This report provides an in-depth review and critical analysis of the fuelwood, wood balance and household energy studies done in India in the last decades, and the developments in the commercial energy sector. The study synthesised the trend in the consumption of domestic energy and also the reliability level of fuelwood statistics. The consumption of fuelwood has been analysed in relation to availability of forests/trees resource, urbanisation and income level. It has been found that the fuelwood consumption and production statistics estimated by most of the studies are often not reliable. Average reliance can be placed on the consumption statistics, because most of the fuelwood studies/household energy surveys have focused on he consumption part but statistics on the supply and source aspect are extremely weak and unreliable. The review of the consumption aspect has found that traditional fuel (fuelwood, crop residue and dung cake) still dominates domestic energy use in rural India and accounts for about 90% of the total. Fuelwood alone accounts for about 60% of the total fuel in rural areas. In urban areas, the consumption pattern is changing due ti increased availability of commercial fuel (LPG, kerosene, and electricity). During 1983-1999, the consumption of traditional fuel declined from 49% to 24% and LPG connection to households increased from 10% to 44%. To make fuelwood statistics reliable, it has been suggested that key factors influencing consumption of fuelwood such as, urbanisation, nearness to accessible forest/tree resource, income level and climate should be used to stratify the population and repeated physical measurement should be done estimate per capita consumption precisely. For estimating the production of fuelwood new volume growth models of trees relating to their biomass produced during life cycle should be made. And to determine the actual source of supply of fuelwood, investigators have to observe the flow of wood households and other consumption and distribution centres for a longer period, which would also cover the seasonal variation, instead of depending upon questionaires.


With the development of the Internet, and the increase in the online storage space, there has been an explosion in the volume of videos and images circulating online. An important part of the digital forensics' tasks is to scrutinise part of these images to make important decisions. Digital tampering of images can impede reliability of these decisions. Through this paper we attempt to improve the detection rate of splicing forgery. We also examine how well the examined splicing forgery detection algorithm works on low-resolution images. In this paper, the aim is to enhance the accuracy of an existing algorithm. One tailed Wilcoxon signed rank test was utilised to compare the performance of the different algorithms.


The coarse resolution of climate models creates the need for future scenarios which are downscaled to an appropriate spatial scale. Considerable effort has been devoted to the devel- opment of downscaling methods, but a number of important issues remain to meet users' needs. These include the assessment of uncertainty for future scenarios, and the production of scenarios at time scales relevant to stakeholders. This paper describes a methodology which addresses these issues by producing a multi-model ensemble of transient climate-change scenarios. The method couples an existing stochastic rainfall model to a new, transient implementation of a weather generator, using changes projected by an ensemble of regional climate model experi- ments. The methodology is demonstrated by the generation of transient scenarios of daily rainfall, temperature and potential evapotranspiration for the Geer catchment in Belgium for the period 2010�2085. The utility of these scenarios is demonstrated by assessing the changes projected by the simulated time series of several temperature indices. The Geer is projected to experience a decrease in the occurrence of frost days with a corresponding shortening of the frost season and lengthening of the growing season. By examining an ensemble of transient scenarios, the range of uncertainty in these projections is assessed, but, further, it is suggested that additional information on the projected timing of specified threshold events or system responses may be provided. This could aid stakeholders in assessing the likely time scales of required interventions and adaptation responses.


It has been hypothesized that IL-1α is released from damaged cardiomyocytes following myocardial infarction (MI) and activates cardiac fibroblasts via its receptor (IL-1R1) to drive the early stages of cardiac remodeling. This study aimed to definitively test this hypothesis using cell type–specific IL-1α and IL-1R1–KO mouse models. A floxed Il1a mouse was created and used to generate a cardiomyocyte-specific IL-1α–KO (MIL1AKO) mouse line. A tamoxifen-inducible fibroblast-specific IL-1R1 hemizygous KO (FIL1R1KO) mouse line was also generated. Mice underwent experimental MI (permanent left anterior descending coronary artery ligation), and cardiac function was determined 4 weeks later by conductance pressure-volume catheter analysis. Molecular markers of remodeling were evaluated at various time points by real-time RT-PCR and histology. MIL1AKO mice showed no difference in cardiac function or molecular markers of remodeling after MI compared with littermate controls. In contrast, FIL1R1KO mice showed improved cardiac function and reduced remodeling markers after MI compared with littermate controls. In conclusion, these data highlight a key role for the IL-1R1/cardiac fibroblast signaling axis in regulating remodeling after MI and provide support for the continued development of anti–IL-1 therapies for improving cardiac function after MI. Cardiomyocyte-derived IL-1α was not an important contributor to remodeling after MI in this model.


The growing trend of insurance fraud continues to cost US consumers billions of dollars a year through increased premiums. In 2015, the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud estimated the cost of insurance fraud as being at least $80 billion dollars a year. Even though an increasing number of criminals are drawn to the low risk, high reward of insurance fraud, little criminological literature has explored this topic and the public remains relatively unaware of the extent of the problem. One alarming aspect of insurance fraud is the involvement of organized criminal groups. These organized criminal enterprises are formed for the sole purpose of defrauding the insurance industry. Often, these enterprises are believed to have ties to traditional organized criminal groups, such as the Italian Mafia or the Russian Mob. In order to combat these criminal organizations, it is important to understand the behavior and motivation of such groups. The present study aims to analyze the generally held belief throughout the insurance industry that organized insurance fraud rings are more likely to operate in states with mandatory Personal Injury Protection (PIP) policies. This analysis was conducted by examining staged automobile accidents reported to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. The results of this analysis were mixed. Although a larger percentage of states with mandatory PIP displayed higher staged accident rate, some mandatory PIP states did not, and multiple non-PIP states also demonstrated a high staged accident rate. In an attempt to better understand this crime, further criminological research is needed.


The sanction for occupational health and safety offences in Ontario is a regulatory prosecution in provincial criminal court. In contrast, regulatory officials assess administrative penalties in British Columbia and the United States. A larger proportion of offenders are punished under these administrative processes than in the Ontario criminal justice system, and the average administrative penalty generally is higher than the average criminal fine. In addition, a system of administrative penalties is better able to identify employers who warrant punishment because regulators apply the civil standard of proof, attach great weight to a firm's compliance history, and do not reserve penalties for offences that actually result in a worker being harmed. This article is available in Osgoode Hall Law Journal: http://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ohlj/vol30/iss3/10 ADMINISTRATIVE AND CRIMINAL PENALTIES IN THE ENFORCEMENT OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY LEGISLATION©


Compositionality is a basic structural feature of both biological and artificial neural networks. Learning compositional functions via gradient descent incurs well known problems like vanishing and exploding gradients, making careful learning rate tuning essential for real-world applications. This paper proves that multiplicative weight updates satisfy a descent lemma tailored to compositional functions. Based on this lemma, we derive Madam---a multiplicative version of the Adam optimiser---and show that it can train state of the art neural network architectures without learning rate tuning. We further show that Madam is easily adapted to train natively compressed neural networks by representing their weights in a logarithmic number system. We conclude by drawing connections between multiplicative weight updates and recent findings about synapses in biology.


Fez, 1954, and American ex-pat Stenham reluctantly accepts a guide for his night-time walk home through the streets of the Medina. A nationalist uprising is transforming the country, much to the annoyance of Stenham, who enjoys the trappings of the old city. His path soon crosses with the young, illiterate son of a healer, another outsider to the newly politicised life of Morocco, in this brutally honest novel of life in the midst of terrorism, violence and the ugly opportunism that accompanies both. Bowles' most masterly novel combines his classic themes: the conflict of Eastern and Western cultures and the trials of otherness.


Background: Rempah-rempah are endemic spices from Nusantara (South East Asia Archipelago's), these spices are traditional food flavor Nusantara for centuries. Rempah-rempah were traditionally processed such as: boiled, fried, distillated, fermented, extracted, and fresh crushed mixture with others food component. These food were served for daily food such as main food, beverage, hot drink, snacks, crackers, etc.  Nowadays, modern and westernized synthetic ingredients and food flavors are rapidly substitute traditional food. Such habit have been invaded to the all of the globalized world. Conversely, many Indonesian researchers have been investigated that rempah-rempah have rich of phyto-pharmaceuticals components as herbal medicine or functional food. Phyto-pharmaceutical components in rempah-rempah have been investigated o potential role as immunomodulatory agent, antioxidants, analgesics, digestive, carminative, and antibacterial, as well as others remedial action for some physiological effects [1,2]. There were, Indonesian Gingers (Zingiberaceae), Katuk (Sauropus androgunus (L.) Merr), Andaliman (Zanthoxylum acanthopodicum), Antarasa (Litsea cubeba), Kecobang (Nicolai speciosa Horan), Tapak Liman (Elephantropus scaber)[1], Kedondong laut (Polyscias obtusa)[1], Mengkudu (Morinda citrifolia), Kapulaga (Amomum cardamomum), Sereh (Cymbopogon fleuopsus), Sirsak (Anona muricata), and Kunyit (Curcuma sp.). Almost all of rempah-rempah have not clearly investigated yet, only traditionally understanding have been known such as preventing for many degenerative metabolism and infectious diseases. Others problem are packaging, canning, preserving and others possibilities for marketing have been needed for future improvement of rempah-rempah as Indonesian traditional flavor and functional food. Keywords: Functional food, Indonesian flavor, rempah-rempah and spices.


