Introduction Coming from a third world University, though rated as one of the best in our clime, I count it an honour to be invited to this edition of the Oxford Round Table to rub minds with you on one of the crucial issues in the front burner of university education in the world today. Indeed, it is because I count it a great honour to be here that I was able to squeeze water out of rock to generate fund to attend this forum. Income in many African universities is meagre, and by extension, funding for this sort of academic intercourse is grossly inadequate [Osuntokun, A., 2006, p.16]. To add insult to injury, you are further depressed if you are a scholar of one of the disciplines in the liberal arts (say, Philosophy) considered by many in our shores, including colleagues in the sciences and professional studies as recondite. Liberal arts is perceived as a luxury and a troublesome and meddlesome academic endeavour because of the inquisitiveness and critical attitude of its practitioners; characteristics that, in other climes, endear Liberal Studies to humanity. These preambular statements may seem out of character, but they serve to illuminate one of the key points of this paper that deliberate under-funding arising fundamentally from ignorance which has considerably diminished the significance and contribution of liberal studies to society, whereas in point of fact, it (liberal studies) ought to be the animator, illuminator, guide and guard of science and mankind. It is to the task of calling attention to the need to liquidate ignorance and cultivate the intellect to capture the symbiotic relationship obtaining between liberal studies and science that this paper is directed. Accordingly, I begin by expressing my understanding of the concept of the university. I lay out the scholastic components of the university and the structural content of the two major cultures of liberal studies and science therein I highlight what I consider to be the responsibility of and the relationship between liberal studies and science, which ought to elicit fair and equal treatment of the two cultures. I connect the tension between the two cultures to the mind-body problem. And finally, I show that developments in cybernetics and parapsychology or psychical research have thrown new insights that attenuate the mind-body dichotomy, which, by extension, ought to ease out the tension between liberal studies and science. The Concept of the University Historically, the concept of the University developed from a humble beginning with the establishment of the Academy by Plato in the Olive grooves of Academicus on the outskirts of Athens (Greece) in the 4th Century B. C. In the Academy, Plato taught courses in all branches of Philosophy including Mathematics and studies of natural phenomena, "using observation and deductive reasoning as tools of analysis" (See Ajayi, J. F. A., 2001, pp. 1-2; Osuntokun, A., 2006, pp. 10-11). However, the culture of debate and critical enquiry amongst the Greeks started with curiosity and wonder about natural and social phenomena and about the meaning of concepts culminating in the birth of the Academy and the Lyceum, institutions in Ancient Greece historically acknowledged as precursors of modern universities. The pre-Socratics, [i.e. the Milesians, the Eleatics and the Sophists] all wondered aloud in the village square about the ultimate constitution of the universe, about the ultimate nature of things, about the nature of concepts and about the structure of the human society. They wondered about the fundamental building block of the universe, what constituted valid public information (knowledge) which can be stored and transmitted to generations and what constituted the bond that bound society together [Russell, B., 1979, pp. 44-48; Cf. Omoregbe, J. I., 2002, pp. 3-29]. Plato and Aristotle reasoned that the best way to immortalize the intellectual curiosities and wonders of the Athenians was to create the suitable ambience to formalise and integrate all forms of knowledge. …


Background Four months after the first known case of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on the 11th March 2020, the WHO declared the outbreak a pandemic and acknowledged the potential to overwhelm national healthcare systems. The high prevalence and associated healthcare, social and economic challenges of COVID-19 suggest this pandemic is likely to have a major impact on cancer management, and has been shown to potentially have worse outcomes in this cohort of vulnerable patients (1). This study aims to compare the outcomes of reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) confirmed COVID-19 positive disease in patients with or without a history of cancer. Method: We retrospectively collected clinical, pathological and radiological characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 RT-PCR positive cancer patients treated consecutively in four different North London hospitals (cohort A). Outcomes recorded included morbidity, mortality and length of hospital stay. All clinically relevant outcomes were then compared to consecutively admitted COVID-19 positive patients, without a history of cancer (cohort B), treated at the primary centre during the same time period (12th March- 7th April 2020). Results: A total of 52 electronic patient records during the study time period were reviewed. Cohort A (median age 76 years, 56% males) and cohort B (median age 58 years, 62% male) comprised of 26 patients each. With the exclusion of cancer, both had a median of 2 comorbidities. Within cohort A, the most frequent underlying cancer was colorectal (5/26) and prostate cancer (5/26), and 77% of patients in Cohort A had received previous anti-cancer therapy. The most common presenting symptoms were cough and pyrexia in both cohorts. Frequent laboratory findings included lymphopenia, anaemia and elevated CRP in both cohorts, whilst hypokalaemia, hypoalbuminaemia and hypoproteinaemia was predominantly seen amongst patients with cancer. Median duration of admission was 7 days in both cohorts. The mortality rate was the same in both cohorts (23%), with median age of mortality of 80 years. Of cancer patients who died, all were advanced stage, had been treated with palliative intent and had received anti-cancer therapy within 13 days of admission. Conclusion: Old age, late stage of cancer diagnosis and multiple co-morbidities adversely influence the outcome of patients with COVID-19 positive patients. Whilst extra caution is warranted in the administration of anti-cancer therapies pertaining to the risk of immune-suppression, this data does not demonstrate a higher risk to cancer patients compared to their non-cancer counterparts.


This chapter provides a cross-linguistic and multimodal study of some civil engineering zoomorphic metaphors in English and Spanish within a socio-cognitive and multimodal approach. This study thus aims to examine the interaction of multimodal (linguistic and visual) metaphoric and metonymic mappings (Forceville 2009, 2010) in some civil engineering zoomorphic examples. Principles from discourse analysis are applied (Semino 2008; Deignan 2005) by using contextualized and corpora-driven data. The results reveal lop-sided layers of metaphoricity merged with interacting metonymic patterns. In the cross-linguistic analysis, significant variations appear between English and Spanish which may respond to lexical aspects of meaning construction patterns as well as sociocultural differences (Kovecses 2008).


Multipotent neural progenitor cells (NPCs) generate the major cell types of the central nervous system (CNS): neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), including embryonic stem (ES) cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, can be directed to differentiate into NPCs using a variety of methods. This process, known as 'neural induction', must be efficient and reliable, in order to generate high-quality NPCs for downstream applications. Although neural induction of hPSCs using embryoid body (EB) formation allows for visual assessment of induction success via the formation of neural rosettes, the whole process can take anywhere between 16 and 19 days to get single-cell neural progenitor cells (NPCs). As a result, monolayer culture-based neural induction methods have recently gained popularity, since they enable single-cell NPCs to be obtained in as few as six days. Here we describe a procedure for neural induction using STEMdiff™ Neural Induction Medium in a monolayer


We report results of the performance test of GPUs obtained using the conjugate gradient (CG) algorithm for staggered fermions on the MILC fine lattice ($28^3 \times 96$). We use GPUs of nVIDIA GTX 295 model for the test. When we turn off the MPI communication and use only a single GPU, the performance is 35 giga flops in double precision, which corresponds to 47% of the peak. When we turn on the MPI communication and use multi-GPUs, the performance is reduced down to 12.3 giga flops. The data transfer through the infiniband network and PCI-E bus I/O is a main bottle neck. We suggest two potential solutions of how to optimize the data transfer.


Prices for wheat, corn, and other major field crops and for agricultural products like cattle and fluid milk have spiked several times during the past decade. How much of the increased food commodity input costs are passed through to retail food prices depends on a variety of factors, including the value added at each stage in the production process. A recent analysis by ERS researchers found that wholesale prices of beef and wheat flour generally track changes in farm prices for cattle and wheat; that is, a significant portion of farm price changes typically shows up in wholesale wheat flour and beef prices. Retail beef and bread prices, in contrast, have a more complicated and, oftentimes, less direct response to wholesale price changes. ERS researchers analyzed 1972-2008 price data for three stages of wheat and beef marketing—farm-level wheat and cattle, wholesale wheat flour and beef, and retail bread and beef—using a model that considered both the shortand long-term relationships between input and output prices. The researchers were especially interested in investigating differences in price response when farm prices were gradually changing versus times of more dramatic shifts. A number of differences in response behavior were found both between the two food items and among the different marketing stages. During 2000-2008, wholesale beef prices reflected an average of 53 percent of a typical change in cattle prices, while wholesale prices of wheat flour reflected, on average, 30 percent of the change in farm-level wheat prices. The cost pass-through from wholesale to retail was generally weaker than from farm to wholesale. Retail beef prices incorporated 19 to 29 percent of a typical change in wholesale beef prices, on average, from 2000 to 2008, while retail bread prices incorporated 16 to 21 percent of the change in wholesale wheat flour prices. The smaller pass-through rates for wheat f lour and bread ref lect the additional inputs used to produce a more processed item (a loaf of bread versus cuts of beef). The timing of the cost pass-through also varied at different marketing stages. For both beef and wheat flour, most of the change in response to farm prices was passed on to wholesale prices within the first month. In contrast, the speed of response for retail beef and bread prices depended upon the direction and size of wholesale price movements. When wholesale beef prices declined, retail prices generally exhibited most of the pass-through of wholesale price changes within 2 months. When wholesale wheat flour prices were decreasing or modestly increasing, retail bread prices showed most of their response after 2 to 4 months. However, when wholesale prices surged upward, retail beef and bread prices both showed the bulk of their response within the first month.


