The influx of Chinese into Korea has a long history. The earlier migrants were rapidly absorbed into mainstream Korean society and quickly assimilated. However, the Chinese migrants who arrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the huaqiao, chose to maintain their separate, non-Korean identity. This later led to open discrimination towards the huaqiao in post-independence Korea. The adoption of modern nationalism and racial theories in Korea also facilitated the disenfranchisement of the huaqiao, whose loyalty to the Korean national state was suspected and whose economic and social rights were appropriated. The recent revival of Chinese power has led to the mellowing of Korean attitudes towards China and the Chinese. The left-aligned political parties in Korea are especially in favour of cultivating closer ties with China. The composition of the Chinese community in Korea has also been altered by the influx of new migrants from mainland China. This has led to the renaissance of the once moribund Chinese communities in Incheon and Busan, both of which now boast sizable Chinatowns. Yet the huaqiao still face problems with integrating fully into Korean society and being openly huaqiao can still lead to unwelcome attention and prejudice from native Koreans. The integration of the Chinese community in Korea remains a challenge for Korea that still holds firmly to the old nationalist ideology of the 20th century.


The paper is a brief mapping of the situation in the field of didactics of philosophy in the Slovak Republic. We observe that, despite almost three decades of separation of official philosophy from the dominance of Marxist philosophy, there is no satisfactory basis for the didactics of philosophy. The discipline Didactics of philosophy is represented by improvising several enthusiasts instead of developing serious theoretical foundations. We try to post a few recommendations that belong to all who want to seriously deal with the didactics of philosophy. The most important of them is the establishment of the Slovak scientific journal of didactics, the establishment of the organization of trade didactics, the separation of philosophy from other core subjects and the accreditation of the third level of university education in didactics of philosophy. The author convincingly proves the need to introduce knowledge of philosophy in school, since it will help teach students to think better, apply knowledge more effectively, critically evaluate everyday life, including relationships with parents, teachers, classmates and others. The article emphasizes that the experience of philosophizing will allow students to express their thoughts in writing, as well as to explore at an accessible level "eternal" issues of metaphysics, epistemology, natural philosophy, philosophy of history, philosophy of culture, philosophy of law, philosophical anthropology. philosophy of politics, etc. The urgency of impoving the teacher's competence in teaching this subject at school, in particular, updating the methodological support, substantiation of educational innovations for the use in the study of philosophy, as well as the introduction of ICT in the educational process are substantiated.


The effects of the entanglement of the inflaton field which initially entangled with those of another field on observables like power spectrum are known in the context of the Schr\"{o}dinger field theory. To clarify this effect in Heisenberg picture, there were some attempts to construct the initial entangled state by making use of an entangled transformation (like Bogoliubov transformation) between the Bunch-Davies vacuums and squeezed states. We study the role of the time-dependent entangled transformation in the Schr\"{o}dinger field theory. We derive the relation between two vacuum states which their mode functions are transformed by the entangled transformation in Schr\"{o}dinger picture. We discuss that the time-dependency of the entanglement parameter is inevitable and only in the first order of the entanglement parameter perturbation this time-dependency vanishes. We study the entangled transformation in the Heisenberg picture in term of the entangled parameter which appears in the entangled state in Schr\"{o}dinger picture.


Obesity is a major public health problem, which is growing around the world. It is a multifactorial disease and a risk factor for other noncommunicable diseases (e.g., cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and hepatic steatosis). Among the etiological factors, gut microbiota and diet, especially lipids, have been highlighted, which seem to have an important potential as a modulator of its composition, being the key factor in the link between microbiota and obesity. Gut microbiota interacts with the host metabolism in the development of this disease through dietary fatty acids or when produced by intestinal bacteria. Short-chain, saturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids have an impact with respect to gut microbiota and health, presenting central and systemic effects associated with the genesis of obesity. Finally, gut microbiota seems to play a significant role in controlling the endocannabinoid system, and imbalance in this system can be associated with obesity.


We use a suite of cosmological hydrodynamic simulations including a self-consistent treatment for inhomogeneous reionization to study the impact of galactic outflows and photoionization heating on the volume-averaged recombination rate of the intergalactic medium (IGM). By incorporating an evolving ionizing escape fraction and a treatment for self-shielding within Lyman limit systems, we have run the first simulations of 'photon-starved' reionization scenarios that simultaneously reproduce observations of the abundance of galaxies, the optical depth to electron scattering of cosmic microwave background photons τes and the effective optical depth to Lyα absorption at z = 5. We confirm that an ionizing background reduces the clumping factor C by more than 50 per cent by smoothing moderately overdense (Δ = 1–100) regions. Meanwhile, outflows increase clumping only modestly. The clumping factor of ionized gas is much lower than the overall baryonic clumping factor because the most overdense gas is self-shielded. Photoionization heating further suppresses recombinations if reionization heats gas above the canonical 10 000 K. Accounting for both effects within our most realistic simulation, C rises from 10 to 3.3 at z = 6. We show that incorporating temperature- and ionization-corrected clumping factors into an analytical reionization model reproduces the numerical simulation's τes to within 10 per cent. Finally, we explore how many ionizing photons are absorbed during the process of heating filaments by considering the overall photon cost of reionization in analytical models that assume that the IGM is heated at different redshifts. For reionization redshifts of 9–10, cold filaments boost the reionization photon budget by ∼1 photon per hydrogen atom.


The D-distance between vertices of a graph is obtained by considering the path lengths and as well as the degrees of vertices present on the path. In this article, we study the D-radius and D-diameter of some families of graphs with respect to D-distance. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 05C12.


Motivation is the largest single topic in psychology, with at least 32 theories that attempt to explain why people are or are not motivated to achieve. Within sport psychology research, there are a plethora of techniques of how to increase and sustain motivation (strategies to enhance agency beliefs, self-regulation, goal setting, and others). However, when explaining the conceptual undergirding of motivation in sport, the why of motivation, two theories predominate: Achievement Goal Theory (AGT) and Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Both theories predict the same outcomes, such as increased achievement striving, sustained behavior change, and perceptions of well-being, but they differ in why those outcomes occur. AGT assumes that individuals cognitively evaluate the competence demands and meaningfulness of the activity, and that those perceptions govern behavior. SDT assumes that individuals are driven by three basic needs, competence, autonomy, and relatedness, and the satisfaction of those needs govern behavior. The following discusses both theories and concludes that each has their strengths and weaknesses.


ESD generators are widely used for testing the robustness of electronic equipment against human electrostatic discharge via small metal pieces (e.g. key). Presently the IEC 61000-4-2 ESD standard is hotly discussed to improve test result reproducibility. This paper numerically analyzes an ESD simulator and relates its construction parameters to discharge current and field parameters. It uses FDTD method and models the relay (contact mode discharge) as a material with time dependent conductivity. The process is broken down into a charging phase and a stabilization phase until the electrostatic conditions are reached. Then the conductivity of the relay is changed and the discharge process is simulated. A self-developed code is used to simulate the model. The simulation discharge current, measured ESD simulator's current and IEC reference discharge current are compared Some design choices of the generator are simulated.


This article discusses approaches to the interpretation and analysis an event that is poised between reality and performance. It focuses upon a real event witnessed by the author while driving out of Los Angeles, USA. A body hanging on a rope from a bridge some 25/30 feet above the freeway held up the traffic. The status of the body was unclear. Was it the corpse of a dead human being or a stuffed dummy, a simulation of a death? Was it is tragic accident or suicide or was it a stunt, a protest or a performance? Whether a real body or not, it was an event: it drew an audience, it took place in a defined public space bound by time and it disrupted everyday normality and the familiar. The article debates how approaches to performance can engage with a shocking event, such as the Hanging Man, and the frameworks of interpretation that can be brought to bear on it. The analysis takes account of the function of memory in reconstructing the event, and the paradigms of cultural knowledge that offered themselves as parallels, comparators or distinctions against which the experience could be measured, such as the incidents of self-immolation related to demonstrations against the Vietnam War, the protest by the Irish Hunger Strikers and the visual impact of Anthony Gormley's 2007 work, 'Event Horizon'. Theoretical frameworks deriving from analytical approaches to performance, media representation and ethical dilemmas are evaluated as means to assimilate an indeterminate and challenging event, and the notion of what an 'event' may be is itself addressed.


