A hash function maps a variable length input into a fixed length output. The hash functions that are used in the information security related applications are referred as cryptographic hash functions. Hash functions are being used as building blocks of many complex cryptographic mechanisms and protocols. Construction of a hash function consists of two components. First component is a compression function and the second component is a domain extender. The various hash function design philosophies try to design the compression function from different angles. Two major categories of hash functions are: dedicated hash functions, and block cipher-based hash functions. These two kinds of design philosophies have been revisited in this paper. Two dedicated has functions from MD4 family MD4, and SHA-256 constructions have been detailed in this paper. To limit the scope of this paper in this framework, discussions on attacks on hash functions, and SHA-3 finalists have been excluded here.


The demonstration that intraperitoneal administration of the sulphated octapeptide of cholecystokinin (CCK-8S) inhibits food but not water intake in rats, has led to the hypothesis that endogenous peripheral CCK acts as a food-specific satiety factor. As water-deprived rats given free access to water can satisfy their thirst fairly rapidly, it is conceivable that the apparent lack of effect of CCK on water intake reported previously may have been because the animals had satisfied their thirst before the full effects of the peptide had become apparent. To test this possibility, the effects of intraperitoneal (i. p.) administration of CCK-8S, at doses that had previously been shown to inhibit food intake, were investigated on water intake in rats trained to make operant responses for water reinforcements. Such a paradigm has the merit of slowing down the rate at which a water-deprived rat can quench its thirst, thus extending the period over which the effects of CCK-8S on water intake may be assessed. CCK-8S (2, 4 or 8 µg kg-1, i. p.) produced a dose-related suppression of operant water intake in 16 h water-deprived rats during the first 30 min after administration. Additional experiments indicated that, as with feeding, CCK-8S inhibits water intake by an action at peripheral CCKA receptors. These findings have important implications for the CCK-satiety hypothesis as they show that the effect of the peptide on ingestive behaviours in the rat is not specific for food intake and suggest that it is unlikely that CCK is a mediator of satiety.


Critical of technologically determinist assumptions underpinning current educational policy, Victoria Armstrong argues that this growing technicism has grave implications for the music classroom where composition is often synonymous with the music technology suite. The use of computers and associated compositional software in music education is frequently decontextualized from cultural and social relationships, thereby ignoring the fact that new technologies are used and developed within existing social spaces that are always already delineated along gender lines. Armstrong suggests these gender-technology relations have a profound effect on the ways adolescents compose music as well as how gendered identities in the technologized music classroom are constructed. Drawing together perspectives from the sociology of science and technology studies (STS) and the sociology of music, Armstrong examines the gendered processes and practices that contribute to how students learn about technology, the repertoire of teacher and student talk, its effect on student confidence and the issue of male control of technological knowledge. Even though girls and female teachers have technological knowledge and skill, the continuing material and symbolic associations of technology with men and masculinity contribute to the perception of women as less able and less interested in all things technological. In light of the fact that music technology is now central to many music-making practices across all sectors of education from primary, secondary through to higher education, this book provides a timely critical analysis that powerfully demonstrates why the relationship between gender and music technology should remain an important empirical consideration.


The authors have analyzed the dynamics of associative neural networks based on macroscopic state equations and have shown that both a layered associative net and an autocorrelation type net have the same convergence property: If a recalling process succeeds, the network converges very fast to one of the memorized patterns. But if a recalling process fails, it converges very slowly to a spurious state or does not converge. This property was also checked by computer simulations on a large scale (N = 1000) neural network. Moreover, it is shown that the convergence time for a successful recall is of order log(N). If this convergence time difference is used, execution time and memory can be saved and it can be determined whether a recalling process succeeds or fails without any additional procedure.


This article describes the design and manufacturing development of food containers, whose use has been enhanced through the incorporation of an UHF RFID Tag. The primary use of these containers was to store fresh products, such as sauces or fruits, in industrial kitchens at restaurants and hotels. Due to the addition of the RFID tags in these containers, more accurate and historic information about product and usage can be gathered. Hence, this new information RFID-based system helps to achieve better inventory control, improve events management such as cold-storage room replenishment, or reduce products close to expiration date. The importance of this project is in the fact that, according to a previous review, there is no an initiative similar to develop this RFID application anywhere else. The project was an initiative of the plastic in-moulding factory ARAVEN with the collaboration of LOG.ID Lab (Identification Laboratory for the supply chain) at Zaragoza Logistics Center.


In this qualitative study, the authors explore from the participants' perspective the benefits and difficulties experienced by participants in a mutual support group for Chinese family carers of patients with schizophrenia in Hong Kong. Thirty family carers and 10 patients who had participated in a 12-session mutual support group were interviewed, and the 12 group sessions were audiotaped for content analysis. Three main themes emerged from the data: (a) positive personal changes attributed to group participation, which included enhanced self-identity and acceptance of the caregiving role, increased knowledge of the illness, and adoption of new coping skills; (b) positive characteristics of the mutual support group, including the explicit group ideology and consensus, perceived social climate of the group, and informational support and empowerment; and (c) major inhibitors of group development, specifically low or irregular group attendance, negative pressure from dominant members, and overexpression of intense and negative feelings. These findings contribute to our understanding of the therapeutic components and limitations of mutual support groups for family carers.


Abstract The question of fiction is omnipresent within the work of Paul Ricoeur throughout his prolific career. However, Ricoeur raises the questions of fiction in relation to other issues such the symbol, metaphor and narrative. This article sets out to foreground a traditional problem of fiction and logic, which is termed the existence of non-existent objects, in relation to the Paul Ricoeur's work on narrative. Ricoeur's understanding of fiction takes place within his overall philosophical anthropology where the fictions and histories make up the very nature of identity both personal and collective. The existence of non-existent objects demonstrates a dichotomy between fiction and history, non-existent objects can exist as fictional objects. The very possibility of the existence of fictional objects entails ontological status considerations. What ontological status do fictional objects have? Ricoeur develops a concept of narrative configuration which is akin to the Kantian productive imagination and configuration frames the question historical narrative and fictional narrative. It is demonstrated that the ontological status of fictional objects can be best understood in a model of possible worlds.


ABSTRACT Unequal power relations exist between the global North and the global South, between those in need of 'development' and the development policymakers and practitioners who work with them in projects and programmes intending to meet their needs – and, less often, support those in need to challenge the underlying inequalities that create these inequities. These relations are a legacy of colonialism. Critical reflection offers a way of raising awareness and 'outing' inequality between development workers and the women and men seen as 'beneficiaries' of their initiatives. This article explores the use of critical reflection by a small group of women development practitioners with a background in social work. The members of the group were interviewed about their engagement with varying reflective practices while working in various global communities. In particular, participants commonly spoke of how critical reflection unsettled their sense of 'expertise' and encouraged increased questioning of both their perceived and real positions of power within development. The use of critical reflection also enabled an examination of language and biases within international development work. Through their critically reflective analyses of power, these women were able to negotiate and re-conceptualise their relationships with the local members of the communities in which they worked. The article concludes with a discussion on why development organisations should support practitioners with opportunities to engage in formalised organisational and individual reflection in their everyday work. The increased awareness created opens up the possibility to reform and revitalise development so it becomes a partnership involving mutual exchanges, solidarity, and respect.


Action at a Distance Snowfall in the Sierra Nevada provides a large fraction of the water that California receives as precipitation. Knowing what factors influence the amount of snow that falls is thus critical for projecting how water availability may change in the future. Aerosols have an important effect on cloud processes and precipitation. Creamean et al. (p. 1572, published online 28 February) found that dust and biological aerosols originating from as far away as the Sahara facilitate ice nuclei formation and ice-induced precipitation in the Sierra Nevada and show how dust and biological articles from places as distant as Africa and Asia can influence precipitation over the western United States. Dust and biological aerosols from the Sahara and Asia can act as ice nuclei for precipitation in California's Sierra Nevada. Winter storms in California's Sierra Nevada increase seasonal snowpack and provide critical water resources and hydropower for the state. Thus, the mechanisms influencing precipitation in this region have been the subject of research for decades. Previous studies suggest Asian dust enhances cloud ice and precipitation, whereas few studies consider biological aerosols as an important global source of ice nuclei (IN). Here, we show that dust and biological aerosols transported from as far as the Sahara were present in glaciated high-altitude clouds coincident with elevated IN concentrations and ice-induced precipitation. This study presents the first direct cloud and precipitation measurements showing that Saharan and Asian dust and biological aerosols probably serve as IN and play an important role in orographic precipitation processes over the western United States.


The establishment of dedicated regulatory bodies in charge of regulating water services, whilst being recent, is nevertheless a consistent trend among OECD and non-OECD countries. This report presents a picture as of September 2014 of the governance arrangements, operational modalities and use of regulatory tools across a sample of 34 established water regulators. It relies on the OECD Best Practice Principles for Regulatory Policy: The Governance of Regulators to structure the information collected through a survey exercise. It has been developed in close co-operation with the OECD Network of Economic Regulators (NER).

The results from the survey show that the 34 water regulators show generally a high level of adoption of good governance principles and practices. They display functions and powers that are in line with their objectives. Water regulators also show a strong culture of consultation. Other areas, in particular evaluation of regulatory impacts, could be further strengthened.

