by replicating and retrieving data in a certain set of sensors, and propose a novel information brokerage scheme, termed RDRIB. Unlike existing information brokerage schemes, RDRIB guarantees successful data retrieval without using any boundary detection algorithm and the geographic location information acquired by the global positioning system (GPS). In RDRIB, the double-ruling technique is used to replicate and retrieve the data within a constructed virtual boundary, and simulations show that RDRIB has good performance in terms of the replication memory overhead, the replication message overhead, the retrieval message overhead, the retrieval latency, and the construction message overhead.


The trend in real agricultural wages in Egypt over the two decades since the mid-1970s is well described by an inverted U-shaped curve with a peak around 1985. But the rise and fall of real wages masks a complex dynamic process by which nominal wages adjust in response to changes in food prices. We use governorate-level panel data for 1976–93 to explore the nature of this adjustment process. Our results indicate that nominal wages adjust slowly. There is a significant negative initial impact of rising food prices on real wages, though wages do catch up in the long run.


Abstract Four grams of a clinoptilolite-rich rock, crushed to -180 mesh, were exchanged in deionized water (DI), and in 0.1, 0.01, and 0.001 M solutions of SrCl2·6H2O at 5, 21, 50, and 90 °C for 0.5, 5, 24, and 240 h yielding 64 sample solutions, which were vacuum-filtered to remove solids. The solutions were analyzed by ICP-AES for the outgoing cations (i.e., Na+, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+). The higher molarity solutions were expected to contain greater concentrations of the outgoing cations than the DI or lower molarity concentration solutions. This trend was exhibited by the monovalent and divalent cations in samples of all concentrations. Outgoing monovalent cations exchanged to greater extents with increasing time and temperature. Outgoing divalent cations of 0.01 and 0.001 M concentrations exchanged at low temperatures contained greater concentrations of outgoing divalent cations than solutions exchanged at high temperatures. The concentrations of the monovalent cations were slightly greater in the 0.001 M sample than in DI, whereas divalent cations had a similar concentration between the 0.001 M and DI treatments. Overall exchange of cations out of the clinoptilolite was favored at higher temperatures.


A growing literature has documented changes to the dynamics of key macroeconomic variables in industrialized countries and highlighted the possibility that these variables may react differently to structural shocks over time. However, existing empirical work on the international transmission of shocks largely abstracts from the possibility of changes to the international transmission mechanism across time. In addition, the literature has largely employed small-scale models with limited number of variables. This paper introduces an empirical model which allows the estimation of time-varying response of a large set of domestic variables to foreign money supply, demand and supply shocks. The key results show that a foreign monetary policy tightening resembles the classic beggar-thy-neighbour scenario for the United Kingdom in the period 1975-90. In more recent periods, the response is negative but largely insignificant.


To examine the interactions of disease and pollution on amphibian populations around the world, I investigated the effect of infection on contaminant susceptibility in pickerel frog, Rana palustris, larvae. I conducted standard 48-hr toxicity tests to examine effect of trematode parasite, Echinostoma trivolvis, infection (0, 10, or 30 cercaria) on the susceptibility of pickerel frog tadpoles to the widely used organophosphate insecticide malathion. LC50 values ranged from 16.5 – 17.4 mg/L, within the range reported for other amphibian species. I found no differences in susceptibility to malathion among parasite treatments. Nevertheless, this crucial question remains to be tested in other amphibian host-parasite systems. Second, I studied the reverse interaction, the effect of pesticide exposure on susceptibility to parasite infection. I exposed pickerel frog embryos to low doses of malathion, then subjected morphologically normal tadpoles to E. trivolvis later in development. Malathion significantly decreased hatching success and viability rates at concentrations lower than previously documented for anuran embryos. After 7 wk of development in water with no malathion, tadpoles previously exposed to malathion as embryos suffered increased parasite encystment rates compared to controls. My research identifies embryonic development as a sensitive window and the potential for increased susceptibility to infection long after pesticide exposure has ceased. With potential for increased parasite prevalence from eutrophication and climate change, my data underscore the importance of understanding the reciprocal influences of parasites and pesticides in amphibians.


