Context: This article is based on a pragmatic theoretical perspective on education, in which theoretical and practical competences are developed through experiences and participation in realworld teaching contexts. Previous research points to a lack of culture for authentic workplacebased assessment in vocational and professional education in many countries. Prior to this study, professors/authors and student-teachers in a vocational teacher education program in Norway experienced that student-teachers were unable to demonstrate comprehensive teaching competence, as examinations and assessments assess theoretical knowledge separately from practice. Research questions: 1) How can an authentic workplace-based exam during placement give student-teachers an opportunity to showcase their comprehensive teacher competence? 2) What factors are important to emphasize in such an exam? 3) How do the student-teachers demonstrate and develop comprehensive teacher competence through an authentic exam? Methods: Using action research, professors/authors carried out sequential actions to develop a practical-theoretical exam in an authentic professional setting. This included demonstrating elements of practical and theoretical competence conducted during teaching practice. The exam involved planning in line with a guidance document and practical teaching in the classroom in VET-schools, followed by a piece of reflective writing based on teaching experiences. Supervisors and professors/authors observed the student-teachers teaching as part of multiple qualitative methods. *Corresponding author: firstname.lastname@example.com 303 Dahlback, Berg Olstad, Sylte, Wolden Findings: The empirical results show how student-teachers demonstrate and develop comprehensive teaching competence. Both the student-teacher and the supervisors in VETschools experienced the authentic exam as realistic and professionally based. The biggest challenge involved logistics: Compensating the professors'/authors' time and financial frameworks related to the observation of the student-teachers. However, this kind of authentic assessment leads to stronger coherence between both theory and practice, and between the vocational teacher education at the university and the VET in upper secondary school. It also supports the job-relevant learning process towards comprehensive teacher competence. Conclusions: This kind of authentic assessment i.e. an authentic exam requires an understanding of the complex role of teachers within their professional context in VET. Therefore, the professors/authors see the need of a broader, more comprehensive teacher competence in VET to meet the work life needs for competence.


Since the return of capital punishment after Furman v. Georgia nearly three decades ago, the Supreme Court of the United States has struggled to control the administration of capital punishment when those decisions are made or recommended by a citizen jury. Although there is no constitutional requirement that a jury participate in the death penalty process, most states do provide, through their capital punishment statutes, that a jury will participate in the decision. The preference for jury sentencing in these circumstances reflects a reluctance to leave power over life solely in the hands of one judge. Still, some scholars have long criticized juries for administering punishment.Of particular concern to the Supreme Court has been the problem of jury discretion in capital cases. Finding ways to control the deliberations of the capital jury to prevent them from rendering decisions which are as arbitrary as being "struck by lighting" has been the primary focus of the Supreme Court at least since the early 1970's. If one considers the plurality opinion in Furman as a great wall erected to prevent continued movement toward implementation of arbitrary and capricious death sentences, the public movement which followed to reinstate capital punishment affected the mortar with which the wall was erected. The jurisprudence that followed the calls for control over the arbitrary behavior of the capital jury has wavered in recent years from the commitment to place controls over the death penalty, and to insure it is a true last resort for the worst of the worst.The rise in crime that occurred during the early seventies combined with the political rhetoric that emerged from partisan politics made the Supreme Court and the death penalty fair game for controversy. A shift in the political climate along with a change in the leadership and the personnel of the Supreme Court made the fragile wall of protection erected in Furman increasingly vulnerable to attack. Shifts in the Supreme Court majority have led to grave concerns about the fairness of capital punishment in the decades following Furman. With aggressive state action to pass new death penalty statutes in order to resume executions, inevitably the Court has become less protective of the values advanced in the Furman opinions.One of the primary casualties of the post-Furman decline in constitutional protection advances in the form of various controls on juries that decide capital cases. Decisions during the 1980's regarding what a capital jury may consider, what they may not hear, and what type of statutory instructions and forms must guide them demonstrated some promise that Furman concerns would, at times, be seriously regulated. However, over the last several decades the Court has issued opinions which indicate that it is more concerned with state autonomy in administering the death penalty than the defendant focused concerns of Furman.In my view, instructions to the capital jury are the primary vehicle of procedural protection against unjust imposition of the death penalty. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has approached its capital punishment jurisprudence without due regard to the scientific research that is available regarding how consideration of death sentences is different from other jury decisions. This article is an attempt to discuss what went wrong with the Supreme Court's jurisprudence regulating capital juries and proposes some solutions that direct how the Court might increase scrutiny of jury instructions when reaching life and death decisions.


Physical layer security (PLS) is considered as a promising technique to prevent information eavesdropping in wireless systems. In this context, cooperative relaying has emerged as a robust solution for achieving PLS due to multipath diversity and relatively lower transmission power. However, relays or the relay operators in the practical environment are unwilling for service provisioning unless they are incentivized for their cost of services. Thus, it is required to jointly consider network economics and relay cooperation to improve system efficiency. In this paper, we consider the problem of joint network economics and PLS using cooperative relaying and jamming. Based on the double auction theory, we model the interaction between transmitters seeking for a particular level of secure transmission of information and relay operators for suitable relay and jammer assignment, in a multiple source-destination networks. In addition, theoretical analyses are presented to justify that the proposed auction mechanism satisfies the desirable economic properties of individual rationality, budget balance, and truthfulness. As the participants in the traditional centralized auction framework may take selfish actions or collude with each other, we propose a decentralized and trustless auction framework based on blockchain technology. In particular, we exploit the smart contract feature of blockchain to construct a completely autonomous framework, where all the participants are financially enforced by smart contract terms. The security properties of the proposed framework are also discussed.


This article explores the relative roles of social ties and collective efficacy in explaining community variations in violent victimization in Australia. Using data from a survey of 2,859 residents across 82 communities in the city of Brisbane, coupled with official reported crime data provided by the Queensland Police Service and Australian Bureau of Statistics census data for 2001, the authors employ multilevel statistical models to depict the relative importance of social ties and collective efficacy in predicting between-neighborhood violent victimization in an Australian context. The models include measures of social relationships and community-based crime prevention programs, and the authors compare and contrast their findings with studies of collective efficacy in Chicago and Stockholm, finding similar results. These findings suggest that despite structural and cultural differences between the United States and Australia in particular, collective efficacy is a significant mechanism in explaining the spatial distribution of self-reported violent victimization in the Australian context. This research underscores the importance of cross-cultural theory testing and the need to further develop the measurement of ecological constructs such as social ties and organizational behavior.


BACKGROUND
This study was conducted to assess medical students' immunity to vaccine-preventable diseases, their exposure to these diseases, and their attitudes toward immunity to vaccine-preventable diseases.

METHODS
A cross-sectional, mailed survey was conducted of all 249 senior medical students in the 1991 graduating class at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Two mailings were sent during the autumn of their senior year.

RESULTS
The response rate was 77.5%. More than 90% of the students reported that they were immune to measles, mumps, rubella, and hepatitis B but only 23% were immune to influenza. Fewer than half of the students had ever been queried about their immune status prior to clinical clerkships. One third of the students had had a needlestick exposure during their clinical training (including 8% to a known hepatitis B carrier) and only 52% of these were reported by the student. Ten percent to 20% of the students felt that immunity to measles, mumps, and rubella was only somewhat or not very important. Less than one third of the students felt that immunity to influenza was important for themselves as health care providers.

CONCLUSION
This study documented inadequate levels of immunity among medical students to certain vaccine-preventable diseases, that exposure to vaccine-preventable diseases was fairly common during clinical training, and that medical students often had inadequate attitudes about immunity to vaccine-preventable diseases. These findings have implications for medical school immunization policies and curriculum content.


In this article, the impact of common labels is investigated with both theoretical and empirical approaches. Recent statistics regarding the egg market in France suggest that retailer brands largely adopt common labels. A simple theoretical framework enables us to determine the conditions under which producers and/or retailers with different product qualities decide to post a common label on their products. In particular, a situation of multiple equilibria (one where the label is used by the high-quality seller only and one where it is used by the low-quality seller only) is exhibited when the cost of the label is relatively large. The demand is then estimated for different segments of the French egg market, including producer/retailer brands with/without common labels. The estimates are used to derive expenditure and price elasticities and allow us to calculate welfare measures revealing a relatively large willingness-to-pay for labels.


This textbook contains material for students of Classical Chinese at three different levels of difficulty:The first chapter of Mencius, reproduced from a modern punctuated edition, with very detailed notes and glosses intended for students in their second semester of Classical Chinese.The same chapter, reproduced from a Song wood-block edition, which beginning students who are more ambitions may wish to use instead of the punctuated edition.Notes and glosses on the Eastern Han commentary of Zhao Qi (included in the Song edition), intended for more advanced students.


OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study is to compare the survival of patients attending diabetes centers with that of patients exclusively consulting family physicians. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The study was carried out in the frame of the Verona Diabetes Study, a population-based survey of known diabetes prevalence with a subsequent 5-year mortality follow-up. A cohort of 7,488 diabetic patients were identified on 31 December 1986 from three different sources: a drug consumption database, family physicians, and diabetes centers (one for children and one for adults). As of 31 December 1986, 3,288 patients in the entire cohort exclusively consulted their own family physicians, while 4,200 patients also had periodic examinations at the diabetes centers. The life status of the diabetic cohort was ascertained on 31 December 1991. RESULTS Compared with the nondiabetic population, diabetic patients seen only by family physicians had a standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of 1.62 (95% CI 1.51–1.74), while patients attending both family physicians and diabetes centers showed an SMR of 1.44 (1.34–1.54), the difference being statistically significant (P = 0.017). The 5-year survival probability, estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method, was 0.76 (0.75–0.78) in patients seen only by family physicians and 0.81 (0.80–0.82) in patients attending the diabetes centers. Multivariate analysis by Cox regression model showed that attending the diabetes centers was an independent predictor of survival even after adjusting for sex, age, and therapy of diabetes. The relative risk of 5-year all-cause mortality amounted to 0.83 (0.75–0.92) in patients also attending the diabetes centers with respect to patients consulting only family physicians (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS These data on patients' survival indicate that diabetes centers play a crucial role in diabetes care. As a corollary, an integration between primary-care physicians and diabetes centers is strongly recommended.


Environmental federalism refers to the debate over the 'optimal' level of government at which to delegate environmental policymaking. Although this issue receives widespread attention across the globe, opinions run the gamut. The diversity of views plays out in practice as well as different federations have 'resolved' the issue differently. With the United States alone, environmental authority has oscillated between periods of relatively greater centralized and decentralized control. This article seeks to accomplish two objectives in order to advance the literature. The first objective is to provide a brief overview of the two primary theoretical frameworks – Tiebout (1956) and models of interjurisdictional competition – used to explore the effects of the decentralization of policy decisions such as taxes, expenditures, environmental standards, etc. The reason for doing so is to illuminate the issues that play a fundamental role in conclusions regarding the 'optimal' allocation of environmental authority. The second objective is to then provide a comprehensive survey of the relevant empirical literatures. By doing so, the goal is to limit the scope of the debate over environmental federalism moving forward, as well as make clear where the gaps in empirical knowledge exist.


Whether there are gender differences in lying has been largely debated in the past decade. Previous studies found mixed results. To shed light on this topic, here I report a meta-analysis of 8,728 distinct observations, collected in 65 Sender-Receiver game treatments, by 14 research groups. Following previous work and theoretical considerations, I distinguish three types of lies: black lies, which benefit the liar at a cost for another person; altruistic white lies, which benefit another person at a cost for the liar; and Pareto white lies, which benefit both the liar and another person. The results show that: males are significantly more likely than females to tell black lies (N=4,173); males are significantly more likely than females to tell altruistic white (N=2,940); and results are inconclusive in the case of Pareto white lies (N=1,615). Furthermore, gender differences in telling altruistic white lies are significantly stronger than in the other two cases.


Pakistan and Iran are two neighbouring countries with amicable ties however, the true potential of their relationship still remains untapped. This research aims to highlight the areas of convergence and divergence between Iran and Pakistan in the backdrop of the changing international environment. The US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has left many countries, especially Pakistan, in a limbo chimeral security regarding its projects with Iran. This development reflects the significance of the US factor in Pak-Iran ties. Other important factors are the situation in Afghanistan, India's engagement with Iran, Pak-Saudi ties and Riyadh-Tehran rivalry. Pakistan and Iran's relations lack depth and mutual trust due to their respective alliances of the past. This research observes that Iran and Pakistan, in light of new alliances and changing regional and international politics, can revive the lost trust.


This article considers the future of audience research in an era of big data. It does so by interrogating the dynamics and potentials of the big data paradigm in an era of user-generated content and commercial exploitation. In this context, it is proposed that the major dynamics of big data are a conjoint application of numerology and alchemy in the information age. On this basis, the potentials of new data techniques are addressed in light of the critical gap between audience data and the audiences themselves.


In this powerful and probing look at the reality of everyday choices in neonatal intensive care units, Renee Anspach explores the life-and-death dilemmas that have fueled national debate. Using case studies taken during sixteen months of extensive interviewing and observation, Anspach examines the roles of parents, doctors, nurses, and bioethicists in deciding whether critically ill newborns--be they premature, terminally ill, or severely malformed--should be saved by medical technology, or at least kept alive a little longer.


The authors are the originators of isogeometric analysis, are excellent scientists and good educators. It is very original. There is no other book on this topic. Ren de Borst, Eindhoven University of Technology Written by leading experts in the field and featuring fully integrated colour throughout, Isogeometric Analysis provides a groundbreaking solution for the integration of CAD and FEA technologies. Tom Hughes and his researchers, Austin Cottrell and Yuri Bazilevs, present their pioneering isogeometric approach, which aims to integrate the two techniques of CAD and FEA using precise NURBS geometry in the FEA application. This technology offers the potential to revolutionise automobile, ship and airplane design and analysis by allowing models to be designed, tested and adjusted in one integrative stage. Providing a systematic approach to the topic, the authors begin with a tutorial introducing the foundations of Isogeometric Analysis, before advancing to a comprehensive coverage of the most recent developments in the technique. The authors offer a clear explanation as to how to add isogeometric capabilities to existing finite element computer programs, demonstrating how to implement and use the technology. Detailed programming examples and datasets are included to impart a thorough knowledge and understanding of the material. Provides examples of different applications, showing the reader how to implement isogeometric models Addresses readers on both sides of the CAD/FEA divide Describes Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS) basis functions


This paper examines transactions costs in buying versus selling using a large database of snapshots of the limit order book. On the equity spot market, there is clear evidence of asymmetry in liquidity: transactions costs are lower for buy market orders when compared with sell market orders. In the identical setting, trading in single stock futures is also observed, and there is little evidence of asymmetry. This suggests that asymmetry in liquidity may be driven by short sales restrictions which are present on the spot market but not on the single stock futures market.


This thesis examines the rationale and debate of the 'Fresh Start' schools policy introduced by the New Labour government in 1997 as a vehicle for improvement in schools that historically had been classified as failing. Underpinning the policy is the assumption that Fresh Start can act as a catalytic agent of positive change to performance, school cultures and the school community.

The literature review examines school improvement in schools with challenging circumstances (where many Fresh Start schools are based) and includes the theoretical framework underpinning school improvement. It examines the recent political context that has driven school improvement, the role of inspection in identifying failing schools, the development of Fresh Start policy and alternative routes available to schools failing their OFSTED inspection.

The case study traces the transformation process and outlines the profile of the first Fresh Start Primary School in England with a population of 40% Travellers on the school roll. It includes an early evaluation of a number of initiatives associated with catalytic change and school improvement that have been employed in the case study school, in other Fresh Start Primary Schools in England and in socio-economically disadvantaged schools around the world. It looks particularly at the impact of breakfast clubs, a school-wide literacy scheme, 'Success for All', and community education based in the school. The impact of these initiatives is considered within the context of the school, the school community and government policy. The research findings conclude that Fresh Start together with the initiatives have been effective strategies for improvement in the case study school, and may provide a good model for other schools in similar circumstances.


The development of environmentally friendly anticorrosive systems providing the same performance than those already existing has been the great challenge for researchers working in the surface treatment field. In this work the corrosion behavior of two electrogalvanized-steel/nanoparticulate pretreatment/organic coating systems exposed to salt spray, controlled humidity and temperature, Prohesion or weathering chambers was studied. The global analysis of the obtained results allowed concluding that the protective behavior of both duplex systems was satisfactory, and that the nanoparticulate pretreatments based on trivalent chromium (Cr3+) and Zirconium could be considered as a valid alternative to substitute those based on hexavalent chromium(Cr6+).


Synopsis Technical publications in the field of mining and metallurgy have existed for a long time. Recent developments in electronic publishing on websites make it possible to disseminate information more widely and cost-effectively than before. Professional societies have an opportunity to serve their members and their industry by publishing high-quality peer-reviewed papers on their websites as well as in printed form. Older publications can be scanned, and optical character recognition used to provide searchable text. Various business models exist around this process. This paper outlines the approach used by the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) to provide free open access to their journal papers and conference proceedings, as well as the work being done by OneMine.org to collect technical papers from a number of international societies and make them available to subscribers via a large database. An approach is outlined that should be of benefit to authors, readers, and society at large.


Significance Human major depressive disorder is a chronic remitting syndrome that affects millions of individuals worldwide; however, the molecular mechanisms mediating this syndrome remain elusive. Here, using a unique combination of epigenome-wide and behavioral analyses, we demonstrate a role for histone variant dynamics in the nucleus accumbens (NAc)—a critical brain center of reward and mood—contributing to stress susceptibility in mice. These studies, which also demonstrate that molecular blockade of aberrant dynamics in the NAc promotes resilience to chronic stress, promise to aid in the identification of novel molecular targets (i.e., downstream genes displaying altered expression as the result of stress-induced histone dynamics) that may be exploited in the development of more effective pharmacotherapeutics. Human major depressive disorder (MDD), along with related mood disorders, is among the world's greatest public health concerns; however, its pathophysiology remains poorly understood. Persistent changes in gene expression are known to promote physiological aberrations implicated in MDD. More recently, histone mechanisms affecting cell type- and regional-specific chromatin structures have also been shown to contribute to transcriptional programs related to depressive behaviors, as well as responses to antidepressants. Although much emphasis has been placed in recent years on roles for histone posttranslational modifications and chromatin-remodeling events in the etiology of MDD, it has become increasingly clear that replication-independent histone variants (e.g., H3.3), which differ in primary amino acid sequence from their canonical counterparts, similarly play critical roles in the regulation of activity-dependent neuronal transcription, synaptic connectivity, and behavioral plasticity. Here, we demonstrate a role for increased H3.3 dynamics in the nucleus accumbens (NAc)—a key limbic brain reward region—in the regulation of aberrant social stress-mediated gene expression and the precipitation of depressive-like behaviors in mice. We find that molecular blockade of these dynamics promotes resilience to chronic social stress and results in a partial renormalization of stress-associated transcriptional patterns in the NAc. In sum, our findings establish H3.3 dynamics as a critical, and previously undocumented, regulator of mood and suggest that future therapies aimed at modulating striatal histone dynamics may potentiate beneficial behavioral adaptations to negative emotional stimuli.