Studies of the bathymetric distribution of planktonic Foraminifera indicate that they are most abundant in the euphotic zone of the oceanic waters around Bermuda. Seasonal fluctuations in the relative and absolute abundances of 15 species have been observed from 106 plankton samples, showing a regular succession in the foraminiferal populations. Globorotalia hirsuta, G. truncatulinoides, Globigerina inflata, and G. bulloides were most abundant in winter and spring, when temperatures within the euphotic zone ranged between 18 degrees and 23 degrees C. and salinities varied between 34.40%. and 36.60%. Globorotalia menardii, Globigerinoides sacculifer, and G. conglobatus reached their maximum concentrations in summer and fall, when temperatures ranged between 23 degrees and 27 degrees C. and salinities between 36.10% and 36.40%. The oceanographic and paleoecologic implications of these observations are discussed for the northern Sargasso Sea.


Although a relatively new technology, three-dimensional ("3-D") printing has been pronounced an invention with "the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything." As personal 3-D printing becomes more prevalent, the possibilities are truly endless, limited only by the users' creativity. While this seemingly infinite potential is quite exciting, it also raises new legal questions: If individuals can 3-D print products, should they be held strictly liable for defective products that they manufacture and sell? And if not, what should be the scope of individual products liability? Drawing on the original rationale behind strict products liability, I explain that strict liability is not justified for individual sellers and manufacturers of defective 3-D printed products. Unlike commercial sellers, these individuals lack the expertise and resources to adequately inspect for and prevent defects in their products. Moreover, unlike their commercial counterparts, these individuals lack leverage over their buyers in price and warranty negotiations. Instead, I propose that these sellers should be afforded a "micro-seller" affirmative defense against a claim of strict products liability. Under this defense, the court will evaluate five factors to determine whether, in fairness, the seller should be subject to strict liability for the defective product. The micro-seller defense contemplates the modern marketplace of 3-D printed products and designs and addresses the policy inconsistencies resulting from personal 3-D printing. While it levels the legal landscape for sellers, the defense does not entirely eliminate recourse for consumers, who may still succeed on negligence or breach of warranty claims. 3-D printing offers immense opportunities for innovation and societal growth. In turn, the micro-seller affirmative defense strikes the balance between promoting such innovation and encouraging consumer safety.


Abstract This article offers a study of the Hackney Flashers' project Who's Holding the Baby? (1976–1978). The agitprop series documented the establishment of an independent nursery in North London, while providing analysis of the profoundly gendered and classed nature of such work. This historical example illustrates with striking accuracy transformations to the urban landscape of London over the past four decades, in particular pointing towards the critical entanglement between collective art practice, liberal voluntarism and processes of gentrification. The article therefore raises a set of problems: To what extent does feminised social reproduction labour and care voluntarism assuage or challenge the normative functioning of urban public space? What is the relationship of cultural to economic capital, and how is gender relevant to these forms of value? Has the potential of creative, urban protest tactics been exhausted? Drawing from writings across cultural geography and art history, the article proposes that a historical consideration of the Hackney Flashers opens up a pressing discussion around shifts in the organisation of social reproduction since the 1970s.


Activities of the oil and gas (O&G) industry directly influence the natural potentials of the ecosystem and human livelihood. In particular, the impacts of crude oil extraction grossly interfere with the daily economic life of man and the natural environment. This study evaluates people's perception of the implications of crude oil extraction on agriculture and people's livelihood in oil producing rural communities in Nigeria with particular focus on the Niger Delta region, an area where most onshore and offshore crude oil extractions are carried out. The bias in this study came from the fact that crude oil is mainly either extracted or transported across rural communities in the region through water routes and/or arable lands, the population here almost solely depends on natural resources – water and land – for their daily livelihood. Findings suggest that livelihood sources in the region are under evident direct threat of pollution and other impacts of the O&G industry. Results obtained from the descriptive analysis of 446 respondents indicate a perception of high impact of crude oil extraction on food prices (74.7%), food safety (60.5%), crop yield (48.2%) and animal production (28.3%). The results of the Ordered Probit regression analysis suggest that farmers and fishermen are more vulnerable or mostly affected by impacts of crude oil extraction in the region. The study thus opined that adequate mitigation of negative impacts of crude oil extraction would promote improved food safety, affordable food supply and improved household income in oil producing rural communities. Therefore, the O&G industry should intensify its commitments towards mitigating undesirable implications of exploration and extraction activities by O&G companies in the oil producing areas. In a bit to mitigate prevailing livelihood problems in the Niger Delta region, there is a need for O&G companies and government to provide necessary compensations, trainings and other support to help the rural people sustain their livelihood. In addition, all stakeholders in the O&G industry should collaborate with academic and research institutions to promote research in agriculture towards achieving improved food production and food safety in areas affected by impacts of crude oil extraction.


A Bluetooth scatternet is formed by sharing some nodes (bridges) among piconets in a time division multiplex basis. Effective coordination of these bridge nodes is crucial for the smooth operation of a scatternet. In this paper, a distributed, two-phase RP scheduling algorithm called Dichotomized Rendezvous Point algorithm (DRP) is presented to address this problem. DRP makes the assumption that a mesh scatternet is mainly S/S bridge based (with small amount of M/S bridges to connect masters at three hops). The scatternet configuration is further simplified to allow a bridge to be shared by only two piconets, which leads to an easily scalable solution for very large scatternets since the scatternetwide coordination problem can be avoided. A suboptimal RP schedule is generated at the scatternet formation time, while it is adjusted to improve the capacity of bridge nodes later on as per flow basis. The algorithm is implemented on our newly developed Bluetooth simulator under the ns-2 framework. The performance is obtained for various traffic conditions.


CONTEXT
Athletes are at an inherent risk for sustaining concussions. Research examining the long-term consequences of sport-related concussion has been inconsistent in demonstrating lingering neurocognitive decrements that may be associated with a previous history of concussion.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the relationship between concussion history and postconcussion neurocognitive performance and symptoms in collegiate athletes.

DESIGN
Repeated-measures design.

SETTING
Multi-center analysis of collegiate athletes.

PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS
Fifty-seven concussed collegiate athletes (36 without concussion history, 21 with a history of 2 or more concussions).

INTERVENTION(S)
All subjects were administered an Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) neurocognitive test battery, which measures verbal memory, visual memory, reaction time, and visual processing speed and 22 concussion symptoms.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S)
Subjects who sustained a concussion were administered 2 follow-up tests at days 1 and 5 postinjury. Independent variables were history of concussion (no history of concussion, 2 or more concussions) and time (baseline, day 1 postconcussion, or day 5 postconcussion).

RESULTS
A within-subjects effect (time) on ImPACT performance (P < .001), a between-subjects multivariate effect of group (P < .001), and a group-by-time interaction (P = .034) were noted. Athletes with a concussion history performed significantly worse on verbal memory (P = .01) and reaction time (P = .023) at day 5 postconcussion compared with athletes who did not report a previous concussion. No significant group differences were seen at day 5 postinjury on visual memory (P = .167), processing speed (P = .179), or total concussion symptoms (P = .87).

CONCLUSIONS
Concussed collegiate athletes with a history of 2 or more concussions took longer to recover verbal memory and reaction time than athletes without a history of concussion.


ABSTRACT The theoretical framework of this study is based on the prevalent debate of whether prosodic processing is influenced by higher level linguistic-specific circuits or reflects lower level encoding of physical properties. Using the dichotic listening technique, the study investigates the hemispheric processing of Japanese pitch accent by native Japanese listeners and two groups of nonnative listeners with no prior pitch accent experience but differing in their native language experience with linguistic pitch: native listeners of Mandarin (a tone language with higher linguistic functional use of pitch) and native listeners of English (a stress language with lower functional use of pitch). The overall results reveal that, for both native and nonnative listeners, the processing of Japanese pitch accent is less lateralized (compared to lexical tone processing, which has been found to be a left hemisphere property). However, detailed analysis with individual pitch accents across groups shows a right hemisphere preference for processing the high–accent–low (H*L) pattern, a left hemisphere preference for LH*, and no hemisphere dominance for LH, indicating a significant reliance on the acoustic cues. These patterns are particularly prominent with the English listeners who are least experienced with linguistic pitch. Together, the findings suggest an interplay of linguistic and acoustic aspects in the processing of Japanese pitch accent by native and nonnative listeners.


One of the most prominent Southern newspaper editors of his era, Hodding Carter, Jr., crusaded against Louisiana politician Huey Long and racial discrimination. A recipient of a 1946 Pulitzer Prize for his journalism, Carter also distinguished himself as a writer, earning a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1945 and publishing numerous books of history, biography, fiction, and poetry.