KIRKOVA, S., Y. DYULGERSKI and T. MILANOVA, 2014. Properties of new varieties and lines Burley tobacco investigation on consumables. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 20: 643-646 Consistently applied policy of the European Commission and implemented reforms affected dramatically the cultivated areas and the amount of raw tobacco, including and group Burley, both in EU and in Bulgaria. In Bulgaria there is a mismatch between demand and supply of preferred varieties of tobacco, which requires the creation of new varieties of Burley. Main criterion in assessing the quality of tobacco is the result of tasting assessment. The aim of the research is to establish whether created new varieties and lines Burley tobacco have desired and sought after features such as raw material in the manufacture of tobacco products. Based on standardized methods for analysis and processing of the results it is found that the new variety Burley 1344 and Line 1354 excel at consumable properties using standards Burley Pliska 2002.


Our purpose here is to draw upon the insights, perspectives, and ideas we have acquired in life and in our professional practice experiences as child and youth care (CYC) students, practitioners, and educators so we can frame a much needed discussion about the concept of praxis as considered from a relational ontological perspective. Our premise is that to truly fulfil the vision of being a relational-centred profession grounded in the core values and principles of trust, fairness, integrity, honesty, caring, tolerance, and respect for diversity and equality, CYC practitioners must reach deeper into the nuance of the concept of praxis to fully grasp its meaning from a relational-centred perspective. Thus, we present the case that a teaching and learning pedagogy that encourages critical thinking and promotes relational-centred praxis is more likely to bring about the deep learning and self-refection CYC practitioners must acquire to generate the inspiration, confidence, competence, and moral courage necessary to act as transformational leaders in the field.


Robots and autonomous systems in general are set to suffer similar cybersecurity problems that computers have been facing for decades. This is not only worrying for critical tasks such as those performed by surgical, or military robots but also for household robots such as vacuum cleaners or for teleconference robots compromise privacy and safety of their owners. What will happen if these robots are hacked? This study presents a survey on the cybersecurity attacks associated with service robots, and as a result, a taxonomy that classifies the risks faced by users when using service robots, distinguishing between security and safety threads, is presented. We also present the robot software development phase as one the most relevant ones for the security of robots.


Jason David Hall, ""Popular Prosody: Spectacle and the Politics of Victorian Versification"" (pp. 222––249) In July of 1845 a Somerset man named John Clark exhibited an invention called the Eureka, ""a machine for making Latin verses,"" at the Egyptian Hall in London. This midcentury spectacle was, I argue, much more than a showplace diversion; rather, it was at once the uncanny technological embodiment and a parodic indictment of the Victorian science of prosody, and it functioned, moreover, as an interactive discursive site where debates about the function of prosody as part of a pedagogical model in the universities and, more specifically, the public schools became immediately visible and accessible to a popular and reform-minded audience. As the Latin hexameters that it was capable of ""grinding out"" were transcribed, explicated, and judged in the improving pages of popular print media, the Eureka figured briefly as the material signifier of an education-reform agenda that was, by and large, hostile to the centrality of prosody in Victorian pedagogy.


Net photosynthesis (P n ) of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) foliage was monitored monthly in 14 yr old stands under near-ambient conditions over an entire year in upper and lower crowns and in both nonfertilized stands and stands receiving nutrient amendments for six consecutive years. Air temperature, humidity, vapor pressure deficit (VPD), photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD), and plant water potential were monitored concurrently with P n. Foliar nitrogen (N) concentration was also monitored. The effect of fertilization on P n was inconsistent and generally not significant. Rates were consistently higher in the upper crown compared to the lower crown primarily due to variable light intensity. Multiple linear regression analysis shows that PPFD and VPD explain between 56% and 64% of the variability in foliar P n , depending on the treatment. Little or no correlation between foliar N concentration and P n was found, despite greater N concentrations in fertilized foliage, suggesting that fertilization does not enhance the photosynthetic capacity of loblolly pine foliage over the long term. Substantial amounts of carbon were fixed on measurement days during the winter season, even after freezing nights. Predicted light response curves indicate that foliar photo- synthetic capacities are similar year-round, and gross primary productivity estimates (GPP) indicate that over 20% of the annual carbon fixation occurred during the nongrowing season. FOR. SCI. 50(1):1-9.


Most objects deform gradually over time, without abrupt changes in geometry or topology, such as changes in genus. Correct space‐time reconstruction of such objects should satisfy this gradual change prior. This requirement necessitates a globally consistent interpretation of spatial adjacency. Consider the capture of a surface that comes in contact with itself during the deformation process, such as a hand with different fingers touching one another in parts of the sequence. Naive reconstruction would glue the contact regions together for the duration of each contact and keep them apart in other parts of the sequence. However such reconstruction violates the gradual change prior as it enforces a drastic intrinsic change in the object's geometry at the transition between the glued and unglued sub‐sequences. Instead consistent global reconstruction should keep the surfaces separate throughout the entire sequence. We introduce a new method for globally consistent space‐time geometry and motion reconstruction from video capture. We use the gradual change prior to resolve inconsistencies and faithfully reconstruct the geometry and motion of the scanned objects. In contrast to most previous methods our algorithm doesn't require a strong shape prior such as a template and provides better results than other template‐free approaches.


The coal has been mined in the Karvina area for more than 150 years. During the course of time mining areas were continuously extended at the expense of the settled areas. At the beginnings the mining was limited, but later, namely under conditions of centrally planned economy in the period between 1950s and 1980s, it was heavily intensified. Then, as a result of economic restructuring of the Czech Republic mining was reduced in the region to be re-developed in the last decade again. The expansion of coal mining has been continuously affecting the socio-economic structure of local popula- tion (huge working immigration, industrialisation, construction of mass housing for miners - miners dormitories, later housing estates etc., displacement of settlements), surrounding landscape (subsidence of terrain, undermining, hydrologi- cal changes and formation of artificial lakes, occurrence of plenty of post-mining brownfields after the reduction of mining etc.), but also contemporary outward, image and socio-spatial structure of cities (dominance housing in housing estates, effects of communists spatial urban planning etc.). Currently, negotiations about expansion of coal mining are in progress in this region, namely the city parts of Karvina (Stare Město) and Orlova (Výhoda) should be affected. In the introductory parts of this paper social, economical and environmental aspects of coal mining on the development of regions and con- nected problems are discussed and both cities are shortly presented. The questionnaire survey focused on perceptions of after-mining renewal and potential expansion of mining in the area of cities of Karvina and Orlova was conducted (n=1000). As the most important predictor that influences perception of mining and renewal, employment in mining com- panies has been identified. The higher education respondents achieved, the higher level of opposition against mining was manifested. The correlation was also found between the level of income and the agreement with expansion of mining. It can be concluded that employees of mining company, less educated population and people with higher income agreed with economic development of the city that is based on mining.


In this work, we present Qatar Computing Research Institute»s live speech translation system. Our system works with both Arabic and English. It is designed using an array of modern web technologies to capture speech in real time, and transcribe and translate it using state-of-the-art Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Machine Translation (MT) systems. The platform is designed to be useful in a wide variety of situations like lectures, talks and meetings. It is often the case in the Middle East that audiences in talks understand either Arabic or English alone. This system enables the speaker to talk in either language, and the audience to understand what is being spoken even if they are not bilingual.The system consists of three primary modules, i) a Web application, ii) ASR system, iii) and a statistical/neural MT system. The three modules are optimized to work jointly and process the speech at a real-time factor close to one - which means that the systems are optimized to keep up with the speaker and provide the results with a short delay, comparable to what we observe in (human) interpretation. The real-time factor for the entire pipeline is 1.18. The Web application is based on the standard HTML5 WebAudio application programming interface. It captures speech input from a microphone on the user»s device and transmits it to the backend servers for processing. The servers send back the transcriptions and translations of the speech, which is then displayed to the user. Our platform features a way to instantly broadcast live sessions for anyone to see the transcriptions and translations of a session in real-time without being physically present at the speaker»s location. The ASR system is based on KALDI, a state-of-the-art toolkit for speech recognition. We use a combination of time delay neural networks (TDNN) and long-short term memory neural network (LSTM) to ensure real time transcription of the incoming speech while ensuring high quality output. The Arabic and English systems have average word error rates of 23% and 9.7% respectively. The Arabic system consists of the following components: i) a character based lexicon of size 900K; the lexicon maps words to sound units to learn acoustic representation, ii) 40 dimensional high-resolution features extracted for each speech frame to digitize the audio signal, iii) a 100-dimensional i-vectors for each frame to facilitate speaker adaptation, iv) TDNN acoustic models, and v) Tri-gram language model trained using 110 M words, and restricted to 900 K vocabulary.The MT system has two choices for the backend – a statistical phrase-based system and a neural MT system. Our phrase-based system is trained with Moses, a state-of-the-art statistical MT framework, and the neural-based systems is trained with Nematus, a state-of-the-art neural MT framework. We use Modified Moore-Lewis filtering to select the best subset of the available data to train our phrase-based system more efficiently. In order to speed up the translation even further, we prune the language models backing the phrase-based system, ignoring knowledge that is not frequently used. On the other hand, our neural-based system MT system trained on all the available data as its training scales linearly with the amount of data unlike phrase-based systems. Our Neural MT system is roughly 3–5% better on the BLEU scale, a standard measure for computing the quality of translations. However, the existing neural MT decoders are slower than the phrase-based decoders translating 9.5 tokens/second versus 24 tokens/second. The trade-off between efficiency and accuracy barred us from picking only one final system. By enabling both technologies we allow the trade-off between quality and efficiency and leave it up to the user to decide whether they prefer fast or accurate system.Our system has been successfully demonstrated locally and globally at several venues like Al Jazeera, MIT, BBC and TII. The state-of-the-art technologies backing the platform for transcription and translation are also available independently and can be integrated seamlessly into any external platform. The Speech Translation system is publicly available at http://st.qcri.org/demos/livetranslation.


