This article focuses on the factors inhibiting a productive rethinking of the past in contemporary Lithuanian-Russian relations. The rethinking of the past is understood as a process facilitating the reconsideration of historical meanings through adjusting them to the expectations and values of the contemporary society. The author argues that in this process historical research — as an important tool for encouraging the co-existence of communities — should fulfil certain social functions. Having chosen the Lithuanian-Russian communication space as a case, the author emphasises the need to develop an interest in mutual knowledge of cultures of remembrance in this space. Outlining the strategies specific to the prevailing cultures of remembrance in contemporary Russia and Lithuania, the author addresses the issue of their proper relationship, as well as that of the appropriateness of historical policy. The criminalisation of certain evaluations of the past and the academic dialogue between historians are regarded as two opposite extremes of historical policy actually existing in the Lithuanian-Russian communication space. The author stresses that research into the values and interpretations of the past peculiar to certain social groups in both Lithuania and Russia may be considered as a basis for further development of the historical dialogue. It is assumed that such research may contribute to the improvement in the field of politics of history.


Despite the transnational growth of the prison industrial complex and the rapid expansion of the carceral state in the United States and beyond, violence against women in prisons has remained largely invisible. Reports from people inside prisons, amplified by activists on the outside and international human rights organizations documenting prison conditions, highlight rampant violations of human rights behind walls. The gendered nature of racism, which fuels the growth of the prison industrial complex, results in experiences of violence, including medical neglect, sexual abuse, lack of reproductive control, loss of parental rights, and the devastating effects of isolation, that manifest in particular ways in women's prisons. Advocates who are challenging conditions inside increasingly are connecting with activists across the globe and organizing their efforts to resist this violence in concert with a broader resistance to carcerality overall.


In this thesis we seek new solutions to the anisotropic Einstein field equations which are important in the study of highly dense stellar structures. We first adopt the approach used by Maharaj & Maartens (1989) to obtain an exact anisotropic solution in terms of elementary functions for a particular choice of the energy density. This class of solution contains the Maharaj & Maartens (1989) and Gokhroo & Mehra (1994) models as special cases. In addition, we obtain six other new solutions following the same approach for different choices of the energy density. All the solutions in this section reduce to one with the energy density profile f-L ex r-2 . Two new algorithms are generated, Algorithm A and Algorithm B, which produce a new anisotropic solution to the Einstein field equations from a given isotropic solution. For any new anisotropic solution generated with the help of these algorithms, the original isotropic seed solution is regained as a special case. Two examples of known isotropic solutions are used to demonstrate how Algorithm A and Algorithm B work, and to obtain new anisotropic solutions for the Einstein and de Sitter models. Anisotropic isot~ermal sphere models are generated given the corresponding isotropic (f-L ex r) solution of the Einstein field equations. Also, anisotropic interior Schwarzschild sphere models are found given the corresponding isotropic (f-L ex constant) solution of the field equations. The exact solutions and line elements are given in each case for both Algorithm A and Algorithm B. Note that the solutions have a simple form and are all expressible in terms of elementary functions. Plots for the anisotropic factor S = J3(Pr pJJ/2 (where Pr and Pl. are radial and tangential pressure respectively) are generated and these point to physically viable models.


Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) are a common way of gathering qualitative data in Aboriginal health services research; however there have been no studies on the question of whether they are appropriate research tools in such contexts, nor are there are specific guidelines available to ensure that FGDs are delivered to collect data in ways that are consistent with Aboriginal approaches to consultation, ownership and ways of knowing. Furthermore, there is a lack of clarity concerning the theoretical and methodological perspectives that could be operationalised by FGDs to gather data, guide analysis and interpretation in ways that are culturally appropriate, ethically sound and rigorous. We undertook a content analysis of Aboriginal health services research studies using FGDs to determine their use and elements that may provide insight into good practice. A framework is proposed to help guide future FGD research with Aboriginal people.


Letter from Carter Dalton to Linnet Moore in which he confesses that he forgot to "check your trunk and have cussed myself over and over for so doing." He tells her about a dam that washed away killing nine men in Austin, Texas. He asks Linnet's advice on answering a letter from a woman. He wants to keep her as a friend, but not encourage her to think he wants more from the relationship. He say that he is thinking about going "to the Territory" next summer.


While in the case of the Arab Spring the focus of research and debate was very much on the role of social media in enabling political change both during the uprisings and in their immediate aftermath, the impact of traditional national mass media and journalism on framing this political change has been less addressed. In this article, we investigate the role of Egyptian journalists in shaping Egypt's complex and fast-moving political transition. Based on a thematic analysis of in-depth interviews and a conceptual framework building on Christians et al.'s normative roles of the media, it can be concluded that the monitorial and facilitative roles, which were prevalent in the early stages of the post-Mubarak era, were quickly overturned in favor of a radical and collaborative role. Egyptian journalists working in private media thus demonized their political adversaries, mainly the Islamists, transforming this political 'other' into the ultimate enemy. At the same time, the new military regime was being revered and celebrated. This arguably contributed to further destabilize the fragile transition to democracy. It is furthermore concluded that for democracy to succeed in an Egyptian context, antagonistic political conflicts need to be transformed into agonistic ones both at the level of political culture and media culture.


In our fast-paced world of technology and conveniences, the biological origins of women's inequality can be forgotten. This book offers a richer understanding of gender inequality by explaining a key cause-women's reproductive and lactation patterns. Until about 1900, infants nursed every fifteen minutes on average for two years because very frequent suckling prevented pregnancy. The practice evolved because it maximized infant survival. If a forager child was born before its older sibling could take part in the daily food search, the older one died. This practice persisted until the modern era because until after the discovery of the germ theory of disease, human milk was the only food certain to be unspoiled. Lactation patterns excluded women from the activities that led to political leadership. During the twentieth century the ancient mode declined and women entered the labor market en masse. Joan Huber challenges feminists toward a richer understanding of biological origins of inequality-knowledge that can help women achieve greater equality today.


Enamel covers the tooth crown and is responsible for protecting the inner tissues of the teeth. It is thus clinically important to diagnose the anomalies in tooth enamel structures in the early stage for prevention and treatment. In this article, we report the epi-harmonic-generation-microscopic study of various abnormal enamel from the nature surface of human teeth. With a 1230 nm light source and with an epi-collection scheme, an imaging depth greater than 300 microm can be achieved. The contrast sources of THG and SHG in the abnormal enamel have been identified and verified by comparing the images from the sound enamel with those from white spot lesions, cracks, and the irradiated enamel. Besides the previously reported interprismatic space, THG is found to be contributed from cracks or the material inhomogeneities inside the enamel prisms; while SHG is attributed to the strain-induced breakage of the 6/m point group symmetry. Combined with the high 3D spatial resolution and no energy release during imaging, our study shows that the infrared-laser-based epi-harmonic generation microscopy can provide different contrasts to differentiate the abnormal enamel from sound enamel and could provide a valuable tool for in vivo monitoring of both morphological changes and strain status of hydroxyapatite crystals in the enamel without sectioning and staining.


We present a multiwavelength study of the OH megamaser galaxy IRAS16399−0937, based on new Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/Advanced Camera for Surveys F814W and Hα+[N ii] images and archive data from HST, Two Micron All Sky Survey, Spitzer, Herschel and the Very Large Array. This system has a double nucleus, whose northern (IRAS16399N) and southern (IRAS16399S) components have a projected separation of ∼6″ (3.4 kpc) and have previously been identified based on optical spectra as a low ionization nuclear emission line region (LINER) and starburst nucleus, respectively. The nuclei are embedded in a tidally distorted common envelope, in which star formation is mostly heavily obscured. The infrared spectrum is dominated by strong polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, but deep silicate and molecular absorption features are also present, and are strongest in the IRAS16399N nucleus. The 0.435–500 μm spectral energy distribution was fitted with a model including stellar, interstellar medium and active galactic nucleus (AGN) torus components using our new Markov Chain Monte Carlo code, clumpyDREAM. The results indicate that the IRAS16399N contains an AGN (Lbol ∼ 1044 erg s−1) deeply embedded in a quasi-spherical distribution of optically thick clumps with a covering fraction ≈1. We suggest that these clumps are the source of the OHM emission in IRAS16399−0937. The high torus covering fraction precludes AGN photoionization as the origin of the LINER spectrum, however, the spectrum is consistent with shocks (v ∼ 100–200 km s−1). We infer that the ∼108 M☉ black hole in IRAS16399N is accreting at a small fraction (∼1%) of its Eddington rate. The low accretion rate and modest nuclear star formation rates suggest that while the gas-rich major merger forming the IRAS16399−0937 system has triggered widespread star formation, the massive gas inflows expected from merger simulations have not yet fully developed.


We derive and implement boundary integral methods for axisymmetric liquid bridge problems in the presence of an axial electric field. The liquid bridge is bounded by solid parallel electrodes placed perpendicular to the axis of symmetry and held at a constant potential difference. The fluid is assumed to be nonconducting and has permittivity different from that of the passive surrounding medium. The problem reduces to the solution of two harmonic problems for the fluid and voltage potential inside the bridge and another harmonic problem for the voltage potential outside the bridge. The shape of the moving interface is determined by the imposition of stress, as well as kinematic and electric field boundary conditions, the former condition accounting for discontinuous electric stresses across the interface. We propose fast and highly accurate boundary integral methods based on fast summations of appropriate series representations of axisymmetric Green's functions in bounded geometries. We implement our method to calculate equilibrium shapes for electrified liquid bridges in the absence and presence of gravity. Such calculations appear in the literature using finite element methods, and our boundary integral approach is a fast and accurate alternative.