Thin film electroluminescent (TFEL) displays are attractive because they are light, have low power consumption, wide viewing angle and long lifetime, are extremely rugged and can be used in hostile environments. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in thin film electroluminescent devices because of their promising application to head mounted displays for use in automobiles, aircraft, microsurgery and virtual reality applications. Both conventional and inverted thin film electroluminescent device structures consist of insulating film, transparent conducting film and luminescent layer. In a thin film electroluminescent device, the luminescent layer is sandwiched between two insulating layers. Electrodes outside both insulating layers are used to apply an electric field, with one electrode being transparent.

These thin films are found to be sensitive to preparation conditions and can be prepared by a variety of methods, such as, magnetron sputtering, chemical vapour deposition, reactive electron beam evaporation, reactive thermal deposition, spray pyrolysis, laser ablation and more recently by sol-gel process. Nowadays, the sol-gel process is a wellaccepted technology for the preparation of thin films, monoliths, fibers and monosized powders. Compared to conventional thin film forming processes such as CVD, evaporation or sputtering, sol-gel film formation requires considerably less equipment and is potentially less expensive; however the most important advantage of sol-gel processing over conventional coating methods is the ability to control precisely the microstructure of the deposited film, i.e., the pore volume, pore size and surface area.

The sol-gel process is a method where the substrate to be coated is dipped into a liquid solution containing the active material. When the substrate is removed from the solution a thin layer remains. On exposure to the atmosphere a hydrolysis reaction takes place which solidifies the liquid film.

In this work, all the thin films have been prepared by using sol-gel process. Insulating films of titanium dioxide and tantalum oxide were prepared from titanium and tantalum alkoxides respectively and their characteristics have been investigated. The most important requirements for the insulating layers are high dielectric constant and high electric field strength. The dielectric constants of the films were calculated from the maximum capacitance of the Al/film/Si structure. The maximum dielectric constants for Ti02 and Ta20 5 films were approximately 50 and 82 respectively annealed at 700°C in oxygen. These results suggest that the Ti02 and Ta2Os thin film can be used as a high dielectric constant insulating layer in thin film electroluminescent devices.

Highly conductive and transparent aluminum-doped zinc oxide thin films have been prepared from the solution of zinc acetate and aluminum nitrate in ethanol by the sol-gel process. The effect of changing the aluminum-to-zinc ratio from 0 to 5 at. % and annealing temperature from 0 to 700°C in air, oxygen and nitrogen has been investigated. The resistivities of thin films were measured as a function of annealing temperature and also as a function of aluminum dopant concentration in the solution. As-deposited films have high resistivity and high optical transmission. Annealing of the as-deposited films in atmosphere leads to a substantial reduction in resistivity. The films have a minimum value of resistivity of 1.3xl0'4 Q-cm for 0.8 at. % aluminum-doped zinc oxide annealed at 500°C in nitrogen and a maximum transmission of about 88% when deposited on glass substrates. X-ray diffraction measurements employing CuKa radiation were performed to determine the crystallinity of the ZnO:Al films which showed that the films were polycrystalline with a hexagonal structure when annealed at higher temperatures in air, oxygen and nitrogen.

Transparent conductive indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films have been prepared by a solgel
process. The starting solution was prepared by mixing indium chloride dissolved in acetylacetone and tin chloride dissolved in ethanol. 0-20 % by weight Sn-doped indium oxide (ITO) films were prepared by heat-treatment at above 400°C. The electrical, optical and structural properties of ITO thin films were investigated. The electrical resistivity was measured by using four-point probe method. The ITO thin films containing 10 wt.% Sn showed the minimum resistivity of p = 8.0xl0'4 Q-cm annealed at 500°C in nitrogen. The films have an optical transparency up to 89% at 900 nm. X-ray diffraction measurements employing CuKa radiation were performed to determine the crystallinity of the ITO films which showed that the ITO films were polycrystalline with a cubic bixbyite structure annealed in air, oxygen and nitrogen.

Aluminum doped zinc oxide thin films have been deposited on titanium dioxide and
tantalum oxide films on glass by sol-gel process. The resistivity of ZnO:Al thin films
deposited on titanium dioxide and tantalum oxide films on glass have a minimum value
of 2.5xl0'3 Q-cm and 9.6xl0'4 Q-cm respectively annealed at 500°C in nitrogen. ZnO:Al
thin films deposited on titanium dioxide film on glass have a higher resistivity than that
deposited on glass. This increase in resistivity on titanium dioxide film is due to the
diffusion of titanium into the zinc oxide layer.

Indium tin oxide thin films have been deposited on titanium dioxide and tantalum oxide
films on glass for thin film electroluminescent devices. The resistivity of ITO films
deposited on titanium dioxide and tantalum oxide films has a minimum value of 9.5x1 O'4
Q-cm and 9.0x10'4 Q-cm respectively annealed at 500°C in nitrogen which are as low as
the resistivity of ITO films deposited on glass. This combination of transparent conductive ITO thin films and titanium dioxide or tantalum oxide insulating layer can be
used for thin film electroluminescent devices.


This is the guide technicians turn to for answers - tuned up to provide an advantage in today's global economy. The face of investing has significantly changed in the 30 years since this book's first publication, but one essential component of the markets has not - human behavior. Whether you're trading cornerstone commodities or innovative investment products, observing how investors responded to past events through technical analysis is your key to forecasting when to buy and sell in the future. This fully updated fifth edition shows you how to maximize your profits in today's complex markets by tailoring your application of this powerful tool. Tens of thousands of individual and professional investors have used the guidance in this book to grow their wealth by understanding, interpreting, and forecasting significant moves in both individual stocks and entire markets. This new edition streamlines its time-honored, profit-driven approach, while updating every chapter with new examples, tables, charts, and comments that reflect the real-world situations you encounter in everyday trading. Required reading among many professionals, this authoritative resource now features: brand-new chapters that analyze and explain secular trends with unique technical indicators that measure investor confidence, as well as an introduction to Pring's new Special K indicator; expanded coverage on the profit-making opportunities ETFs create in international markets, sectors, and commodities; and Practical advice for avoiding false, contratrend signals that may arise in short-term time spans; and additional material on price patterns, candlestick charts, relative strength, momentum, sentiment indicators, and global stock markets. Properly reading and balancing the variety of indicators used in technical analysis is an art, and no other book better illustrates the repeatable steps you need to take to master it. When used with patience and discipline, Technical Analysis Explained, Fifth Edition, will make you a better decision maker and increase your chances of greater profits.


This thesis examines the role which death plays in the development of a uniquely Christian identity in John Climacus' seventh-century work, the Ladder of Divine Ascent and the Greek ascetic literature of the previous centuries. I argue that John Climacus deploys language of death, inherited from a range of Greek Christian literature, as the symbolic framework within which he describes the ascetic lifestyle as developing a Christian identity. This framework is expressed by thee ascetic practice of 'memory of death' and by practices of renunciation described as 'death' to oneself and others.
 In order to understand Climacus' unique achievement in regard to engagement with death it is necessary first to situate the Ladder and its author within the literature of the Greek ascetic tradition, within which Climacus consciously wrote. In the Introduction I develp ways Climacus draws on and develops traditional material, while arguing that it must be treated and interpreted in its own right and not simply as his 'sources.' I then examine the vocabulary of death and the lines of thought opened up in the New Testament. Chapter One argues that the memory of death plays an important role in Athanasius' Vita Antonii. Chapter Two surveys material from the fifth- and sixth-century Egyptian and Palestinian deserts in which memory and practice of death are deployed in a wider variety of ways and are increasingly connected to ascetics' fundamental understanding of self and salvation. Chapter Three examines the sixth-century Quaestiones et Responsiones of Barsanuphius and John of Gaza in which further elaboration of the same thematic is discernible. Chapter Four concludes this thesis with a sustained reading of John Climacus' Scala Paradisi in which the various thematics centring on memory and practice of death are synthesized into the existential framework and practical response, respectively.


The objective of this work is to present this research conducted in the Group UniA³n fuel area, is to show an example about how the construction of the knowledge occurs in the north-central region of the state of Sinaloa, and in addition, to document a case study with empirical references that fortify the discipline of administration of businesses in the regional context and the FAADER mainly. The theoretical frame was constructed from the eclectic perspective of the management's studies of the knowledge, the administrative theory, the based on resources and capacities theory, and the basic conceptual theory of intellectual capital, as a guide for this case, as well as theory of organizational behavior. For the accomplishment of the empirical study, a qualitative-quantitative methodology was used, supported by some techniques of data summary proven in the scope of scientific research. The technique of observation was used initially and later the interview was done where thirty percent of the members participated in expressing their experiences within the service units. In addition, access to some documents used in the administration of the same was provided. The results show that the key aspects found adhered to the service's philosophy, and have created success to a large extent. They are: the efficiency of the human capital in the workplace. Also, the value of the tactical plan for marketing research, the established collaborations and enterprise alliances with other organizations currently in the field that helps to project the image and to present a good impression with the clients.