Abstract 2915 Background: AMG is the most common plasma cell dyscrasia, currently classified as either monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) or asymptomatic multiple myeloma (AMM), based on the level of monoclonal immunoglobulin (M-protein), bone marrow plasmacytosis and other criteria defined by the International Myeloma Working Group. While information is available on the impact of clinical variables such as bone marrow plasmacytosis, free light chains, isotype and M-protein on the hazard of progression to symptomatic MM (MM), little is known about the value of the karyotype and DNA content, as determined by DNA/cIg flow cytometry, on the risk of progression from AMG to MM. Methods: Patients from the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy (MIRT) with AMG that were enrolled in a prospective observational clinical trial were evaluated. All patients underwent detailed clinical staging at entry and were followed at pre-specified intervals per protocol. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to model univariate and multivariate associations of baseline features with progression to MM. The number of distinct DNA stem lines in the flow cytometry assay, their percentages, respective DNA Indices (DI), cytoplasmic Immunoglobulin Indices (cIgI), and percent of cells in S phase were evaluated alone and in relation to the karyotype report at baseline. A DI between 0.99 and 1.01 referred to diploidy, lesser than 0.99 to hypodiploidy and more than 1.01 hyperdiploidy. Results: Data from 267 eligible MIRT patients with AMG were analyzed. Of these patients 99% (265/267) had performed DNA/cIg flow cytometry and had a karyotype report at diagnosis. Cytogenetic abnormalities were detected in 20 of the 265 patients from whom data were available. From the 265 patients from whom DNA/cIg flow cytometry data were available, no abnormal clones were identified in 14% (37/265), one clone was identified in 95 patients (36%), two clones in 122 patients (46%), three clones in 10 (4%), and in 1 patient 4 clones were identified. Most patients with abnormal DNA content had hyperdiploid clones (132/243 patients). The second most frequent finding was diploid DI, in 39% (104/243) of patients; 3% (7/243) had a hypodiploid DI. The median DI was 1.01 (0.9–2.02) and median cIg was 7 (1–50). Interestingly, the median cIgI value in AMG was more than twice that of its value (3.4, 1–22) in Total Therapy 3 MM patients (p=0.001). In univariate analysis of the parameters in this study, the presence of an abnormal karyotype (p=0.032, HR=2.62), the number of DNA/cIg clones (p=0.016, HR=1.69) and the percentage of the dominant clone (p=0.003, HR=1.03) were significantly related to progression to MM. Ploidy by DNA/cIg analysis, the S-phase fraction, and cIg did not reach statistical significance (p=0.863, p=0.132 and p=0.240, respectively). In multivariate analysis, only the number of abnormal clones (p=0.013, HR=1.78) retained statistical significance, while the percentage of the dominant clone neared significance (p=0.070, HR=1.02). Using running log rank tests we were able to identify optimal cut-points for the percentage of the dominant clone and the number of clones (12% and 2 clones respectively). From these, a risk score was obtained which identifies three distinct groups with 3-yr MM progression probabilities of 12%, 30% and 67% (p Conclusions: Abnormal metaphase cytogenetics and DNA/cIg flow cytometry have a prognostic value in the prediction of progression of AMG to MM. Hyperdiploidy is the dominant finding in AMG, however, its presence or absence does not predict progression. Clonal heterogeneity, as portrayed through DNA/cIg flow cytometry analysis, with the number of abnormal clones and the percentage of the dominant clone were major prognostic factors for progression to MM. Taken together they identify three distinct subgroups with a low (12%), moderate (30%) and high (67%) probability of 3-year time to progression to MM. Disclosures: Dhodapkar: Celgene: Research Funding; KHK: Research Funding.


The power and accuracy of clinical tests is usually reported either in terms of their sensitivity and specificity, their predictive values, or their likelihood ratios, but these concepts can be difficult for many GPs to apply to real-life clinical situations.1

### Sensitivity and specificity

These are independent of the prevalence of the condition (or its equivalent in an individual patient, your estimate of their pre-test probability of having the condition), and so cannot answer the clinician's question of 'How much does a positive or a negative result for this test or sign influence the probability of my provisional diagnosis?' Correctly interpreting these values is difficult, and requires us to grasp non-intuitive concepts with 'both sides of our brains'.2

### Positive (PPV) and negative (NPV) predictive values

These seem to make more sense, but are misleading because they can only be applied to populations with the same prevalence of the condition as was present in the study that generated them. For example, studies in special educational facilities show that finding a child with a single-palmar-crease gives a PPV of them having Down's syndrome of about 75%, but if you notice this pattern in the setting of a normal infant having a 6-week check it then would only have a PPV of about 10%.

### Positive and negative likelihood ratios

These seem more helpful because they determine how a test result will alter the pre-test odds, but it is not straightforward to quantify their impact for an individual patient. The clinician has to estimate that person's pre-test odds of having the diagnosis (= probability/1 – probability), and then multiply that by the appropriate likelihood ratio to find their new odds.

Because these methods are difficult to apply accurately in real practice, they may cause doctors to make vast errors when estimating the significance of screening results.3 Very few GPs use them in any formal way, instead relying …


Moral outrage has until now been conceptualized as a call to action, a reaction
to injustice and transgressions, and a forceful motor for democratic participation,
acts of civil disobedience, and violent and illicit action. This introduction goes beyond
linear causality between trigger events, political emotions, and actions to explore moral
outrage as it is experienced and expressed in contexts of political violence, providing a
better understanding of that emotion's generic power. Moral outrage is here understood
as a multidimensional emotion that may occur momentarily and instantly, and exist as
an enduring process and being-in-the-world, based on intergenerational experiences
of violence, state histories, or local contexts of fear and anxiety. Because it appears in
the intersubjective field, moral outrage is central for identity politics and social positioning,
so we show how moral outrage may be a prism to investigate and understand
social processes such as mobilization, collectivities, moral positioning and responsiveness,
and political violence.


The prediction of molecular properties is a crucial task in the field of material and drug discovery. The potential benefits of using deep learning techniques are reflected in the wealth of recent literature. Still, these techniques are faced with a common challenge in practice: Labeled data are limited by the cost of manual extraction from literature and laborious experimentation. In this work, we propose a data-efficient property predictor by utilizing a learnable hierarchical molecular grammar that can generate molecules from grammar production rules. Such a grammar induces an explicit geometry of the space of molecular graphs, which provides an informative prior on molecular structural similarity. The property prediction is performed using graph neural diffusion over the grammar-induced geometry. On both small and large datasets, our evaluation shows that this approach outperforms a wide spectrum of baselines, including supervised and pre-trained graph neural networks. We include a detailed ablation study and further analysis of our solution, showing its effectiveness in cases with extremely limited data. Code is available at https://github.com/gmh14/Geo-DEG.


In literature, the beneficial effect of hydrated lime on the durability of asphalt mixtures has been demonstrated extensively, especially while performing laboratory testing. However, experimental evidence on the impact of hydrated lime in combination with the use of polymer modified bitumen (PmB) on the field performance of an asphalt pavement is rather scarce. Therefore, an initiative was taken to set up a test program of which the main objective was to gain as much as possible experience from the field.Hence, the comparative study focused on the assessment of the performance of SMA10 variants by the construction of test sections in combination with a series of laboratory tests. The impact of hydrated lime on the performance of SMA10 variants was investigated at different stages. Prior and during the construction of the test sections, the effect of hydrated lime on the workability was monitored by carrying out either gyratory compaction tests in the laboratory or by a follow up of the in situ compaction by making use of the -nuclear gauge. Following construction, appropriate test specimens were taken by coring in order to probe for the resistance to rutting, the water sensitivity and finally the resistance to ravelling. This paper discusses and draws conclusions from this comparative field study with respect to the use of hydrated lime in SMA10 mixtures containing a polymer modified bitumen.


Article tries to establish whether (and how) appropriate financing sources – especially venture capital funds – could reveal any strategic opportunities of new and innovative companies and of the whole national economy. The question is raised about which – private or public – venture capital is more able to solve the problem of insufficiency of capital for the beginning of inno-vative businesses.


Asphaltene obtained by extraction from asphalt was investigated by different analytical techniques in order to characterize its composition, molecular structure and morphology. Then, the asphaltene molecules were successfully functionalized by 3-glycidyloxypropyltrimethoxysilane and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane as confirmed by thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Finally, asphaltene/epoxy composites at four different loading levels were prepared and their thermo-mechanical properties were examined. The thermal analysis results indicated that asphaltene as a novel reinforcing filler in epoxy resin caused a significant increase in storage modulus of both glassy and rubbery regions, slightly increased the glass transition temperature without negatively affecting thermal stability, and reduced the overall cost of the material.