This title belongs to OECD Report Series

ISBN: 9781780407661 (eBook)

ISBN: 9781780407654 (Print)


Few economic indicators have more salience and pervasive financial impact on everyday lives in the United States than poverty measures. Nevertheless, policymakers, researchers, advocates, and legislators generally do not understand the details of poverty measure mechanics. These detailed mechanics shape and reshape poverty measures and the too often uninformed responses and remedies. This Article will build a bridge from personal portraits of families living in poverty to the resource allocations that failed them by exposing the specific detailed mechanics underlying the Census Bureau's official (OPM) and supplemental poverty measures (SPM). Too often, when we confront the problem of poverty, the focus is on the lives and behavior of those suffering the burdens of poverty and not on the inadequacy of resource allocations in antipoverty programs. The purpose of poverty measures should be to expose the effectiveness and failures of antipoverty programs so that they can be improved, not to scrutinize the lives and characteristics of those who are enduring these hardships.
This Article exposes poverty measures through the details of the United States' current antipoverty programs, including the demographics of the populations who are included as beneficiaries and those that are left without adequate resources to survive. After reverse engineering the OPM and SPM, the Article describes the raw data from the starting population universes but then reveals the details of U.S. citizens and residents who have been intentionally excluded from the poverty analysis. The Article reveals that the excluded population is likely disproportionately poor and, thus, their erasure from the starting population universe understates derived poverty rates. Therefore, as a starting point, the OPM and SPM exclude millions of vulnerable Americans from the Census Bureau's poverty measurement analyses. Nevertheless, the Article continues its poverty measure analysis using the Census Bureau's original databases and rebuilds the OPM and SPM from the original population universes by applying each resource allocation program by program until demographic patterns emerge of who is lifted out of poverty proportionately or disproportionately in accordance with their pre-allocation poverty percentages in the population universes. By shifting the focus from Americans who suffer scarcity to the details of each antipoverty program and the demographics of who and in what proportion they are served by these programs, we better understand why almost 50 million Americans, including 16 million children, are not adequately provided for; do not have the necessary life resources; are struggling day in and day out; have been "nickel and dimed"; and are not getting by in the United States; and who, because of the misallocation (not lack) of resources, suffer the persistent and pernicious plight of poverty.


This paper aims to disclose the concept of social indicators and its meaning for modern public administration practice and appropriate scientific research. The necessity to create a national system of social indicators in Lithuania is emphasized. Methodological problems of legitimating the thematic (dimensional) structure of social indicators is discussed as well. The article indicates a coherence of social indicators with fundamental methodological problems of society cognition: social measurement and evaluation, social diagnostics and social prognosis. The authors state a coherence of social indicators with social welfare, quality of life, sustainable development and New Public Management concepts. Paper is based on assumption, that the New Public Management is an instrument to assure sustainable development: it has to create prerequisites for quality of life. The problem of quality of life indicators is analysed, assuming a necessity to combine both objective and subjective indicators of quality of life in a particular research. It is indicated, that subjective indicators are a source of scientific informatikon, while subjective quality of life indicators are an independent object of social cognition. The paper presents a methodology for research of public opinion in a particular municipality, based on subjective quality of life indicators.


We consider the problem of learning a multi-class classifier from labels as well as simple explanations that we call "discriminative features". We show that such explanations can be provided whenever the target concept is a decision tree, or more generally belongs to a particular subclass of DNF formulas. We present an efficient online algorithm for learning from such feedback and we give tight bounds on the number of mistakes made during the learning process. These bounds depend only on the size of the target concept and not on the overall number of available features, which could be infinite. We also demonstrate the learning procedure experimentally.


Electrochemical energy storage (EES) devices combining high energy density with high power density are necessary for addressing the growing energy demand and environmental crisis. Nickel oxide (NiO) is a promising electrode material for EES owing to the ultrahigh theoretical specific capacity, but the practical values are far below the theoretical limit to date, with inferior rate and cycling performances. Herein, we report the novel mesostructured NiO/Ni composites, which consist of hetero-NiO/Ni components at nanoscale while displaying 3D porous architectures at mesoscale, with adjustable metallic Ni content in a wide range. The unique mesostructure boosts the EES performance of NiO to its theoretical limit with the ultrahigh specific capacity, high rate capability and stability. The superior performance is well correlated with the synergism of the high accessibility to electrolyte, short solid-state ion diffusion length, and much enhanced conductivity of the mesostructured NiO/Ni composites. This study demonstrates a new strategy likely applicable to other transition metal oxides in maximizing their potential in energy storage, i.e. by constructing the similar mesostructured metal-oxide/metal composites.


Like shared-memory multi-threaded programs, event-driven programs such as client-side web applications are susceptible to data races that are hard to reproduce and debug. Race detection for such programs is hampered by their pervasive use of ad hoc synchronization, which can lead to a prohibitive number of false positives. Race detection also faces a scalability challenge, as a large number of short-running event handlers can quickly overwhelm standard vector-clock-based techniques. This paper presents several novel contributions that address both of these challenges. First, we introduce race coverage, a systematic method for exposing ad hoc synchronization and other (potentially harmful) races to the user, significantly reducing false positives. Second, we present an efficient connectivity algorithm for computing race coverage. The algorithm is based on chain decomposition and leverages the structure of event-driven programs to dramatically decrease the overhead of vector clocks. We implemented our techniques in a tool called EventRacer and evaluated it on a number of public web sites. The results indicate substantial performance and precision improvements of our approach over the state-of-the-art. Using EventRacer, we found many harmful races, most of which are beyond the reach of current techniques.


Relevant to aerospace, mechanical, and civil engineers Boundary Layer Analysis, Second Edition spans the entire range of viscous fluid flows of engineering interest - from low-speed to hypersonic flows - introducing and analyzing laminar, transitional, and turbulent flows; the physics of turbulent shear flows; and turbulence models. It offers concurrent treatment of momentum, heat, and mass transfer, covering modern computational methods as well as analytical methods that are used widely in preliminary design, especially for design optimization studies. Boundary Layer Analysis, Second Edition features worked examples and homework problems employing user-friendly JAVA applets for boundary layer calculations including numerical methods. New to the second edition is a chapter introducing Navier-Stokes computational fluid dynamics.


During the 1980s explosive growth occurred in the use of lie detectors by employers. Employers used lie detectors for three purposes: (1) pre-employment screening; (2) random post-employment screening; and (3) to investigate specific instances of alleged wrongdoing. The use of lie detectors by employers has continued to increase despite the growing consensus in the scientific community that these tests lack validity. In fact, in pre-employment and random post-employment polygraph testing, the most common work place tests, the American Medical Association estimated that the test results were only slightly better than chance.' Even assuming an 85 percent accuracy rate, fifteen out of every one hundred people tested were incorrectly identified as deceptive. Because of the inaccuracies, tens of thousands of individuals were wrongfully labeled "deceptive" and suffered adverse employment consequences. Concern for the nation's workforce prompted the U.S. Congress to pass the Employee Polygraph Protection Act. The Act, effective on December 27, 1988, significantly restricts the use of lie detectors. This note is a critical examination of the new federal law and the regulations promulgated by the Department of Labor to explain its implementation. This legislation marks the first time that the federal government has exercised control over this highly controversial method of screening prospective employees and monitoring current employees. It should be noted, however, that many states have enacted statutes regulating lie detector use by employers. The federal law does not preempt any state or local law or any collective bargaining agreement which is more restrictive, Therefore, it is essential that. employers utilizing polygraph examinations be aware of these laws, as well as the new federal law, as the former may be more comprehensive or prohibitive. The Employee Polygraph Protect-.on Act outlaws the use of lie detectors, except polygraphs, and severely restricts when employers can employ polygraph examinations. The term lie detector is broadly defined to encompass devices that register physiological responses, such as voice tremors, breathing abnormalities, or blood pressure fluctuations, which are then used to render an opinion regarding the honesty or dishonesty of the individual tested. Many types of devices meet this definition, including polygraphs, deceptographs, voice stress analyzers, and psychological stress evaluators. A polygraph is an instrument that measures changes in blood pressure, respiration patterns and perspiration. This analysis of the Employee Polygraph Protection Act and regulations leads to the recommendation that even when polygraph testing is permitted, small businesses should refrain from utilizing such examinations. The law and regulations are extremely complex. To correctly interpret and apply the law, small businesses will have to hire legal counsel, the cost of whose advice is likely to outweigh the benefits gained from the polygraph results. This is particularly true since the law restricts the use of the test results. An employer cannot make an adverse employment decision solely on the basis of the polygraph results. There must be an additional basis for the negative decision. Moreover, even with legal guidance, small businesses that utilize polygraphs in employment decisions can expect to be sued and the potential penalties and legal liabilities under the Act are great. Testing Covered The Act recognizes that there are many different types of lie detectors, including not only polygraphs, but also various other devices used to render an opinion as to the truthfulness of the person being tested. Under the new law all lie detectors, except polygraphs, are specifically prohibited from being used in the employment context. A polygraph is defined as an instrument that records continuously, visually, permanently, and simultaneously the changes in cardiovascular, respiratory and electrodermal patterns which are then used to render an opinion regarding the honesty or dishonesty of an individual. …


Between 1966 and 1973, while Australian troops were fighting in Vietnam, some 300 conscripted teachers were quietly posted to Papua New Guinea. Colloquially known as 'Chalkies', their task was to raise the educational level of troops of the Pacific Islands Regiment in what turned out to be critical years leading up to the country's independence.