Proposed amendments to the Bankruptcy Code permitting strip down of under secured home mortgages to the court-determined value of the homes and other modifications of home mortgages in Chapter 13 would substantially alter the risk characteristics of home mortgages, with likely substantial effects on future mortgage interest rates and future mortgage availability. Thus, the future societal cost of such a change in the law likely would be large.This article explains and supports that thesis, primarily on the ground that the proposed changes would leave mortgage holders with all of the future downside risk in the real property market while denying them the benefit of future appreciation. This article also explains why a common argument made in favor of allowing strip down as a matter of fairness is simply mistaken; enactment of the proposed amendments would not treat home mortgages the same as other secured debt in Chapter 13 bankruptcy, but in fact would treat home mortgages much less favorably than other secured debt. Home mortgages would be the only secured debts that could be stripped down and paid off at a court-determined interest rate, with monthly payments lower than those required by the credit contract, over a period of up to nearly forty years, rather than the no-more-than-five year period that would still apply to other secured debts.Additionally, the article provides a brief critique of Professor Adam J. Levitin's empirical studies. Even though serious flaws in his empirical studies have been pointed out, Professor Levitin continues to claim in congressional testimony that "permitting bankruptcy modification is unlikely to result in higher mortgage costs or lower mortgage credit availability." Supporters of strip down in Congress continue to rely heavily on Professor Levitin's studies as showing that the proposed changes in the law would not substantially affect mortgage interest rates or mortgage availability. Unfortunately, Professor Levitin's empirical studies, though thoughtful and creative in their design, rely on incorrect understandings of current and past bankruptcy law and of the proposed legislation. They, in effect, compare apples with oranges - or perhaps a bumper crop of apples with a frost-ravaged crop of oranges - by comparing the effects of the kind of strip down that would be widely available under the legislation now before Congress, with the effects of the very different kinds of strip down that, in limited circumstances, are currently available or were at one time available. His studies also fail to take into account the very different incentives that the proposed legislation would create were it to be enacted, both in terms of encouraging debtors with large negative equity to file Chapter 13 bankruptcy petitions and encouraging Chapter 13 debtors to argue for a low value for their homes rather than to report an inflated value. The empirical studies thus do not provide a solid foundation for the making of public policy.In addition, adoption of the proposed amendments to the Bankruptcy Code would cause somewhat perverse results. Strip down provides the greatest benefit to debtors who have the greatest amount of negative equity. Homeowners who made the lowest down payments, paid the most inflated prices for their homes, and refinanced to take equity out of their homes for purposes of consumption thus would receive the greatest benefits - benefits that would include, in essence, a free option on future appreciation and that would not be well calibrated to the homeowners' financial need - while homeowners who made large down payments, were careful not to pay inflated prices, and did not use their home equity to finance consumption would receive the least benefits.These perverse results are not only undesirable in and of themselves from a public policy "moral hazard" perspective. They also may cause resentment among those persons who could not benefit from them or who would receive a perversely smaller benefit were they to encounter financial distress and need bankruptcy assistance. In the longer term, such resentment may undermine public support for the primary function of consumer bankruptcy laws: "to grant a fresh start to the honest but unfortunate debtor".On the other hand, homeowners with substantial negative equity may have little incentive under current law to continue to make mortgage payments. We could expect then that if many homeowners have substantial negative equity, the rate of foreclosures on home mortgages will be high. A high rate of home foreclosures in turn helps to further depress the market prices of homes, harming not only mortgage holders whose homes are sold in foreclosure at low prices, but also homeowners who have faithfully paid their mortgages and whose home values drop when foreclosure strikes nearby homes. Thus, the foreclosures that occur due to negative equity have an indirect effect on the wealth of homeowners who have not defaulted on their mortgages. On a broader scale, the effect may be a downward spiral in which negative equity causes a high foreclosure level, which causes home prices to drop, which creates additional negative equity, which then causes foreclosure levels to remain high, which causes home prices to drop further, and so on. It is possible that steps taken to reduce the levels of negative equity, including allowing homeowners to strip down their mortgages, could help stop the spiral, help home values stabilize, and help bring the current high foreclosure rate back to a historically normal level.But how could this be accomplished without causing unacceptable effects on future mortgage affordability and availability, without creating perverse results, and without triggering substantial resentment? First, any legislation that permits strip down should include a strong provision for recapture by the mortgage holder of a substantial portion of any future upturn in the value of the home. Such a provision would minimize the effect of strip down on the risk characteristics of mortgages by preserving for mortgage holders most of the benefit of a future upturn in the market for homes. It would also minimize the perverse effects of strip down by denying the homeowner the free option on future appreciation that strip down otherwise would provide, and it would, as a result, help to minimize resentment. Second, any such legislation should have clear eligibility criteria designed to minimize the negative effects that likely otherwise would occur. And third, alternatives should be considered to the kind of strip down that the current legislative proposals would permit, perhaps alternatives based on approach taken in the Obama administration's program for modification of home mortgages, the Home Affordable Modification Program. Any such legislation should limit home mortgage modification to mortgages originated prior to January 1, 2008, by which time it had become very clear that the nation had entered a serious mortgage crisis, such that Congress was actively considering legislation to deal with the crisis, including home mortgage strip down legislation.


The study of human T‐cell PIDs with Mendelian inheritance has enabled the molecular characterization of important key functions and pathways in T‐cell biology. In most cases, T‐cell PIDs become apparent as combined T‐ and B‐cell deficiencies. Severe combined immunodeficiencies (SCIDs) are characterized by a complete lack of T‐cell development and, in some cases, a developmental block in other lymphoid lineages and manifest within the first year of life. Combined immunodeficiency syndromes (CIDs) result from hypomorphic mutations in typical SCID associated genes or from partial defects of T‐cell development and manifest later in childhood by increased susceptibility to infection often combined with disturbances in immune homeostasis, e.g., autoimmunity and increased incidence in lymphoproliferation. The discovery of mutations and characterization of the cellular changes that underlie lymphocyte defects and immune dysregulation have led to novel, specific, successful therapies for severe diseases which are often fatal if left untreated. Over the last few years, impressive progress has been made in understanding the disease mechanisms of T‐cell immunodeficiencies and in improving the long‐term outcomes of potentially curative treatments, including gene therapy.


Sulfate-reducing granular sludge was used for uranium-contaminated wastewater treatment and the responsible microbial community was analyzed. Four feedings, with 6 days for every feeding and 20 mg/L initial uranium, were provided at 27.5 (±2.5) °C. After the four feedings, a uranium removal efficiency of 94% was obtained. Environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) showed that short rod bacteria were the dominant microorganisms in the granular sludge. X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) confirmed the presence of uranium on the granular surface. High-throughput sequencing was carried out for analyzing the bacterial diversity and community structure. The total data set comprised 8,290 high quality sequences, which could be divided into 605 operational taxonomic units (OTUs). The library coverage was 0.96 and the alpha diversity indices of ACE, Chao1, Shannon and Simpson were 2,255.40, 1,346.12, 4.03 and 0.05, respectively. There were 13 bacterial genera present with a ratio of more than 1% of the total 124 genera, among which Desulfovibrio (16.48%), Clostridium IV (9.29%), Bacteroides (3.46%) and Citrobacter (1.41%) were assumed as the functional bacteria, with a cumulative proportion of 30.64% of the total bacterial population. The results provide insights into the bacterial community of sulfate-reducing granular sludge exposed to high concentrations of uranium (20 mg/L).


State education systems to support leadership development have received relatively scant attention and resources, despite the demonstrated importance of leadership to school improvement. This need spurred the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) to form a study group with its members and partner with the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) to examine the problem from a state policy perspective; to offer a framework, guidance, and resources to help states develop and keep effective leaders; provide examples of practices for states; and share insights from partner organizations. The report, Successful Leaders for Successful Schools: Building and Maintaining a Quality Workforce, details findings that emerged from this work. As a companion piece to this work, State Leadership Development Policies -An Analysis of 50 States and Territories, presents a comprehensive picture of school leadership development policies across all 50 states and US territories. CPRE Researchers Bobbi Newman, Jonathan Supovitz, and Greg Collins, in collaboration with NASBE's Robert Hull and Stephen Prociw, produced an interactive report that seeks to operationalize the framework developed for state education agencies to improve the school leadership pipeline. Researchers interviewed state board members and staff members from state education agencies to learn about their states' school leadership development policies and practices. Data collection questions focused on identifying the organizational and individual supports that states have established. State Leadership Development Policies -An Analysis of 50 States and Territories provides a wealth of information for state leaders interested in learning about a sample of each state's policies and programs that support the school leadership pipeline.


The development of functionalized, luminescent, pyrene-based monomers has been and continues to be an area of great interest in terms of the design and fabrication of optical and electronic devices. Herein, a facile strategy to tune the emission color of pyrene-based chromophores has been established by simple functional group modification at the para position to the diphenylamino on the donor building block. Intriguing photophysical properties were obtained and are described both in different solutions and in the solid state. The results obtained could be explained by the Hammett method and by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. A good correlation was observed between the Hammett σpara constants of the functional groups para to the phenyl and the wavenumber (cm-1) of the emission profile. This positive correlation, namely between the σ constants of the functional groups and the emission properties of the monomers, can be used to develop a predictive method for these types of systems.


Objective The introduction of shoulder pads has coincided with a rise in shoulder impact injuries in the game of rugby. In this study, the effect of shoulder pads on impact force attenuation was quantified. Design Four different commercially available shoulder pads were tested for material properties. Hard and soft objects were dropped from predetermined heights onto a force plate imparting peak impact forces of 500, 1000 and 1500 N. The pads were then placed on the plate and subjected to 10 repeated impacts for each pad and drop height. Setting Institutional laboratory setting. Main outcome measurements Peak force attenuation, expressed as the percentage reduction of peak force when compared with the no-pad condition, was calculated. Time to peak impact, expressed as the percentage increase of time to peak impact when compared with the no-pad condition, was calculated. Results All pads were found to reduce peak impact force and increase time to peak impact. Results varied between 1% and 70%, depending on the drop height and properties of the impactor. The best performing pad was the thickest, and all pads were best able to attenuate force under hardobject impacts particularly for the lower loads. Conclusion Although several limitations exist to laboratory-based studies such as these, the inconsistencies in force attenuation were nonetheless disappointing. The pads appear to ''bottom out'' under higher-impact loads and therefore offer little protection when the athlete may need it most.


