As long as there has been law, inquisitive minds have contemplated the salient question of whether the law has been successful in achieving its objectives. In 1977, the U.S. enacted the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"), the first law of its kind in the world governing the conduct of domestic actors in their interactions with foreign officials in foreign markets. Upon the 40th anniversary of the FCPA, it is appropriate to ask the salient question of whether the FCPA has been successful in achieving its objectives.

To answer this question, success in the FCPA context must first be defined. Admittedly, this is no easy task as there are various plausible meanings of success in analyzing any law including the FCPA. Prior to highlighting the various plausible meanings of FCPA success, Part I of this Article provides a brief overview of the real-world events and policy reasons which resulted in Congress enacting the FCPA in 1977. From there, Part II of this Article draws upon attempts to measure the success of other laws and highlights various plausible meanings of FCPA success. Part III discusses "hard" enforcement metrics such as the quantity of FCPA enforcement actions as well as the quality of enforcement actions given how the FCPA is being enforced as well as outcomes in actual FCPA actions when government enforcement agencies are put to their burden of proof. Part IV discusses "soft" enforcement metrics, such as voluntary compliance with the FCPA as well as deterrence. Part V discusses "modeling" metrics — namely whether the pioneering FCPA law motivated other countries to enact similar laws.

Even with these various plausible meanings of FCPA success, actual measurement is difficult because some meanings are measurable, other meanings are largely unmeasurable, whereas other measures of success, while measurable, assume causation between an event and a subsequent development. Nevertheless, each plausible meaning of FCPA success is analyzed through various FCPA enforcement statistics, FCPA enforcement agency statements, qualitative FCPA data points, and other FCPA relevant information.

This Article concludes that it is inconclusive whether the FCPA, upon its 40th anniversary, has been successful in achieving its objectives — it all depends on one's best definition of success. Reasonable minds can certainly differ as to the best meaning of FCPA success and whether the FCPA has been successful in achieving its objectives. Indeed, this Article's main goal is to foster a dialogue on the best meaning of FCPA success and force those in the FCPA space to pause, reflect, and come to their own conclusion upon the FCPA's 40th anniversary regarding the salient question of whether the FCPA has been successful in achieving its objectives.


Abstract The performance of pulp and paper industries in four Canadian regions is compared based on the estimation of an input distance function, with and without pollutant outputs. Distance functions are techniques for the representation and estimation of multiple-output and multiple-input production technologies. They are quantity-based techniques. Non-marketed outputs such as pollutants can be easily incorporated into productivity analysis with the help of distance functions. This environmentally sensitive approach provides higher productivity growth estimates for all regions, indicating the need for adjusting conventional measures that ignore the non-marketed benefits of pollution abatement activities. The results also consistently indicate the presence of substantial differences in the regional levels of technical efficiency. Regional industries have not enjoyed similar rates of technological progress due to differences in their underlying structures. Productivity growth estimates for most regional industries remain weak or negative even after the recognition of pollution abatement efforts. Estimates of regional level costs of abatement for biological oxygen demand (BOD) and suspended solids (TSS) are provided.


This study assesses the post Uruguay Round GATT system and concludes that the need for further reform is far-reaching. The authors find that the principles underlying the current system-nondiscrimination and multilateralism-will not adequately serve in the future to reduce barriers and promote trade. The study outlines innovative new approaches to reduce the level of protection and harness new regional trading arrangements to improve global economic performance. It examines the fundamental change in the trade system of the 1990s: the emergence of three economic superpowers (the European Union, Japan, and the United States) that have both common and conflicting interests in global trade reform. The authors argue that a crucial challenge in the years ahead will be to prevent the serious conflicts that are now emerging from devolving into full-blown hostilities, and recommends measures to do so. They also discuss the growing pressures to link trade policy and nontrade issues, particularly environmental objectives, and to broaden the participation of the developing countries in the trading system. They stress that these and other pressures will inevitably force substantial change in the system, and they set out practical suggestions for reform to address them.


This special issue on Scandinavian Researcher Career Retrospectives (RCR) includes five articles from within the Nordic information systems (IS) research community. Two of the papers are from Finland (Iivari and Nurminen), two from Sweden (Flensburg and Lundeberg), and one from Denmark (Bjørn-Andersen with Clemmensen). Each of these articles illuminates the history of Scandinavian IS research, and its connections to wider contexts from their particular vantage point. Each paper describes a unique career trajectory, and reflects on its authors' values, aspirations, struggles, successes, failures and lessons learned. In this editorial we equate RCRs with academic autobiographies (Popkin 1 Lanamäki et al.: A Call to Write the Nordic Information Systems Research Field History. Published by AIS Electronic Library (AISeL), 4 • Lanamäki, Porra & Hirschheim 2007; Aurell 2015). Following the narrative turn of historiography in the 1970s, and the more recent biographical developments in the humanities and social sciences, autobiographies are gaining ground as a legitimate style of writing in academia at large. As the editors of this special issue, we agree with Aurell (2006) that academic autobiographies can truly benefit from being unconventional. We should aim to "Tell a good story!" (Porra 2015b) that reveals the wisdom and character of the Nordic IS academy as seen through the eyes of these individuals. Our hope is that as we collect more Scandinavian careers stories, they will reveal their own philosophical, methodological styles and content illuminating the Nordic peoples' wisdom of life in the context of using computers for the benefit of all humanity. With this special issue, we explore some broad ideas and concepts for furthering the collecting and writing down Scandinavian IS research field history. We submit that as Scandinavian minded IS peoples, we can benefit from adopting the richness of various categories of history writing genres, but in the end we must adapt their ways as we focus on telling our own story in our characteristic ways that emanate from our own ancestral past.


Biological motion research is an increasingly active field, with a great potential to contribute to a wide range of applications, such as behavioral monitoring/motion detection in surveillance situations, intention inference in social interactions, and diagnostic tools in autism research. In recent years, a large amount of motion capture data has become freely available online, potentially providing rich stimulus sets for biological motion research. However, there currently does not exist an easy-to-use tool to extract, present and manipulate motion capture data in the MATLAB environment, which many researchers use to program their experiments. We have developed the Biomotion Toolbox, which allows researchers to import motion capture data in a variety of formats, to display actions using Psychtoolbox 3, and to manipulate action displays in specific ways (e.g., inversion, three-dimensional rotation, spatial scrambling, phase-scrambling, and limited lifetime). The toolbox was designed to allow researchers with a minimal level of MATLAB programming skills to code experiments using biological motion stimuli.


Kaiser Alloy 7075 in pipe and tube is used in hydraulic lines. This alloy is covered in Alloy Digest Al-368, March 2000, but that datasheet is for screw machining bar stock whereas this one includes tube and pipe data. This datasheet provides information on composition, physical properties, hardness, elasticity, tensile properties, and shear strength as well as fatigue. It also includes information on corrosion resistance as well as joining. Filing Code: Al-457. Producer or source: Kaiser Aluminum Corporation.


The effects of fenfluramine, an indirect serotonin (5-HT) receptor agonist, on sleep and brain indole- and catecholamines were examined in rats. Animals implanted with cerebrocortical and dorsal neck muscle electrodes were continuously monitored by the EEG for 12 hr after i.p. injections of dl-fenfluramine hydrochloride (1, 5 and 10 mg/kg). Fenfluramine produced a dose-dependent suppression of both slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid-eye-movement sleep (REMS). Accompanying these effects was a dose-dependent increase in head-shaking, a behavior associated with activation of central 5-HT receptors. The incidence of head-shaking was inversely related to SWS and REMS time. At doses which significantly suppressed sleep (5 and 10 mg/kg), fenfluramine lowered whole brain 5-HT and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid concentrations without affecting brain catecholamines. Pretreatment with metergoline (2.5 and 5.0 mg/kg i.p.), a 5-HT receptor antagonist, 1 hr before the administration of fenfluramine (5 mg/kg) blocked the fenfluramine-induced suppression of SWS in a dose-dependent manner and prevented head-shaking behavior, but failed to prevent the suppression of REMS. In contrast, pretreatment with alpha-flupenthixol (0.2 mg/kg i.p.), a dopamine receptor antagonist, had no effect on the suppression of sleep and the stimulation of head-shaking behavior produced by fenfluramine. These data suggest that the suppression of SWS but not of REMS by fenfluramine is mediated by activation of the serotonergic system. The increase in serotonergic activity produced by fenfluramine may result from the drug-induced release of 5-HT with subsequent stimulation of postsynaptic 5-HT receptors. These findings are consistent with our hypothesis that pharmacological stimulation of 5-HT receptors suppresses sleep in the rat.


Paris and Hoge (2009) reported that mental health practitioners are experiencing high demands, high levels of stress, and are subsequently experiencing burnout and turning over in many of their workplace settings (i.e. community mental health, hospital). Burnout has serious health and occupational consequences for the mental health practitioner. Viehl and Dispenza (2015) identified that the phenomenon is occurring for sexual minority men at higher rates when compared with sexual minority women and heterosexual men and women, but they did not identify whether the experience of burnout was attributed to gender, sexual orientation, or the intersection of the two . Thus, the focus of the present study was to explore unique experiences of sexual minority men in the mental health field and what specific variables related to their gender and/or sexual orientation contribute to their experiences of burnout. This study utilized two phases to explore how sexual minority men experience burnout within the mental health field. Forty-one participants completed Phase 1 which consisted of a demographic questionnaire and the Counselor Burnout Inventory (CBI). Twenty-one participants participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Using multiple standards of trustworthiness (e.g., member checking, investigator triangulation), researchers analyzed each interview from a constructivist grounded theoretical framework. The core category emerged as synthesis of identities. Additionally, three main themes emerged in support of synthesis of identities: (a) mental health field as a systemic contributor to burnout, (b) gender norms/expectations as a contributor to burnout, and (c) sexual identity oppression as a contributor to burnout. Implications for counselor education and supervision are discussed. INDEX WORDS: Burnout, Sexual minority, LGB, Minority stress, Counselor education Burnout among Sexual Minority Male Mental Health Practitioners: Implications in Counselor education and practice


BACKGROUND
Because of disparate taxonomic arrays for classification, the American Academy of Pain Medicine has proposed categorizing pain on a neurobiologic basis as eudynia (nociceptive pain), Greek for "good pain," or maldynia (maladaptive pain), Greek for "bad pain." The latter has been viewed as maladaptive because it may occur in the absence of ongoing noxious stimuli and does not promote healing and repair.