A central problem in case-based reasoning systems is that of salience: which features are important in determining similarity, and how might the closeness of situations be evaluated on the basis of their features. In this paper we use a graphical representation of a feature space that represents points in the space as nodes and links adjacent points by edges. This structure supports certain local reasoning within the feature space, allows the salience of features in particular situations to be learned over time, and provides a basis for predicting from situations of limited data.


First published in 1989, The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany has become an invaluable resource for scholars and practitioners of comparative, international, and constitutional law, as well as of German and European politics. The third edition of this renowned English-language reference has now been fully updated and significantly expanded to incorporate both previously omitted topics and recent decisions of the German Federal Constitutional Court. As in previous editions, Donald P. Kommers and Russell A. Miller's discussions of key developments in German constitutional law are augmented by elegantly translated excerpts from more than one hundred German judicial decisions.

Compared to previous editions of The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany , this third edition more closely tracks Germany's Basic Law and, therefore, the systematic approach reflected in the most-respected German constitutional law commentaries. Entirely new chapters address the relationship between German law and European and international law; social and economic rights, including the property and occupational rights cases that have emerged from Reunification; jurisprudence related to issues of equality, particularly gender equality; and the tension between Germany's counterterrorism efforts and its constitutional guarantees of liberty. Kommers and Miller have also updated existing chapters to address recent decisions involving human rights, federalism, European integration, and religious liberty.


Union wage effects is one of the most frequently investigated topics in empirical economics. The purpose of this thesis is to examine that through collective bargaining process wages could be determined which have their impact on productivity. The impact of the union/collective bargaining on productivity may be positive or negative depends on environment within which industrial relations system operates.

During the past decade, few research works discussing issues related to industrial relations in Pakistan have been done. However they deal with only one or two specific topics such as wage determination, collective bargaining, trade unionism or profile of the Pakistani worker (see Aslam, Sarwar, Irfan, etc., PIDE). But this thesis covers the important one of wage determination through collective bargaining and productivity growth. The impact of the union/collective bargaining on productivity may be positive or negative depends on environment within which industrial relations system operates. This research work is done for students who need to know the basic issues in employment / industrial relations in Pakistan. Human resources managers, trade unionists, trainers and public administrators will also find it a useful reference.

Chapter 1, (1.00 to 1.02), discusses the definition, concept, and models for examine employment/ industrial relations.

(1.1.1 to 22.214.171.124) elaborates on historical development and evolution of a tripartitc system in Pakistan and looks at the main participants in the tripartite system, employer, union, and government. The subtopics of this chapter discuss about, The Tripartite Gum Model, Role of The Employers, their true representative body, Employers' Federation Of Pakistan, its Profile, Unions, The Role of Unions, Purpose and Functions of a Trade Union, Types of Union , Labour Union in a Modem Capitalist Societies, Role of The Government,

Government and Employment Relations, and The Laws administered by The Ministry of Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis.

(22.214.171.124 to 184.108.40.206)deals with the environment within which Industrial Relations system operates, Industrial Relations System in Pakistan, Evolution of The Industrial Relations System in Pakistan , Industrial Relations Scenario in Pakistan and Scope of Collective Bargaining in Pakistan.

(1.1.10 to 1.1.14) has presented the Labor Policies and discussed in detail the Labour Policy, 1999 which is approved in 2002 , The concept of Good Employment Relations, Phases of developing Good Employment Relations, Benefits from Good Employment Relations and Structure to maintain Good Employment Relations.

(1.2.0 to 1.2.5) briefly discussed about Labour Force, Employment and Unemployment, Economic Growth and Employment and Characteristics of Labour Force in Pakistan. (1.3.00 to22.214.171.124 ) summarizes the main employment labor laws with which the participants must comply. Important ones are: West Pakistan Industrial and Commercial Employment, Factories Act,1934, Industrial Relations Ordinance, 1969, Minimum Wages Ordinance, 1961 , Payment of Wages Act, 1936, Provincial Employees' Social Security Oridinance,1965, Employees' Old-Age-Benefits Act,1976, and Companies Profits(Workers') Participation Act,1968. Chapter 2, reviews different models, explaining how to estimate Unions' effect on Workers' Productivity. These are: Models of Brown and Medoff, Clark, Naheed Aslam , Ehrenberg and William Boal.

Chapter 3, presented data of different listed companies on value added, fixed assets , man hours, and dummy variable for unionization.

Chapter 4, has discussed about the Structure and Description of The Basic Features of The Unionization Model for Pakistan. Four equations, have estimated the union's effect on workers' Productivity and then results of these four equations for pooled as well as for cross-section data have been presented and analysed.

Chapter 5, has presented the Conclusion and then following chapter 6 has discussed the suggestions.


CASE REPORT
A 64-year-old woman presented to our emergency department during the outbreak of the covid-19 emergency in Italy with syncope, anosmia, mild dyspnoea and atypical chest and dorsal pain. A chest CT scan showed an acute type B aortic dissection (ATBAD) and bilateral lung involvement with ground-glass opacity, compatible with interstitial pneumonia. Nasopharyngeal swabs resulted positive for SARS-CoV-2. For the persistence of chest pain, despite the analgesic therapy, we decided to treat her with a TEVAR. Patient's chest and back pain resolved during the first few days after the procedure. No surgical or respiratory complications occurred and the patient was discharged 14 days after surgery.

DISCUSSION
By performing the operation under local anesthesia, it was possible to limit both the staff inside the operatory room and droplet/aerosol release. Since we had to perform the operation in a hemodynamics room, thanks to the limited extension of the endoprosthesis and the good caliber of the right vertebral artery we were able to reduce the risk of spinal cord ischemia despite the lack of a revascularization of the left subclavian artery.

CONCLUSIONS
A minimally invasive total endovascular approach allows, through local anesthesia and percutaneous access, to avoid surgical cut down and orotracheal intubation. This, combined with a defined management protocol for infected patients, seems to be a reasonable way to perform endovascular aortic procedures in urgent setting, even in a SARSCoV- 2 positive patient.

KEY WORDS
COVID-19, Dissection, TEVAR.


Industrial jarosite is a waste product of the zinc industry. It is considered a serious environmental problem, due to the quantity produced and the mobile hazardous metals it contains. Over 50 million tons are already stored worldwide. The jarosite sludge autoclave treatment process described in this thesis is a technically and economically feasible alternative to storage, which is only a temporary solution.


Mambertiite, BiMo5+ 2.80O8(OH), is a new mineral identified in small vugs of quartz veins from Su Seinargiu, Sarroch, Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. It occurs as pale yellow {001} tabular crystals, up to 1 mm in length and few mm thick, with adamantine lustre. Mambertiite is brittle, with a conchoidal fracture. It is associated with ferrimolybdite, muscovite, quartz, sardignaite, and wulfenite. Electron microprobe data (wt% – mean of 12 spot analyses) are: Mo2O5 59.59, Bi2O3 36.96, WO3 2.03, H2Ocalc 1.48, sum 100.06. On the basis of 9 O atoms per formula unit, the empirical formula is Bi0.99(Mo5+2.74W0.05)Σ2.79O7.97(OH)1.03. Infrared spectra showed absorption bands consistent with the occurrence of OH− groups. Mambertiite is triclinic, space group ![Formula][1] , with a = 5.854(2), b = 9.050(3), c = 7.637(3) A, α = 112.85(1), β = 102.58(1), γ = 90.04(1)°, V = 362.3(2) A3, Z = 2. The crystal structure of mambertiite was solved and refined down to R 1 = 0.050 on the basis of 2019 observed [ F o > 4σ( F o)] reflections. It is composed by eight-fold coordinated Bi-centred polyhedra and five independent Mo-centred octahedra. Among the latter, two are completely occupied by molybdenum, whereas the remaining three are only partially occupied. Two kinds of ( ![Formula][2] ) layers occur in mambertiite, alternating along [ ![Formula][3] ]*: one is composed by Bi-centered polyhedra and the two partially occupied Mo4 and Mo5 sites, whereas the other is composed by the zigzag chains, running along c , formed by the fully occupied Mo1 and Mo2 sites, and the partially occupied Mo3 site. Mambertiite is structurally related to gelosaite, BiMo6+2O7(OH) · H2O; their relationships can be conveniently described through the OD theory. Mambertiite is the fourth known mineral with Bi and Mo as essential components. Its name honours the Italian mineral collector Marzio Mamberti (b. 1959) for his contribution to the knowledge of the Sardinian mineralogy. The mineral and its name have been approved by the IMA CNMNC (No. 2013–098).

 [1]: /embed/mml-math-1.gif
 [2]: /embed/mml-math-2.gif
 [3]: /embed/mml-math-3.gif


Global software development is rapidly becoming the norm for technology companies. Previous qualitative research suggests that multi-site development may increase the development cycle time. We use both survey data and data from the source code change management system to model the extent of delay in a multi-site software development organization, and explore several possible mechanisms for this delay. We also measure differences in same-site and cross-site communication patterns, and analyze the relationship of these variables to delay. Our results show that, compared to same-site work, cross-site work takes much longer and requires more people for work of equal size and complexity. We also report a strong relationship between delay in cross-site work and the degree to which remote colleagues are perceived to help out when workloads are heavy. We discuss the implications of our findings for collaboration technology for distributed software development.