Drawing on the recollections of more than 70 of those National Servicemen, Dr Darryl Dymock, a former Chalkie, tells the story of how these young teachers responded to the challenges of a life most of them never wanted or imagined for themselves, in an exotic land on Australia's doorstep. It's a unique tale of the good, the bad and the unexpected, told with flair and insight against the background of political developments of the day.


We investigate the background field method with the Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism, to generalize known results, study parametric completeness and achieve a better understanding of several properties. In particular, we study renormalization and gauge dependence to all orders. Switching between the background field approach and the usual approach by means of canonical transformations, we prove parametric completeness without making use of cohomological theorems, namely show that if the starting classical action is sufficiently general all divergences can be subtracted by means of parameter redefinitions and canonical transformations. Our approach applies to renormalizable and non-renormalizable theories that are manifestly free of gauge anomalies and satisfy the following assumptions: the gauge algebra is irreducible and closes off shell, the gauge transformations are linear functions of the fields, and closure is field-independent. Yang-Mills theories and quantum gravity in arbitrary dimensions are included, as well as effective and higher-derivative versions of them, but several other theories, such as supergravity, are left out.


Quaking(viable) (qk(v)) is a recessive neurological mouse mutation with severe dysmyelination of the CNS and spermiogenesis failure. The molecular lesion in the qk(v) mutant is a deletion of approximately 1 Mb on mouse chromosome 17 that alters the expression of the qk gene in oligodendrocytes. Complementation analysis between the qk(v) mutation and qk mutant alleles generated through chemical mutagenesis showed that the male sterility is a distinctive feature of the qk(v) allele. This observation suggested that the sperm differentiation defect in qk(v) is due to the deletion of a gene(s) distinct from qk. Here, we demonstrate that the deletion of Pacrg is the cause of male sterility in the qk(v) mutant. Pacrg is the mouse homologue of the human PARKIN-coregulated gene (PACRG), which encodes for a protein whose biochemical function remains unclear. We show that Pacrg is highly expressed in the testes in both mice and humans. In addition, the expression pattern of Pacrg during spermiogenesis suggests that it plays a role in sperm differentiation. In support of this hypothesis, we show that transgenic expression of Pacrg in testes restores spermiogenesis and fertility in qk(v) males. This finding provides the first in vivo evidence, to our knowledge, for the function of Pacrg in a model organism. Immunolocalization experiments on isolated spermatozoa show that the Pacrg protein is present in mature sperm. Remarkably, the mammalian Pacrg protein shares significant sequence similarities with gene products from flagellated protozoans, suggesting that Pacrg may be necessary for proper flagellar formation in many organisms.


Abstract Genetic variation in the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) is associated with several psychiatric conditions characterized by deficits in executive functioning (EF). A specific OXTR variant, rs2254298, has previously been associated with brain functioning in regions implicated in EF. Moreover, birth weight variation across the entire range is associated with individual differences in cortical structure and function that underlie EF. This is the first study to examine the main and interactive effect between rs2254298 and birth weight on EF in children. The sample consisted of 310 children from an ongoing longitudinal study. EF was measured at age 4.5 using observational tasks indexing working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control. A family-based design that controlled for population admixture, stratification, and nongenomic confounds was employed. A significant genetic association between rs2254298 and EF was observed, with more copies of the major allele (G) associated with higher EF. There was also a significant interaction between rs2254298 and birth weight, such that more copies of the major allele in combination with higher birth weight predicted better EF. Findings suggest that OXTR may be associated with discrete neurocognitive abilities in childhood, and these effects may be modulated by intrauterine conditions related to fetal growth and development.


P‐glycoprotein (Pgp) is a 170 kDa phosphorylated glycoprotein encoded by human MDR1 gene. It is responsible for the systemic disposition of numerous structurally and pharmacologically unrelated lipophilic and amphipathic drugs, carcinogens, toxins, and other xenobiotics in many organs, such as the intestine, liver, kidney, and brain. Like cytochrome P450s (CYP3A4), Pgp is vulnerable to inhibition, activation, or induction by herbal constituents. This was demonstrated by using an ATPase assay, purified Pgp protein or intact Pgp‐expressing cells, and proper probe substrates and inhibitors. Curcumin, ginsenosides, piperine, some catechins from green tea, and silymarin from milk thistle were found to be inhibitors of Pgp, while some catechins from green tea increased Pgp‐mediated drug transport by heterotropic allosteric mechanism, and St. John's wort induced the intestinal expression of Pgp in vitro and in vivo. Some components (e.g., bergamottin and quercetin) from grapefruit juice were reported to modulate Pgp activity. Many of these herbal constituents, in particular flavonoids, were reported to modulate Pgp by directly interacting with the vicinal ATP‐binding site, the steroid‐binding site, or the substrate‐binding site. Some herbal constituents (e.g., hyperforin and kava) were shown to activate pregnane X receptor, an orphan nuclear receptor acting as a key regulator of MDR1 and many other genes. The inhibition of Pgp by herbal constituents may provide a novel approach for reversing multidrug resistance in tumor cells, whereas the stimulation of Pgp expression or activity has implication for chemoprotective enhancement by herbal medicines. Certain natural flavonols (e.g., kaempferol, quercetin, and galangin) are potent stimulators of the Pgp‐mediated efflux of 7,12‐dimethylbenz(a)‐anthracene (a carcinogen). The modulation of Pgp activity and expression by these herb constituents may result in altered absorption and bioavailability of drugs that are Pgp substrates. This is exemplified by increased oral bioavailability of phenytoin and rifampin by piperine and decreased bioavailability of indinavir, tacrolimus, cyclosporine, digoxin, and fexofenadine by coadministered St. John's wort. However, many of these drugs are also substrates of CYP3A4. Thus, the modulation of intestinal Pgp and CYP3A4 represents an important mechanism for many clinically important herb–drug interactions. Further studies are needed to explore the relative role of Pgp and CYP3A4 modulation by herbs and the mechanism for the interplay of these two important proteins in herb–drug interactions.


The main purpose of the research is to provide some new cognition toward more operational dynamic capability concept based on the enterprise's life cycle concept and a dynamic enterprise construct. The logic of ten dynamic enterprise's characteristics is followed and propositions are developed. These propositions are providing basis for development of empirical testing as well as indicating conditions for building and sustaining enterprise's dynamics. An integral and holistic governance and management approach is of crucial importance for implementing enterprise's major orientation toward "dynamics". This orientation should be incorporated in goals and objectives at all hierarchical levels of management process; that is in enterprise's vision, mission, and strategies as well as in operative goals and objectives of an enterprise.


The Neotropics contributes significantly to global biodiversity yet little is known about its mammalian fauna. Given our limited knowledge, concerns are that extinctions at the local level may cause a decline in genetic diversity through the loss of unique alleles. Here we report the geographical population structure of four rodent species from French Guiana: Dasyprocta leporina, Agouti paca, Proechimys cayennensis and P. cuvieri. Two of them (Dasyprocta and Agouti) are commonly harvested throughout the country for subsistence and/or game hunting. Cytochrome b and control region sequences revealed the presence of a number of maternal lineages occurring in sympatry throughout French Guiana. We applied two cytochrome b rodent clock calibrations (7.5% and 12% per million years) to our data, and placed the divergence of the maternal lineages to between 160 000 and 260 000 years ago for the more diverse D. leporina and P. cuvieri, and between 66 000 and 46 000 years ago for the more recent A. paca and P. cayennensis. The clades appear to be widespread throughout South America as indicated by specimens sampled in Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela. At the population level, AMOVA revealed little or no geographical structure within French Guiana. However, this conclusion is based on a single genetic marker and relatively few specimens. © 2004 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2004, 81, 203–218.


This paper investigates the effect of Kernel Principal Component Analysis (KPCA) within the classification framework, essentially the regularization properties of this dimensionality reduction method. KPCA has been previously used as a pre-processing step before applying an SVM but we point out that this method is somewhat redundant from a regularization point of view and we propose a new algorithm called Kernel Projection Machine to avoid this redundancy, based on an analogy with the statistical framework of regression for a Gaussian white noise model. Preliminary experimental results show that this algorithm reaches the same performances as an SVM.