OBJECTIVE
To address recent findings on the pathogenesis of pain following neural injury and consider whether the development of maladaptive pain justifies its classification as a disease and to briefly discuss the scope of pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic approaches employed in patients with such pain.

METHODS
English language reports on studies using human subjects were selected from a PubMed search of the literature from 1995 to August 2010 and from the Cochrane Library. Further information was obtained from Internet sites of medical specialty and other societies devoted to pain management.

RESULTS
Neural damage to either the peripheral or central nervous system provokes multiple processes including peripheral and central sensitization, ectopic activity, neuronal cell death, disinhibition, altered gene expression, and abnormal sprouting and cellular connectivity. A series of neuro-immune interactions underlie many of these mechanisms. Imaging studies have shown that such damage is characterized by functional, structural, and chemical changes in the brain. Such pain is maladaptive in the sense that it occurs in the absence of ongoing noxious stimuli and does not promote healing and repair.

CONCLUSION
As defined, maldynia is a multidimensional process that may warrant consideration as a chronic disease not only affecting sensory and emotional processing but also producing an altered brain state based on both functional imaging and macroscopic measurements. However, the absolute clinical value of this definition is not established.


Phagocytosis of human cells is a crucial activity for the virulence of the human parasite Entamoeba histolytica. This protozoan invades and destroys the intestine by killing and phagocytosing epithelial cells, erythrocytes and cells from the immune system. In this study, we used magnetic beads covered with proteins from human serum as a model system to study the early events involved in phagocytosis by E. histolytica. We validated the system showing that the beads uptake triggered the activation of the actin‐myosin cytoskeleton and involved a PI3‐kinase as previously described for erythrophagocytosis. We purified early phagosomes from wild‐type (WT) amoeba and from parasites that overproduced myosin IB (MyoIB+), the unique unconventional myosin of E. histolytica. The MyoIB+ cells exhibit a slower and more synchronized uptake process than the WT strain. Proteomic analysis by liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectroscopy (LC‐MS/MS) of the WT and MyoIB+ phagosomes allowed us to identify, for the first time, molecular actors involved in the early step of the uptake process. These include proteins involved in cytoskeleton activity, signalling, endocytosis, lytic activity and cell surface proteins. Interestingly, the proteins that we found specifically recruited on the phagosomes from the MyoIB+ strain were previously described in other eukarytotic cells, as involved in the regulation of cortical F‐actin dynamics, such as α‐actinin and formins. This proteomics approach allows a step further towards the understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in phagocytosis in E. histolytica that revealed some interesting differences compared with phagocytosis in macrophages or Dictyostelium discoideum, and allowed to identify putative candidates for proteins linked to myosin IB activity during the phagocytic process


This transdisciplinary research case study sought to disrupt the usual ways public participation shapes future energy systems. An interdisciplinary group of academics and a self-assembling public of a North English town co-produced 'bottom-up' visions for a future local energy system by emphasizing local values, aspirations and desires around energy futures. The effects of participatory modelling are considered as part of a community visioning process on participants' social learning and social capital. This paper examines both the within-process dynamics related to models and the impact of the outside process, political use of the models by the participants. Both a numerical model (to explore local electricity generation and demand) and a physical scale model of the town were developed to explore various aspects of participants' visions. The case study shows that collaborative visioning of local energy systems can enhance social learning and social capital of communities. However, the effect of participatory modelling on these benefits is less clear. Tensions arise between 'inspiring' and 'empowering' role of visions. It is argued that the situatedness of the visioning processes needs to be recognized and integrated within broader aspects of governance and power relations.


BACKGROUND
Psilocybin is a classic psychedelic drug that has a history of use in psychotherapy. One of the rationales for its use was that it aids emotional insight by lowering psychological defences.

AIMS
To test the hypothesis that psilocybin facilitates access to personal memories and emotions by comparing subjective and neural responses to positive autobiographical memories under psilocybin and placebo.

METHOD
Ten healthy participants received two functional magnetic resonance imaging scans (2 mg intravenous psilocybin v. intravenous saline), separated by approximately 7 days, during which they viewed two different sets of 15 positive autobiographical memory cues. Participants viewed each cue for 6 s and then closed their eyes for 16 s and imagined re-experiencing the event. Activations during this recollection period were compared with an equivalent period of eyes-closed rest. We split the recollection period into an early phase (first 8 s) and a late phase (last 8 s) for analysis.

RESULTS
Robust activations to the memories were seen in limbic and striatal regions in the early phase and the medial prefrontal cortex in the late phase in both conditions (P<0.001, whole brain cluster correction), but there were additional visual and other sensory cortical activations in the late phase under psilocybin that were absent under placebo. Ratings of memory vividness and visual imagery were significantly higher after psilocybin (P<0.05) and there was a significant positive correlation between vividness and subjective well-being at follow-up (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS
Evidence that psilocybin enhances autobiographical recollection implies that it may be useful in psychotherapy either as a tool to facilitate the recall of salient memories or to reverse negative cognitive biases.


A high-density microelectrode arrays (HDMEA) with 3,150 electrodes per square millimetre was used to capture neuronal activity across various scales, including axons, dendrites, and networks. We present a new method for high-throughput segmentation of axons based on the spatial smoothness of signal delays. Comparison with both ground truth and receiver operator characteristics shows that the new segmentation method outperforms previous methods based on the signal-amplitude-to-noise ratio. Structural and functional neuronal network connectivity were reconstructed using a common extension of "Peter's rule" and a inter-spike histogram method, respectively. Approximately one third of these connections are putative chemical synapses. We evaluated the spike patterns but did not find evidence for "polychronisation" (non-synchronous but precisely timed spike sequences). The developed framework can be used to investigate the relationship between the topology of neuronal connections and emerging temporal spike patterns observed in dissociated neuronal cultures.


PURPOSE: We examined intraocular pressure (IOP)-reducing effects 12 months after switching timolol maleate/travoprost combination ophthalmic solution in one bottle (TM/TR-COMBI-SOL) to carteolol hydrochloride/latanoprost combination ophthalmic solution in one bottle (CR/LT-COMBI-SOL). CASES: The participants included 25 patients (25 eyes) who could be followed up for 12 months after a switch from TM/TR-COMBI-SOL to CR/LT-COMBI-SOL in Saiseikai Arida Hospital between March 1, 2017, and August 31, 2018. They consisted of patients in whom antiglaucoma eye drop other than TM/TR-COMBI-SOL had not been used (monotherapy group, 12 patients [12 eyes], 12.8 ± 3.0 mmHg) and those in whom antiglaucoma eye drop other than TM/TR-COMBI-SOL had been concomitantly used (multitherapy group, 13 patients [13 eyes], 13.8 ± 2.4 mmHg). We excluded patients in whom drugs for glaucoma were changed or added during the follow-up and those who underwent intraocular surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively and statistically examined the IOP before eye drop switching and after 1, 6, and 12 months, using the paired t-test. RESULTS: The IOPs 1 month after eye drop switching in the monotherapy group and multitherapy group were 12.5 ± 3.3 and 13.8 ± 2.5 mmHg, respectively. The values after 6 months were 13.5 ± 3.0 and 11.5 ± 2.7 mmHg, respectively. Those after 12 months were 12.8 ± 2.7 and 11.7 ± 2.5 mmHg, respectively. In the monotherapy group, there was no significant difference during the follow-up period. In the multitherapy group, there were significant decreases in comparison with the preswitching value after 6 and 12 months (P < 0.05, respectively). CONCLUSION: The IOP-reducing effects of CR/LT-COMBI-SOL were similar to those of TM/TR-COMBI-SOL. However, the effects may be enhanced after switching from TM/TR-COMBI-SOL in patients receiving multitherapy.


ABSTRACT This paper presents a model study of the sediment transport processes of a shingle beach under the combined action of waves and tides. Parallel experiments were carried out with a constant water depth corresponding to the high water level of the tidal experiments, thus allowing a direct comparison between the two cases. It was found that the presence of the tide affected the beach behaviour differently depending on the wave climate. Under storm conditions, a rolling bar was clearly seen moving below the Mean Water Level (MWL) with both the flood and ebb tides. Under swell conditions on the flood, sediment was eroded once a critical depth had been reached but was moved onshore in the uprush to form the berm. The presence of the tide was shown to increase the size of the berm in a summer profile, and push the offshore bar further seaward in the winter profiles. The overall beach slope did not change when subjected to the wave attack without the tide but altered significantly under the combined action of the wave and the tide.