This paper describes the first excavations into two Holocene Later Stone Age (LSA) deposits in southern Namaqualand. The limestone shelters afforded excellent preservation, and the LSA sites contained material similar in many respects to shelters in the Cederberg range to the south. Deposition at both sites was discontinuous with a mid-Holocene pulse in Buzz Shelter followed by contact-period deposits over a total depth of some 0.45 m. In Reception Shelter the 1.40 m deposit yielded a basal age in the fifth to eighth centuries BC with pottery and domestic cow contained within a strong pulse of occupation just above this. The deposit then reflects another significant pulse in the terminal Holocene. A basal age of c. 24 000 BC suggests Pleistocene occupation of the area. Significant observations at both sites are that ostrich eggshell beads remain relatively small throughout, although those at Reception Shelter are somewhat larger, and that the typical prehistoric signature continued right through the contact period. Artefacts ascribed to a late Holocene industry so far only recognised on coastal sites were also found.


ABSTRACTThis article assumes that the multi-stakeholder concept is a fiction that provides meaning to a disorderly world. However, the multi-stakeholder concept does not only represent reality, it also gives rise to expectations, objectives and benchmarks. A second assumption of this article, therefore, is that the multi-stakeholder concept is performative. To the extent that the actors in Internet governance identify with its tale of inclusion and bottom-up policymaking, they are struggling to achieve its goals including those that Yaron Ezrahi would call a 'publicly "believable impossibility"'. It is the effort of implementing the multi-stakeholder fiction which is at the centre of this article. Its performative power will be explored with regard to three common imaginaries: the imaginary of global representation, the democratisation of the transnational sphere and the possibility of improved outcomes. Two organisations, both of which strongly promote the multi-stakeholder approach, will serve as exampl...


This 150th anniversary of the Dred Scott decision presents the opportunity to assess whether the Supreme Court continues to rely on notions of states' rights doctrine to thwart civil rights initiatives. Particularly suspect are recent findings that Congress abused its Fourteenth Amendment Section 5 authority in passing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Violence Against Women's Act, and parts of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"). While those decisions by no means treat victims as sub-humans, in the way that Dred Scott did blacks, they display a knee jerk rejection against federal efforts to protect individual rights for the common good.This Article evaluates the extent to which congressional authority under the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, which were designed to overrule Dred Scott, extends to the protection of inalienable rights. The second part reflects on the universal rights Revolutionaries claimed were at the core of nationhood. That part also examines how the pragmatic, constitutional compromises they made for the sake of union sullied their achievements. The third part examines the extent to which Dred Scott distanced itself from the protection of universal rights that transcend state sovereignty. Part four discusses Reconstruction of the American conception of citizenship through both constitutional amendment and legislative initiatives. That section further considers how the Supreme Court undermined changes to the Constitution, gravitating back to the antebellum primacy of state authority over universally recognized rights. Part five discusses post-Reconstruction judicial interpretations of the Fourteenth Amendment. Part six then delves into some recent limitations on federal civil rights authority, which the Rehnquist Court predicated on state sovereignty, swinging the pendulum away from the Warren Court deference to legislative efforts on behalf of civil rights back to the Taney Court's narrow construction of federal powers.


Marijuana (Cannabis sativa L.) cultivation has proliferated in northwestern California since at least the mid-1990s. The environmental impacts associated with marijuana cultivation appear substantial, yet have been difficult to quantify, in part because cultivation is clandestine and often occurs on private property. To evaluate the impacts of water diversions at a watershed scale, we interpreted high-resolution aerial imagery to estimate the number of marijuana plants being cultivated in four watersheds in northwestern California, USA. Low-altitude aircraft flights and search warrants executed with law enforcement at cultivation sites in the region helped to validate assumptions used in aerial imagery interpretation. We estimated the water demand of marijuana irrigation and the potential effects water diversions could have on stream flow in the study watersheds. Our results indicate that water demand for marijuana cultivation has the potential to divert substantial portions of streamflow in the study watersheds, with an estimated flow reduction of up to 23% of the annual seven-day low flow in the least impacted of the study watersheds. Estimates from the other study watersheds indicate that water demand for marijuana cultivation exceeds streamflow during the low-flow period. In the most impacted study watersheds, diminished streamflow is likely to have lethal or sub-lethal effects on state-and federally-listed salmon and steelhead trout and to cause further decline of sensitive amphibian species.


There are ongoing obstacles in accurately assessing and effectively applying TPACK within online higher education contexts. In this study, we adapt the original TPACK constructs for application within online higher education, and share the results of a case study using this adapted analytical framework. This qualitative case study investigates and describes one experienced instructor's practice within a graduate-level online course. The instructor enacted a high-level of TPACK proficiency through combining content, pedagogy, and technology as well as masterfully using these knowledges within her online teaching practices. This research demonstrates one way the TPACK framework can be used as an analytical tool by researchers to investigate instructors' online teaching practices. In addition, the modified TPACK descriptions and evaluation criteria can be used to better assess TPACK and further support higher education faculty's online pedagogy development.


Self-reported data on sexual behaviors have been criticized to be unreliable. In recent studies, risky sexual behaviors have therefore been measured using biomarkers for curable sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Nevertheless, no previous research have tested how reliable such data are. In this paper, we first build an epidemiological model to assess the relative performance of biomarkers versus self-reported data. We then suggest an econometric strategy that combines both types of measures, biomarkers and self-reported data, to improve the estimation of correlates of risky sexual behaviors. Using the Demographic and Health Survey from Zambia, we calibrate the model and provide conditions under which self-reported data are a better proxy for risky sexual behaviors than biomarkers. In countries with low STIs prevalence, the biomarker has a higher probability of misclassification of risky behaviors than self-reported answers. Finally, we apply our estimation strategy to these data.


The 16th and 17th sessions of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child took place at the African Union Commission Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in November 2010 and March 2011, respectively. This article provides an overview of these sessions, together with the Civil Society Organisations Fora that preceded these sessions. These sessions featured significant developments in the work of the Committee. The first relates to a new collaboration between a network of five non-governmental organisations and the Committee to promote the work of this treaty body. Secondly, the Committee delivered its first communication, finding against the government of Kenya in regard to the right to nationality (amongst other rights) of Nubian children in Kenya. These two activities are major highlights for the Committee in the execution of its mandate. It is argued that, despite the challenges faced by the Committee, it is at the threshold of a new era through which it may be established as a significant regional human rights treaty body.


We are engaged in a study of a seafloor landslide off the coast of Santa Barbara, California. A large scar there remains from the Goleta slide, a well studied feature (1.51 km of failed material) that likely failed several thousand years ago. A smaller neighboring feature, the Gaviota slide (0.02 km of failed material), was probably triggered during the 1812 Santa Barbara earthquake. Our investigations started in 2004 with a chirp sonar survey. The survey revealed a relationship between a "crack" in the sediment propagating from the Gaviota slide's headwall and a thrust fault clearly seen in the subsurface layers. In the next phase of our project we are applying three new time-lapse seafloor geodetic techniques that vary in spatial and temporal resolution. One method uses optical fibers stretched and buried in the sediment to monitor creep. Each cable has an optical system that measures the absolute length of the stretched optical fiber with a precision of 1 mm every hour. The cables vary in length from 250 m to 750 m. A second system consists of an array of precise acoustic transponders on the seafloor interrogated by several buoyantly suspended command nodes. Offshore engineering tests of these reveal a precision of 5 mm over baselines up to 2 km. Finally, we are developing an AUV-borne precision mapping capability that promises to provide a monitor of seafloor shape changes that occur over tracklines of many kilometers in length with a precision goal of 10 cm. We are currently preparing these geodetic monitoring tools for deployment across a presumed future headwall near the Gaviota slide in a nested fashion to provide redundancy and a means to compare resolutions.


A compact blind oversampling data-recovery circuit was implemented by using a coarse data-recovery block and an add-drop first-in first out, and it was successfully applied to the universal serial bus (USB)2.0 high-speed packet data transmission. The proposed circuit recovered the serial input data by selecting the sampled data among the 5X oversampled data of a single data bit. It reduced the number of transistors by more than half and the lock time to zero, compared to the conventional blind oversampling data-recovery circuit using the de-multiplexing scheme for multibit-data. The proposed circuit was implemented with a 0.18-m CMOS process. It worked at the data rates ranging from 180 to 720 Mbps. The bit-error rate was measured to be less than with the PRBS data transmitted though a 5-m USB cable. The chip area and the measured power consumption for 480-Mbps operation were 0.185 and 8.2 mW, respectively.


Clay content of Peorian loess and of control sections in soils formed from this loess was determined along transects perpendicular to loess sources in southeastern Nebraska. Maps showing geographic loca tion of areas of equal clay content in the loess and in the control sec· tions were constructed to show relationships. In the parent loess, clay content and distance from source were significantly linear in relation ship. In coarser·textured loess relatively near the source, clay content of control sections of soils formed in the loess were also linear. In loess more distant from the source, little relationship between clay content in control sections and distance of parent loess from source was evi dent. The overall relationship between clay content of control sections and distance was quadratic. Apparently in more clayey loess farther from the source, pedogenic factors other than parent-material clay content dominates the reasons why clay content in loessial soils differs. The maps are useful in development of soil surveys within the study area of southeastern Nebraska.