The aims of this article are to describe the fundamental connection between State government, counties and municipalities and to expose peculiarities of interaction of State government subjects and Local Self-government institutions. The survey method is grounded on the systemic research and analysis of the Lithuanian legal acts: Law on the Local Self-government, Law on the Governing of the County and Law on the Regional Development. The main conclusions of the article are following: a) the objects, functions and responsibility of Regional institutions and Counties are separated by legal acts, but in fact Regional institutions and Counties are indivisible unit; b) in reality municipalities become subordinate to the State government and restraint from Self-government institutions appreciable by limited liberty of decision making and finance resources, and intensive state inspection of procedures; c) there is not fully realized principle of decentralization. In the future State government system and Local Self-government reforms could take the way of self-governmental regions making and the power, functions and decision making competence of municipalities could be extended.


Autostereoscopic 3D displays using static parallax barrier or lenticular lens are commercially available in these days. In these methods, however, the number of viewpoints is fixed at the time of manufacturing. Active parallax barrier [Perlin, 2000] and dynamic parallax barrier [Peterka, 2008] have been proposed to improve the resolution and number of viewpoints by moving the position of the parallax barriers. To implement an autostereoscopic display, with dynamic parallax barriers, dual-layered LCD panel is a common approach as is mentioned by [Hirsch, 2010]. And a method of optimizing the parallax barriers [Lanman, 2010] has been proposed to represent more perceptually-acceptable imagery. Remaining limitations of the dual-layered LCD method are the refresh rate and brightness of the LCD panel. Commonly used high-speed LCD has 120Hz in refresh rate and around 500cd/m2 in brightness so that conventional systems did not have enough quality to be used in public. To solve this problem, we propose an adaptive parallax autostereoscopic display composed of a high-density/high-frequency LED panel and a high-speed/high-contrast LCD panel.


'In 27 July 1997, " Thailand market crashes" this was quoted in the New
Straits Times. The paper reported that the crash in 1JJaiJand has ca.used panic to
foreign fund managers in the ASEAN region. Paul Sager, one of the Investment
Manager ca/ls, Datuk Goh requesting some insight as to the recent turmoil happening
in the region. "We are getting jittery and the sentiment seems to be fear of a domino
effect on the local KLSE" said Paul. "There were reports by large hedge fund managers
speculating that there are fundamental weakness in ASEAN and Malaysian economy"
adds Paul. Datuk Goh asked Paul's opinion how he and the rest of the fund manager
view the Malaysian economy. Paul Sager indicated that the region would be heading
for a tough time as the foreign investment community feels there are fundamental
weakness especially in the financial system which have yet to be rectified. There were
heavy selling on Malaysian currency causing the exchange rates to be devalued by at
least 60% as concerns on the Malaysian property sector bursting. There are worries of
the Malaysian economy overheating" explains Paul. Paul suggested to Datuk Goh
whether he has any plans to to cope with the impending pressures.
1JJe next morning on the 28 July 1997, Datuk called for an emergency Board meeting
to discuss on the report he receives. Datuk Goh was especially interested with the
figures relating to the loans made to large conglomerates, which have heavy interests
in properties. He also wanted to know the actual loans made and the details of the any substantial project the banks are involved directly or jointly finance.
Neoh Choo Kean the General Manager of the Bank, reported that BHl Bank has no
large loans more than 10 million exposures to any one corporate and they have always
finance projects that are near Klang Valley and Urban 81'Cas. Datuk Goh was also
interested in the exposure on sh81'C financing. Datuk directed Mr. Neoh to cut down on
the lending and imposed on other forms of collateral.
"There is need for a clear direction and evaluate our strengths and weakness for us to
understand what the chal1enges facing our bank and industry Said Datuk Goh after
the reporting. "BHL Bank needs to chart its path clearly and this requires participation
by the top management and every employee of the bank. Continue Datuk Goh.
independent consultant to be appointed analyzing BHL Banks current situation and
identify the possible alternatives as to how best BHL Bank to grow in the board
meeting." mooted Datuk The meeting was adjourned On the 5th December 1997,
after a detail screening process, the Board decided to engage Mr. Joshua lim as the
independent consultant.
On 15th January 1998, Bank Negara Malaysia announced that there was three
financial institution needing re-capitalization. It was also reported that Sime Bank had
suffered RM1.18 billion. On the 2nd February 1998, Bank Negara identified anchor
companies for consolidation of the finance companies quoted the Investor Digest
February issue. It was reported in that issued Bank Negara Directives was for the
finance companies to merger in view of the crisis hitting the banking sector. With an
environment of tight liquidity, the banks have to form larger and stronger finance companies. "Said the editor of the Investor Digest February's issue.
On the 20th Febrary 1998, Datuk Goh summon Joshua Lim and asked me to begin
work immediately taking into account the current scenario and come out with a
strategic paper for the Bank. Chairman directives was to study the feasibility of these
alternatives and select the best option available to the bank taking into consideration of the
internal and external factors surrounding BHL Bank.


In Australia, two former federal health ministers who served in conservative governments, other senior public figures, and leading health experts have put their names to a new report calling for an end to prohibitionist drug policies.

The report was released this week by not for profit think tank Australia21. It arose out of a round table meeting held earlier this year in response to a 2011 statement by the Global Commission on drug policy urging all countries to revisit their drug policies in view of the failure of the "war on drugs."

The report calls on governments to explore alternatives to prohibition and says: "By maintaining prohibition and suppressing or avoiding debate about its costs and benefits, it can be argued justifiably that our governments and other community leaders are standing idly by while our children …


Previous studies have shown that intermediate magnitude of surface tension has a counterintuitive destabilizing effect on two-phase planar jets. In the present study, the transition process in confined two-dimensional jets of two fluids with varying viscosity ratio is investigated using direct numerical simulations (DNSs). The outer fluid coflow velocity is 17% of that of the central jet. Neutral curves for the appearance of persistent oscillations are found by recording the norm of the velocity residuals in DNS for over 1000 nondimensional time units or until the signal has reached a constant level in a logarithmic scale, either a converged steady state or a "statistically steady" oscillatory state. Oscillatory final states are found for all viscosity ratios ranging from 10−1 to 10. For uniform viscosity (m=1), the first bifurcation is through a surface-tension-driven global instability. On the other hand, for low viscosity of the outer fluid, there is a mode competition between a steady asymmetric Coanda-type attachment mode and the surface-tension-induced mode. At moderate surface tension, the first bifurcation is through the Coanda-type attachment, which eventually triggers time-dependent convective bursts. At high surface tension, the first bifurcation is through the surface-tension-dominated mode. For high viscosity of the outer fluid, persistent oscillations appear due to a strong convective instability, although it is shown that absolute instability may be possible at even higher viscosity ratios. Finally, we show that the jet is still convectively and absolutely unstable far from the inlet when the shear profile is nearly constant. Comparing this situation to a parallel Couette flow (without inflection points), we show that in both flows, a hidden interfacial mode brought out by surface tension becomes temporally and absolutely unstable in an intermediate Weber and Reynolds regime. By an energy analysis of the Couette flow case, we show that surface tension, although dissipative, can induce a velocity field near the interface that extracts energy from the flow through a viscous mechanism. This study highlights the rich dynamics of immiscible planar uniform-density jets, where different self-sustained and convective mechanisms compete and the nature of the instability depends on the exact parameter values.


Throughout history, we have selected and manipulated the genomes of plants, animals, and even ourselves. Until now, however, such control could be exerted only at the level of the entire organism. Scientific and technological advances now allow us to manipulate genomes directly at the level of single genes and their constituents, with a speed and precision that far exceed what natural evolution has been able to achieve over the past 3.5 billion years. These advances open new possibilities for medicine, biotechnology, and society as a whole. We already have in vitro fertilization and animal cloning; in the future human cloning and the exploitation of embryonic stem cells, among other capabilities, may be routine. At the same time, we are developing machines that will surpass the human brain in raw computing power and building an interconnected world of information-processing devices that makes science fiction pale in comparison. In this book Baldi explores what it is about these phenomena that makes us so uneasy -- the shattering of the human self as we know it. Through evolution our brains have been wired to provide us with an inner sense of self, a feeling that each of us is a unique individual delimited by precise boundaries. We have also been wired to reproduce ourselves in a certain way. Baldi argues that this self-centered view of the world is scientifically wrong. Its past success lies in its being an adequate model during our evolutionary bootstrapping: a world without molecular biotechnology, human cloning, and the Internet. Eventually we must come to terms with the fact that genomes, computations, and mind are fluid, continuous entities, in both space and time. The boundary between the self and the world has begun to blur and ultimately may evaporate entirely. Baldi offers not predictions but an open-eyed exploration of our current state of knowledge and the possibilities that lie ahead.


