Introduction: Breast carcinoma is the 2nd most common cancer in women in India and forms a major burden of disease on the health system. By performing this study, one can decided whether the standardized method of serial sectioning, inspection, and palpation is enough in the staging of a cancer, or if visual enhancement techniques (GEWF) should be employed to improve the staging of cancer. Aims and Objectives: This study evaluated the usage of GEWF solution as a visual enhancement medium for retrieval of lymph nodes from resected modified radical mastectomy (MRM) specimens of Breast carcinoma for staging. Basing on the results, which are expected to be encouraging, this method can be recommended as a routine procedure for lymph node retrieval in cases of Breast carcinoma by using GEWF solution. Materials and methods: This study was performed over a period of two months-from 1st August to 31st September, 2012in GSL Medical College, Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh. 6 MRM specimens of Breast carcinoma were included. All the specimens of Breast carcinoma during the period of study were processed according to the conventional methods.(1-5) All the lymph nodes that were not identified by the initial grossing and those that have been enhanced visually by the treatment with GEWF solution were also removed and processed. Discussion: A total of 6 cases were utilized in this study; the conventional and GEWF solution methods were utilized. The results of the 6 cases can be used to conclude: Despite the GEWF solution increasing the yield of Lymph Nodes in 5 out of the 6 cases, there was no difference in the staging by using standard method and GEWF solution. GEWF increased the yield of LNs from breast cancer specimens. However, the utilization of GEWF solution did not change the staging of the cancer.


Against the backdrop of a discussion on the rationale, logic and scope of irrigation demand management in India, this paper provides a brief overview of the status, effectiveness and technical and institutional requirements of six demand management options, that is, water pricing, water markets, water rights, energy regulations, water saving technologies and user organizations. The paper then develops a framework that captures the analytics of irrigation demand management in terms of both the impact pathways of and the operational linkages between the options and their underlying institutions. Using this framework, the paper also outlines a strategy for irrigation demand management that can exploit the inherent synergies between the options and align them well with the underlying institutional structure and its environment. After discussing how such a strategy can be effectively promoted within the institutional and political constraints facing countries such as India, the paper concludes with the policy implications of irrigation demand management.


Futurists have forecast that, by the turn of the century, a majority of today's prescription drugs will be switched to over-the-counter (OTC) status. Currently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) evaluates potential switch candidates primarily using safety, effectiveness, and labeling criteria. These criteria may not be adequate because of the reported mishaps associated with OTC drug use. The criteria implicitly assume that consumers understand and follow labeled directions. They also do not take into consideration whether or not the switched drug product will be beneficial to consumers or is really needed in the market. Need for verbal counseling and market need for the product are two additional criteria that may be necessary for evaluating potential switch candidates. Since switch evaluation committees are comprised mainly of physicians, this project surveyed a nationwide sample of primary care and internal medicine physicians to assess on a drug-specific basis whether or not the existing FDA criteria are sufficient to evaluate potential switch candidates, and whether the two proposed criteria contribute to physicians' switch decision making process. A total of 197 physicians participated in the study. Promethazine, ranitidine, naproxen, and terfenadine, often mentioned in the trade press as potential switch candidates, were selected as the study drugs. Overall, of the four study drugs, physicians favored switching only terfenadine to OTC status; ranitidine received the lowest approval rating. For all four drugs, safety was an important factor in physician switch decisions. Market need was very important in the case of ranitidine and terfenadine switch decisions. Physicians perceived a high need for verbal counseling of all users of ranitidine, naproxen, and terfenadine. Labeling was not a determinant criterion as far as switch decisions were concerned even though it was significantly correlated with switch decisions. The two proposed criteria, market need and need for verbal counseling of all users, greatly improved the predictability of physicians' switch decisions.


Napoleon Hill wrote this book in 1938, just after publication of his all-time bestseller, "Think and Grow Rich". This powerful tale has never been published, considered too controversial by his family and friends. Using his legendary ability to get to the root of human potential, Napoleon Hill digs deep to identify the greatest obstacles we face in reaching personal goals: fear, procrastination, anger and jealousy, as tools of the Devil. These hidden methods of control can lead us to ruin and Hill reveals the seven principles of good that will allow us to triumph over them and succeed. Annotated and edited for a contemporary audience by "Three Feet from Gold" co-author Sharon Lechter, this book is profound, powerful, resonant and rich with insight.


Modulation of 5-HT1A receptor–associated Gαi2 activity has antidepressant-like effects in mice. Selective serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which increase synaptic concentrations of serotonin, are the most widely used class of antidepressant medications. Both the antidepressant activity of the SSRIs and their untoward side effects are thought to involve activation of 5-HT1 receptors, a class of G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs) that signal through the Gαi/o family of heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide–binding proteins. Noting that in vitro data suggest that 5-HT1 receptors preferentially interact with Gαi2, Talbot et al. explored the effects in knock-in mice of a point mutation in Gαi2 (Gαi2G184S) that disrupts Gαi2 association with regulator of G protein signaling (RGS) proteins and would thereby be expected to prolong its activity. Compared with wild-type littermates, mice homozygous or heterozygous for Gαi2G184S showed antidepressant-like behavior (decreased immobility in tail suspension and forced-swim tests), effects that were reversed by the 5-HT1A antagonist WAY 100635. Similarly, Gαi2G184S/G184S mice showed reduced novelty-induced hypophagia (consistent with the behavior of mice chronically administered antidepressants), as well as behaviors consistent with anxiolytic activity. The heterozygous Gαi2G184S/+ mice showed increased sensitivity to the antidepressant-like effects of the 5-HT1A agonist 8-OH-DPAT and the SSRI fluvoxamine (assessed by immobility in the tail suspension test) but not to 8-OH-DPAT–induced hypothermia or to the behavioral effects of non-SSRI antidepressants. Phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK3β) on Ser9 has been implicated in the behavioral effects of the SSRIs, and knock-in mice showed increased basal GSK3β Ser9 phosphorylation in cortex and hippocampus, an effect that was lost when they were treated with WAY 100635. The authors propose that modulation of 5-HT1A receptor–associated Gαi2 activity—either through functionally selective 5-HT1A agonists or by targeting the appropriate population of RGS proteins—could thus conceivably provide a more selective approach to antidepressant therapy. J. N. Talbot, E. M. Jutkiewicz, S. M. Graves, C. F. Clemans, M. R. Nicol, R. M. Mortensen, X. Huang, R. R. Neubig, J. R. Traynor, RGS inhibition at Gαi2 selectively potentiates 5-HT1A–mediated antidepressant effects. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 107, 11086–11091 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text]


This volume represents the first, in-depth, inter-disciplinary, analysis of the past, present and future of the European Union's relations with countries, non-state actors and other partners across the Asia-Pacific region. The book is situated in the developing, interdisciplinary, discourse of EU foreign policy towards countries and regions across Asia, and it offers a research-led critique of the construction and the elements of the EU-Asia 'political space'. Written by an international team of experts from both Asia and Europe, the volume investigates the historical and cultural background, as well as diverse representations and imaginations in regard to the Asia-Europe inter-continental dialogue. The book examines the varied patterns, policies and priorities of the contemporary political, economic and cultural relations linking the EU with its interlocutors in Asia. Moreover, this collection throws light on a selected number of issues pertinent to current EU-Asia interaction, such as human rights promotion, learning and educational exchange, and the role of the mass media in the construction of Asia-Europe relations. The twelve chapters in this book cover a wide scope of subjects, including the EU's Relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the summitry of the Asia-Europe Meetings (ASEM), EU foreign policy choices in Asia and EU contacts with Central Asia, Australia and New Zealand. This text is of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students, lecturers, the business community, decision-makers and practitioners in Politics, European Studies, Asia-Pacific Studies, International Relations, Law, Human Rights and Business Studies.


The U.S. Coast Guard 87' Patrol Boat Maintenance Program: An Analysis of a Scheduling and Resource Leveling Problem Amanda DiPietro Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Emeritus Richard Storch Industrial and Systems Engineering Planning and managing military ship repair projects require a delicate balance between softwarebased scheduling, resource loading, and risk mitigation strategies. The U.S. Coast Guard Industrial Yard, through use of Oracle's Primavera software, has historically used the Critical Path Method (CPM) of scheduling for their maintenance projects. With the introduction of an assembly line program to repair all East Coast 87-foot Patrol Boats named the Bow to Stern Program, the Yard resorted to manually sequencing work items using a Work Breakdown Structure. In this paper, spreadsheet modeling is used as an inexpensive and available tool to study concurrent project loading and the benefits of level loading job shops. The results show imminent program challenges with a compressed project timeline and shared resources throughout the shipyard. A decision tree for schedule risk mitigation strategies and a prioritized list of efficiency improvements are created, highlighting the need for labor fatigue studies and an Integrated Master Plan for overall organizational success.