Written by two specialist speech and language therapists, this book explains how voice and communication therapy can help transgender and non-binary people to find their authentic voice. It gives a thorough account of the process, from understanding the vocal mechanism through to assimilating new vocal skills and new vocal identity into everyday situations, and includes exercises to change pitch, resonance and intonation. Each chapter features insider accounts from trans and gender diverse individuals who have explored or are exploring voice and communication related to their gender expression, describing key aspects of their experience of creating and maintaining a voice that feels true to them.

This guide is an essential, comprehensive source for trans and non-binary individuals who are interested in working towards achieving a different, more authentic voice, and will be a valuable resource for speech and language therapists/pathologists, voice coaches and healthcare professionals.


The effects of low-carbohydrate diets ( ≤ 45% of energy from carbohydrates) versus low-fat diets ( ≤ 30% of energy from fat) on metabolic risk factors were compared in a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Twenty-three trials from multiple countries with a total of 2,788 participants met the predetermined eligibility criteria (from January 1, 1966 to June 20, 2011) and were included in the analyses. Data abstraction was conducted in duplicate by independent investigators. Both low-carbohydrate and low-fat diets lowered weight and improved metabolic risk factors. Compared with participants on low-fat diets, persons on low-carbohydrate diets experienced a slightly but statistically significantly lower reduction in total cholesterol (2.7 mg/dL; 95% confidence interval: 0.8, 4.6), and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (3.7 mg/dL; 95% confidence interval: 1.0, 6.4), but a greater increase in high density lipoprotein cholesterol (3.3 mg/dL; 95% confidence interval: 1.9, 4.7) and a greater de-crease in triglycerides ( − 14.0 mg/dL; 95% confidence interval: − 19.4, − 8.7). Reductions in body weight, waist circumference and other metabolic risk factors were not significantly different between the 2 diets. These findings suggest that low-carbohydrate diets are at least as effective as low-fat diets at reducing weight and improving metabolic risk factors. Low-carbohydrate diets could be recommended to obese persons with abnor-mal metabolic risk factors for the purpose of weight loss. Studies demonstrating long-term effects of low-carbohydrate diets on cardiovascular events were warranted.


People with mental health problems are at higher risk of physical health comorbidities and early mortality. A key risk factor for poor health outcomes is a lack of regular physical activity. Mental health services have typically responded by focusing on screening and promoting lifestyle programmes within secondary care mental health settings. The aim of this study was to better understand the barriers and enablers for Australian mental health consumers to participate in physical activity or exercise programmes from the perspectives of consumers and exercise practitioners. Interviews with 15 consumers experiencing serious mental health problems and five exercise practitioners were undertaken, followed by two focus groups (involving eight consumers and two exercise practitioners) to gain consensus on themes from the interviews, and codesign a set of recommendations for services to support and increase the engagement of mental health consumers in regular community-based exercise. Barriers that impacted on engagement in physical activity included: lack of social support, insufficient knowledge and information, difficulties with work/life balance, impact of physical and mental health issues, fear and lack of confidence, and financial cost. Enablers or motivators assisting engagement in community-based physical activity programmes included: social support, access to person-centred individualised exercise options, connection and a sense of belonging, and access to information and education. Recommendations and a checklist were developed to assist services to increase the involvement of mental health consumers in community-based exercise and to ensure that exercise practitioners and their employing organisations are adequately equipped to work with this population.


This research aims to analyze the influence of reference groups on shopping lifestyle and also the influence of shopping lifestyle and reference groups towards online preloved fashion's purchase intention. This research is based on the theory of factors that influence consumer behavior developed by Engel et al., (1994). In addition, shopping lifestyle is based on the theory developed by Seock (2003) and reference groups developed by Schiffman and Kanuk (2007) and Sumarwan (2011). The design of this research was a cross-sectional study with survey method answered by online open-close ended questionnaire and interview. This research involved 201 samples which were selected by using convenience sampling. There are two endogen latent variables in this research include shopping lifestyle (shopping enjoyment, brand consciousness, price consciousness, shopping confidence, in-home shopping tendency, quality and environmental consciousness) and reference groups. Whereas exogen latent variable is purchase intention. The data obtained were processed using Structural Equation Model (SEM) method through SmartPLS 3.0. Shopping lifestyle has a significant and positive influence towards purchase intention. The highest contribution derived from shopping confidence and the lowest contribution derived from environmental consciousness. Reference groups ha a significant and positive influence on shopping lifestyle. But, reference groups ha no influence on purchase intention because it could not give the strong effects both in using and buying process.Keywords: online preloved fashion, purchase intention, reference groups, shopping lifestyle


Although excluded from the scope of IFRS 3, business combinations under common control (BCUCCs) are widespread transactions that take place all over the world in different forms, often as a reorganization or restructuring among related parties. These transactions occur when entities are ultimately - not transiently - controlled by the same party/ies before and after the combination (which is neither a capital market nor an arm's length transaction and devoid of economic substance: indeed, no change of control is entailed). The scarce and fragmentary literature, not to mention the lack of clear consensus on the topic, contributes to the prevailing concerns on how to account for BCUCCs. In this complex context, the purpose of this work is to assess the possible and various accounting methods and identify the most suitable, accredited and consistent techniques.


BACKGROUND: For delivery of inhaled aerosols, vibrating mesh systems are more efficient than jet nebulizers are and do not require added gas flow. We assessed the reliability of a vibrating mesh nebulizer (Aerogen Solo, Aerogen Ltd, Galway Ireland) suitable for use in mechanical ventilation. METHODS: An initial observational study was performed with 6 nebulizers to determine run time and efficiency using normal saline and distilled water. Nebulizers were run until cessation of aerosol production was noted, with residual volume and run time recorded. Three controllers were used to assess the impact of the controller on nebulizer function. Following the observational study, a more detailed experimental protocol was performed using 20 nebulizers. For this analysis, 2 controllers were used, and time to cessation of aerosol production was noted. Gravimetric techniques were used to measure residual volume. Total nebulization time and residual volume were recorded. Failure was defined as premature cessation of aerosol production represented by residual volume of > 10% of the nebulizer charge. RESULTS: In the initial observational protocol, an unexpected sporadic failure rate was noted of 25% in 55 experimental runs. In the experimental protocol, a failure rate was noted of 30% in 40 experimental runs. Failed runs in the experimental protocol exhibited a wide range of retained volume averaging ± SD 36 ± 21.3% compared with 3.2 ± 1.5% (P = .001) in successful runs. Small but significant differences existed in nebulization time between controllers. CONCLUSIONS: Aerogen Solo nebulization was often randomly interrupted with a wide range of retained volumes.


The April 14 and 21 elections marked a momentous occasion—the first time one civilian government handed power to another. The elections were to be a milestone in Nigeria's history, which has been plagued by military rule, political instability, and poor governance. Instead of signaling a fresh hope for consolidation of democracy in the country, the elections were marred by flagrant fraud, allowing the ruling Peoples Democratic Party to maintain its power. The failure of the elections has been partly mitigated by the hope of judicial review of electoral malfeasance, the stabilizing ingenuity of ethno-regional power-sharing, and renewed national discussions of electoral reforms.


As the basis for selectively breeding rats from the N:NIH stock on the basis of differential development of tolerance to ethanol, chronic tolerance to the motor-disrupting effects of ethanol was examined. Male (n = 50) and female (n = 46) rats were administered 2.5 g/kg ethanol (i.p.) and the blood-ethanol concentration (BEC) at the time of regain of aerial righting reflex (RARR) was measured. The rats were then placed in inhalation chambers for 8 consecutive days and chronically exposed to ethanol. Thirty-two hours following the cessation of chronic ethanol exposure, the rats were again given a 2.5 g/kg dose of ethanol and the BEC at RARR was again measured. The amount of chronic ethanol tolerance developed, as measured by the difference in BEC at RARR prior to and after chronic ethanol administration, was widely and normally distributed for both male and female rats. Control rats, which did not receive chronic ethanol exposure between the two tests of RARR, did not show tolerance on this measure. A negative correlation (r = -0.46) was found between BEC at RARR prior to chronic ethanol treatment and the amount of chronic tolerance developed using the difference in BEC measure. This correlation suggested that the rats who were initially more sensitive to the effects of ethanol were more likely to display the greatest amount of chronic tolerance. However, using the residuals of the regression analysis of post-chronic ethanol BEC at RARR on prechronic BEC at RARR as an index of tolerance, this negative correlation was not found.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The emergence of social behaviors early in life is likely crucial for the development of mother–infant relationships. Some of these behaviors, such as the capacity of neonates to imitate adult facial movements, were previously thought to be limited to humans and perhaps the ape lineage. Here we report the behavioral responses of infant rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) to the following human facial and hand gestures: lip smacking, tongue protrusion, mouth opening, hand opening, and opening and closing of eyes (control condition). In the third day of life, infant macaques imitate lip smacking and tongue protrusion. On the first day of life, the model's mouth openings elicited a similar matched behavior (lip smacking) in the infants. These imitative responses are present at an early stage of development, but they are apparently confined to a narrow temporal window. Because lip smacking is a core gesture in face-to-face interactions in macaques, neonatal imitation may serve to tune infants' affiliative responses to the social world. Our findings provide a quantitative description of neonatal imitation in a nonhuman primate species and suggest that these imitative capacities, contrary to what was previously thought, are not unique to the ape and human lineage. We suggest that their evolutionary origins may be traced to affiliative gestures with communicative functions.