Study Design. The results of correction for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) were compared using apical sublaminar wires versus pedicle screws. Objective. To compare comprehensively the 2-year minimum postoperative results of posterior correction and spinal fusion using translational correction through either hybrid hook/sublaminar wire/pedicle screw constructs versusin situ rod-contouring correction with pedicle screw constructs in the treatment of AIS at 2 institutions. Summary of Background Data. Despite the reports of satisfactory correction of scoliotic curves by both apical (sublaminar wire) instrumentation and apical pedicle screw instrumentation, to our knowledge, no reports on the comprehensive comparison of hybrid (hook/sublaminar wire/pedicle screw) instrumentation versus segmental pedicle screw instrumentation exist. Methods. A total of 50 patients with AIS at 2 institutions who underwent posterior spinal fusion with sublaminar wire (25 patients) or pedicle screw (25) constructs were sorted and matched according to 4 criteria: (1) similar age at surgery (14.2 years in the sublaminar wire and 14.4 in the pedicle screw group, P = 0.72); (2) similar number of fused vertebrae (11.4 in the sublaminar wire and 11.8 in the pedicle screw group, P = 0.36); (3) similar operative methods; and (4) identical Lenke curve types and similar preoperative major curve measurements (63.5° in the sublaminar wire and 59.5° in the pedicle screw group, P = 0.42). Patients were evaluated preoperatively, immediately postoperatively, and at 2-year follow-up according to radiographic changes in curve correction, operating time, intraoperative blood loss, implant costs, and the Scoliosis Research Society patient questionnaire (SRS-24) scores. Results. After surgery, average major curve correction was 67.4% in the sublaminar wire and 68.1% in the pedicle screw group (P = 0.56). At 2-year follow-up, loss of themajor curve correction was 4.6% in the sublaminar wirecompared to 5.1% in the pedicle screw group (P = 0.79). Postoperative global coronal and sagittal balance were similar in both groups. No significant difference was found in the average number of levels fused from the distal end vertebra (1.48 in the sublaminar wire and 0.64 in the pedicle screw group, P = 0.21). Operating time averaged 350 minutes in the sublaminar wire and 357 in the pedicle screw group (P = 0.86). Intraoperative blood loss was significantly different in both groups (1791 ± 816 mL in the sublaminar wire and 824 ± 440 mL in the pedicle screw group) (P = 0.0003). Average implant cost in the sublaminar wire group (16.0 fixation points; 8341 US dollars) was significantly lower than that of the pedicle screw group (17.1 fixation points; 13,462 US dollars) (P < 0.0001). Postoperative 2-year SRS-24 scores were similar in both groups (sublaminar wire = 107.3, pedicle screw = 103.5, P = 0.19). There were no neurologic or visceral complications related to sublaminar wire or pedicle screw instrumentation and no reoperations at a minimum 2-year follow-up. Conclusions. Apical sublaminar wire and pedicle screw instrumentation both offer similar major curve correction with similar fusion lengths without neurologic problems in the operative treatment of AIS. Although more expensive, pedicle screw constructs had significantly less blood loss and slightly shorter fusion lengths than the sublaminar wire constructs.


The distribution of ice layers in the polar summer mesosphere (called polar mesospheric clouds or PMCs) is sensitive to background atmospheric conditions and therefore affected by global-scale dynamics. To investigate this coupling it is necessary to simulate the global distribution of PMCs within a 3-dimensional (3-D) model that couples large-scale dynamics with cloud microphysics. However, modeling PMC microphysics within 3-D global chemistry climate models (GCCM) is a challenge due to the high computational cost associated with particle following (La-grangian) or sectional microphysical calculations. By characterizing the relationship between the PMC effective radius , ice water content (iwc), and local temperature (T) from an ensemble of simulations from the sectional microphysi-cal model, the Community Aerosol and Radiation Model for Atmospheres (CARMA), we determined that these variables can be described by a robust empirical formula. The characterized relationship allows an estimate of an altitude distribution of PMC effective radius in terms of local temperature and iwc. For our purposes we use this formula to predict an effective radius as part of a bulk parameterization of PMC microphysics in a 3-D GCCM to simulate growth, sub-limation and sedimentation of ice particles without keeping track of the time history of each ice particle size or particle size bin. This allows cost effective decadal scale PMC simulations in a 3-D GCCM to be performed. This approach produces realistic PMC simulations including estimates of the optical properties of PMCs. We validate the relationship with PMC data from the Solar Occultation for Ice Experiment (SOFIE).


Agrochemical multinationals hail them as a panacea for everything from world hunger to pesticide pollution. Environmental organizations dismiss them as "Frankenfoods" which poison consumers and destroy the world's ecosystems. The Nairobi-based United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is attempting to help developing countries weigh up the pros and cons for themselves. The argument is about genetically modified (GM) crops. In mid-January, UNEP kicked off a three-year project that will support up to 100 developing countries to prepare for the entry into force of the UN Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (see Box 1. The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety). It will also help these countries put into practice the principles of risk assessment for GM foods announced in March by a task force of the Codex Alimentarius, a world reference body for food safety (see Box 2. UN agrees principles for GM food risk analysis). Box 1. The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety Adopted in January 2000 the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety is the first international, legally binding environmental treaty. The Protocol seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks from genetically modified organisms (GMO) by regulating all transboundary movements of GMOs. The Protocol also establishes a so-called advance informed agreement procedure, which requires GMO-exporting countries to provide all pertinent information about the GMOs in question so that the importing countries can make an informed decision as to whether to accept the shipment or not. As one of its key elements the Protocol is to set up a biosafety clearing house, an Internet database containing all necessary-information about any given GMO such as movements and transports of GMOs, release documents and risk assessments. So far more than 100 countries have signed the Protocol but only 11 have ratified it. As soon as 50 countries have ratified it, the Cartagena Protocol will enter into force worldwide. MH Box 2. UN agrees principles for GM food risk analysis After two years of deliberations, a UN task force on GM foods reached its final conclusions this March: a set of principles proposing that such foods be subjected to extensive pre-market safety assessments, combined with methods to overcome uncertainties in risk assessment, for example by monitoring potential effects after a product has been marketed. Investigations should identify new or altered hazards relevant to human health, especially in relation to key nutrients and potential allergies, said the Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology in early March in Yokohama, Japan. This Task Force of the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission--a world reference body for food safety--says that their principles should be seen as providing an overall framework for evaluating the safety and nutritional aspects of GM foods in any country. The principles also provide guidance on analytical methods and other tools to be used in risk management. FAO and WHO say that the task force "reached a very important new agreement concerning the tracing of GM products for the purpose of facilitating withdrawal from the market when a risk to human health has been identified." The task force also adopted detailed requirements for assessing the safety of GM plants, including tests for allergenicity, and recommended that efforts be made to improve the capability of regulatory authorities--particularly in developing countries--to assess and manage GM foods. This is where the UNEP biosafety project will be helpful (see feature). RW The environment "is different everywhere, and that's why GM crops have to be tested locally" says Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, the lead author of last year's Human Development Report, issued annually by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which advocated a cautious application of biotechnology as a means to reduce world poverty. …


This dissertation is about the in/stability over time of a contract-based inter-organizational relationship (IOR) which existed mostly under conditions of government monopsony (MG). The MG consisted of the institutional arrangements between the NHS and Higher Education sectors in England for the provision of education for the NHS non-medical professional workforce. The IOR was between the NHS education buyer (the 'GM') and Middlesex University (MU). An agent-centred historical institutionalism was used as the overall approach in the inquiry. The main components of the approach were resource dependence theory, concepts of historical dependence, and events in the IOR and its institutional and organizational environments. A multi-dimensional concept of IOR in/stability from the standpoints of the GM and MU which was grounded in the practices of the IOR was constructed. The inquiry traced the origins and subsequent development of the MG and the in/stability of the IOR over an 18 year period, 1995 - 2013. The main findings of the inquiry were: (1) The IOR originated in, and continued to exist mostly under conditions of MG (2) The IOR became less stable over time from the standpoint of MU; reductions in IOR stability occurred in dimensions of risk relating to the future performance of the IOR (3) Instability and threatened instability in the IOR were brought about mostly by the exercise of power by the GM and by the power dependence responses of MU. The thesis developed in the dissertation is that instability and threatened instability in the IOR were due mostly to a power imbalance in the IOR, in favour of the GM, between the GM and MU. The source of that power imbalance was a combination of: • The resource dependency of MU on the IOR • The conditions of MG and bilateral monopoly under which the IOR existed. The dissertation is concluded with a critique of MG as a technique for public sector management. Recommendations are made for new NHS-HE inter-sector and IOR arrangements to be established which take account of power imbalances and relations of mutual dependence between stakeholders. Recommendations for further research are also made.


This paper addresses the novel and challenging problem of aligning camera views that are unsynchronized by low and/or variable frame rates using object trajectories. Unlike existing trajectory-based alignment methods, our method does not require frame-to-frame synchronization. Instead, we propose using the intersections of corresponding object trajectories to match views. To find these intersections, we introduce a novel trajectory matching algorithm based on matching Spatio-Temporal Context Graphs (STCGs). These graphs represent the distances between trajectories in time and space within a view, and are matched to an STCG from another view to find the corresponding trajectories. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first attempts to align views that are unsynchronized with variable frame rates. The results on simulated and real-world datasets show trajectory intersections are a viable feature for camera alignment, and that the trajectory matching method performs well in real-world scenarios.


The present work compares simulations made using the OpenFOAM CFD code with experimental measurements of the flow in the U9 Kaplan turbine model. Comparisons of the velocity profiles in the spiral casing and in the draft tube are presented. The U9 Kaplan turbine prototype located in Porjus and its model, located in Alvkarleby, Sweden, have curved inlet pipes that lead the flow to the spiral casing. Nowadays, this curved pipe and its effect on the flow in the turbine is not taken into account when numerical simulations are performed at design stage. To study the impact of the inlet pipe curvature on the flow in the turbine, and to get a better overview of the flow of the whole system, measurements were made on the 1:3.1 model of the U9 turbine. Previously published measurements were taken at the inlet of the spiral casing and just before the guide vanes, using the laser Doppler anemometry (LDA) technique. In the draft tube, a number of velocity profiles were measured using the LDA techniques. The present work extends the experimental investigation with a horizontal section at the inlet of the draft tube. The experimental results are used to specify the inlet boundary condition for the numerical simulations in the draft tube, and to validate the computational results in both the spiral casing and the draft tube. The numerical simulations were realized using the standard k-e model and a block-structured hexahedral wall function mesh.