Introduction:
Due to the increasing necessity of fashion design regarding the visual message and specific role of clothes in various fields of activity, our department became one of the most searched by the students in the Faculty of Applied Arts and Design. The need for ,,aesthetically educated tailors that become artistic personalities" led to a bigger number of students and e-Learning classical methods became available for them in order to resolve mainly the technical knowledge problem. The artistic environment instead has to be taught in blended learning systems by specialized teachers. Each one has its own modular course and the module lasts normally between one and three weeks. The themes are given by the teacher by mutual agreement. Aesthetic learning is closely connected with textile technology through eLearning.
Methods:
Visual communication, visual message, online communication.
Concept:
The patterns are very often expressed through paper, strings, metal, wood, glass, plastic and other materials than usual textiles. Therefore students use unusual patterns and give new forms of expression in fashion design. The artistic concept is the most important aim of our department. Aesthetics play the main role in the object production and some of the students become merchandiser agents or even shop front designers. The advertising principles will remain the most used concepts either in classical Learning or in eLearning for the next five years.
We improve the blended learning methods in our department, taking into account that many of our teachers have their own business outside the country, and many of our students will work in a specific worldwide network.
Conclusions:
Most of the students aim to sell their production on web platforms and online stores, being more and more internet oriented and IT interested.


Fourier-holographic light scattering spectroscopy is applied to record complex angular scattering spectra of two- and three-dimensional samples over a wide field of view. We introduce a computational depth sectioning technique and, for the first time, demonstrate that a single-exposure hologram can generate a quantitative, three-dimensional map of particle sizes and locations over several cubic millimeters with micrometer resolution. Such spatially resolved maps of particle sizes are generated by Mie-inversion and could not be ascertained from the directly reconstructed intensity-distribution images. We also demonstrate synthesis of multiple angular scattering intensity spectra to increase the angular range and improve size detection sensitivity.


In this chapter I explore judicial independence and legal transformation in South Africa. My central thesis is that judicial independence is one of the key ingredients to ensuring that the transformative possibilities embodied in the Constitution become a reality for the majority of South Africans. Despite widespread approval of the principle of judicial review amongst legal scholars, many have warned that an unelected body sitting in judgment of the powers and functions of elected representatives may erode the basic tenets of democracy. This is particularly so in the case of economic or social policy where courts in their judgments may be at odds with the executive, the legislature and popular sentiment on these matters. Two issues that come to mind are the death penalty and procedural rights for the criminally accused, where evidence suggests that the Court's judgments are not viewed favorably by significant sections of the population. I argue that because of the lingering effects of authoritarianism, racism, sexism, and other forms of prejudice - cultural by-products of colonialism and apartheid - an independent judiciary may rise above these sentiments and ensure that South Africa remains committed to the promises of rights embodied in the Constitution. But my thesis also considers judicial independence in light of the racial and gender transformation of the judiciary. I argue that although thus far the courts, and particularly the Constitutional Court, has demonstrated an impressive independence, the political and racial loyalties of some sectors of the public to the governing party may pose a threat to judicial independence.


Current computing has made a giant leap forwards in several areas over the past decades. Processing power, data storage, visualisation and connectivity have advanced almost
beyond imagination. There is, however, one area where we still are stuck at the same level as in the beginning of personal computing: the input interfaces. In typical personal computing, a mouse and keyboard are both still an absolute requirement. For most applications, the mouse and keyboard do well enough to keep them in the picture,
but for tasks like the manipulation of three dimensional objects, the traditional mouse has some shortcomings.
A default mouse has only two degrees of freedom1 (DOF), whereas the human hand has six: three dimensional position and orientation, disregarding the fingers, which provide even more DOF. In order to employ mice in an environment where more than two degrees of freedom are needed, concessions have to be made, or the mouse is not
suitable. Furthermore, when considering (very) large displays, using a mouse becomes ergonomically challenging (see Vogel and Balakrishnan, 2005). Finally, although using
a mouse can almost be considered "natural" nowadays, one has to learn how to use it. This study attempts to put some steps into shifting above paradigm by redesigning
the interaction of a traditional application. An application in which spatial informationis manipulated will be modified to be controlled by hand gestures only, since it is believed that this task could benefit from the shifted paradigm. This belief is supported by the fact that the two used map manipulation tasks have clear metaphors with physical manipulation. The digital analogy of a traditional map, the map application, was
selected as program of choice. The map application shows a (large) map and offers two basic tasks: panning and zooming. Panning is the translation of the current view port
to another location, while maintaining level of detail. Zooming is the act of changing the level of detail of the current view port on the map, without panning. It is believed that aforementioned tasks can be implemented with gestures using metaphors of a real, physical map.