Recently, within the biology literature, there has been considerable interest in exploring the evolutionary function of animal displays through computer simulations of evolutionary processes (Arak & Enquist, 1993, 1995a; Enquist & Arak, 1993, 1994; Johnstone, 1994; Hurd, Wachtmeister, & Enquist, 1995; Krakauer & Johnstone, 1995). Whilst we applaud biologists' adoption of the simulation techniques pioneered within the arti cial sciences (see, for example, Meyer & Wilson, 1991; Meyer, Roitblat, & Wilson, 1993; Cli , Husbands, Meyer, & Wilson, 1994, for collections of such research), and feel that bi-directional cross-fertilisation between natural and arti cial sciences has a bright future, we suggest that the application of such techniques to evolutionary modelling may prove to be problematic. Some debate has accompanied the work (Cook, 1995; Johnstone, 1995; Arak & Enquist, 1995b; StampDawkins & Guildford, 1995) but attention to the methodology employed within this embryonic research paradigm has been cursory. Here we provide a critique of this methodology, concentrating on Enquist and Arak's (1994) exploration of the evolutionary function of complex symmetrical displays. We investigate their hypothesis that complex signal form, rather than being the product of evolutionary pressure for information exchange, is the product of `hidden preferences' inherent in sensory systems (i.e. sensory biases). Through extending their work and relaxing their assumptions we reveal that the `hidden preference' for symmetry proferred by Enquist and Arak (1994) is in reality a preference for homogeneity. We show that the aws present in Enquist and Arak's (1994) study are immanent in any such evolutionary simulationmodel, and must be challenged if research within this paradigm is to prove worthwhile.


This paper addresses multi-dimensional Ground Moving Target Indication (GMTI) using a multi-channel Wide Band (WB) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system. For limited time intervals the target acceleration is so small that target motion can be related to two ground and two speed coordinates. However, four other dimensions are used in WB SAR GMTI processing during the detection phase: azimuth, range, bearing, and the relative speed between the object and the SAR platform. In the detection phase, blind hypotheses are used, and the discretization steps between the hypotheses are a trade-off between the number of hypotheses tested and detectability. As the integration angle increases, the bandwidth increases and the therefore the number of tests increases. In this paper we discuss the discretization step in all four dimensions for moving target detection, and analyze the step size in particular in the most critical domain, the relative speed. The analysis is made on CARABAS II data.


The aim of the paper is to provide a decision making tool for solving a multi-criteria selection problem that can accommodate the qualitative details in relations with the task requirements and candidates' competences. Our inquiry emphasizes the use of the 2-tuple linguistic representation model as the most suitable tool to overcome the uncertain and subjective assessments. It is adapted to aggregate linguistic assessments of acquired and required competence resources generated by a group of appraisers. The resulting aggregated objective evaluations are therefore used as inputs of an extended version of the TOPSIS method.  After certain customization, a candidates' ranking based on a similarity degree between required and acquired competence components levels is provided. The quality and efficiency of the proposed approach were confirmed through a real life application from a university context. It ensures a better management of the available candidates. Moreover, it allows facing the circumstances of absenteeism, identifying the need of training, and so on.


The Rangeland Journal – Climate Clever Beef special issue examines options for the beef industry in northern Australia to contribute to the reduction in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to engage in the carbon economy. Relative to its gross value (A$5 billion), the northern beef industry is responsible for a sizable proportion of national reportable GHG emissions (8–10%) through enteric methane, savanna burning, vegetation clearing and land degradation. The industry occupies large areas of land and has the potential to impact the carbon cycle by sequestering carbon or reducing carbon loss. Furthermore, much of the industry is currently not achieving its productivity potential, which suggests that there are opportunities to improve the emissions intensity of beef production. Improving the industry's GHG emissions performance is important for its environmental reputation and may benefit individual businesses through improved production efficiency and revenue from the carbon economy. The Climate Clever Beef initiative collaborated with beef businesses in six regions across northern Australia to better understand the links between GHG emissions and carbon stocks, land condition, herd productivity and profitability. The current performance of businesses was measured and alternate management options were identified and evaluated. Opportunities to participate in the carbon economy through the Australian Government's Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) were also assessed. The initiative achieved significant producer engagement and collaboration resulting in practice change by 78 people from 35 businesses, managing more than 1 272 000 ha and 132 000 cattle. Carbon farming opportunities were identified that could improve both business performance and emissions intensity. However, these opportunities were not without significant risks, trade-offs and limitations particularly in relation to business scale, and uncertainty in carbon price and the response of soil and vegetation carbon sequestration to management. This paper discusses opportunities for reducing emissions, improving emission intensity and carbon sequestration, and outlines the approach taken to achieve beef business engagement and practice change. The paper concludes with some considerations for policy makers.


Disturbance observer (DOB), which is one of the key points of acceleration based motion control systems, guarantees robustness of a system by nominalizing real plant and suppressing external disturbances. Besides that, it can be used to estimate external forces/torques by identifying system uncertainties, and it is called as a reaction torque/force observer (RTOB/RFOB) in the literature. RTOB/RFOB has several superiorities over force sensors, and therefore, it has been widely used, specifically in the motion control area, in the last two decades. The main disadvantage of a RTOB/RFOB is that it is affected significantly by the identification of system uncertainties. However, there is no a clear report on the design constraints of RTOB/RFOB based force control systems. This paper shows that not only performance but also robustness and stability of a robust force control system are affected significantly by the identification errors in the design of RTOB/RFOB. A new design criterion which improves stability and performance of RTOB/RFOB based force control systems is proposed. RTOB/RFOB and force sensor based force control systems are compared and simulation results are given to show the validity of the proposed method.


textabstractAbstract
Assumptions applied in Orthodox Economic methods are criticised for being an
inadequate depiction of reality. This is particularly the case from the perspective of
Feminist Economics. Gender biases are reflected in the quantitative data sources and
methods commonly applied for economic research. These include male biases in
statistical data, a focus on outcomes rather than processes as well as the neglect of
reproductive work and its interaction with market work. To overcome these problems,
this paper introduces between-method triangulation, i.e. the combination of
quantitative and qualitative methods of data generation and analysis, as an innovative
and more realistic methodology to conduct gendered economic analysis.
It draws on the authors' recent empirical work on the Indonesian and Mauritian labour
markets where between-method triangulation was employed. The approach is shown
to be able to enhance empirical economic analysis by mutually validating results.
Furthermore, the approach is shown to remove gender biases in economic analysis by
analysing conflicting evidence and by complementing quantitative with qualitative
findings in light of feminist economics theory.


While there is a growing body of research examining the relatively "cold," cognitive decision-making components of showups, few attempts have been made to capture the "hot" affective components of showups that are thought to exacerbate the suggestiveness of the procedure. In 3 simulated-field experiments, we partnered with law enforcement to examine how participants who were led to believe they were involved in an actual criminal investigation (Field-simulation condition) differed from participants who knew they were not part of an actual investigation (Lab-simulation condition). We staged crimes for both conditions, but in the field-simulation condition, law enforcement personnel carried out mock investigations that culminated with a live showup. In Experiment 1 (N = 321), which did not include a culprit-present condition, the field-simulation condition increased innocent suspect identifications. The standard showup admonition decreased innocent suspect identifications, but only for dissimilar innocent suspects. Experiment 2 (N = 196) added a culprit-present condition and found that the field-simulation condition increased innocent suspect and culprit identifications to a similar extent. Experiment 3 (N = 367) replicated the findings of Experiment 2 and examined the impact of admonishing eyewitnesses that if they did not believe the suspect was the culprit, they might have additional opportunities to make an identification. Confidence-accuracy calibration analyses revealed that confidence discriminated accurate from inaccurate identifications in the field, but not in the lab; however, eyewitnesses who made identifications in the field were overconfident and across all levels of confidence were less likely to be correct than eyewitnesses who made identifications in the lab.


Following the collapse of the Soviet Union 10 years ago, the Russian Federation has undergone a radical social, political and economic transformation. This paper's focus is particularly on the consequences of this transformation for the natural environment. This is done by utilizing Beck's (Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity, London: Sage, 1992) concept of Risk Society to explore the interrelationships between managers, firms and communities in terms of transitions in capabilities, knowledge, trust, and even the very notion of community vis‐à‐vis pollution control and environmental protection. A qualitative study of managers in Russian manufacturing enterprises, environmental regulators and local communities, was undertaken in two provincial Oblasts in the Russian Federation, identifying a number of factors characteristic of Beck's (1992) treatise including 'risk culture', 'organized irresponsibility', 'individualization' and 'subpolitics'. In so doing a deeper understanding is developed of the impact of economic transition on the environment, indicating a different risk society trajectory to that predicted for the West. The implications for continued, in‐depth research in focusing on economies in transition are also discussed.


This concise hornbook focuses on the material covered in a typical law school course on civil procedure, tied to no one casebook. It breaks down the subject of civil procedure along the standard lines: a brief orientation; then a lengthier overview of the stages of litigation, followed by a close inspection of the major procedural problems (governing law, authority to adjudicate, former adjudication, and complex litigation); and finally some reflections in conclusion. It discusses specific problems and illustrations, with the aid of generously sprinkled diagrams and special text boxes. Special attention was given to fitting the civil procedure course's main points together to form the big picture, with each topic ending in a section on the "big idea" (separation of powers, vertical federalism, horizontal federalism, full faith and credit, or procedural due process) that the student is supposed to take from the topic.