The potential of using Electro-Encephalo-Gram (EEG) data as a biometric identifier is studied. This is the first study that assesses looming stimuli for the creation of biometrically useful Visual Evoked Potentials (VEP), i.e. EEG responses due to visual stimuli. A novel method for the detection of VEP responses with minimal expert interaction is introduced. The EEG data, segmented based on the VEP, are used to create a reliable feature vector. In contrast to previous studies, we provide a publicly available evaluation dataset based on infants which is therefore not biased due to unhealthy individuals. Only data from the occipital cortex are used (i.e. about 3 of the many possible electrode positions in the scalp), making the potential EEG biometric capture devices relatively simpler.


Much has been written on technology and the law. Leading scholars are occupied with the power dynamics between capital, technology, and the law, along with their implications for society and human rights. Alongside that, various labor law scholars focus on the implications of smart technology on employees' rights throughout the recruitment and employment periods and on workers' status and rights in the growing phenomenon of platform-based work. This article aims to contribute to the current scholarship by zooming it out and observing from a bird's-eye view how certain actors use technology to manipulate and challenge basic legal categories in labor today. This is done by referring to legal, sociological, and internet scholarship on the matter.

The main argument elaborated throughout this article is that digital technology is used to blur and distort many of the basic labor law protections. Because of this, legal categories and rights in the labor field seem to be outdated and need to be adjusted to this new reality.

By providing four detailed examples, the article unpacks how employers, giant high-tech companies, and society use various forms of technology to constantly disturb legal categories in the labor field regarding time, sphere, and relations. In this way, the article demonstrates how social media sites, information communication technologies, and artificial intelligence are used to blur the traditional concepts of privacy, working time and place, the employment contract, and community. This increased blurriness and fragility in labor have created many new difficulties that require new ways of thinking about regulation. Therefore, the article argues that both law and technology have to be modified to cope with the new challenges. Following this, the article proposes three possible ways in which to start considering the regulation of labor in the digital reality: (1) embrace flexibility as part of the legal order and use it as an interpretive tool and not just as an obstacle, (2) broaden the current legal protection and add a procedural layer to the legal rights at stake, and (3) use technology as part of the solution to the dilemmas that technology itself has emphasized. By doing so, this article seeks to enable more accurate thinking on law and regulation in the digital reality, particularly in the labor field, as well as in other fields and contexts.


Close bank relationships are thought to ameliorate firms' liquidity constraints-a phenomenon frequently measured by liquidity sensitivity of investment. Using German firms during the formative years of universal banking (1903-1913), this paper shows that, even controlling for selection bias, investment is more sensitive to internal liquidity for bank-networked firms than unattached firms. The firm exhibiting the greatest liquidity sensitivity, however, faced no apparent liquidity constraint. The findings yield two implications: they support recent research rejecting a linear relationship between liquidity sensitivity and financing constraints, and they suggest that relationship banking provides no consistent lessening of firms' liquidity sensitivity. Copyright The American Finance Association 1998.


To determine the effect of thyroid hormone excess on insulin secretion, metabolism and action in humans, we examined intravenous glucose tolerance, glucose-induced insulin secretion, insulin clearance, monocyte insulin receptor binding, and the dose-response characteristics for the effects of insulin on glucose production, uptake, oxidation, and nonoxidative disposal in 10 normal volunteers for 14 days before and after oral administration of triiodothyronine (T3) in doses that increased plasma T3 to levels observed in spontaneous thyrotoxicosis (P less than 0.001). After T3 postabsorptive plasma glucose (P less than 0.05) and insulin (P less than 0.05) both increased; intravenous glucose tolerance was unaffected, but plasma insulin responses were increased (P less than 0.01); basal glucose production, uptake, and oxidation all increased (all P less than 0.05), whereas nonoxidative glucose disposal was unaffected (P = NS); monocyte insulin receptor binding increased (P less than 0.01) due to increased receptor affinity (P less than 0.05); and receptor number was not significantly altered (P = NS). Insulin clearance was increased. Insulin-induced suppression of glucose production was impaired (Km 22 +/- 3 vs. 37 +/- 7 microU/ml, P less than 0.02); maximal insulin-induced glucose uptake (10.7 +/- 0.6 vs. 13.0 +/- 0.9 mg X kg-1 X min-1, P less than 0.001) and oxidation (3.41 +/- 0.30 vs. 5.34 +/- 0.59 mg X kg-1 X min-1, P less than 0.001) were increased without a significant change in Km. However, submaximal rates of nonoxidative glucose disposal and glucose uptake were inappropriately low for the increased insulin receptor binding.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


This paper summarizes the energy and water vapour fluxes for the first 14 months at a newly initiated flux tower site at a 65‐year‐old temperate conifer forest (Pinus strobus L.) in southern Ontario, Canada. These fluxes have been measured continuously since February 2002 using the eddy covariance technique as a part of long‐term tower flux measurement programme over a chronosequence of white pine stands. The site is located 12 km south of Simcoe, near Turkey Point in St Williams Forest Tract, owned and managed by the Ontario Ministry Natural Resources. The site was originally sandy, abandoned land, which was planted with conifer and deciduous forests. The trees are about 22 m in height. The mean trunk diameter of the trees is 33 cm and the stand stem density is 750 ha−1. Leaf area index is about 3·2 to 4·0. The soil is loamy fine sand and very fine sandy loam with low soil‐moisture holding capacity. The closure of the daily mean energy balance (H + LE)/(Rn − G − S) was 0·90. Typical values of midday Bowen ratio (H/LE) in the growing season were approximately 1·4, whereas the midday Bowen ratio values for the winter season were typically 14 to 25. Surface conductance followed variations in solar radiation and vapour pressure deficit. In the growing season, surface conductance values were typically 5–12 mm s−1. Transpiration mainly responded to vapour pressure deficit, rather than surface conductance. However, on warm summer days, when soil moisture was low, vapour pressure deficit exerted strong control on canopy conductance, thereby reducing photosynthetic uptake and water loss. Priestley–Taylor α values were low during most of the growing season, indicating dry soil conditions and conservative water loss. In the growing season, maximum daily evaporation values were 3·4 mm day−1. In winter, maximum observed evaporation was 0·05–0·2 mm day−1, mostly as a result of snow sublimation. Total calculated evapotranspiration for the 14 month measurement period was 465 ± 93 mm, and the total measured precipitation was 996 mm, indicating approximately 47% of water loss in the form of evapotranspiration. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Background Extracellular 14-3-3eta (η) is a soluble ligand that potently induces matrix metalloproteinases, in a dose-dependent manner. This, taken together with 14-3-3η's reported diagnostic utility, underscores the prognostic potential of this mechanistic biomarker. Objectives This study sought to examine 14-3-3η's expression in early RA and whether various cut-offs inform a higher likelihood of radiographic changes over 3 years. Methods Baseline serum 14-3-3η levels were measured in a cohort of 409 early RA patients; all patients were treatment naive at baseline. Median patient age was 56 years and 73% were female. Radiographic progression was defined as a ΔSHS ≥3 over 3 years. Three 14-3-3η concentration cut-offs were selected as follows: the reported manufacturer's (Augurex 14-3-3η ELISA) reference range ≥0.19 ng/ml and at the 50th and 75th percentile in the group that progressed, namely 0.40 and 3.0 ng/ml. Two-tailed Mann-Whitney U-tests were used to assess group differences. Fisher's exact test was utilized to examine 14-3-3η's association with radiographic outcomes. Log transformation was used to determine 14-3-3η, RF and ACPA titres association with radiographic changes. Stepwise multivariate regression analysis was performed incorporating disease duration, age, gender, TJC28, SJC28, ESR and CRP with 14-3-3η titres. Likelihood ratios (LR), odds ratios (OR) and corresponding confidence intervals (CI) are reported. Results Of this early RA cohort, 275 (67%) were 14-3-3η positive, 259 (63%) were positive for RF and 282 (69%) for ACPA. Baseline 14-3-3η median (IQR) levels were higher in patients that progressed compared to those that did not [1.02ng/ml (0.18-6.40) vs. 0.44ng/ml (0.07-2.85), p=0.01]. Median RF titres were also higher in patients that progressed by year 3 [70 IU/ml (24-200) vs. 40IU/ml (10-117), p=0.003], but ACPA titres were not (p=0.12). Over the 3 years, RF or ACPA positive patients had significantly higher median ΔSHS than ACPA negatives, 2.0 vs. 0.0, p=0.001 and 2.0 vs. 0.0, p=0.002. Similarly, 14-3-3η positive patients (≥0.19) had significantly higher median ΔSHS than the negatives, 2.0 vs. 0.0, p=0.009, and significantly lower ΔDAS28 and ΔSJC28, 1.9 vs. 2.4, p=0.01 and 5.0 vs. 8.0, p=0.0002, respectively. The Fisher exact test revealed that 14-3-3η at ≥0.19, ≥0.40 and ≥3.0 ng/ml was associated with increasing LRs for radiographic progression at year 3; ≥0.19 ng/ml [LR=6.3 (p=0.009), OR=1.8 (95%CI 1.1-2.8)], ≥0.40ng/ml [LR=6.6 (p=0.007), OR=1.7 (95%CI 1.1-2.6)]and ≥3.0ng/ml [LR=8.8 (p=0.002) OR=1.9 (95%CI 1.3-3.0)]. Log transformation of the 3 serological variables revealed that only 14-3-3η titres were associated with radiographic outcomes yielding an LR of 6.0, p=0.01. In a multivariate model, independent predictors of ΔSHS ≥3 over 3 years were disease duration (LR=8.3, p=0.0041) and 14-3-3η titres (LR=6.2, p=0.013). Conclusions 14-3-3η is an independent predictor of radiographic outcomes in early RA and higher levels inform a higher likelihood of joint damage progression over 3 years. These clinical observations align with 14-3-3η's mechanistic role as a potent, dose-dependent upregulator of the matrix metalloproteinases. Disclosure of Interest : D. van Schaardenburg: None declared, W. Maksymowych Consultant for: Augurex Life Sciences Corp, M. Boers: None declared, S. Turk: None declared, A. Marotta Employee of: Augurex Life Sciences Corp DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.3320


Old-age income support is becoming an issue of growing importance throughout Asia. This is especially true in East and Southeast Asia where the population is aging. This paper provides a broad overview of the current state of pension systems in the People's Republic of China, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam; analyzes the pension systems; and identifies their major structural weaknesses. The paper concludes with some specific policy directions for pension reform to strengthen the capacity of Asian pension systems in delivering economic security for the large and growing population of elderly looming on the region's horizon.


