This chapter provides a practical guide on how to use the meta datarepository ConceptBase to design information modeling methods by using meta-modeling. After motivating the abstraction principles behind meta-modeling, thelanguage Telos as realized in ConceptBase is presented. First, a standard factualrepresentation of statements at any IRDS abstraction level is defined. Then, thefoundation of Telos as a logical theory is elaborated yielding simple fixpointsemantics. The principles for object naming, instantiation, attribution, andspecialization are reflected by roughly 30 logical axioms. After the languageaxiomatization, user-defined rules, constraints and queries are introduced. The firstpart is concluded by a description of active rules that allows the specification ofreactions of ConceptBase to external events. The second part applies the languagefeatures of the first part to a full-fledged information modeling method: The Yourdanmethod for Modern Structured Analysis. The notations of the Yourdan method aredesigned along the IRDS framework. Intra-notational and inter-notational constraintsare mapped to queries. The development life cycle is encoded as a software processmodel closely related to the modeling notations. Finally, aspects managing themodeling activities are addressed by metric definitions.


Machine learning applications have achieved impressive results in many areas and provided effective solution to deal with image recognition, automatic driven, voice processing etc. problems. As these applications are adopted by multiple critical areas, their reliability and robustness becomes more and more important. Software testing is a typical way to ensure the quality of applications. Approaches for testing machine learning applications are needed. This paper analyzes the characteristics of several machine learning algorithms and concludes the main challenges of testing machine learning applications. Then, multiple preliminary techniques are presented according to the challenges. Moreover, the paper demonstrates how these techniques can be used to solve the problems during the testing of machine learning applications.


Context-sensitive access control has been a research topic within mobile computing for more than a decade. Much of the work has focused on modeling context and representing policies. Choosing an appropriate policy for a user, however, remains a challenging goal. Creating usable mobile access control solutions have been researched from a users permission control perspective. We present a study carried out with subjects using their personal mobile devices that captures individualized policies through an iterative user feedback process. Policy precision, also referred to as "Violation Metric" (VM), was used to decide when all necessary policies had been captured. The feedback process used a hierarchical context ontology to represent user-context and gathered contextual-situations in which a policy would be applicable. The study also investigated the feasibility of using the VM measure to determine completion of the capture process for the users personalized access control policies, that handles their mobile privacy and security needs. Using an appropriate predefined policy is shown to have lesser user impact when trying to personalize access control policies for users.


The purpose of this study was to examine the foreign news flow in Sweden´s largest news agency TT. Since TT has an important position as a news provider to most of Sweden´s local and national news outlets, it was important to examine exactly what their news stories consisted of.The theoretical background of this study consist of theories of news values, agenda setting, dependency theory and the theory about the "news shadow" a lack of coverage leads to.In our quantitative study we have looked at 506 articles taken from the TT news flow during two weeks In November 2013. We have studied which continents and countries the news origins from, who have supplied the text, the topics of the news, which one gets to speak in the text and what general tone the story has.The study shows that the supply of news follows the criteria of news values. It also shows that in some regions of the world the coverage is almost nonexistent. Because of this a media shadow has been cast over regions that have little relationship with Sweden. It also shows that TT depends on other international news agencies for a lot of their foreign news. And that the news is elite centered. Furthermore the study shows that negative news stories are the most common ones. And that more negative news spread from third world countries.


The growing popularity of free and open source software (hereinafter 'FOSS') and the equally significant growth in the number of software patents give rise to the question of whether both models can live in peace, side by side, or does the latter pose a threat to the former. The focal point of this paper is the scope of patent protection to software products in EPC countries, particularly in the light of of the FOSS development environment.. Software patents are of great interest to the FOSS community. Modern computer programs are complex. They are developed incrementally where each software generation builds upon the previous one. Avoiding an inefficient re-invention of the wheel, programmers are typically combining thousands of different programs and algorithms in an innovative manner in order to produce the requisite final product. Here is where software patents become relevant. If a large number of those fundamental building blocks are unusable due to patent protection, a type of a 'tragedy of the anticommons' emerges. Hence, developers that may reasonably rely on FOSS licenses to incorporate the licensed software into their programs may later on realize that their actions amount to patent infringement. Obviously, this might have a chilling effect on the development and adoption of FOSS products.


Because root water uptake is a considerable component in the soil water balance, a lot of attention has been paid to defining and applying root water uptake models. These models can be grouped into empirical vs. mechanistic root uptake models. Intermodel comparisons are valuable in understanding the different concepts used. Such a comparison is sometimes difficult because the level of information required by the models is different, for example, information on the root length density distribution. Here a three‐dimensional root length density distribution function is introduced that makes it possible to compare two empirical uptake models with a more mechanistic uptake model. Adding a compensation component to the more empirical model results in prediction of root water uptake distributions in the root zone similar to those predicted by the more complex model.


Volume rendering is becoming increasingly popular as applications require realistic solid shape representations with seamless texture mapping and accurate filtering. However rendering sparse volumetric data is difficult because of the limited memory and processing capabilities of current hardware. To address these limitations, the volumetric information can be stored at progressive resolutions in the hierarchical branches of a tree structure, and sampled according to the region of interest. This means that only a partial region of the full dataset is processed, and therefore massive volumetric scenes can be rendered efficiently.

The problem with this approach is that it currently only supports static scenes. This is because it is difficult to accurately deform massive amounts of volume elements and reconstruct the scene hierarchy in real-time. Another problem is that deformation operations distort the shape where more than one volume element tries to occupy the same location, and similarly gaps occur where deformation stretches the elements further than one discrete location. It is also challenging to efficiently support sophisticated deformations at hierarchical resolutions, such as character skinning or physically based animation. These types of deformation are expensive and require a control structure (for example a cage or skeleton) that maps to a set of features to accelerate the deformation process. The problems with this technique are that the varying volume hierarchy reflects different feature sizes, and manipulating the features at the original resolution is too expensive; therefore the control structure must also hierarchically capture features according to the varying volumetric resolution.

This thesis investigates the area of deforming and rendering massive amounts of dynamic volumetric content. The proposed approach efficiently deforms hierarchical volume elements without introducing artifacts and supports both ray casting and rasterization renderers. This enables light transport to be modeled both accurately and efficiently with applications in the fields of real-time rendering and computer animation. Sophisticated volumetric deformation, including character animation, is also supported in real-time. This is achieved by automatically generating a control skeleton which is mapped to the varying feature resolution of the volume hierarchy. The output deformations are demonstrated in massive dynamic volumetric scenes.


The purpose of this paper is to present empirical evidence of the importance of socio-economic conditions for health. Simulation models of health care systems should take into account social and economic factors in order to represent reality more adequately.

This paper is concerned with the prevalence of chronic illnesses in Finland for the years 1964 and 1968. Three different methods of analysis of variance are used to establish quantitative relationships between the prevalence of chronic illnesses and socio-economic factors such as income of family head, quantity of medical supplies, and distance to the nearest physician. A strong inverse relationship between the prevalence of chronic illnesses and income was found to be about ten times higher than the relationship between chronic illnesses and medical supply variables.


Why are some parts of the world poor today, while others are rich? At which point in time did they diverge, and what were the reasons? These core questions are addressed in a concise and accessible introduction to global economic development since 1500. Leading economic historians from across the globe provide overviews of major world regions together with global comparison chapters and case studies highlighting key themes, individuals, processes and events. Utilising a set of common developmental indicators, the chapters address crucial issues such as how international trade and migration, institutions and flows of physical and human capital impacted economic growth. Richly illustrated with informative figures, maps, tables and charts, A History of the Global Economy summarises the key economic findings, debates and ideas, and provides students and the interested public with an up-to-date and engaging introduction to the origins and evolution of today's global economy.


In this technical note, tall discrete-time linear systems with multirate outputs are studied. In particular, we focus on their zeros. In systems and control literature zeros of multirate systems are defined as those of their corresponding time-invariant systems obtained through blocking of the original multirate systems. We assume that blocked systems are tall, i.e., have more outputs than inputs. It is demonstrated that, for generic choice of the parameter matrices, linear systems with multirate outputs generically have no finite nonzero zeros. However, they may have zeros at the origin or at infinity depending on the choice of blocking delay and the input, state and output dimensions.


Though history and autobiography both claim to tell true stories about the past, historians have traditionally rejected first-person accounts as subjective and therefore unreliable. What then, asks Jeremy D. Popkin in History, Historians, and Autobiography, are we to make of the ever-increasing number of professional historians who are publishing stories of their own lives? And how is this recent development changing the nature of history-writing, the historical profession, and the genre of autobiography? Drawing on the theoretical work of contemporary critics of autobiography, as well as the philosophy of Paul Ricoeur, Popkin reads the autobiographical classics of Edward Gibbons and Henry Adams and the memoirs of contemporary historians such as Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Peter Gay, Jill Ker Conway, and many others. He reveals the contributions that historians' life stories make to our understanding of the human experience. Historians' autobiographies, he shows, reveal how scholars arrive at their vocations, the difficulties of writing about modern professional life, and the ways in which personal stories can add to our understanding of historical events such as war, political movements, and the traumas of the Holocaust. An engrossing overview of the way historians view themselves and their profession, this work will be of interest to readers concerned with the ways in which we understand the past, as well as anyone interested in the art of life-writing.