Problem. Some students are failing to develop acceptable reading skills; however, instructional time allocated to reading fluency can increase reading comprehension. The purpose of this study was to compare students who received repeated reading with pairs of students in a large-group setting with those who did not in terms of reading fluency, rates of reading fluency growth, and reading comprehension for students at risk for reading failure in a school in a Midwestern mid-sized city. Method. An experimental pretest-posttest with control group design was used with grade level stratified (2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade) intervention (N = 27) and control (N = 30) groups. All students were at risk for reading failure based onDynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills Oral Reading Fluency (DORF). Socioeconomic data indicated 82% of the school's students were eligible for the federal free or reduced-price lunch program. The students were homogenously paired and engaged in repeated reading in a large group using fiction and nonfiction stories at their instructional level. The study consisted of 32 sessions, 15 minutes per day, 3 to 4 days per week, over 7 weeks. The three dependent variables were pre- and posttest performance on the DORF, DORF progressing monitoring slope, and the Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation (GRADE). Results. The ANCOVA result for DORF was nonsignificant, F (1, 54) = .40, p = .529, partial = .01. The omnibus test of the 2 × 3 ANCOVA for DORF progress monitoring slope was nonsignificant, F (2, 47) = 2.49, p = .094, partial η >2 = .10, indicating no significant interaction between the treatment condition and grade level. There was no significant main effect for grade level, F (2, 47) = .294, p = .746, partial η 2 = .01, but a significant main effect for condition was found, F (1, 47) = 7.80, p = .008, partial η2 = .14, Cohen's d = 0.72. Students in the intervention group had a statistically significant steeper slope for rates of reading fluency growth, along with a medium to large effect size. The ANCOVA for GRADE was nonsignificant, F (1, 52) = 3.34, p = .074, partial η2 = .06. Conclusions. The theory of automaticity as applied to reading development was supported by the results. Repeated reading with pairs of students in a large-group setting was an effective intervention for rates of reading fluency growth (slope) for students at risk for reading failure; however, significant results were not found on pre- and posttests for fluency and comprehension. The short length of the study and sensitivity of the comprehension measure may not have allowed sufficient opportunity to detect changes in difference between the groups in these areas. This study demonstrated that one adult was able to facilitate the development of reading fluency with a classroom of students who were below standard.


The current dissertation focused on processes of friendship formation and friendship socialization in adolescence. The role of individual characteristics in friendship formation were examined at the a) individual level (individuals' perceptions and traits), b) dyadic level (similarity between two persons in traits and preferences), and c) group level (peers' perceptions of traits). For friendship socialization, we examined the relative importance of friends' behaviors and perceptions of friendships in the behavioral and emotional development of adolescents. Data were used from two longitudinal projects, CONAMORE and My First Year. In CONAMORE, questionnaires were filled out both at school and at home. Data were used up to five annual measurements, spanning from early to late adolescence. From this project, several subsamples of adolescents and their friends were used. Questionnaires concerned friendship nominations, personality traits, media use, problem behaviors, and perceptions of friendship quality. In the My First Year project, 205 just-acquainted University freshmen filled out online questionnaires in five monthly measurements. In this project, friendship intensity, Big Five personality traits, and communication were examined using a longitudinal round-robin design. Findings regarding friendship formation indicate that individual characteristics have unique functions in friendship formation. On the individual level, Extraversion and Agreeableness predicted selecting others more and being selected by others more, respectively. Moreover, whereas adolescents' perceptions of similarity in overall personality traits predicted more friendship intensity, actual similarity in these traits did not. Friendship intensity, in turn, predicted perceptions of more similarity in overall personality traits. On the dyadic level, adolescents tended to form friendships with others who were similar in specific personality traits Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Openness. Further, similarity in specific and overall music preferences predicted friendship formation. On the group level, peers' perceptions of similarity between just-acquainted late adolescents predicted the frequency they communicated. This, in turn, predicted friendship intensity over time. Support was found for salient functions of friends' behaviors and perceptions of friendship in the development of individual characteristics. Whereas friends' delinquent behaviors predicted increases in boys' delinquent behaviors from early to middle adolescence, perceptions of closeness in friendships did not. For girls, however, perceptions of higher closeness and higher individuality were associated with lower levels of depression from early to late adolescence. Only for adolescents who perceive low closeness in friendships, non-communication based Internet use predicted more depression and social anxiety over time. For adolescents who perceive medium to high closeness, Internet use did not predict depression and social anxiety. In sum, perceptions of friendship quality and friends' behaviors both seem to have unique functions in behavioral problems for boys and emotional problems for both boys and girls, respectively. Thus, both adolescents themselves and others seem to have an important role in adolescents' friendships and adolescents' development. Adolescents' own individual traits and preferences tend to partially determine their friendship choices. Moreover, adolescents' perceptions of others' personality may be more consequential for their friendship choices than how others' personality actually is. Nevertheless, peers' perceptions and friends' behaviors may additionally influence adolescents' friendship selection and behavioral and emotional development.


Polar rain electron energy fluxes are usually very small and spatially uniform. Recent studies have shown that the short scale (approximately 140 km) modulation can occur in the polar rain electron energy flux, and that this modulation might be caused by flux transfer events. In this study, using simultaneous observations of poleward moving 630-nm cusp auroras from an all-sky imager at Longyearbyen, Svalbard, and precipitating electrons from the DMSP spacecraft, which traverse the dayside polar cap from the duskside to the dawnside, we examined spatial structures of polar rain electron precipitation during the period of poleward moving cusp auroras. Results of analyses of the DMSP precipitating electron data show that in addition to the above scale the energy flux of polar rain has smaller-scale structures. We discuss relationships of those scales to the electron precipitation producing the poleward moving cusp auroras.


Purpose This paper aims to explore how and why ideas regarding "intersectional" approaches to feminism and Black activism are drawn on in marketing content related to the concept of being "woke" (invested in addressing social injustices). It considers which subject positions are represented as part of this and what they reveal about contemporary issues concerning advertising, gender, race and activism. Design/methodology/approach This study involves an interpretive and critical discursive analysis of so-called feminist advertising ("femvertising") and marketing examples that make use of Black social justice activist ideas. Findings Findings illuminate how marketing simultaneously enables the visibility and erasure of "intersectional", feminist and Black social justice activist issues, with the use of key racialised and gendered subject positions: White Saviour, Black Excellence, Strong Black Woman (and Mother) and "Woke" Change Agent. Research limitations/implications This research signals how brands (mis)use issues concerning commercialised notions of feminism, equality and Black social justice activism as part of marketing that flattens and reframes liberationist politics while upholding the neoliberal idea that achievement and social change requires individual ambition and consumption rather than structural shifts and resistance. Practical implications This work can aid the development of advertising standards regulatory approaches which account for nuances of stereotypical representations and marketing's connection to intersecting issues regarding racism and sexism. Originality/value This research outlines a conceptualisation of the branding of "woke" bravery, which expands our understanding of the interdependency of issues related to race, gender, feminism, activism and marketing. It highlights marketing responses to recent socio-political times, which are influenced by public discourse concerning movements, including Black Lives Matter and Me Too.


The vector potential of flies (Diptera: Brachycera) for spread of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli on 5 Danish broiler farms was evaluated in a longitudinal field study from April to November 2004. First, the prevalence of C. jejuni- and C. coli-positive flies was determined in 2,816 flies captured from farm surroundings. Each individual fly was macerated, preenriched in Bolton broth for 24 h at 42 degrees C, streaked onto modified Campylobater blood-free selective agar and incubated under microaerobic conditions for 48 h at 42 degrees C. Second, the influx of insects to broiler houses was estimated by trapping of insects (n = 5,936) in ventilation vents. In total, 31 flies (28 of which were of the Muscidae family) caught in farm surroundings were Campylobacter spp.-positive (C. jejuni, n = 7; C. coli, n = 23; other Campylobacter spp., n = 1). Musca domestica (L) (house fly) was more frequently (P < 0.0376) positive than other fly species collected. Other positive fly species were Stomoxys calcitrans (L) (stable fly; n = 4), Muscina stabulans (Fallén) (false stable fly; n = 1), Mesembrina meridiana (L) (noon fly; n = 1) and Hydrotaea sp. (black dump fly; n = 1). One Lucilia caesar (L) (green bottle fly) of the Calliphoridae family and 2 flies of unidentified species were also positive. The prevalence of Campylobacter spp.-positive flies varied from 0.0 in April to a peak of 16.3% in July and decreasing to 2.0% in October on a farm with pig production. On 4 broiler farms without other livestock, the prevalence was constantly below 1.0%. The average influx of insects per broiler rotation was estimated to be 30,728 +/- 2,443 SE (range 2,233 to 180,300), of which 21.4% were flies. The influx of insects correlated with the flow (m(3)/h) of ventilation air (P < 0.0078) and with the outdoor temperature (P < 0.0032). We conclude that the influx of large numbers of flies to broiler houses constitutes a considerable risk for infection of broilers with C. jejuni and C. coli.


A series of thin Ag films with different thicknesses grown under identical conditions are analyzed by means of spectrophotometer. From these measurements the values of refractive index and extinction coefficient are calculated. The films are deposited onto BK7 glass substrates by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering. It is found that the optical properties of the Ag films can be affected by films thickness. Below critical thickness of 17 nm, which is the thickness at which Ag films form continuous films, the optical properties and constants vary significantly with thickness increasing and then tend to a stable value up to about 40 nm. At the same time, X-ray diffraction measurement is carried out to examine the microstructure evolution of Ag films as a function of films thickness. The relation between optical properties and microstructure is discussed.


The Rx gene in potato confers extreme resistance against potato virus X (PVX) that is elicited by the viral coat protein (CP). Using actinomycin D to inhibit transcription of nuclear genes, we have shown that Rx is expressed prior to virus inoculation and that induction of the resistance mechanism does not require novel gene expression or continued transcription of previously expressed genes. We have also shown that transgenic plants could not be produced carrying a CP transgene from an Rx-avirulent PVX in an Rx background. These data indicate that Rx-mediated resistance involves a mechanism that suppresses viability of plant cells.