Television is one kind of mass media that is very familiar with Indonesian society. Society will get influenced easily by the program which is in the television. One of the program in the television that is really easily persuade its audience in advertisement. In order to attract the
audience attention, the advertisers should pack their advertisement attractively one of them is to raise the issues and events that are happening in society. One of the issues that is interesting nowadays is about being use and admitted Indonesian culture by the other country. The messages
about national identity and Indonesian culture are used by the advertiser in making an advertisement so it will attract society one of these advertising is Tolak angin version Agnes Monica and Ari Lasso. Therefore, this researcher is excited to find how the meaning of national
identity in the television advertising.
National identity is a characteristic of the Indonesian nation that differs from other nations.
Indonesia is an archipelago, so that it has various local cultures. Those local cultures are the identity of the region which is united will become a national identity. National identity which owned by Indonesian must be maintained and preserved, one of them is to foster the sense of nationalism in society itself. The sense of nationalism will appear the proud of nation culture so
it will keep maintained and preserved.
This research uses semiotic analysis technique and to observe the national identity meaning by using the method of Charles Sanders Peirce Triangle Meaning. The data's read and analyzed according to the scene, shot, and its visual than grouped are into the type of signs, whether the icons, index, or symbols through a table. And then the data obtained, read, interpreted, analyzed in qualitative by always watching the meaning's elements (icon, index, and symbol) that become semiotic device. The Peirce semiotics processes, triadic processes that formed relation between
representamen, objects, and interpretan will be reserved in scheme of triangular meaning. After that, the sign which is found the meaning will be input to the Peirce's classification meaning table. Based on this thing later on will be described more detail and deeper by seeing at the sign structure and meaning that takes on it.The result of the analysis can be seen that in that advertising is contained national identity which reflect the owned by Indonesian nation. The national identity succeed found are power of society, optimism in achieving something, society spirit, the prosperity of nation, united nations, the simplicity of the people, and the various Indonesian cultures. In that advertising is included the signs which state that this national identity must be maintained and preserved especially by the young generation, with the way of proud and using Indonesian original product. Not all of the meaning which is included one shot is the supportive meaning. Besides finding national identity meaning, also found the contradictive meaning, they are the meaning of prosperities with poverty, and the meaning of a prosperity and happiness with sadness, death, and fear.


In the 1950s and 1960s, researchers Leon Chesley, John Annitto, and Robert Cosgrove investigated the possible familial factor for the conditions of preeclampsia and eclampsia in pregnant women. Preeclampsia and eclampsia, which are related to high blood pressure, have unknown causes and affect at least five percent of all pregnancies. The researchers, who worked at Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital in Jersey City, New Jersey, used hospital patient records to find and reexamine women who had eclampsia at the hospital, as well as their daughters, sisters, daughters-in-law, and granddaughters. Chesley and colleagues found that the daughters and granddaughters of eclamptic women were more likely than the female offspring of non-eclamptic women to have preeclampsia and eclampsia in their own pregnancies, and especially in their first pregnancies. The study provided evidence that the disorders are inherited, enabling physicians to better monitor pregnancies in women who have a known family history for preeclampsia and eclampsia.


Summary A 6-year-old lactating Holstein cow with a history of repeat breeding syndrome (failed to conceive after three artificial inseminations (AI) with fertile semen) was referred to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital of the School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University. According to the history, neither abnormal clinical signs, nor uterine discharge had been observed subsequent to AI. The cow had shown signs of oestrus on a cyclic and regular basis. On rectal examination, no palpable object was detected inside the uterine horns, however, transrectal ultrasonographic examination revealed a hyperechoic straw-shape object in the left uterine horn. Left-flank laparotomy was performed and after exposure of left uterine horn, the palpated straw was removed through a small hysterotomy incision. Postoperative follow-up did not show any complication. No attempt was made to inseminate the cow after operation as it was not the farmer's plan to get the cow in calf.


For the Romans, the manner of a person's death was the most telling indication of their true character. Death revealed the true patriot, the genuine philosopher, even the great artist - and certainly the faithful Christian. Catharine Edwards draws on the many and richly varied accounts of death in the writings of Roman historians, poets and philosophers, including Cicero, Lucretius, Virgil, Seneca, Petronius, Tacitus, Tertullian and Augustine, to investigate the complex significance of dying in the Roman world. Death in the Roman world was largely understood and often literally viewed as a spectacle. Those deaths that figured in recorded history were almost invariably violent - murders, executions, suicides - and yet the most admired figures met their ends with exemplary calm, their last words set down for posterity. From noble deaths in civil war, mortal combat between gladiators, political execution and suicide, to the deathly dinner of Domitian, the harrowing deaths of women such as the mythical Lucretia and Nero's mother Agrippina, as well as instances of Christian martyrdom, Edwards engagingly explores the culture of death in Roman literature and history. Catharine Edwards is professor of classics and ancient history at Birkbeck College, University of London. She is the author of 'The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome' (1993) and 'Writing Rome: Textual Approaches to the City' (1996).


From the perspective of users three aspects are essential for the quality of library online services: the performance, the usefulness and the usability (Tsakonas & Papatheodorou, 2006). The usability expresses the quality of interactions between users and a system. For conducting usability evaluations a wide spectrum of methods can be used. A good overview of usability evaluations of library websites is provided by Kupersmith (2012). Also Fagan (2010) provides a literature review about usability studies of faceted browsing, which is a common feature of modern online catalogues. According to those papers heuristics are a widely used instrument to assess the usability of library websites (e.g. Aitta et al., 2008; Yushiana & Rani, 2007; Manzari & Trinidad-Christensen, 2006). However, such heuristics are usually kept rather generic. Therefore extensive knowledge in the field of human factors is needed to use them effectively. In order to give library staff the possibility to conduct evaluations by themselves, the SII developed a criteria catalogue which is specifically tailored to evaluations of online library services. Its development was based on three different sources. First, a literature review was conducted to identify suitable evaluation criteria. Following that, a best-practice analysis of library websites was carried out in order to gain more insight about the current state-of-the-art. Based on these findings an initial version of the criteria catalogue was generated, which was then further refined by the results of a focus group (library staff, web designers, usability experts). The criteria catalogue uses a modular structure, so that it can be applied for comprehensive evaluations of a library's entire online services as well as for evaluations of only selected areas of a website. It is available in form of an interactive web application. For supporting evaluations a project administration tool is available which guides users step by step through the usage of the application. Keywords: evaluation, heuristics, usability


This article explores the reasons why Ethiopia relied on legal resolution with its territorial boundary dispute with Eritrea when it could have relied on its relative military power to dictate the terms and conditions of peace. It dismisses Ethiopia's familiarity with Western-style legal resolution and its relative lack of nationalism as potential explanations, instead focusing on Ethiopia's general sense of exceptionalism from its history as an African and global leader and as a respecter of international law, among other key factors. Ethiopia's example provides considerable hope that legal resolution can be used more frequently with politically sensitive disputes between states.


The aim of this research was to study at a pilot plant the influence of peracetic acid (PAA) on the formation of mutagenic compounds in river waters used for human consumption. The results obtained using PAA were compared to those for the most commonly used disinfectant, sodium hypochlorite (NaCIO), Ames test and three genotoxicity plant tests, Allium tests and Tradescantia/micronuclei (TRAD/MCN) test, were used to evaluate the mutagenic activity of disinfected water samples. Chemical analysis, using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), was also performed to identify disinfection by-products (DBPs). A slight bacterial mutagenicity was found in raw river water and similar activity was detected in disinfected water samples. Plant tests gave genotoxicity only for raw river water. DBPs identified in PAA-treated water included carboxylic acids, a few non-halogenated alcohols and carbonyl-containing compounds, whereas some potentially mutagenic halogenated by-products were found in NaCIO-treated samples. Although PAA appears to be promising for water potabilization, these results must be confirmed with different source waters and with higher concentrations of PAA.


This article is written to provide an up-to-date review of porphyrin-based materials used in organic solar cells (OSCs). During the past two decades, OSCs have been the subject of extensive research and significant efforts have been devoted to developing low-cost OSCs, and they are not far from commercialization. Porphyrin and its analogues have been successfully applied to different optoelectronic devices, especially attaining remarkable fame when applied in dye sensitized solar cells. Despite the initial failures of their application in OSCs, porphyrins still attract much attention because of their structural versatility and recently realized significant improvement. In this review, we focus on summarizing the recent progress in porphyrin-based photovoltaic materials, including polymers, dyads, triads, small-molecules, and so on. We hope this paper could provide an in-depth study on the structure–property–performance relationship and provide a guideline for the further development of porphyrin-based and even other photovoltaic materials.


Objectives To evaluate pulmonary responses to intratracheal administration of surfactant with and without dexamethasone in rats with paraquat-induced lung injury. Design Prospective, randomized, controlled study. Setting University research facility. Subjects Adult male Sprague Dawley rats. Interventions Rats were anesthetized and underwent a tracheostomy and arterial catheter insertion 3 days after intraperitoneal injection of paraquat (35 mg/kg). The rats were ventilated for 90 mins after sequential designation as controls or as recipients of intratracheal surfactant alone (50 or 100 mg/kg) or surfactant (50 or 100 mg/kg) plus dexamethasone (0.5 mg/kg). Measurements and Main Results Arterial blood gases were determined at 15, 30, 60, and 90 mins. After 90 mins of ventilation, a static pressure-volume curve was performed, and inflammatory cells, total protein content, and cytokines were measured in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Postmortem histology was then examined. Treatment with 50 mg/kg dexamethasone/Survanta and 100 mg/kg Survanta with and without dexamethasone significantly increased oxygenation shortly after instillation when compared with the control group, with the response maintained throughout the study period. Static pressure-volume curves showed that the group receiving 100 mg/kg dexamethasone/Survanta had significantly higher lung volumes than the control group. Total cell, neutrophil, and macrophage counts were decreased significantly in the animals treated with 100 mg/kg dexamethasone/Survanta compared with untreated control rats. Total protein recovered from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in the animals treated with 100 mg/kg Survanta with and without dexamethasone was decreased significantly compared with control animals. The histologic appearance of the lungs was markedly better in the groups treated with surfactant with or without dexamethasone. Conclusions Results suggest that the combined administration of high doses of intratracheal surfactant and dexamethasone improves gas exchange, ameliorates lung inflammation, and alleviates lung damage after paraquat-induced lung injury. Surfactant alone and lower doses of surfactant plus dexamethasone had a lesser effect on these measures.