Acquiring point clouds of indoor environments became increasingly accessible in recent years. However, the resulting 3D point cloud data is unstructured, and does not contain enough information to be useful for complex tasks like pathfinding. Indoor models which are currently derived from point clouds do not include furniture and stairs. The necessary graph to enable multi-storey pathfinding is not available in the point cloud. This thesis proposes a workflow to semantically enrich indoor point clouds using an octree data structure. Meaning is added to the point cloud scene that allows to act as a basis for a graph. This graph can then follow navigation constraints of humans through an indoor environment. The approach for semantic enrichment of this study is capable of separating storeys, detecting floors, walls, stairs and obstacles like furniture. Strict preconditions are used, like walls being perpendicular to each other and using noise free point clouds. The implementation works as a proof of concept and the octree proves to be a helpful data structure. The contribution is a novel approach of using octrees for the semantic enrichment of indoor point clouds, including the detection of stairs. Combining and extending different works from various fields of research helped to develop the presented methodology. The semantic classification of floors and stairs in 3D point clouds allows to create a graph across multiple storeys. A big part of the methodology was implemented and tested on different types of buildings and scanned with dissimilar kinds of laser scanners. Mobile scanners were found to be advantageous, because they are less dependent on the line of sight. On top of that, they can provide a path of the scanner, which is precious information that can support several structuring improvements of the acquired data. The octree generalises the point cloud to leafs and adds a structure to the empty space. This does not only improve the calculation performance, but also provides more distinguishable results. Concluding, the thesis proposes to extent the framework to cover a wider range of architectural structures. Furthermore, future research should deepen the knowledge for the stair detection of the presented conceptual framework. As the representation of stairs differ for every scanner, future research should focus on point clouds acquired by one kind of scanner first.


This research is a study case on PT. Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Limited), Tbk entitled ?Analysis Of CAMEL As A Means Of Measurement Of Storey;Level Health Of Bank. on PT. Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Limited) Tbk?. Purpose of this research is to know the health of Bank Rakyat Indonesia with regard to CAMEL ratio analysis, for period of 2001 to 2003. Result of this research shows that in general PT. Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Limited) Tbk has maximum credit value. On capital aspect assessed by CAR ratio, its value always exceeds CAR minimum limit determined by Bank Indonesia, thas is 8%. On asset aspect, Bank BRI tries to be selective and to increase its assets in order not to be included in problematic category. On management aspect which isn't it with NPM, from year to year always experience of degradation. This matter indicate that Bank BRI acquirement of Bank net profit of BRI less optimal. On earning aspect, bank BRI has ability to increaseits profit and performance. On liquidity aspect, it shows that funding of Bank BRI doesn?t depend on other banks. From result of CAMEL aspect calculation, as a whole it can be said that in general the health of PT. Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Limited) Tbk is in enough healthy condition. This can be seen from total credit value on 2004 by 75,71, on 2005 by 75,02 and on 2006 by 75,60. Keyword : ANALISIS CAMEL Link Terkait : http://skripsi.umm.ac.id/files/disk1/279/jiptummpp-gdl-s1-2008-mohamadver-13944-PENDAHUL-N.pdf


The only source for practical, real-world information on RF measurements for cellular phones and wireless data systems It is predicted that by the year 2010, all digital wireless communications equipmentincluding cellular, PCS, and 3G phones; wireless LANs; GPS navigation systems; and DBS TVwill have data transfer capabilities of over 1 Mbps. Now, as this significant turning point quickly approaches, this book presents everything industry professionals need to know about the Radio Frequency (RF) measurements and tests that must be made on this new generation of digital wireless communications equipment. Presenting just enough theory as is absolutely required for comprehension, RF Measurements for Cellular Phones and Wireless Data Systems: Provides a review of basic RF principles and terminology Describes RF measurement equipment, including signal generators, power meters, frequency meters, vector network analyzers, spectrum analyzers, and vector signal analyzers Explains the RF devices that are used in cellular phones and wireless data transmission equipmenthow they work, what their critical performance parameters are, how they're tested, and typical test results Illustrates the testing of RF devices and systems with digitally modulated signals that represent the voice, video, or data that the RF wave is carrying RF Measurements for Cellular Phones and Wireless Data Systems has been written to serve as the industry standard for RF measurements and testing. It is an indispensable resource for engineers, technicians, and managers involved in the construction, installation, or maintenance of cell phones and wireless data equipment.


We consider large matrices of low rank. We address the problem of recovering such matrices when most of the entries are unknown. Matrix completion finds applications in recommender systems. In this setting, the rows of the matrix may correspond to items and the columns may correspond to users. The known entries are the ratings given by users to some items. The aim is to predict the unobserved ratings. This problem is commonly stated in a constrained optimization framework. We follow an approach that exploits the geometry of the low-rank constraint to recast the problem as an unconstrained optimization problem on the Grassmann manifold. We then apply first- and second-order Riemannian trust-region methods to solve it. The cost of each iteration is linear in the number of known entries. Our methods, RTRMC 1 and 2, outperform state-of-the-art algorithms on a wide range of problem instances.


Eating is one of the most hard-wired and ubiquitous behaviours. Yet, we have only begun to map the neural circuits underlying its control. By sensing peripheral metabolic states via hormonal signals such as leptin, insulin, ghrelin and cholecystokinin, circuits composed of specific cell types either drive or suppress food intake. Homeostatic inhibitory neurons of the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus co-expressing agouti gene-related protein and neuropeptide Y coordinate hunger through divergent projections, while additional circuitry seems dedicated to hedonic feeding and the motivation to eat. In contrast, the vagus nerve delivers visceral information to broadly projecting neurons of the nucleus tractus solitarius to acutely suppress appetite. One of their downstream targets includes excitatory calcitonin gene-related peptide-expressing neurons of the parabrachial nucleus that project to the central amygdala. Distinct circuitry seems to regulate energy expenditure and body weight independent of feeding. Hence, the nervous system differentially stimulates and suppresses eating via a number of separate, neuroanatomically distributed and molecularly distinct circuits.

Key Concepts

Peripheral metabolic signals influence neurons either by circulating through the blood and passing from vasculature into the central nervous system or by acting on interoceptive sensory neurons of the vagus nerve.
Each peripheral metabolic signal has the potential to have widespread and coordinated effects on different neural populations.
Separable neural circuitry is dedicated to appetite stimulation versus appetite suppression.
Considering either the neural circuitry of appetite stimulation or suppression, there are a number of circuit-level mechanisms that likely interact and act in parallel.
Some neural circuits appear to affect energy expenditure independent of feeding.

Keywords:

eating;
feeding;
appetite;
circuit;
AgRP ;
POMC ;
vagus;
NTS;
PBN;
CeA


In the last ten years we witnessed a rapid development of alternative logical systems, called non-monotonic logics (Baral & Gelfond 1994; Apt & Bol 1994; Minker 1993)--which allow new axioms to retract existing theorems, and result to be more adequate for common-sense reasoning and modeling dynamic knowledge bases. One of the outcomes of research in the field of non-monotonic logics is represented by the development of a number of languages for knowledge modeling and manipulation. In particular, in the last couple of years a novelprogrammingparadigrn has arisen, called Answer Sets Programming (ASP) (Marek Truszczynski 1999; Niemela to appear), which builds on the mathematical foundations of logic programming and nonmonotonic reasoning. ASP offers novel and highly declarative solutions in a number of well-defined application areas, including intelligent agents, planning, and software modeling & verification. ASP currently benefits from solid and well-developed mathematical foundations, but its programruing aspects still require considerable research. In panicular, there is the need to (1) develop efficient implementations of inference engines for ASP, and (2) develop methodologies for software development in the ASP framework-i.e., methodologies for representing knowledge using the constructs offered by ASP. Indeed, many of the research teams involved in the development of ASP are currently investing considerable effort in these directions (Cholewinski, Marek, & Truszczynski 1996; Eiter et al. 1998; Niemela & Simons 1997; Lifschitz 1999). The goal of this project is to tackle some of these issues, using constraint solving and parallel processing technology. In particular, in this paper we present some preliminary ideas that have been used to address the first issue--i.e., improving performance of ASP engines--through the use parallelism.


This paper presents a method to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education through participation in a reduced gravity program with NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). Microgravity programs with NASA provide students with a unique opportunity to conduct scientific research with innovative and creative solutions through hands-on experimental design and testing in reduced gravity conditions. A group of undergraduate students from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, participated in the NASA's SEED (Systems Engineering Educational Discovery) Reduced Gravity Program, which focuses on addressing systems engineering challenges in microgravity. The team worked with a NASA Principal Investigator on a project to build and fly a prototype test article to demonstrate emergency atmospheric reentry with single-axis control. Through this experience, the team was able to gain hands-on experience with spacecraft instrumentation and learn valuable lessons in teamwork and systems engineering that can be applied to real-world situations. As part of the SEED program, the team shared its experience with local high schools in order to spark interest in STEM-related fields in the next generation of scientists and engineers.