Dolomite is shown to precipitate in laboratory experiments that simulate the microbiogeochemical conditions prevailing during the later stages of evaporation in the ephemeral, hypersaline, dolomitic lakes of the Coorong region, South Australia, where microbially-dominated ecosystems support intensive bacterial sulphate reduction. Analyses of numerous lake- and pore-water samples from Coorong lakes document rapid geochemical changes with depth and time. Extremely high sulphate and magnesium ion concentrations occur in lake waters and decline rapidly with depth in pore waters through the sulphate reduction zone. Ultimately sulphate ions are totally consumed but magnesium ions are replenished, presumably from desiccated cyanobacterial sheaths. Carbonate concentrations in pore waters reach levels up to 100 times those of normal seawater. Most-probable-number counts show that large populations of sulphate-reducing bacteria are present in sediment cores, while sulphur isotope analysis of residual lakewater sulphate indicates that microbial fractionation takes place in all the study lakes. Microbes from the lakes were cultured in the laboratory under anoxic conditions and viable populations were injected into vials containing a sterilised granular substrate immersed in a simulated lakewater solution. Falls in the levels of sulphate ion concentration and rising pH in selected vials were interpreted as due to active bacterial sulphate reduction accompanied by increased concentrations of carbonate. After 1 month, subspherical nano-grains of dolomite were precipitated. This study proposes that bacterial sulphate reduction overcomes kinetic constraints on dolomite formation by removing the sulphate ions and releasing magnesium and calcium ions from neutral ion pairs, and by generating elevated carbonate concentrations in a hypersaline and strongly electrolytic solution. Microbiogeochemical and isotopic data therefore demonstrates that bacterial sulphate reduction controls dolomite precipitation in both the laboratory experiments and the lake sediments. It is proposed that dolomite formation through bacterial sulphate reduction provides a process analogue that is applicable to thick platformal dolostones of the past, where benthic microbial communities were the dominant colonisers of the shallow marine environment.


The importance as well as the availability of sensor-based technology and environments is constantly increasing. This is not only based on the latest advances in sensor technology but also due to the incorporation of more powerful communication and processing mechanisms into the sensor nodes which may, eventually, allow for the emergence of cognitive intelligence from within such networks themselves. Such platforms are collectively referred to as wireless sensor networks, which provide not only the capabilities to sense and to process information but also to act upon them, which allows to actively influence the underlying context. Consequently, future intelligent infrastructures will be largely based on sensor network technology that will provide the layers for contextual information gathering, knowledge processing as well as for adaptation and optimization mechanisms. This will pave the way for new types of application and services in the area of pervasive computing in healthcare and beyond that are fully autonomous in all aspects of their operations as well as their set-up and maintenance. This paper sketches the potential and challenges of future sensor networks that provide the foundations for self-adapting ambient intelligence and briefly discusses some of the requirements thereof.


This thesis focuses on various aspects of the social and political history of the Yazidi Kurds of Jabal Sinjar ( Iraq)during the British mandate. When relevant to the history of mandatory Sinjarit also deals with the neighbouring Yazidicommunity of Iraqi Shaikhan. Chapters I and II are primarily concerned with the society and economy of Jabal Sinjarin theperiod under consideration with particular emphasis on the socio-economic and political organization of the Yaziditribes settled in the area. They also provide a general historical perspective of the socio-economic development ofthe region. Chapter III discusses the late Ottoman period in detail with a view to defining community-state relations andthe development of Yazidi inter- tribalaf fairs in Jabal Sinjar. Chapters IV and V examine the history of the YazidiMountain in the years of the British mandate when the emerging structures of the Iraqi state had significantrepercussions on Sinjari society, especially on the attitude of a number of Yaziditri al leaders. These developments areanalysed primarily in the context of the policies implemented in the northern Jazirah by the British and Iraqiadministrations and by the French mandatory authorities who controlled its Syrian section. Particular emphasis is placedon the dispute between Great Britain and France concerning the elimination of the Syro- Iraqi border in the Sinjar areawhich affected relations between the Yazidis, the British mandatory administration and the Iraqi authorities ChapterVI gives an account of the Sinjari Yazidis' quest f or autonomy which became increasingly associated with theAssyro-Chaldean autonomist movement in the last years of the mandate.


Climate fiction—literature explicitly focused on climate change—has exploded over the last decade, and is often assumed to have a positive ecopolitical influence by enabling readers to imagine potential climate futures and persuading them of the gravity and urgency of climate change. Does it succeed? And whom does it reach? A qualitative survey of 161 American readers of 19 works of climate fiction finds that these readers are younger, more liberal, and more concerned about climate change than nonreaders of climate fiction. Drawing on concepts from ecocriticism, environmental psychology, and environmental communication, this article suggests that "cli-fi" reminds concerned readers of the severity of climate change while impelling them to imagine environmental futures and consider the impact of climate change on human and nonhuman life. However, the actions that resulted from readers' heightened consciousness reveal that awareness is only as valuable as the cultural messages about efficacious action that are in circulation. Moreover, the affective responses of many readers suggest that most works of climate fiction are leading readers to associate climate change with intensely negative emotions, which could prove counterproductive to efforts at environmental engagement or persuasion. Based on one of the first studies to empirically examine the reception of environmental literature, this article demonstrates a novel interdisciplinary approach to environmental literature (empirical ecocriticism) and points the way to future research in this vein.


This article highlights the complexity of participatory action research (PAR) in that the study outlined was carried out with and by, as opposed to on, participants. The project was contextualised in two prior-to-school settings in Australia, with the early childhood professionals and, to some extent, the preschoolers involved in this PAR project seen as co-researchers. This article explores the author's journey to PAR, which she considered a socially just mode of inquiry. However, it is not without its complexities and challenges. This article makes transparent these complexities and explores issues of 'power', identity and influence in collaborative research. Questions often reflected upon by researchers are re-visited in this article: What theoretical underpinnings align with the investigation? Why undertake such a demanding research design as PAR? What does this research design involve? Where does the university researcher fit? How does a PAR team 'work' when there are so many different personalities involved? What are the challenges that are faced by participatory action researchers and how might these be overcome? While these challenges are not new to PAR researchers, the solutions and discussion put forward in this article may generate further reflection and debate.


The neuropeptide corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) coordinates neuroendocrine and behavioral responses to stress. Its prolonged hypersecretion produces several signs and symptoms of depression, and is associated with a severe impairment of sleep, in particular reduced sleep intensity, disinhibition of rapid eye movement sleep (REMS), and early morning awakenings. It was recently demonstrated that REMS is upregulated in a conditional mouse model that overexpresses CRH in the forebrain including limbic structures. The results suggest that overexpression of CRH in the forebrain including limbic structures contributes to enhanced REMS, which may apply similarly to the case of depressed patients. However, how limbic CRH affects REMS is still not clear. In general, during REMS, dynamic changes in neurotransmitter activity occur. For example, monoaminergic systems are low, while cholinergic activity becomes high. REMS upregulation seen in depressed patients might be the product of complex interactions between CRH and a neurotransmitter system known to play a role in REMS regulation.

In this thesis the role of CRH in the regulation of REMS was further explored. Polysomnographic recordings combined with microinjections, quantitative microdialysis and immunohistochemistry were used to examine whether overexpressed CRH in the forebrain contributes to REMS enhancement by altering the cholinergic system known to play a role in REMS generation. Since CRH overexpression is also present in the limbic system, the present study mainly focused on the amygdala. This limbic structure is strongly implicated in emotional responses closely related to REMS, although only few studies so far have described its interaction with REMS.

The results show that injection of a muscarinic antagonist into the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) decreases upregulated REMS of homozygous forebrain-specific CRH (CRH-COE Cam) overexpressing mice. Furthermore, homozygous CRH-COE Cam mice possess higher extracellular levels of acetylcholine (ACh) in the CeA than their control littermates, whereas spontaneous locomotor activity is comparable in both genotypes. This suggests that higher ACh is not due to an increase in locomotor activity but is reflected by REMS enhancement. These results indicate that CRH overexpression appears capable of stimulating the cholinergic activity in the amygdala which in turn may lead to upregulated REMS. As seen in depressed patients, this animal model may possess hyper-cholinergic sensitivity that may contribute to REMS disinhibition.

Immunohistochemical studies were carried out to confirm this hypothesis: Activation of CRH receptors by microinjection of CRH into the CeA induced an increase of c-Fos expression in cholinergic structures in the brainstem in normal C57BL/6J mice, suggesting that amygdaloid CRH is able to influence the neuronal activity in REMS regulating structures such as the laterodorsal tegmental nucleus (LDT) and the sublaterodorsal tegmental nucleus (SLD). Further, cholinergic neurons in the LDT become more active in homozygous CRH-COE Cam mice than controls in response to sleep deprivation, when REMS rebound occurs, indicating that in this animal model CRH intensifies the mesopontine cholinergic system, which may at least in part result in upregulated REMS.

This thesis emphasizes that REMS upregulation seen in depressed patients might be the product of complex interactions between CRH and the cholinergic system. Further investigations will need to complete a detailed picture of the underlying mechanism by which CRH influences REMS.


While once essential agents in early Christian communities, in centuries to come women hosts were forgotten. Kaisa-Maria Pihlava, Th.D., sets out to trace literary representations of women hosts in early Christian sources. She also discusses what we know of early Christian communities, women property owners, and heads of households in antiquity. She argues that women hosts had authority in their early Christian communities because of the domestic setting of these communities and the authority that hosts had irrespective of their gender. The authority that women hosts gained was not countercultural. Instead, socioeconomic hierarchy resulted in the authority positions of women hosts of early Christian gatherings. In Pihlava's study, women hosts are written into the narratives of early Christian beginnings.