Diatoms are unicellular photosynthetic eukaryotes with a silicate cell wall. They often dominate polar marine ecosystems, driving the major biogeochemical cycles in these areas. The obligate psychrophilic diatom Fragilariopsis cylindrus is a keystone species in the Southern Ocean. It thrives both in open waters and sea ice and has become a model for studying eukaryotic microalgal adaptations to polar marine conditions. The aim of this thesis was to identify how the genome of F. cylindrus has evolved to cope with marine environmental conditions of the Southern Ocean. To identify key genes, comparative genomics, high-throughput transcriptome sequencing and reverse genetics were applied. Comparative genomics with the sequenced mesophilic diatoms Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Thalassiosira pseudonana was combined with genome-wide RNA-Seq transcriptome analysis, leading to the discovery a new bacteria-like rhodopsin not present in other sequenced diatoms. The characterisation of a bacteria-like rhodopsin in F. cylindrus was conducted by applying reverse genetics tools.
The genome was characterised by a low G+C content, which affected codon usage. High sequence polymorphism resulted in pronounced unequal expression of putative heterozygous allelic gene copies in response to six different conditions. RNA-Seq detected transcriptional activity for 95% of the 27,137 predicted genes and > 4 fold expression changes between 55% of putative alleles. The most significant transcriptional changes were detected during prolonged darkness affecting 70% of genes and 30% of RNA-Seq reads mapped to unannotated regions of the genome. Two rhodopsin alleles showed unequal bi-allelic expression in response to iron starvation and heterologous expression in Xenopus laevis oocytes experimentally confirmed light-driven proton pumping for the iron-induced rhodopsin allele, suggesting significance for the adaptation of F. cylindrus to environmental conditions of the Southern Ocean.
These data show how the polar environment can shape the genome of a eukaryotic phytoplankton in unprecedented detail. High numbers of species-specific genes resulting in expansion of gene and protein families, low G+C likely enabling efficient translation at low temperatures and a high degree of heterozygosity combined with unequal bi-allelic expression, may provide an adaptive strategy to polar conditions by conferring metabolic flexibility and capacity to adapt to a rapidly changing environment.


In models of decision making under uncertainty we often are faced with the problem of representing the uncertainties in a form suitable for quantitative models. If the uncertainties are expressed in terms of multivariate continuous distributions, or a discrete distribution with far too many outcomes, we normally face two possibilities: either creating a decision model with internal sampling, or trying to find a simple discrete approximation of the given distribution that serves as input to the model. This paper presents a method based on nonlinear programming that can be used to generate a limited number of discrete outcomes that satisfy specified statistical properties. Users are free to specify any statistical properties they find relevant, and the method can handle inconsistencies in the specifications. The basic idea is to minimize some measure of distance between the statistical properties of the generated outcomes and the specified properties. We illustrate the method by single- and multiple-period problems. The results are encouraging in that a limited number of generated outcomes indeed have statistical properties that are close to or equal to the specifications. We discuss how to verify that the relevant statistical properties are captured in these specifications, and argue that what are the relevant properties, will be problem dependent.


Fourteen states currently permit the medical use of marijuana, yet state statutes fail to account for the challenges that confront municipal planners and officials whose agenda includes public health, safety and welfare of residents, including minor children. The intensity of the problem is perhaps most evident in Los Angeles, where there are approximately 800 dispensaries. Varying statutory approaches are provided for individuals to legitimately acquire the drug - they may grow it themselves, they may obtain it from their primary caregiver, or they may obtain it from a licensed dispensary. This raises a number of land use regulatory questions including: whether state law preempts local zoning when it comes to growing, buying and using marijuana for medicinal purposes; whether distance requirements, similar to those used in the regulation of adult business uses, can be utilized to regulate the use of medical marijuana; and, what types of special use permit considerations may be appropriate for considering activities related to the use of medical marijuana. In addition, questions as to whether growing and sale of the drug may constitute a valid home occupation, and whether marijuana is or should be considered an agricultural crop, and if so, what impact this would have on the relationship between agricultural regulation/policy and zoning, suggest a growing number of legal unanswered land use law related questions in this emerging area. This article pulls together information about how the municipalities in the fourteen states with legalized medical marijuana are beginning to sort through and address the challenging land use issues that confront communities faced with the growing, sale and use of the drug.


The uncertainties of information system development (ISD) provide many routes that end in poor project outcomes. These uncertainties produce opportunities for IS researchers who are continually exploring the complexities of information system development. In this paper, which is a work-inprogress, we are focusing on the implementation of enterprise systems in three universities in Malaysia. We adopt a socio-technical process model which provides us with a vehicle to describe an in-depth analysis of the phenomena under examination. By examining the notions of technology and knowledge transfer in ISD, this paper explores the intricate relationships and interactions between its human and non-human actors in the attempts to construct various network alliances. We end with some suggestions for research and practice.


With innovations, fresh data, and lessons learned from recent earthquakes, scientists have developed a new earthquake forecast model for California, a region under constant threat from potentially damaging events. The new model, referred to as the third Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast, or "UCERF3" (http://www.WGCEP.org/ UCERF3), provides authoritative estimates of the magnitude, location, and likelihood of earthquake fault rupture throughout the state. Overall the results confirm previous findings, but with some significant changes because of model improvements. For example, compared to the previous forecast (UCERF2), the likelihood of moderate-sized earthquakes (magnitude 6.5 to 7.5) is lower, whereas that of larger events is higher. This is because of the inclusion of multifault ruptures, where earthquakes are no longer confined to separate, individual faults, but can occasionally rupture multiple faults simultaneously. The public-safety implications of this and other model improvements depend on several factors, including site location and type of structure (for example, family dwelling compared to a long-span bridge). Building codes, earthquake insurance products, emergency plans, and other risk-mitigation efforts will be updated accordingly. This model also serves as a reminder that damaging earthquakes are inevitable for California. Fortunately, there are many simple steps residents can take to protect lives and property.


Art puts a question upon the world of ideas and perceptions. A question that artists pause upon in their every day practices with matter, mediums and minds. It is composed of the vivid sense of openness, unpredictability and chance that emerges with creativity: how open is the world around us - and in us? It comes to challenge the vision we have concerning the world and primarily the notion of strong determinism. Art is occupied in the generation of forms, from the times of its beginning in the caves of the Paleolithic. Ever since, and today more than ever, Art declares that aesthetic is not arrested in frozen objects, but rooted in the open dynamics of life, in the complex activity through which forms emerge, sustaining and modifying themselves. The journey of an artist into morphogenesis and aesthetics happens between experimental exploration and selected constrains. Through the subtle interplay between the chaotic and the coherent the artist understands aesthetic from within. The outcome is a work that confronts the constraints of what is the expected denouement of a painting, and explodes in a multiplicity of images and worlds.


The difference between typical instances and atypical instances in a natural categorization process has been introduced by E. Rosh and studied by cognitive psychology and AI. A lot of the knowledge representation systems are expressed in using fuzzy concepts but a degree of membership raises some problem for natural categorizations (especially to classification problems in anthropology, ethnology, archeology, linguistics but also in ontologies), but atypical instances of a concept cannot be apprehended adequately by different degrees from a prototype. Other formal approaches, as paraconsistent logics or non monotonic logics, conceptualize often atypical objects as exceptions. It had yet been developed an alternative way with the logics of determination of the objects (LDO). In this paper, we present the logics of typical and atypical (LTA) in order to give directly a logical approach of typicality / atypicality associated to a concept by a more common way than in LDO, in using only classes and not determination operators. It is introduced a distinction between predicative property and concept defined with its intension and its essence, a part of intension. A typical instance of a concept inherits all properties of intension; a typical instance inherits only properties of essence but it is a full member of the category associated to a concept and not a member with a weak degree of membership. In natural categorization, there are often instances (the exceptions) which do not inherit some properties of the essence; they cannot be considered as atypical instance and belong to the boundary of the category.


We explore two theories that have been advanced to explain the patterns in U.S. catastrophe reinsurance pricing. The first is that price variation is tied to demand shocks, driven in effect by changes in actuarially expected losses. The second holds that the supply of capital to the reinsurance industry is less than perfectly elastic, with the consequence that prices are bid up whenever existing funds are depleted by catastrophe losses. Using detailed reinsurance contract data from Guy Carpenter & Co. over a 25-year period, we test these two theories. Our results suggest that capital market imperfections are more important than shifts in actuarial valuation for understanding catastrophe reinsurance pricing. Supply, rather than demand, shifts seem to explain most features of the market in the aftermath of a loss.