Cs exchanged silicotungstic acid catalysts of general formula CsxH4−xSiW12O40 (x = 0.8–4) have been synthesised and characterised by a range of techniques including elemental analysis, N2 gas adsorption, XRD, XPS and NH3 flow calorimetry. Cs substitution promotes recrystallisation of the parent H4SiW12O40 polyoxometallate to the Cs4 salt, via a stable intermediate phase formed at compositions between Cs0.8–2.8. This recrystallisation is accompanied by a pronounced rise and subsequent fall in porosity, with a maximum mesopore volume obtained for materials containing 2.8 Cs atoms per Keggin unit. Calorimetry reveals all CsxH4−xSiW12O40 are strong acids, with ΔHθads(NH3) ranging from −142 to 116 kJ mol−1 with increasing Cs content, consistently weaker than their phosphotungstic analogues. CsxH4−xSiW12O40 materials are active catalysts for both C4 and C8 triglyceride transesterification, and palmitic acid esterification with methanol. For loadings ≤0.8 Cs per Keggin, (trans)esterification activity arises from homogeneous contributions. However, higher degrees of substitution result in entirely heterogeneous catalysis, with rates proportional to the density of accessible acid sites present within mesopores.


In this paper two front‐side a‐SiNx:H layers that can be used in the solar cell industry are extensively characterized and related to solar cell efficiency. Variations in layer build up, atomic density, optical properties, bulk passivation and surface passivation are discussed. The build up of these two layers are considered against a background of over 80 SiNx:H layers. These layers differ in stoichiometry, atomic content, optical properties and surface passivation, as the refractive index is varied between 1.8 and 3.0. Additionally, comparable data output of different characterization equipment is discussed on validity. On solar cells, the effect of different layer build up is investigated and it is found that a wide process window is allowed for similar cell efficiencies regarding the optical transmission, bulk and surface passivation.


The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) is a hurdle for securities fraud litigation intended to weed out at the motion to dismiss phase cases that lack merit. But the PSLRA's protections are not without cost, which is borne by defrauded investors with meritorious claims who nevertheless cannot meet this increased obstacle to pursuing a claim. This Article addresses whether some courts are applying the PSLRA in a way that violates the Seventh Amendment by impeding a plaintiff's ability to present his case to a jury. The PSLRA's language is problematically vague, which has led to circuit splits on several important points, most significantly the extent to which the PSLRA requires securities fraud plaintiffs to aver detailed facts supporting the rule 10b-5 cause of action element of scienter. The more stringent of these varying interpretations, reflected in decisions in the Ninth and Tenth Circuits, raises Seventh Amendment concerns. The Sixth and Seventh Circuits have acknowledged these concerns without passing on the constitutionality of the dubiously stringent interpretation. This Article endeavors to answer the question posed by these courts, analyzing the intersection of the PSLRA with Seventh Amendment jurisprudence. This Article concludes that the more stringent interpretations of the heightened pleading requirement for scienter violate the Seventh Amendment by usurping the jury's prerogative to resolve disputed questions of material fact and, in particular, the inferences to be drawn from those facts.