ABSTRACT: This article addresses the major changes incorporated into the new ICDR International Arbitration Rules effective June 1, 2014. The changes have responded to users demand, consolidated what was already the practice of the ICDR, and incorporated the ICDR Guidelines for Arbitrators on Exchange of Information. In addition, the New Rules bring other interesting features, such as the provision of the consolidation arbitrator, the express exclusion of US litigation procedures, the international expedited procedures for cases up to USD $250,000, the express possibility for the ICDR to invite the parties to mediate in a parallel track with arbitration, the electronic documents provision, the rule on privilege, and the express reference to the administrative conference call with the parties before the appointment of the arbitral tribunal and the list method for appointing arbitrators. We note that the main goal of the New Rules is based on the following three pillars: increasing the efficiency of arbitration, reducing costs, and preserving the impartiality and independence of arbitrators. Lastly, there is an important role for mediation as a means of conflict resolution.


Claypan soils cover approximately 10 million acres across several states in the central United States. The soils are characterized by a highly impermeable clay layer within the profile that impedes water flow and root growth. While some claypan soils can be productive, they must be carefully managed to avoid reductions to crop productivity due to root restrictions, water, and nutrient limitations. Clay soils are usually resistant to erosion but may exacerbate erosion of the silt-loam topsoil. Soil production potential is the capacity of soil to produce at a given level (yield per acre). The productive capacity is tied to soil characteristics, which can be highly variable within a field. In this project, we have used imagery analysis to study the aerial images and terrain of fields during different productive times of the year to identify where soil samples should be collected for more discrete analysis. Soil samples provide valuable information; however, the amount of data obtained from a relatively small area within a field does not provide sufficient information to delineate the subsurface characteristics. To address the limitations of sampling, we have also employed the use of yield maps collected from commercial yield monitors on production-scale combines and surface electrical conductivity measurements (Sassenrath and Kulesza, 2017). Soil conductivity is a measurement of how well a representative volume of soil conducts electricity. Soil conductivity is a function of the soil clay content, moisture content, and other measurable soil properties (Kitchen et al., 2003); as such, it has become a valuable tool for mapping in-field variability. The main advantage of a soil conductivity measurement is that the entire surface of a field can be imaged. The disadvantage of a soil conductivity measurement is that data are only collected near the surface (10 – 30 inches) and the measurements are relative measurements. This means that the conductivity mappers can identify changes in soil properties, but they cannot directly tell researchers what caused these changes. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) is a popular near-surface geophysical measurement for geophysical and engineering applications. The term "near-surface" generally means down to around 30 feet in the subsurface. Electrical resistivity is the reciprocal measurement of electrical conductivity; therefore, both systems measure differences in the same soil properties. ERT measurements are different than surface electrical conductivity measurements because ERT collects a "slice" of data into the subsurface, as opposed to only changes at the surface area. Relative measurements, similar to those collected in an electrical conductivity survey, are collected; however, in ERT studies the data are mathematically inverted to yield the true electrical resistivity of the soil with depth. This allows an interpretation of the changing soil properties with depth to reduce the required amount of sampling. A disadvantage of an ERT survey is that the data acquisition is stationary so mapping an entire field is not feasible. We have used a coupled process of imagery and terrain analysis, yield maps, and electrical conductivity measurements to guide the locations of ERT surveys in this project (Tucker-Kulesza et al. 2017).


Purpose – Problem-solving approaches to research have dominated the not-for-profit festival management field. Little attention has been paid to how festival organizations successfully create cultures where knowledge transfer is practised within the high intensity of a festival lifecycle. Drawing upon insights from Social Practice Theory and Appreciative Inquiry (AI), our purpose in this article is to offer a different conceptual approach to understanding how knowledge transfer 'works' as an organizational practice to produce a collaborative festival culture. Design/methodology/approach - This article draws upon an ethnographic case study with the highly acclaimed Queensland Music Festival organization in Australia. The research questions and methods were framed around an appreciative approach that identified formal and informal practices that 'worked' rather than a conventional problem focused analysis. Findings – Our research focused on appreciating the cultural context that shaped the interrelationships between formal and informal knowledge transfer practices that enabled trust and collaboration. We identified a range of knowledge transfer practices that contributed to the creation of a shared festival ethos and the on-going sustainability of the festival vision. Practical implications - The not-for-profit sector brings numerous challenges for festival organizations and there is a need to appreciate how collaborative and creative knowledge transfer can occur formally and informally. Festival organizers can benefit from understanding the relational and practice dimensions of knowledge management as they are performed within specific organisational contexts. Originality/value – An appreciative understanding of knowledge transfer practices has not yet been applied to not-for-profit festival organizations where problem-solving approaches dominate the field.


Accounting for historical formation as intensive formations of a material milieu amounts to nothing less than an ethical project. This paper proposes an ethological approach to architectural arrangements to overcome an impasse in the understanding of the built environment. In its central parts, it respectively revisits two favourite clichés of architectural theory: the Foucauldian dispositif (apparatus) and the Deleuzo-Guattarian agencement (assemblage). By reclaiming their different ontological conceptions of material arrangements, the paper challenges reductive readings of architectural apparatus and advance a more "machinic" reading of architecture. Therein, it proposes a tactical alliance with the flat, monist, and matter-oriented methodologies of such new-materialist theorists as Barad and Braidotti, that help reconsider its arrangements more ecosystemically as "embodied and embedded, relational and affective" figurations. Suggesting a clear theoretical challenge waiting to be taken up, the paper considers how architectural theory could advance such a radically productive conception of the built environment.


The American Chemical Society serves the chemistry profession and society at large in many ways, among them by publishing journals which present the results of scientific and engineering research. Every editor of a Society journal has the responsibility to establish and maintain guidelines for selecting and accepting papers submitted to that journal. In the main, these guidelines derive from the Society's definition of the scope of the journal and from the editor's perception of standards of quality for scientific work and its presentation.


The DC performance of the so-called good joint Nb3Sn short sample conductor, measured in the SULTAN facility in 1999 with a progressively reduced (chopped) joint length, became worse as the joint became shorter. In this paper we present the analysis of those tests using the THELMA code. The results confirm quantitatively that the loss of performance was due to increasingly unbalanced current distribution. Once the unbalance due to the joint is properly modeled, the performance of the conductor can be fitted using the same extra longitudinal strain in the critical current scaling, proportional to the electromagnetic load but independent of the joint length.


Polyurethanes (PURs) are very versatile polymeric materials with a wide range of
physical and chemical properties. PURs have desirable properties such as high abrasion
resistance, tear strength, shock absorption, flexibility and elasticity. Although they have
relatively poor thermal stability, this can be improved by using treated clay.
Polyurethane/clay nanocomposites have been synthesized from renewable sources. A
polyol for the production of polyurethane by reaction with an isocyanate was obtained
by the synthesis of palm oil-based oleic acid with glycerol. Dodecylbenzene sulfonic
acid (DBSA) was used as catalyst and emulsifier. The unmodified clay (kunipia-F) was
treated with cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB-mont) and octadodecylamine
(ODA-mont). The d-spacing in CTAB-mont and ODA-mont were 1.571 nm and 1.798
nm respectively and larger than that of the pure-mont (1.142 nm). The organoclay was
completely intercalated in the polyurethane, as confirmed by a wide angle x-ray
diffraction (WAXD) pattern. Polyurethane/clay nanocomposites were prepared by a pre-polymer method and were
evaluated by fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra to determine micro-domain
structures of segmented PU, CTAB-mont-PU 1, 3, 5 wt% and ODA-mont-PU 1, 3, 5
wt%. The morphology of the nanocomposites was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD)
and the pattern showed that all of the nanocomposites produced from this work are
of the intercalated type. These were further confirmed by transmission electron
microscopy (TEM) observation and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) when the
surfaces of the materials were studied. Thermal stability was investigated with
thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The results showed that adding clay demonstrated
better thermal stability in comparison with the virgin polyurethane. Onset degradation of
pure PU is at 200
o
C, and is lower than that of the CTAB-mont PU and ODA-mont PU
which takes place at about 318
o
C and 330
o
C, respectively. The mechanical properties
(including the dynamic mechanical properties) of pure polyurethane (PU) and PU/clay
nanocomposites, were measured. The modified organoclay had a remarkably beneficial
effect on the strength and elongation at break of the nanocomposites, which both
increased with increasing clay content with the increase of the tensile strength of more
than 214% and 267% by the addition of only 5 wt% of the montmorillonite CTAB-mont
PU and ODA-mont PU, respectively.


1. A bacteriological study has been made of 210 fresh strains of Pasteurella obtained from typical cases of fowl cholera on seven widely separated poultry farms. 2. The strains have proved identical in consisting of small, pleomorphic, bipolar staining, Gram-negative, non-motile bacilli. They grew rapidly in infusion broth plus a trace of hemolgobin. They formed acid but no gas in media containing dextrose, saccharose, and mannite; indol was produced. 3. The strains fall into three distinct groups, according to their colony formation on hemoglobin agar. The "fluorescent" colony was large, whitish, opaque, exhibiting, under suitable conditions marked fluorescence. The "blue" colony was smaller, clear slate-blue, and non-fluorescent. The "intermediate" colony was moderately fluorescent at 15–18 hours growth, and "blue" thereafter. It was "blue" at all times when crowded and occasionally of "ring" form. "Fluorescent" colony cultures developed "blue" colony forms under certain conditions; otherwise all forms were stable. 4. Strains from "fluorescent" colonies were resistant to precipitation by acids, to sedimentation by centrifuging, and although they combined with specific antiserum, did not agglutinate. They were relatively highly virulent and occurred in flocks where fowl cholera was epidemic. 5. Strains from "blue" colonies were precipitated by acids over a wide range of concentration and agglutinated strongly in antisera. They were relatively of low virulence and occurred in flocks where fowl cholera was endemic. 6. Strains from "intermediate" colonies varied in behavior betweee the "fluorescent" and "blue" strains. They came from a flock where fowl cholera was epidemic.