Context: Software testing is an integral part of software development life cycle. To improve the quality of software there are different testing approaches practiced over the years. Traditionally software testing is carried out by following approach focusing on prior test design. While exploratory testing is an approach to test software where the tester does not require to follow a specific test design. But rather, exploratory testing should facilitate the tester in testing the complete system comprehensively. Exploratory testing is seen by some, as a way to conduct simultaneous learning, test design and execution of tests simultaneously. While others point to exploratory testing enabling constant evolution of tests in an easy manner. Objectives: In this study we have investigated the field of exploratory testing in literature and industry to understand its perception and application. Further among the stated claims by practitioners, we selected defect detection efficiency and effectiveness claim for empirical validation through an experiment and survey. Methods: In this study, a systematic literature review, interview, experiment and survey are conducted. In the systematic review a number of article sources are used, including IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, Engineering village, Springer Link, Google Scholar and Books database. The systematic review also includes the gray literature published by the practitioners. The selection of studies was done using two-phase and tollgate approach. A total of 47 references were selected as primary studies. Eight semi-structures interviews were conducted with industry practitioners. Experiment had total 4 iterations and 70 subjects. The subjects were selected from industry and academia. The experimental design used was one factor with two interventions and one response variable. Results: Based on our findings from literature review and interviews, the understanding of exploratory testing has improved over the period but still lacks empirical investigation. The results drawn from experimental and survey data shows that exploratory testing proved effective and efficient in finding more critical bugs in limited time. Conclusions: We conclude that exploratory testing has a lot of potential and much more to offer to testing industry. But more empirical investigation and true facts and figures are required to motivate the testing industry to adapt it. We have reported a number of advantages, disadvantages, challenges and factors in this study. We further investigated the claims stated by the ET practitioners through an experiment and survey. The statistical tests were conducted on the collected data to draw meaningful results. We found statistical significance difference in number of true defects found. Using exploratory testing approach testers found far more defects than test case based testing. Although, there was no statistical significance difference between the two approaches for false defects.


A dominant hypothesis on how the brain processes numerical size proposes a spatial representation of numbers as positions on a "mental number line." An alternative hypothesis considers numbers as elements of a generalized representation of sensorimotor-related magnitude, which is not obligatorily spatial. Here we show that individuals' relative use of spatial and nonspatial representations has a cerebral counterpart in the structural organization of the posterior parietal cortex. Interindividual variability in the linkage between numbers and spatial responses (faster left responses to small numbers and right responses to large numbers; spatial–numerical association of response codes effect) correlated with variations in gray matter volume around the right precuneus. Conversely, differences in the disposition to link numbers to force production (faster soft responses to small numbers and hard responses to large numbers) were related to gray matter volume in the left angular gyrus. This finding suggests that numerical cognition relies on multiple mental representations of analogue magnitude using different neural implementations that are linked to individual traits.


Background: Helicobacter pylori is the leading risk factor for gastric cancer, yet only a fraction of infected individuals ever develop neoplasia. Methods: To identify potential predictive biomarkers, we assessed the association of 15 antibodies to H. pylori proteins and gastric cancer in a nested case–control study. Blood levels of antibodies were assessed using multiplex serology for 226 incident cases and 451 matched controls from the Shanghai Men's Health Study. ORs and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using conditional logistic regression. Results: Seropositivity to four (Omp, HP0305, HyuA, and HpaA) proteins was associated with a 1.5- to 3-fold increased risk for gastric cancer. When excluding cases diagnosed within 2 years of study enrollment, seropositivity to two additional proteins (CagA and VacA) showed significant associations with risk. Compared with individuals with three or fewer seropositive results to the six virulent proteins identified in this population, individuals with four to five seropositive results were at a 2-fold increased risk (OR, 2.08; 95% CI, 1.31–3.30) and individuals seropositive to all six proteins had a 3.5-fold increase in risk (OR, 3.49; 95% CI, 2.00–6.11) for gastric cancer. Among individuals diagnosed at least 2 years after study enrollment, these associations were even stronger (ORs, 2.79 and 4.16, respectively). Conclusions: Increasing number of seropositives to six H. pylori proteins may be a risk marker for distal gastric cancer in China. Impact: In a population with a 90% prevalence of CagA-positive H. pylori infection, assessment of additional virulent H. pylori proteins might better identify individuals at high risk for gastric cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 21(12); 2185–92. ©2012 AACR.


OBJECTIVE Hypoglycemie symptoms have been reported by more than half of pancreas transplantation (PTX) recipients. To better understand the mechanism for the hypoglycemia documented in some of these patients, we studied the glucose and pancreatic hormone response to Sustacal in patients with and without hypoglycemia following PTX. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Twelve patients with established, repeated episodes of hypoglycemia following PTX (hypo) were case-matched to PTX recipients without hypoglycemie symptoms (control; n = 7). On the day of the study, fasting glucose, free and total immunoreactive insulin (IR1), C-peptide, proinsulin, and glucagon were drawn (time 0); Sustacal was administered; and glucose, free and total IRI, and C-peptide were assayed at 15,30,45, 75,120,150,180, and 240 min. Based on the glucose response to Sustacal, the hypo group was further divided into those whose glucose rose after Sustacal (hypo-high; n = 7) and those with no increase in glucose from baseline concentration (hypo-flat; n = 5). RESULTS Before the administration of Sustacal, the hypo-high group had a lower fasting free/total IRI (0.26 ± 0.06, mean ± SE) than the hypo-flat (0.51 ± 0.02) or control (0.52 ± 0.04) groups (both P < 0.05 compared with hypo-high). The glucose response to Sustacal was greatest in the hypo-high group as defined. Area under the curve (AUC) for total IRI following Sustacal was also greatest in the hypo-high group (P < 0.05 compared with both control and hypo-flat groups), but there was no significant difference in free IRI AUC following Sustacal between the three groups. Two individuals developed hypoglycemia during the Sustacal challenge, both in the hypo-high group. CONCLUSIONS The lower fasting free/total IRI ratio and greater increase in glucose and total IRI in response to Sustacal in the hypo-high group compared with either the hypo-flat or control groups are consistent with the presence of significant quantities of anti-insulin antibodies in the hypo-high group. Because anti-insulin antibodies are, in turn, an established cause of episodic hypoglycemia, this study provides the first data to support the hypothesis that significant quantities of anti-insulin antibodies are a cause of symptomatic hypoglycemia following PTX in some recipients.


Imagine Wayne Rooney, Andy Murray and Mo Farah exchanging the glamour of their careers for the brutality and bloodshed of war - and quietly giving their lives for their country. Today the news would be dominated by the sacrifice of Britain's most famous sporting icons. A century ago the brightest sporting stars of their generation did just that: hundreds of thousands of them rallied to their country's colours: many never returned from the mechanised carnage of The Great War, making the ultimate sacrifice in 'the greatest game of all'. In this original and highly accessible book, Tim Tate reveals how sport itself was Britain's first and most vital recruiting sergeant in the fight against Germany and how sportsmen applied their unique talents on the battlefield, but also how a shared sporting spirit offered humane common ground amidst the horror of combat. Above all, For Team and Country and tells the remarkable and inspiring stories of the sportsmen whose prowess on the field was matched only by their bravery in the King's uniform.


During the second half of the nineteenth century, the medical profession in America began to transform itself from a motley group of practitioners--registering remarkably disparate levels of education, expertise, and credibility--into a cohesive and exclusive body, enjoying ever-increasing status and income and solidifying what social historians have termed their "professional sovereignty" within the larger culture. The concomitant appearance of numerous novels and stories preoccupied with the figure and the business of the doctor suggests that these texts from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries not only documented but also intervened in the professionalization of medicine. Scientific Methods juxtaposes literary texts with non-literary documents and with material culture in order to determine the nature and the extent of these interventions and to delineate competing narratives within the history of medicine. By interrogating a range of professional performances represented in American fiction between 1880 and 1940, Scientific Methods establishes a complementary narrative to accounts of medical professionalization constructed by social historians. Although social historians have managed to destabilize the master narratives of scientific progress elaborated by the physician-historians of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, their investigations into the history of professionalization still tend to center on physicians in conflict with each other and in thrall to science and technology, neglecting public perceptions of the professionalization process. Literary representations of this process, on the other hand, chart the ways in which popular understandings of the figure and the business of the physician arose and circulated, elucidating points of accord and disparity between professional ideologies and lived experience and exposing dynamics of power between doctors and patients. These fictions of medical professionalization both reflected and produced beliefs; thus they stand as essential tools for understanding the consolidation of authority around doctors. In addition, I utilize a diverse range of archival materials--from hospital records to WPA posters--to complicate my readings of these fictional engagements with the professionalization process and to illuminate the relationship of literature to other cultural domains. I argue that this textual sequence recasts the pursuit of professionalism and the gradual consolidation of cultural authority around doctors as a constant tension between the discipline of self--as the popularity of nineteenth-century "conduct books" for physicians demonstrates--and the discipline of Others. Lacking pervasive cultural authority at the end of the nineteenth century, doctors concentrated upon cultivating professional identity through professional "pantomimes" that simultaneously demonstrated their mastery of specialized knowledge and of middle-class social norms. Eventually, these professional "pantomimes" migrated from the stage of community practice to the arena of eminently consumable, ubiquitous popular entertainments such as radio programs and public art. This movement coordinates with an increasing amount of cultural authority and a decreasing need for individual self-discipline within the profession, and with doctors--a group overwhelmingly white, middle-class, and male--feeling freer than ever to visit spectacular and invasive violence upon the raced, class, and gendered bodies of Others. These disciplinary measures include the exclusion or removal of nonwhite male and white female practitioners from the medical profession, elaborated in Frank Norris's McTeague ; human experimentation by the single-minded "microbe hunters" on southern populations during the interwar period, romanticized in Sinclair Lewis's Arrowsmith ; and eugenic pressure exerted on poor women by the Depression-era discourses of public health, critiqued by Tillie Olsen's Yonnondio and Meridel LeSueur's The Girl . Yet far from reflecting an idealized vision of the medical professional, replete with cultural authority, these narrations of disciplinary events reveal doctors threatened by incursions by nonwhite and female practitioners, defeated by their own experimental protocols, and agitated by the unlimited reproduction of the working class.