Fish is an important to determine the nutrient content, fish fed to piscivorous species to ensure the animals are receiving an appropriate diet. The results of chemical analyses for nutrients can be affected by various factors including collection of a representative sample, sample preparation methodology, and laboratory and instrument variation. The objective of this project was to determine the effects of sample handling and preparation on dry matter, protein, fat and energy content in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Variation among laboratories using the same preparation methods was also investigated. Five different methods of preparation were utilized: thawed pureed, frozen pureed, thawed pureed with water, ground with dry ice, and ground with liquid nitrogen. Subsamples from each preparation method were submitted to two laboratories for analyses. It was found that method of preparation does not significantly affect chemical analysis. However, variation among laboratories can be an important source of variation in analysis.


A study has been made on the effects of the removal of the frontal ganglion from adult Locusta migratoria migratorioides R & F on various aspects of metabolism. A decrease in lipid and carbohydrate reserves was observed in the fat body of operated animals although this was less marked when compared with starved specimens. This decrease in fat body reserves was not due to an increased release into the haemolymph nor to increased utilisation. Indeed oxygen consumption was significantly lower than in operated controls. The fine structural appearance of the fat body cells indicated a cessation of the normal functional development. This tended to be confirmed by the observation that fat body from operated animals showed a reduced ability to incorporate C(^14) glucose into triglycerides in vitro. Six digestive enzymes have been characterised and the optimal conditions for assay employed in determining the effects of frontal ganglion removal and starvation on the activities of these enzymes in various regions of the gut. Both treatments resulted in a reduction in amount of enzyme activity. The distribution of enzyme activity was also affected such that the foregut of starved and frontal ganglionectomised treatments had a smaller proportion of the activity than in the control. The fact that frontal ganglion removal effects a dramatic reduction in haemolymph volume was confirmed. Ultrastructural changes in the Malpighian tubules adds support to the suggestion that this reduced blood volume vas a result of chronic diuresis. However, this was shown not to be due to an effect on the activity of the Na (^+)K (^+)ATPase exchange pump. Removal of the frontal ganglion was shown to result in a cessation of growth and to reduce or prevent altogether the release of neurosecretory material from the corpus cardiacum, confirming previous work on larvae and adults. The above observations are discussed in the light of endocrine control of metabolism and the proposal that food passage through the gut is reduced in frontal ganglionectomised animals.


Digital video is one of the popular multimedia data exchanged in the internet. Due to their perfectly replicable nature many illegal copies of the original video can be made. Methods are needed to protect copyrights of the owner and prevent illegal copying. A video can also undergo several intentional attacks like frame dropping, averaging, cropping and median filtering and unintentional attacks like addition of noise and compression which can compromise the owner information thereby denying authentication. In this paper, a robust Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT)-based blind digital video watermarking scheme with scrambled watermarks based on scene changes has been proposed for authentication of digital video, which embeds different parts of a single watermark into different scenes of a video. The video watermarking algorithm is robust against the attacks of frame dropping, averaging and compression, which are considered as some of the common types of attacks applied particularly on the video and due to the use of DWT it can also withstand geometrical attacks making the watermark perceptually invisible. Furthermore, it allows blind retrieval of embedded watermark which does not need the original video. The proposed algorithm has been compared with an existing DWT based watermarking scheme and is found to exhibit better robustness.


Challenges coming along with global sustainability issues, e.g. climate change, cannot be solved with conventional, linear thinking approaches. Transition towards sustainability is a non-linear process and involved a wide variety of actors. Therefore it requires in-depth understanding of barriers and drivers that disable or enable
transition in the current unsustainable system. Adopting systems perspective with backcasting approach and inspired by the "think global, act local" paradox, the Challenge Lab project takes on the present challenges in the unsustainable transport system in Gothenburg, Sweden by introducing a new two-phased methodology, called
'the Challenge Lab (C-Lab) process', to address a societal challenge. The first phase focuses on understanding the system from different perspectives to identify critical
leverage points and helps intervene in ill-structured systems. The second phase consists of a study that identifies the challenges, barriers, and opportunities in the transport system of Gothenburg, based on opinions gathered from the interviews with 10 stakeholders. These challenges, barriers and opportunities are shown on the
conceptual model of the system. Unlike similar studies considering Gothenburg as the case city, the present master's thesis covers both passenger and goods transport, and considers academy – in addition to industry and government- as another relevant stakeholder. The new methodology was useful to have a systemic understanding of
the complexity and dynamics of societal challenges. The findings showed that collaboration between the stakeholders and integration of transport into the city planning are among the main challenges towards a sustainable transport system, but could become opportunities, if addressed. Main barriers identified are the limited space in the city and the politician's fear of loss when proposing and implementing sustainable strategies. The findings also revealed that the majority of the stakeholders
interviewed think that there is no or partially consensus on the vision for sustainable transport system in Gothenburg. The transition towards a sustainable transport system can be achieved by increasing dialogue among stakeholders and by having a 'systems thinking perspective' when planning the future transport system of the city.


Located in the heart of the Andes, Potosi was arguably the most important urban center in the Western Hemisphere during the colonial era. It was internationally famous for its abundant silver mines and regionally infamous for its labor draft. Set in this context of opulence and oppression associated with the silver trade, Trading Roles emphasizes daily life in the city's streets, markets, and taverns. As Jane E. Mangan shows, food and drink transactions emerged as the most common site of interaction for Potosinos of different ethnic and class backgrounds. Within two decades of Potosi's founding in the 1540s, the majority of the city's inhabitants no longer produced food or alcohol for themselves; they purchased these items. Mangan presents a vibrant social history of colonial Potosi through an investigation of everyday commerce during the city's economic heyday, between the discovery of silver in 1545 and the waning of production in the late seventeenth century.

Drawing on wills and dowries, judicial cases, town council records, and royal decrees, Mangan brings alive the bustle of trade in Potosi. She examines quotidian economic transactions in light of social custom, ethnicity, and gender, illuminating negotiations over vendor locations, kinship ties that sustained urban trade through the course of silver booms and busts, and credit practices that developed to mitigate the pressures of the market economy. Mangan argues that trade exchanges functioned as sites to negotiate identities within this colonial multiethnic society. Throughout the study, she demonstrates how women and indigenous peoples played essential roles in Potosi's economy through the commercial transactions she describes so vividly.


Efforts to draw inferences about species occurrence frequently account for false negatives, the common situation when individuals of a species are not detected even when a site is occupied. However, recent studies suggest the need to also deal with false positives, which occur when species are misidentified so that a species is recorded as detected when a site is unoccupied. Bias in estimators of occupancy, colonization, and extinction can be severe when false positives occur. Accordingly, we propose models that simultaneously account for both types of error. Our approach can be used to improve estimates of occupancy for study designs where a subset of detections is of a type or method for which false positives can be assumed to not occur. We illustrate properties of the estimators with simulations and data for three species of frogs. We show that models that account for possible misidentification have greater support (lower AIC for two species) and can yield substantially different occupancy estimates than those that do not. When the potential for misidentification exists, researchers should consider analytical techniques that can account for this source of error, such as those presented here.


There is a relationship between the organizations' strategic objectives and their corporate communications. The latter is an important feature of organizational performance. Organizational leaders are continuously facing the challenge of communicating their strategic goals to their stakeholders. Very often, they are adopting performance management tools to meet this challenge. Consequently, this chapter explains that the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) can be used to evaluate and measure the firms' corporate communications and their organizational performance. This tool has been widely recognized by academics and managers as it is capable of aligning organizational strategies (including their missions and visions), strategic indicators (leading and lagging indicators) and stakeholder management. A review of the relevant literature review suggests that many practitioners are becoming strategic in their corporate communications. In this light, this chapter clarifies that the BSC approach can be used to support them in their stakeholder engagement. This contribution is useful for both academics and practitioners as it aligns the corporate communication practices with organizational strategy and performance management in the digital era.


The highly stressful job of law enforcement personnel, rescue workers and soldiers requires them to constantly put to the test their previous training. In order too respond effectively under pressure, the training of these personnel must be preformed under conditions that elicit pressure. The research proposed in this thesis evaluates established training regimens for the degree of stressfulness instilled in trainees from physiological (hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis, autonomic nervous system) and psychological perspectives (anxiety). Subjects participating in SWAT and military training were recruited, as well as subjects having no prior SWAT or military training. Individual physiological stress responses measured included heart rate and salivary levels for cortisol, amylase, and dehydroepiandrosterone DHEA. Psychological assessment tools used which included the visual analog scale for stress levels to determine the subjects' perception of the stressfulness of the exercise, The Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion was used to gather perceptions about how hard the body was working, and the Spielberger State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Thayer's Activation and Deactivation Checklist (ADC) were used to determine the level of anxiety of the subjects. When the data of all trained subjects having prior SW AT and military training was pooled together significant correlations where found in DHEA vs Cortisol, as well as DHEA/Cortisol ratios vs Calmness. In contrast these correlations were not significant in the data of the subjects having no prior training recruited during a disaster drill. Furthermore the response elicited by subjects performing the same drills varied greatly, including their DHEA/cortisol ratios. A possible recommendation that may be deduced from this research is that more surprise elements should be introduced into the training


Arnold Schoenberg's close involvement with many of the principal developments of 20th-century music, most importantly the break with tonality and the creation of 12-tone composition, generated controversy from the time of his earliest works to the 21st century. This collection of Schoenberg's essays, letters, literary writings, musical sketches, paintings, and drawings offers fresh insights into the composer's life, work, and thought. The documents, many previously unpublished or untranslated, reveal the relationships between various aspects of Schoenberg's activities in composition, music theory, criticism, painting, performance, and teaching. They also show the significance of events in his personal and family life, his evolving Jewish identity, his political concerns, and his close interactions with such figures as Gustav and Alma Mahler, Alban Berg, Wassily Kandinsky, and Thomas Mann. Extensive commentary by Joseph Auner places the documents and materials in context and traces important themes throughout Schoenberg's career from turn-of-century Vienna to Weimar Berlin to 1950s Los Angeles.