A pioneer in women's studies and long-term activist for women's issues, and a past president of the Organization of American Historians, Gerda Lerner is one of the founders and foremost scholars of Women's History. The Creation of Patriarchy, the first book in her two-volume magnum opus Women and History (1986) received wide review attention and much acclaim, winning the prestigious Joan Kelly Prize of the American Historical Association for the best work on Women's History that year. Ms hailed the book for providing "a grand historical framework that was impossible even to imagine before the enlightenment about women's place in the world provided by her earlier work and that of other feminist scholars." New Directions for Women said it "may well be the most important work in feminist theory to appear in our generation." Patriarchy traced the development of the ideas, symbols, and metaphors by which men institutionalized their domination of women. Now, in The Creation of Feminist Consciousness, the eagerly awaited concluding volume of Women and History, Lerner documents the twelve-hundred-year struggle of women to free their minds from patriarchal thought, to create Women's History, and to achieve a feminist consciousness. Lerner argues that the millenia-old educational disadvantaging of women and their marginalization in the intellectual life of Western civilization retarded women's ability to comprehend their condition and to define their needs as a group. She shows the devastating impact on women's psychology of notions of their innate mental inferiority, reinforced generation after generation by the teachings of family, church, and state. Through examining over a thousand years of feminist biblical criticism, Lerner illustrates her most important insight--the discontinuity of women's history. The generation to generation transmission of knowledge on which the building of civilization rests did not work for women. Because they did not know their history, each generation of women used their energies and talents reinventing ideas that other women had already defined--this greatly delayed the development of women's consciousness of themselves as members of a group. In a series of fascinating portraits of individual women who resisted patriarchal indoctrination, Lerner discusses women mystics such as Hildegard of Bingen, Julian of Norwich and later Protestant mystics, and brings to life the many women of great literary talent, from Christine de Pisan to Louise Labe to Emily Dickinson, who simply bypassed patriarchal thought and created alternate worlds for themselves. In its emphasis on the force of ideas, the struggle of women for inclusion in the concept of the Divine, the repeated attempts by women to form supportive networks, and its analysis of the preconditions for the formation of political theories of liberation, this brilliant work charts new ground for historical studies, the history of ideas, and feminist theory.


Myelodysplastic syndromes are a heterogeneous group of clonal haematological stem cell disorders. Allogeneic stem cells transplantation remains the only curative treatment but only a minority of patients are eligible for this treatment. In spite of this, it has become clear that treatment with lenalidomide and azanucleotides can lead to increased overall survival in particular subsets of patients with MDS. The relative silence on the therapeutic side is counter‐balanced by major advances in the understanding of this heterogeneous disease. The introduction of high‐throughput molecular techniques has resulted in the discovery that most patients harbour molecular aberrations, including pathways such as the spliceosome machinery previously not known to be involved. These newly discovered pathways will undoubtedly result in new therapeutic strategies for this difficult to treat disease.


Placing the Poet: Badr Shakir al-Sayyab and Postcolonial Iraq, by Terri DeYoung. New York: State University of New York Press, 1998. x + 264 pages. Notes to p. 314. Bibl. to p. 325. Index to p. 333. $24.95. Reviewed by Wail Hassan That much Arabic literature of the l9th and 20th centuries is written in direct response to European civilization hardly needs proof-from Rifa'a alTahtawi's Takhlis al-ibriz fi talkhis Paris (1834) to the anti-colonial "poetry of occasion" by Ahmad Shawqi, Hafiz Ibrahim, Muhammad Mahdi al-Jawahiri and others, to the fiction of Tawfiq al-Hakim, Taha Husayn, Yahya Haqqi, Suhayl Idris, and Tayeb Salih. Terri DeYoung's study of the major Iraqi poet, Badr Shakir al-Sayyab demonstrates the extent to which anti-colonial struggle informs the practice of scores of poets, even the formation of the various "movements" in modern Arabic poetry-those that revived the classical aesthetic, those that rebelled against it (poets associated with the Diwan and Apollo groups and other Arab romantics), and those "modernists" who have revolutionized the timehonored conventions of prosody. DeYoung not only situates Sayyab's poetry in the colonial context to which it properly belongs, but also rereads and reassesses, from comparative and post-colonial perspectives, the poetic tradition in which Sayyab occupies a central "place." This important book is the most thorough analysis of Sayyab's poetry in English; that alone would be a valuable contribution to the study of Arabic literature in the West. Yet the book is also the first sustained attempt to bring the insights of postcolonial studies in Anglo-American universities to bear upon the development of modern Arabic poetry. The book is exemplary for the range of comparative analysis necessary to understand a poet like Sayyab: an avid reader and translator of European poetry, and an English major whose intimate knowledge of Milton, Wordsworth and Eliot-in addition to Homer, Dante, Lamartine, and others-played a major part in shaping his own poetry. While earlier critics have usually limited themselves to pointing out the presumably straightforward "influence" of Wordsworth on Sayyab's romantic phase and T.S. Eliot on his modernist poetry-a tendency that characterizes critical evaluation of other Arab poets tooDeYoung goes beyond such ultimately reductive readings which have tended to presuppose (and have, therefore, only succeeded in demonstrating) unproblematic "imitation" of European canonical poets. Instead, DeYoung inquires into the nature of influence and its anxieties not only for "belated" poets (in Harold Bloom's terms), but more importantly for anti-colonial poets for whom the antecedent European models represent the culture and values of the colonizers they actively resist. In Sayyab and other Arab and Third World writers, influence often manifests itself in what Mikhail Bakhtin calls "double-voiced" or dialogic intertextuality, which undermines the authority of the original models (European "master" narratives, forms and values), rather than being simple (or simple-minded) imitations thereof. …


An American rights offering is a proposed, distinctive class of financial transactions whose merits shine brightest in juxtaposition to the conflicts and shortcomings of a traditional ("European") rights offering. This report reviews the math, selected studies, and recent events bearing on traditional rights offerings to provide financial and historical context as a foundation for the future introduction of American equity rights offerings. In 1935-1955 in the U.S., over 50% of seasoned stock issuances were through rights offerings , and, today, in Europe and much of the rest of the world, rights offerings are the mandated norm for significant equity issuances. However, the transaction's U.S. reputation fell into disrepair in recent decades: 20% of domestic rights-issuing firms in 1983-1999 filed for bankruptcy within 3 years . U.S. rights offerings veered towards extinction; "European" was tacked onto the moniker both as a nod to the prevalence of rights deals overseas and in dismissal of those on the home front who trafficked in them. Proponents highlight aspects of traditional rights offerings consistent with good governance, and prominent worldwide offerings suggest U.S. consensus, biased by local experience, may be too negative. A U.S. rebound in offerings may be overdue. Certainly, advantages of rights offerings versus U.S. style underwritings can be debated. Nonetheless, the math underlying traditional rights offerings is deeply conflicted. If fully subscribed, shareholders increase their exposure but receive no benefit. As subscription rates fall, participants receive increasing rewards while non-participants face declining penalties, dynamics that disadvantage the weakest and least knowledgeable. Selection of the structure's discount, a key determinant of participation, places management and shareholder interests at odds. Shareholder participation below 100% and grants of rights to third parties shift ownership at a bargain price. If shares and rights fail to efficiently trade, traditional rights deals devolve into "put up or shut up". An American rights offering requires no capital commitment. Voluntary participation by shareholders can be predictably close to 100%. Corporations with the most outstanding prospects will find the terms most compelling and may be expected to be the chief issuers. The structure is a paradigm of good governance, a walk on the sunny side of corporate finance. A concrete example of an American rights offering will be presented at a later date and take the concept from the realm of the hypothetical to the practical.


This paper shows that a multitemporal, multiscale, and multisource remote sensing dataset represents an efficient tool for studying morphotectonics in seismically active areas, with an application in Siberia. The focus is placed on the use of high resolution imagery including Corona, Orbview 3, Ikonos 2 (available on Google Earth), and Landsat images combined with four different digital elevation models (DEMs) built using various satellite data. DEMs are the version 2 SRTM 3 arc-second and version 3 SRTM 1 arc-second released by USGS, the X-SAR DEM, and the version 2 Aster GDEM.In the specific case of the Gorny Altai, the remote sensing dataset composed of DEMs and satellite images provide relevant evidence of the geomorphological consequences of the 2003 Altai earthquake characterized by large landslides, block tilting, and ground-cracks. Ikonos imagery reveals the en-echelon faults compatible with a dextral strike-skip faulting. Archive satellite data allow us detecting new faults generated by the earthquake, but also the pre-existing fault network, with a specific emphasis on the use of Corona archive from the 1960's. The best global DEMs (SRTM 1 arc-second and Aster GDEM) are well-correlated. Generally, the Aster GDEM presents a lower horizontal accuracy than the SRTM DEM, whereas the vertical accuracy is relatively similar. In the case of the largest landslide induced by the 2003 Altai earthquake (about 1 km2 ), the comparison of the pre-seismic topographic profile obtained by SRTM and the post-seismic topographic profile obtained by Aster GDEM is of great interest. Following the landslide episode, it allows us defining a zone of depletion and a zone of accumulation. The limit between the hard Palaeozoic rocks (sandstone, etc.) and the loose Quaternary sediments appears clearly as a zone of weakness. Before the 2003 earthquake, a round track was already detected in the Corona images, corresponding either to an old landslide or a precursor stage of the major landslide.More generally, the dextral strike-slip faulting is accompanied by the uplift of the northeastern segment, close to the Chagan Uzun block. In the Kuskunnur-Taltura-Chagan river area, this uplift is revealed by the abnormal elevation of the Kuskunnur river compared to the elevation of the Taltura river. The present geomorphological study is a complement to dendrochronological and radiocarbon dating of earthquake triggered landslides, rockfalls and seismically cut fossil soils.