How should we judge existing international organizations? Cosmopolitans often assess such institutions against non-existent but plausible alternative ones. By contrast, this chapter assesses the effect of institutions relative to situations in which they are absent. It first disaggregates 'democracy' into a number of constituent principles, falling under the demos dimension (who are the people?), and the kratos dimension (how do the people rule?). It then systematically assesses the recent empirical literature on the impact of international institutions on each of the principles identified. Overall a mixed picture emerges. Not only are there significant differences among international organizations, but sometimes the same organization appears to improve a dimension of democracy while being detrimental to another. It gives reason for cosmopolitans to conduct or encourage further empirical research aiming at identifying institutional designs that can enhance several dimensions of democracy at the same time.


The language of accounting is subject to continuous change. One of the reasons for a change in terminology is the introduction of new legal requirements that bring about a change in the underlying concepts and therefore the need for new specific terms. Such a situation was created by the Regulation (EC) No. 1606/2002 on the application of international accounting standards (IAS). This regulation aims at harmonising ac-counting standards and procedures relating to the preparation and presentation of financial statements. It requires all EU companies listed on a regulated stock market to prepare accounts in accordance with IAS for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2005. We look at the texts of the mentioned regulation in several EU languages in order to identify changes regarding the designations of individual items of financial state-ments compared with the traditional terms and to find out whether the changes found differ from language to language. Then we choose the frequently used accounting term property, plant and equipment and compare financial statements published by large companies over a four-year period beginning in 2004 to find out whether there are changes in terminology in the year 2005, i.e. when listed companies were first re-quired to prepare their financial statements in accordance with IAS.


Aalto University, P.O. Box 11000, FI-00076 Aalto www.aalto.fi Author Zoltán Jávor Name of the doctoral dissertation Frother controlled interfacial phenomena in dynamic systems a holistic approach Publisher School of Chemical Technology Unit Department of Materials Science and Engineering Series Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS 161/2014 Field of research Mineral processing Froth flotation Manuscript submitted 5 June 2014 Date of the defence 26 November 2014 Permission to publish granted (date) 24 September 2014 Language English Monograph Article dissertation (summary + original articles) Abstract The development of froth flotation has revolutionized the mining industry and greatly increased the mineral production. Flotation reagents are widely applied to control the properties of minerals and bubbles in order to enhance the efficiency of froth flotation. Frothers are one of the flotation reagents employed to improve the performance of the process. The presence of frother molecules aids to reduce bubble size and rise velocity, and enhance froth stability. Although the effect of flotation frothers on bubble size is well known, the mechanism leading to the decrease in bubble size is not clearly understood. In the present work, the effects of flotation frothers on bubble properties were examined in turbulent conditions. A new experimental framework was developed in order to understand the dynamic macro (> 10-2 m)-, meso (10-5 to 10-2 m)and micro/nano (< 10-5 m)scale phenomena affecting the bubble size in turbulent conditions. The new approach was aimed to explore the chain reaction triggered by the adsorption of surface-active agents, acting along the different size-scales and eventuating in decrease in bubble size. To accomplish the aim, each and every size-scale was investigated in great detail and the results were correlated to each other. The micro/nano-scale phenomena affecting the bubble properties were investigated applying extensive dynamic surface property study such as dynamic surface tension, dynamic surface elasticity and adsorption/desorption rates. The meso-scale properties of bubbles (e.g. bubble rising velocity, bubble coalescence and breakup) were examined using newly designed experimental set-ups. The industrial or macro-scale properties of air bubbles were studied employing McGill Bubble Viewer. A series of common commercial frothers (DF200, NF240 and DF250) and two reagent grades (Pentanol and Polypropylene Glycol) were used during the study. The main result of this work is a comprehensive, so far unavailable picture of the dynamics of surface-active molecules affecting bubble size in the presence of random momentum transfer. The adsorbed molecules diminish the tension at the air/liquid interface and increase its surface elasticity leading to a lower bubble rise velocity and modified coalescence and breakup properties that eventuate in smaller bubble size. The adsorption of weakly surfaceactive DF200 and Pentanol cause a different change in the properties of the air/liquid interface compared to the strongly surface-active DF250 and Polypropylene Glycol, leading to differences in size-scale properties and eventually in bubble size. The results help to understand the mechanism of flotation frothers and can provide information on possibilities to achieve better performance in mineral flotation by finding the most suitable surfactants for the particular process.


This study is a software usability design case about information presentation in a software dashboard. The dashboard is supposed to present system information about an enterprise resource planning system. The study aims to evaluate if the intended users of the dashboard prefer a list-based or an object-based presentation of the information and why. It also investigates if the possibility to get familiar with the prototype affects the evaluation's result.The study was performed using parallel prototypes and evaluation with users. The use of parallel prototypes is a rather unexplored area. Likewise, little research has been done in the area of how user experience changes over time.Two prototypes were created, presenting the same information in two different design solutions, one list-based, and one object-based. The prototypes were evaluated with ten presumptive users, with respect to usability. The evaluation consisted of two parts, one quantitative and one qualitative. Half of the respondents got a chance to get familiar with the list-based prototype, and half the object-based prototype, after which they evaluated both sequentially.The result of the evaluation showed that seven out of ten respondents preferred the list-based prototype. The two primary reasons were that they are more used to the list-based concept from their work, and that the list-based prototype presented all information about an application at once. In the object-based prototype the user had to make a request for each type of information, which opened up in a new pop-up window.The primary reason that three of the ten respondents preferred the object-based prototype was that it had a more modern look, and gave a cleaner impression since it only presented the information the respondent was interested in at each point in time.The result also implied that the possibility to get familiar with the prototype by testing it for a couple of days affected the result. Eight out of ten respondents preferred the prototype they got familiar to, and the only ones that liked or preferred the object-based prototype were those who had gotten familiar with it. The results of the study support the results of the existing research done by Dow et al. (2010) on the use of parallel prototypes, i.e. creating several prototypes in parallel, and conform with the results of the research of Karapanos et al. (2009) on how user experience changes over time.Some other interesting information that emerged from the study was that all but one of the respondents thought that the prototype they got familiar with had an acceptable level of usability.The study also validated that all respondents are positive to use a dashboard in their work, and that the presented information was enough for a first version of the dashboard. It also validated that the different groups of users would use the dashboard differently, and therefore are in need of slightly different information.


ABSTRACT Questioning both sustainability and universality of development led to a movement of developing alternative indicator sets to provide a more reliable picture about quality of life than conventional economic indicators do. Some of these sets correlate, to a certain extent, with formal (market) economic development while some do not. In this study, I choose one of them, the Happy Planet Index (HPI) and its sub-indicators, to prove empirically the lack of unanimity concerning the correlation between formal socio-economic performance, wellbeing, and sustainability. For this objective, I apply cross-sectional regression analysis for the multitude of 152 countries, using 2019 data, the latest pre-pandemic year where country data are completely available. The results of the analysis support the hypothesis that correlation between most of the variables is not ubiquitous. However, by splitting the whole multitude into sub-multitudes of countries according to their geographic and cultural belonging, certain significant relationships (sometimes opposite ones) are found, underpinning the importance of geographic and cultural diversity. On the other hand, life expectancy and subjective wellbeing prove to correlate only on a global scale while they are uncorrelated on smaller scales.


We have analyzed the action of nitric oxide on the synaptic inputs of spiking local interneurons that form part of the local circuits in the terminal abdominal ganglion of the crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus. Increasing the availability of NO in the ganglion by bath applying the NO donor SNAP, or the substrate for its synthesis, L-arginine, caused a depression of synaptic inputs onto the interneurons evoked by electrically stimulating mechanosensory neurons in nerve 2 of the terminal ganglion. Conversely, reducing the availability of NO by bath application of an NO scavenger, PTIO, and an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, L-NAME, increased the amplitude of the evoked potentials. These results suggest that elevated NO concentration causes a depression of the synaptic inputs to spiking local interneurons. To determine whether these effects could be mediated through an NO/cGMP signaling pathway we bath applied a membrane permeable analogue of cGMP, 8-br-cGMP, which decreased the amplitude of the inputs to the interneurons. Bath application of an inhibitor of soluble guanlylyl cyclase, ODQ, produced an increase in the amplitude of the synaptic inputs. Our results suggest that NO causes a depression of synaptic inputs to spiking local interneurons probably by acting through an NO/cGMP signaling pathway. Moreover, application of NO scavengers modulates the inputs to these interneurons, suggesting that NO is continuously providing a powerful and dynamic means of modulating the outputs of local circuits.


This book examines the nature of social innovation processes which determine the economic and social performance of nations, regions, industrial sectors and organizations.