For many years, nature has provided some of the most effective solutions to challenging problems that men have faced. Scientists and researchers have tried to mimic natures approach in order to improve and advance human`s life. In this study, the multistate structure of turtle shell is used to improve the impact resistance of out of autoclaved polymeric composite laminate. The optimally designed turtle shell possesses three layers: The exterior and interior which made out of cortical bone and the middle layer which consists of cancerous bone. This interesting structure provides high stiffness on the outside, especially under out if plane loadings while giving a possibility of small elastic deformations on the inner side. The shell comprises of a multiphase sandwich composite structure of functionally graded material having exterior bone layers and a foam-like bony network of closed-cells between the two exterior bone layers. This concept is used in designing an out of autoclaved woven composite in order to minimize the deformation and damage in the composite when subjected to low velocity impact loading. The progressive deformation and damage behavior of composite panels with polymer membrane impacted by drop-weights at four different velocities were investigated. The specimens tested were made of woven fiberglass fabric/ toughened epoxy (cured at 1200 C). During these low-velocity impact tests, the time-histories of impact-induced dynamic strains and impact forces were recorded. The damaged specimens were inspected visually. Test results revealed that the polymer membrane layer plays a significant role on the overall deformation and damage behavior of the composites under impact loading. These findings could provide fundamental understanding of structure-property phenomena and biological pathways to design efficient energy absorbing bio-inspired composite materials for various composite structures which are susceptible to the impact damage.


The number of biotechnology-based human therapeutic products in the late' stage pipeline along with the average cost to commercialize a biotech product has been steadily increasing over time. In addition, the biotech industry is facing unprecedented challenges in the form of a sagging global economy and rising regulatory expectations. Companies have to continue to evolve their approaches to be more efficient with respect to time, resources, and cost. This article describes some of the technologies that can help optimize time and cost of biopharmaecutical manufacturing.


The countries of the LAC region consistently fall below global averages on issues that affect the business climate and confidence in state institutions, which has a significant impact on their competitiveness. Corruption weakens economic and social development, as well as the credibility and legitimacy of democratic governance. This brochure describes the IDB's experience in strengthening the transparency and accountability of the countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region.


This thesis explores services users' and General Practitioners' (GPs') views regarding psychiatric diagnosis. These have been written within a literature review and research paper, and I have shared my own views regarding diagnosis within the critical review. The importance of sharing and hearing narratives have been highlighted throughout all three papers. The aim of the literature review was to synthesise the qualitative findings of studies which explored GPs' views of psychiatric diagnoses and the barriers they face in supporting clients with a diagnosis. This resulted in five overarching themes being identified: Reluctance to use the medical model; The language of diagnosis; Powerlessness; Threats to a GP's role; and Difficulties negotiating and accessing support. The findings highlighted the reluctance of GPs to use psychiatric diagnosis, and how increased support from other services would assist them in their role. The aim of the research paper was to conduct an in-depth exploration of service users' narratives regarding their journey to and following receiving a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Twelve individuals were interviewed and a narrative approach was used to analyse the interview data. The findings are presented as a shared story and involve five phases: Life before diagnosis; The journey to diagnosis; Receiving a diagnosis; Since diagnosis; and The future. The findings highlighted that participants found receiving a diagnosis brought them relief due to acknowledgement of their difficulties, but created additional challenges for them. Finally, the critical review discussed my reflections on my own stance of psychiatric diagnosis and how this has changed and been challenged over the course of the study. This is presented in four sections: Reflections upon my own stance of psychiatric diagnosis; Privileged position and power; Narrative approaches; and Future practice and research. This paper is based on the reflections I made throughout the research process.


The author's research and practical experience with municipal solid waste management have shown the urgent need for new thinking models. Present paradigms are stalemate. They do not allow for flexible approaches to solving an extremely dynamic problem. This paper discusses the basic flaws in present thinking models of residents, municipal administrators and even scholars. Fundamental arguments presented on municipal solid waste relate to nomenclature, destinations, definitions, logistics, social dynamics, social assistance programs, education and employment philosophies. In each case, the consequences of the stalemate are explained in terms of the unsustainable situation of constantly growing landfills. In sequence, proactive thinking models are presented and explained that lead to drastic reduction of landfill size. Several of these models have been tested successfully in small communities and are now available for scale-up. Although of necessity the arguments and models apply directly to Brazil, the basic ideas behind the reasoning may be extrapolated.


We report the development of a computational model for the growth of multicellular tissues based on cellular automata to study the tissue growth rates and population dynamics of multiple populations of proliferating and migrating cells. Cell migration is modeled using a Markov chain approach and each population of cells has its own division and motion characteristics based on experimental data. The extended model contains a number of parameters that permits the study and analysis of cell population dynamics. This allows us to explore their effects on the overall tissue growth rate and the frequency of cell-cell interactions due to collision and aggregation. In addition to a sequential implementation, we developed a parallel algorithm and implemented it on a Beowulf Cluster using the Message Passing Interface. We present the sequential and parallel simulation results and analyze the performance of the parallel algorithm in terms of speedup and efficiency.


This paper presents a study in using quality attribute scenarios to evaluate and improve the software architecture of a control system that plans and affects energy use on a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. The study confirmed for us the value of the quality attribute workshop approach in an industrial, automotive controls setting. This experience has helped us to understand how we might improve the effectiveness of this type of architectural design method within our company's technology development environment.


Speakers, in their everyday conversations, use language to talk about language. They may wonder about what words mean, to whom a name refers, whether a sentence is true. They may worry whether they have been clear, or correctly expressed what they meant to say. That speakers can make such inquiries implies a degree of access to the complex array of knowledge and skills underlying our ability to speak, and though this access is incomplete, we nevertheless can form on this basis beliefs about linguistic matters of considerable subtlety, about ourselves and others. It is beliefs of this sort--de lingua beliefs--that Robert Fiengo and Robert May explore in this book.Fiengo and May focus on the beliefs speakers have about the semantic values of linguistic expressions, exploring the genesis of these beliefs and the explanatory roles they play in how speakers use and understand language. Fiengo and May examine the resources available to speakers for generating linguistic beliefs, considering how linguistic theory characterizes the formal, syntactic identity of the expressions linguistic beliefs are about and how this affects speakers' beliefs about coreference. Their key insight is that the content of beliefs about semantic values can be taken as part of what we say by our utterances. This has direct consequences, examined in detail by Fiengo and May, for explaining the informativeness of identity statements and the possibilities for substitution in attributions of propositional attitudes, cases in which speakers' beliefs about coreference play a central role.


We introduce and experimentally validate a novel algorithmic model for physical human-robot interaction with hybrid dynamics. Our computational solutions are complementary to passive and compliant hardware. We focus on the case where human motion can be predicted. In these cases, the robot can select optimal motions in response to human actions and maximize safety. By representing the domain as a Markov Game, we enable the robot to not only react to the human but also to construct an infinite horizon optimal policy of actions and responses. Experimentally, we apply our model to simulated robot sword defense. Our approach enables a simulated 7-DOF robot arm to block known attacks in any sequence. We generate optimized blocks and apply game theoretic tools to choose the best action for the defender in the presence of an intelligent adversary.


Variable selection is an important and practical problem that arises in analysis of many high-dimensional datasets. Convex optimization procedures that arise from relaxing the NP-hard subset selection procedure, e.g., the Lasso or Dantzig selector, have become the focus of intense theoretical investigations. Although many efficient algorithms exist that solve these problems, finding a solution when the number of variables is large, e.g., several hundreds of thousands in problems arising in genome-wide association analysis, is still computationally challenging. A practical solution for these high-dimensional problems is marginal regression, where the output is regressed on each variable separately. We investigate theoretical properties of marginal regression in a multitask framework. Our contribution include: i) sharp analysis for marginal regression in a single task setting with random design, ii) sufficient conditions for the multitask screening to select the relevant variables, iii) a lower bound on the Hamming distance convergence for multitask variable selection problems. A simulation study further demonstrates the performance of marginal regression.


This paper uses the European Community Household Panel study (ECHP) to profile labour market experiences in the European Union. Cross-sectional snapshots of labour markets miss out on part of the range of transitions between employment and non-employment. Panel data allows a more accurate assessment of the degree to which experience of unemployment and household work poverty are shared or concentrated among sections of national populations. Indeed, we find that the proportion of months which individuals and which all working age adult members of households spent in unemployment accounts for some variations in labour market experiences. This paper demonstrates the value of focusing on transitions between employment and non-employment (as opposed to tracking transitions in and out of unemployment) when examining the impact of the flexible labour market on earnings and poverty. We also examine the consistency of individual employment histories, and propose strategies for dealing with inconsistencies in information offered by respondents.