Throughout much of the history of Western philosophy, the works of non-Western philosophers were often categorized as belonging to that of mystics and was not worthy of rational discourse. This attitude began to change in the mid-19th century with philosophers such as Arthur Schopenhaur, but even more so in the 20th century as exploration of Eastern philosophy began in full earnest. Of particular note is Martin Heidegger's examination of Buddhism in his phenomenological work. Heidegger is not the only phenomenologist to have connections to Buddhism. Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the leading French phenomenologist of the 20th century, argued that the body was not only necessary for experiencing the world, but also for the attainment of authentic self-hood. In a similar vein, centuries earlier, the Zen master Dogen was formulating a philosophy of the body that closely corresponds with what Merleau-Ponty discusses in his seminal work The Phenomenology of Perception by claiming that the body was the necessary component of attainment of enlightenment through its practice of zazen, or seated meditation. Drawing from these two philosophers, and contemporary commentators, this paper argues that the divide between philosophy in the East and West is not as great as one might think. By providing a space for dialogue between Dogen and Merleau-Ponty, we see how their philosophies discourse with one another, especially in regards to their understanding of the body's importance in realization of authentic self-hood. And in providing this space, the foundations of a greater discourse between East and West may begin.


ABSTRACT This article examines the introduction of flat tax and key Eastern European markets since mid 1990s. It also examines the economic theory of flat tax and analyzes the performance of these revenue instruments in the context of economic performance in transition economies. INTRODUCTION In 1992, Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar came to power behind a strict policy of liberalization of the economy and an adherence to the principles of neoliberalism. Laar's first order of business was to figure out a way to solve Estonia's miserable tax revenue and collection problems (Smith, 2002). He answered by eliminating Estonia's gradual, or progressive, taxation structure in favor of a 26 percent flat rate on incomes and business. Within 10 years, Estonia gained admission into the European Union and has become a showcase country for why flat tax policies spur economic growth, attract foreign investment, and better collect revenue for governments. With Poland switching from a gradual taxation scheme to a flat tax policy by 2008, 10 countries in Eastern Europe have adopted flat taxes in the last eleven years. The other eight countries to adopt are Georgia, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Latvia, and Lithuania. This development is all the more surprising because only one country in the world--Hong Kong--had a flat tax prior to Estonia. "Ten years ago, everyone thought the Estonian Prime Minister had gone totally crazy in proposing a flat rate of income tax," said Laar. "The idea, which was then considered radical and unrealistic, is now becoming part of mainstream thinking in Central and Eastern Europe." (Laar, 2003). This essay will analyze the reasons behind the adoption of the flat tax. In short, the adoption of the flat tax can in part be contributed to the role of economic "ideas" in politics and economics. What economic "ideas" are, and bow they shape policy, will be discussed in the first section of this paper. In the latter section I will more closely examine Eastern Europe and the flat tax, with particular attention paid to the cases of Estonia, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary. This essay is not intended as a defense of the flat tax, nor implies a call for all countries to adopt the flat tax. This essay is also not a completed project, but the beginning of a larger, more detailed study about the relationship between economic ideas and the adoption of particular policies. The cases analyzed represent a 'first cut' with future research left to be done in this area. PART I. ECONOMIC IDEAS AND THE FLAT TAX Policy Explanations: Power, Rationality and Ideas There are three ways the political economy literature might make sense of why states in Eastern Europe adopted flat tax policies. First, power-based explanations would argue that flat tax policies were adopted because certain agents of power coerced states into adopting a policy. A common explanation with Eastern Europe is that external aid agencies like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and Western governments like the United States, forced Eastern European governments to adopt certain policy choices (Vreeland, 2003; Stone, 2001). In this case, political and economic power--or brute coercion--plays a critical role in shaping economic policy. The agency of relevant politicians is given little thought because local and even national elites play almost no role according to these theorists. At the extreme, these scholars are reminiscent of Marxists with respect to economics. Because capitalists are in a constant search for new markets, they will do whatever possible to open up once closed countries. Therefore, if the flat tax is seen as a way to do this they will coerce national politicians to achieve their ends. A second explanation, and the conventional wisdom about why Eastern Europe adopted flat tax policies, usually has taken on a functional, or rationalist, logic. It is important to note that both power-coercion explanations and functional explanations are both "rational. …


Archaea is a poorly studied domain associated with sponges. Many questions that have been addressed for bacteria still remain largely unknown for archaea. In this study, we analyzed the archaeal communities of 17 tropical sponge species from Nha Trang Bay (Vietnam) using archaea specific primers. We recorded patterns of diversity and spatial stability of these microbial communities and compared the results obtained with the bacterial communities, already reported in our previous study. In our study species, Shannon diversity was always lower for archaeal than for bacterial communities. The differences in alpha diversity as well as the presence of indicator phyla reported for the bacterial domain in High Microbial Abundance (HMA) and Low Microbial Abundance (LMA) could not be confirmed for the archaeal communities. Host identity was the main factor structuring the archaeal assemblages. Sponge archaea core was formed by few but very abundant ZOTUs, which contribute with a high proportion to the relative archaea abundance. The inclusion of the obtained sequences into phylogenetic trees allowed finding out whether or not they belonged to the so-called sponge clusters (SC). Our results showed that most of the Thaumarchaeota and Euryarchaeota sequences were more closely related to environmental samples than to SC, suggesting that they might be acquired from the seawater, which need to be verified. However, representatives of Woesarchaeota, which were major members of the archaea microbiome of two sponge species, formed a monophyletic tree, distantly related to any known environmental sequence.


Excerpt] The global movement of employees is essential to multinational organizations doing business in different countries. Getting the right people to the right places at the right time with proper support in a lawful manner is critical to the success of global businesses. Human resource professionals and corporate counsel are confronted with a maze of legal issues that must be considered before moving employees across borders. When can they go? How long can they stay? What can they do while there? How can they be paid? What happens to their employment benefits during the trip? Who will be the employer while abroad? Which country's laws will apply? What are the tax consequences to the employer and the employee? What about accompanying family members? These issues confront employers dealing with both short-term business travelers, as well employees on longterm assignments. This is a global mobility handbook to help guide you.


To better understand flow pathways and patterns in the subsurface, a stable isotope monitoring network was established at the Susquehanna‐Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory (SSHCZO). Soil water samples were collected approximately biweekly using suction‐cup lysimeters installed at multiple depths along four different transects in the catchment. Groundwater and stream water were collected daily in the valley using automatic samplers, while precipitation samples were collected automatically on an event basis. The 3+ years (2008–2012) of monitoring data showed strong seasonal precipitation isotope compositions, which were imprinted in seasonal patterns of soil water at different spatial locations and depths. The groundwater isotope composition remained relatively constant throughout the year and closely matched the yearly amount‐weighted precipitation average, suggesting groundwater received recharge water in each season, although recharge mechanisms differed between growing and nongrowing seasons. Soil water samples showed clear attenuation with depth, with the largest variability in the shallow soil water (≤30 cm) mirroring precipitation inputs, moderate variability in the intermediate depths (40–100 cm), and the least variability in the deep soil water (≥120 cm) where the average remained near the groundwater average. Soil water isotope composition profiles also provided clear evidence for preferential flow occurring both laterally and vertically in different seasons and at various soil depths in the catchment. Putting all together, the extensive dataset of soil water isotopic compositions obtained in this study have provided a number of insights into complex subsurface hydrologic processes that are transferable to other similar landscapes.


Cloud Brokers enable interoperability and portability of applications across multiple Cloud Providers. On the other hand, incoming Cloud Providers start to support more and more unbundled Cloud Instances offerings. Thus, consumers may set up at their will the quantity of CPU, network bandwidth and memory or hard disk capacities their Cloud Instances will have. These facts enable the standardization of interoperable Cloud Instance configurations. In this paper, CompatibleOne is presented as an approach to bring Cloud Computing as a commodity. For this, the requirements to make of a product a commodity have been identified and have been mapped into the CompatibleOne architecture components. Our approach shows the practical feasibility of bringing Cloud Computing as a commodity.