In Arctic alpine regions, glacio‐lacustrine environments respond sensitively to variations in climate conditions, impacting, for example,glacier extent and rendering former ice‐contact lakes into ice distal lakes and vice versa. Lakefloors may hold morphological records of past glacier extent, but remoteness and long periods of ice cover on such lakes make acquisition of high‐resolution bathymetric datasets challenging. Lake Tarfala and Kebnepakte Glacier, located in the Kebnekaise mountains, northern Sweden, comprise a small, dynamic glacio‐lacustrine system holding a climate archive that is not well studied. Using an autonomous surface vessel, a high‐resolution bathymetric dataset for Lake Tarfala was acquired in 2016, from which previously undiscovered end moraines and a potential grounding line feature were identified. For Kebnepakte Glacier, structure‐from‐motion photogrammetry was used to reconstruct its shape from photographs taken in 1910 and 1945. Combining these methods connects the glacial landform record identified at the lakefloor with the centennial‐scale dynamic behaviour of Kebnepakte Glacier. During its maximum 20th century extent, attained c. 1910, Kebnepakte Glacier reached far into Lake Tarfala, but had retreated onto land by 1945, at an average of 7.9 m year–1. Copyright © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In this essay, contrary to popular belief, it is argued on the basis of transaction cost economics that consumers will become dependent subcontractors in electronic markets. Consumers invest time and effort building up a relationship with a producer, (r)e-tailer, or intermediary—an investment that is idiosyncratic. The intermediary only needs to invest in generic assets that enable him or her to automate the process of collecting and processing customer information needed to differentiate products and discriminate prices. As subcontractors, consumers face high switching costs and are thus dependent on intermediaries. Virtual communities of consumers that organize countervailing power will not mitigate this tendency.


This chapter looks at the debates surrounding the reform of the German spelling system that took place from the early 1990s through to 2006. Given Germany's federal system of government such changes, although proposed by a Government appointed Commission, had to be debated, and enacted by each individual State. During the course of this process a great deal of controversy was generated both in the media and in protests by the general public, and by the refusal of some leading newspapers and publishers to adopt the reformed spelling/orthographic principles. The debates speak to the newly discovered awareness of the importance of the visual character of language as a tangible token of language identity, and to the depth of the ideological issues that language matters evoke.


This study quantifies acoustic variation of vowel nasalization arising from phonetic context in American English with an emphasis on carryover contexts. While qualitative articulatory trajectories and phonetic descriptions suggest that a vowel is nasalized in carryover contexts, few acoustic studies have examined this issue. Our acoustic analyses investigate the vowel /i/ and show that: (1) a vowel can be nasalized with at least one adjacent nasal consonant, even if the nasal consonant is pre-vocalic; (2) vowels with nasal consonants on both sides (NVN) do not guarantee more vowel nasalization.


The purpose of this thesis was to explore why there are so few young Indigenous people from remote communities in Central Australia pursuing and completing a teacher education pathway. This problem is explored primarily through listening to the experiences of remote Indigenous teachers, including the barriers and supports they encountered in becoming qualified teachers themselves. The stories of the teachers are set against the historical, political and policy context of remote Indigenous teacher education in Australia with particular reference to the Northern Territory. The study was conducted using a qualitative methodology, specifically narrative methodology. The intention of the researcher and teacher participants was to inhabit a Post-Colonial Knowledge space where the process of doing the research work together was equally as important as the research outcomes. What emerged was a generative research method, named here as 'participatory narrative'. This new method generated specific insights into how to do research together in 'good faith'. The method itself used a collective analysis process drawing on the teacher narratives. The thematic findings from this collective analysis were then further explored through theoretical and philosophical lenses with a specific consideration of the colonial legacy in Australia and the neo colonial reality. The research concludes that if we are to responsibly encourage young Indigenous people from remote communities into teacher education pathways then teacher education itself needs to move into a Post-Colonial Knowledge space. The thesis concludes with a proposed framework for conducting teacher education within this kind of knowledge space.


Task graph scheduling on multiprocessor systems is a representative multiprocessor scheduling problem. A solution to this problem consists of the mapping of tasks to processors and the scheduling of tasks on each processor. Optimal solution can be obtained by exploring the entire design space of all possible mapping and scheduling choices. Since the problem is NP-hard, scalability becomes the main concern in solving the problem optimally. In this paper, a SAT-based optimization framework is proposed to address this problem, in which SAT solver is enhanced by integrating with a scheduling analysis tool in a branch and bound manner to prune the solution space efficiently. Performance evaluation results show that our technique has average performance improvement in more than an order of magnitude compared to state-of-the-art techniques. We further build a cycle-accurate network-on-chip simulator based on SystemC to verify the effectiveness of the proposed technique on realistic multiprocessor systems.


[1] We describe a new methodology for comparing satellite radiation budget data with a numerical weather prediction (NWP) model. This is applied to data from the Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) instrument on Meteosat-8. The methodology brings together, in near-real time, GERB broadband shortwave and longwave fluxes with simulations based on analyses produced by the Met Office global NWP model. Results for the period May 2003 to February 2005 illustrate the progressive improvements in the data products as various initial problems were resolved. In most areas the comparisons reveal systematic errors in the model's representation of surface properties and clouds, which are discussed elsewhere. However, for clear-sky regions over the oceans the model simulations are believed to be sufficiently accurate to allow the quality of the GERB fluxes themselves to be assessed and any changes in time of the performance of the instrument to be identified. Using model and radiosonde profiles of temperature and humidity as input to a single-column version of the model's radiation code, we conduct sensitivity experiments which provide estimates of the expected model errors over the ocean of about ±5–10 W m−2 in clear-sky outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and ±0.01 in clear-sky albedo. For the more recent data the differences between the observed and modeled OLR and albedo are well within these error estimates. The close agreement between the observed and modeled values, particularly for the most recent period, illustrates the value of the methodology. It also contributes to the validation of the GERB products and increases confidence in the quality of the data, prior to their release.


This paper investigates the barriers to innovation perceived by Polish manufacturing firms. It refers to the heterogeneity of innovation active firms. We introduce a taxonomy of innovative firms based on the frequency with which they introduce commercialised innovations using data from both CIS4 (for 2002-2004) and CIS5 (2004-2006). Two groups of innovation-active firms are distinguished: those which introduced innovation in both periods covered by both CIS (which we call persistent innovators) and those which introduced innovation either in CIS4 or CIS5 (which we call occasional innovators). We use a four step analysis covering binary correlations, Principal Component Analysis, probit model and correlations of disturbances. Two types of explanatory variables describing firms' characteristics and innovation inputs used are considered. The paper shows that there are considerable differences in sensitivities to the perception of innovation barriers and in complementarities among barriers between persistent and occasional innovators. In the case of occasional innovators, a kind of innovation barrier chain is observed. This has an impact on differences in the frequency of innovation activities between the two groups of innovators and results in a diversification of innovators.


A potentiometric sensing system for the sensitive and selective detection of methyl parathion (MP) is described in this paper. The system is based on a degrading bacterium Klebsiella sp. MP-6 as recognition element and a polymeric membrane anion-sensitive electrode as a transducer. Klebsiella sp. MP-6 can be isolated from long-term organophosphorus pesticide contaminated soils, which is capable of biodegrading MP to produce p-nitrophenol. The product can be deprotonated under basic conditions and thus detected by using the anion exchanger based membrane electrode. The bioreactor is prepared by packing the bacterial cells between two polyether sulfone membranes placed in a holder. Molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction using the MP imprinted polymer as a sorbent enables accumulation and separation of MP from real samples. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the potential response of the biosensing system is linear with the MP concentration in the range of 5–100 nM. The detection limit is 1 nM. The electrode exhibits an excellent selectivity towards other organophosphorus pesticides. The sensing system has been evaluated with spiked water samples and shows good recovery and high accuracy. This methodology is promising to develop potentiometric sensors for detecting organophosphorus pesticides at trace levels in the environment.


The cross-sensitivity of chemical sensors for several metal ions resembles in a way the overlapping sen- sitivity of some biological sensors, like the optical colour receptors of human retinal cone cells. While it is difficult to assign crisp classification values to measurands based on complex overlapping sensory signals, fuzzy logic offers a possibility to mathematically model such systems. Current work goes into the direction of mixed heavy metal solutions and the combination of fuzzy logic with heavy metal-sensitive, silicon-based chemical sensors for training scenarios of arbitrary sensor/probe combinations in terms of an electronic tongue. Heavy metals play an important role in environmental analysis. As trace elements as well as water impurities released from industrial processes they occur in the environment. In this work, the development of a new fuzzy logic method based on potentiometric measurements performed with three different miniaturised chalcogenide glass sensors in different heavy metal solutions will be presented. The critical validation of the developed fuzzy logic program will be demonstrated by means of measurements in unknown single- and multi-component heavy metal solutions. Limitations of this program and a comparison between calculated and expected values in terms of analyte composition and heavy metal ion concentration will be shown and discussed.


The International Exhibition of Industry, Science and Art held in Edinburgh in 1886 was the first universal international exhibition to be staged in Scotland. This thesis examines the event as a reflection of the character and social structure of its host city and as an example of the voluntary organisation of an ambitious project. The background to the Exhibition is located in the progress of large-scale exhibitions in Victorian Britain, in competition between cities, and in Edinburgh's distinction as an administrative and cultural centre and a national capital. The Exhibition's organisers are situated within the city's networks of power and influence and its circles of commerce, industry and municipal government. The space created to host the Exhibition is examined as an ideal depiction of Edinburgh as both a modern and a historic city. The origins of the exhibitors populating the Exhibition space are analysed, and their motivations and exhibiting strategies are scrutinised. The composition of the visitors to the Exhibition is considered and the development of the event as a venue for popular entertainment and spectacular display is discussed. In conclusion the chaotic aftermath of the project is examined, together with its influence on subsequent British


When enterprises deploy multiple firewalls, a packet may be examined by different sets of firewalls. It has been observed that the resulting complex firewall network is highly error prone and causes serious security holes. Hence, automated solutions are needed in order to check its correctness. In this paper, we propose a formal and automatic method for checking whether multiple firewalls react correctly with respect to a security policy given in a high level declarative language. When errors are detected, some useful feedback is returned in order to correct the firewall configurations. Furthermore, we propose a priority-based approach to ensure that no incoherencies exist within the security policy. We show that our method is both correct and complete. Finally, it has been implemented in a prototype of verifier based on a satisfiability solver modulo theories. Experiment conducted on relevant case studies demonstrates the efficiency of our approach.