Objectives There are few quantitative studies on the effect of relatively low benzene concentrations on risks of specific lymphohaematopoietic cancer subtypes. Three nested case-control studies among petroleum workers in Australia, Canada and the UK have been updated and pooled to provide greater precision. Methods To improve disease subtype classification, pathology records were obtained; two pathologists reviewed these and classified every case according to traditional and WHO classification schemes. Quantitative exposure estimates were also compared across studies to ensure that any differences in these estimates were justified. Statistical analyses employed conditional logistic regression models with flexible penalised cubic regression spline components. Results Updates identified 170 additional cases giving a total of 370, sufficient for separate analyses by leukaemia subtypes, myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and myeloproliferative disease (MPD). Review of source records by pathologists resulted in changes to the underlying disease subtypes for certain leukemia cases; pre-existing diseases such as MDS were identified; secondary polycythemia cases were identified and excluded. Risks for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) tended to increase as categorical benzene exposure increased when pooling the original data from the previously published studies using both the original and revised exposure assessment. Dose-response results from the updated pooled data for MDS, MPD, AML and chronic myeloid leukemia, and chronic lymphoid leukemia will be presented from the updated dataset. Conclusions This pooled study benefited from careful reconsideration of benzene exposure estimates and disease classification procedures, improving the precision of risk estimates of benzene exposure for leukemia and other disease subtypes.


Abstract Penguins are a monophyletic group in which many species are found breeding sympatrically, raising questions regarding how these species coexist successfully. Here, the isotopic niche of three sympatric pygoscelid penguin species was investigated at Powell Island, South Orkney Islands, during two breeding seasons (austral summers 2013–2014 and 2015–2016). Measurements of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope ratios were obtained from blood (adults) or feather (chicks) samples collected from Adélie Pygoscelis adeliae, chinstrap P. antarctica, and gentoo P. papua penguins. Isotopic niche regions (a proxy for the realized trophic niches) were computed to provide estimates of the trophic niche width of the studied species during the breeding season. The isotopic niche regions of adults of all three species were similar, but gentoo chicks had noticeably wider isotopic niches than the chicks of the other two species. Moderate to strong overlap in isotopic niche among species was found during each breeding season and for both age groups, suggesting that the potential for competition for shared food sources was similar during the two study years, although the actual level of competition could not be determined owing to the lack of data on resource abundance. Clear interannual shifts in isotopic niche were seen in all three species, though of lower amplitude for adult chinstrap penguins. These shifts were due to variation in carbon, but not nitrogen, isotopic ratios, which could indicate either a change in isotopic signature of their prey or a switch to an alternative food web. The main conclusions of this study are that (1) there is a partial overlap in the isotopic niches of these three congeneric species and that (2) they responded similarly to changes that likely occurred at the base of their food chain between the 2 years of the study.


The Water Vision is based on ideas from The Netherlands which promote communication with the public on key water related issues in a local authority area. A Water Vision for Johnstone was developed in Renfrewshire, Scotland where serious flooding has occurred in the past and new, predominantly non-structural approaches to surface water management were demanded. The paper outlines the development of a 'Water Vision for Johnstone' which became a key outcome of the Interreg III B project 'Urban Water'. The Water Toets (Assessments) are statutory procedures in the Netherlands which come into play from the concept stage of developments onwards to full implementation. They are undertaken jointly on behalf of the spatial planning authority and the water authorities to evaluate the impact of development on the water network. In contrast, the Water Vision is a less well-defined process to identify community needs and aspirations but in many areas the vision is essential to support the Water Toets. The Water Vision is initiated by planning officers from the municipalities asking very basic questions of their communities about what they required of the water network. It was felt that adopting such a proactive approach where virtually any question about water bodies and drainage infrastructure could be asked, would not be practicable in the UK and it was decided to assemble information about water issues in the area, the agencies involved and potential ways forward, before approaching the public. Johnstone was selected as a test area as it was felt that this locality included many of the water related problems that can be found throughout Renfrewshire. Key water issues were identified and a range of possible solutions provided. Problems, solutions and organisations responsible for different aspects of the water network are described in the document, using images and plans to facilitate the public awareness. Normally the man in the street would not be expected to be as familiar with the nature of water-related problems as the general public in the Netherlands. The Water Vision is yet to go to public consultation as it is currently primarily a planning tool in which council processes are embedded. However, it is planned that workshops including all key stakeholders involved in water management will be held. Those bodies currently responsible for water management will then be encouraged to discuss the various options and opportunities available in a creative and integrated manner. By working together as a team in addressing water related issues it will be possible to develop a vision for the future that better assists the public in moving forward together.


Shyness and social phobia will affect one in twenty people and can prevent those suffering from leading their lives to the full. In this supportive and informative guide, psychologists Crozier and Alden explore the reason and meaning behind social anxiety and consider the various treatments on offer; including medication and cognitive-behavioural therapy. Supported by case studies and the latest in psychological research and practice, the authors distinguish between shyness and the debilitating effects of social phobia in refreshingly relatable terms. Presenting up-to-date information on the methods people are using to overcome their difficulties and giving an objective appraisal of their effectiveness and limitations, this book is an invaluable resource for those trying to understand their own anxieties or the anxieties of others.


The 19th season of ABC's The Bachelor stars Chris Soules, an Iowa farmer who is pursuing a wife. Soules appears to exhibit all the qualities of a gentleman farmer desired by the contestants: good looks, kindness, strong family values, and courteous manners. However, research of previous reality television programs has concluded negative views of agricultural lifestyles typically are present. The Bachelor aired during prime-time television hours and exposed millions of viewers to agricultural imagery, which is why an analysis of this season is important to agricultural communicators. This qualitative discourse analysis examines the representation of agriculture and rural communities through selected videos and episodes of The Bachelor that show Soules and the bachelorettes in agriculture-related settings. Previous research indicates entertainment media have impacted audience's perceptions of agriculture and reality television programming is adept at perpetuating stereotypes. Repeated exposure to stereotypes through media representation causes viewers to absorb those images into their social reality and, in turn, impacts their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors toward the subject of those stereotypes. The Bachelor Season 19 contains both positive and negative agricultural stereotypes, including isolated small-town life, hard-working farmers, and "country" as a personality type. Farm-centric content is used to elicit laughs and to build romantic tension with the effect of minimizing the importance of agriculture. The researchers plan further investigation of the perceptual effects of the program's televised content and the related social-media conversation surrounding "Prince Farming."


Using an experimental approach, this chapter tackles the endogeneity problem of leader effects and disentangles the relationship between political and apolitical factors in the formation of judgments on political leaders: to what extent are evaluations of leaders the product of political considerations and to what extent are they solely based on their character traits? A second objective of the chapter is to analyse the institutional effects of parliamentary and presidential elections on the influence of character assessments on vote choices. The results of three experiments conducted in France, Germany, and Sweden suggest that perceptions of character traits are heavily influenced by the political assessments of candidates. Supposedly apolitical evaluations of political leaders will then often have a political foundation. In addition, the experiments revealed an institutional effect indicating a stronger influence of leader traits in presidential elections than in parliamentary elections.


This paper analyses the nature of knowledge spillovers from research and development (R&D) in the field of liquid crystal display technology by estimating the impact of inventors' changing organizational and collaborative affiliations on the probability of citations in US patents filed between 1976?1995, while controlling for geographic localization effects. It is argued that technology policy towards a particular industry must take the role of inventors' mobility in facilitating the flow of ideas across space and innovating organizations into account. Policy implications for the display industry are discussed against the background of previous experiences with government-sponsored R&D collaborations.


A significant fraction (30 per cent) of well-localized short gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs) lack a coincident host galaxy. This leads to two main scenarios: i) that the progenitor system merged outside of the visible light of its host, or ii) that the sGRB resided within a faint and distant galaxy that was not detected by follow-up observations. Discriminating between these scenarios has important implications for constraining the formation channels of neutron star mergers, the rate and environments of gravitational wave sources, and the production of heavy elements in the Universe. In this work, we present the results of our observing campaign targeted at 31 sGRBs that lack a putative host galaxy. Our study effectively doubles the sample of well-studied sGRB host galaxies, now totaling 72 events of which $28{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ lack a coincident host to deep limits (r ≳ 26 or F110W ≳ 27 AB mag), and represents the largest homogeneously selected catalog of sGRB offsets to date. We find that 70 per cent of sub-arcsecond localized sGRBs occur within 10 kpc of their host's nucleus, with a median projected physical offset of 5.6 kpc. Using this larger population, we discover an apparent redshift evolution in their locations: bursts at low-z occur at 2 × larger offsets compared to those at z > 0.5. This evolution could be due to a physical evolution of the host galaxies themselves or a bias against faint high-z galaxies. Furthermore, we discover a sample of hostless sGRBs at z ≳ 1 that are indicative of a larger high-z population, constraining the redshift distribution and disfavoring lognormal delay time models.


A strong case can be made that the cognitive system is designed for guiding action, not, for example, symbol manipulation. I review empirical work demonstrating the link between action and cognition with special attention to the processes of language comprehension. Next, I sketch an embodied cognition framework for integrating work on language understanding with a more general approach to cognition and action. This general approach considers contributions to action of bodily states, emotions, social and cultural processes, and learning within a framework that generates a dynamic system. This framework is used to consider the notion of distributed cognition and the prospects that technology might induce substantial changes in cognition. My assessment is that such changes are unlikely.