This study focuses on collaborative economy platforms that specialize in purely digital tasks that require no physical delivery or proximity between workers and their clients, which we call Online Labour Markets (OLMs). They have a global reach. There is a debate on job fragmentation and deteriorating working conditions in OLMs. This study emphasizes the economic opportunities and explores (a) the drivers of global trade in digital tasks, (b) the determinants of online wages and (c) the welfare impact of OLMs on workers and employers. This is a case study based on data obtained from a single UK-based OLM. Our findings cannot necessarily be generalised to other OLMs with different characteristics. Using panel data we find that the vast majority of employers are located in high-income countries while many workers are located in low-income countries. Workers in low-income countries are motivated to participate mostly by labour productivity gains and the corresponding higher wages. Workers in high income countries combine opportunities for additional work and income with the benefits of flexible time use and other non-wage benefits. Employers are motivated by wage savings and task unbundling. Despite the global nature of digital OLMs, there is an impression of home bias in hiring. OLMs are heterogeneous markets where about half of all transactions are settled above the lowest price bid. Workers' skills and experience as well as their countries of residence have an impact on the agreed wage and the probability of being hired. Worker quality signaling induces superstar effects and a very uneven distribution of work. Taking into account only the difference between online and offline wages in the countries of residence of workers and employers we estimate that this particular OLM has positive monetized welfare effects, both for workers (+17%) and even more so for employers (+70%). Unobservable non-monetized benefits such as increased flexibility and savings in transport or migration costs for workers and task unbundling for employers give a further boost to welfare. The extent of unbundling is demonstrated by the very short duration of the average task in this OLM: slightly less than 8 hours. Workers in this case study platform are self-employed and responsible for compliance with regulations in their country of residence.


Abstract. We present a comparative analysis of projected impacts of climate change on river runoff from two types of distributed hydrological model, a global hydrological model (GHM) and catchment-scale hydrological models (CHM). Analyses are conducted for six catchments that are global in coverage and feature strong contrasts in spatial scale as well as climatic and developmental conditions. These include the Liard (Canada), Mekong (SE Asia), Okavango (SW Africa), Rio Grande (Brazil), Xiangxi (China) and Harper's Brook (UK). A single GHM (Mac-PDM.09) is applied to all catchments whilst different CHMs are applied for each catchment. The CHMs include SLURP v. 12.2 (Liard), SLURP v. 12.7 (Mekong), Pitman (Okavango), MGB-IPH (Rio Grande), AV-SWAT-X 2005 (Xiangxi) and Cat-PDM (Harper's Brook). The CHMs typically simulate water resource impacts based on a more explicit representation of catchment water resources than that available from the GHM and the CHMs include river routing, whereas the GHM does not. Simulations of mean annual runoff, mean monthly runoff and high (Q5) and low (Q95) monthly runoff under baseline (1961–1990) and climate change scenarios are presented. We compare the simulated runoff response of each hydrological model to (1) prescribed increases in global-mean air temperature of 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 and 6.0 °C relative to baseline from the UKMO HadCM3 Global Climate Model (GCM) to explore response to different amounts of climate forcing, and (2) a prescribed increase in global-mean air temperature of 2.0 °C relative to baseline for seven GCMs to explore response to climate model structural uncertainty. We find that the differences in projected changes of mean annual runoff between the two types of hydrological model can be substantial for a given GCM (e.g. an absolute GHM-CHM difference in mean annual runoff percentage change for UKMO HadCM3 2 °C warming of up to 25%), and they are generally larger for indicators of high and low monthly runoff. However, they are relatively small in comparison to the range of projections across the seven GCMs. Hence, for the six catchments and seven GCMs we considered, climate model structural uncertainty is greater than the uncertainty associated with the type of hydrological model applied. Moreover, shifts in the seasonal cycle of runoff with climate change are represented similarly by both hydrological models, although for some catchments the monthly timing of high and low flows differs. This implies that for studies that seek to quantify and assess the role of climate model uncertainty on catchment-scale runoff, it may be equally as feasible to apply a GHM (Mac-PDM.09 here) as it is to apply a CHM, especially when climate modelling uncertainty across the range of available GCMs is as large as it currently is. Whilst the GHM is able to represent the broad climate change signal that is represented by the CHMs, we find however, that for some catchments there are differences between GHMs and CHMs in mean annual runoff due to differences in potential evapotranspiration estimation methods, in the representation of the seasonality of runoff, and in the magnitude of changes in extreme (Q5, Q95) monthly runoff, all of which have implications for future water management issues.