While the significant advancements have made in the generation of deepfakes using deep learning technologies, its misuse is a well-known issue now. Deepfakes can cause severe security and privacy issues as they can be used to impersonate a person's identity in a video by replacing his/her face with another person's face. Recently, a new problem of generating synthesized human voice of a person is emerging, where AI-based deep learning models can synthesize any person's voice requiring just a few seconds of audio. With the emerging threat of impersonation attacks using deepfake audios and videos, a new generation of deepfake detectors is needed to focus on both video and audio collectively. To develop a competent deepfake detector, a large amount of high-quality data is typically required to capture real-world (or practical) scenarios. Existing deepfake datasets either contain deepfake videos or audios, which are racially biased as well. As a result, it is critical to develop a high-quality video and audio deepfake dataset that can be used to detect both audio and video deepfakes simultaneously. To fill this gap, we propose a novel Audio-Video Deepfake dataset, FakeAVCeleb, which contains not only deepfake videos but also respective synthesized lip-synced fake audios. We generate this dataset using the most popular deepfake generation methods. We selected real YouTube videos of celebrities with four ethnic backgrounds to develop a more realistic multimodal dataset that addresses racial bias, and further help develop multimodal deepfake detectors. We performed several experiments using state-of-the-art detection methods to evaluate our deepfake dataset and demonstrate the challenges and usefulness of our multimodal Audio-Video deepfake dataset.


Purpose – Structural equation modeling (SEM) has been widely used to examine complex research models in international business and marketing research. While the covariance-based SEM (CB-SEM) approach is dominant, the authors argue that the field's dynamic nature and the sometimes early stage of theory development more often require a partial least squares SEM (PLS-SEM) approach. The purpose of this paper is to critically review the application of SEM techniques in the field. Design/methodology/approach – The authors searched six journals with an international business (and marketing) focus (Management International Review, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of International Management, International Marketing Review, Journal of World Business, International Business Review) from 1990 to 2013. The authors reviewed all articles that apply SEM, analyzed their research objectives and methodology choices, and assessed whether the PLS-SEM papers followed the best practices outlined in the past. Findings – Of the articles, 379 utilized CB-SEM and 45 PLS-SEM. The reasons for using PLS-SEM referred largely to sampling and data measurement issues and did not sufficiently build on the procedure's benefits that stem from its design for predictive and exploratory purposes. Thus, the procedure's key benefits, which might be fruitful for the theorizing process, are not being fully exploited. Furthermore, authors need to better follow best practices to truly advance theory building. Research limitations/implications – The authors examined a subset of journals in the field and did not include general management journals that publish international business and International Marketing Review


A growing body of recent macroeconomic evidence suggests that volatility is detrimental to economic growth. The channels through which volatility affects growth, however, are less clear; substantive evidence based on disaggregate data is almost non-existent. This paper offers a framework in which policy volatility has an adverse effect on firms` entry into productive industries, thereby affecting economic growth. Empirical support for this relationship is based on a detailed dataset of thousands of firms from some 80 countries. Additional evidence is provided on the channels through which volatility affects firm growth, showing that institutional obstacles magnify the effect.


Leaf characteristics reflecting the size, lifespan (longevity), moisture content (degree of succulence) and complexity of structure of 20 mangrove species were studied over several years at 13 locations along the tropical and subtropical Australian coast. These characteristics were found to fall generally within the ranges of those for woody species from other ecosystems. With the exception of one species, it was found that leaf longevity was related inversely to leaf moisture content, increasing from nearly 6 months in more succulent species to over 2 years in less succulent species. This suggested that more succulent leaves are less complex in their structure because they have less well-developed ability to compartmentalize salt. There was a tendency also for leaf longevity to increase in species with larger leaves. These findings were consistent with the general view for land plants that leaf longevity is greater in species that have developed tolerance to environmental stress, salt particularly in the case of mangroves. Leaf tissue in such species is more robust or complex and requires greater metabolic resources in its construction; the plant is then advantaged by retaining the tissue for longer periods. Classification of the species considered here, based on their leaf longevity, moisture content and complexity, identified phylogenetically related species groupings that reflected these leaf longevity effects.


E-learning has become one of the primary ways of delivering education around the globe. In Somalia, which is a country torn within and from the global community by a prolonged civil war, University of Hargeisa has in collaboration with Dalarna University in Sweden adopted, for the first time, e-learning. This study explores barriers and facilitators to e-learning usage, experienced by students in Somalia's higher education, using the University of Hargeisa as case study. Interviews were conducted with students to explore how University of Hargeisa's novice users perceived elearning, and what factors positively and negatively affected their e-learning experiences. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model was used as a framework for interpreting the results. The findings show that, in general, the students have a very positive attitude towards e-learning, and they perceived that e-learning enhanced their educational experience. The communication aspect was found to be especially important for Somali students, as it facilitated a feeling of belonging to the global community of students and scholars and alleviated the war-torn country's isolation. However, some socio-cultural aspects of students' communities negatively affected their e-learning experience. This study ends with recommendations based on the empirical findings to promote the use and enhance the experience of e-learning in post conflict Somali educational institutions.


In this article, we juxtapose the ways "Muslim women" and "foreign prostitutes" are commonly constituted as victims in media and politics. We analyze the functions of these two prototypical female victims in terms of the role they play in epitomizing "the problems of globalization" and in reinforcing the existing social and political structures. Victim discourse, when tied to the transnational proliferation of the sex industry and of (radical) Islam, has depoliticizing effects because it places nonindividual causes of victimization outside of "our" polity and society and casts the state as protector and neutral arbiter of national and global inequalities, marginalization, and social conflict.


Income inequality can be measured at different levels of aggregation such as global, continental, international and national levels. Here we consider income inequality at the national level but the focus is on the within country regional inequality. Regional inequality in income distribution in a selection of large countries measured by the size of their population and land area with regional, provincial or federation division is examined. The empirical results reported are based on the second half of the 20th century. The countries considered here cover large transition, developing and industrialised countries. The review cover a whole range of measures and methods frequently employed in empirical analysis of income inequality and income distribution. Different determinant factors and their impacts from different studies are presented. Empirical results from the literature is compared with those obtained based on the WIID data covering post 1950.