In its report 'Humanity on the move: Unlocking the transformative power of cities' (2016), the WBGU examines the transformation of cities towards sustainability. Research has a key role to play in this context, for urban transformation is a societal learning and search process. To give this societal process orientation, the WBGU has developed a 'normative compass' comprising three dimensions: (1) sustaining the natural life-support systems, (2) inclusion, as an expression of a peopleoriented urban development, and (3) Eigenart (a German word meaning 'character'), as a framework for dealing with socio-cultural diversity and regional, specific development dynamics.


This paper investigates how friendship relationships act as pipes, prisms, and herding signals in a large online, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending site. By analyzing decisions of lenders, we find that friends of the borrower, especially close offline friends, act as financial pipes by lending money to the borrower. On the other hand, the prism effect of friends' endorsements via bidding on a loan negatively affects subsequent bids by third parties. However, when offline friends of a potential lender, especially close friends, place a bid, a relational herding effect occurs as potential lenders are likely to follow their offline friends with a bid.


It is suggested that the Roman pillars at Pozzuoli, near Naples, the great symbols of uniformitarianism, record not gradual but very sudden changes in sea level and a more catastrophic, or at least episodic, concept of changes in the recent geological past than was envisaged by Charles Lyell. The great symbols of uniformitarianism were the marine borings in the Roman pillars of Serapeo (Serapis) at Pozzuoli near Naples. Charles Lyell used the pillars as the frontispiece of his great book Principles of Geology 1831, which was to have such a fundamental effect on geological thought in the last century. They also appear on the reverse side of the Lyell Medal of the Geological Society of London. The importance of these pillars was that they proved that changes in sea level had occurred in historic times. They were the proof, it might be said, that the present may be used as the key to the past. If sea level changes could occur so recently, then all the complex pattern of transgressions and regressions in the geological past could be explained by reference to what was seen happening today. They put an end, it was thought, to catastrophism and the doctrine of sudden, short-lived episodes in earth history, which was always associated with the thought of that great Frenchman Georges Cuvier. But the Lyell and Cuvier of standard text-books are cardboard figures, as Stephen Gould called them (1987), Cuvier is particularly maligned and blamed for all the later excesses of catastrophism. It


Abstract. This study examined the impacts of projected climate change on heavy snow loads on Finnish forests, where snow-induced forest damage occurs frequently. For snow-load calculations, we used daily data from five global climate models under representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, statistically downscaled onto a high-resolution grid using a quantile-mapping method. Our results suggest that projected climate warming results in regionally asymmetric response on heavy snow loads in Finnish forests. In eastern and northern Finland, the annual maximum snow loads on tree crowns were projected to increase during the present century, as opposed to southern and western parts of the country. The change was rather similar both for heavy rime loads and wet snow loads, as well as for frozen snow loads. Only the heaviest dry snow loads were projected to decrease over almost the whole of Finland. Our results are aligned with previous snowfall projections, typically indicating increasing heavy snowfalls over the areas with mean temperature below −8 °C. In spite of some uncertainties related to our results, we conclude that the risk for snow-induced forest damage is likely to increase in the future in the eastern and northern parts of Finland, i.e. in the areas experiencing the coldest winters in the country. The increase is partly due to the increase in wet snow hazards but also due to more favourable conditions for rime accumulation in a future climate that is more humid but still cold enough.


ABSTRACT MTL-homozygous (a/a or α/α) white cells form a complex sexual biofilm that exhibits the same architecture as that of MTL-heterozygous (a/α) pathogenic biofilms. However, the former is regulated by the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathway, while the latter is regulated by the Ras1/cyclic AMP (cAMP) pathway. We previously demonstrated that in the formation of an MTL-homozygous, mature (48 h) sexual biofilm in RPMI 1640 medium, the MAP kinase pathway targets Tec1 rather than Cph1, the latter of which is the target of the same pathway, but for the opaque cell mating response. Here we continued our analysis of the role of Tec1 by comparing the effects of deleting TEC1 on initial adhesion to silicone elastomer, high-resolution confocal microscopy assessments of the stages and cellular phenotypes during the 48 h of biofilm development, human white cell penetration, and biofilm fragility. We show that although Tec1 plays only a minor role in initial adhesion to the silicone elastomer, it does play a major role in the growth of the basal yeast cell polylayer, vertical extension of hyphae and matrix deposition in the upper portion of the biofilm, final biofilm thickness, penetrability of human white blood cells, and final biofilm integrity (i.e., resistance to fluid flow). These results provide a more detailed description of normal biofilm development and architecture and confirm the central role played by the transcription factor Tec1 in the biofilm model employed here.


While past research has documented significant relationships between both athletic and Greek system (fraternity and sorority) membership and negative attitudes toward gays and lesbians, such work seems to vilify membership in athletics and the Greek system as causal mechanisms of homophobia. In this way, athletes and Greeks may be easy targets to blame for the homophobia evident on college campuses. However, it may be more productive to attempt to identify underlying constructs that are related to collegiate athletes' and fraternity/sorority members' attitudes to best inform campus LGBT programs. In this study, athletes' and fraternity and sorority members' attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual men and women, and transgender (LGBT) individuals are examined. Further exploration considers how LGBT affiliations (i.e., knowing LGBT individuals, knowing about LGBT programs, and having Gay–Straight Alliances in high school) and religiosity may mediate the relationship between athletic and Greek membership and attitudes toward LGBT individuals. Results show that being a male athlete or being a fraternity member is related to unsupportive attitudes toward LGBT individuals; however, LGBT affiliations and religiosity mediate some of the significant relationships. In contrast, being a female athlete is unrelated to attitudes toward LGBT individuals while being a sorority member is related to attitudes toward LGBT individuals in some models. Campus LGBT program implications for both athletes and Greek system members are provided.


The number of female orthopaedic residents and orthopaedic surgeons has increased substantially. Concerns have been raised regarding the effect of the work environment on the health of the female orthopaedic surgeon and her fetus or neonate. Occupational risks, and specifically risks to the pregnant orthopaedic surgeon, are becoming an important issue in medicine. Such risks include exposure to methylmethacrylate (MMA), anesthetic gases, blood-borne pathogens, radiation, emotional stress, and physical stress. Awareness of and knowledge about such exposures are needed for the pregnant orthopaedic surgeon to make informed decisions about her occupational exposures and to be proactive about her own and her child's health.


The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a perceptual-motor development programme for children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), as identified on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC). A preand post-test design was employed in the study and data were reported as case studies. The programme included a cognitive approach to perceptual-motor activities, with special attention to visual perception. The intervention programme was implemented over six consecutive weeks, with two 45-minute sessions each week. The motor proficiency of nine of the 12 children who participated in this study improved to the point where they were no longer classified as having DCD. The reasons for this improvement could be attributed to the regular practise provided by the perceptual-motor activities that were the content of the program and to the method of presentation, i.e. the cognitive strategies that were child-centred, which could have helped develop self-confidence in the children. These results are in agreement with the research of Schoemaker and Kalverboer (1994) that many children with DCD may learn to overcome or cope with their movement problems. The three children who performed most poorly on the M-ABC pre-test did not improve over the course of the intervention programme. A thorough examination of their perceptual-motor system could provide more information about the various factors that may contribute to their movement problems. It is also possible that the programme simply was not long enough for these children (they did not get enough practise) and/or they were not able to respond to the child-centred cognitive approach in such a short period of time.


A new decomposition of exact solutions to the scalar wave equation into bidirectional, forward and backward, traveling plane wave solutions is described. The resulting representation is a natural basis for synthesizing pulse solutions that can be tailored to give directed energy transfer in space. The development of known free‐space solutions, such as the focus wave modes, the electromagnetic directed energy pulse trains, the spinor splash pulses, and the Bessel beams, in terms of this decomposition will be given. The efficacy of this representation in geometries with boundaries, such as a propagation in a circular waveguide, will also be demonstrated.


Text: Antibiotics are carried from manured lands and production sites in runoff to surface waters. Our objectives were to assess the environmental fate and ecotoxicology of two macrolide antibiotics (tylosin and erythromycin) and sulfamethazine. Experiments were designed to simulate Midwestern farm pond conditions. Acute and chronic bioassays were conducted to determine the effects of single, binary and tertiary mixtures of sulfamethazine, tylosin and erythromycin on two species of cladocerans, Daphnia magna and Ceriodaphnia dubia. Acute bioassays (48-h) with binary and tertiary mixtures showed effects in both species at concentrations significantly lower than with each chemical alone, but the effects are less than additive. Preliminary studies of each chemical on 10-d survival and reproduction of Daphnia spp. show effects levels falling significantly below those found in the acute bioassays. In microcosms containing pond water and sediment, (14C-phenyl)-sulfamethazine has a 2.7-d half-life in pond water and 4.7-d half-life when added to the water with a dilute manure solution. Sulfamethazine concentrations in sediment accounted for 10 to 15% of the applied antibiotic within 14 days, then declined thereafter. Sulfamethazine is transformed mainly into sediment-bound residue (40 to 60%) and smaller amounts of photoproducts, metabolites, and 14CO2. Results from the studies investigating sorption of tylosin on the sediments collected from the same ponds used in the microcosm study showed that while the Kd of tylosin did not change significantly with pH in the Iowa pond sediment (log Kd=2.52 at pH 9 to log Kd=2.82 at pH 3), the Kd values increased (log Kd=2.14 at pH 9 to log Kd-3.26 at pH 3) in the Oklahoma pond sediment as the pH is decreased. Future experiments will address longer-term toxicology testing, adsorption and desorption to soils and sediments, and the use of the aquatic worm Lumbriculus to assess bioavailability of antibiotics.