We have proposed, analyzed, and demonstrated a high-isolation photonic microwave mixer using an integrated, dual-stage balanced-bridge Mach-Zehnder modulator. The proposed balanced photonic microwave mixer provides not only high isolation between radio frequency (RF) signal and local oscillator (LO) ports, but also excellent isolation between intermediate frequency (IF) and RF/LO ports without any filters. In this paper, the structure, principle, and operation settings are discussed in detail. Experimental results showed >60 dB electrical isolation between RF and LO ports and >50 dB isolation between IF and RF/LO ports in a demonstrative photonic microwave mixer. This device can extend the bandwidth of a modulator and have wide applications in RF photonic links where RF signal conversion and processing are required.


In this paper we explore the role of the static, selection and dynamic corporate governance changes on performance of commercial banks. We use stochastic cost frontier and panel data methods for an unbalanced panel data of Pakistani banks from 1991 to 2005. We find overall bank cost inefficiency of 36%, which has decreased at the rate of 5.7% per annum. Our results indicate that the static and dynamic corporate governance changes lead to different short-term and long-term efficiency trends, which assure that the short-term efficiency gains (losses) do not preclude the possibility of a reversal in the long-term trends. Our results show that privatization and government restructuring of state-owned banks lead to substantial short-term efficiency losses, but their performance generally improves over time when these banks adjust and adapt to the new competitive environment. Similarly, efficiency gains associated with M&As overwhelm the increasing pre-governance change X-inefficiency levels. Our results also predict that the banks selected forcorporate governance changes are expected to hold on to the X-inefficiency gains even in the near future. The paper thus enriches the line of studies in the corporate governance literature that could help policy makers engage in an informed decisionmaking to improve the efficiency of financial institutions.


: The creation and deployment of sex robots are accelerating. Sex robots are service robots that perform actions contributing directly towards improvement in the satisfaction of the sexual needs of a user. In this paper, we explore the potential use of these robots for elder and disabled care purposes, which is currently underexplored. In-deed,althougheveryhumanshouldbeabletoenjoyphysi- cal touch, intimacy, and sexual pleasure, persons with disabilities are often not in the position to fully experience the joys of life in the same manner as abled people. Similarly, older adults may have sexual needs that public healthcare tend to ignore as an essential part of their well-being. We develop a conceptual analysis of how sex robots could empower persons with disabilities and older adults to exercise their sexual rights, which are too often disregarded in society. Our contribution seeks to understand whether sex robots could serve as a step forward in enhancing the care of (mainly but not exclusively) persons with disabilities and older adults. By identifying the potential need to incorporate sex within the concept of care, and by exploring the use of robot technology to ease its materialization, we hope to inform the policy debate around the regulation of robots and set the scene for further research.


The scandals that have rocked the BBC have touched the corporation from top to bottom. As the revelations about Jimmy Savile unfold and shock the nation, people may reasonably ask what possible trust they can have in this incomparable national institution, once the embodiment of truth and moral excellence. This book asks a big question: can we still trust the BBC? Drawing on his earlier book, Can We Trust the BBC?, Robin Aitken, a BBC reporter and executive for 25 years, argues that these most recent controversies are rooted in longstanding lapses and shortcomings in the BBC's doctrine of impartiality. In the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal, he considers how 'public sector broadcasting' can survive now that public trust in the BBC has been jeopardized. This book blends analysis and sharp polemic to paint a vivid picture of life inside the news machine, as well as the Light Entertainment department, giving the reader unique insight into the context in which the scandals revealed in 2012 unfolded. Everything Robin Aitken prophesised in his original book has come true. His analysis at least is to be trusted.


Using the mobile phone to play games is very common today. The development is going forward, which has increased the demands from the users. Demands such as; increased visual appearance, faster feedback and improved interactive possibilities. To meet with these requirements a more powerful computer can facilitate the work for the mobile phone, for example rendering a game and sending the image data to the phone using wireless communication. The phone can then decode and display the image on its screen. The main object for this thesis is to implement a JPEG based decoder on Windows-based phones using C# and XNA 4.0. The decoder is based on an existing C++ implementation, which follows the JPEG standards. The need of an 8x8 matrix made the existing XNA matrix inapplicable, which lead to the use of own defined matrices instead. Even though it seemed promising, the matrices that were own defined were too slow and created a bottleneck in the decoding process. C# is not efficient at iterating through arrays with lots of data. An XNA based stream to decode the compressed image data made it possible to decode the image without using the matrices, and resolve the bottlenecks. The FromStream method is in some cases almost nine times faster than the own implementation, the bottlenecks are for the mostly found in the matrix calculations. When possible, use C++ when creating applications, it handles large amounts of data much faster than equal C# applications, unfortunately C++ will not work on all devices, such as Windows based phones.


One of the major challenges that the construction industry facing is how to improve the effectiveness and performance of construction projects which become more dynamic and uncertain. For this reason, more projects are adopting lean principles which focuses on collaboration and work flow reliability. Due to the limitations of current procurement practices including competitive bidding strategy and fixed price contracts, an innovative project delivery, so called integrated project delivery (IPD) or lean project delivery, has been adopted by project owners. However, most of public agencies have restrictions in choosing a project delivery. In fact, most procurement codes require public agencies to use competitive pricing and bidding, leading to difficulties in using IPD which encourages collaboration among project teams. In this paper, the researchers present the result of a survey aimed at investigating the benefits and restrictions experienced by project participants who have tried IPD or some principles of IPD in public projects. The research is expected to provide a practical view on the opportunities and challenges in applying IPD to their projects.


This document contains the table of contents, introduction, and a brief description of Christina Bohannan & Herbert Hovenkamp, Creation without Restraint: Promoting Liberty and Rivalry in Innovation (Oxford 2011).Promoting rivalry in innovation requires a fusion of legal policies drawn from patent, copyright, and antitrust law, as well as economics and other disciplines. Creation Without Restraint looks first at the relationship between markets and innovation, noting that innovation occurs most in moderately competitive markets and that small actors are more likely to be truly creative innovators. Then we examine the problem of connected and complementary relationships, a dominant feature of high technology markets. Interconnection requirements, technological compatibility requirements, standard setting, and the relationship between durable products and aftermarkets all involve interconnection, or "tying." Some see tying as inherently anticompetitive, while others view it as unexceptionally benign. In fact, bundling products or technologies is essential in high technology markets and most of it is socially beneficial, but possibilities of abuse nevertheless remain.Identifying good substantive legal rules for facilitating innovation is often very difficult. Two generations ago antitrust law addressed problems of complexity by shifting the focus to harm. The courts reasoned that they could often avoid unmanageable substantive doctrine by considering whether the plaintiff had suffered the appropriate kind of injury. Plaintiffs who are injured by more rather than less competition should be denied a remedy. In the case of patent and copyright law, the appropriate question is whether an infringer's conduct served to undermine the right holder's incentive to innovate, with incentives measured from before the innovation occurred. Some IP infringements do no harm to the incentive to innovate; others actually make the right more rather than less valuable. In these situations relief should be denied.Patent and copyright law are both in crisis today – major problems include overissuance, overly broad and ambiguously defined protections, and rules that permit both patentees and copyright holders to make broad claims on unforeseen innovations. The result has been that many patents are valueless, while others have very considerable value precisely because they enclose ideas or technologies that rightfully belong in the public domain. Patent law could be greatly improved if inventions were tied to real, nonobvious technology actually in the patentee's possession at the time its application was filed, and if patentees were obliged to give comprehensible and timely notice of their inventions. Copyright law would be greatly improved by an aggressive theory of harm that reduces the scope of the derivative works right and increases the scope of fair use. In Eldred the Supreme Court suggested that the First Amendment should not be an important copyright infringement defense because the Constitution's IP clause and the initial copyright act were passed "close in time," leading to an inference that Congress must have considered these concerns. But the original copyright act bears little resemblance to the expansive coverage granted by the current Act, passed almost two centuries later.Finally, we examine the role of both antitrust and intellectual property law in two areas, exclusionary practices and licensing arrangements among multiple firms. On the first, one of the most controversial practices is refusal to license, because compulsory licensing rules are so difficult to administer. Nevertheless, serious competition concerns arise when dominant firms acquire technologies from others mainly to shut them down without actually employing them. We also examine claims that innovation itself should be regarded as anticompetitive when it makes the technology of others incompatible with a dominant firm's technology.The size and diversity of the "innovation commons," or the vast area involving collaborative innovation and dissemination of IP rights, is driven mainly by the fact that IP rights are nonrivalrous. In addition, however, in some industries patents are worthless or have negative value. Pooling becomes a mechanism by which firms use private ordering to "back out" of an IP system that is unsuitable to their needs. By recognizing this fact the legal system can provide greater accommodation for much needed diversity in IP coverage.


Six regioisomers associated with the tricyclic core of thiaplakortones A–D have been synthesized. Reaction of 1H-indole-4,7-dione and 1-tosyl-1H-indole-4,7-dione with 2-aminoethanesulfinic acid afforded a regioisomeric series, which was subsequently deprotected and oxidized to yield the tricyclic core scaffolds present in the thiaplakortones. All compounds were fully characterized using NMR and MS data. A single crystal X-ray structure was obtained on one of the N-tosyl derivatives. All compounds were screened for in vitro antiplasmodial activity against chloroquine-sensitive (3D7) and multidrug-resistant (Dd2) Plasmodium falciparum parasite lines. Several analogues displayed potent inhibition of P. falciparum growth (IC50 < 500 nM) but only moderate selectivity for P. falciparum versus human neonatal foreskin fibroblast cells.