Background Brain tumours are uncommon, and have extremely poor outcomes. Patients and GPs may find it difficult to recognise early symptoms because they are often non-specific and more likely due to other conditions. Aim To explore patients' experiences of symptom appraisal, help seeking, and routes to diagnosis. Design and setting Qualitative study set in the East and North West of England. Method In-depth interviews with adult patients recently diagnosed with a primary brain tumour and their family members were analysed thematically, using the Model of Pathways to Treatment as a conceptual framework. Results Interviews were carried out with 39 patients. Few participants (n = 7; 18%) presented as an emergency without having had a previous GP consultation; most had had one (n = 15; 38%), two (n = 9; 23%), or more (n = 8; 21%) GP consultations. Participants experienced multiple subtle 'changes' rather than 'symptoms', often noticed by others rather than the patient, which frequently led to loss of interest or less ability to engage with daily living activities. The most common changes were in cognition (speaking, writing, comprehension, memory, concentration, and multitasking), sleep, and other 'head feelings' such as dizziness. Not all patients experienced a seizure, and few seizures were experienced 'out of the blue'. Quality of communication in GP consultations played a key role in patients' subsequent symptom appraisal and the timing of their decision to re-consult. Conclusion Multiple subtle changes and frequent GP visits often precede brain tumour diagnosis, giving possible diagnostic opportunities for GPs. Refined community symptom awareness and GP guidance could enable more direct pathways to diagnosis, and potentially improve patient experiences and outcomes.


The determinants of government responsiveness to its citizens is a key issue in political economy. Here we develop a model based on the solution of political agency problems. Having a more informed and politically active electorate strengthens incentives for governments to be responsive. This suggests that there is a role both for democratic institutions and the mass media in ensuring that the preferences of citizens are reflected in policy. The ideas behind the model are tested on panel data from India. We show that public food distribution and calamity relief expenditure are greater, controlling for shocks, where governments face greater electoral accountability and where newspaper circulation is highest.


Today in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries there are barely 30 pensioners for every 100 persons of working age. By 2050, the number could rise to almost 80 pensioners. So far Poland has responded the most rigorously to the challenge, establishing a modern three-pillar pension system. The new second pillar forms the core of the bulwark against future demographic strain, with private savings being accumulated in personal accounts kept at private pension funds. Hungary has also established a second pillar of private pension funds, but the necessary restructuring of the state pension scheme is not proceeding fast enough. In the Czech Republic, a three-pillar system thus far exists only on paper.


Immuno-oncology is an evolving treatment modality that includes immunotherapies designed to harness the patient's own immune system. This approach is being studied for its potential to improve long-term survival across multiple tumor types. It is now important to determine how immunotherapies may be most effectively used to achieve the best possible patient outcomes. Combining or sequencing immunotherapies that target distinct immune pathways is a logical approach, with the potential to further enhance the magnitude of the antitumor immune response over single agents. Early clinical data in patients with melanoma treated with two immune checkpoint inhibitors, ipilimumab and nivolumab, suggest support for this combination approach. Numerous other combination approaches are being evaluated in early-phase clinical trials; however, their clinical activity remains unknown. Clinical experience to date has shown that when combining an immuno-oncology agent with an existing therapeutic modality, it is important to determine the optimal dose, schedule, and sequence. Clin Cancer Res; 20(24); 1–11. 2014 AACR.


Resource allocation entails deciding how to split a resource of restricted availability among various demands in a way that optimizes current objectives. In this paper, we focus on one type of distributed resource allocation problems in which a distributed system comprising networked heterogeneous agents and processors/servers where the agents strive to boost their efficiencies by issuing more work transactions for higher throughput. Each agent can issue work transactions which comprise a set of tasks that have to be completed by a networked set of servers. The agents get more utilities as their transactions delivery rate increases, however, network administration entails a set of constraints on the tolerable delay on the transactions. An optimization model is constructed to characterize the system in which the available servers are allocated to the present agents. The optimization model is solved in a decentralized way so that the agents can work separately to maximize the global benefit measure of the network. The presented model numerical solution is put together using ARENA simulation package and experimented for different network topologies. The simulation results show fair allocation of the resources whereas the anonymous agents work in parallel to achieve optimality.


Historically, urban ecology has been regarded as a mere extension of human ecology in the urban setting, and has been exercised as a science of parts. For example, urbanization has been studied in isolation of its effects on ecosystem services, richness of biodiversity and climate change. In recent years, concepts of sustainability have been infused into the science of urban ecology, and thus whole cities are viewed as integral ecosystem entities, impacted by urbanization and requiring interdisciplinary approaches of study. It may be argued that desert countries facing imminent desertification, especially those in the Arabian Gulf currently undergoing rampant infrastructural and industrial development, are in a more pressing need for an urban ecological design that would ameliorate the negative impacts of such development on air and soil quality. Additionally, climate change due to urbanization and the increased need for water desalination incur heat island effects and lead to deterioration of water quality, another strong driver to desertification. Qatar offers a very exciting challenge when it comes to urban ecological design and study, as it is a country that is still being developed; it is a country that has recognized the need for a sustainable development framework as that is showcased in the Qatar National Vision 2030; and it is a country whose Master Urban Plan is still not finalized, leaving room for implementation of best practices for a rich urban ecology. In this paper, we discuss aspects of air and water quality, and propose an urban ecological design that favors selection of indigenous and desert-adapted biota to conserve natural resources, conserve biodiversity and improve human well-being.


The demographic history of most species is complex, with multiple evolutionary processes combining to shape the observed patterns of genetic diversity. To infer this history, the discipline of phylogeography has (to date) used models that simplify the historical demography of the focal organism, for example by assuming or ignoring ongoing gene flow between populations or by requiring a priori specification of divergence history. Since no single model incorporates every possible evolutionary process, researchers rely on intuition to choose the models that they use to analyze their data. Here, we develop an approach to circumvent this reliance on intuition. PHRAPL allows users to calculate the probability of a large number of demographic histories given their data, enabling them to identify the optimal model and produce accurate parameter estimates for a given system. Using PHRAPL, we reanalyze data from 19 recent phylogeographic investigations. Results indicate that the optimal models for most datasets parameterize both gene flow and population divergence, and suggest that species tree methods (which do not consider gene flow) are overly simplistic for most phylogeographic systems. These results highlight the importance of phylogeographic model selection, and reinforce the role of phylogeography as a bridge between population genetics and phylogenetics.


Little is known about whether persons with mentally demanding jobs are protected against cognitive impairment and whether this association is independent of intellectual abilities and other confounders. Longitudinal data from the Maastricht Aging Study (MAAS) were used to examine this association. After the 1993-1995 baseline examination, there was a first 3-year follow-up examination (1996-1998) among 630 men and women, aged 50 to 80, who exhibited no cognitive impairment at baseline. Persons with mentally demanding jobs had lower risks of developing cognitive impairment during follow-up (36 cases), compared with persons without such jobs (odds ratio = 0.79; 95% confidence interval: 0.65-0.96). About 1.5% of the persons with high mental work demands developed impairment compared to 4% of the persons with few work demands. The protective effect was independent of intellectual abilities and other confounders. Our findings provide evidence that continued and potentially modifiable mental stimulation during adult life may protect men and women against cognitive impairment.


There is continued growth in 3D print technology utilising thermoplastic materials that include polylactic acid (PLA) to print components of systems. The electrical properties of 3D printed thermoplastic components are critical because the product's conductivity is temperature dependent owing to the kinetics of breakage and reformation of their aggregated structure. This knowledge drives research to make 3D printed components more functional in terms of their electrical properties in addition to their mechanical properties. This research studies the effect of temperature on the conductivity of 3D printed components. The range of temperature T considered is 22 ˚C≤T≤55˚C . A conductive 3D print filament made of PLA and filled with 4% carbon black is printed using Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM). The layer height and infill ratio are varied while the material resistivity ρ is measured as a function of temperature change. The measured magnitudes of resistivity lies in the range of 29.38 Ω≤ρ≤6750 Ω. The ρ is found to be a parabolic function of T – depicting an increase to a maximum and subsequent decrease. The parabolic nature of the ρ function is most visible in sample 1 which demonstrates an absolute change in ρ of 26%. The sample consisting of 50% infill ratio and 0.2 mm layer thickness (STDev 0.446) demonstrates least response to variations in temperature with the range investigated. This investigation reports on the significance of processing variables of FDM on the thermal sensitivity of conductive 3D printed Components.


The aim of this integrated literature review is to identify what people with psychiatric disabilities experience as contributing to their personal recovery. The study design is based on Whittemore and Knafl's integrative review and includes 14 qualitative peer-reviewed articles. The analysis reveals three main themes: recovery as an inner process; recovery as a contribution from others; and recovery as participating in social and meaningful activities. If mental health nurses adhere to the personal recovery perspective, nursing practice will focus on the patients' needs, conveying hope and supporting the patient in the recovery process.


The most important issues that always absorb accuracy and of is the mastery and control over the financial status for the In all the are considered as a vital community resource and must be managed in line with the interests of society. Hence, these studies aimed to investigate the causes of insurance deductions and were made to assist hospital administrators in reducing the deductions against them. Materials and Methods: This descriptive research is retrospective study in year 2012. The study population consisted of 100 insurance experts deployed in insurance centers )including Health care's, Social security, Armed forces, Help Committee) from which 25 experts were randomly selected from each Insurance Center. Researcher madden questionnaire was used to collect data. For validating of questionnaire justifiability, questionnaire was provided to insurance expert, professors and ambiguities were resolved. Test-retest procedure was used to ensure the Stability of the questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed and classified using Excel software. Results: These findings indicate that between all parts of surgery wards deductions are the highest )%45/55(, and between surgery wards, orthopedics surgery had the highest amount of deductions )%40/75(. Conclusion: Healthcare provider should be more careful and minimize documentation errors in reporting and documentation. Also the hospital administrators for reducing deductions against patient records must provide educational course for correct documentation. Abstract


Karlodinium veneficum (syn. Karlodinium micrum, Bergholtz et al. 2006; J Phycol 42: 170-193) is a small athecate dinoflagellate commonly present in low levels in temperate, coastal waters. Occasionally, K. veneficum forms ichthyotoxic blooms due to the presence of cytotoxic, hemolytic compounds, putatively named karlotoxins. To evaluate the anti-grazing properties of these karlotoxins, we conducted food removal experiments using the cosmopolitan copepod grazer Acartia tonsa. Wild-caught, adult female A. tonsa were exposed to 6 monoalgal or mixed algal diets made using bloom concentrations of toxic (CCMP 2064) and non-toxic (CSIC1) strains of K. veneficum. Ingestion and clearance rates were calculated using the equations of Frost (1972). Exposure to the toxic strain of K. veneficum did not contribute to an increased mortality of the copepods and no sig- nificant differences in copepod mortality were found among the experimental diets. However, A. tonsa had significantly greater clearance and ingestion rates when exposed to a monoalgal diet of the non-toxic strain CSIC1 than when exposed to the monoalgal diet of toxic strain CCMP 2064 and mixed diets dominated by this toxic strain. These results support the hypothesis that karlotoxins in certain strains of K. veneficum deter grazing by potential predators and contribute to the formation and continuation of blooms.