In Citizens United, the Supreme Court relaxed the ability of corporations to spend money on elections, rejecting a shareholder-protection rationale for restrictions on spending. Little research has focused on the relationship between corporate governance – shareholder rights and power – and corporate political activity. This paper explores that relationship in the S&P 500 to predict the effect of Citizens United on shareholder wealth. The paper finds that in the period 1998-2004 shareholder-friendly governance was consistently and strongly negatively related to observable political activity before and after controlling for established correlates of that activity, even in a firm fixed effects model. Political activity, in turn, is strongly negatively correlated with firm value. These findings – together with the likelihood that unobservable political activity is even more harmful to shareholder interests – imply that laws that replace the shareholder protections removed by Citizens United would be valuable to shareholders.


[1] Growth rates of new particles during coastal and marine secondary aerosol particle formation events were studied in western Ireland, both at the Mace Head atmospheric research station and onboard the R/V Celtic Explorer as part of the Marine Aerosol Production project. Strong new particle formation events are frequently detected at Mace Head caused by the emission of precursor gases from exposed seaweed during low tide. Although these events were usually only detected as a mode of particles at a certain size, we were able to link the size of the mode to the growth time of these particles after the initial formation by combining data from several events measured between January 2006 and November 2007 with an air ion spectrometer. Typically, the early growth rates were extremely high, reaching values of several hundred nanometers per hour during the first seconds. The growth rates rapidly decreased and reached values below 1 nm h−1 within 1 h after nucleation. Our results were reproduced with box model calculations. All the obtained growth rates could be explained by the model either by varying the precursor formation time (typically a few seconds) or allowing multiple precursor vapor additions. From the ship-borne measurements, we report the first observations of purely open ocean new particle formation detected in this region. In total, four events were detected during this period, with three having a variable continental influence. An estimated average growth rate in marine conditions was 3 nm h−1 for these events.


Lords of Things offers a fascinating interpretation of modernity in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Siam by focusing on the novel material possessions and social practices adopted by the royal elite to refashion its self and public image in the early stages of globalization. It examines the westernized modes of consumption and self-presentation, the residential and representational architecture, and the public spectacles appropriated by the Bangkok court not as byproducts of institutional reformation initiated by modernizing sovereigns, but as practices and objects constitutive of the very identity of the royalty as a civilized and civilizing class. Bringing a wealth of new source material into a theoretically informed discussion, Lords of Things will be required reading for historians of Thailand and Southeast Asia scholars generally. It represents a welcome change from previous studies of Siamese modernization that are almost exclusively concerned with the institutional and economic dimensions of the process or with foreign relations, and will appeal greatly to those interested in transnational cultural flows, the culture of colonialism, the invention of tradition, and the relationship between consumption and identity formation in the modern era.


The paper reports the first incidence of successful induction of breeding in the riverine catfish Rita rita using carp pituitary gland (PG) extract. A breeding trial using four PG doses viz. 80, 100, 120 and 140mg/kg body weight of fish was conducted to optimize the dose of pituitary gland (PG) extract in terms of induction of ovulation in female. The male received a dose of 40mg PG/kg body weight in all cases and was sacrificed for collection of milt. The best performance was shown by the fish treated with 100mg PG/kg body weight in respect of inducing ovulation in females and fertilization and hatching rates of eggs.


Background: No clear guideline or solid evidence exists for peroneal tendon tears to determine when to repair, resect, or perform a tenodesis on the damaged tendon. The objective of this study was to analyze the mechanical behavior of cadaveric peroneal tendons artificially damaged and tested in a cyclic and failure mode. The hypothesis was that no failure would be observed in the cyclic phase. Methods: Eight cadaveric long leg specimens were tested on a specially designed frame. A longitudinal full thickness tendon defect was created, 3 cm in length, behind the tip of the fibula, compromising 66% of the visible width of the peroneal tendons. Cyclic testing was initially performed between 50 and 200 N, followed by a load-to-failure test. Tendon elongation and load to rupture were measured. Results: No tendon failed or lengthened during cyclic testing. The mean load to failure for peroneus brevis was 416 N (95% confidence interval, 351–481 N) and for the peroneus longus was 723 N (95% confidence interval, 578–868 N). All failures were at the level of the defect created. Conclusion: In a cadaveric model of peroneal tendon tears, 33% of remaining peroneal tendon could resist high tensile forces, above the physiologic threshold. Clinical Relevance: Some peroneal tendon tears can be treated conservatively without risking spontaneous ruptures. When surgically treating a symptomatic peroneal tendon tear, increased efforts may be undertaken to repair tears previously considered irreparable.


The World Bank has been the main source of Vietnam's IWT investment finance for more than a decade, but investment needs remain large and future sources of finance will need to be diversified. This report, prepared by a World Bank team, examines the current regulatory framework, institutional structure, and funding framework for IWT. The report suggests measures to strengthen infrastructure, regulatory, management, and the funding framework. Taken together, these measures would improve the enabling environment for the IWT industry and contribute to its development. The scope of the report does not include physical planning or specific project prioritization for infrastructure development. MoT's own physical masterplan for the industry has been recently comprehensively updated and is now under consideration by the government.


Climate variability associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and its consequent impacts on land carbon sink interannual variability have been used as a basis for investigating carbon cycle responses to climate variability more broadly, and to inform the sensitivity of the tropical carbon budget to climate change. Past studies have presented opposing views about whether temperature or precipitation is the primary factor driving the response of the land carbon sink to ENSO. Here, we show that the dominant driver varies with ENSO phase. Whereas tropical temperature explains sink dynamics following El Niño conditions (rTG,P = 0.59, p < 0.01), the post La Niña sink is driven largely by tropical precipitation (rPG,T = −0.46, p = 0.04). This finding points to an ENSO-phase-dependent interplay between water availability and temperature in controlling the carbon uptake response to climate variations in tropical ecosystems. We further find that none of a suite of ten contemporary terrestrial biosphere models captures these ENSO-phase-dependent responses, highlighting a key uncertainty in modeling climate impacts on the future of the global land carbon sink.


Objectives This study aimed to determine the prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency amongst diabetic patients on metformin therapy. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted at general clinics at the University Health Center and diabetes outpatient clinics at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman, between January and December 2017. All Omani adults who were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus and took metformin were invited to participate in the study. The variables included in this study were age, gender, duration of diabetes, dose and duration of metformin therapy, haemoglobin and glycosylated haemoglobin level. Results A total of 248 subjects were included (response rate = 95.4%) of which 26 (10.5%) were vitamin B12 deficient and 53 (21.4%) were borderline deficient. The mean daily dose of metformin was highest among vitamin B12 deficient group (1,981 ± 222 mg; P = 0.004). Conclusion The prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency is considerable among diabetic patients on metformin therapy. Further research is needed to confirm the need for routine screening and monitoring.


Lack of observations that span the wide range of critical space and time scales continues to limit many aspects of oceanography. As ocean observatories and observing networks mature, the role for optical technologies and approaches in helping to overcome this limitation continues to grow. As a result the quantity and complexity of data produced is increasing at a pace that threatens to overwhelm the capacity of individual researchers who must cope with large high-resolution datasets, complex, multistage analyses, and the challenges of preserving sufficient metadata and provenance information to ensure reproducibility and avoid costly reprocessing or data loss. We have developed approaches to address these new challenges in the context of a case study involving very large numbers (~1 billion) of images collected at coastal observatories by Imaging FlowCytobot, an automated submersible flow cytometer that produces high resolution images of plankton and other microscopic particles at rates up to 10 Hz for months to years. By developing partnerships amongst oceanographers generating and using such data and computer scientists focused on improving science outcomes, we have prototyped a replicable system. It provides simple and ubiquitous access to observational data and products via web services in standard formats; accelerates image processing by enabling algorithms developed with desktop applications to be rapidly deployed and evaluated on shared, high-performance servers; and improves data integrity by replacing error-prone manual data management processes with generalized, automated services. The informatics system is currently in operation for multiple Imaging FlowCytobot datasets and being tested with other types of ocean imagery.


Three production scenarios have been simulated for three displacement mechanisms using three lithofacies models built at two scales (fine and coarse) from a 2D outcrop analogue. Analysis of the flow simulation results and the associated seismic modelling investigate the dependence of the time-lapse response on the lithofacies model and the vertical grid block size. Elastic attribute quantification from coarse-grid models requires a decision on the type of fluid saturation distribution (uniform or patchy) within the coarse-grid blocks. Here, empirical relations for scaling up the fluid bulk modulus are developed which, when inserted into standard Gassmann calculations, permit calibration of the response for the coarse-grid block model from the finer-scale model. At the coarse scale, fluid saturation changes during water injection and pressure depletion can be represented adequately by these relations but, for gas injection, it appears necessary to refer back to the fine-scale models. For the case of gas injection they cannot be generalized readily for each different lithofacies model and are thus observed to be outcrop dependent.