We create and test two novel network-based measures of interconnectedness in the financial industry during 1996 to 2013. A network based on informed trading in financial firms predicts firm-specific risk and performance, while one formed on financial firm returns predicts future macroeconomic risk. The measure of informed trading is robust to variable order arrival rates more common in modern algorithmic trading. A trading strategy based on informed trading network centrality in the financial sector delivers an annualized risk-adjusted return of 7.73%. This risk-adjusted return shows that the network centrality has an economic impact that is relevant beyond the statistical results of the paper.


Questions of cause and effect are critical to assessing the performance of programmes and projects. When it is not practical to design an experiment to assess performance, contribution analysis can provide credible assessments of cause and effect. Verifying the theory of change that the programme is based on, and paying attention to other factors that may influence the outcomes, provides reasonable evidence about the contribution being made by the programme.


In typical Opportunistic Networking (OppNets) scenarios, mobile devices collaborate to cooperatively disseminate data toward interested nodes. However, the limited resources and knowledge available at each node, compared to possibly vast amounts of data to be delivered, makes it difficult to devise efficient dissemination schemes. Recent solutions propose to use data dissemination algorithms built on human information processing schemes, modelled in cognitive sciences as Cognitive Heuristics. In general, they are methods used by the human brain to quickly assess relevance of information so to drop what is irrelevant. Recent solutions for data dissemination in OppNets based on these heuristics proved to be effective and efficient in terms of network overhead. However, to the best of our knowledge, none takes into consideration the structure of users' social relationships, which is known to determine movement patterns and thus contact opportunities between nodes. In this paper we propose a social-based data dissemination scheme, built on the Social Circle Heuristic (SCH). SCH exploits the structure of the social environment of users to infer the relevance of discovered information for the individual and their social communities. We compare the proposed scheme against state-of-the-art solutions based on non-social cognitive heuristics, both in terms of effectiveness (i.e., bringing messages to users that request it) and efficiency (i.e., doing so minimising the network traffic). We show that the scheme based on SCH significantly outperforms non-social cognitive schemes along both dimensions. In particular, the difference becomes more and more evident as scenarios becomes more and more dynamic. We finally show that in scenarios where new content is generated over time, the scheme based on SCH is the only one able to bring content to the interested users, while non-social schemes fail to do so while at the same time generating significant higher network traffic.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Background: There is considerable interest in whether genetic data can be used to improve standard cardiovascular disease risk calculators, as the latter are routinely used in clinical practice to manage preventative treatment. Methods: Using the UK Biobank resource, we developed our own polygenic risk score for coronary artery disease (CAD). We used an additional 60 000 UK Biobank individuals to develop an integrated risk tool (IRT) that combined our polygenic risk score with established risk tools (either the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology pooled cohort equations [PCE] or UK QRISK3), and we tested our IRT in an additional, independent set of 186 451 UK Biobank individuals. Results: The novel CAD polygenic risk score shows superior predictive power for CAD events, compared with other published polygenic risk scores, and is largely uncorrelated with PCE and QRISK3. When combined with PCE into an IRT, it has superior predictive accuracy. Overall, 10.4% of incident CAD cases were misclassified as low risk by PCE and correctly classified as high risk by the IRT, compared with 4.4% misclassified by the IRT and correctly classified by PCE. The overall net reclassification improvement for the IRT was 5.9% (95% CI, 4.7–7.0). When individuals were stratified into age-by-sex subgroups, the improvement was larger for all subgroups (range, 8.3%–15.4%), with the best performance in 40- to 54-year-old men (15.4% [95% CI, 11.6–19.3]). Comparable results were found using a different risk tool (QRISK3) and also a broader definition of cardiovascular disease. Use of the IRT is estimated to avoid up to 12 000 deaths in the United States over a 5-year period. Conclusions: An IRT that includes polygenic risk outperforms current risk stratification tools and offers greater opportunity for early interventions. Given the plummeting costs of genetic tests, future iterations of CAD risk tools would be enhanced with the addition of a person's polygenic risk.


Most research on international teaching assistants (ITAs) or international associate instructors (IAIs) focuses on their common challenges in foreign cultures, including their lack of English proficiency (Luo, Grady, & Bellows,, 2001; Spooner-Lane, Tangen, & Campbell, 2009) and insufficient vocabulary (Alberts, 2008). Research also suggests that accents, organization of class presentations, use of practical examples, ways of handling questions, and teacher confidence all have an impact on how their native speaking students perceived the quality and clarity of teaching (e.g., McCalman, 2007; Spooner-Lane et al., 2009). Studies have often concluded that international teachers generally needed to know more about their host country educational systems in order to display "appropriate" communication skills (Alberts, 2008; Luo et al., 2001), pedagogical skills (Luo et al., 2001; McCalman, 2007), and pedagogical content knowledge; and that students could do better to acknowledge the international perspectives of teachers (Alberts, 2008). Research-based recommendations include implications at the microlevel of instruction (e.g., self-assertive presentation, provision of handouts, and etc.) and the level of teacher development (e.g., supervision, hands-on workshops and microteaching) (e.g., Alberts, 2008). The above research on IAIs or ITAs, however, fails to recognize the importance of moral, emotional and spatial-temporal dimensions of how teachers maintain and negotiate their identities through narrative inquiry (e.g., Connelly & Clandinin, 1999). Williams (2007) research is exceptional in that he advocated exploring the ITAs' teacher identities in specific contexts using narrative research. He found that the ITAs adopted different roles and perspectives on teaching, needed to negotiate with their students, coped with cultural differences, and held different degrees of investment in teaching due to different career visions. Yet this important work only shows the ITAs' perceptions of their teacher roles in general rather than exploring the subtle nuances of each participant's teaching plots. The temporal and cultural aspects of teachers' identity become particularly important in cross-cultural encounters because "cultures do provide specific types of plots for adoption by their members in their configuration of self" (Phelan, 2000, p. 290). For instance, many scholars have observed that Asian students (e.g., Cortazzi & Jin, 1996; Hsieh, 2006; Yang, 1993), preservice teachers (e.g., Spooner-Lane et al., 2009; You & Jia, 2007), or teacher educators (e.g., Wang, 2004, 2006) have difficulty adjusting to the Western culture, most likely because of their collective culture (diligence, harmony, and respect for teachers) as juxtaposed to individualism (egalitarianism, self-assertion, and confrontation) (e.g., Scollon & Scollon, 1995). Scollon and Scollon (1999) also speculate on the Asian Confucian discourse (teachers as role models, virtue learning, written rhetorical appreciation, and learning for self-improvement or understanding) as juxtaposed to a Socratic one (teachers as midwifes, dialogic reasoning, oral argumentation training, and independent thinking). Although generalities, these value differences may lead Asian teachers to grapple internally with their own interpretations of silence, softness, cooperation and a sense of learning community, as well as externally with students' disrespect for teachers, entitlement for negotiation over grades, or lack of hard work. Yet pigeonholing the West and the East has been criticized for its essentialism (e.g., Kubota, 1999), and so recent narrative studies have attempted to unfold immigrant teachers' cross-cultural teaching stories (e.g., Guo, 2006; He, 2002a, b, c; Li, 2005; Wang, 2004, 2006). For instance, He (2002a, b, c) has described how she was acculturated to Western culture from China, recognized the differences between the Western culture she had imagined and the one she experienced, appreciated and questioned her native culture as she tried to be a part of the West, as well as being caught in-between cultures. …


In this article I will focus on how the situation of storytelling influences the nature of stories based on memories. More precisely, I will look at the texts that have been collected at the initiative of the researchers and stored in the archive. These are partly written life story accounts and partly oral recollections that have been written down. How do we define their genre? To what extent is it possible to study the interpretations of history from the folk--or any other perspective--through these texts? To what extent is it possible to explore the aspects of these texts that relate to reminiscing and storytelling? The research is based on material collected by the members or grant-aided students or scholars of three academic societies (The 1905 Society, Academic Historical Society and Estonian Literary Society) in the 1920s and 1930s, which are now stored in two collections of the cultural historical archives of the Estonian Literary Museum: the collection of the 1905 Society (f 172) and the collection of Historical Tradition (f 199 and 200). The texts under discussion have a common theme, the 1905 events in tsarist Russia on the Estonian territory, and are based on memories. When the collected materials were compared it became clear that the collectors of the stories had posed their questions in a similar way (how the events were remembered). But the general context of the interviews highlighted other aspects. In the first case, the emphasis was on the events in 1905, in the second case it was just one of many events to have happened over a couple of centuries. The roles that the interviewers assumed were also different: the collectors of historical tradition listened to what the storytellers themselves wanted to talk about on a given topic; those collecting memories on behalf of the 1905 Society presented a clear plan to their interviewees, telling them about what events they wanted to get information. The result was that the storytellers within the framework of historical tradition concentrated on the consequences of the events. The interviewees talked about what the people had experienced. The stories in the 1905 Society collection featured a first-person narrative and focused on mass meetings and the unrest. Two methods were used in collecting the memories: responding to written calls (collection of the 1905 Society) and fieldwork (both collections). Although the stories in the archive are written in both cases, the situation of storytelling is different depending on the method of collection. In the first case the respondent wrote his/her own account, following a questionnaire compiled by the researchers. In the second case the researcher put down a spoken conversation, editing it later for an archive. In editing three rules were followed: the contradictions in a storyteller's account were smoothed over, the events were put in a chronological order, and the isolated fragments of one and the same topic were combined in the written text. The storyteller's actual wording and style remained unchanged, and the first person was also retained. The genre of the texts created during the collection of memories is connected with the spoken or written form of the story. The wording of the source texts reveals that a memoir belongs to the genre of written text. During oral communication, the storyteller relied on memories, but did not call the retold story a memoir. "Life stories" can be written or spoken, but as a folk narrative genre they have been instigated by the researcher. During the practice of collecting memories a genre --a questionnaire--is created that is used for supervising written papers. Oral and written texts differ from each other not only because of their presentation, but also because of their comprehensibility: a text for reading requires a different composition than a recounted oral story. When the oral presentation is the basis for a sentence in the written archival text, certain aspects of storytelling can be studied (such as themes, points of view, or style), but not the structure of storytelling or the schemes of recalling. When the researcher's point of view is prevalent in creating the archival text, then we should, in the analysis of texts, look at the interconnections between the different points of view (academic and folk) rather than look for one or the other view of the past.