Cyanobacteria a diverse group of photosynthetic prokaryotes often play central roles in carbon and nitrogen assimilation which makes their environment productive. Molecular approaches have been divided into 2 classes: PCR independent and PCR based approaches. The former includes guanine plus cytosine (G+C) content, nucleic acid re-association and hybridization and DNA microarrays, the latter basically uses DNA cloning and sequencing, DGGE (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis), TGGE (Temperature gradient gel electrophoresis), SSCP (single strand conformation polymorphism) RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism), ARDRA (amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis), T-RFLP (terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism), RISA (ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis) ARISA (automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis) and RAPD (random amplified polymorphic DNA). Molecular assessment of cyanobacteria frequently uses markers like16S rDNA, phycocyanin locus, nif gene, rpo gene, ITS region etc. Genetic diversity was assessed using the banding patterns of repetitive DNA sequences including the short tandemly repeated repetitive (STRR) sequences and long tandemly repeated repetive (LTRR) sequences that are present in the cyanobacterial genome. The phylogenetic relationships inferred from comparison of the STRR sequences generally supported the traditional classification based on morphological criteria.


Preface. 1 The Statistical Matching Problem. 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 The Statistical Framework. 1.3 The Missing Data Mechanism in the Statistical Matching Problem. 1.4 Accuracy of a Statistical Matching Procedure. 1.4.1 Model assumptions. 1.4.2 Accuracy of the estimator. 1.4.3 Representativeness of the synthetic file. 1.4.4 Accuracy of estimators applied on the synthetic data set. 1.5 Outline of the Book. 2 The Conditional Independence Assumption. 2.1 The Macro Approach in a Parametric Setting. 2.1.1 Univariate normal distributions case. 2.1.2 The multinormal case. 2.1.3 The multinomial case. 2.2 The Micro (Predictive) Approach in the Parametric Framework. 2.2.1 Conditional mean matching. 2.2.2 Draws based on conditional predictive distributions. 2.2.3 Representativeness of the predicted files. 2.3 Nonparametric Macro Methods. 2.4 The Nonparametric Micro Approach. 2.4.1 Random hot deck. 2.4.2 Rank hot deck. 2.4.3 Distance hot deck. 2.4.4 The matching noise. 2.5 Mixed Methods. 2.5.1 Continuous variables. 2.5.2 Categorical variables. 2.6 Comparison of Some Statistical Matching Procedures under the CIA. 2.7 The Bayesian Approach. 2.8 Other IdentifiableModels. 2.8.1 The pairwise independence assumption. 2.8.2 Finite mixture models. 3 Auxiliary Information. 3.1 Different Kinds of Auxiliary Information. 3.2 Parametric Macro Methods. 3.2.1 The use of a complete third file. 3.2.2 The use of an incomplete third file. 3.2.3 The use of information on inestimable parameters. 3.2.4 The multinormal case. 3.2.5 Comparison of different regression parameter estimators through simulation. 3.2.6 The multinomial case. 3.3 Parametric Predictive Approaches. 3.4 Nonparametric Macro Methods. 3.5 The Nonparametric Micro Approach with Auxiliary Information. 3.6 Mixed Methods. 3.6.1 Continuous variables. 3.6.2 Comparison between some mixed methods. 3.6.3 Categorical variables. 3.7 Categorical Constrained Techniques. 3.7.1 Auxiliary micro information and categorical constraints. 3.7.2 Auxiliary information in the form of categorical constraints. 3.8 The Bayesian Approach. 4 Uncertainty in Statistical Matching. 4.1 Introduction. 4.2 A Formal Definition of Uncertainty. 4.3 Measures of Uncertainty. 4.3.1 Uncertainty in the normal case. 4.3.2 Uncertainty in the multinomial case. 4.4 Estimation of Uncertainty. 4.4.1 Maximum likelihood estimation of uncertainty in the multinormal case. 4.4.2 Maximum likelihood estimation of uncertainty in the multinomial case. 4.5 Reduction of Uncertainty: Use of Parameter Constraints. 4.5.1 The multinomial case. 4.6 Further Aspects of Maximum Likelihood Estimation of Uncertainty. 4.7 An Example with Real Data. 4.8 Other Approaches to the Assessment of Uncertainty. 4.8.1 The consistent approach. 4.8.2 The multiple imputation approach. 4.8.3 The de Finetti coherence approach. 5 Statistical Matching and Finite Populations. 5.1 Matching Two Archives. 5.1.1 Definition of the CIA. 5.2 Statistical Matching and Sampling from a Finite Population. 5.3 Parametric Methods under the CIA. 5.3.1 The macro approach when the CIA holds. 5.3.2 The predictive approach. 5.4 Parametric Methods when Auxiliary Information is Available. 5.4.1 The macro approach. 5.4.2 The predictive approach. 5.5 File Concatenation. 5.6 Nonparametric Methods. 6 Issues in Preparing for Statistical Matching. 6.1 Reconciliation of Concepts and Definitions of Two Sources. 6.1.1 Reconciliation of biased sources. 6.1.2 Reconciliation of inconsistent definitions. 6.2 How to Choose the Matching Variables. 7 Applications. 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 Case Study: The Social Accounting Matrix. 7.2.1 Harmonization step. 7.2.2 Modelling the social accounting matrix. 7.2.3 Choosing the matching variables. 7.2.4 The SAM under the CIA. 7.2.5 The SAM and auxiliary information. 7.2.6 Assessment of uncertainty for the SAM. A Statistical Methods for Partially Observed Data. A.1 Maximum Likelihood Estimation with Missing Data. A.1.1 Missing data mechanisms. A.1.2 Maximum likelihood and ignorable nonresponse. A.2 Bayesian Inference withMissing Data. B Loglinear Models. B.1 Maximum Likelihood Estimation of the Parameters. C Distance Functions. D Finite Population Sampling. E R Code. E.1 The R Environment. E.2 R Code for Nonparametric Methods. E.3 R Code for Parametric and Mixed Methods. E.4 R Code for the Study of Uncertainty. E.5 Other R Functions. References. Index.


We have previously reported that repetitive iv injections of NMA [N-methyl-D,L-aspartate, the mixed analog acting on the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor] can induce a consistent increase in LH and PRL secretion in cycling rats, but not in lactating rats. To further explore the use of excitatory amino acids (EAAs) as tools for understanding the regulation of the neuroendocrine reproductive axis, we have examined the effects of multiple injections of kainate, an agonist to another subclass of EAA receptor, on LH and PRL secretion in cycling rats. Recent studies suggest that kainate receptors may be more abundant than NMDA receptors in the hypothalamus. Five iv injections of kainate were administered at 50-min intervals to diestrous or estrous rats. Blood samples were collected every 10 min and assayed for LH and PRL. LH, but not PRL secretion, was stimulated by this regimen of kainate treatment. Surprisingly, the LH response to kainate, unlike NMA, decreased with repetitive injections of the drug. The response to the last pulse of kainate was approximately 30-40% of the first pulse. This decline in LH responsiveness to kainate was not due to desensitization at the level of the pituitary or to refractoriness of GnRH neurons, since further stimulation of LH release could be obtained by the administration of GnRH or NMA. The mechanisms responsible for the diminishing GnRH response to kainate remain unclear. However, we speculate that it might be due to the delayed activation of inhibitory inputs to GnRH neurons or to the desensitization of kainate receptors. On the other hand, the absence of a PRL response to kainate, in contrast to the stimulatory effect of NMA, most likely reflects differences in the distribution of kainate and NMDA receptors on dopamine neurons and neurons containing PRL-releasing factors, or on extrahypothalamic afferent neuronal populations projecting to the hypothalamus. In conclusion, the effects of systemic injections of kainate on LH and PRL secretion differed from NMA in that the LH response could not be sustained with multiple injections and PRL was unresponsive to kainate stimulation.


The study examined the effect of feeding albino rats with 25%, 50%, and 75% Palmyrah Palm (Borassus aethiopum) shoots with respect to their body weight, liver and kidney function indices. No mortality was observed in the LD50 test throughout the period of 48hours. Rats fed with 25%, and 50% Borassus aethiopum shoots showed a gradual increase in the body weight throughout the period of treatment, but those fed with 75% of the shoots experienced a significant (p>0.05) decrease in body weight at the 3rd and 4th week of treatment compared to the control group. The results also showed changes in the Serum total protein, albumin, globulin, glucose and bilirubin but were not significantly different (p>0.05) compared to the control group. The serum enzymes activities i.e aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were significantly (p>0.05) elevated compared to the control group which suggested toxicity induced by some of the phytocompounds present in the feed. Serum creatinine, urea, uric acid, and electrolytes (Na+, K+) of rats fed with 75% Borassus aethiopum shoots showed significant (p>0.05) changes compared to the control group. The results showed that Borassus aethiopum shoots have a relatively low or no toxicity.