(GE) soybeans, cotton, and corn with herbicide tolerance (HT) and/or insect resistance (Bt) traits by U.S. farmers has been rapid over the 11-year period following commercial introduction. HT crops survive certain potent herbicides, enabling growers who adopt these varieties to control pervasive weeds more effectively. In the U.S., HT soybean adoption has expanded more rapidly and widely than other GE crops, reaching 89 percent of soybean acreage in 2006. The second most adopted variety, HT cotton, accounted for 65 percent of cotton acreage. Bt crops contain a gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis that produces a protein toxic to specific insects. Bt seed use is concentrated in areas with high levels of infestations of targeted pests, so acreage shares for Bt corn and cotton are lower than for HT soybeans and cotton and vary widely across States. Bt cotton, which controls tobacco budworm, bollworm, and pink bollworm, was planted on 57 percent of U.S. cotton acreage in 2006—ranging from 17 percent in California to 83 percent in Louisiana. The U.S. acreage share of Bt corn leveled off during 1999-2002 because farmers with the greatest need to protect against the European corn borer had already adopted Bt corn. Adoption of Bt corn has since expanded, reaching 40 percent of corn acreage in 2006, following the introduction of a Bt variety to control corn rootworm. According to ERS research, U.S. farmers are realizing tangible economic benefits from adopting these GE crops, such as higher yields, lower pesticide costs, and savings in management time. The impacts of GE crops vary with the crop, technology, pest infestation levels, and other factors. In addition to corn, soybeans and cotton, U.S. farmers have adopted HT canola and virus-resistant papaya and squash. Moreover, other GE traits are in various stages of development. For example, USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has approved 1,256 field testing applications for crops with resistance to virus, 712 for resistance to fungus, 1,292 for improved agronomic properties (such as resistance to cold, drought, and salinity), and 2,687 for improved product quality (such as crops that increase protein and oil content, and crops with added vitamins and iron). Worldwide, an estimated 220 million acres of biotech crops with HT and/or Bt traits were planted in 21 countries in 2005. The U.S. accounts for about 55 percent of this amount, and six countries combined (Argentina, Canada, Brazil, China, Paraguay, and India) account for nearly 43 percent.


Abstract The paper reports on the first record of Sinelobus vanhaareni, a non-native tanaid, in the Polish coastal waters (Gulf of Gdansk, southern Baltic Sea). The species was found in the port of Gdynia in 2014, while in 2015–2017 it already colonized the western part of the Gulf of Gdansk, inhabiting mainly hard substrates, including both natural (e.g. boulders) and anthropogenic ones (e.g. vertical concrete piles or walls of offshore structures and breakwaters, horizontal PVC plates and oyster shells used as filling in habitat collectors). During the survey period, S. vanhaareni was found in different seasons of the year (from winter and early spring to autumn), which, combined with the presence of ovigerous females as well as high abundance (up to tens of thousands of individuals per square meter), allows us to assume that the species has already established a population in the Gulf of Gdansk.


We present a novel optical technique that produces nanometer dimensional measurement sensitivity using a conventional bright-field optical microscope, by analyzing through-focus scanning-optical-microscope images obtained at different focus positions. In principle, this technique can be used to identify which dimension is changing between two nanosized targets and to determine the dimension using a library-matching method. This methodology has potential utility for a wide range of target geometries and application areas, including nanometrology, nanomanufacturing, semiconductor process control, and biotechnology.


PHP and MySQL Phrasebook gives you the code you need to complete your web programming projects quickly and effectively in PHP, the leading scripting language for creating dynamic web pages. Concise and Accessible Easy to carry and easy to uselets you ditch all those bulky books for one portable pocket guide Flexible and Functional Packed with more than 100 customizable code snippetsso you can readily code functional PHP and MySQL in just about any situation Christian Wenz is an author and consultant with a focus on web technologies. He co-wrote the Zend PHP 5 and Zend PHP 5.3 Certifications and has contributed to several PHP packages in the PEAR repository. Register your book at informit.com/register for convenient access to downloads, updates, and corrections as they become available.