This paper identifies the importance of respite care services for many families with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) but also some of the obstacles that may prevent families accessing such services. It describes how Northamptonshire County Council, a local authority in the United Kingdom (UK), is working to meet the challenge of providing 'autism-friendly' respite services. The paper outlines factors that families have identified as being positively associated with quality in respite care for children with autism and their families. These are the physical environment, staff attributes and their understanding of ASD, consistency with other settings, the use of ASD-appropriate approaches, individualisation, the activities on offer and the way that children are grouped. As well as outlining the major characteristics of these services, and how they seek to meet the needs of families with children with ASD, the paper describes the limitations of these services and the challenges and issues that remain


The polarized infrared spectra of hydrogen-containing xenotime (YPO4) were measured to obtain information on its OH defects. Sample syntheses were conducted at 1.0 GPa using a piston-cylinder apparatus under water-saturated conditions. By lowering the temperature at a rate of 10°C/h from 1200 to 800 °C, xenotime single crystals up to ~300 μm in length were obtained. A sharp OH stretching vibrational band was observed at 3302 cm−1. Using a molar absorption coefficient of 111 217 L mol−1 cm−2, the H2O concentration in the sample was estimated as 20±10 ppm. The OH band showed strong infrared absorption perpendicular to the c -axis and weak absorption parallel to the c -axis. According to electrostatic considerations and assuming the presence of Y3+ or P5+ vacancy, possible orientations of the O–H bonds were estimated. We propose that the OH incorporation mechanism in synthetic xenotime is controlled by Y3+ vacancy ![Formula][1] .

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In spanwise rotating plane Couette flow (RPCF) a secondary flow dominated by three-dimensional roll-cell structures develops. At high enough rotation rates the flow exhibits a state of zero absolute vorticity at the centre of the channel, as described by Suryadi et al. (Phys. Rev. E, vol. 89, 2014, 033003). They suggested that the zero-absolute-vorticity state is caused by the secondary flow motion of the coherent roll-cell structure induced by the Coriolis force. In the present study we focus on the momentum transport caused by the roll-cell structure of laminar RPCF in order to further understand how the zero-absolute-vorticity state is maintained by the coherent roll cells. The flow is studied through stereoscopic particle image velocimetry measurements, which allow both the Reynolds shear stress and the wall shear stress to be quantified and used as measures of the momentum transport across the channel. Various types of roll-cell structures at different system rotation rates and the momentum transport induced by them are investigated, and the processes in which the momentum is transported in the wall-normal direction are discussed based on a displaced-particle argument as well as the production of the Reynolds stresses. It is shown that the wall-normal fluid motion driven by secondary flow of the roll-cell structure induces two different effects on the mean flow which conflict each other, the momentum transport in the wall-normal direction and the Coriolis acceleration, and the zero-absolute-vorticity state is a stable state where these two effects cancel each other.


The universe of postsecondary education is expanding. It is an era of rapid demographic and labor market changes, increased competition and shifts in institutional form (e.g., the rise of for profit degree granters, the hybrid form of nonprofit/for-profit partnerships, corporate universities), and new forms of delivery driven by emerging technologies. In nearly all of these cases, the pace of innovation and establishment of new institutional forms outstrips the ability of regulators or policy makers to stay ahead of the curve. To better understand the complex interplay of public policy drivers regulating e-learning, the Center for Studies in Higher Education convened a meeting of experts in February 2006 for a preliminary examination of existing and emerging public policies that will shape its regulation both domestically and internationally. Three white papers were used as a point of departure for the discussions, which focused on the following areas: The Changing Regulatory Environment: Who, What, Why, and Where?; Finance, Investment, and the Flow of Capital; Student Access and Equity; Social Costs and Benefits from an International Perspective; and Consumer Protection and Cross-border Education. This report summarizes our conversations and recommendations for future research.


Background Growth in hospice utilisation has been accompanied by an increase in the proportion of hospice patients who die in an inpatient hospice setting rather than at home. Objective To determine whether this increase in inpatient utilisation is consistent with patient preferences. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Seven hospices in the Coalition of Hospices Organised to Investigate Comparative Effectiveness (CHOICE) network. Patients 70 488 patients admitted between 1 July 2008 and 31 May 2012. Measurements We measured changes in patients' stated preferences at the time of admission regarding site of death, including weights to adjust for non-response bias. We also assessed patients' actual site of death and concordance with patients' preferences. Results More patients died receiving inpatient care in 2012 as compared to 2008 (1920 (32.7%), 2537 (18.5%); OR 1.21; 95% CI 1.19 to 1.22; p<0.001). However, patients also expressed an increasing preference for dying in inpatient settings (weighted preferences 27.5% in 2012 vs 7.9% in 2008; p<0.001). The overall proportion of patients who died in the setting of their choice (weighted preferences) increased from 74% in 2008 to 78% in 2012 (p<0.001). Limitations This study included only seven hospices, and results may not be representative of the larger hospice population. Conclusions Although more patients are dying while receiving inpatient care, these changes in site of death seem to reflect changing patient preferences. The net effect is that patients in this sample were more likely to die in the setting of their choice in 2012 than they were in 2008.


This diverse compilation of contributions explores the pressing topic of how to provide appropriate spiritual care in the context of human migration. The psycho-spiritual dimensions of suffering particular to human migration, such as social exclusion, alienation, and various types of trauma, are considered from various disciplinary perspectives. Complex but important questions are explored: How might various methods of self-healing be better supported by spiritual caregivers? How can faith communities cultivate more supportive contexts, responsive to the particular needs prompted by migration? The International Association for Spiritual Care IASC, founded in 2015 in Bern, Switzerland, is dedicated to the promotion of richer interdisciplinary dialogue amongst people from different cultural and religious backgrounds. The volume starts from the premise that failures to cultivate deeper respect for diversity risks cultural misunderstandings and relational harm in the context of helping relationships, and therefore, personal encounters and scholarly exchanges between Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, people without religious affiliation, and atheists are critically important and unquestionably valuable. These contributions reflect the fruits of the inaugural conference of the IASC, which was held at the University of Bern and in the House of Religions in June, 2016.


Trade promotes economic growth, alleviates poverty and helps countries reach their development goals. However, developing countries – in particular the least developed – face difficulties in making trade happen and turning trade into economic growth. The Aid for Trade Initiative – launched at the 2005 World Trade Organisation conference in Hong Kong – aims at helping these countries to take advantage of trade opportunities and to reap the benefits of their integration into the world economy. The Initiative has been a success: it has not only raised awareness among both donors and developing countries about the role of trade in development, but also helped secure increased resources. "Trade for Growth and Poverty Reduction: How Aid for Trade Can Help" explains how Aid for Trade can foster economic growth and reduce poverty, and why it is an important instrument for a development strategy that actively supports poverty alleviation. Unlocking this potential requires carefully designed and sequenced trade reforms. While developing countries have many trade-related needs, but financial resources and political capital for reforms are limited, it is an important priority to tackle the most binding constraints to trade expansion. This report describes the diagnostic tools available, evaluates their strengths and weaknesses, and suggests a dynamic framework to guide the sequencing of reform and donor support.


Multi-label classification, where each instance is assigned to multiple categories, is a prevalent problem in data analysis. However, annotations of multi-label instances are typically more time-consuming or expensive to obtain than annotations of single-label instances. Though active learning has been widely studied on reducing labeling effort for single-label problems, current research on multi-label active learning remains in a preliminary state. In this paper, we first propose two novel multi-label active learning strategies, a max-margin prediction uncertainty strategy and a label cardinality inconsistency strategy, and then integrate them into an adaptive framework of multi-label active learning. Our empirical results on multiple multilabel data sets demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed active instance selection strategies and the integrated active learning approach.


The implementation of tactile aids for the deaf and blind has progressed largely through the development of new technologies and strategies adapted to adequately and efficiently activate previously understood tactile mechanisms and processes. In the past decade, however, important new discoveries have been made relating to the basic mechanisms of taction such as the effects of aging and disease, submodality interactions, skin mechanics, and learning and cortical plasticity. These advances in our knowledge will impact heavily on future developments and applications of tactile aids. Several of these new discoveries will be described in the context of basic tactile mechanisms and in their implications for significant improvements in the effectiveness of aids for tactile communication. [Work supported by NIH.]