In this book, sociologist William I. Robinson offers a theory of globalization that follows the rise of a new capitalist class and a transnational state. Growing beyond national boundaries, this new class comprises a global system in which Japanese capitalists are just as comfortable investing in Latin America as North Americans are in Southeast Asia. Their development of global, interconnected industries and businesses make them drivers of world capitalism. Robinson explains how global capital mobility has allowed capital to reorganize production worldwide in accordance with a whole range of considerations that allow for maximizing profit making opportunities. As a result, production systems that were once located in a single country have been fragmented and integrated externally into new globalized circuits of accumulation. What this means, however, is not simply that factories are located overseas where labor might be cheaper, but rather that the whole production process is broken down into smaller parts and each of those parts moved to a different country, depending on where investment might be highest. Yet at the same time, this worldwide decentralization and fragmentation of the production process has taken place alongside the centralization of command and control of the global economy in transnational capital. In turn, this economic organization finds a political counterpart in the rise of a transnational state. The leaders of global businesses and industries think about themselves and how they live in new ways. Hegemony in the twenty-first century, Robinson argues, will be exercised not by a particular nation-state but by this new global ruling class through the machinery of this transnational state. Robinson observes, for example, that global elites, regardless of their nationality, increasingly tend to share similar lifestyles and interact through expanding networks of the transnational state. Globalization is in this way unifying the world into a single mode of production and a single global system and bringing about the integration of different countries and regions into a new global economy and society. But the new global capitalism is rife with contradictions, such as the growing rift between the global rich and the global poor, concludes Robinson. The twenty-first century is likely to harbor ongoing conflicts and disputes for control between the new transnational ruling group and the expanding ranks of the poor and the marginalized. Sure to stir controversy and debate, A Theory of Global Capitalism will be of interest to sociologists and economists alike.


The mechanical-biological waste treatment plants (MBTP), which include the municipal waste biogas plants, have an important role in sustainable urban development. Some plants are equipped with a sewage pre-treatment plant, which is then directed to the sewerage system and the treatment plant. Others, on the other hand, have only a non-drainage tank. The parameters of technological sewage (TS) or processing technology could reduce sewage contamination rates. In addition to the quality of sewage from waste treatment plants, the emission of odours is also an important problem, as evidenced by the results obtained over the sewage pumping station tank. The conducted statistical analysis shows a significant positive correlation between odour concentration (cod) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Analysing the individual compounds, a high positive correlation was also found—the strongest being between H2S, NH3 and VOCs. In the case of sewage compounds, the insignificant correlation between P total and other parameters was found. For the rest of the compounds, the highest positive correlation was found between COD and BOD and N-NO2 and N-NH3 as well as COD and N-NO2. The dilution of sewage is only an ad hoc solution to the problem. Further work should be aimed at reducing sewage pollution rates. The obtained results indicate large pollution of technological sewage and a high level of odour and odorants concentration. The novelty and scientific contribution presented in the paper are related to analyses of various factors on technological sewage parameters and odour and odorant emission from TS tank at biogas plant processing municipal waste, which may be an important source of knowledge on the management of TS, its disposal and minimisation of emitted compound emissions.


The D-Wave adiabatic quantum annealer solves hard combinatorial optimization problems leveraging quantum physics. The newest version features over 1000 qubits and was released in August 2015. We were given access to such a machine, currently hosted at NASA Ames Research Center in California, to explore the potential for hard optimization problems that arise in the context of databases.

In this paper, we tackle the problem of multiple query optimization (MQO). We show how an MQO problem instance can be transformed into a mathematical formula that complies with the restrictive input format accepted by the quantum annealer. This formula is translated into weights on and between qubits such that the configuration minimizing the input formula can be found via a process called adiabatic quantum annealing. We analyze the asymptotic growth rate of the number of required qubits in the MQO problem dimensions as the number of qubits is currently the main factor restricting applicability. We experimentally compare the performance of the quantum annealer against other MQO algorithms executed on a traditional computer. While the problem sizes that can be treated are currently limited, we already find a class of problem instances where the quantum annealer is three orders of magnitude faster than other approaches.


I. 1 This test method covers the quantitative determination of barium, boron, calcium, copper, magnesium, phosphorus, sulfur, and zinc in unused lubricating oils and additive packages. 1.2 The precision statements are valid for dilutions in which the mass % sample in solvent is held constant in the range of I to 5 mass % oil. 1.3 The precision tables define the concentration ranges covered in the inteflaboratory study. However, both lower and higher concentrations can be determined by this test method. The low concentration limits are dependent on the sensitivity of the ICP instrument and the dilution factor. The high concentration limits are determined by the product of the maximum concentration defined by the linear calibration curve and the sample dilution factor. 1.4 Sulfur can be determined if the instrument can operate at a wavelength of 180 nm. 1.5 The values stated in SI units are to be regarded as the standard. The values given in parentheses are for information only. 1.6 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, i f any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.


Relatively speaking, the field of information systems is still young, developing into a coherent field. This introduction to the minitrack is organized into the following four sections. The first section discusses three prerequisite conditions for MIS to become a coherent field of a study, as suggested by Keen (1980). 1.1 Clarifying reference disciplines 1.2 Building a cumulative research tradition 1.3 Defining the dependent variables The second section is concerned with the process by which an academic discipline becomes establishment. Once the prerequisite conditions for becoming a classic field of study have been met, a review of the major works of Kuhn (1970), Kaplan (1964), and Cushing (1990) describes the process by which an academic discipline becomes establishment in terms of the following steps: 2.1 Consensus building 2.2 Empirical studies 2.3 Articulation of Theories 2.4 Paradigm Building The third section overviews the current state of MIS research in terms of the prerequisite conditions and the process as described above. The last section reaches several conclusions and suggests some future research directions.


Given the popularity of PMO and international projects, and the difficulties experienced by PMO, it is important and necessary to study PMO in a global context. This paper raises a challenge for a PMO who uses traditional approaches to supervise international projects characterized with external embeddedness. Would such a character demand this PMO be operated differently to adapt to environment? In searching for the answers, we use case study method, which enables us to gain a deep understanding of the impacts of external embeddedness on the efficacy of PMO's control mechanism. The results show that a PMO should open its control loop to external network and promote procedural justice in managing international projects. By expanding upon the existing PMO research to include an adaptive control approach for managing international projects, this research would advance our knowledge of PMOs and may help us decode some of PMOs' difficulties.


Spaceborne scatterometery has been used for many years now to retrieve the ocean surface wind field from normalized radar cross-section measurements of the ocean surface. Though designed specifically for the measurement of precipitation profiles in the atmosphere, the Precipitation Radar (PR) of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) also acquires surface backscattering measurements of the global oceans. As such, this instrument provides an interesting opportunity to explore the benefits and pitfalls of alternative radar configurations in the satellite remote sensing of ocean winds. In this paper, a technique was developed for retrieving ocean surface winds using surface backscattering measurements from the TRMM PR. The wind retrieval algorithm developed for TRMM PR makes use of a maximum-likelihood estimation technique to compensate for the low backscattering associated with the PR configuration. The high vertical resolution of the PR serves to filter-out rain-contaminated cells normally integrated into Ku-band scatterometer measurements. The algorithm was validated through comparisons of ocean surface wind speeds derived from PR with remotely measured winds from TMI and QuikSCAT, as well as in situ observations from oceanographic buoys, revealing good agreements in wind speed estimations.


BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of a web-based intervention to promote physical activity and self-worth among working mothers.

METHODS
Participants (N = 69) were randomly assigned to receive a standard web-based intervention or an enhanced intervention that included group dynamics strategies to promote engagement. The 8-week intervention was guided by self-determination theory. Each week, participants were instructed to complete 3 tasks: listen to a podcast related to well-being, complete a workbook assignment, and communicate with other participants on a discussion board. Participants in the enhanced condition received an additional weekly task to enhance group cohesion. Data were collected at baseline, week 8, and week 16.

RESULTS
Physical activity (P < .001, η2 = 0.35) and self-worth (P < .001, η2 = 0.39) increased significantly in both groups following the intervention, and introjected (P < .001, η2 = 0.30) and external motivation (P = .04, η2 = 0.10) decreased. Website use declined across the 8-week intervention in both groups (P < .001, η2 = 0.48); however, discussion board use was higher in the enhanced condition (P = .04, η2 = 0.21).

CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest web-based interventions can improve physical activity and self-worth among working mothers. Group dynamics strategies only minimally enhanced user engagement, and future studies are needed to optimize web-based intervention designs.