Debugging is a methodical process of finding and reducing the number of bugs, or defects, in a computer program or a piece of electronic hardware, thus making it behave as expected. Debugging tends to be harder when various subsystems are tightly coupled, as changes in one may cause bugs to emerge in another. Many books have been written about debugging (see below: Further reading), as it involves numerous aspects, including interactive debugging, control flow, integration testing, log files, monitoring (application, system), memory dumps, profiling, Statistical Process Control, and special design tactics to improve detection while simplifying changes.


"The pursuit of national glory," which M. Steven Fish counts among the features of Vladimir Putin's "populism," is emerging as central to the regime's legitimation. Unlike previous instances of patriotic mobilization (around the Second Chechen War and the 2008 Georgia war), the current one appears to have evolved into a permanent structure sustaining Putin's regime. As a result, of the two presidential roles that undergird what Kirill Rogov called Putin's "supermajority"—which safeguards Putin's popularity even in tough economic times— that of "savior and protector of the nation" has all but supplanted that of "wealth manager." The most probable threat to Putinism's survival in the short term lies in the possibility that efforts to bolster the credibility and salience of the "savior and protector" narrative may lead to a foreignpolicy setback.


The Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP) was designed to determine robust climate system model responses to solar geoengineering. GeoMIP currently consists of four standardized simulations involving reduction of insolation or increased amounts of stratospheric sulfate aerosols. Three more experiments involving marine cloud brightening are planned. This project has improved confidence in the expected climate effects of geoengineering in several key areas, such as the effects of geoengineering on spatial patterns of temperature and the spatial distribution of precipitation, especially extreme precipitation events. However, GeoMIP has also highlighted several important research gaps, such as the effects on terrestrial net primary productivity and the importance of the CO2 physiological effect in determining the hydrologic cycle response to geoengineering. Future efforts will endeavor to address these gaps, as well as encourage cooperation with the chemistry modeling communities, the impact assessment communities, and other groups interested in model output.


Activation of the platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR) is required for normal vascular development in mice. The receptor transduces signals through the recruitment of molecules including phospholipase C-γ (PLC-γ) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K). Mice expressing a mutant form of the PDGFR-β isoform that does not bind to PI3K show no developmental defects, and fibroblasts derived from these mice show little defect in proliferation or migration. Now, Tallquist et al. have generated mice bearing a PDGFR-β that does not bind to either PI3K or PLC-γ. Although these mice also displayed no apparent phenotype, biochemical analysis of cells derived from them exhibited reduced proliferation and migration in response to PDGF. Hence, although these two signaling pathways do not appear necessary for development or survival of the mice, their absence results in an attenuated response to ligand stimulation. It may be that a summation of signals transmitted from the PDGFR, rather than a unique signal from an individual pathway, is required to promote a specific cellular function. Tallquist, M.D., Klinghoffer, R.A., Heuchel, R., Mueting-Nelsen, P.F., Corrin, P.D., Heldin, C.-H., Johnson, R.J., and Soriano, P. (2000) Retention of PDGFR-β function in mice in the absence of phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase and phospholipase C-γ signaling pathways. Genes Dev. 14: 3179-3190. [Abstract] [Full Text]


The objective of the study was to establish the relationship between ownership structures and dividend policy, with particular reference to oil companies in Nairobi Kenya, since most of these oil companies operate in Nairobi. The ownership structure within the oil marketing companies in Kenya varies from Private/Family, Public, State/Government, Managerial to Institutional ownership. The study of the relationship between ownership structures and dividend policy is important since it will enable decision makers to understand the basis of their decisions. Oil marketing companies were chosen due to the good availability of ownership information and also because oil is the major source of energy which is a major stimulant of a country's economic growth. The general objective of the study was to establish the relationship between ownership structures and dividend policy in oil marketing industry in Kenya. To meet this broad objective, the study derived data from secondary data of the companies' audited financial statements and reports for 5 years (2006 to 2010). The study design that was adopted was descriptive research design. The target population of the study was all the 38 oil marketing companies in Nairobi registered by Petroleum Institute of East Africa as at December 2008. The study further used census to collect the information where by all the 38 oil companies were studied. The study employed quantitative data analysis techniques; univariate, descriptive statistics, chi square test respectively were done using SPSS software. Results of data analysis were interpreted in line with the research objectives and findings recommendations and conclusions reported. The findings of the study showed that state ownership, private ownership and public ownership were positively related with dividend policy, whereas the institutional and managerial ownership structures were found to be negatively related. The findings also provide partial evidence that the ownership structure does not influence dividend payout policy uniformly. The impact changes over the change in size of the holdings as well as their identity.


Chronic exposure to particulate matter air pollution is known to cause inflammation leading to respiratory- and cardiovascular-related sickness and death. Mexico City Metropolitan Area children exhibit an early brain imbalance in genes involved in oxidative stress, inflammation, and innate and adaptive immune responses. Early dysregulated neuroinflammation, brain microvascular damage, production of potent vasoconstrictors, and perturbations in the integrity of the neurovascular unit likely contribute to progressive neurodegenerative processes. The accumulation of misfolded proteins coincides with the anatomical distribution observed in the early stages of both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. We contend misfolding of hyperphosphorylated tau (HPπ), alpha-synuclein, and beta-amyloid could represent a compensatory early protective response to the sustained systemic and brain inflammation. However, we favor the view that the chronic systemic and brain dysregulated inflammation and the diffuse vascular damage contribute to the establishment of neurodegenerative processes with childhood clinical manifestations. Friend turns Foe early; therefore, implementation of neuroprotective measures to ameliorate or stop the inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes is warranted in exposed children. Epidemiological, cognitive, structural, and functional neuroimaging and mechanistic studies into the association between air pollution exposures and the development of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in children are of pressing importance for public health.


We examine the present state of holographic random access memory (HRAM) systems and address the primary challenges that face this technology, specifically size, speed, and cost. We show that a fast HRAM system can be implemented with a compact architecture by incorporating conjugate readout, a smart-pixel array, and a linear array of laser diodes. Preliminary experimental results support the feasibility of this architecture. Our analysis shows that in order for the HRAM to become competitive, the principal tasks will be to reduce spatial light modulator (SLM) and detector pixel sizes to 1 /spl mu/m, increase the output power of compact visible-wavelength lasers to several hundred milliwatts, and develop ways to raise the sensitivity of holographic media to the order of 1 cm/J.


In the introductory chemistry course for first year students at the University of Guelph, written answer questions are included on midterm and final exams, despite the logistical hurdles involved in grading 1800-2400 students ' solutions. The process was improved with the development of a customized Scantron ® form on which students wrote their answers. Teaching assistants (TAs) graded students' work and bubbled in the grades on the sheet which was then read into the computer. As well as improving the grade entry process, it also allowed for students to have their results (and grader comments) conveniently emailed to them. For this study, we have used one of the Scantron ® fields as a "TA identifier" to correlate grading with the specific grader. This allows for comparison between TAs' grading rate, grade averages, variances, and distributions. Group and individual trends were also observed over time. Averages for four questions increased by 0.1-2.4 % points between the first and second hour of grading, and the probability of the more extreme findings occurring without a correlational link was 53-92%, based on  2 tests. In the same manner, the probabilities that differences in distributions between the population and a particular TA's sampling occurred by chance ranged from ~0-99 %. We discuss these results and how they may impact our confidence in the final grade assigned to a particular student. We also aim to use these results to develop new statistical treatments of inter-rater consistency for large sample sizes that require minimal to no exams to be graded multiple times, resulting in saving time when studying a large number of graders.


This book provides a historical survey of the unfolding of translation and interpreting (language mediation) in the 20th century with special reference to the German-speaking area. It is based first, on extensive archive research in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, second, on a large number of interviews with experts in the field of language mediation, and third, on the author's observations and experiences in the field of translation practice, translation teaching, and translation studies between 1950-1995. A specific feature of the book is the description of the social role of the language mediator through the prisms of communicative targets and technological developments and to determine his function as that of an indispensable bridge-builder between the members of differing linguistic and cultural communities. Historically, it distinguishes between three main phases, the period from 1900 to 1919 with the dominance of French as lingua franca in international communication, the period from 1919 to 1945, which is characterized by English-French bilingualism, and the period from 1945 to approximately 1990 with its massive trend toward multilingualism and the development of language mediation into a "translation industry". The book continues with chapters on the implications of globalization, specialization and automaticization for international communication and it closes with reflections on future prospects for the profession in a knowledge society, both from a practical and a pedagogical viewpoint.


The development of high-quality digital mobile radio systems has become a major goal in the field of digital communications. The possibility of providing speech and data services free of wire constrictions in different environments is a very attractive proposition, supported by means of the personal communications network (PCN) concept. The aim of the present article is to analyze the behavior of different receiver structures for such systems in order to obtain some clues to be used in designing the next generation of mobile systems. These systems have to provide both low- and high-data-rate services (up to 1 Mb/s) and be efficient in environments where a high density of traffic is generated. Moreover, as the carrier frequencies will range between 1 and 4 GHz, and the vehicle speed can be as high as 400 km/hr (e.g., high-speed trains), large Doppler frequency values must be coped with. Under certain conditions, diversity techniques perform better than equalization techniques in typical mobile radio environments.<<ETX>>


The Plot, which examines the astonishing conspiracy and the fabrication of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, has become a worldwide phenomenon since its hardcover publication, taught in classrooms around the globe. Purported to be the actual blueprints by Jewish leaders to take over the world, the Protocols, first published in 1902, have become gospel truth to international millions. Presenting a pageant of historical figures from nineteenth-century Russia to today's ideologues, including Tsar Nicholas II, Henry Ford, and Adolf Hitler, Will Eisner unravels and dispels one of the most devastating hoaxes of the twentieth century.