Abstract The living Asian linsang, Prionodon pardicolor, shares marked anatomical similarities in basicranium and dentition with the extinct Oligocene aeluroid, Palaeoprionodon lamandini, from the Quercy fissures, France. The living African linsang, Poiana richardsoni, is similar yet slightly more derived in basicranial traits relative to Prionodon pardicolor, and also has basicranial and dental features indicating a relationship to the living genets (Genetta). The basicranial and auditory anatomy of a series Palaeoprionodon-Prionodon-Poiana can be interpreted as a morphocline showing the progressive alteration of the form of the petrosal and auditory bulla from the plesiomorphic aeluroid state in the Quercy fossils to a derived condition typical of the linsangs (Prionodon, Poiana) and living genets (Genetta). The basicranial anatomy of Genetta, including the structure of the petrosal and auditory bulla, is typical of other species of the Viverridae. The other lineages of living viverrids are believed to have undergone a similar transformation in their basicranial anatomical pattern from the plesiomorphic state present in Oligocene aeluroids, exemplified by Palaeoprionodon, to the modern patterns typical of the living subfamilies (including the endemic Malagasy viverrid genera).


of a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of M.Appl.Sci COMPOST TOILETS: AN OPTION FOR HUMAN WASTE DISPOSAL AT REMOTE SITES by P.D.Chapman Compost toilets are used for sewage treatment at remote sites, however there are often problems with anaerobic conditions creating smell. The composting process is well understood, thanks to large scale composting, but the applicability of the research to small scale compost toilets is uncertain. The heat flows and evaporative performance of a Soltran Compost Toilet at Routebum Falls Hut on the Routebum Track in Mount Aspiring National Park, New Zealand, were assessed. Up to 8 kg of liquid were evaporated from the evaporator during a hot day, but 2 kg of this were condensed in the compost room. This condensation reduced net evaporation, but improved the heat transfer performance of the toilet. The heat released by the condensing water exceeded the heat transferred by hot air. Overall the amount of heat transferred was small and what was transferred was quickly lost from storage by evaporation. Separation of urine and faeces at source has been identified as the factor that could most improve composting performance in an existing toilet. Auxiliary heating improves compost performance in existing toilets, by a combination of increased rate of composting and increased evaporation of urine from the compost. Separation of urine is likely to achieve good composting without the need for auxiliary heating. The high air flows, needed in compost toilets to ensure odours do not reach the users' nostrils, result in evaporative cooling. This ensures the compost, in existing toilet designs, will remain close to ambient temperatures; any surplus heat (biological or auxiliary) will be quickly removed by evaporation. In addition, only the recent (less than one month) additions to the compost will contribute heat. The remaining mass ( one to two years of compost) contributes no heat. The conduction losses through the walls of the large container necessary ii to hold this mass, eliminate the possibility of maintaining high temperatures in the pile without extremely good insulation. However composting will initiate at temperatures -~hove 4°C, although the rate of composting is affected by temperature. A formula relating compost temperature, daily usage, surface area of compost, and oxygen penetration depth is proposed as a means of identifying the overload point within a compost toilet. This research concludes that successful compost toilets can take one of two paths: a/ high temperature (high speed) composting to achieve this will require a small, sophisticated composting chamber. · b/ ambient temperature composting a vault/pit composter with separation of urine. Because composting occurs at ambient temperatures, the rate of composting will vary as temperature varies. Design considerations for these toilets will need to take ambient temperature into account by sizing the surface area of the receiving chamber accordingly. Existing compost toilet designs do not get hot, so do not fit into category (a) and have a restricted surface area, so do not fit into category (b). In many ways they are more like an ambient temperature compost toilet, but are susceptible to overloading because of the restricted surface area and addition of urine. Composting systems occur on a continuum from the ambient temperature, adequate airflow system (double vault compost toilets) which can be likened to a 'forest floor ecosystem', to the high rate 'bacterial' dominated composting system. The design considerations for the two are totally different and one cannot be easily transferred to the other. High use sites in colder areas will need a design based on the high rate system.


By conducting a queer theoretical reading of Donna Haraway's work on dogs, this paper develops queer feminist animal studies by focusing on the critique and rethinking of anthropocentric family and relationship norms. Starting with Haraway's proposal in Staying with the Trouble to "make kin, not babies" and to question the link between genealogy and kin, this paper reads Haraway's dog stories as queer feminism. The paper argues that Haraway's thinking aligns with queer feminist scholarship that questions the link between sex and reproduction also in nonhuman animal lives and that recognizes the value of alternatives to compulsory sexuality and couple normativity, such as Angela Willey's ethics of antimonogamy. By conceptualizing a romantic, non-sexual relationship with a dog, Haraway's texts destabilize normative ideals of significant relationships between adults and present an alternative to the anthropocentric understandings of intimacy and family. The paper suggests that initiating a discussion about these alternative relationship constellations in the context of feminist animal studies makes it possible to build connections between critical perspectives in animal studies and queer and sexuality studies in order to develop alternatives to couple normative, racialized, class-based, and anthropocentric family and relationship norms.


In the earliest emplaced granite subintrusion of the multiphase peraluminous Satzung pluton, Erzgebirge, Germany, a mineral aggregate was observed consisting of sekaninaite (XFe = 0.74-0.94), Zn-rich hercynite (XZn = 0.03-0.11), tri- and dioctahedral layer silicates of different composition and color, and minor quartz. Geological, textural, and compositional criteria argue that the sekaninaite, hercynite, quartz, and the brown biotite are not primary or secondary granite minerals, but are of metamorphic origin representing a xenolith uptaken from the granite melt near its level of emplacement. The metamorphic origin is supported by the occurrence of this mineral assemblage in metamorphic rocks exposed locally in the Erzgebirge basement. Reaction of the polymineralic metamorphic aggregate with the surrounding melt and subsequent interaction with alkali-, F- and LILE-rich residual fluids account for the widespread decomposition of the sekaninaite and formation of several layer silicates including green biotite, muscovite, berthierine/Fe chlorite, and sericite. The observed enrichment of the relic sekaninaite and its replacement products in elements such as Na, Li, Be, Rb, Cs, and F is result of interaction of the metamorphic fragment with the surrounding melt/fluid, in accordance with the evolved nature of the Satzung magmatic-hydrothermal system.


Abstract. In this paper we propose a new technic called etalons, which allows us to interpret the way how convolution network makes its predictions. This mechanism is very similar to voting among different experts. Thereby CNN could be interpreted as a variety of experts, but it acts not like a sum or product of them, but rather represent a complicated hierarchy. We implement algorithm for etalon acquisition based on well-known properties of affine maps. We show that neural net has two high-level mechanisms of voting: first, based on attention to input image regions, specific to current input, and second, based on ignoring specific input regions. We also make an assumption that there is a connection between complexity of the underlying data manifold and the number of etalon images and their quality.


Background Asphyxia is one of the leading causes of death in the world. Prematurity (28%), sepsis (26%), and asphyxia (23%) are the most common causes of death in newborns. In Indonesia, the newborn mortality incidence is 82 per 1,000 live births. Blood pH is a routine laboratory examination to diagnose newborn asphyxia, but it is preferrable to avoid such invasive procedures in newborns. An examination of urinary uric acid-creatinine (UA/ Cr) ratio may be useful as an alternative method for diagnosis of asphyxia. Hypoxia causes anaerobic metabolism which will increase the blood acidity, while creatinine will decline as a result of incomplete renal function in newborns. Objective To assess for a possible correlation between blood pH and urinary UA/Cr ratio in newborn asphyxia. MethodsWe conducted an observational, cross-sectional study in Prof. Dr. R. D. Kandou Hospital, Manado, North Sulawesi, from November 2013 to April 2014. Subjects were full term newborns with asphyxia. Blood pH and urinary UA/Cr ratio were compared with Pearson's correlation test. Data was analyzed with SPSS version 22 software and P values <0.05 were considered to be statistically significant. Results Forty subjects met the inclusion criteria. Their predominant risk factor for asphyxia was fetal distress. Subjects' mean blood pH was 7.1 (SD 0.1) and mean urinary UA/Cr ratio was 3.7 (SD 1.9). There was a moderate negative correlation between blood pH and urinary UA/Cr ratio (r= -0.55; P<0.001). Conclusion In newborns with asphyxia, lower blood pH is correlated with higher urinary UA/Cr ratio.


This paper compares measured results with simulation results of neutron beam transmission through an irradiated fuel assembly. The main objective of the comparison is to establish the technical foundation for using Monte Carlo simulation to evaluate the feasibility of using neutron computed tomography for irradiated fuel assembly inspection. The measured results were obtained from an irradiated fuel assembly from the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II), and the neutron beam was produced by the Argonne National Laboratory Neutron Radiography Reactor (NRAD). The measurements consist of a projection profile representing the relative neutron beam attenuation at a specific fuel assembly axial elevation obtained from digitized neutron radiography film. Simulation of the neutron beam and fuel assembly was performed using the Monte Carlo code MCNP5. Results presented include the measured beam attenuation projection profile, simulated neutron beam attenuation projection profiles, parametric study of simulation results, and comparison of the projection results. Comparison of the radiography-based measurement with the simulation results shows good agreement, thereby confirming that Monte Carlo simulation of neutron transmission through an irradiated fuel assembly using MCNP5 is a reliable method for evaluating the use of neutron computed tomography as a means of inspecting irradiated fuel assemblies.