Analysis using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy techniques on
edible fats and oils extracted from palm fruit, groundnut, sesame seed, cottonseed and
animal body fats rendered from cow, chicken, lamb and lard were investigated. The
studies included development and applications of rapid FTIR techniques to determine
some quality parameters such as moisture content in crude palm oil (CPO), soap and
hexane residues in refined palm oil and groundnut oil, malondialdehyde (MDA) as a
secondary oxidation product in refined palm oil, minor components such as sesamol
and gossypol in sesame and cottonseed oils, and aflatoxins in groundnut and
groundnut cake. The detection of lard in different mixtures with other animals' body
fats such as cow, chicken and lamb was also investigated.
Different sample handling techniques were used such as transmission cells of
NaCl, BF2, KBr and attenuated total reflectance (ATR) using internal reflectance
element (IRE) of ZnSe. Partial Least Square (PLS) and Principle Component Analysis (PCA) statistical methods were used to drive calibrations from FTIR versus actual or
chemical values. In this study the frequency of 3700-3072 cm⁻¹ was used to determine
moisture content in CPO as it indicates the absorption of compounds containing
hydroxyl groups (OH). The frequency at 1675- 1500 cm⁻¹ was used to determine soap
residues in refined edible oils. For the determination of hexane residue in oils, the
frequency used included all the data from 2935-2817 cm⁻¹, 1 490-1333 cm⁻¹ and 1200-1000 cm⁻¹ for -CH₃ and -CH₂, and in-plane -CH bending.
In the determination of MDA as a secondary oxidation product, the correlation
and variance spectra were used to select the best regions (2900-2800 and 1800-1600
cm⁻¹) to derive calibration from FTIR versus values obtained by chemical methods
with SEC of 1.49. The spectral regions included the data from 3650-3000, 1600- 1450
and 1200-900 cm⁻¹ that were used to determine sesamol in sesame seed oil. The study
also included a qualitative and semi quantitative determination of palm and groundnut
oils as adulterants in sesame seed oil using the spectral regions from 1504- 1503,
1400- 1397 and 917-914 cm⁻¹. The gossypol was also determined as an important
quality factor in cottonseed oil and cakes using the spectral regions from 3600-2520
and 1900-800 cm⁻¹. The study also covered the detection of lard in mixture of body
fats of chicken, lamb and cow by using changes in frequency and absorbance of
spectral regions 3009-3000, 1418-1417, 1385-1370, 1126- 1085 and 966-967 cm⁻¹.
The simple Beer-Lambert law was used to develop equations for the determination of
mixtures. Aflatoxins exhibit characteristic absorption bands at wavelengths of 3004-2969 cm⁻¹ for CH₂, aromatic =CH, -C-H, C=C and phenyls, 1744-1720 cm⁻¹ for
C=O, 1364-369 cm⁻¹ for methyl adjacent to epoxy ring, 1217-1220 cm⁻¹ for in plane -CH bending of phenyl, 1035-1037 cm⁻¹ for symmetric stretching of =C-O-C or
symmetric bending of phenyl, and 900-902 cm⁻¹ which may be for isolated H. In this
calibration set the spectral regions that showed the highest correlation between
concentration information and spectral response were set to include the data from
3000-2932, 1832-1693, 1400-1329 and 1250-1187 cm⁻¹ for aflatoxins B₁, with
standard errors of calibration (SEC) of 1.80 parts per million (ppm).
All of the results were in good correlation and of comparable accuracy to the
classical wet chemical methods such as the American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS),
Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) and International Union of Pure
and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) methods. This study represents the use of FTIR
spectroscopy as a new rapid analytical technique developed for determination of some
quality parameters of fats and oils, together with the detection of adulterants and
contaminants. The FTIR spectroscopic technique has the potential to replace the timeand
effort-consuming chemical methods for fast analysis of fats and oils. This can
also eliminate the use of toxic chemicals that are hazardous to the analysts as well as
to the environment in the analysis.


The morphology of poly(ethylene terephthalate)/poly(butylene terephthalate) (PET/PBT) blends before to and after heat treatment have been studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide and small angle x-ray scattering (WAXS and SAXS), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and small angle neutron scattering (SANS). Blends with PET/PBT compositions of 100/0, 97/3, 90/10, 60/40, 50/50, 40/60, 25/75 and 0/100%w/w were prepared by precipitation from solutions of the two polymers at the required concentrations. Blends were heat treated to induce ester interchange reactions for a) 6 hours at 476K and b) 1/2 hour at 573K.NMR data showed that the samples iieat treated for 6 hours at 476K were block copolymers and the samples heat treated for 1/2 hour at 573K were random copolymers. DSC, WAXS and SAXS experiments established the morphology of the blends, block and random copolymers. SANS experiments were carried out to study the kinetics of transesterification of PET/PBT copolyesters. Deuterated PET has been synthesised. Data was compared for different molecular weights of deuterium-PET/hydrogenous-PBT blends prior to and after heat treatment to investigate changes in molecular weight of the deuterated chain length as a result of transesterification reactions. From these data it was possible to establish the activation energy of PBT and the results indicate that transesterification reactions take place randomly along the polymer backbone, i.e. by ester-ester interchange.


In some countries including Germany unemployed workers can increase their income during job search by taking up "marginal employment" up to a threshold without any deduction from their benefits. Marginal employment can be considered as a wage subsidy as it lowers labour costs for firms owing to reduced social security contributions, and increases work incentives due to higher net earnings. Additional earnings during unemployment might lead to higher reservation wages prolonging the duration of unemployment, yet also giving unemployed individuals more time to search for better and more stable jobs. Furthermore, marginal employment might lower human capital deterioration and raise the job arrival rate due to network effects. To evaluate the impact of marginal employment on unemployment duration and subsequent job quality, we consider a sample of fresh entries into unemployment. Our results suggest that marginal employment leads to more stable post-unemployment jobs, has no impact on wages, and increases the job-finding probability if it is related to previous sectoral experience of the unemployed worker. We find evidence for time-varying treatment effects: whilst there is no significant impact during the first twelve months of unemployment, job finding probabilities increase after one year and the impact on job stability is stronger if the jobs are taken up later within the unemployment spell.


Purpose:The paper analyzes the micro-angels investment behaviour, looking both to the criteria used in the selection of their investment projects and to the characteristics of their guidance role during the investment period. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper focuses on a double bottom line movement of French micro-angels clubs that has been operating since 1983. Our primary source of data is an online survey carried out during March 2012, asking members of clubs all over France for different aspects of their procedures. Findings:Our findings suggest that micro-angels are interested in small, socially or environmentally friendly projects having the potential to contribute to the development of their neighbourhood. We find that women are even more interested than men in such projects. Educated micro-angels value entrepreneurial motivation and understanding of the project more than less-educated micro-angels. We also point out the factors that micro-angels consider important in accompanying enterprises. Here we find that gender makes little difference. However, retired micro-angels value financial diagnosis made conjointly with entrepreneurs, while both active micro-angels and educated micro-angels value more the use of their network to help micro-entrepreneurs. Practical/Social Implications: Given the potential benefits of micro-angels investing and guiding the development of micro-enterprises, a social micro-angel investment on a major scale in developing countries could help in tackling some of the problems faced by the development of microfinance, such as the over-indebtedness of micro-entrepreneurs. Practitioners and new initiatives would gain from understanding what adaptations need to be made. Originality/value: We expect to add to the venture capital theory to take into account non-economic motives.


Four different factors have been linked independently to mammalian aging--nutrient availability, the Forkhead transcription factor Foxo3a, the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-dependent deacetylase SIRT1, and the tumor suppressor protein p53. Nemoto et al. now report that these elements intersect in a manner that may modulate mammalian life-span. Under conditions of nutritional stress, Foxo3a stimulates SIRT1 expression in mammalian cells, which requires p53 and two p53-binding sites within the SIRT1 promoter. Moreover, Foxo3a and p53 interaction increases under nutrient-starved conditions. The signaling pathway may constitute a homeostatic regulatory network that responds to nutrient availability and, consequently, controls aging. S. Nemoto, M. M. Fergusson, T. Finkel, Nutrient availability regulates SIRT1 through a Forkhead-dependent pathway. Science 306, 2105-2108 (2004). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Headache medicine is an integral part of neurology. Given the fact that there are no ̈ surgical, invasive, or complex diagnostic procedures involved in headache medicine, and since headache medicine is mainstream neurology, the neurological community should seriously question (1) the requirement for a separate headache certification in the field of neurology and (2) the reason why ALL neurologists are not mandated to be experts in headache medicine by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Finkel points out that the 105 neurologists who have been certified by the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties–Headache Medicine (this author included), were certified under the practice track.1 The brightest headache researchers and clinicians in the world are part of this group. None of us completed a headache fellowship. We read, attend conferences, teach, and apply the basic science of headache medicine to manage our patients. If a neurological subspecialty requires in-depth training of invasive, surgical, or diagnostic procedures, or contains a body of knowledge that is outside the scope of mainstream neurology, then a 1-year fellowship with special certification should be required. For example, in pain management it is important to master all the invasive procedures and be competent in the medical and invasive aspects of this field so as to competently practice pain medicine without causing harm to patients. However, for neurologists not to be able to comprehensively master headache medicine during residency with continuity of expertise into clinical practice is very disturbing and sends the wrong message to the public. The public expects that a neurologist is most competent with the authoritative final word on headache disorders. Now we are telling the public that we have 2 neurologists, a neurologist that is board certified in neurology who is expected to be proficient in managing headache patients, and another type of neurologist who is more competent in managing headaches. Imagine the ludicrous analogy of certification in chest pain medicine in cardiology, and certification in abdominal pain medicine in gastroenterology. The medical community should be indebted and very respectful of the important headache medicine contributions made by neurologists who limit their work to headache in academic settings as teachers, researchers, and clinicians. All neurologists have the duty to stay abreast and be experts in all neurological disorders. Regardless of the scope of practice, a good neurologist has strong foundations in general medicine and especially in all neurological disorders as headache patients almost always have co-existing/co-morbid issues. Headache medicine can be easily assimilated into 3-year residency programs and into patient practice. Headache pathophysiology, treatment, differential diagnoses, does not require specialty training or specialty certification. Subspecialty training and certification is certainly essential in many areas of medicine and surgery. However, fellowship training and certification for neurologists for headache is absurd and resonates elitism. One wonders what it will mean to be a neurologist when other groups such as movement disorders and multiple sclerosis start forming their own certification/fellowship clubs.