The persecution of Gypsies and Travelers in the United Kingdom is not a new phenomenon. It goes back many centuries when Gypsies first set foot on the European continent. It was estimated that over half a million Gypsies were exterminated by Adolf Hitler in Germany during the Holocaust. In today"s France under President Francois Hollande, the Gypsies are still being persecuted. The effects of labeling theory has made the Gypsies undoubtedly and unarguably among the most hated groups living in Europe today. They have endured societal rejection, hatred, discrimination, cruelty and inhumane treatment, and denial of the basic necessities of life, for example housing, education and healthcare. Their ability to endure hardship (stoicism) and a total rejection (alienation) from the wider society over the years is inspiring to us in academia. This article is a clarion call to all men and women of good conscience all over the world to come together to consign the persecution of Gypsies to history.


We report on our investigation of the potential for all-optical reversible photostructuring of the photochromic molecule 1,2-bis(2-methylbenzo[b]thiophen-3-yl)perfluorocyclopentene (BFCP). The light-induced isomerization of BFCP was studied in solution as well as in polymeric thin films. The absorption change that is due to the photochromic reaction of BFCP was determined by conventional spectroscopic measurements. The absolute values of the refractive indices of doped polymer films were measured by the waveguide grating coupling technique for the two states of the photochromic molecule. The dynamics of the reactions and the light-induced refractive-index changes Δn of doped polymer samples were investigated in holographic grating experiments. Changes of as much as Δn=(3.5±0.5)×10-4 were obtained at 806 nm for 41.16-wt. % doping. Finally, a modified two-beam coupling experiment permitted the separation of absorption and refractive-index contributions to the grating buildup and the determination of the phase shifts of these gratings with respect to the intensity grating.


Relatively little research has been conducted to examine the role of parent-child relationships in understanding loneliness during middle childhood. In the current study, twelve second to fourth grade children attending several elementary schools in a large western urban district were asked to complete the Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Questionnaire (LSDQ, Asher, Hymel & Renshaw, 1984) and the Parent-child Relationship Questionnaire (PCRQ, Furman & Giberson, 1995). The parents of all child participants were also invited to complete the same questionnaires. A sample of eight children, four who reported highest scores and four who reported lowest scores on the LSDQ, participated in follow-up qualitative interviews which inquired children's friendships, relationships with parents, attitudes toward school, and preferred coping strategies with loneliness experiences. It was found that there was a significant positive correlation between the child-reported and the parent-reported child loneliness scores, suggesting that parents were accurately aware of their children's loneliness levels. It was also found that the child-reported parent-child relationship and child loneliness were significantly and negatively correlated, meaning that the lower level of child-reported parent-child relationship quality, the higher level of child-reported child loneliness. Additionally, the qualitative data suggested that children with different levels of loneliness coped differently. They also seemed to hold different beliefs and expectations iii regarding their friendships, parent-child relationships, and attachments with school. Increasing our understanding of child loneliness will enable school and mental health professionals to develop more effective strategies to support children who are feeling extremely lonely and who may lack of home support. Identifying these at-risk children early and intervening with intensive individual plans through home-school collaboration may prevent poor long term academic and social-emotional outcomes.


A new demand model which accounts for the effect of the age of drugs on pharmaceutical demand is provided. Within this framework the problem of persistence in consumption of original branded drugs and a particular case of intra-molecular substitution are analyzed. I find that interacting price with time in a logit demand structure provides intuitive patterns of substitution between branded and generic drugs and yields, with an assumption of Bertrand-Nashequilibrium on the supply side, intuitive dynamics of the mark-ups for generic manufacturers over time. The effect of a non-mandatory substitution reform introduced in Norway in March 2001 is analyzed in terms of increased sensitivity to price and is found to be negligible. The presence of competition between generic producers is also verified.


An auxiliary bearing for temporarily receiving rotor load when the main bearings are unable to receive rotor load. A plurality of rollers or sets of rollers are spaced circumferentially around the rotor. At least some of the rollers are movable between first radial positions which afford clearance between the rollers and the rotor and second radial positions for receiving by the rollers of rotor load. The movement of one roller toward the second radial position in response to contact therewith by the rotor effects movement of all of the at least some rollers toward the second radial positions to close the clearance and receive the rotor load. The rollers then disengage when the rotor load is again taken by the main bearings.\!


Addressing the growth of IP telephony service offerings within the corporate and residential realm, IP Telephony Interconnection Reference: Challenges, Models, and Engineering examines the technical and regulatory issues related to IP telephony interconnection at the large scale. It describes business and interconnection models, reviews emerging architectures such as IMS and TISPAN, identifies commonly-encountered issues, and supplies solutions to technical issues. The authors offer a detailed overview of SPEERMINT activity and proposed architecture, the current work undertaken in i3 Forum, and the use of ENUM for interconnectiondescribing practices in both fixed and mobile networks. Among the first books to present information on interprovider communications and interconnection of IP telephony clouds, the text supplies a clear and up-to-date picture of the VoIP protocol jungle. Provides detailed guidance on how to implement VoIP interconnect services Presents an overview of deployed architectures in fixed and mobile networks used for interconnection and roaming purposes Enumerates regulatory issues with a focus on Europe and the United States Proposes interconnection models Suggests viable solutions to technical issues This reference supplies an overview of interconnection practices in PSTN/mobile. It proposes solutions for overcoming service engineering issues and includes a set of recommendations to ease the proliferation of interconnection agreements and schemes. Keeping you up to speed with recent developments in IP telephony, the book facilitates the understanding of the technical and regulatory requirements needed to provide global services to your customers and successfully navigate the upcoming migration to a completely IP-based model.


Authority and Control in the Countryside looks at the economic, religious, political and cultural instruments that local and regional powers in the late antique to early medieval Mediterranean and Near East used to manage their rural hinterlands. Measures of direct control – land ownership, judicial systems, garrisons and fortifications, religious and administrative appointments, taxes and regulation – and indirect control – monuments and landmarks, cultural styles and artistic models, intellectual and religious influence, and economic and bureaucratic standard-setting – are examined to reconstruct the various means by which authority was asserted over the countryside. Unified by its thematic and spatial focus, this book offers an array of interdisciplinary approaches, allowing for important comparisons across a wide but connected geographical area in the transition from the Sasanian and Roman to the Islamic period. Contributors: Arezou Azad and Hugh Kennedy, Sobhi Bouderbala, Michele Campopiano, Alain Delattre, Jessica Ehinger, Simon Ford, James Howard-Johnston, Elif Keser-Kayaalp, Marie Legendre, Javier Martinez Jimenez, Harry Munt, Annliese Nef and Vivien Prigent, Marion Rivoal and Marie-Odile Rousset, Gesa Schenke, Petra Sijpesteijn, Peter Verkinderen, Luke Yarbrough, Khaled Younes.