Morocco has become known for being an example of a well‐performing utility‐led rural electrification program, but so far little independent research has scrutinized this extraordinary case. Based on a critical review of the available literature, this study attempts to draw a picture of the evolution of rural electrification in Morocco, the policies and programs that have been implemented, and their institutional, technical, and financial dimensions. The review reveals that information available about the success of the programme has almost entirely been provided by the utility ONE, which has strategic and commercial interests in showing its achievements in a favorable light. With this in mind, three main principles are identified as having contributed to the rapid evolution of levels of electrification: (1) a clear vision and a continuing political commitment to follow the plan; (2) an institutional framework that brings into action the strength of the utility and of both national and international actors; and (3) a finance model that includes all stakeholders and international financial institutions. However, three factors may have been equally important in achieving these results: (1) a level of rural electrification in Morocco that from the outset was far below that in comparable neighboring countries; (2) a high GDP compared to sub‐Saharan African (SSA) countries; and (3) a high level of urban electrification that allowed cross‐subsidization from urban consumers. So while the Moroccan case is inspiring for SSA countries, we need to be prudent before we relate the rapid increase in electrification to the implementation model alone. WIREs Energy Environ 2016, 5:155–168. doi: 10.1002/wene.165


The Shepheardes Calender is the poem that launched Edmund Spenser's career and changed the direction of English poetry. In this reappraisal, Lynn Staley Johnson demonstrates that Spenser himself made a self-conscious effort to create a new literature, a new esthetic for a new era. Drawing upon a wide range of primary sources, she places the poem in its literary, social, political , and cultural context, contributing to our understanding of the relationship between Spenser and his times. She pays particular attention to the emergence of the myth of Elizabeth and of England during the first half of Elizabeth's reign and the ways in which the young Spenser manipulated the concerns and issues of the time, transforming popular culture into literary expression. By its active engagement with both the present and the past, the Calender suggests Spenser's conception of poetry as informed dialogue designed for social work, offering a reinterpretation of the relationship between the poet and his community. Choosing not to be circumscribed by the voices of his significant historical and literary past, the Calender proclaims the poet, not as transmitter or mediator, but as an active and shaping force, capable of remaking the present by offering his age a picture of a new and potentially more glorious reality. Johnson seeks to bridge the gap between the literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance by linking Spenser's strategies and themes to those of his medieval forebears, especially Chaucer. Both Edmund Spenser and his enigmatic Calender stand facing two ways, back into the age dubbed "middle" and forward, hailing the new; as it's study demonstrates, only by bringing these views into a single focus can we begin to appreciate the radical and innovative nature of a poem that for many heralds the renaissance of English poetry.


The present research investigated the relationships between loneliness and emotional, physical, and cognitive wellbeing in young and older adulthood. Self-report questionnaires were administered to 101 young and 95 older adults. Young adults reported slightly higher loneliness than older adults. Overall, young and older participants who reported the greatest amount of loneliness experienced significantly less positive affect than those reporting the least amount of loneliness. However, higher levels of loneliness were related to increased negative affect only within the older adult group. Increased loneliness was also correlated with poorer reports of physical health exclusively in older adults. No relationships were found between loneliness and fluid cognitive ability or loneliness and information processing style. The exacerbated negative impact of loneliness in older adults is interpreted as an effect of age-related changes in motivation toward socioemotional goals related to the limited future time perspective of older individuals.


Some industries have far more political influence than others, and some political systems are more susceptible to the influence of industries than others. The relationship between the defence industry and the US federal government has been so strong for so long that the notion of 'Military-Industrial Complex' is widely used to analyse politics and economics in the US by analysts from across the political spectrum. In Australia, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is currently investigating evidence of the links between the previous NSW Labor Government and the mining industry. In the words of Geoffrey Watson, QC, the counsel assisting the commission: If it is corruption, then it is corruption on a scale probably unexceeded since the days of the Rum Corps. But while extreme cases such as the US government's relationship with the defence industry and cases of overt corruption attract substantial attention the systematic contortion of government policy to deliver benefits to particular industries is less widely discussed. Such indifference to this process, a process that can shift billions of dollars from one group in society to another can be explained in a number of ways including: 1) The volume of legislation that passes through our parliaments makes it difficult for anyone without large financial interests to monitor and evaluate all legislation with the potential to impact on an individual or organisation's interests. 2) The complexity of the legislation, particularly the way that pieces of legislation may interact with existing legislation or new legislation or regulations that are pending but not yet public makes it even more difficult for 'unvested interests' to understand the significance of particular policy change. 3) While community groups and NGOs typically herald the passage of legislation they consider favourable, business groups are typically more constrained when legislation that is favourable to their interests is passed. These three explanations are buttressed by the economics of 'externalities'. Economists define an externality as the costs or benefits to accrue to an individual who was 'external' to a transaction. For example, if your neighbour buys a leaf blower for $100 it suggests that the neighbour values the leaf blower at more than $100 and that the shop values it at less than $100 so both are happy with the transaction. However, neither the neighbour nor the shop has considered how an 'external' party, such as you, feels about the leaf blower. Any noise pollution generated by the leaf blower is, therefore, considered to be an 'externality'. Economists typically assume that there are no externalities when they analyse economic behaviour . When 'small' externalities (such as noise from leaf blowers) exist they are typically ignored by policy makers but when 'larger' externalities such as radioactive waste are identified they are described as a form of 'market failure' that warrants government regulation. Whether or not the 'distinctive sound' of a Harley Davidson is a small externality that should be ignored or a larger externality that should be prevented through regulation is, of course, a matter of judgement. Economists typically suggest that if the benefits of an activity to those who enjoy it exceed the costs of that activity to people who don't enjoy it then society is better off with the activity. While it is hard to value the external costs and the benefits of activities such as leaf blowers and nuclear reactors, it is the job of politicians to value the political pain associated with supporting or opposing a particular policy. Politicians who are poor at making such choices are often replaced by those who are better at it. Externalities help explain why governments are susceptible to lobbying and the influence of large corporations. Small changes in policy can deliver huge windfalls to a small group while imposing small costs on a large group. A policy change that costs each of Australia's 22.9 million residents a dollar per week would collectively cost us around $1.2 billion per year. A private company that thought it might gain 10 per cent of that cost ($120 million per year) would be highly motivated to engage lawyers, economists and lobbyists to help ensure the policy went ahead while few if any 'rational' individuals would spend much time or money to protect their $1 per week. A successful politician likely possesses the ability to predict that a low profile policy change that would cost people $1 per week will deliver them little if any political pain from the citizenry. Furthermore, the successful politician will likely anticipate that political benefit will flow from a business community who, while relatively silent on the specifics of policy change, are more vocal in providing general support for a government that 'listens' and 'understands what business needs if it is to create jobs and opportunities for workers'. While the tendency amongst successful politicians to grant policy changes that harm a diffuse majority and help a concentrated minority is consistent with the economic analysis of externalities, it is likely enhanced even further by the willingness of such concentrated minorities to donate substantial amounts of money to politicians who are willing to 'listen'. Of course not all industries benefit from the same policy changes and, in turn, not all businesses can be heard. For example: • Policies that advantage the big banks may come at the expense of the small businesses who borrow from them and use their transaction services. • Subsidies to speed up the rate of mining expansion come at the expense of the manufacturing industry who have to bid for the same pool of skilled labour. • Policies that allow supermarkets to increase their market power come at the expense of the firms that supply food to those supermarkets. Given that not all firms can get what they want from governments it follows that some firms must be more successful in encouraging governments to 'listen' to them than are others. Of course, if governments made decisions solely on the basis of the costs and benefits of their decisions to their constituents then policy choices would be made with reference to the broad interests of the community rather than the narrow interests of the industry lobbyists. However, as discussed above, when the costs of the policy change are diffused across the community and the benefits concentrated in the hands of a few there is likely to be a 'market failure' when it comes to the ear of government.


Abstract:The publication of pre-analysis plans is gaining further mainstream attention as the open science movement within academic research expands. Additionally, some funding agencies require pre-analysis plans as a condition of their grant awards. This paper proposes the existing targeted learning roadmap as a framework for the construction of pre-analysis plans. It also discusses current standards for content and hurdles that may arise in public health and health policy settings, including the complexities of "Big Data," when writing pre-analysis plans for observational studies in practice.


This paper investigates the impact of heterogeneous wealth on credit allocation from an egalitarian opportunity and an efficiency point of view. Under asymmetric information on both wealth and the responsibility variable there is no trade-off between equality and efficiency, actually wealth inequality delivers both inequality of opportunity and inefficiency. Due to decreasing absolute risk aversion, poor entrepreneurs, other things equal, realize better projects. This notwithstanding, due to the bidimensional hidden information, they may be rationed out or obtain a loan only at the cost of cross subsidizing bad projects realized by rich entrepreneurs. In the first case inefficiency arises in the form of insufficient investment, in the second in the form of inefficient projects being realized. An egalitarian redistribution of endowments may lead to perfect screening, no inefficiencies in the allocation of credit and equality of opportunity.


Globalization is seen beyond avoidance Due to the expansion and strengthening of mass communication and media are and quickly in all dimensions and aspects of human life, especially culture, society, economy and politics has penetrated And all aspects of human life is affected. Understandings of the phenomenon and the challenges and strategies for dealing with the most important responsibilities of scientists and experts from different countries are at present. The present study was to understand the importance and challenges of globalization and the threats against the Islamic Republic of Iran to analyze this phenomenon and Develop and submit to the demands of the 21st century, the country's main strategies in dealing with globalization of culture, society, economy and politics is discussed. The results show that the strategies for dealing with globalization, It can be said that the implementation of strategies and opportunities that it creates For the protection of cultural and social identity important part of our identity is a need to strengthen and enhance the level of cultural, social and economic Gmarym efforts Protecting and preserving the rich culture and customs of the whole Islamic world is ready to face the new approaches to the interests of our country.