At ages two and three the vast majority of children shows a high level of aggression. During the preschool period the level of aggression generally declines. However, some children continue to show a high level of aggression and are at risk for the development of Disruptive Behavior Disorders (DBD), potentially resulting in substance abuse, delinquency and high costs at later ages. Aggressive behavior in preschool children has been associated with several individual and environmental factors, e.g., neuropsychological functioning and parenting practices. Neuropsychological functioning The neuropsychological performance on tasks measuring working memory, inhibition, set shifting, and verbal fluency of 82 preschool children with aggressive behavior was assessed and compared to the performance of 99 control children. Factor analysis revealed that only inhibition could be identified as a distinct factor. Children with aggressive behavior showed deficits in inhibition, with girls outperforming boys. This association between inhibition deficits and aggression was maintained when attention problems were controlled. This indicates that inhibition deficits are robust correlates of aggressive behavior in the preschool period. Costs of service use and impact on family functioning The costs of service use and the burden on the family of 4-year-old children with aggressive behavior were investigated. A sample of 317 preschool children was divided into groups with low, moderate, borderline and clinical levels of aggression. Families of children with a borderline or clinical level of aggression were found to be more impaired in daily functioning than families of children with lower levels of aggression. Children with clinical levels of aggression were also more costly than children with low levels of aggression, due to higher costs of service use. Performance of a nonrandomized study design The performance of a case control design was compared to a randomized study design by simulating hypothetical intervention and control groups, based on data from our study into a preventive parent program. The results of this study indicate that matching in a case control design is a viable alternative for studies in which randomization is not feasible. Preventive efforts: The Incredible Years parent program Preventive parenting programs have been designed to improve parent-child interactions, and to avert the risk for DBD. The IY parent program emerged as effective from treatment studies, but evidence on the preventive effectiveness remained inconclusive. We evaluated the preventive effectiveness of the IY parent program in a population-based sample of 4-year-old children at risk for DBD. Data were collected on 72 intervention- and 72 matched control children at pre-, post-, and 1-year-follow up assessment. Results revealed significant sustained improvements in both observed and parent-rated parenting. Observed child behavior also showed sustained intervention-effects. However, parents did not report improvements in child behavior. At follow up the presence of DBD diagnoses did not differ between the groups. Children with a low IQ or poor inhibitory control, and parents with a high level of stress benefited most from the intervention. In sum, our study demonstrates the promising character of the IY parent program as a preventive intervention for preschool children at risk for DBD.


We analyzed over 3000 Fourier spectra from 370 earthquakes of energy magnitude ( M E) 1.1–6.0 recorded by the Southern Ontario Seismic Network (SOSN)/POLARIS networks during the period 1991–2010 in the area of southern Ontario and western Quebec. We employed a range of velocity stacking methods to significantly reduce the problem of variability due to wave scattering. This enabled us to determine underlying nonrandom spectral features, including source effects, site effects, and anelastic attenuation effects on spectral shape. The analysis technique is that we stack the velocity spectra of the whole observed data set into one or two bins and then compare that sum (the observed stack) with the theoretical expectation for corresponding stacks of simulated signals (the theoretical stack) for a given set of input parameters. A grid‐search technique is used to find the input‐parameter combination that optimizes the agreement between the observed and theoretical stacks. By stacking the spectra in different ways, different underlying spectral features are explored. We find the method works surprisingly well, allowing us to determine the apparent anelastic attenuation effects on the spectral shape, the average effect of site response, and some basic features of the source spectra.

The key results of our paper: (1) there is no unique pair of values of the coefficients Q and n of the frequency‐dependent Quality factor relationship Q = Q f n , but there exist pairs of Q and n along a curve in Q – n space that are equivalent in terms of their effect on spectral shape; (2) the relationship between log corner frequency and energy magnitude ( M E) is linear, with a slope close to (−0.22) that is consistent with constant‐width faulting for the studied small‐to‐moderate events; (3) the relation between moment magnitude M and energy magnitude M E was found to be M =  8/9   M E.


This investigation was inspired by the ever so precarious nature of climate change and its detrimental implications on our planet and society. One alternative form of energy that shows promise amongst others in alleviating the climate crisis, is biofuel. An extensive experiment was conducted to investigate whether amylase or yeast had a more prominent role in determining the bioethanol concentration and bioethanol yield of banana samples. Given that amylase facilitates the breakdown of complex polysaccharides into simple sugars, we hypothesized that amylase would have the most significant impact on the bioethanol yield and concentration of the samples. This was determined to be the case when the fermentation batch samples received enzyme compositions of yeast and amylase independently. However, when added concurrently, the optimal enzyme composition for maximizing the bioethanol concentration and yield was the addition of amylase and yeast in a 3:2 ratio. Thus, while yeast is an essential component for producing bioethanol, the proportion of amylase supplied through a joint amylase-yeast mixture has a more significant impact on the bioethanol yield. This provides some insight into what industrial engineers would need to take into consideration when mass-producing bioethanol on the industrial scale, namely that of the optimal enzyme composition with respect to cost and the bioethanol yield. Moreover, this study provides a greater understanding of the mechanisms and implications involved in enzyme-based biofuel production, specifically of those pertaining to amylase and yeast.


The study sought to identify the various ways through which senior high school students in the Effutu Municipality explore existing careers. Also, the study sought to find out gender differences in career exploration level and career
 selfefficacy levels among students. Survey research design was used for the study. Data for the study were collected from 273 (145 male and 128 female) senior high school students, selected from three mixed schools. Two questionnaires were developed
 for the study to seek information on career exploration practices, students' career exploration level, and career self-efficacy level. Descriptive and correlational statistics were used to analyse the data. Respondents' scores on questionnaire were
 organized descriptively into frequency counts and percentages. The results of the descriptive analysis showed that the main career exploration practice the students engaged in was field trip. Results of correlational statistics indicated that female
 and male students had a higher career exploration level and higher career self-efficacy level respectively. The study concluded that the students were not exposed to other exploration practices to enable them settle on appropriate career choices. It
 was recommended that school counsellors should consider other practices that involve when designing career exploration programmes to assist students explore existing careers.


Economics studies the market conduct of agents, such as individuals, firms, and institutions; it describes the consequences of these behaviors and, if its explanations are successful, it may even provide forecasts and policy suggestions. Therefore legal scholars, who wish to offer well-founded and reliable policy suggestions as to the proper way of shaping, interpreting and enforcing statutes, may find it useful to employ economics to 'bridge' legal rules with the empirical phenomena these rules address. Competition and innovation are, as a matter of fact, the two empirical phenomena that antitrust, patent and copyright provisions address. Therefore, legal scholars, who want to elaborate well-founded and reliable policy suggestions about antitrust and IP statutes, may profitably employ economics to understand how competition and innovation develop.Like any other social science, economics encompasses both a 'hard core' of well-established principles and concepts, and a 'fringe' of new models and insights, which introduce new research questions and explore some of the issues that hard core theories cannot solve. Usually, scholars that use economics as a bridge between legal provisions and empirical phenomena rely on these hard core theories, because they already belong to common knowledge and, hence, are more administrable for lawyers, judges, and jurors. In fact, textbook economics of IP is quite basic: although the Chicago school has described it only recently, it is rooted in the instrumental/utilitarian approach and in the cost-benefit analysis of neo-classic economics, as well as in the transaction costs insights that derive from the Coase theorem. Likewise, the current textbook economics of antitrust law consists of various industrial organization models, which originate from the application of the above mentioned principles of neo-classic economics to imperfect market realities. Yet, competition and innovation are kaleidoscopic phenomena that, sometimes, extend beyond the reach of these hard core economic theories. For instance, the industrial organization models that nowadays shape antitrust law are so focused on short-run price and output effects that they cannot fully explain how innovation causes economic growth by changing the long-run performance of firms and markets. And this is an issue (!), especially when antitrust enforcers confront business conduct that involves IPRs - whether agreements, monopolists' conduct, or mergers - because this conduct produces both short run and long run effects on both competition and innovation. Likewise, despite what orthodox economics suggests, some empirical studies show that in specific industries there is no linear relationship between the scope of IPRs and innovation. And this is an issue too (!), because if broader and stronger IPRs do not boost innovation, the recent propertization phenomenon may turn out to be counterproductive.As a consequence, some scholars have recently began to look at 'fringe' economic theories in order to provide a better 'bridge' between antitrust and IP rules, on the one hand, and competition and innovation, on the other hand. While not attempting to provide an exhaustive discussion of past and current economic theories, the chapter explores the mainstream economic backbone of present antitrust and IP laws (Part A and B) and what future developments these legal rules could undergo because of the influence of some fringe economic theories (Parts C and D). Part A explains that the present antitrust discourse mirrors the 'normative meaning' of the perfect competition model, but employs industrial organization models - sometimes, far too sophisticated and complex models - in order to explain firms' actual behaviors. Part B discusses how neo-classic economics justifies the existence of patents and copyrights by using both the appropriability theory and the Coase theorem. Then, given that industrial organization models cannot fully explain dynamic efficiency and long run phenomena, Part C looks at some heterodox economic theories that place innovation and change at the heart of the competitive process. Similarly, given that arguably the neo-classic justification for IPRs does not always support a proper set of incentives for follow-on inventions and derivative creations, Part D describes how one of those heterodox economic theories, that is to say, evolutionary economics, seems to be capable of striking a better equilibrium between present and future innovation, by elaborating on the ideas of knowledge and learning processes. The chapter concludes with the finding that no drastic change is required in order to apply these fringe economic theories to an understanding of present antitrust and IP rules.