We developed a simplified and highly accurate method for correcting contaminant concentrations in eggs for the moisture that is lost from an egg during incubation. To make the correction, one injects water into the air cell of the egg until overflowing. The amount of water injected corrects almost perfectly for the amount of water lost during incubation or when an egg is left in the nest and dehydrates and deteriorates over time. To validate the new method we weighed freshly laid chicken (Gallus gallus) eggs and then incubated sets of fertile and dead eggs for either 12 or 19 d. We then injected water into the air cells of these eggs and verified that the weights after water injection were almost identical to the weights of the eggs when they were fresh. The advantages of the new method are its speed, accuracy, and simplicity: It does not require the calculation of a correction factor that has to be applied to each contaminant residue.


This chapter offers some "business school researcher" observations and speculations about current and possible future developments in the field of entrepreneurship research. Particular topics include the delineation of the "entrepreneurship research" field and community; data and data sources; the quest for increased theoretical precision, and demands for practical relevance and real-world impact. I conclude that the future of entrepreneurship research offers both challenges and opportunities, and that it will remains an exciting field for scholarly study.


The stability of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in biological samples is very important for their biomedical applications. Although various molecules such as polystyrenesulfonate (PSS), phosphine, DNA, and polyethylene glycol (PEG) have been used to stabilize AuNPs, it is still very difficult to stabilize large AuNPs. As a result, biomedical applications of large (30-100 nm) AuNPs are limited, even though they possess more favorable optical properties and are easier to be taken up by cells than smaller AuNPs. To overcome this limitation, we herein report a novel method of preparing large (30-100 nm) AuNPs with a high colloidal stability and facile chemical or biological functionality, via surface passivation with an amphiphilic polymer polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). This PVP passivation results in an extraordinary colloidal stability for 13, 30, 50, 70, and 100 nm AuNPs to be stabilized in PBS for at least 3 months. More importantly, the PVP capped AuNPs (AuNP-PVP) were also resistant to protein adsorption in the presence of serum containing media and exhibit a negligible cytotoxicity. The AuNP-PVPs functionalized with a DNA aptamer AS1411 remain biologically active, resulting in significant increase in the uptake of the AuNPs (∼12,200 AuNPs per cell) in comparison with AuNPs capped by a control DNA of the same length. The novel method developed in this study to stabilize large AuNPs with high colloidal stability and biological activity will allow much wider applications of these large AuNPs for biomedical applications, such as cellular imaging, molecular diagnosis, and targeted therapy.


Cultivation of Saccharina latissima , a brown macroalga, is fast developing in Europe and North America for the sustainable production of food and biorefinery materials and important ecosystem services. Prior studies have demonstrated large spatial variability in the yield and chemical composition of the cultivated S. latissima , even within a small coastal bay. Using a validated hydrodynamic-biogeochemical-kelp model, this study examined main drivers of the spatial variability in S. latissima growth dynamics in 40 hypothetical farms throughout a Dutch coastal bay, the Eastern Scheldt. Results indicate that temperature plays a primary role in driving the spatial variability. For example, S. latissima yield in the deeper and better flushed western part is more than double that in the eastern part, mainly due to its 2–3 ◦ C warmer seawater in winter. It is also found that S. latissima benefits from co-cultivation with shellfish, since nutrients excreted by shellfish replenish its nitrogen reserve, which fuels a relatively high growth rate in the nitrogen-depleted late spring. The model assessment offers insight into optimal potential locations of S. latissima farms in the Eastern Scheldt. Applicability of our modelling approach to other coastal ecosystems and possible further improvements for assisting in seaweed farming practice are discussed.


One of the most difficult tasks for a new nurse practitioner (NP) student is the transition from nursing diagnoses to the level of advanced diagnostic reasoning required for advanced practice nursing.  Establishing a differential diagnosis based on the analysis and synthesis of assessment data as a critical component of NP practice is addressed in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) The Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice and The Essentials of Master's Education in Nursing . The authors have utilized a strategy to assist in this transition over the past three years in advanced nursing practice and specialty classes receiving favorable responses from NP student audiences.  The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a method developed and utilized by the authors to aid NP students in mastering the differential diagnosis.


Digital seafloor imagery collected on 37 camera tows and Alvin dives, in which we identify 186 contacts between new and old lava, are used to create the most detailed map of a mid-ocean ridge (MOR) eruption to date. Lava flows erupted in 2005–2006 at the East Pacific Rise (EPR) covered an area of 14.6 km2 along ∼18 km of the EPR crest between 9°46′ and 9°56′N. The 2005–2006 lava is characterized by inflated lobate and sheet morphologies in the flow interiors and pillow forms at terminal flow fronts. Numerous lava channels ∼10–50 m wide and 1–5 m deep trending approximately east-west served as distributory pathways. Eruptions were sourced from fissures within the EPR axial summit trough as well as fissures located on an off-axis fissure mound ∼600 m east of the EPR axis between 9°52′ and 9°56′N. Portions of the lava flow reached as far as ∼2 km east of the axis near 9°51.2′N. Using a conservative estimate of 1.5 m for the average flow thickness implies that the 2005–2006 eruptions produced ∼22 × 106 m3 of lava, 4–5 times larger than estimated volumes of 1991–1992 EPR lava flows. Estimated lava volume for the 2005–2006 eruptions represents <15% of the magma available in the axial magma chamber.


This paper shows that a large fraction of the variability of emerging market bond spreads is explained by the evolution of global factors such as risk appetite (as reflected in the spread of high yield corporate bonds in developed markets), global liquidity (measured by the international interest rates) and contagion (from systemic events like the Russian default). This link has remained relatively stable over the history of the emerging market class, is robust to the inclusion of country-specific factors, and helps provide accurate long-run predictions. Overall, the results highlight the critical role played by exogenous factors in the evolution of the borrowing cost faced by emerging economies.


The paper identifies families of quasi-stationary initial conditions for infinite Brownian particle systems within a large class and provides a construction of the particle systems themselves started from such initial conditions. Examples of particle systems falling into our framework include Brownian versions of TASEP-like processes such as the diffusive scaling limit of the q-TASEP process. In this context the spacings between consecutive particles form infinite-dimensional versions of the softly reflected Brownian motions recently introduced in the finite-dimensional setting by O'Connell and Ortmann and are of independent interest. The proof of the main result is based on intertwining relations satisfied by the particle systems involved which can be regarded as infinite-dimensional analogues of the suitably generalized Burke's Theorem.


This presentation examines some of the new laws that affect the liability risks faced by online service providers that rely in part or in whole on information posted or otherwise provided by third parties, both with respect to issues associated with liability for defamatory information and to infringement issues. In this presentation we are going to consider first the most important areas of liability for distribution of third party content. These laws pre-date the Internet and continue in force. We will then consider liability for third party content under the most important of those laws. Finally, we will consider how two relatively new federal laws, section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) and section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA) change the law of liability for third party content, and will also examine a European counterpart. Along the way we will consider the risks intermediaries run and how practically both under the old law and the current law they may seek to reduce them. Few, if any, of the specific legal issues information service providers face in providing information on the Internet are new. Most are old issues that have assumed new or different importance because the Internet has changed the quantity, speed and geographic scope of information distribution. A few examples of how the Internet has changed things quickly come to mind. Public information that was available only when looked up in a courthouse is now much more public when it can be consulted online. Republication of articles, which was a common practice in early 19th century magazines, takes on a whole different scope when the number of articles republished goes from dozens to millions. International distribution which before the Internet was unusual is now the rule.


We analyze in depth the eigenmodes symmetry of the vectorial electromagnetic wave equation with discrete symmetry, using a recently developed maximal symmetrization and reduction scheme leading to an automatic technique which decomposes every mode into its most fundamental internal geometrical components carrying independent symmetries, the ultimately reduced component functions (URCFs). Using URCFs, geometrical properties of photonic crystal defect modes can be analyzed in great details. In particular we analytically identify the kind of modes that display non-vanishing transverse electric or transverse magnetic amplitude at the cavity center in C2v, C3v, C4v, and C6v symmetries, and their degeneracies. We also build a postprocessing tool able to extract and identify URCFs out of the modes whether from experimental or numerical origin. In the latter case it is independent of the eigenmode computation method. In another variant the whole eigenmode computation can be systematically reduced to a minimal domain, without any need for applying specific non-trivial boundary conditions. The approach leads to strong analytical predictions which are illustrated for specific H1 and L3 cavities using the postprocessing tool on full three-dimensional computed modes. It not only constitutes an unprecedented check of the symmetry of the computational results, but it is shown to also deliver a deep geometrical and physical insight into the structure of the modes of photonic bandgap microcavities, which is of direct use for most modern applications in quantum photonics.


Members of the phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase related kinase (PIKK) family function in both cell cycle progression and DNA damage-induced cell cycle checkpoints. The fungal metabolite, wortmannin, is an effective radiosensitizer that irreversibly inhibits certain members of the PIKK family. Based on their roles in DNA damage responses, several PIKKs, DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK), ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) and the ataxia- and Rad3-related protein (ATR), are potential targets for the radiosensitizing effect of wortmannin. In this report, we demonstrate that wortmannin is a relatively potent inhibitor of DNA-PK (IC50, 16 nM) and ATM (IC50, 150 nM) activities, whereas ATR activity is significantly less sensitive to this drug (IC50, 1.8 microM). In intact A549 lung adenocarcinoma cells, wortmannin inhibited both DNA-PK and ATM at concentrations that correlated closely with those required for radiosensitization. Furthermore, pretreatment of A549 cells with wortmannin resulted in radioresistant DNA synthesis, a characteristic abnormality of ATM-deficient cells. These results identify wortmannin as an inhibitor of ATM activity and suggest that ATM and DNA-PK are relevant targets for the radiosensitizing effect of this drug in cancer cells.