At the end of 2009, a manual for Participatory Land Use Planning (PLUP) was published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) and the National Land Management Authority (NLMA) to provide a common basis for PLUP implementation in Lao PDR. This manual determined the important principles of PLUP implementation, especially in relation to community participation in the process. A diagnostic study conducted a few months later in a project implementing PLUP along the new guidelines showed that on-the-ground PLUP implementation was still problematic as some tools and methods had not been detailed in the PLUP Manual. The purpose of this PLUP Handbook is to provide practical tools and methods for PLUP implementation based on experiments conducted by the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI) together with relevant district line agencies (District Land Management Authority (DLMA) and the District Agriculture and Forestry Offices (DAFO) with the support of the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Institute of Research for Development (IRD) in six villages of Viengkham District in 2010, and in eight more villages in 2011 in partnership with the European Union (EU)-funded Agrisud Project. In 2011, PLUP has been implemented in all 25 target villages of the Agrisud Project in conjunction with food security and agricultural extension activities. Lessons drawn from this experience have been gradually incorporated into the tools and procedures described in this Handbook. Throughout this Handbook the village of Houay Thong is used as an example to ensure consistency. A complementary toolbox has been developed as a reference guide for district staff implementing PLUP in the villages. Most of the reference documents have been adapted from the annexes provided in the PLUP Manual. This Handbook is a reflection of the work in progress and should therefore not be considered as a reference document applicable to elsewhere in Lao PDR. We hope the lessons learnt can be shared with other PLUP implementation projects so as to consolidate the different experiences and to develop a coherent approach for PLUP implementation at the national level together with detailed guidelines for implementers at the local level.


In 1980, SAGE published Geert Hofstede's Culture's Consequences. It opens with a quote from Blaise Pascal: "There are truths on this side of the Pyrenees that are falsehoods on the other." The book became a classic-one of the most cited sources in the Social Science Citation Index-and subsequently appeared in a second edition in 2001. This new SAGE Encyclopedia of Intercultural Competence picks up on themes explored in that book. Cultural competence refers to the set of attitudes, practices, and policies that enables a person or agency to work well with people from differing cultural groups. Other related terms include cultural sensitivity, transcultural skills, diversity competence, and multicultural expertise. What defines a culture? What barriers might block successful communication between individuals or agencies of differing cultures? How can those barriers be understood and navigated to enhance intercultural communication and understanding? These questions and more are explained within the pages of this new reference work. Key Features: *300 to 350 entries organized in A-to-Z fashion in two volumes *Signed entries that conclude with Cross-References and Suggestions for Further Readings *Thematic "Reader's Guide" in the front matter grouping related entries by broad topic areas *Chronology that provides a historical perspective of the development of cultural competence as a discrete field of study *Resources appendix and a comprehensive Index The SAGE Encyclopedia of Intercultural Competence is an authoritative and rigorous source on intercultural competence and related issues, making it a must-have reference for all academic libraries.


The impact of anthropogenic activities on environment, especially the effect of land-use and climate changes was investigated in a series of studies. A comprehensive study of 16 research sites in different parts of Sweden was evaluated by using one dimensional hydrological model (CoupModel) to represent water and heat dynamics in layered soil profile covered with vegetation. Simulations are based on daily values and the results are representatives of variations in daily values and changes over years. The models accuracies controlled by measured run-off and snow depth values. However, there are uncertainties in both input data and simulated parameters. The interaction between run-off and snow depth were obtained when the models constrained by both run-off and snow depth. Parameters values variations and models performances changes in different time domains indicate the changes in land-use and climate over time and the model ability to handle these changes respectively. The strong interaction between meteorological stations density and models performances were indicated by comparing results with interpolation radius used for input data preparation.


Evidences from interpersonal networks in which Americans discuss "important matters" (core discussion networks) suggest that Americans have become increasingly isolated. Using the national representative Science of Generosity Survey 2010, this paper revisits the issue of social isolation. The survey asked respondents to name the people they felt close to in the last six months. On average, respondents mentioned 3.87 people they felt close to, a significant increase from the 1985 (2.94) and 2004 (2.08) core discussion networks. Education, income, and gender are significant explanatory variables for the "feel close to" networks. People with high education, those with high income, and women tend to have larger "feel close to" networks than those with low education, those with low income, and men. Despite the difference in name generators between "feel close to" networks and "core discussion" networks, this research casts serious doubts on the assertion that Americans experience increasing social isolation. ©2016 by Chao Liu All Rights Reserved


Should law be left to the lawyers? Is legal education properly understood as technical education? Law in the Liberal Arts answers "no" and suggests that our society is not well served by the current professionalization of legal knowledge. An ideal approach to legal education, in Austin Sarat's view, would open up law and legal knowledge by making them the proper objects of inquiry in the liberal arts. Legal education in the United States is generally located in law schools dedicated to professional training. Sarat believes that this situation impoverishes our ability to see the complex relations of law, culture, and society in all their variety and to connect theorizing about law with its application in the humanities and social sciences. The contributors to this book aim to assess the place of legal scholarship in the liberal arts by asking whether and how legal research and pedagogy are different in liberal arts settings than they are in law schools.


The key point of a stable and well-constructed structure is the stability and strength of its foundation. Whether it is a building or a road pavement both require a good substructure. Fine grained soils are susceptible to expansion, contraction and high compressibility and course grained soils may have a high permeability and are also susceptible to erosion. Subgrade is the most important part of a road pavement structure as it provides support to the pavement as its foundation. The formation of waves, corrugations and rutting in black top pavements are generally attributed to poor Subgrade conditions. Gullies and cutting edges are also due to poor shear strength and high permeability of subgrade. Many types of binders are helpful in improving the shear strength of subgrade soils. Sand as a subgrade soil may have low shearing strength and high permeability. The improvement of sub-grade soil will increase its durability and the performance of road structure as a whole. In the present study, MC-30 bituminous cutback has been used as a stabilizer to improve the properties of a locally available cohessionless soil. The percentage of bituminous cutback added to the sandy soil has been varied from 4% to 18%. A uniform compaction was provided to all the samples prepared. Unconfined Compressive Strength and CBR value of the soil samples were studied. From the UCS test, it is observed that maximum unconfined compressive strength is obtained at 12% cutback content further increase of cutback in the soil leads to decrease in UCS value due to excessive fluidity causing decrease in density. A sharp increase in CBR value of sand was observed with a small increment in cutback bitumen content (about 8 %). Further increase in cutback content (8% to 10%) increased the C.B.R value moderately to reach a peak and then still further increase in cutback content (i.e more than 10%) reversed the trend.


Nuclear architecture is a biological field of research that studies the spatio-temporal organization of the components within cell nuclei. Since nuclei are the organelles that harbor the genome and epigenome, they are the place where most of the genetic processes like replication, transcription, splicing, gene-regulation, DNA repair, re- combination etc. are carried out.
In the presented doctoral thesis modern 4D live-cell microscopy in combination with laser or ion microbeam irradiation (to label or damage chromatin, respectively) was used to study nuclear architecture in living cells over extended periods of time at the single cell level.
The results presented in this thesis can be partitioned into three main parts: (a) chromatin dynamics in cycling cells, (b) adaptation of the ion micro beam facil- ity SNAKE to the needs of live-cell observation (including first experiments) and (c) exploring spatio-temporal dynamics of DNA repair proteins after laser micro ir- radiation.

(A) Chromatin dynamics in cycling cells
Distribution of interphase chromosomes within cell nuclei has been found to be non- random with respect to gene density and chromosome size. Changes in nuclear orga- nization have been reported in several disorders and diseases. To which extent relative chromosome positioning is conserved through mitosis in cycling cells and whether certain chromatin domains are able change their relative position dramatically in the interphase nucleus has been the subject of various mechanistic models and contro- versial discussions. In 1909 German biologist theodor Boveri was the first one to comment on this topic in his publication: "Die Blastomerenkerne von Ascaris mega- locephala und die Theorie der Chromosomenindividualitat" (included as an appendix to this thesis). In order to test Boveri's hypotheses, 4D live-cell observations were carried out on a modern spinning disc confocal microscope using a human cell line that possesses photoactivatable chromatin. In experiments that used photoactivation and photobleaching of chromatin, it could be demonstrated that – as stated by Boveri – chromatin proximity relationships are in general not conserved through mitosis but destroyed during early prometaphase by the mechanics of mitosis. Other experiments showed that nuclear rotations in a conveyer-belt-like manner are able to bring initially distant chromatin domains into close proximity in a matter of a few minutes.

(B) Adaptation of the SNAKE micro beam facility to the needs of live- cell microscopy (including first experiments)
Since ordinary irradiation sources lack the ability to perform targeted micro irradia- tion at the micrometer scale and laser micro irradiation produces an artificial mix of various DNA damages, the ion microbeam SNAKE represents an interesting tool to explore the dynamics of repair proteins in a spatio-temporal context. In the course of a collaboration project the ion microbeam was adapted to the needs of long-term live-cell microscopy. These adaptations and first live-cell experiments performed at the refurbished ion micro beam are described in this part of the results.