This paper analyzed the quantity-price demand system of vegetable oils market in the United States, focusing on the wholesale market of eight vegetable oils. The global demand for vegetable oils has increased with the overall increase in global food demand. Due to health problems with trans fats (trans fatty acids: TFA) and biofuels issue with crude oil price surge, dramatic changes have been observed in vegetable oils market since the mid 2000's. We took into account the two major events that might have caused structural changes in the system. We estimated the demand system with eight compensated demand equations, using seemingly unrelated regressions. In this estimation, we specified the first-differenced double-log demand model with homogeneity and symmetry constraints. For each of the vegetable oils, we reported own-price, cross-price, and expenditure elasticities. The results indicate that own-price elasticities are elastic for canola oil and for palm oil contrary to the other six vegetable oils. Palm oil, canola oil and sunflower oil are substitutes for soybean oil. The findings suggest that international prices of palm oil and canola oil affect significantly the U.S. soybean oil demand. Supply policies in export countries and importers' behavior for palm oil and canola oil have important implications for the U.S. domestic vegetable oils market. The results also reveal that exogenous factors, such as issues of TFA and biofuels, have negatively affected the demand for soybean oil and peanut oil. These same factors, however, have positively affected the demand for palm oil and canola oil since 2004.


The dynamic behavior of cable supported bridges subjected to moving loads and affected by corrosion and accidental failure mechanism in the cable suspension system is investigated. The different types of cable supported bridges are distinctively characterized by the configuration of the cable system [1]. The suspension system comprises a parabolic main cable and vertical hanger cables connecting the stiffening girder to the main cable. The cable stayed system contains straight cables connecting the stiffening girder to the pylon (Figure 1 and Figure 2). Both system are frequently employed in the context of long spans, leading to slender structures, in which, typically, the dead loads are comparable with those involved in the live load configuration. As a consequence, the external loads are able to produce high amplifications of the main bridge kinematic and stress design parameters, leading to non-standard excitation modes and unexpected damage mechanisms in the structural components of the bridge [2,3]. As a matter of fact, cable-supported structures are, typically, affected by degradation effects such as corrosion, abrasion, and fatigue, which may cause a reduction of the stiffness properties or, in extreme cases, the complete failure of a single or multiple cable elements [4-5]. The main aim of the paper is to quantify, numerically, the dynamic amplification factors of of cable supported bridges subjected to moving loads and affected by an accidental failure in the cable suspension system. In particular, a parametric study of typical design bridge variables is developed in terms of the structural property of the bridge components and failure mode characteristics. The basic formulation is based on a tridimensional schematization by using a finite element approach. It is developed by using a geometric nonlinear formulation in which the effects of local vibrations of the cables as well as of large displacements in the girder and the pylons are taken into account. Explicit time dependent damage laws, reproducing the corrosion phenomena and the failure mechanism in the cable system, are considered to investigate the influence of the damage mode characteristics on the dynamic bridge behavior. Moreover, the analysis focuses attention on the influence of the inertial characteristics of the moving loads, by accounting coupling effects arising from the interaction between bridge deformations and moving system kinematic. Sensitivity analyses have been proposed in terms of dynamic impact factors comparing the dynamic behavior between cable-stayed bridges and suspension bridges. In particular, the effects on the dynamic bridge behavior produced by the external mass of the moving system, the tower typologies in the case of the cable-stayed bridges as well as the damage mode characteristics involved in the cable system are investigated by means of comparisons between damage and undamaged bridge configurations. Finally, the study has focused the attention on the possibility of using a combined suspension and cable stayed system to improve the structural performance of existing suspension bridges.


This paper investigates farmers' willingness to adopt a Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO)-free milk production scheme introduced by the dairy. Incentives like a price premium, advice, quality control and feed procurement are set to encourage the conversion. The analysis is based upon Discrete Choice Experiments with 151 dairy farmers in Germany. Alternative-specific conditional logit estimation reveals the marginal effects of incentives and the amount of compensation. The results indicate that attributes like the price premium, takeover of feed procurement and an external audit affect the likelihood of adoption. Farmer, farm characteristics and attitudes concerning GMO as well as expectations on feed prices were found to be significant determinants of adoption. Moreover the findings demonstrate variation in the values of attributes across regions.


Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) knows no borders. The twentieth and twenty-first centuries have witnessed historically unprecedented levels of violence against non-combatants as well as a concomitant rise in international and local efforts to assist survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. Yet the diversity of cultural contexts in which SGBV occurs challenges us to ask a timely question: what might a transnational feminist analysis of conflict-related sexual violence look like? This is particularly salient because feminist scholar-activists increasingly help shape policy designed to both address sexual violence as a weapon or by-product of war and services to assist its survivors. This article addresses the rise of global and local initiatives and institutions that rely upon the relatively recent emergence of concretized "best practices" recommended as global solutions to what are inevitably local problems. This article demonstrates how such global solutions are recommended for what are inevitably local problems and exemplifies how best practices are couched in human rights discourses that are presumed universal.ly relevant despite their almost exclusive origination and dissemination by individuals in a privileged position vis-a-vis the intended beneficiaries of such discourse's practice. After analyzing the ethical concerns raised by this reality, this article proposes using non-hegemonic feminist models to develop new strategies for respecting both cultural diversity and the humanitarian responsibility to protect individuals from conflict-related sexual violence. Keywords: International law, rape, sexual violence Introduction Conflict-related sexual violence permeates human cultural consciousness even in the earliest accounts of war: in the Odyssey, the kidnap of Helen proves a pivotal moment in the sacking of Troy, while the Hindu epic Ramayana revolves around the rescue of the goddess Sita from behind enemy lines by her husband. The implication of rape serves as a powerful subtext in both tales, and is featured in myriad variations throughout the world. Yet despite this centrality of women and sexual violence in war narratives both ancient and contemporary, it is only relatively recently that states have begun to regard conflict-related sexual violence as an offense against individual women rather than the family honor of her male relatives. This article addresses the rise of initiatives and institutions reliant upon the relatively recent emergence of concretized "best practices" recommended as global solutions to what are inevitably local problems. These are often couched in human rights discourses that draw considerable power from their presumed universal relevance despite the near-exclusive origination in and dissemination by organizations staffed by those who are relatively privileged vis-a-vis the intended beneficiaries of such discourse's practice. Part I raises ethical concerns about this practice, then proposes the implementation of non-hegemonic feminist models to develop new strategies for respecting both cultural diversity and the humanitarian responsibility to protect individuals from SGBV. Feminist scholarship, jurisprudence, and activism made significant contributions to the shape of international criminal practice in this area during the 1990s special courts and criminal tribunals, particularly in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, and the particularities of the definitions of justice employed dramatically impact international legal discourse and practice today. Yet feminist scholars continue to debate the nature of the North American and Western European rape law reform movement's influence of on the Rome Statute (UN General Assembly, 1998), the authorizing law used to prosecute SBGV-related crimes at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Part I explores the process by which solutions developed by the rape law reform movement spread through statutory law and case law to emerge as global solutions to conflict-related SGBV in myriad cultural contexts. …


One important feature of a cognitive system is to perceive and understand its environment and to adapt its actions to changes and unforeseen situations. In this paper, we propose a scheme for visual surprise detection in cognitive mobile robots. With the robot's observation and a set of reference images previously acquired near its current viewpoint, a pixel-wise surprise trigger is computed using Bayesian probabilistic inference techniques. With appropriate mathematical approximations this algorithm can be implemented on modern graphics hardware which nearly allows for real-time surprise detection. In order to refer to prior observations, a mobile robot has to be able to re-localize itself with respect to its environment. Thus, we also present two online image-based homing algorithms which both facilitate the computation of location-independent surprise triggers. Experiments show acceptable results in terms of robust and fast detection of unexpected changes in the environment.


We investigate the influence of the dual board structure on the financial performance of Islamic banks. The paper also investigates the unique agency relationships using a sample of 90 Islamic banks across 13 countries over the period 2006-2014. We find that the larger the Shari'ah Supervisory Board (SSB) the better the financial performance and this result reinforces the fundamental role of the SSB to certify permissible financial instruments and products. We also find evidence of the scope of operation hypothesis with respect to both the board of directors and the SSB as Islamic banks are characterised by a higher degree of complex operations. Interestingly, we find that a larger SSB size may result in lower agency costs and that the greater the size of the unrestricted contracts, the higher the agency costs. This implies that unrestricted profit-sharing contracts are one of the main sources of the unique agency relationships in Islamic banks. The paper has a number of policy implications for regulators including the design of governance mechanisms in Islamic banks and the dynamics of unrestricted contracts.