A body of accounting literature has grown on the phenomena of auditor
switches mostly in developed countries from the research by academics, accounting
professionals and industry experts because of its strategic implication for a firm
value, credibility of financial reporting and the cost of monitoring management
activities. Despite the growing concerns shown in the developed economies about the
consequence of auditor switches, which are associated with substantial direct and
indirect costs, little attempt appears to have been made in Malaysia to examine the
possible reasons for changing auditors or to estimate the shareholders wealth
implication. Thus, the objective of this study is to make a start in examining this very
significant accounting activity in a fast developing Malaysian economy, perhaps, to
serve as an example of more studies in emerging countries. The particular objectives
are (a) to ascertain determinants of auditor switch in Malaysia, (b) to examine the
hypothesised relationship between the changes in firms' characteristics and choice of
quality differentiated audit firms and (c) to ascertain the share valuation effect of auditor switches in Malaysia. Audit firms are clearly ranked as belong to a higher
and lower prestige category in this country, which enables, it is hoped, a search for
the revaluation effect.


The paper aims to reduce the global knowledge gap pertaining to the impact of disability on school attendance, using cross-nationally comparable and nationally representative data from 18 surveys in 15 countries that are selected among 2,500 surveys and censuses. These selected surveys administered the Washington Group Short Set (WGSS) of disability-screening questions, covering five functional domains of seeing, hearing, mobility, self-care, and remembering, and collected information on educational status. Using both descriptive and econometric approaches, the paper finds that (i) the average disability gap in school attendance stands at 30% in primary and secondary schools in 15 countries; (ii) more than 85% of disabled primary-age children who are out of school have never attended school; (iii) the average marginal effect of disability on primary and secondary school attendance is negative and significant (-30%), and (iv) countries that have reached close to universal primary education report high ratios of disabled to non-disabled out-of-school children indicating that general education policies to improve access do not effectively mainstream disabled children in education, and (v) disabled children confront the same difficulties in participating in education, regardless of their individual and socio-economic characteristics.


The paper deals with the most used metadata formats and thesauri suitable for describing scientific and research papers in the domains agriculture, food industry, aquaculture, environment and rural areas. These include the Dublin Core (DC), Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS), Virtual Open Access Agriculture and Aquaculture Repository Metadata Application Profile (VOA3R AP) and the AGROVOC thesaurus. Having analyzed the metadata formats and research paper lifecycle, the authors would recommend that each paper should entail metadata description as soon as it is published. The metadata are to describe the content and properties of the paper. One of the most suitable metadata formats is the VOA3R AP that is partially patterned on the DC and combined with the AGROVOC thesaurus. As a result, an effective description, availability and automatic data exchange between and among local and central repositories should be attained. The knowledge and data presented in the present paper were obtained as a result of the following research programs and grant schemes: the Grant No. 20121044 of the Internal Grant Agency titled "Using Automatic Metadata Generation for Research Papers", the Grant agreement No. 250525 funded by the European Commission corresponding to the VOA3R Project (Virtual Open Access Agriculture & Aquaculture Repository: Sharing Scientific and Scholarly Research related to Agriculture, Food, and Environment), http://voa3r.eu and the Research Program titled "Economy of the Czech Agriculture Resources and their Efficient Use within the Framework of the Multifunctional Agrifood Systems" of the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport number VZ MSM 6046070906.


This paper examines the literature on happiness. Specifically, the definition of happiness as it relates to life satisfaction and subjective well-being (SWB). Additionally, the instruments used to index the indicators of happiness are explored. The paper discusses the construct of happiness and how it has been used and researched, including the different scales and instruments utilized to measure life satisfaction and SWB. Happiness is defined as the subjective enjoyment of an individual's holistic life. The literature defines happiness in the context of life satisfaction and SWB, which involves people's evaluation of how satisfied they are with their lives. The construct of happiness includes life satisfaction, positive psychology, and emotional well-being. Some of the extensively used instruments and scales to measure happiness include Satisfaction with Life Scale, Bhutan's Gross National Happiness Index, Single-Item Measurement of Happiness, and Oxford Happiness Questionnaire.