Even in the flattest landscape there are passes where the road first climbs to a peak and then descends into a new valley. Most of these passes are simply topography with little or no difference in climate, language or culture between the valleys on either side. But some passes are different: they are true divides. History too knows such divides. Once these divides have been crossed, the social and political landscape changes; the social and political climate is different, and so is the social and political language. Some time between 1965 and 1973 we passed over such a divide and entered "the next century". This work anticipates the central issues of a rapidly changing world. When it was initially published in 1989, some reviewers mistakenly thought the text was a book about the future, or in other words, a series of predictions. But, as indicated in the title, the text discusses realities. Peter Drucker argues that events of the next 30 to 40 years, or even further on, had already largely been defined by events of the previous half-century. Thus, Drucker discusses episodes in world history that had not yet happened at the time of the book's initial publication, such as: the archaism of the hope for "salvation by society" in "The End of FDR's America"; the democratization of the Soviet Union in "When the Russian Empire is Gone"; the technology boom of the 1990s in "The Information-Based Organization"; and the evolution of management in "Management as Social Function and Liberal Art". This edition features a new preface by the author that discusses both reactions to the original publication of the book and how important it is for decision-makers to consider the past and present when planning for the future.


Recent scholarship has brought to light the existence of a dynamic world of specifically Jewish forms of literature in the nineteenth century-fiction by Jews, about Jews, and often designed largely for Jews. This volume makes this material accessible to English speakers for the first time, offering a selection of Jewish fiction from France, Great Britain, and the German-speaking world. The stories are remarkably varied, ranging from historical fiction to sentimental romance, to social satire, but they all engage with key dilemmas including assimilation, national allegiance, and the position of women. Offering unique insights into the hopes and fears of Jews experiencing the dramatic impact of modernity, the literature collected in this book will provide compelling reading for all those interested in modern Jewish history and culture, whether general readers, students, or scholars.


This project investigates the clinical occurrence of concurrent thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) and intracranial aneurysms (ICA). We hypothesized that patients with a TAA have an increased risk of harboring a concurrent ICA, and likewise that patients with an ICA have an increased risk of harboring a concurrent TAA relative to the general population. In a separate arm of this project, we hypothesized that a pre-defined gene expression profile, based on the expression levels of 41 specific genes measured in peripheral blood cells, will be exhibit a characteristic expression pattern in ICA patients and thereby have utility in detecting the presence of ICA. To accomplish the first objective of this project, we reviewed the charts of patients with TAA who also had recent intracranial imaging to document the prevalence of concurrent ICA and compared this rate to the ICA prevalence in the general population. Likewise, we reviewed the charts of patients with ICA who also had recent thoracic imaging to document the prevalence of concurrent TAA. To investigate the gene expression profile for detecting ICA, we collected peripheral blood samples from ICA patients and nonaneurysmal controls and measured the expression levels of 39 pre-defined genes in a signature aneurysm profile using real-time PCR. The observed pattern of expression of these genes was compared to a pre-defined signature aneurysm pattern to predict the aneurysm status of each sample. We found that 9.0% of 212 TAA patients we studied harbor a concurrent ICA. Patients with descending TAA and hypertension had significantly higher rates of concurrent ICA. We also found that 4.5% of 359 ICA patients we studied harbor a concurrent TAA. ICA patients over 70 years of age had an increased rate of concurrent TAA. We also analyzed gene expression in the blood samples of 17 ICA patients and 15 controls. By comparing the observed pattern of gene expression to a predefined signature aneurysm pattern, we were able to detect ICA from a peripheral blood test with an 88% sensitivity and overall accuracy of 63%. In conclusion, this project finds that patients with TAA are at an increased risk relative to the general population of harboring a concurrent ICA. Likewise, patients with ICA are at an increased risk relative to the general population of harboring a concurrent TAA. Our early results show that a peripheral blood test based on the gene expression pattern of 39 genes holds promise as a sensitive screening test for ICA.


3D detectors are a novel variety of photodiode radiation detector, invented by Parker, Kenney and Segal (1997). Instead of having n- and p-type contacts on the front and back surfaces of a silicon substrate, like a standard photodiode, they have columns of doped material passing through the thickness of the silicon. This structure means that the detector can combine a reasonable substrate thickness with a very small electrode spacing, resulting in a low depletion voltage, fast charge collection and low charge sharing.

These detectors have a couple of promising applications. Their fast charge collection and low depletion voltage should make them very radiation-tolerant. So, they could be used for future particle physics experiments at the Super Large Hadron Collider (SLHC), where high levels of radiation damage are expected. Also, their low charge sharing means they could potentially improve X-ray diffraction measurements at synchrotrons such as Diamond Light Source. This would allow these experiments, for example, to determine the structures of biological molecules more accurately.

However, before 3D devices can be used in practical experiments, their design and fabrication must be optimised to ensure that reliable, high-performance detectors can be produced on a reasonably large scale. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate and understand the behaviour of a variety of 3D detectors using a combination of lab tests and computer simulations. Using these results, future fabrication runs can then be re-designed to improve their performance.

Firstly, the "Synopsys TCAD" simulation package was used to determine the optimum design for 3D detectors at the SLHC. It was found that the device behaviour depends strongly on the electrode spacing, and the choice of spacing requires a trade-off between different effects. Using a smaller spacing reduces the detector's operating voltage, and improves the charge collection efficiency by reducing carrier trapping. However, reducing the spacing also increases the capacitance, resulting in greater noise, and also increases the insensitive volume occupied by the columns. At SLHC radiation damage levels, the optimal electrode spacing was found to be 40-55 micrometres.

CNM (Centro Nacional de Microelectronica) in Barcelona have produced a set of "double sided" 3D detectors. The n- and p-type columns in these devices are etched from opposite sides of the substrate and do not pass through the full substrate thickness. Computer simulations show that these detectors should give similar performance to full-3D detectors. The main difference is that these devices have slower charge collection around their front and back surfaces. Basic electrical characterisation of the detectors showed that they have low depletion voltages. However, the guard ring current varied a great deal between detectors, though this was fixed by using better guard structures. Charge collection tests on these detectors using beta particles gave mixed results. A heavily-irradiated detector gave a relatively high collection signal, similar to the simulated value, which demonstrated the structure's radiation hardness. However, an unirradiated detector gave an unexpectedly low collection signal. This was perhaps due to poor coupling between this detector and the readout chip.

Three of these "double-sided" 3D detectors were bonded to Medipix2 pixel readout chips. These chips are specifically designed for X-ray detection, and can count individual photon hits. The detectors worked successfully, and initial lab tests demonstrated that they depleted extremely rapidly. The detectors were then tested in an X-ray beam at Diamond Light Source. These tests showed that the detectors have lower charge sharing than a standard planar photodiode. For example, 24% of the hits on a double-sided 3D detector at 22V were shared, compared to 40% on a planar detector at 100V.

A set of devices with a simplified "single-type-column" structure, fabricated by FBK-IRST in Trento, were also tested. Simulations showed that although this structure will have a low depletion voltage and fast electron collection, the hole collection will be slow. This will result in poorer behaviour than full- and double-sided 3D detectors. This was confirmed by lab tests, which showed that when the detector was coupled to fast readout electronics, the charge collection efficiency was reduced due to ballistic deficit.


A multicentric noninterventional trial (open study without control) to investigate the efficacy and tolerance of a drug in a large number of patients under routine medical conditions was performed for a new solid preparation from an extract of the fruit of Vitex agnus castus (VAC, Vitex, chaste tree, Chasteberry) in 1634 patients suffering from premenstrual syndrome (PMS). A specific questionnaire was developed for determining the effect of Vitex on psychic and somatic complaints, on the four characteristic PMS symptom complexes depression, anxiety, craving, and hyperhydration (DACH), and on single groups of symptoms. After a treatment period of three menstrual cycles 93% of patients reported a decrease in the number of symptoms or even cessation of PMS complaints. To a certain extent, this effect was observed within all symptom complexes and correlated with the global assessment of therapeutic efficacy. Whereas 85% of physicians rated it as good or very good, 81% of patients assessed their status after treatment as very much or much better. Analysis of frequency and severity of mastodynia as the predominant symptom revealed that complaints still present after 3 months of therapy were mostly less severe. Ninety-four percent of patients assessed the tolerance of Vitex treatment as good or very good. Adverse drug reactions were suspected by physicians in 1.2% of patients, but there were no serious adverse drug reactions. Hence, the risk/benefit ratio of the new Vitex preparation can be rated as very good, with significant efficacy for all aspects of the multifaceted and inhomogeneous clinical picture of PMS, with a safety profile comparable to other Vitex preparations.


We discuss directional dependence in the time development of spatial wavefunctions, which includes jet formation, for two-electron model atoms exposed to intense laser fields. Two competing scenarios for double ionization are evident: (1) both electrons emerge simultaneously from the core region and on the same side of the nucleus, and (2) the electrons detach on opposite sides but not simultaneously. The importance of the electron-electron repulsion contribution to the competing processes is investigated for various laser intensities.


Countries restrict the overall extent of international travel and migration to balance the expected costs and benefits of mobility. Given the ever-present threat of new, future pandemics, how should permanent restrictions on mobility respond? A simple theoretical framework predicts that reduced exposure to pre-pandemic international mobility causes slightly slower arrival of the pathogen. A standard epidemiological model predicts no decrease in the harm of the pathogen if travel ceases thereafter and only a slight decrease in the harm (for plausible parameters) if travel does not cease. We test these predictions across four global pandemics in three different centuries: the influenza pandemics that began in 1889, 1918, 1957, and 2009. We find that in all cases, even a draconian 50 percent reduction in pre-pandemic international mobility is associated with 1–2 weeks later arrival and no detectable reduction in final mortality. The case for permanent limits on international mobility to reduce the harm of future pandemics is weak.