On 26 December 2004, a massive tsunami struck Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Sumatra, destroying towns, villages, ports, bridges, and roadways and killing over 200,000 people. The disaster left hundreds of thousands of people without adequate food and shelter. Based on multination requests for assistance, U.S. President George W. Bush directed U.S. Army Pacific Command (PACOM) to launch Operation Unified Assistance to provide disaster relief via Combined Support Force (CSF) 536. Using its unique ability to move humanitarian supplies rapidly via strategic and tactical lift, the CSF assembled and coordinated combined service assets to assess requirements and deliver aid quickly where it was needed. Combined support groups (CSGs) performed the roles of civil-military operations centers (CMOCs) for each of the affected countries, enhancing tactical delivery of CSF aid. Working closely with host-nation authorities, American embassies, and CSF headquarters, the CSGs ensured aid met the specific needs of each country. Joint Publication (JP) 3-07, Joint Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for Military Operations Other Than War, states that the U.S. military conducts three types of humanitarian assistance operations: those the United Nations coordinates, those the United States operates unilaterally, and those it does in concert with multinational forces.1 Operation Unified Assistance was conducted with multinational forces under a flexible command and control (C2) arrangement. The CSF experience shows transition planning is a complex procedure, but existing joint doctrine provides a sufficient framework to begin the process. Working with Others The CSF learning curve for working with non-U.S. military personnel was nearly vertical. U.S. planners function well in the familiar environment of military planning, but each high availability disaster recovery (HADR) environment is unique, and staffs must adapt to succeed. Developing an effective transition plan required the participation of representatives from the humanitarian relief community (HRC) and partner nations. Directing tasks to these people is one thing; actively engaging their 8 participation with courteous, insightful dialog that is neither condescending nor aggressive is another. Nothing will cause a breakdown in communications with civilian or partner-nation representatives faster than flat-handed, finger-pointing gestures or condescending A-B-C questions from staff officers. The better that aid workers and foreign liaison officers (LNOs) are treated the more the plans team will learn and the better the plan will be. Plus, representatives will feel some ownership of the plan and will actively help execute it. In the HADR environment, relief organizations and partner nations definitely get a vote. They are at meetings to help, not hinder, the process. They should be treated as equal members of the relief team. The CSF coordinated civil-military operations in a combined coordination center (CCC) formed by combining PACOM's multinational planning and augmentation team, partner-nation LNOs, and HRC planners. While partner nations were free to conduct independent operations, they quickly saw the benefit of coordinating their relief with the CCC. In accord with JP 3-07.6, Joint Tactics, Techniques and Procedures for Foreign Humanitarian Assistance, the CCC covered operational-level CMOC doctrinal requirements and the CSFs served as tactical CMOCs.3 CCC planners assigned military assets to coordinate and execute HRC tasks at the operational level. Transition Planning Military-to-civilian transition planning was challenging, and determining when military assistance was sufficient and complete was particularly difficult. Joint Publication 3-57, Doctrine for Joint Civil Affairs, states that such a transition should occur when "the mission has been accomplished" or when the president and secretary of defense so direct.4 But defining "mission accomplished" was a tough nut to crack. …


Plants are nothing if not adaptable. Depending on the amount and intensity of light, plants can switch between two different light-energy harvesting systems tailored to the energy needs of the plant. Photosystem I (PSI) and PSII utilize a light-harvesting complex protein (LHCP). Under conditions of strong light, LHCP becomes phosphorylated by an unknown kinase and shuttles from PSII to PSI until energy utilization is balanced, at which time LHCP can migrate back to PSII. However, the regulation of LHCP transition between PSII and PSI is unclear. Snyders and Kohorn found that thylakoid-associated kinase 1 (TAK1) is essential for LHCP shuttling. TAK1 formed complexes with LHCP and cytochrome b6f, an important protein in the transfer of light into usable energy. Transgenic plants that expressed TAK1 antisense RNA, and therefore less than the normal amount of TAK1 protein, were stunted in growth--especially under intense-light conditions--and their leaves appeared bleached. These same plants contained lower amounts of phosphorylated LHCP, and decreased migration of LHCP to PSI, which might have been responsible for the plant phenotype. Thus, the data suggest that the activity of TAK1 is essential for the proper regulation of light harvesting in plant thylakoids. S. Snyders, B. D. Kohorn, Disruption of thylakoid-associated kinase 1 leads to alteration of light harvesting in Arabidopsis. J. Biol. Chem. 276, 32169-32176 (2001). [Abstract] [Full Text]


There has been increasing interest in oncolytic virotherapy for the treatment of cancer over the past decade. Reovirus is a ubiquitous double-stranded RNA virus that is oncolytic. It has been shown to selectively kill cancer cells in murine, and human models. The mechanism by which reovirus selectively targets and kills cancer cells is slowly being elucidated. Activation of the Ras pathway in transformed cells plays a part in the permissivity of cancer cells to reovirus, in part through the inability of Ras-activated cells to phosphorylate cellular PKR. Our microarray analysis found increased expression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in B16 mouse melanoma cells after exposure to reovirus. As EGFR is a component of the Ras pathway, we explored this increased expression and found that in certain cell lines there was an increase in EGFR expression after reovirus exposure both by PCR and western blot analysis. Data is presented looking at the effect of silencing EGFR on cell survival. Early human trials indicate that while reovirus is safe and capable of inducing cancer cell death, single agent activity is likely to be limited. Attention has now focused on combination strategies. We evaluated the combination of reovirus with rapamycin in the B16.F10 murine model of malignant melanoma based on potential mechanisms by which mTOR inhibitors might enhance viral oncolysis. These include cell cycle arrest, targeting of alternative signalling pathways, and suppression of the antiviral immune response. Rapamycin attenuated viral replication if given prior to or concomitantly with reovirus and similarly reduced reovirus-induced apoptotic cell death. However, we found clear evidence of synergistic antitumour effects of the combination both in vitro and in vivo , which was sequence dependent only in the in vitro setting. Rapamycin showed no systemic immunomodulation and cell cycle effects of reovirus (increased G0/G1 fraction) were unaffected by concomitant or sequential exposure of rapamycin. We also conducted a multicentre, phase 1 dose escalation study designed to assess the safety of combining reovirus with docetaxel chemotherapy in patients with advanced cancer. Patients received 75mg/m 2 of docetaxel, day 1, and escalating doses of reovirus up to 3 x 10 10 TCID 50 , day 1-5, every 3 weeks. 25 patients were enrolled, with 23 completing at least one cycle and 16 suitable for response assessment. Dose-limiting toxicity of grade 4 neutropaenia was seen in one patient but the maximum tolerated dose was not reached. Antitumour activity was seen with one complete response and 3 partial responses. A disease control rate of 88% was observed. The combination of reovirus and docetaxel was concluded to be safe, with evidence of objective disease responses, and warrants further evaluation in a phase II study at a recommended schedule of 75mg/m 2 of docetaxel, 3 weekly and reovirus 3 x 10 10 TCID 50 day 1-5, every 3 weeks.


This paper describes informal, small-scale leisure and nightlife districts or entertainment zones (EZs) which have developed in or near the downtowns of mid-sized and large American cities in recent years. Occupying older vernacular buildings in marginal areas of downtown, the bars, cafes, restaurants, nightclubs and performance spaces of EZs have developed largely without the large-scale design, planning, government action or subsidy common in formal urban entertainment districts. EZs demonstrate the popularity, resilience and flexibility of small-scale, vernacular architecture and urbanism and its importance in generating a vibrant and diverse downtown. The paper documents the design and performative characteristics of EZs in American cities and locates these places within current urban design and development theory. The findings from a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, case study together with evidence from other entertainment zones indicate that EZs possess individuality and a vitality lacking in formal urban entertainment districts. The paper concludes with recommendations for designers, planners and policy makers to reform current urban entertainment development practices.


This paper examines the relationship between child labor and access to credit at a cross-country level. Even though this link is theoretically central to child labor, so far there has been little work done to assess its importance empirically. We measure child labor as a country aggregate, and credit constraints are proxied by the extent of financial development. These two variables display a strong negative relationship, which we show is robust to selection on observables (by controlling for a wide range of variables such as GDP per capita, urbanization, initial child labor, schooling, fertility, legal institutions, inequality, and openness, and by allowing for a nonparametric functional form), and to selection on unobservables (by allowing for fixed effects). We find that the magnitude of the association between our proxy of access to credit and child labor is large in the sub-sample of poor countries. Moreover, in the absence of developed financial markets, households appear to resort substantially to child labor in order to cope with income variability. This evidence suggests that policies aimed at widening households' access to credit could be effective in reducing the extent of child labor.


The management of the configuration of network devices is a complex process, due to both the number of devices and parameters to take into consideration, and most importantly to the widely varying ways in which such parameters can be queried and modified on each device. Each equipment vendor provides its own command-line interface or management protocol where parameters are structured in a different way, and even multiple equipments from the same vendor may need to be interacted with differently. In this paper, we present a generic data model for configuration information of network devices that takes into account vendor and version heterogeneity. Ultimately, a configuration query engine will allow a user to pinpoint a specific, abstract configuration parameter, and be given the proper sequence of commands to query that parameter on a device of given vendor and operating system version.