Abstract. Some actual research teams in Education Science go toward the development of educative serious games on mobile devices for letting elementary school pupils (i.e. primary school students) playing outdoor to learn geographic facts, concepts, and patterns. The challenge is about improving their geographic literacy and fluency, or 'geoliteracy', and their map-reading competencies, called 'cartology', before their adolescence as critical development 'threshold'. The aspects one has to work on consider the ways to learn, use, and comprehend maps as geospatial representations, both concrete display of a terrain on the paper sheet or on a digital screen and, on another hand, cognitive configuration in the mind that structures, interprets, and recalls on demand geospatial information on location or orientation at geographical scales. The fundamental interest of cartographic abilities to make and read a map is that it creates information value, structures memory about places and events, and enhances mobility. In fact, there is a societal concern that a majority of adult population is not geographically literate neither efficient in reading and using maps in real-life context, even for just path finding. The main concern to address early at school is still "why" and "how to repair that situation"? If their geospatial cognitive development was weak at school, then that impedes them to comprehend geospatial concepts, structures, and information, later as adults. If a student does not succeed to pass over a kind of learning threshold, even the few abilities feebly acquired may vanish without significant usage neither interest in them. Later, it will be very hard to restart learning of that same matter without the necessary mental frames to organize geographical concepts and relations into an actionable knowledge. Facing this geoliteracy challenge, the geographical map appears as the best, powerful, and necessary support or instrument of geospatial knowledge representation. One may define geoliteracy as a set of stabilized and adaptive cognitive abilities and functional competencies to handle, by self, geographical realities and cartographical representations. According to Edelson (2012), the three components of achieved geoliteracy are to develop consciousness of geographical interactions (understanding of human and natural systems in space), interconnections (geographic reasoning), and implications (systematic decision-making). Thus in detail, a geoliterate adult should develop abilities in geospatial thinking and possess a complete (but rarely exhaustive) set of skills that are necessarily useful in normal autonomous life to: read, use, and even detect errors on maps and other carto-geographic representations (at any format, support,and scale or zoom level);locate places and situations occurring here and there, find new ways in space (at any scales); understand and interpret geospatial concepts, signs, and structures on a critical, reasoned, and wise fashion,while discarding misconceptions; determine, delimit, plan, and select best places to install activities; recall modes and patterns of geospatial (not only geometrical neither topological) representation, even withoutmaps at hand (not just from mental images, capital cities, touristic metaphors, or evocative pictures to comeout from memory, which is necessary, of course, but not sufficient); enhance own geographic culture, multiscale perspective, and useful geospatial awareness; elaborate an opinion or explanation regarding daily geospatial situations or circumstances. What a troubling concern is the multiple evidences that the majority of adult population is not literate neither efficient in just reading and using maps, i.e. cannot perform most of the precedent list of geospatial abilities and competencies. A research team joined with elementary schoolteachers, within a small community of practice, in order to identify pedagogic needs and test some game components as exercises in class context; then emerged the project Géolittératie (2015-2017). The pedagogic goal in designing an educative serious game on mobile device is to apply conceptual and applied methods for both learning and teaching geospatial competencies accordingly to the official school curriculum. That requires theoretical and methodological considerations about educative serious game (Kaufman & Sauvé, 2010), cartographical semiology (Bertin, 1967, 1983), the four cognitive development stages for geospatial representation by children (Piaget, 1967), and the experiential learning cycle model (Kolb, 1978, 1984). This kind of cycle supports Piaget's learning phases, from topologic perception to spatial conceptualisation, as well as the three main cartographic processes of map-making, reflexive visualization, and map-reading, which sustain any geographical reasoning. A methodological framework of a mobile serious game was designed didactically with maps and other components following an increasing complexity, step by step of play. The teacher has to prepare a sequence of tasks to perform in a progressive game according to the different learning styles, for exposing practically the pupils to the cartographical process of making a plan, then a map to use thereafter. Students should like going outdoor on the terrain to gather data in order to answer a question on a theme of investigation related to a curriculum matter. They will consider a designed scenario of typical steps (or "rounds"), within a geospatial environment, that tells a progressive plot and the rules of the game. Thus, they will choice and follow different types of geometrical and geospatial trajectories, that lead the story toward the goal of the game, while taking field-notes on their way as answering questions of the scenario. Then, they draw their collected data on a plan or map and explain in conclusion what happened to the story (and what they learn) due to the spatial organisation of the site or area. Progress in complexity levels of scenario may start with choosing between right or left to reach the next point of interest, to trying to plan both the shortest and the more pleasant paths to visit the spots where to settle a youth club in the neighbourhood. Types of trajectories going from place to place, in increasing complexity as the rounds of game advance, are based on geometrical primitives: point, succession of points, line, side of line, polyline, polygon, network, open surface, limited surface. The pedagogic result encompasses both concrete display of a terrain (on paper or on a screen) and learned cognitive configurations in the mind. Only such mental or cognitive representations allow structuring, interpreting, and recalling on demand from memory geospatial information on location, distance, or orientation, within a situation that occurs at geographical scales. Therefore, for these pupils, the fundamental question in geography shall no more be "where" but "how and why is this situation there?" At that point, only the first half of the experiential learning cycle is accomplished and the cognitive development process be achieved just at the phase associated to a threshold of operational comprehension. Now, the students know how to describe a spatial situation and to make a map, good but not enough. The challenge remains to learn from this quite technical knowledge how to deeply read a map, any map, and to get dense information from it; it is a reflexive, analytical, abstract new phase called visualization. That phase engages a second process along the second half of the experiential learning cycle, which mirror or complement the cartographic one: a cartological process. A definition for cartology could say "to make the map talking", even for telling a new story. Since player students now know the characteristics of a map, its cartographic "alphabet" composed of dimensions, scale, extent, and semiological symbols, the way is open to ask question by self to the map. They can read on it information that even the map-maker did not know neither put on it, project the map over the place represented and make a wise decision for planning or travelling. One can organize the steps of the cartologic process into another mobile game with scenarios and trajectories for gaining a better understanding of the power of maps for the cognitive structuration of geographical space and learn more efficiently about a specified theme that, for instance, composes historical thought and geographical reasoning about that place. A good theme to begin with is about the meaning of the toponymy in the neighbourhood. A prototype mixes these mobile serious game components (map, theme, scenario, and trajectory) into a scheme of about fifteen successive rounds of play, then engaging the abilities relative to the three main cartographic processes, along a complete experiential cycle. Part of this method for developing geoliteracy by combination of both cartography and cartology within a serious game was tested recently with undergraduate students in didactic course. Practical experiments must continue strengthen the theoretical and methodological frame and ease the schoolteacher's work in the best usage of maps to structure the geographical comprehension of home place and the World.


Binary features have been incrementally popular in the past few years due to their low memory footprints and the efficient computation of Hamming distance between binary descriptors. They have been shown with promising results on some real time applications, e.g., SLAM, where the matching operations are relative few. However, in computer vision, there are many applications such as 3D reconstruction requiring lots of matching operations between local features. Therefore, a natural question is that is the binary feature still a promising solution to this kind of applications? To get the answer, this paper conducts a comparative study of binary features and their matching methods on the context of 3D reconstruction in a recently proposed large scale mutliview stereo dataset. Our evaluations reveal that not all binary features are capable of this task. Most of them are inferior to the classical SIFT based method in terms of reconstruction accuracy and completeness with a not significant better computational performance.


According to what one might call 'indirect" forms of utilitarian thinking, the proper end of all human action is the greatest happiness of the greatest number of individuals, but due to the fallibility of moral agents this end cannot, and must not, be directly pursued. Instead, according to at least one version of the indirect theory, moral agents have a duty to act in conformity with a set of general rules which, in their turn, have been designed to promote the greatest happiness of humankind. But acts which conform to such general rules can under exceptional circumstances occasion more suffering than happiness. This is clearly problematical to indirect utilitarians. If they follow the rules regardless of the evil consequences, it can be argued that they have abandoned the basic principles of utilitarianism. If, on the other hand, they refuse to follow the rules which normally promote the general good, their view can be seen to collapse into the direct form of the creed.


The conflicting decisions for the Courts of Appeals for the Third and Ninth Circuits in New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection v. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace v. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, respectively, leave it an open question outside those jurisdictions whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) must account for the environmental impacts of terrorism under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) § 102(2)(C). Courts should follow the Ninth Circuit's approach of requiring such an analysis because the impacts of terrorism are not too far removed from the underlying agency action. Although programmatic treatment of the environmental effects of terrorism satisfies NEPA's mandate, the NRC's current approach of implicitly accounting for terrorism within its "accident" analysis is insufficient. This Note argues that the NRC should supplement its Generic Environmental Impact Statement with a section explicitly addressing the potential environmental impacts of terrorism. Accounting for a wider array of reasonably foreseeable impacts in this manner will ensure statutory compliance and promote environmental preservation.


Abstract Land surface temperature (LST) is an essential parameter in the physics of land surface processes. The spatiotemporal variations of LST on the Tibetan Plateau were studied using AQUA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer LST data. Considering the data gaps in remotely sensed LST products caused by cloud contamination, the harmonic analysis of time series (HANTS) algorithm was used to eliminate the influence of cloud cover and to describe the periodical signals of LST. Observed air temperature data from 79 weather stations were employed to evaluate the fitting performance of the HANTS algorithm. Results indicate that HANTS can effectively fit the LST time series and remove the influence of cloud cover. Based on the HANTS-derived mean term and annual harmonics, annual mean LST, seasonal fluctuation, and peak time of the LST annual cycle are discussed. The spatial distribution of annual mean LST generally exhibits consistency with altitude in the study area, and the spatial distribution of seasonal oscillation is closely related to precipitation. However, the timing of the peak LST does not exhibit an obvious regular pattern. The LST characteristics of different land cover types were also studied. Bare land has the highest mean LST and exhibits remarkable seasonal fluctuation. Snow, ice, or both show the lowest mean temperature, and forest shows the weakest seasonality. Different land cover types also reflect different peak occurrences of the LST annual cycle, with grassland showing the lowest annual phase value. This paper provides detailed information on the LST variations on the Tibetan Plateau, with the cloud contamination removed. The HANTS algorithm is demonstrated to be effective for understanding spatiotemporal variations of remotely sensed LST, especially for regions over which dense clouds cause large gaps in the LST data.


This paper proposes that if a political system is more like to facilitate a unified government, to establish a strong executive body and to respond to the needs of the majority, financial reforms are more likely to emerge from the policymaking process and produce positive results. On the contrary, political systems that discourage those governing features are less likely to produce reforms. This chapter compares financial reform processes in China, Taiwan and New Zealand. All of them performed low level of financial reforms in the early 1980s but resulted in different situations later. In the mid-2000s, New Zealand heralded the most efficient and stable financial system; while Taiwan lagged behind and China performed the worst. Evidence showed that China's authoritarian system may be the most superior in forming a unified government with a strong executive, but the policy priority often responds more to the interests of a small group of power elites; therefore the result of financial reform can Asian Leadership in Policy and Governance Public Policy and Governance, Volume 24, 345 375 Copyright r 2015 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 2053-7697/doi:10.1108/S2053-769720150000024014 345 D ow nl oa de d by N A T IO N A L C H E N G C H I U N IV E R SI T Y , D oc to r Ia n C he n A t 1 8: 50 0 8 Se pt em be r 20 15 ( PT ) be limited. Taiwan's presidential system can produce greater financial reform when the ruling party controls both executive and legislative bodies, but legislative obstructions may occur under a divided government. New Zealand's Westminster system produces the most effective and efficient financial reform due to its unified government and a strong executive branch with consistent and stable supports from the New Zealand Parliament.