One of the challenges in the characterization of fractured aquifers is to define whether the approximation to a porous medium is valid or not. In this context, the present study concerns the hydrogeological characterization of a small area constituted by densely fractured marly-silici-calcareous rocks. The hydrogeological investigations included fracture network surveys and pumping tests. The survey of the outcrops showed a rock mass characterized by a high number of persistent discontinuities with a wide spatial distribution, high frequency and a wide range of values of the aperture in the different systems. These characteristics imply the possibility of considering the rock mass as an equivalent porous medium at the outcrop scale. Pumping tests highlighted a consistent reaction of the various monitoring points and a similar trend of the drawdown-time curve, resulting in considering the aquifer as continuous medium at the scale of the volume influenced by pumping. The drawdown maps seems to be related to a weak anisotropy of the aquifer in the horizontal plane with the major axis of the ellipse aligned along the direction NE-SW, consistent with the directions of the principal components of the hydraulic conductivity resulting from the hydraulic model of the rock mass. Although the aquifer can be considered an equivalent anisotropic porous medium at the scale of the study, the comparison between the results of pumping tests and of the rock mass survey indicates that this approach would be not sufficient to characterize groundwater movement.


We have developed a mathematical model that describes several aspects of agonist-induced Ca2+ signaling in single pituitary gonadotrophs. Our model is based on fast activation of the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (InsP3) receptor Ca2+ channels at low free cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) and slow inactivation at high [Ca2+]i. Previous work has shown that these gating properties, when combined with a Ca(2+)-ATPase, are sufficient to generate simulated Ca2+ oscillations. The Hodgkin-Huxley-like description we formulate here incorporates these different gating properties explicitly and renders their effects transparent and easy to modulate. We introduce regulatory mechanisms of channel opening which enable the model, both in the absence and in the presence of Ca2+ entry, to give responses to a wide range of agonist doses that are in good agreement with experimental findings, including subthreshold responses, superthreshold oscillations with frequency determined by [InsP3], and nonoscillatory "biphasic" responses followed occasionally by small-amplitude oscillations. A particular added feature of our model, enhanced channel opening by reduced concentration of Ca2+ in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum, allows oscillations to continue during pool depletion. The model predicts that ionomycin and thapsigargin can induce oscillations with basal [InsP3] and zero Ca2+ entry, while Ca2+ injection cannot. Responses to specific pairings of sub- or superthreshold stimuli of agonist, ionomycin, and thapsigargin are also correctly predicted. Since this model encompasses a wide range of observed dynamic behaviors within a single framework, based on well-established mechanisms, its relevance should not be restricted to gonadotrophs.


Inositol-polyphosphate-induced Ca2+ mobilization was investigated in saponin-permeabilized SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells. Ins(1,4,5)P3 induced a dose-related release from intracellular Ca2` stores with an EC50 (concn. giving half-maximal effect) of 0.1 tM and a maximal release of 70 %. Ins(l,3,4)P3, DL-Ins(1,4,5,6)P1 and Ins(1,3,4,5,6)P5 did not evoke Ca2+ mobilization in these cells when used at concentrations up to 10 /LM. However, Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 was found to release Ca2+ in a dose-related manner, but the response was dependent on the source of Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 used. When commercially available D-Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 was used, the EC50 and maximal response values were 1/M and 50 % respectively, compared with values for chemically synthesized DL-Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 of 2 /LM and 25 %. The enhanced maximal response of commercial D-Ins(l,3,4,5)P4 was decreased by pretreatment with rat brain crude Ins(1,4,5)P3 3-kinase and was therefore concluded to be indicative of initial Ins(1,4,5)P3 contamination of the Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 preparation. When metabolism of DLIns(1,3,4,5)P4 (10 uM) in these cells at 25 °C was investigated by h.p.l.c., substantial amounts of Ins(1,4,5)P3 (0.2 /SM) and Ins(1,3,4)P3 (0.8 #M) were found to be produced within 3 min. Analysis of DL-Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 incubation with cells at 4 °C, however, indicated that metabolism had been arrested {[3H]Ins(1,4,5)P3 detection limits were estimated to be approx. 0.01 ,M}. When chemically synthesized DL-Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 and incubation conditions of low temperature were used, the Ca2+-releasing properties of this compound were established to be 1 ,UM and 19% for the EC50 and maximal response values respectively. The results obtained strongly suggest that Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 alone has the ability to release intracellular Ca2+. However, in the presence of sub-maximal concentrations of Ins(1,4,5)P3, Ca2+ release appears to be synergistic with Ins(1,3,4,5)P4, but at supramaximal concentrations not even additive effects are observed.


Increased attention has been paid recently to the analysis of the effects of applying the concept of sustainable development in retail. In that context we have particularly considered greenhouse gases emission in retail. This is achieved through the use of modern ecological technology in business – through the whole value chain. The ultimate goal is to achieve the planned reductions of carbon dioxide in retail, which positively reflects the overall performance of retailers, environmental in particular. The costs of carbon dioxide emission reduction affect the performance of retailers. Continuous empirical research shows that almost all global retailers achieve a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from year to year. Empirical research conducted in this paper on the example of global retailers in the United States, Europe and the European Union, the United Kingdom, Mexico, China, Croatia and Serbia shows significant and planned reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in retail, especially in countries with developed market economies. This empirical research is mainly based on the analysis of the original sustainable (environmental and ecological) reports officially disclosed by selected retailers, primarily from the countries of a developed market economies, which they started to publish with regular annual financial statements. They are now an integral part of the so-called integrated reporting on performance of global retailers. Due to the general importance, harmonized regulations on sustainable retail reporting are being increasingly applied as a data source for more efficient environmental management. In perspective, this will ease the comparative analysis of the carbon dioxide emission of global and other retailers.


A heterogeneous interconnect architecture can be a useful approach for the design of 3-D FPGAs. A methodology to investigate heterogeneous interconnection schemes for 3-D FPGAs under different 3-D fabrication technologies is proposed. Application of the proposed methodology on benchmark circuits demonstrates an improvement in delay, power consumption, and total wire-length of approximately 41%, 32%, and 36%, respectively, as compared to 2-D FPGAs. These improvements are additional to reducing the number of interlayer connections. The fewer interlayer connections are traded off for a higher yield. An area model to evaluate this trade-off is presented. Results indicate that a heterogeneous 3-D FPGA requires 37% less area as compared to a homogeneous 3-D FPGA. Consequently, the heterogeneous FPGAs can exhibit a higher manufacturing yield. A design toolset is also developed to support the design and exploration of various performance metrics for the proposed 3-D FPGAs.


This paper investigated the supply of science teachers to secondary schools in Ondo State, Nigeria. It was an ex-post facto and descriptive research. The study population comprised all the 281 secondary schools and 4 higher institutions in the State as well as 30 higher institutions from neighbouring States producing teachers for secondary schools. The sample in respect of secondary schools was identical with the population. Since only 2 out of the 4 higher institutions in the State produce teachers, the 2 higher institutions were selected for the study. Out of the 30 higher institutions in neighbouring States, 16 were selected thereby giving a total sample of 18 higher institutions. The method of selection was by multi-stage, purposeful and stratified random sampling. The instrument used was an inventory while the data collected were analyzed using frequency counts and percentages. It was found that science teachers were in less proportion compared to non-science teachers in all the schools. Male science teachers were in greater numbers than female science teachers in the schools. The number of science teachers supplied from higher institutions outside the State was greater than the number supplied from higher institutions within the State The supply of science teachers did not match the demand for them in the schools. It was concluded that higher institutions in the State had not been supplying sufficient number of science teachers to the schools. It was then recommended that more efforts should be made by government to increase the supply of science teachers to schools. Keywords : supply of science teachers, demand for science teachers, enrolment growth rates


The Ohio State University (OSU) Extension Nursery, Landscape, and Turf Team (ENLTT) is an innovative and interdisciplinary team comprised of extension agents, extension specialists, researchers, teaching faculty, university arboretum staff, and research assistants. ENLTT has greatly improved the process of acquisition, delivery, and support of accurate, practical, and timely educational resources through interdisciplinary and industry partnerships. The award-winning weekly electronic newsletter Buckeye Yard and Garden Line (BYGL) has been the focal point of our teamwork since 1993. An ornamental research circular, authored and edited by ENLTT members, remains the most requested publication from the Section of Communication and Technology, Ohio Agricultural Research Development Center, OSU. Strong partnership with the green industry in Ohio has resulted in the financial commitment of more than $230,000 from the Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association since 1993. ENLTT members have improved themselves as a result of educating each other through weekly BYGL conference calls from April to October, taking study tours, and conducting joint educational programs. Twenty-two commodity or issue teams, such as, Floriculture Team, Vegetable Crops Team, Tree Fruit Team, Forestry Team, Agronomic Crops Team, Sustainable Agriculture Team, and Dairy Team, have been formed in OSU Extension due to the success of ENLTT.


We raise the hypothesis that aid specifically targeted at economic infrastructure helps developing countries attract higher FDI inflows through improving their endowment with infrastructure in transportation, communication, energy and finance. By performing 3SLS estimations we explicitly account for dependencies between three structural equations on the allocation of sector-specific aid, the determinants of infrastructure, and the determinants of FDI. We find fairly strong and robust evidence that targeted aid promotes FDI indirectly through the infrastructure channel. In addition, aid in infrastructure appears to have surprisingly strong direct effects on FDI.