This article discusses three asymmetries in ditransitivesquantifier scope, nominalizations, and idiomsand argues that an asymmetric theory like that advocated by Marantz (1993) and Bruening (2001) is correct. A symmetric theory like that proposed by Harley (1997, 2002) cannot account for the asymmetries. The article also proposes a complete theory of idiom formation based on selection. It also proposes a formal semantics for double object constructions that includes a mechanism for composing complex predicates. This semantics can account for the different readings of again and other modifiers, and can also be extended to nonalternating verbs like deny, spare, envy, and cost, with correct predictions about their behavior.


The oxidation of ammonia to nitrogen by selective catalytic oxidation (NH3-SCO) over a bimetallic CuO/CeO2 nanoparticle catalyst at temperatures between 423 and 673K. A bimetallic CuO/CeO2 nanoparticle catalyst was prepared by co-precipitation method at molar ratio of 6:4. This study also considers how the concentration of influent NH3 (C0 = 800 ppm), the space velocity (GHSV = 92000/hr), the relative humidity (RH = 12%) and the concentration of oxygen (O2 = 4%) affect the operational stability and the capacity for removing NH3. The catalysts were characterized before and after reaction using EDX, BET, ATR-FTIR, PSA and TEM. The catalytic performance show that the ammonia was removed by oxidation in the presence of bimetallic CuO/CeO2 nanoparticle catalyst, and around 98% at complete NH3 reduction was achieved, and a high selectivity toward N2 during catalytic oxidation over the catalyst at 673K with an oxygen content of 4.0%. Moreover, the effect of the reaction temperature on the removal of NH3 in the gaseous phase was also monitored at a gas hourly space velocity of under 92000/hr.


Objective: We report our experience with hand-assisted laparoscopic nephroureterectomy (HALN) for upper urinary tract transitional cell carcinoma and compare our results with a contemporary series of open nephroureterectomy (ON) performed at our institution. Methods: Between August 1996 and May 2003, 90 patients underwent nephroureterectomy for upper-tract transitional cell carcinoma (TCC). Thirty-eight patients underwent HALN, while 52 had an ON. End-points of comparison included operative time, estimated blood loss (EBL), intraoperative and postoperative complications, length of hospital stay, pathologic grade and stage of tumor, and tumor recurrence. Results: The mean patient age was 72.3 and 70.6 years in the ON and HALN groups, respectively. Mean operative duration was 243 minutes (ON) and 244 minutes (HALN), with an EBL of 478mL in the open group versus 191mL in the hand-assisted group (P<0.001). No intraoperative complications occurred, but postoperative complications occurred in 4% and 11% of the ON and HALN groups, respectively (P=0.21). The mean hospital duration was 7.1 days (ON) versus 4.6 days (HALN) (P<0.01). No difference existed in the pathologic grade or stage distribution of urothelial tumors between the 2 groups. The mean follow-up was 51.0 months in the ON group and 31.7 months in the HALN group. Recurrence of urothelial carcinoma occurred in 50% of patients who underwent ON and 40% treated by HALN (P=0.38) at a median interval of 9.1 and 7.7 months, respectively, after surgery. Conclusion: Hand-assisted laparoscopic nephroureterectomy is an effective modality for the treatment of upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma. Patients benefited from less intraoperative blood loss and a shorter hospitalization with an equivalent intermediate-term oncologic outcome compared with that of the open approach.


Against the background of a changing landscape of trade and investment governance in the 21st century, characterised by the proliferation of deep preferential trade agreements (PTAs), this paper econometrically tests the importance of global value chain trade and regulatory differences in explaining the likelihood of a country pair to include an (enforceable) investment provision in the PTA. The spatial probit analysis, based on Bayesian Monte Carlo Markov Chain simulation, reveals that higher production network trade and strongly differing legal frameworks are indeed associated with a higher likelihood of including (enforceable) investment provisions. This is true even when controlling for interdependence between countries and conducting a variety of sensitivity checks, underscoring the importance of deep integration in the context of global value chains. However, when excluding EU countries from the sample, investment coverage and enforceability is rather driven by positive spatial interdependence between countries, raising the question whether the focus on global value chain trade and regulatory differences is something characteristic of EU trade policy making.


Base on high cost in coagulant for treating both domestic and industrial water in the recent time. There is need to identify cheaper and efficient methods of removing contaminant as the demand for clean water increases. A study was carried out to investigate the use of locally sourced Kaolinite clay from Okefomo Agbarigidoma, Ilorin south Local Government of Kwara state, for the production of aluminum sulphate using sulphuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ) solution. The clay sample was beneficiated and calcined at 700 o C for 7 h to obtain meta-kaolin, then later leached using sulphuric acid. The effect of leaching temperature (25-100 o C),period of activation (10-120 minutes),acid concentration(1-6M),particle sizes(50-200μm),acid to clay weight ratio on the leaching were investigated. The optimum leaching conditions for the calcined Kaolin clay were found to be particle size 100μm, acid concentration 5M, leaching temperature 110 o C and leaching time of 90 min. Under optimized condition 68.75% (w/w) aluminum sulphate (alum) was extracted. The result showed that sulphuric acid could be used on a large scale to extract alum from Kaolin clay. The extract alum showed similar structure and physical characteristics compared with commercial alum. A dosage of 38mg/L of the extract alum show effective coagulant properties with a great potential of treating Industrial water. Keywords: Clay, Calcinations, Kaolin, Sulphuric acid, Aluminum sulphate, Alum


Decision-making criteria to accurately predict nitrogen (N) rates in corn (Zea mays L.) would greatly benefit canopy sensor-guided variable rate N (VRN) management with positive implications for water quality. The objectives of this study were to measure corn yield response to VRN applied at the midvegetative corn growth stage and compare yield and agronomic efficiency (AE) between a one-time spring-N application (preplant or early sidedress) and two VRN management strategies, split-N (VRNS) and rescue-N (VRNR). Field sites located across Iowa received spring-N fertilizer at six application rates, with additional N potentially applied with each VRN spring-N rate and for the VRNS and VRNR strategies at the V10 growth stage based on canopy sensing. Drought conditions were evident during 2012 and 2013 in Iowa, which resulted in reduced corn yield and requirement for N fertilizer at many site-years. The VRN with 0 and 56 kg N ha−1 (50 lb N ac−1) applied in the spring was most closely aligned with calculated economic optimum N rate and AE. The VRNS and VRNR strategies applied more N than was needed, compared to spring-N only. Canopy sensors did not detect adequate to excess N, and therefore N applied prior to VRN application should be part of sensing-based algorithm criteria. Mean corn yield with the soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.)–corn rotation was not maintained with VRN when no spring-N was applied. Yield comparison showed no differences between spring-N, VRNS, and VRNR for both rotations. However, the greatest AE was achieved with spring-N and the VRNS strategy in the soybean–corn rotation. Weather events that occur during and after canopy sensing and VRN application remain an important factor for successful corn yield response to N rate and timing, and should be considered with canopy sensor VRN. Results from this study provide feedback on how to translate remote sensing data into VRN management.


Past critiques of the social sciences focused primarily on the identity of the researcher and his or her relationship with the 'subject' Indigenous person, but over time more sophisticated and practical approaches have emerged related to participantfocused methodologies and design. More specifically, past research involving Indigenous people has been criticised as inherently biased and disempowering (Henry et al 2004; Davey and Day 2008; Kidman 2007; Sherwood 2010). Recent responses that seek to improve all forms of research practice involving Indigenous people in Australia and internationally, include funding for Indigenous-specific research institutes, dedicated funding for Indigenous academics and research networks, and ethical guidelines. Some of the most interesting and substantial Indigenous-led or informed research that has emerged in the past 20 years has often related to health, although such innovative approaches remain under-developed in the criminological domain. Today, Indigenous researchers argue the focus should be on working with Indigenous people who hold the knowledge and expertise of their circumstances past and present, and on positive change (Smith 1999; Sherwood 2010).


Accurate modeling of the energy balance of a snowpack requires good estimates of the snow surface temperature. The snow surface temperature allows a balance between atmospheric heat fluxes and the conductive flux into the snowpack. While the dependency of atmospheric fluxes on surface temperature is reasonably well understood and parameterized, conduction of heat from the snow surface into the snowpack depends on a complex history of previous heat exchanges and surface temperatures and can be somewhat more difficult to model. A variety of schemes ranging from multiplayer finite difference models to simple approximations based on air temperature exist to estimate snow surface temperatures and conductive fluxes. Previous research has suggested that single layer models are incapable of dealing with the complexity of the heat flow calculations within a snowpack. In this paper, we explore the idea of describing heat fluxes into the snowpack based on knowledge of the diurnal forcing. We examine observations of snow temperatures within a snowpack in detail and compare heat fluxes estimated from a linear equilibrium approach, a force restore approach, and a modification of the forcerestore approach that estimates the effects of lower frequency temperature variations on the surface heat flux. The modified force restore model shows the best agreement with observations.


On September 27, 2016, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit handed an important victory to the Federal Trade Commission and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in a closely watched hospital merger case. The decision provides clear guidance on the appropriate tests for determining geographic markets in hospital merger cases, while also suggesting that efficiencies claimed in many hospital transactions may face increased scrutiny in future cases.