A patient with frequent past readmissions may have an increased risk of future readmission. The principal objective of this paper was to determine the risk of readmission, given individual patient's history of readmissions. First, we develop a modelling approach to systematically tackle the issue surrounding the appropriate choice of a time window which defines readmission. Discharged patients can be divided into two groups: a group at high risk of readmission and a group at low risk. Using national data (England), the estimated time window for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is 38 days. Using this time window, we classify 'high' and 'low' risk of readmission groups. We use transition models to incorporate patients' history of readmissions along with additional covariates. Solely using patients' history of readmissions, the model has a receiver operating characteristic c statistic of 0.71, illustrating that such a simple model with no covariates has the potential of estimating risk of readmission.


Presence has various definitions, but can be understood as the sensation that a virtual environment is a real place, that the user is actually in the virtual environment rather than at the display terminal, or that the medium used to display the environment has disappeared leaving only the environment itself. We present an attempt to unite various presence approaches by reducing each to what we believe is a common basis – the psychology of behaviour selection and control – and re-conceptualizing presence in these terms by defining cognitive presence – the mental state where the VE rather than the real
environment is acting as the basis for behaviour selection.

The bulk of this work represents the construction of a three-layer connectionist model to explain and predict this concept of cognitive presence. This model takes input from two major sources: the perceptual modalities of the user (bottom-up processes), and the mental state of the user (top-down processes). These two basic sources of input competitively spread activation to a central layer which competitively determines which behaviour script will be applied to regulate behaviour.

We demonstrate the ability of the model to cope with current notions of presence by using it to successfully predict two published findings: one (Hendrix & Barfield, 1995) showing that presence increases with an increase in the geometric field of view of the graphical display, and another (Sallnas, 1999), which demonstrates the positive relationship between presence and the stimulation of more than one sensory modality. Apart from this theoretical analysis, we also perform two experiments to test the central tenets of our model. The first experiment aimed to show that presence is affected by both perceptual inputs (bottom-up processes), conceptual inputs (top-down processes), and the interaction of these. We collected 103 observations from a 2x2 factorial design with stimulus quality (2 levels) and conceptual priming (2 levels) as independent variables, and as dependent variable we used three measures of presence (Slater, Usoh & Steed's scale (1995), Witmer & Singer's (1998) Presence Questionnaire and our own cognitive presence measure) for the dependent variable.

We found a significant main effect for stimulus quality and a significant interaction, which created a striking effect: priming the subject with material related in theme to the content of the VE increased the mean presence score for those viewing the high quality display, but decreased the mean of those viewing the low quality display. For those not primed with material related to the VE, no mean presence difference was discernible between those using high and low quality displays. The results from this study suggest that both top-down and bottom-up activation should be taken into account when explaining the causality of presence.

Our second study aimed to show that presence comes about as a result not of raw sensory information, but rather due to partly-processed perceptual information. To do this we created a simple three group comparative design, with 78 observations. Each one of the three groups viewed the same VE under three display conditions: high-quality graphical, low-quality graphical, and text-only. Using the model, we predicted that the text and low-quality graphics displays would produce the same presence levels, while the high-quality display would outperform them both. The results were mixed, with the Slater, Usoh & Steed scale showing the predicted pattern, but the Presence Questionnaire showing each condition producing a significantly different presence score (in the increasing order: text, low-quality graphics, high-quality graphics). We conclude from our studies that the model shows the correct basic structure, but that it requires some refinement with regards to its dealings with non-immersive displays. We examined the performance our presence measure, which was found to not perform satisfactorily. We conclude by proposing some points relevant to the methodology of presence research, and by suggesting some avenues for future expansion of our model.


A sizable literature examines the effect of transferring the most serious and persistent juvenile arrestees from the juvenile justice system to the adult justice system. Few studies, however, have tested whether processing juveniles in the adult system has a similar effect on those who are not eligible for transfer. Recent legislative changes to the exclusive jurisdiction of the juvenile justice system justify greater scholarly attention on this population. Using a regression discontinuity design, this study estimates the effects of the juvenile and adult justice systems on recidivism for non-transfer-eligible juvenile offenders arrested just weeks before and after the age of majority for drug distribution, a common felony charge. Our results suggest that processing these juveniles as adults slightly reduces the probability of recidivism by between 3 and 5 percent. Based on the rapid onset and limited change in size of these effects over the duration of a 4-year follow-up, and based on the concentration of the effects within a sub-group having the lowest risk of incarceration, we attribute this finding to a combination of enhanced deterrence and incapacitation in the adult justice system. These results suggest that processing juveniles in the adult system may not uniformly increase offending and may reduce offending in some circumstances. Implications for recent state-level changes to the jurisdiction of the juvenile justice system are discussed.