The lysozyme enzyme was immobilized on vitreous surface (fragments with diameters of 0.3 and 1.0 mm) for remediation of the microorganism Escherichia coli JM 109 into fresh water and saline solutions with 0.9% NaCl (w/v). Characterization of enzymatic film was carried out by infrared spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy techniques. Bactericide activity of the enzyme was evaluated by spectrophotometric analysis. It was verified that the enzymatic film was strongly coupled with the vitreous surface. The topographic analysis demonstrated that the deposited film was uniform and homogeneous. It was observed bactericide activity of film deposited on vitreous surface with 0.3 mm in fresh and saline solutions. This fact was not verified to vitreous fragments with 1.0 mm of diameter.


Background and Objectives: Cervical total disc replacement (TDR) is a novel dynamically stabilizing technique for the symptomatic cervical intervertebral segment. While the long-term effect of mainstream cervical nonconstrained artificial disc group (CNAD) does not match the theoretical effects of mobility preserving and neural decompression. The cervical semiconstrained elastic integrated artificial disc (CSID) may be a more reasonable design. However, beneficial or adverse effects of this design have not been measured and data for biomechanical effect are unavailable. The aim of this study is to assess the biomechanical effect of CSID on the segmental motion at implanted and adjacent levels. Methods: This study was supported by medical science developmental funding of Nanjing (20,000 dollars). Eight cadaveric C3–T1 specimens were loaded in flexion/extension (F/E), axial rotation (AR), and lateral bending (LB) with CSID, CNAD, and anterior fusion (AF) implanted at C5–C6 level alternatively. The range of motion (ROM), neutral zone (NZ), and elastic zone (EZ) at implanted and adjacent levels were measured. The mean values of parameters in the intact specimen group (INT), CSID group, CNAD group, and AF group were compared statistically (n = 8). Results: There was no significant difference of ROM, NZ, and EZ at implanted and adjacent levels between CSID and INT in F/E, AR, and LB (P > 0.05). CNAD caused a significant change of EZ in F/E and LB and ROM in LB at implanted level. Meantime, CNAD caused ROM increasing at adjacent levels (P < 0.05). AF caused the most significant changes of ROM, NZ, and EZ in F/E, AR and LB, compared to CSID and CNAD (P < 0.05). Conclusions: The semiconstrained elastic integrated design of cervical artificial disc may mimic of physiological disc's biomechanical effects on segmental kinematics at implanted and adjacent levels more closely, compared to nonconstrained discs and AF. CSID disc may reduce the acceleration of postTDR degeneration at the implanted and adjacent levels due to this promoted biomechanical performance. CSID disc could be a potential candidate for future cervical artificial intervertebral prosthesis studies.


Lost circulation is a complicated problem to be predicted with conventional statistical tools. As the drilling environment is getting more complicated nowadays, more advanced techniques such as artificial neural networks (ANNs) are required to help to estimate mud losses prior to drilling. The aim of this work is to estimate mud losses for induced fractures formations prior to drilling to assist the drilling personnel in preparing remedies for this problem prior to entering the losses zone. Once the severity of losses is known, the key drilling parameters can be adjusted to avoid or at least mitigate losses as a proactive approach.
 Lost circulation data were extracted from over 1500 wells drilled worldwide. The data were divided into three sets; training, validation, and testing datasets. 60% of the data are used for training, 20% for validation, and 20% for testing. Any ANN consists of the following layers, the input layer, hidden layer(s), and the output layer. A determination of the optimum number of hidden layers and the number of neurons in each hidden layer is required to have the best estimation, this is done using the mean square of error (MSE). A supervised ANNs was created for induced fractures formations. A decision was made to have one hidden layer in the network with ten neurons in the hidden layer. Since there are many training algorithms to choose from, it was necessary to choose the best algorithm for this specific data set. Ten different training algorithms were tested, the Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm was chosen since it gave the lowest MSE and it had the highest R-squared. The final results showed that the supervised ANN has the ability to predict lost circulation with an overall R-squared of 0.925 for induced fractures formations. This is a very good estimation that will help the drilling personnel prepare remedies before entering the losses zone as well as adjusting the key drilling parameters to avoid or at least mitigate losses as a proactive approach. This ANN can be used globally for any induced fractures formations that are suffering from the lost circulation problem to estimate mud losses.
 As the demand for energy increases, the drilling process is becoming more challenging. Thus, more advanced tools such as ANNs are required to better tackle these problems. The ANN built in this paper can be adapted to commercial software that predicts lost circulation for any induced fractures formations globally.


Abstract This study focuses on the progressive vs. non-progressive alternation to revisit the debate on the ENL-ESL-EFL continuum (i.e. whether native (ENL) and nonnative (ESL/EFL) Englishes are dichotomous types of English or form a gradient continuum). While progressive marking is traditionally studied independently of its unmarked counterpart, we examine (i) how the grammatical contexts of both constructions systematically affect speakers' constructional choices in ENL (American, British), ESL (Indian, Nigerian and Singaporean) and EFL (Finnish, French and Polish learner Englishes) and (ii) what light speakers' varying constructional choices bring to the continuum debate. Methodologically, we use a clustering technique to group together individual varieties of English (i.e. to identify similarities and differences between those varieties) based on linguistic contextual features such as AKTIONSART, ANIMACY, SEMANTIC DOMAIN (of aspect-bearing lexical verb), TENSE, MODALITY and VOICE to assess the validity of the ENL-ESL-EFL classification for our data. Then, we conduct a logistic regression analysis (based on lemmas observed in both progressive and non-progressive constructions) to explore how grammatical contexts influence speakers' constructional choices differently across English types. While, overall, our cluster analysis supports the ENL-ESL-EFL classification as a useful theoretical framework to explore cross-variety variation, the regression shows that, when we start digging into the specific linguistic contexts of (non-)progressive constructions, this classification does not systematically transpire in the data in a uniform manner. Ultimately, by including more than one statistical technique into their exploration of the continuum, scholars could avoid potential methodological biases.


The aftershocks of the 2008 financial crisis still reverberate throughout the globe. Markets are down, unemployment is up, and nations from Greece to Ireland find their very infrastructure on the brink of collapse. There is also a crisis in the management of global affairs, with the institutions of global governance challenged as never before, accompanied by conflicts ranging from Syria, to Iran, to Mali. Domestically, the bases for democratic legitimacy, social sustainability, and environmental adaptability are also changing. In this unique volume from the World Public Forum Dialogue of Civilizations and the Social Science Research Council, some of the world's greatest minds—from Nobel Prize winners to long-time activists—explore what the prolonged instability of the so-called Great Recession means for our traditional understanding of how governments can and should function. Through interviews that are sure to spark lively debate, 22 Ideas to Fix the World presents both analysis of past geopolitical events and possible solutions and predictions for the future. The book surveys issues relevant to the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Speaking from a variety of perspectives, including economic, social, developmental, and political, the discussions here increase our understanding of what's wrong with the world and how to get it right. Interviewees explore topics like the Arab Spring, the influence of international financial organizations, the possibilities for the growth of democracy, the acceleration of global warming, and how to develop enforceable standards for market and social regulation. These inspiring exchanges from some of our most sophisticated thinkers on world policy are honest, brief, and easily understood, presenting thought-provoking ideas in a clear and accessible manner that cuts through the academic jargon that too often obscures more than it reveals. 22 Ideas to Fix the World is living history in the finest sense—a lasting chronicle of the state of the global community today.


The evolution of multicellular animals required the development of epithelial tissues that function in controlling the transport of molecules from one environment to another. Collagen proteins are crucial to the formation of epithelial tissues, and are therefore critical in understanding the origins of multicellularity and Metazoa. We looked for collagen proteins in the recently sequenced Ctenophore Pleurobrachia bachei genome, using collagen sequences from both Homo sapiens and basal organisms as templates. We discovered that P. bachei has 7 distinct type IV collagen sequences along three genomic scaffolds. Two of these were aligned in an in-line pattern along the genome, while another two were aligned in a head-to-head fashion, indicating both traditional and inverted gene duplication events. Furthermore, collagen IV intra-genic investigations showed that P. bachei has a more diverse set of α-chains than Homo sapiens. In addition, we found 4 conserved collagen domain proteins which we were unable to assign to specific collagen families. Given recent evidence suggesting that Ctenophores are the most basal phyla of the Metazoans, our findings suggest that the common ancestor to all Metazoa contained a much more developed collagen profile than previously appreciated.