Doubts are rising whether bond indices, in the way they are constructed, are effective in their role of representing the markets they are designed for. Since index constituents are defined on market shares –the larger the debt obligation, the larger the share in the index– it may be that certain risks related to a high level of indebtedness are being accentuated and not necessarily representative of the market as a whole. Undue debt levels would in theory not arise in an information-efficient market, however, if prices are distorted, it makes sense to compensate for that and add elementary information on the debt issuers to the index construction process. We test how that works out on corporate bonds. We build a bond index that is based on firm accounting data rather than debt market value, and give evidence that it may serve as a market proxy.


The Goddess is the most potent and persistent feature in the archaeological records of the ancient world. She was a symbol of the unity of life in nature, and the personification of all that was sacred and mysterious on Earth. Here, in this pioneering and provocative volume, Marija Gimbutas resurrects the world of Goddess-worshipping, earth-centred cultures, bringing ancient matriarchal society vividly to life. She interweaves comparative mythology, early historical sources, linguistics, ethnography and folklore to demonstrate conclusively that Goddess-worship is at the root of Western civilization. Illustrated with nearly 2000 symbolic artifacts - sculptures, figurines, temple models, frescos, vases, sacrificial containers - Gimbutas' magnum opus is at once a 'pictorial script' of the prehistoric Goddess religion and an authoritative work that takes these ancient cultures from the realm of speculation into that of documented fact.


An electrokinetic analysis of electrochemical CO2 reduction reactions provides information about the decoupled involvement of electron–proton transfer from the Tafel slope and reaction order analyses. Conventionally, a one-electron transfer to CO2 and a chemical proton transfer from HCO3− have been considered to be typical rate-limiting steps. These suggested reaction mechanisms are justified under several assumptions: (1) the bicarbonate ion is a major proton donor, (2) the gaseous CO2 is a carbon source, (3) the reaction mechanism is unaffected by the applied potentials outside the Tafel region, etc. However, recent electrokinetic studies combined with in situ and isotopic experiments raise a question that the above conventional assumptions may not always be valid. Furthermore, there are unresolved issues between the mechanisms suggested by electrokinetic studies. In this review, reported reaction mechanisms of the CO2 reduction reaction are summarized with CO and HCOO− formation as model reaction systems. The reaction pathways are also discussed with a theoretical consideration. A deep investigation into the mechanisms reveals the complex feature of reaction pathways and the difficulty in suggesting the mechanism solely from an electrokinetic analysis.


While the thermoelectric (TE) generator has attracted tremendous attention, the development of wearable TE generators with stretchability and self-healability has been a significant challenge. Herein, we report intrinsically self-healable and stretchable ternary ionic TE hybrid materials, composed of a conjugated polymer (polyaniline), a non-conjugated anionic polyelectrolyte (poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid)), and phytic acid. The proposed materials exhibit an excellent ionic figure-of-merit (ZTi) as well as remarkable stretchability (up to ∼750%) and autonomous self-healability without any external stimuli. The ionic TE performance was sustainable under severe deformation (50% strain) and multiple self-healing processes (30 cycles), which is the first demonstration of such performance. The ZTi of the stretchable and self-healable ternary TE hybrids is 1.04. Moreover, a self-healable and stretchable ionic thermoelectric capacitor device is also demonstrated using the ternary TE hybrid.


For the past 40 years, it is widely recognized that FDI play an important role in economic development in Penang Malaysia. Penang success at attracting FDI in electrical and electronic industry broadly reflects to the earlier commitment of Penang State government in line with Malaysia industrial policy objectives on Export Oriented Industrialization Strategies. The electrical and electronic industry was chosen based on the industrialization model from Hong Kong focusing on labour incentive. At the same time, the contribution of local SMEs towards Malaysian economy has long been recognized. It is well noted in the literature that SMEs consist of 99.2% in Malaysia. Hence, the ability of local SMEs to forge linkage and absorb knowledge from foreign firm is of crucial importance. However, both American foreign firm and its local SMEs have different views on linkage as well as knowledge transfer. The objectives of this paper are two fold: First, we will explore the product, process, managerial and organizational, and ideology linkage from the perspective of American foreign firm and its local SMEs. Second, we will examine the implication of this linkage towards knowledge transfer process from the perspective of American foreign firm and its local SMEs. This paper argues that both American foreign firm and local SMEs have a different understanding and expectation towards linkage formation and knowledge transfer. Using one leading American foreign firm in the electronic industry and three supporting local SMEs as a case study in Penang, the analysis is based on the interviews with local sourcing manager in American foreign firm and three local SMEs owners, conducted between December 2010 and January 2011. The results from American foreign firm suggests that local SMEs are not yet ready to face a global challenge. There are relatively small in number, reluctant to invest for R&D is a great challenge in the future. Building up strong linkage with local SMEs is not always easy. As an American foreign firm, selection and monitor SMEs is always base on "lean transformation model" focusing on time, quality, and delivery. On the other way around, this study revealed that small economic of scale, uncertainty of government regulation, difficulties in loan approval, changes in strategies from American foreign firm are the hindrance factors for SMEs to forge a strong linkage with American foreign firm. To overcome economic of scale, few local SMEs set up their small manufacturing in China. In contrast this study also found out reverse knowledge transfer emerged from SMEs to foreign forms. This study concludes that linkage itself is a process. The process involve long term development of Malaysian SMEs. Economic development policies should continuously focus more on strengthening the relationship of foreign firms and local SMEs particularly on upgrading technological capability and R&D. This study has several limitation which is hoped to inspire future researcher in this field. First, this study does not fully take into a consideration other American foreign firms in Penang that could have a different type of linkage and knowledge transfer. Second, this study also did not examine in a broader perspective the effects of linkages and knowledge transfer between American foreign firm and SMEs from the governance perspective.


When forecasting sales figures, not only the sales history but also the future price of a product will influence the sales quantity. At first sight, multivariate time series seem to be the appropriate model for this task. Nontheless, in real life history is not always repeatable, i.e. in the case of sales history there is only one price for a product at a given time. This complicates the design of a multivariate time series. However, for some seasonal or perishable products the price is rather a function of the expiration date than of the sales history. This additional information can help to design a more accurate and causal time series model. The proposed solution uses an univariate time series model but takes the price of a product as a parameter that influences systematically the prediction. The price influence is computed based on historical sales data using correlation analysis and adjustable price ranges to identify products with comparable history. Compared to other techniques this novel approach is easy to compute and allows to preset the price parameter for predictions and simulations. Tests with data from the Data Mining Cup 2012 demonstrate better results than established sophisticated time series methods. Keywords-sales prediction, multivariate time series, pricesales correlation, parametrized predictor.


Bacteria and fungi dominate the decomposition of aquatic plants, a major process in the carbon and nutrient cycling in many aquatic systems. Although phylogenetically distant, bacteria and fungi often live in close proximity with each other. Since these microorganisms also have similar ecological functions, interactions have developed between them. This thesis explores the nature of such interactions, and the potential effects on key components of the decomposition process. The thesis includes a critical assessment of the ergosterol method for determination of fungal biomass, a survey of the environmental factors determining the distribution and taxa numbers of litter-decomposing bacteria and fungi in lakes, and a number of experiments on the interactions between bacteria and fungi. In all the experiments performed, fungi responded to bacterial presence through antagonism, although different fungal strains, bacterial communities and substrates were used. The antagonism seemed to be caused by interference competition for substrate. The fungal effect on bacteria was less consistent. Bacterial growth was suppressed, unaffected, or even enhanced by the presence of fungi. Fungi contributed more to extracellular enzyme production than bacteria, and bacteria were probably able to assimilate intermediate decomposition products formed through the activity of extracellular enzymes of fungal origin. Thus, the effect on bacteria from interacting with fungi was determined by the balance between competition and benefit from excreted enzymes. Bacteria and fungi also used different size fractions of the organic matter, according to their different enzymatic capacities. Hence, bacteria appeared to assimilate low-molecular-weight compounds, while high-molecular-weight compounds were utilized primarily by fungi. In brief, the ecological interactions influenced the growth and hence also the biomass development of bacteria and fungi, which affected enzyme activity as well as utilization of dissolved organic matter. Therefore, I suggest that interactions between bacteria and fungi influence degradation of plant litter in aquatic systems.