(C) Exploring spatio-temporal dynamics of DNA repair proteins after laser micro irradiation.
Mutation of genetic information can cause serious harm to a cell or even a whole or- ganism. DNA repair serves to protect and clean the genome from undirected poten- tially hazardous changes. Compared to the wealth of information which is available about DNA repair at the molecular level only little attention has been payed to it in context of nuclear architecture. In the last part of the results cells stably expressing GFP tagged versions of the repair proteins MDC1, Rad52 and 53BP1 were damaged by laser micro irradiation and imaged over extended periods of time. It could be de- monstrated that at the used damage induction conditions most of the cells show only minor changes with respect to localization of damage signals, kinetochores and nu- cleoli pattern over time. Furthermore, disappearance of spontaneous 53BP1-GFP foci in favor of protein recruitment to damaged chromatin and mutual exclusion between kinetochore signals and Rad52-GFP damage foci could be observed. In a few U2OS Rad52-GFP nuclei DNA damage foci disappeared simultaneously after a dramatic phase in which the total number of foci drastically increased – even adjacent to the laser damaged chromatin.


The overarching aim of this study is to develop a GIS-based planning approach that contributes to equitable and efficient provision of urban health services in cities in sub-Saharan Africa. Its prime concern is with (i) the identification of theoretical and methodological constructs that can be used to analyse and improve the spatial performance of public health service delivery systems, and (ii) the development of a corresponding spatial-analytic and GIS-based planning approach using Dar es Salaam as a case study. The broader context of the study is the 'urban health crisis'; a term that refers to the disparity between the increasing need for medical care in urban areas against the declining carrying capacity of existing public health systems. The guiding principles of the primary health care approach (equity, effectiveness and efficiency) form the point of departure of the research. They demonstrate that health care provision is inevitably tied up with issues of resource allocation, distribution and priority setting. Decisions have to be made about the nature and range of services to provide and how they are distributed amongst the members of society. Such decisions are informed by economic, political, medical and ethical considerations but - as this research underlines - should also consider the spatial dimension. To evaluate alternative spatial distributions in equity and efficiency terms and suggest improvements, spatial performance indicators are required. Such indicators are generated via the accessibility concept which is seen as a notion with a socio-economic as well as a spatial dimension between which important interactions exist. The analysis culminates in a 'what if' type of planning approach designed to evaluate and improve the spatial performance of the Dar es Salaam governmental health care system. In doing so it illustrates how more sophisticated GIS-based analytical techniques can be usefully applied in support of strategic spatial planning of urban health services delivery. It consists of an evaluation and an intervention framework. The evaluation framework appraises the performance of the existing Dar es Salaam governmental health delivery system on the basis of generic quantitative accessibility indicators. The intervention framework explores how existing health needs can better be served by proposing alternative spatial arrangements of provision using scarce health resources. It consists of a set of 'what if' type of planning instruments that can support health planners to (i) detect spatial deficiencies of a given delivery system, (ii) propose priority spatial planning interventions and (iii) estimate the expected impact of potential interventions on spatial performance. When used in concert the developed planning instruments offer a flexible framework with which health planners can formulate and evaluate alternative intervention scenarios and deal with the most important problems involved in the spatial planning of urban health services. The planning instruments, finally, are designed to contribute to making informed spatial decisions; not to automate but rather to support part of the planning process.


Mainstream and popular science media are rife with misunderstandings about what a "polar vortex" is. The term most aptly describes the stratospheric polar vortex, a single feature dominating the cool‐season circulation from ∼15–50 km. Regional jet stream variations dominate the tropospheric circulation, which is not well‐described as a polar vortex; indeed, there is no single consistent definition of a tropospheric polar vortex in the literature. Stratospheric polar vortex disturbances profoundly influence extreme weather events, including cold air outbreaks (CAOs). How the stratospheric polar vortex affects tropospheric jets, whose local excursions drive CAOs, is not fully understood. Public‐facing parts of publications describing research on this topic are not always clear about how the "polar vortex" is defined; greater clarity could improve communications both within the community and with non‐specialist audiences.


This paper examines a historical language shift from Wendat, or Huron (Iroquoian), to Seneca (Iroquoian). Speakers of the two related polysynthetic languages were in intense contact with one another during the late 17th century when Wendat refugees settled in Seneca towns. Evidence for this language shift is scattered throughout two manuscript dictionaries dating from the same period. As Wendat speakers shifted to Seneca, various types of contact-induced change occurred, including phonological, lexical, semantic, and grammatical changes. Sources of Wendat and Modern Seneca data provide the basis for comparison to the heavily Wendat-influenced Seneca found in the manuscript Tsonnontuan dictionaries.


Abstract. We used life cycle assessment methodology to determine the cradle-to-farmgate GHG emissions for rainfed wheat grown in monoculture or in sequence with the break crops canola (Brassica napus) and field peas (Pisum sativum), and for the break crops, in the south-eastern grains region of Australia. Total GHG emissions were 225 kg carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2-e)/t grain for a 3 t/ha wheat crop following wheat, compared with 199 and 172 kg CO2-e/t for wheat following canola and field peas, respectively. On an area basis, calculated emissions were 676, 677 and 586 kg CO2-e/ha for wheat following wheat, canola and field peas, respectively. Highest emissions were associated with the production and transport of fertilisers (23–28% of total GHG emissions) and their use in the field (16–23% of total GHG emissions). Production, transport and use of lime accounted for an additional 19–21% of total GHG emissions. The lower emissions for wheat after break crops were associated with higher yields, improved use of fertiliser nitrogen (N) and reduced fertiliser N inputs in the case of wheat after field peas. Emissions of GHG for the production and harvesting of canola were calculated at 841 kg CO2-e/ha, equivalent to 420 kg CO2-e/t grain. Those of field peas were 530 kg CO2-e/ha, equivalent to 294 kg CO2-e/t grain. When the gross margin returns for the crops were considered together with their GHG emissions, the field pea–wheat sequence had the highest value per unit emissions, at AU$787/t CO2-e, followed by wheat–wheat ($703/t CO2-e) and canola–wheat ($696/t CO2-e). Uncertainties associated with emissions factor values for fertiliser N, legume-fixed N and mineralised soil organic matter N are discussed, together with the potentially high C cost of legume N2 fixation and the impact of relatively small changes in soil C during grain cropping either to offset all or most pre- and on-farm GHG emissions or to add to them.


There have been a wide range of studies on the interplay between education and technology. Furthermore, there are many other studies aimed at analyzing the scholarly output on this subject with a holistic approach. However the studies are mostly focused on the facilitator role of technology. Although the idea that educational processes have become more fun, thanks to the widespread use of technology, there is a strong need for the critical analysis of the interplay among education, entertainment and technology. Taking this need into account, and drawing on Neil Postman's critical approach on this trio, this article aims to discuss and evaluate the tendencies and understandings in relation to the notion of "edutainment" primarily with reference to "edutainment" studies carried out in Turkey. It is expected that this evaluation would contribute to similar future studies, thus helping the policy development. According to findings of the study, although the edutainment studies in Turkey reflect the general tendency throughout the world, there only a few of them quantitatively. There is no consensus on the designation and definition of the concept of edutainment. From Postman's point of view, it could be said that edutainment studies in Turkey lack a critical perspective with regard to technology and entertainment, and there is a quite limited framework.


QuizCram is a question-focused format for navigating and reviewing lecture videos. QuizCram shows users a question to answer, with an associated video segment. Users navigate through the video segments by answering questions. We also allow users to review using a timeline of previously answered questions and videos. To encourage users to review questions, QuizCram keeps track of their question-answering and video-watching history and recommends users to review questions they have not fully mastered. QuizCram-format courses can be generated automatically from lectures with in-video quizzes, though the format is flexible enough to accommodate multiple questions per video segment. Our user study comparing QuizCram to in-video quizzes found that users practice answering and reviewing questions more when using QuizCram, and are better able to remember answers to questions they encountered.


This Project builds upon Lucien Seve's time-based (biographical) approach to personality development. The personality is, he contends, composed of three core elements-need; activity; and capacity. In contemporary social conditions, needs are complex and subordinated to the structure of acts and the growth of capacities. The Hypotheses that flow from this prioritisation are critically appraised here, while the theory in toto is put to the ultimate test of historical inquiry and verification.

This historical investigation seeks to explore the development of capacities and the structure of activity (use-time) in the Advanced Capitalist Countries since the mid-19th Century. Contra the deskilling perspective, the interpretation of that history proposed here is a contradictory one: a long term trend to reduced worktimes coupled with secular densification of tasks; a mechanical integration of the collective labourer combining with overt moves to deepen worker segregation; a concomitant polarisation of skills and continuing inequity in access to a growing biographical time fund.

The ultimate indifference of the capitalist mode of production to the biographical interests of its supporting individuals prompts, finally, an evaluation of options for a human-centred path of social change for the future (an exploration of concrete Utopias), In this humanist reappropriation of history, the communist vision has been correctly typed as under-defined in crucial ways, including in the field of development of what Marx termed rich individuality. The overall assessment of the Marxian project remains, however, a positive one.


The design of fixed offshore structures to resist forces from sea ice features is reviewed. The emphasis is on prefabricated structures constructed elsewhere, towed to location and installed, sometimes with the aid of heavy sand ballast. This definition excludes the design problems associated with artificial islands constructed entirely at the offshore location. Methods for predicting global ice loads on towers, wide indenters and cones are considered, together with expected trends in force prediction methodology. The question of developing appropriate local ice pressure criteria is addressed. Key design issues are identified for several structure types including steel and concrete towers, caisson islands and cone structures. Finally, particular design concerns are identified for arctic application of steel and concrete structures.