Introduction: Reactive oxygen species are involved in the functional changes necessary for synaptic plasticity, memory, and cognitive function. It is far from clear whether the increased excitability, and which forms of neuronal excitability, should be considered a part of the learning process or, rather, cellular manifestation of neuronal oxygen poisoning. It is yet to be elucidated whether oxygen (O2)-induced learning and poisoning use the same or distinct cellular pathways. Purpose: We hypothesized that O2-induced neuronal excitability might use the same or an intertwined signaling cascade as the poisoning cellular pathway. Method: Eighty-one healthy, young males, mean age 27.7 ± 4.1 (SD) years, were exposed in the hyperbaric chamber to 0.7 atmosphere absolute (ATA) O2, 1.4 ATA O2, and 2.8 ATA O2. The critical flicker fusion frequency (CFFF), oxyhemoglobin saturation (SiO2), and heart rate (HR) were measured before exposure, after 30 min of oxygen breathing while still at pressure and then after exposure. Results: Normobaric (0.7 ATA) O2 exposure did not affect CFFF and HR. Medium hyperbaric O2 exposure (1.4 ATA) decreased CFFF but HR remained unchanged. High hyperbaric O2 exposure (2.8 ATA) increased CFFF and diminished HR. SiO2 was similar in all investigated groups. A correlation between CFFF, HR, and SiO2 was observed only at low oxygen (0.7 ATA). Conclusions: The effect of O2 on neuronal excitability measured by CFFF in young healthy men was dose dependent: 0.7 ATA O2 did not affect CFFF; CFFF were significantly jeopardized at 1.4 ATA O2, while CFFF recovered at 2.8 ATA. With 2.8 ATA O2, the CFFF and oxygen poisoning transduction pathways seemed to be intertwined.


Multiple-output domino logic (MODL) is a recently intro- duced dynamic CMOS logic in which complex gates can have multiple outputs for producing multiple functions. Depending on the degree of recurrence present in the circuit, this can result in a large reduction in the chip area required for implementing the circuit. Other advantages include higher speed, lower power requirement, and greater stability compared to conventional domino logic. In this paper we will present techniques for testing MODL circuits. We will show that due to the greater observability of MODL circuits, their test sets can be considerably smaller than those derived for the conventional domino CMOS circuits. We will derive tests for faults from a comprehensive fault model which includes stuck-at, stuck-open, and stuck-on faults. Test sets for MODL circuits are inherently robust in the presence of circuit delays and timing skews at the inputs. They are also well-protected against the charge distribution problem. Due to the above reasons, MODL should turn out to be an attractive CMOS logic tech- nique.


Abstract. Our team recently demonstrated that cantilever based devices can detect signature of life in a chemistry independent manner. In this technique, the organism of interest is attached onto a classical AFM cantilever. If alive, it induces nanometre scale oscillations of the cantilever that disappear once the organism is killed. The technique was successfully used on bacteria, yeast, vegetal and mammalian cells. In this work we demonstrate that the method can also be applied to sub-cellular organelles, such as mitochondria. Mitochondria are involved in cellular energy production and are present in most eukaryotic cells. Nowadays, it is believed that mitochondria were originally prokaryotes that colonized eukaryotic cells and that live in an endosymbiotic way ever since. Here we present that mitochondria are also animated by nanometre scale oscillations that depend on their metabolic state and that stop once they are inhibited. This observation opens novel avenues to investigate the numerous mitochondria-related diseases in humans.


Your customers want rock-solid, bug-free software that does exactly what they expect it to do. Yet they can't always articulate their ideas clearly enough for you to turn them into code. The Cucumber Book dives straight into the core of the problem: communication between people. Cucumber saves the day; it's a testing, communication, and requirements tool - all rolled into one. We'll show you how to express your customers' wild ideas as a set of clear, executable specifications that everyone on the team can read. You'll learn how to feed those examples into Cucumber and let it guide your development. You'll build just the right code to keep your customers happy, and not a line more. The first part of the book teaches you how to use the core features of Cucumber. You'll learn how to use Cucumber's Gherkin DSL to describe-- in plain language - the behavior your customers want from the system. You'll learn how to write Ruby code that interprets those plain language specifications and checks them against your application. In Part 2, you'll consolidate the knowledge you just gained with a worked example. Although it was born in the Ruby community, you can use Cucumber to test almost any system, from a simple shell script or a Perl script, to enterprise PHP or a Java web application. In Part 3, you'll find a selection of recipes for some of the most common situations you'll encounter using Cucumber in the wild. You'll learn how to test Ajax-heavy web applications with Capybara and Selenium, REST web services, Ruby on Rails applications, command-line applications, legacy applications and lots more! Written by the creator of Cucumber and one of its most experienced users and contributors, The Cucumber Book is an authoritative guide that will give you and your team all the knowledge you need to start using Cucumber with confidence. What You Need: Windows, Mac OS X (with XCode) or Linux Ruby 1.9.2 and upwards


The increasing use of deportation appears to be a universal phenomenon across the Global North, driven by uncertainties arising from globalization and the ubiquity of 'the governmentality of unease' (Bigo 2002). However, against this broad backdrop of apparent uniformity, it is important to ask what differences can be discerned between localities, countries and regions so that the factors that promote and moderate the will to exclude can be better understood. In this chapter I conduct a broad survey of statistical trends in deportation practices across ten European countries plus Australia and the US, using official data that was collected to provide comparative context for The Australian Deportation Project.


Research in human action recognition strives to develop increasingly generalized methods that are robust to intra-class variability and inter-class ambiguity. Recent years have seen tremendous strides in improving recognition accuracy on ever larger and complex benchmark datasets, comprising realistic actions "in the wild" videos. Unfortunately, the all-encompassing, dense, global representations that bring about such improvements often benefit from the inherent characteristics, specific to datasets and classes, that do not necessarily reflect knowledge about the entity to be recognized. This results in specific models that perform well within datasets but generalize poorly. Furthermore, training of supervised action recognition and detection methods need several precise spatio-temporal manual annotations to achieve good recognition and detection accuracy. For instance, current deep learning architectures require millions of accurately annotated videos to learn robust action classifiers. However, these annotations are quite difficult to achieve. In the first part of this dissertation, we explore the reasons for poor classifier performance when tested on novel datasets, and quantify the effect of scene backgrounds on action representations and recognition. We attempt to address the problem of recognizing human actions while training and testing on distinct datasets when test videos are neither labeled nor available during training. In this scenario, learning of a joint vocabulary, or domain transfer techniques are not applicable. We perform different types of partitioning of the GIST feature space for several datasets and compute measures of background scene complexity, as well as, for the extent to which scenes are helpful in action classification. We then propose a new process to obtain a measure of confidence in each pixel of the video being a foreground region using motion, appearance, and saliency together in a 3D-Markov Random Field (MRF) based framework. We also propose multiple ways to exploit the foreground confidence: to improve bag-of-words vocabulary, histogram representation of a video, and a novel histogram decomposition based representation and kernel. iii The above-mentioned work provides probability of each pixel being belonging to the actor, however, it does not give the precise spatio-temporal location of the actor. Furthermore, above framework would require precise spatio-temporal manual annotations to train an action detector. However, manual annotations in videos are laborious, require several annotators and contain human biases. Therefore, in the second part of this dissertation, we propose a weakly labeled approach to automatically obtain spatio-temporal annotations of actors in action videos. We first obtain a large number of action proposals in each video. To capture a few most representative action proposals in each video and evade processing thousands of them, we rank them using optical flow and saliency in a 3D-MRF based framework and select a few proposals using MAP based proposal subset selection method. We demonstrate that this ranking preserves the high-quality action proposals. Several such proposals are generated for each video of the same action. Our next challenge is to iteratively select one proposal from each video so that all proposals are globally consistent. We formulate this as Generalized Maximum Clique Graph problem (GMCP) using shape, global and fine-grained similarity of proposals across the videos. The output of our method is the most action representative proposals from each video. Using our method can also annotate multiple instances of the same action in a video can also be annotated. Moreover, action detection experiments using annotations obtained by our method and several baselines demonstrate the superiority of our approach. The above-mentioned annotation method uses multiple videos of the same action. Therefore, in the third part of this dissertation, we tackle the problem of spatio-temporal action localization in a video, without assuming the availability of multiple videos or any prior annotations. The action is localized by employing images downloaded from the Internet using action label. Given web images, we first dampen image noise using random walk and evade distracting backgrounds within images using image action proposals. Then, given a video, we generate multiple spatio-temporal action proposals. We suppress camera and background generated proposals by exploiting optical


Soluble intracellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1) are known as vascular inflammatory markers and play a key role in the development of atherosclerosis. Although low to moderate intensity exercise may positively influence inflammatory markers, the role of high-intensity resistance exercise in sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1 has not been fully examined. The current study examined the effects of resistance exercise at different intensities (low vs. high) on acute responses of sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1. In a randomized, cross-over design, 10 recreationally trained (resistance-trained 3 to 6 days per week for at least one year) college-aged men performed a single bout of lower body resistance exercise, consisting of the leg press and unilateral knee extension exercises, at two different intensities (low intensity: 50% of 1-RM and high intensity: 80% of 1-RM). The volume of two intensities of exercise was similar. Overnight fasting blood samples were collected at baseline and 3hr, 24-hr, and 48-hr post exercise (PE) for each exercise intensity to determine sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1. A 2 X 4 ANOVA with repeated measures was used to examine the mean differences in intensities and time on sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1, and the Least Significant Difference (LSD) tests were conducted as post hoc tests. If a significant interaction was found, the follow-up simple effects test was conducted. A p-value < .05 was set for the statistical significance. Low-intensity resistance exercise did not significantly alter sICAM-1; however, during the high-intensity resistance exercise trial, sICAM-1 at 48-hr PE (364.85 ± 34.40 ng/ml) significantly (p = .037) decreased by 14.27% from 3-hr PE (425.60 ± 36.71 ng/ml). Following low-intensity resistance exercise, sVCAM-1 significantly (p = .001) increased by 27.6 % at 24-hr PE (p = .001) and remained elevated up to 48-hr PE (p = .001). In addition, sVCAM-1 at 24-hr PE (715.70 ± 38.14 ng/ml) and 48-hr PE (716.32 ± 34.79 ng/ml) for the low-intensity resistance exercise trial were significantly higher (p = .003 and p = .002, respectively) than the same time points of the high-intensity resistance exercise trial (24hr PE: 532.57 ± 38.14 ng/ml and 48-hr PE: 533.18 ± 34.79 ng/ml). Thus, the current study suggests that high-intensity resistance exercise can also be an effective method to improve cardiovascular health since it reduced vascular inflammatory markers by decreasing sICAM-1 without altering sVCAM-1.