Many epidemiological studies have revealed the incidence of axillary contractures next only to elbow contractures as sequelae to burn injury. Even if it may be possible to prevent adduction contracture of the axilla through early splinting and range of motion exercises that counteract the position of comfort, it continues to pose a frequent problem to burn surgeons. In the increasing degree of severity, axillary contractures may involve one or both axillary folds and also involve the hair-bearing dome of the axilla. Unless severe functional disability is present, we recommend a minimum 6-month wait following wound healing to allow for scar maturation to achieve better results. In milder presentations, it may be possible to perform Z-plasties, Y–V plasties, or many other local flaps on isolated axillary bands, with the caveat that if the contractile bands are in the midst of scarring, such linear contractures may only be effectively released and resurfaced with skin grafts. While the innovative use of local skin flaps must be encouraged, we recommend a low threshold of using acceptable thickness skin grafts for coverage. Controversy exists on the best technique for axillary resurfacing in severe cases of axillary involvement. While it is relatively simple and expeditious to release the contracture and cover the extensive defect with skin grafts, it requires meticulous postoperative regimen of splinting and physiotherapy. In selected cases, uninvolved adjacent scapular and back areas allow for many fasciocutaneous and myocutaneous flaps for durable long-term results. Free flaps, traditionally less popular in this region, may be an alternative option if areas adjacent to axilla are also involved.


Since 1990, both people's recognition of the need for sustainability around the world and environmental management systems in the tourism industry have been growing. Academic studies have primarily focused on the willingness of consumers to pay more to stay in major hotel chains, finding that the incorporation of environmental management systems (EMSs) is a way to save money by reducing costs, while improving the image and competitive advantage of these chains in the market. However, the aggregate environmental impact of tourism activity does not only depend on the practices of industry leaders. It also relates to the degree to which all stakeholders adopt these practices. Boutique hotels fall under the category of small-sized accommodation and are characterized by their size, independent management, and respect for the local environment. Hotel consumers display positive attitudes with respect to green hotel practices, which provides a starting point for motivating hotels to continue working on improving their environmental impact performance. For this reason, the objective of this paper is to determine whether boutique hotel clients are willing to pay more for a hotel with an environmental management system. Two dependence techniques are applied, logit regression and linear regression. The results show that the respondents' age and income, as well as the strength of their environmental commitment, are determinant factors of whether clients would pay more to stay in a boutique hotel with an EMS. This preliminary study tries to investigate the "willingness to pay" in the Spanish boutique hotels. The originality of this article responds to the demand for a more holistic perspective on the hospitality sector, contributing to the understanding of hotel clients and their willingness to pay more for an EMS.


Trends in arts and culture tend to be longer-lasting and less fragile than in other fields such as clothing design. Most herding models are not able to explain such stability, instead predicting informational cascades to be fragile and fads to be frequent. The present contribution is able to explain the hysterisis of trends in arts by incorporating the accumulation of consumption capital into a herding model. Further, the model is tested empirically by analyzing measures of relative and absolute concentration in the television business. It is concluded that by being exposed to art and culture people accumulate consumption capital for a particular style or artist and that this mechanism tends to make herding in arts stable over time.


This paper describes the fiber optic loop buffer-based switch in which contention is resolved in the time and wavelength domain. In the loop buffer, tunable wavelength converters (TWCs) are placed in place of semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) as in conventional loop buffer-based architectures. The placement of TWCs inside the buffer facilitate simultaneous read/write operation and dynamic re-allocation of wavelengths and improves the switch performance significantly. It is a well known fact that the re-circulating type buffer structure suffers from circulation limit (maximum revolutions that data can take in the buffer) due to the loss and noise accumulation in the switch. This paper presents a mathematical model to obtain a maximum number of allowed circulations of the data in loop buffer-based switch architecture. This model is derived for various configurations (transparent, noisy, and regenerative) of TWC. The detrimental effect of crosstalk and four wave mixing are shown, and the affect of dispersion on the maximum allowed bit rate is discussed. The minimum length of the loop is also evaluated. Finally, the bounded region is shown (bit rate versus number of wavelengths graph) where memory can work efficiently.


The local structure around Er(3+) in Er-doped optical fiber (EDFs) was explored by X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) measurements. Using several new approaches such as a novel sample preparation, we successfully measured the XAFS. The intensities near the 8.36 keV peaks were observed for the first time using X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) analysis. The intensities increased in the order of Er, Er(2)O(3), and EDF samples, indicating that Er(3+) in the EDFs existed as an oxide state. Extend X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) analysis also showed that the oxygen coordination number of Er(3+) increased as the Al concentration increased and that the Er-O distances of EDF with Al co-doping is longer than that of EDF without Al co-doping.


The European Union has shown remarkable resiliency and dynamism over the past decade. Despite the end of the Cold War and the struggle to ratify the Maastricht Treaty, the EU continues its quest to deepen and widen the process of integration and gets ready to clear the next major hurdle, the introduction of a single European currency. At the same time, Europe faces looming challenges. Deepening and widening will require elite leadership and popular will, both of which are being drained by unemployment and austerity. Painful structural adjustments lie ahead, especially if Europe is to compete in a globalized economy. And the institutional and economic reforms that must precede the accession of the new democracies of central Europe will cause further political strains. This book focuses on the major challenges facing the EU and addresses several crucial questions: Will the EU succeed in fostering greater cooperation among members and achieving "ever closer union"? How will the less-developed applicants for EU membership from the east and south affect cohesion and institutional design? Will the Union succeed in becoming more democratic and less bureaucratic? The authors examine the nuts and bolts of EU machinery and present a compelling argument that "ever closer union" will only be possible with greater balance and flexibility among supranational, national, and subnational actors. Andrew Moravcsik is associate professor of government at Harvard University.


In 1892, the French resident general in Tunisia launched the first state-sponsored colonization effort in the Tunisian protectorate. Based on Paul Bourde's study of ancient Roman agriculture, the colonization plan explicitly sought to remake Roman prosperity in central Tunisia by fostering the cultivation of olives. Examining Bourde's study of the ancient past and his work as director of agriculture in Tunisia, this article explores the connections between the study of the Roman Empire and the development of colonialism in North Africa. In tracing this history, this article highlights how the study and use of Roman ruins in French Tunisia inspired an appreciation for the role that technology and material development played in supporting the spread of Roman civilization and culture.


The PJP Landfill, located in northeastern New Jersey, is a suspected hazardous waste site, and is listed on the federal Superfund National Priorities List. In addition to contaminating ground and surface waters, it has reportedly been burning for over 20 years. Air emissions from these fires are of considerable concern to local residents. A study was conducted to assess the hazards of these air emissions. Airborne suspended particulate samples were collected in residential and business areas near the site and analyzed for extractable organics. Analysis of these data and prevailing wind data indicated that landfill air emissions significantly affect air quality. The human health hazard associated with these emissions was estimated to be equivalent to smoking 40 to 100 cigarettes per year under 'worst case' conditions. (Author abstract. )


Edith Penrose's 1959 book The Theory of the Growth of the Firm [TGF] provides intellectual foundations for a theory of innovative enterprise, which is essential to any attempt to explain productivity growth, employment opportunity, and income distribution. Properly understood, Penrose's theory of the firm is also an antidote to the deception that is foundational to neoclassical economics: The theory, taught by PhD economists to millions upon millions of college students for over seven decades, that the most unproductive firm is the foundation of the most efficient economy. The dissemination of this "neoclassical fallacy" to a mass audience of college students began with Paul A. Samuelson's textbook, Economics: An Introductory Analysis, first published in 1948. Over the decades, the neoclassical fallacy has persisted through 18 revisions of Samuelson, Economics and in its countless "economics principles" clones. This essay challenges the intellectual hegemony of neoclassical economics by exposing the illogic of its foundational assumptions about how a modern economy functions and performs.

The neoclassical fallacy gained popularity in the 1950s, during which decade Samuelson revised Economics three times. Meanwhile, Penrose derived the logic of organizational learning that she lays out in TGF from the facts of firm growth, absorbing what was known in the 1950s about the large corporations that had come to dominate the U.S. economy. Also, during that decade, the knowledge base on the growth of firms on which economists could subsequently draw was undergoing an intellectual revolution, led by the business historian, Alfred D. Chandler, Jr. He was engaged in the first stage of a career that would span more than a half century, during which Chandler documented and analyzed the centrality to U.S economic development of what he would come to call "the managerial revolution in American business."

In combination, the works of Penrose and Chandler form intellectual foundations for my own work on the Theory of Innovative Enterprise—an endeavor that has enabled me, as an economist, to recognize not only the profound importance of organizational learning for economic theory but also the illogic of the neoclassical theory of the firm for our understanding of the central institution of a modern economy, the business corporation. In this essay, I argue that the key characteristic of the innovative enterprise is fixed-cost investment in the productive capabilities of the company's employees to engage in organizational learning. The purpose of this investment in organizational learning is to develop a higher-quality product than was previously available. When successful, the development of the higher-quality product enables the firm to capture a large extent of the market, transforming high fixed cost into low unit cost. The result is sustainable competitive advantage that enables the growth of the firm, contributing to the growth of the economy as a whole.

I argue that to get beyond the neoclassical fallacy, economists have to stop relying on constrained-optimization methodology. Rather, they need to be trained in a "historical transformation" methodology that integrates history and theory. It is a methodology in which theory serves as both a distillation of what we have learned from the study of history and a guide to what we need to learn about reality as the "present as history" unfolds.


Let P be a graph property which is preserved by removal of edges. A random maximal P-graph is obtained from n independent vertices by randomly adding edges, at each stage choosing uniformly among edges whose inclusion would not destroy property P, until no further edges can be added. We address the question of the number of edges of a random maximal P-graph for several properties P, in particular the cases of "bipartite" and "triangle-free". A variety of techniques are used to show that the size of the random maximal bipartite graph is quadratic in n but of order only rc/ in the triangle-free case. Along the way we obtain a slight improvement in the lower bound of the Ramsey number r(3,<).