This paper presents a GPU-based parallelized and a CPU-based serial Monte-Carlo method for breakage of a particle. We compare the efficiency of the graphic card's graphics processing unit (GPU) and the general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), in a simulation using Monte Carlo (MC) methods for processing the particle breakage. Three applications are used to compare the computational performance times, clock cycles and speedup factors, to find which platform is faster under which conditions. The architecture of the GPU is becoming increasingly programmable; it represents a potential speedup for many applications compared to the modern CPU. The objective of the paper is to compare the performance of the GPU and Intel Core i7-4790 multicore CPU. The implementation for the CPU was written in the C programming language, and the GPU implemented the kernel using Nvidia's CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture). This paper compares the computational times, clock cycles and the speedup factor for a GPU and a CPU, with various simulation settings such as the number of simulation entries (SEs), for a better understanding of the GPU and CPU computational efficiency. It has been found that the number of SEs directly affects the speedup factor.


This article intends to illustrate the relationships between the Indigenous people of Australia and the Aboriginal Welfare Board, the colonial administration which was in charge of the Aboriginal population of New South Wales until the end of the 1960s. I will present a specific case of resistance to the conditions of subordination: a conflict between Harry Combo, a resident of one of the Board's missions and the manager in charge of that mission, J. B. Stratton. This example is a good illustration of the kind of interactions that were taking place between various white authorities (managers, Welfare Officers, Sydney bureaucrats) and the Aboriginal people living in the governmental missions. I would like to show that, by focussing on a singular (or atypical) case, one can shed new light on everyday practices of colonial domination.


In 1993, Richard Hare argued that, contrary to received opinion, Kant could have been a utilitarian. In this article, I argue that Hare was wrong. Kant's theory would not have been utilitarian or consequentialist even if his practical recommendations coincided with utilitarian commands: Kant's theory of value is essentially anti-utilitarian; there is no place for rational contradiction as the source of moral imperatives in utilitarianism; Kant would reject the move to separate levels of moral thinking: first-order moral judgement makes use of the principle of morality; and, relatedly, he would resist the common utilitarian distinction between actions and their motives because any correct description of an action must refer to motivation. The article concludes with the thought that any consequentialist theory based on pre-given ends (teleology) lacks the philosophical resources to distinguish between willing something as a means and as an end, leaving means only, and destroying transparency.


This thesis comprises three essays on industrial organization and multi-market contact. The first chapter models leading firms in innovation markets deciding first whether to share knowledge, and then playing a market entry game. When firms are sufficiently patient, we show that the feasibility of intellectual property disclosure via licensing to outsiders or fringe firms provides a useful additional threat to entry by the punishing firm in the entry game. The opposite is true when firms are impatient; the availability of intellectual property disclosure makes coordination harder. In addition, we show that if the probability that the leading firms will be able to innovate without knowledge sharing is sufficiently high and firms are sufficiently patient, then it is also possible for the firms to enforce a knowledge sharing agreement before innovation has taken place. The second chapter examines the incentives for predatory pricing within multimarkets. It considers an incumbent who is an uncontested monopolist in one market, but faces the threat of entry in a market for a complementary product. The paper shows that the incumbent may be able to defend its monopoly position in the complementary market even when it has a cost disadvantage and produces an inferior quality. The paper also provides conditions under which the incumbent accommodates entry. Accommodation takes place when either the quality of the entrant's product is sufficiently high, or the entrant has a sufficiently low marginal cost. A surprising result of the analysis is that forbidding firms to price below marginal cost may reduce welfare. The last chapter studies the incentive of a platform owner and an application developer to engage in an exclusive contract in a two-sided market setting with network externalities. The model considers two platform owners competing for advertising revenue with an application developer. We show that it can be optimal for a platform owner to allow a developer to multi-home when doing so has a strong positive effect on advertising in the two-sided market. On the other hand, if the effectiveness of the advertisement response to the number of potential viewers is at an intermediate level, then the developer is willing to accept an exclusive contract offered by a platform owner.


The theory of data modelling makes a variety of claims about schema stability. This research determined the current state of data modelling practice, and tested hypotheses related to measuring model stability. The research developed a method whereby the major elements of a data model can be consistently represented whatever process was originally used for modelling. This was achieved through a construction of a logical relational schema from the record design. The construction/reconstruction process attempted to identify the primary meaning primitives of a data model in order to track changes to them in different iterations of the application. The stability data collection process was applied to a case study followed by a series of models to generate further data. The early evidence indicated that data model instability has it roots in errors in modelling, errors in the semantic analysis whether done consciously or intuitively, and in changes to the requirements brought on by changes to the "reality". This research suggested that some of the elements of a data model are significantly more important than others. The research documented problems associated with the transformation of natural language into the constraints of data dictionaries. This exploration into the potential application of linguistic research into systems theory and practice identified a number of theoretically interesting problems, such as variable semantic determination. The discussion outlined some specific techniques an analyst can use to improve the process of semantic analysis. The work suggested that there should be greater concentration on the question of data model evolvability, and the appropriate preservation of meaning across model versions, and not necessarily on data model stability.


This goal of this project is to investigate a framework called PhoneGap1, to see how it works and to extend it with an extension plugin.
This project is involved in another biggest project called C3World2. C3World is a project that is being done in collaboration with the TU Braunschweig, the Leibniz University from Hannover and the OFFIS Institute in Oldenburg in collaboration with the Volkswagen Group Research. This project tries to improve the communications in the cars and with the infotainment systems. The subject which is been developed in the TU Braunschweig is the communication with a mobile device and the device on the car the user is driving with. To develop that subject, one of the goal is to do that communication cross-platform so the car maker can make the car and this system will be used with all the mobile devices. To beat that goal, Jan Sonnenberg, which is a professor in the Insitute fur Nachrichtentechnik and is the responsible of this project, uses the framework mentioned above. Another goal they are trying to beat is to share these applications between the mobile device and the car device so the application that is downloaded in the mobile device could be also executed in the car device. The framework PhoneGap is an open source framework that tries to give the chance to programmers to make their applications in standards languages (such as HTML5, CSS and Javascript) but without losing the opportunity to access the native functionality of every mobile device and of course being cross-platform. The scope if my particular project is, first to know investigate about the framework, about how does it work and how this framework is making the applications cross-platform. Second, to analyze the actual connectivity features that car makers are introducing into the actual cars that are being manufactured. Then to match and compare them with the PhoneGap actual features, evaluating the interests of these features for the project. And third, from the above analysis I should get an idea of which extension could I program for the PhoneGap framework. This extension should be something interesting for the project and should be an extension that could be real programmed. From the beginning of this project my top motivation is that I like the idea of having a device on the car which can be used for driving but also for using it as an infotainment system. Since the very beginning I started driving that issue passionate my. What I found on this project is that this passion for car devices was joined with my second passion that is programming.
Summarizing I find very a interesting subject to have a cross-platform system in the car from the point of view of the user (the driver) and from the point of view of the programmer.


We investigate if there is any effect on crime following the installation of public surveillance cameras. To do so, we benefit from a quasi-experiment that took place in Medellin, Colombia with the installation of 587 cameras between 2013 and 2015. We highlight three main findings. First, there is a statistically significant decline in total crime after the installation of the cameras. On average, total crime reports are 23.5% lower within the coverage zone following the installation of a camera relative to the average baseline level of crime reports. Second, we also find a statistically significant decline in arrests. The magnitude of this effect is 31.5% relative to the average baseline level of arrests. Along with the facts that the monitoring capacity of the system of public surveillance cameras is low and decreased during the installation period, and the two year installation period is unlikely to allow for the public surveillance cameras to be used by the criminal justice system for aggravated sentences, these results suggest that the effect of the surveillance cameras on reported crime are driven by a deterrent effect on potential offenders. Third, we do not find any crime spillover effects after the installation of the cameras nor we see any diffusion of benefits to surrounding places.


The text has been introduced and thoroughly annotated by the editor for student readers. Backgrounds and Contexts includes selections from Edith Wharton's letters; articles from the period about etiquette, vocations for women, factory life, and Working Girls' Clubs; excerpts from the work of contemporary social thinkers including Thorstein Veblen, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Olive Schreiner; and a consideration of anti-Semitism at the turn of the century by historian John Higham. Also included are Charles Dana Gibson's precautionary piece "Marrying for Money" (including four Gibson drawings) and a tableau vivant of "The Dying Gladiator." Criticism reprints six central contemporary reviews of the novel and six biographical and interpretive modern essays by Millicent Bell, Louis Auchincloss, Cynthia Griffin Wolff, R. W. B. Lewis, Elaine Showalter, and Elizabeth Ammons. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.


Developing robots with social skills and understanding is a critical step towards enabling them to cooperate with people as capable partners, to communicate with people intuitively, and to learn quickly and effectively from natural human instruction. These abilities would enable many new and exciting applications for robots that require them to play a long-term, supportive, and helpful role in people's daily lives. This paper describes our work towards building sociable autonomous robots that can work in collaboration with people. Our approach puts an emphasis on task dialog and social communication under the theoretical framework of joint intention theory.


An account of the development of Greek art in the Classical period (about 480-320 BC) which places particular emphasis on the meaning and content of Greek sculpture, architecture and painting. Professor Pollitt reminds us that the visual arts in Greece, as elsewhere, were primarily vehicles of expression. He does not ignore formal development but always relates this to social and cultural history, which it reflected and from which it grew. While his subject is art, he refers frequently to the literature and philosophy of the period which were shaped by the same influences.


We show that weak measurement leads to unconventional quantum Zeno dynamics with Raman-like transitions via virtual states outside the Zeno subspace. We extend this concept into the realm of non-Hermitian dynamics by showing that the stochastic competition between measurement and a system's own dynamics can be described by a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. We obtain a solution for ultracold bosons in a lattice and show that a dark state of tunneling is achieved as a steady state in which the observable's fluctuations are zero and tunneling is suppressed by destructive matter-wave interference.