Scarce in the academic literature exploring the experiences of teachers within school environments specialising in the education of special educational needs children and disabilities are accounts from teachers working within SLD/PMLD schools. In light of this gap in scholarship, this study examined nine teachers' ecological narratives and explored their influence upon curriculum decisions and consequent pedagogic practices in the context of a naturalistic setting within four SLD/PMLD schools.

Three purposes framed this investigation. Firstly, to gain an in-depth understanding of how the pedagogic beliefs and identities of SLD/PMLD teachers are constructed within the framework of the school-espoused curriculum. Secondly, how teachers' practices emerge as functions of individual ecologies, beliefs and identities through autobiography and thirdly how these teachers' identities, ecologies and practices in turn, re-shape the enacted-curricular.

Bronfenbrenner's (1979; 1989; Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998) ecological theories were considered as a conceptual framework that stood behind this work, but as personal 'special' pedagogical narratives unfolded, their influence became less formal in encapsulating how teachers constructed the curriculum as a situated pedagogic experience so local narrative frameworks were utilised.

Data sources included multiple individual interviews to enable ecological constructs to unfold, classroom observations, personal writing, research notes and other salient material. Dialogue between the researcher and participants ensured the rigour of the study. Experiences both personal and professional were used as a key to unlock participants' lives with multiple opportunities to critically assess portrayals.

Analysis of data revealed that teacher knowledge and personal ecologies were encapsulated both within conscious, internally and externally justified opinions and unconscious un-reflected intuitions, submerged within the identities of the teachers and their students. Whilst the importance of individual teachers' micro-ecologies as being unique was apparent in the context of current research in inclusive and specialist education, teachers' voices seemed to be heard and listened to only by those working within SLD and PMLD settings, both through choice and almost benign acceptance. Political macro-structures of inclusion were juxtaposed to micro-ideals of inclusive pedagogy and whilst ecological constructs impacted greatly, pedagogic practice emanated ultimately from personal belief and identity; in essence, these teachers were the curriculum.

At a time of profound change in Inclusive Education, this study contributes to deficient and under-theorised notions of SLD/PMLD teachers' narratives and practices. More critically, this thesis makes a significant and original contribution to scholarship concerned with the narration of pedagogic inclusion and how its teacherly embodiment may foster inclusive classrooms.


This article explores the role of philosophy of the Earth sciences in the foundation of the principles of 'geoethics'. In particular, the focus is on two different examples of philosophical analysis in the field of geosciences: the first is the trial against the Italian National Commission for Forecasting and Predicting Great Risks, which was charged with negligence in communication and prediction on the occasion of the earthquake that almost destroyed the city of L'Aquila on the night of April 6, 2009; the second is related to the scientific and theoretical consequences of the updated geographical scenario of the human global populating of the Earth, based on archeological, paleontological and genetic data. Our concept of 'scientific prediction' in the case of geophysical phenomena and the new ways to see human evolution that depend on geophysical factors have ethical and philosophical implications that are crucial for the foundations of geoethics. The tentative conclusion is that we need an evolutionary sense of belonging to our Planet, and a concept of 'natural' phenomena and 'natural' disasters that should not be an alibi for the underestimation of our political and ethical responsibilities.


This article is concerned with the numerical simulation of the flow of blood in small channels. Under certain flow conditions, blood is expected to behave like a viscoelastic fluid. Therefore a non-Newtonian, viscoelastic and shear-thinning finitely extensible non-linear elastic (FENE) dumbbell suspension model is used. The FENE dumbbell model is a coarse-grained molecular model that was developed for polymer solutions. The FENE model in this paper uses the variance reduction techniques of Brownian configuration fields and equilibrium control variates. The model has been implemented into a spectral element algorithm, which solves the stochastic differential equation together with the momentum and continuity equations. The temporal discretization of the convective term in the momentum equation is performed using a first-order time-splitting technique. An Euler–Maruyama predictor–corrector scheme has been used for the temporal discretization of the stochastic differential equation for the evolution of the configuration fields. Spatial discretization is performed using spectral element techniques, and the system of discretized equations is solved using a preconditioned conjugate gradient method. Results are presented for the start-up of Poiseuille flow in a planar channel, and for simulations of blood flowing through a small channel with a symmetric and a non-symmetric stenosis. The influence of the model parameters on the solution is described.


The goal of my thesis was to replicate Chen et al. (2014) and to extend the study by comparing Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to Wait List Control (WLC) and Treatment as Usual (TAU) conditions. Effect size estimations for reduction in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptomatology was used to compare the effectiveness of the treatment and comparison conditions. A total of 34 studies were included in this meta-analysis. These studies included at least a PTSD outcome measure along with other outcome measures (i.e., depression outcome measures, anxiety outcome measures, or subjective distress outcome measures). Relevant time point posttest means and standard deviations were used to calculate Hedges's g using a random effects model. Favorable results were interpreted as a decrease in PTSD symptomatology. Significant results were reported for EMDR versus WLC on PTSD outcomes and EMDR versus TAU on PTSD outcomes. Both hypotheses were supported as EMDR was more effective at reducing PTSD symptomatology than both WLC and TAU. Limitations of this study included variations in the outcome measures in the 26 studies from Chen et al. (2014) and variations in effect size calculations because not every study reported means and standard deviations. The results of this study should not be generalized beyond the populations included in the selected studies in randomized controlled trial settings. Future research should focus on the efficacy of EMDR versus individual empirically-supported therapies, the effectiveness of EMDR with certain age groups, and the dose-response effectiveness of EMDR with different numbers of treatment sessions.


Between 1941 and 1946, in response to the devastation caused by World War II, memories of the Great Depression, and the prospect of Soviet expansion, a group of politicians, diplomats, and economists in the United States and Great Britain sought to repair the ruined economies of Europe and secure economic prosperity for America. Their program, which became known as multilateralism, called for reduced quotas on imports, lowered tariffs, the abandonment of currency exchange controls, and economic decision making by international bodies. Randall Woods explores this attempt to create an interdependent world economy and sets it against the broader political and strategic backdrop of the period.In the United States, multilateralism attracted New Deal liberals because it proposed to help not only the established economic interests but traditionally disadvantaged groups such as farmers and industrial workers as well. Moderate socialists in Britain also lent their support to a liberalized trading system, as did many conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic, believing that the program would preserve some degree of free enterprise in the international economy.Unfortunately for its disciples, Woods argues, multilateralism was so modified by the forces of isolationism and economic nationalism--and by bureaucratic politics in the United States--that it failed to achieve its economic and strategic goals. The international economy that emerged after World War II was not an equitable partnership and merely finalized the fifty-year process by which the United States supplanted Great Britain as the arbiter of Western Capitalism. In the end, modified multilateralism hampered rather than facilitated the free flow of goods and capital, and it did little to promote social democracy.


We present a novel method to derive the surface distance of an osteosynthesis plate w.r.t. the patient-specific surface of the distal femur based on 2D X-ray images. Our goal is to study from clinical data, how the plate-to-bone distance affects bone healing. The patient-specific 3D shape of the femur is, however, seldom recorded for cases of femoral osteosynthesis since this typically requires Computed Tomography (CT), which comes at high cost and radiation dose. Our method instead utilises two postoperative X-ray images to derive the femoral shape and thus can be applied on radiographs that are taken in clinical routine for follow-up. First, the implant geometry is used as a calibration object to relate the implant and the individual X-ray images spatially in a virtual X-ray setup. In a second step, the patient-specific femoral shape and pose are reconstructed in the virtual setup by fitting a deformable statistical shape and intensity model (SSIM) to the images. The relative positioning between femur and implant is then assessed in terms of displacement between the reconstructed 3D shape of the femur and the plate. A preliminary evaluation based on 4 cadaver datasets shows that the method derives the plate-to-bone distance with a mean absolute error of less than 1mm and a maximum error of 4.7 mm compared to ground truth from CT. We believe that the approach presented in this paper constitutes a meaningful tool to elucidate the effect of implant positioning on fracture healing.


"Women's Studies: Essential Readings" provides a wide range of readers with an entirely comprehensive selection of ever 140 readings on women's studies, representing the entire diversity of current feminist thinking. The book is a divided into fourteen sections that reflect primary topics within women's studies, covering theory and perspectives, including: feminist social theory; psychological and psychoanalytic theory; cross-cultural perspectives and historical perspectives, as well as themes such as: education and work; marriage and motherhood; sexuality; the law; crime and deviance; politics and the state; science, medicine and reproductive technology; language and gender; feminist literary criticism; and the media tool Features: Introductions to each section provide an overview of the main issues and debates. Commentaries on each extract locate the work of individual authors within wider debates and identify the perspective from which they are writing. Each section contains a guide to further reading.