We describe categorical models of a circuit-based (quantum) functional programming language. We show that enriched categories play a crucial role. Following earlier work on QWire by Paykin et al., we consider both a simple first-order linear language for circuits, and a more powerful host language, such that the circuit language is embedded inside the host language. Our categorical semantics for the host language is standard, and involves cartesian closed categories and monads. We interpret the circuit language not in an ordinary category, but in a category that is enriched in the host category. We show that this structure is also related to linear/non-linear models. As an extended example, we recall an earlier result that the category of W*-algebras is dcpo-enriched, and we use this model to extend the circuit language with some recursive types.


Through a review of reported challenges this article explains how latent fingerprint evidence was routinely admitted and relied upon as proof of identity in criminal proceedings before its value and limitations were studied or understood. That it was admitted and used in ways that were disengaged from scientific research reveals a great deal about our adversarial system — of pleas, rules of admissibility, trial safeguards, standards of proof, and heavy reliance on the technical competence of lawyers and judges. This article draws on contemporary scientific research to explain how more than a century of routine legal reliance, along with quite a few admissibility challenges, produced few meaningful responses and no apparent endogenous understanding of the limitations of latent fingerprint comparison. Trial personnel and trial safeguards did not lead to the identification, recognition and communication of methodological problems, uncertainties or the frequency of error. Latent fingerprint evidence continues to be presented in ways that are not informed by scientific research, are inconsistent with mainstream scientific advice, exaggerate the value of opinions, and unecessarily threaten both the rectitude and fairness of criminal proceedings.


Experimental techniques have been used to investigate three upward flame spread phenomena of particular importance for fire safety applications. First, rates of upward flame spread during early-stage burning were observed during experiments on wide samples of corrugated cardboard. Results indicated a slower acceleration than was obtained in previous measurements and theories. It is hypothesized that the non-homogeneity of the cardboard helped to reduce the acceleration of the upward spread rates by physically disrupting flow in the boundary layer close to the vertical surface and thereby modifying heating rates of the solid fuel above the pyrolysis region. The results yield alternative scalings that may be better applicable to some situations encountered in practice in warehouse fires. Next, a thermally thick slab of polymethyl methacrylate was used to study the effects of the inclination angle of a fuel surface on upward flame spread. By performing experiments on 10 cm wide by 20 cm tall fuel samples it was found that the maximum flame- spread rate, occurring nearly in a vertical configuration, does not correspond to the maximum fuel mass-loss rate, which occurs closer to a horizontal configuration. A detailed study of both flame spread and steady burning at different angles of inclination revealed the influence of buoyancy-induced flows in modifying heat-flux profiles ahead of the flame front, which control flame spread, and in affecting the heat flux to the burning surface of the fuel, which controls fuel mass-loss rates. Finally, vertical arrays of horizontally protruding wood matchsticks were used to investigate the influence of the spacing of discrete fuel elements on rates of upward flame spread. Rates of upward flame spread were found to increase dramatically for spacings between 0 cm and 0.8 cm and experienced only a slight increase thereafter. Based on these observations, the influence of convective heating was hypothesized to dominate this spread mechanism, and predictions of ignition times were developed using convective heat-transfer correlations. Mass-loss rates followed a similar pattern and were predicted along with matchstick burnout times using a droplet burning theory extended for a cylindrical geometry


The dynamic simulation of solids has a long history in computer graphics. The classical methods in this field are based on the use of forces or impulses to simulate joints between rigid bodies as well as the stretching, shearing and bending stiffness of deformable objects. In the last years the class of position-based methods has become popular in the graphics community. These kinds of methods are fast, unconditionally stable and controllable which make them well-suited for the use in interactive environments. Position-based methods are not as accurate as force based methods in general but they provide visual plausibility. Therefore, the main application areas of these approaches are virtual reality, computer games and special effects in movies. This state of the art report covers the large variety of position-based methods that were developed in the field of deformable solids. We will introduce the concept of position-based dynamics, present dynamic simulation based on shape matching and discuss data-driven approaches. Furthermore, we will present several applications for these methods.


Recent research on the factor structure of the Five-Factor Model has called into question the assumption that the five factors are universal across all individuals. Whereas individuals demonstrating average levels of cognitive complexity exhibit the common five factor pattern both Bowler Bowler and Phillips (2009) and Bowler Bowler and Cope (in press) noted that individuals with higher levels of cognitive complexity exhibit more than five factors and individuals with lower levels of cognitive complexity exhibit less than five. The present study sought to examine the impact of cognitive complexity on a five-factor measure that utilized a frequency-based response format developed by Edwards and Woehr (2007). Overall results concurred with previous findings with cognitive complexity influencing the number of factors evidenced. Specifically individuals with low average and high levels of cognitive complexity exhibited five- six- and seven-factor models of personality respectively. Implications of the appropriateness of frequency-based personality measurement are discussed.


Cis-inhibition of Notch signaling by Serrate is mediated by a portion of the extracellular domain of Serrate. Engagement of the transmembrane receptor Notch by one of its transmembrane ligands present on an adjacent (sending) cell results in proteolytic cleavage that releases the Notch intracellular domain from the membrane so that it can enter the nucleus to promote target gene expression in the receiving cell. However, when Notch binds to a ligand present on the same cell, signaling is inhibited. Although transactivation of Notch signaling is well described, the mechanisms underlying cis-inhibition are less clear but rely on the relative abundance of the ligand and receptor and require only the extracellular domain of the ligand. Fleming et al. examined the extracellular domain of the Notch ligand Serrate (Ser) to identify the portions required for cis-inhibition in Drosophila melanogaster. By deletion analysis, the authors demonstrated that 3 of the 14 epidermal growth factor–like repeats (EGF repeats 4 to 6) in the extracellular domain were required for Ser-mediated cis-inhibition but dispensable for Ser-mediated transactivation in an in vivo wing patterning assay. EGF repeats 4 to 6 were also required for the dominant-negative activity exhibited by forms of Ser lacking the intracellular domain. Deletion of EGF repeats 4 to 6 did not affect the abundance or subcellular distribution of Ser, or its internalization by the sending cell in the context of transactivation. A soluble form of EGF repeats 4 to 6 had no effect on Notch signaling in an in vivo assay, so this region was necessary but not sufficient to mediate cis-inhibition. In a competition assay using cultured fly S2 cells, Ser present on the same cell as Notch competed with Ser present on another cell for binding to Notch, but a Ser mutant lacking EGF repeat 6 was unable to compete in cis for binding to Notch. In many developmental contexts where Notch signaling plays a role, cells are initially developmentally equivalent and produce both receptor and ligand. Subsequent interactions between the cells lead to the emergence of sending and receiving cell types. These findings represent an important step in understanding cis-inhibition, which is likely to play a key role in this process. R. J. Fleming, K. Hori, A. Sen, G. V. Filloramo, J. M. Langer, R. A. Obar, S. Artavanis-Tsakonas, A. C. Maharaj-Best, An extracellular region of Serrate is essential for ligand-induced cis-inhibition of Notch signaling. Development 140, 2039–2049 (2013). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Abstract
Planting of olive (Olea europaea L.) tree due to salt and drought tolerance and ever green habit increasingly is considered in urban landscape in recent years. The low resistance to cold has been a major problem in using this tree in temperate and cold zones. So, determination of frost resistance cultivars is one of the important measures for use of this tree in urban landscape. To evaluate frost resistance of 15 olive cultivars and to compare the visual assessment and chlorophyll fluorescence methods, a factorial experiment was carried out using 7- year- old olive trees which were planted in randomized complete block design with 3 replications. In visual method, frost damage of winters 2007 and 2008 to plants (percentage of drying by scoring and percentage of leaf abscission) were measured. Results of this experiment showed that 'Amphisis' followed by 'Gorgan' and 'Shengeh' were tolerant and 'Kroneiki' and 'Rashid' were sensitive cultivars to low temperatures. In method of chlorophyll fluorescence, in July 2008 leave samples of each cultivar was gradually incubated in 0, -5, -10, -15 and -20 ° C for one hour at least. Then Fv/Fm value of each sample was measured with fluorescence spectrometer. Results indicated that 0 and -5 ° C had no damage on samples and all cultivars tolerated these temperatures (Fv/Fm> 0.83). When temperature reduced to -10 and -15 ° C the stress on plants increased and 'Rashid' showed the lowest Fv/Fm (0.243 and 0.001 respectively) and was the most frost sensitive. Decreasing temperature to -20 °C had no further significant effect on reduction of Fv/Fm index and showed no difference between cultivars. Based on this method, 'Shengeh', 'Gorgan' and 'Amphisis' were tolerant cultivars and 'Rashid', 'Spain', 'Manzanilla' and 'Kroneiki' were sensitive cultivars to low temperatures which confirmed the results of visual assessment.

Keywords: Chlorophyll fluorescence, Frost resistance, Olive, Visual assessment