Two flavanones, hamiltones A (1) and B (2), an aurone, hamiltrone (3), a chalcone, hamilcone (4), and a tetrahydroxanthene, hamilxanthene (5), were isolated from Uvaria hamiltonii extracts guided initially by fractionation based on DNA strand-scission and/or 9KB cytotoxicity assays. Compounds 2-5 have not been reported previously, while 1 is new as a natural product. Structural assignments were made based on extensive spectroscopic measurements. Compounds 1-3 were inactive in the 9KB cytotoxicity assay, with compounds 4 and 5 having weak activity. In the DNA strand-scission assay, 3 was the most active compound found in the DNA strand-scission assay, being 10 times more potent than 1 or 2. Compound 4 was only weakly active, and 5 was inactive.


Aims: To examine changes in child mental health symptoms following inpatient family unit treatment after long-term unsuccessful treatment in community and child psychiatry outpatient services. Follow-up from referral and admission to 3 and 12 months. Methods: Standardized questionnaires measuring the child mental health symptoms and parental anxiety and depression converted to standardized scores and compared to each child's clinical diagnosis. Results: Significant group mean improvement on almost all problem scales at the 3-month follow-up (T2) remaining through 12-month follow-up (T3) relative to admission (T1). Aggression showed the highest levels and largest improvements. Statistically significant improvements were widespread, whereas clinically significant improvements were found for some diagnostic groups on diagnosis-related problems and secondary problems. Improvement in child symptoms were partly correlated with improvement in parental anxiety symptoms. Implications: Even previously nonresponding children may benefit from broad tailored interventions including parents and the wider system. Development of systematic component approaches is needed.


Beatrice Lane Suzuki (1878-1939) was an extremely well informed and sensitive expositor of Mahāyāna Buddhism. As the American wife of the influential Zen Buddhist Suzuki Daisetsu, she lived in Japan for many years, becoming very familiar with the leading temples of various Buddhist schools—especially in Kyōto and Kamakura. Buddhist Temples of Kyōto and Kamakura brings together some of her writings from The Eastern Buddhist. The collection preserves valuable information from Suzuki's own times and the charm of her personal discovery of the temples described here. Further information is also provided to place them in their current context. The volume will be of interest to scholars of Japanese Buddhism and to the many travelers to these sites today.


During the past 50 years American science fiction has become one of the most popular forms of fiction throughout the world. It provides the best index to the impact of all fields of science, as well as technology, on the literary and popular imaginations. Indeed, it has helped to shape the dreams that lie behind the worldwide interest in space exploration, while at the same time it has provided the cutting edge of social and political criticism and satire. Understanding Contemporary American Science Fiction undertakes an overview of the field during those crucial decades when it evolved from a form of fiction in the pulp magazines to one of the most popular forms of the contemporary novel. Clareson traces the principal thematic strains of the field, from the view of a technologically triumphant humanity that foresaw nuclear holocaust and an earthy dystopia, to the rich diversity of the 1960s. Writers such as Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, John W. Campbell, Ray Bradbury, Marjorie Nicolson, Max Ehrlich, Judith Merril, and Kurt Vonnegut are featured.


Judge Eberhard Bertelsmann of the North Gauteng High Court delivered the address published here as he delivered it in Afrikaans in the series of FW de Klerk lectures in Potchefstroom on 20 February 2012.  He dealt with the role of and limitations on the judiciary to promote social peace in South Africa, pointing out the achievements of the courts in the establishment of the constitutional dispensation over the past decades.  He however also showed that the courts are over-burdened and that court administration leaves much to be desired.  Litigants and practitioners do not hesitate to abuse the system and ugly incidents of unethical conduct have marred the professions.  Judges however do not take these trends lying down and measures to rectify the situation are well underway.  Fair, understandable, predictable and speedy adjudication without fear, favour or prejudice continues to be the contribution of judges to the protection of the South African democracy.