Web-based learning environments have become relatively common over the last decade. However, those that simplistically employ basic document-centric web technologies have been increasingly criticised for promoting information transfer as opposed to knowledge construction and genuine learning. At the same time, there are many innovative systems which go well beyond basic web technologies in order to provide effective, pedagogically-driven learning environments. Many of the technical features added by those environments are now to be found in Grid technologies. In particular, the fundamental concept in the Open Grid Service Architecture (OGSA) is that of a service, in contrast to the original Web, where it is a page, or at best, a document. The European Learning Grid Infrastructure (ELeGI) project has the remit to investigate the use of, and if necessary, carry out the development of, Grid technologies to enable and encourage effective technology enhanced learning. One of the initial investigations involves the re-engineering of an existing web-based learning environment Finesse (Finance Education in a Scaleable Software Environment) to be Grid compliant. This paper describes the evolution of Finesse from Web to Grid, and offers some early insight into this potential direction for future learning environment design and implementation.


Much of the literature on Italian causatives is concerned with the syntactic status of the constructions, their derivation from a Deeper Structure, and the lexical status of the causative verb employed. I will review a selection of such claims, pointing out that some of these claims may not in fact be as strongly backed by the available data as implied. I then move on to describe some basic properties of the Italian fare causative, presenting independent linguistic evidence of its use. Some interesting generalizations emerging from this analysis are presented here, with regard to intentional versus non-intentional readings and with how differently marked Causees conveys different meanings. These observations will also be analysed in the light of known typological universals relating to causative structures.


The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) is the federal government's preeminent source for data on fatal injuries in the workplace. CFOI publishes demographic and employment information about deceased workers (referred to as "decedents" by CFOI) as well as detailed data on the fatal incidents. On October 1, 1993, CFOI published the first comprehensive nationwide data on fatal occupational injuries in the United States. These data, which recorded fatal injuries for calendar year 1992, marked the beginning of a data series that has been used by governmental agencies, safety and health entities, academic institutions, and others to identify trends in workplace deaths and to work towards eliminating future work-related fatal injuries. Over the years, CFOI has collected and published a wealth of information about on-the-job fatal injuries. This issue of Beyond the Numbers highlights some interesting facts and data from the first 20 years of the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.


After a learning system has been trained, the usual procedure is to average the testing errors in order to obtain an estimate of how well the system has learned. However, that is tossing away a lot of potentially useful information. We present an algorithm which exploits the distribution of errors in order to find where the algorithm performs badly and partition the space into parts which can be learned easily. We will show a simple example which gives the intuition of the algorithm, and then a more complex one which brings forth some of the details of the algorithm. Let us suppose that we are trying to learn the absolute value function. Almost all learning algorithms perform well along the arms of the function, but do badly around the cusp. If we notice th 'hill' of errors around II: = 0, then we can partition the space which we are trying to learn into two parts which fall on either side of the hill. Those two partitions have the property of not only being linear, but of being learnable. Each partition can be trained separately, and when tested separately gives a better answer since irrelevant and misleading training points from other partitions have not been included.


Scholars of Indonesia are still searching for ways to characterize the ordering principles of the new post-Suharto politics. In the 1950s and 1960s, Clifford Geertz's notion of aliran (stream) politics captured central features of Indonesian political life. In the 1970s and 1980s, the state took center stage, with scholars seeing the New Order state as standing above society, depoliticizing and reordering it. Since reform began in 1998, these analyses are clearly no longer adequate, but scholars have yet to find persuasive alternatives. This article offers one attempt to diagnose the fundamentals of political organization in contemporary Indonesia. It starts by emphasizing the organizational fragmentation that characterizes much contemporary political life. It seeks the origins of this fragmentation in two sources: the ubiquity of patronage distribution as a means of cementing political affiliations and the broader neoliberal model of economic, social, and cultural life in which patronage distribution is increasingly embedded. These two forces are often portrayed as being incompatible, but in practice they are frequently intertwined. This argument is first substantiated by reference to the project (Indonesian: proyek), a mechanism for distributing economic resources that is pervasive in Indonesia. The proyek formally adheres to the expectations of transparency and competition associated with neoliberalism, but is also a major source of patronage. Proyek-hunting drives much of the fragmentation in contemporary Indonesian political and social organization. The argument is then illustrated with examples drawn from four spheres: state structures, political parties, non-governmental organizations and Islamic politics.


Soil erosion represents a geomorphological and geological hazard that may cause property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage. Erosion of our soils not only lowers the quality of soils on site, resulting in a drastic reduction of their ecosystem functions that play a vital role in daily life, but causes also signifi cant sediment-related problems off site. To curb soil erosion problems, a range of soil conservation techniques and strategies are applied. So far, ca. 7,000 papers on soil erosion and ca. 15,000 papers on soil conservation in the Euro-Mediterranean region have been published (Web of Science, 2015). One might therefore conclude that we now know almost everything about the various soil erosion processes, their factors and consequences as well as their control so that litt le new knowledge can still be added to the vast amount of available information. We refute this conclusion by pointing to some major research gaps that need to be addressed if we want to use our soils in the Anthropocene in a more sustainable way and improve environmental conditions worldwide. More specifi cally the following research needs are addressed: 1) improved understanding of soil erosion processes and their interactions, 2) scaling up soil erosion processes and rates in space and time, 3) innovative techniques and strategies to prevent or reduce erosion rates.


Man has been fascinated by the heavens since ancient times, yet there is still so much that we don't know. This project was created by Professor Gary Hughes with goal of obtaining information about the moon and other objects in the vicinity of the Earth. The project was mostly experimental in nature and there was no specific goal at the outset of the project. In the end the project focused on the moon and meteors that traveled through the Earth's upper atmosphere. Throughout the month of August, students traveled to the Mount Barcroft Research Station in the Eastern Sierras to gather data. The data on the moon was gathered using a camera hooked up to a telescope that had been fitted with a silver coated mirror that allowed it to reflect infrared light. The data was gathered during a four hour period when the moon was highest in the sky. A MATLAB program was used to gather data in the form of fifteen second long tiff files. While at the mountain, meteor data was also collected using a camera with a wide-angle lens. This was pointed at the sky for long periods of time while data was collected. This was then run through a MATLAB program that determined whether a meteor had been detected. By the end of our time at Mount Barcroft, nearly two terabytes of data had been collected. When I returned home, I began to work on a MATLAB script that would analyze and interpret all of the data we had gathered on the moon. Each tiff file contained 450 frames that captured a portion of the moon. My goal was to combine these frames into a single image that contained the surface temperature data for the entire moon. The process of gathering the moon data into one simple picture required many steps. First I had to read each frame from each file into MATLAB so it could be used. For each of these frames I used an edge detection function to find the edge of the moon. I applied Taubin's circle fit method to the data in order to find the center and radius of the moon in each frame. The center of the moon was used to align each frame. The center of the moon in each frame was placed at the center of a large matrix. I also created a separate matrix to keep …


When speciality chemicals are manufactured within the pharmaceutical industry, they are often produced in stirred batch/semi-batch reactors. A 'methodology' was explored, to help with the development of continuous fixed-bed catalytic reactors for this sector. This was tested on two different types of model reactions: (a) In the first, the viability of producing tertiary amines via 'borrowing hydrogen' was explored, and the reaction of morpholine and benzyl alcohol was studied, on Ru and Pt catalysts. This provided an opportunity for an early involvement in small-scale batch testing of catalysts, and then experiments were performed with the catalyst supported on granules in a packed bed (i.d. = 7 mm, length = 300 mm). Although it was shown that continuous processing is viable, and that high conversions (e.g. 73 to 98%, at 150 oC) could be achieved, unfortunately further work was necessary to identify a more robust catalyst system, before moving on to pilot-scale trials. (b) In the second, the partial oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde was studied, using a Pt catalyst on a carbon support. This proved to be successful, and the reaction was finally demonstrated at pilot-scale. Carbon monoliths were used as catalyst supports (monolith o.d. = 19 mm; length = 50 mm long; square 0.7 mm x 0.7 mm channels; catalyst loading 2.5 and 2.7 wt% Pt). With a liquid flow of 1 L h-1 and a reactant concentration of ~1 mol L-1, operating at 110 oC, conversion ranged from 80 to 90% and selectivity from 65 to 99%. The catalyst system was tested for 160 h of operation, and retained its performance. While testing the 2nd reaction, a pilot-scale reactor was also developed, which could be used for a variety of novel reactions. The design was flexible and it was easy to insert and remove the catalytic monoliths.


The article comments on claims made by Rêgo et al. about the sensor they developed to determine soil water content and its salinity via the admittance measurement of electrodes embedded in the soil. Their sensor is not based on a self-balanced bridge, as stated, but on a more common technique relying on Ohm's law. A bridge is a zero method of measurement which can provide direct voltages proportional to soil permittivity and conductivity with a high resolution. Thanks to modern electronics the method can be adapted for fast and continuous monitoring in a remote site. Because of this confusion about the different measurement techniques among available admittance or capacitance sensors, we give a succinct review of them and indicate how they compare to the two techniques under discussion. We also question the ability of Rêgo et al.'s current sensor to determine both soil water content and salinity due first to instrument biases and then to the soil complexity as a dielectric medium. In particular, the choice of sensor frequencies is crucial in the two steps. In addition, the procedure to determine and account for temperature influences on readings is not presented clearly enough. It is important to distinguish between the effect resulting from electronics sensitivity, and those that are soil-specific. The comment does not invalidate the design of the sensor, but indicates points, especially parasitic contributions, which must be dealt with to avoid major errors.