Probabilistic models of sequences play a central role in most machine translation, automated speech recognition, lossless compression, spell-checking, and gene identification applications to name but a few. Unfortunately, real-world sequence data often exhibit long range dependencies which can only be captured by computationally challenging, complex models. Sequence data arising from natural processes also often exhibits power-law properties, yet common sequence models do not capture such properties. The sequence memoizer is a new hierarchical Bayesian model for discrete sequence data that captures long range dependencies and power-law characteristics, while remaining computationally attractive. Its utility as a language model and general purpose lossless compressor is demonstrated.


Objectives: To evaluate the incremental diagnostic value of iodine-131 single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography ( 131 I SPECT-CT) compared to planar scintigraphy in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC). Materials and Methods: The study group consisted of 117 patients (Age group = 7-81 yrs; 70 females, 47 males) with DTC; post total thyroidectomy. A diagnostic dose of 111 Mbq (3 mCi) 131 I was administered and planar scan obtained after 48 hrs. Foci of uptake in planar scan were classified as thyroid remnants, lymph nodes, lung metastases, skeletal metastases, distant metastases or of indeterminate etiology. Single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT-CT) of these areas was then acquired on a dual head gamma camera and reclassification was done. Results: Planar scans depicted 218 foci of 131 I activity classified as 194 neck foci and 24 distant foci. Incremental value of SPECT/CT compared with planar imaging was found for 72 of 194 neck lesions (37.1%) and 24 of 24 distant foci (100%) for a total of 95 of 218 iodine avid foci (44%). SPECT/CT findings led to down staging of 44 of the 72 foci from equivocal or lymph nodes to thyroid remnant and upstaging of 18 of the 72 foci from equivocal or thyroid remnant to lymph node involvement. An additional 8 of the 72 foci were reclassified as physiologic dental or salivary gland activity. The remaining 2 of the 72 foci was found out to be contamination on patient′s skin. Conclusion: 131 I SPECT-CT provides increased diagnostic information compared with planar imaging alone, which may alter the patient management.


The communication class UPPcc is a communication analog of the Turing Machine complexity class PP. It is characterized by a matrix-analytic complexity measure called sign-rank (also called dimension complexity), and is essentially the most powerful communication class against which we know how to prove lower bounds. For a communication problem f, let f ∧ f denote the function that evaluates f on two disjoint inputs and outputs the AND of the results. We exhibit a communication problem f with UPPcc(f) = O(log n), and UPPcc(f ∧ f) = Θ (log2 n). This is the first result showing that UPP communication complexity can increase by more than a constant factor under intersection. We view this as a first step toward showing that UPPcc, the class of problems with polylogarithmic-cost UPP communication protocols, is not closed under intersection. Our result shows that the function class consisting of intersections of two majorities on n bits has dimension complexity nOmegaΩ(log n). This matches an upper bound of (Klivans, O'Donnell, and Servedio, FOCS 2002), who used it to give a quasipolynomial time algorithm for PAC learning intersections of polylogarithmically many majorities. Hence, fundamentally new techniques will be needed to learn this class of functions in polynomial time.


Heuristics used for solving hard real-time search problems have regions with depressions. Such regions are bounded areas of the search space in which the heuristic function is inaccurate compared to the actual cost to reach a solution. Early real-time search algorithms, like LRTA*, easily become trapped in those regions since the heuristic values of their states may need to be updated multiple times, which results in costly solutions. State-of-the-art real-time search algorithms, like LSS-LRTA* or LRTA*(k), improve LRTA*'s mechanism to update the heuristic, resulting in improved performance. Those algorithms, however, do not guide search towards avoiding depressed regions. This paper presents depression avoidance, a simple real-time search principle to guide search towards avoiding states that have been marked as part of a heuristic depression. We propose two ways in which depression avoidance can be implemented: mark-and-avoid and move-to-border. We implement these strategies on top of LSS-LRTA* and RTAA*, producing 4 new real-time heuristic search algorithms: aLSS-LRTA*, daLSS-LRTA*, aRTAA*, and daRTAA*. When the objective is to find a single solution by running the real-time search algorithm once, we show that daLSS-LRTA* and daRTAA* outperform their predecessors sometimes by one order of magnitude. Of the four new algorithms, daRTAA* produces the best solutions given a fixed deadline on the average time allowed per planning episode. We prove all our algorithms have good theoretical properties: in finite search spaces, they find a solution if one exists, and converge to an optimal after a number of trials.


Miscellaneous lesions of the head, skull, teeth, trunk, appendages, skin and genital tract were observed in 120 of 930 long-beaked common dolphins Delphinus capensis taken in fisheries off Peru between 1985 and 2000. Seven subsamples were defined according to the varying field sampling protocols. Forty-two dolphins showed at least 2 types of injuries or diseases affecting 1 or more organs. The majority (5 of 7) of traumas encountered were diagnosed as caused by violent, fisheries-related interactions, and the skin in 20.4 % of specimens (n = 54) showed healed scars from such interactions. Prevalences of malformations and traumas of crania (n = 103) were 2.9 and 1.9%, respectively. Lytic cranial lesions were present in 31.1% of dolphins (n = 103) and accounted for 84.2% of all bone injuries. Skull damage diagnostic for Crassicauda sp. infestation was encountered in 26.5% of dolphins (n = 98) and did not differ among sex and age classes. Crassicauda sp. and tooth infections were responsible for, respectively, 78.8 and 6.1% of the lytic lesions. Adult dolphins showed a high prevalence of worn and broken teeth (35%, n = 20) as well as damaged alveoli (20%, n = 70). Prevalence of 'paired teeth', a congenital condition, was 9.4% (n = 32). Lesions of the head, body and appendages were present in 10 dolphins and included traumas, deformations (e.g. scoliokyphosis and brachygnathia) and chronic mastitis. Ovarian cysts suggestive of follicular cysts were observed in 1 of 24 females. Chronic orchitis affected 1 of 78 males. Of 12 dolphins 2 had vesicular lesions of the penis. Prevalence of cutaneous lesions, abnormalities and scars ranged between 1.8% (n = 56) and 48.2% (n = 27).


Nikhil Rao House, but No Garden: Apartment Living in Bombay's Suburbs, 1898–1964 Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013, 312 pp., 2 tables, 53 b/w illus. $90 (cloth), ISBN 9780816678129; $30 (paper), ISBN 9780816678136

Of all the cities founded by the British in the colonial era, Bombay (now known as Mumbai) has most captured the imagination of writers. Over the past decade or so it has served as one of the primary subjects of a rich body of scholarship that vastly expands our understanding of the complexities of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century colonial cities in South Asia. This scholarship shows the important role of local populations in the making, imagining, and inhabiting of the colonial city, thus not only providing compelling insights into the architecture and urbanism of this era but also adding nuance to our understanding of colonial processes that shaped the urban environment. Nikhil Rao's House, but No Garden , which focuses on the construction and inhabitation of apartments as a new residential mode of dwelling as well as on global processes of suburbanization, is an important contribution to this emerging body of research.

Rao's book reveals that the events associated with Bombay's suburbanization in the twentieth century are vital to our understanding of urban land management, apartment dwelling's role in the creation of middle-class identities and meta-identities, and the contemporary city. This work is significant for several reasons. First, it spans the period from 1898 to 1964, straddling the colonial and postcolonial eras (India became independent in 1947) and thus encompassing a part of the twentieth century that is relatively understudied in Indian cities. Many urban histories end around 1918, and anthropologists and sociologists often focus on the contemporary city. Urban historians writing about colonial Bombay prior to 1918 are referring to a limited geographical area of about 22 square miles in the southern third of the island of Bombay; in that period the northern third of the island remained undeveloped. In contrast, scholars writing on the contemporary city refer to …


A review of the designs and constructs of mosques in Islamic countries indicates that even in common elements like courtyards, fundamental differences can be found. A survey of images of these mosques can maybe reveal similarities and differentiation in ornaments, but it is the underlying order of them makes them distinguishable architectural types. For the Iranian audience, Moroccan mosques are remarkable because without Iwans, minarets, domes, and only with a Shabistan next to a cubical minaret, they could create a viable and accepted Islamic worshiping space.


As a definitive investment guideline for institutions and individuals, Markowitz's modern portfolio theory is ubiquitous in financial industry. However, its noticeably poor out-of-sample performance due to the inaccurate estimation of parameters evokes unremitting efforts of investigating effective remedies. One common retrofit that blends portfolios from disparate investment perspectives has received growing attention. While even a naive portfolio blending strategy can be empirically successful, how to effectually and robustly blend portfolios to generate stable performance improvement remains less explored. In this paper, we present a novel online algorithm that leverages Thompson sampling into the sequential decision-making process for portfolio blending. By modeling blending coefficients as probabilities of choosing basis portfolios and utilizing Bayes decision rules to update the corresponding distribution functions, our algorithm sequentially determines the optimal coefficients to blend multiple portfolios that embody different criteria of investment and market views. Compared with competitive trading strategies across various benchmarks, our method shows superiority through standard evaluation metrics.