This thesis is written with a view to incorporating Aboriginal oral history processes which insist upon beginning at the beginning: at the birth of the concept of self-determination. The thesis then traces the growing of international awareness of human rights beginning with the powerful emergence of notions of the Rights of Man in 1789, pausing briefly to outline the effects of those notions in relation to the European revolutions, moving forward to the effects of self-determination on the world during the two World Wars, touching upon the Versailles Conference (1919) and the impact of the conference on international understanding of self-determination and its potential implementation at that time in history. The thesis then takes an aside into the emergence of an international discourse on the definition of self-determination, including the United Nations attempts to support the growth of self-determination for all peoples and culminating in the end of colonialism and the eventual resulting realisation that Indigenous peoples' also have a right to claim self-determination. A section of the thesis highlights the empowerment of Indigenous peoples to outline their own distinctive self-determination aspirations resulting in the formulation and international acceptance of the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The final chapters of the thesis focus on the aspirations of Aboriginal Australians, Australian government responses to those aspirations and the degree of difficulty Australian Aborigines (inclusive of Torres Strait Islanders) face in their respective attempts to maintain sovereignty and self-determination rights in view of government mechanisms which have proven to be consistently racist, xenophobic and dismissive of Aboriginal rights and aspirations. Finally, a brief comparison is made of Indigenous self-determination achievements in Canada, the USA and New Zealand as a means to highlight the unnecessary denial of Aboriginal rights in Australia. Posing the question that if other nations can afford inalienable Indigenous rights it must be asked why Australia consistently fails to achieve similar advances in ensuring the human rights of Australian Aborigines. In effect, this thesis argues that government support of Indigenous self-determination in Australia is largely rhetorical.


Abstract. The efficiency of the ocean's biological carbon pump (BCPeff – here the product of particle export and transfer efficiencies) plays a key role in the air–sea partitioning of CO2. Despite its importance in the global carbon cycle, the biological processes that control BCPeff are poorly known. We investigate the potential role that zooplankton play in the biological carbon pump using both in situ observations and model output. Observed and modelled estimates of fast, slow, and total sinking fluxes are presented from three oceanic sites: the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean, the temperate North Atlantic, and the equatorial Pacific oxygen minimum zone (OMZ). We find that observed particle export efficiency is inversely related to primary production likely due to zooplankton grazing, in direct contrast to the model estimates. The model and observations show strongest agreement in remineralization coefficients and BCPeff at the OMZ site where zooplankton processing of particles in the mesopelagic zone is thought to be low. As the model has limited representation of zooplankton-mediated remineralization processes, we suggest that these results point to the importance of zooplankton in setting BCPeff, including particle grazing and fragmentation, and the effect of diel vertical migration. We suggest that improving parameterizations of zooplankton processes may increase the fidelity of biogeochemical model estimates of the biological carbon pump. Future changes in climate such as the expansion of OMZs may decrease the role of zooplankton in the biological carbon pump globally, hence increasing its efficiency.


This paper presents a simple model of the innovations that result from face-to-face communication and mutual learning in upstream-downstream relations. To examine the framework, we empirically investigate the impact of mutual knowledge exchanges on product and process innovation using a survey of manufacturing firms in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Evidence from interconnected firms in developing economies suggests that firms with mutual exchanges between engineers and customers achieved product innovations with new technologies and new markets. However, this is not true for simple improvement of products or process innovation. Mutual exchanges with engineers can be expected to play an important role in the case of costly innovation and in situations unknown situation to the firms.


The Book of Souls is James Oswald's second electrifying thriller in the Detective Inspector McLean series. Every year for ten years, a young woman's body was found in Edinburgh at Christmas time: naked, throat slit, body washed clean. Ten years, ten women. The final victim, Kirsty Summers, was Detective Constable Tony McLean's fiancee. But the Christmas Killer made a mistake. In a cellar under a shop, McLean found a torture chamber and put an end to the brutal killing spree. Twelve years later, and a fellow prisoner has just murdered the incarcerated Christmas Killer. But with the arrival of the festive season comes a body. A young woman: naked, washed, her throat cut. Is this a copycat killer? Was the wrong man behind bars all this time? Or is there a more sinister, frightening explanation? McLean must revisit the most disturbing case of his life and discover what he missed before the killer strikes again...The Book of Souls is the second in the Detective Inspector Mclean series. The first was Natural Causes and the upcoming third will be called The Hangman's Song. Fans of Ian Rankin, Peter James and Stuart McBride will love James Oswald's work. Praise for James Oswald: "A star of Scotland's burgeoning crime fiction scene." (Daily Record). "Crime fiction's next big thing." (The Sunday Telegraph). "Literary sensation...James overnight success has drawn comparisons with the meteoric rise of EL James and her Fifty Shades of Grey series." (Daily Mail). "Fifty Shades of Hay." (The Times). "Oswald is among the leaders in the new batch of excellent Scottish crime writers." (Daily Mail). "The new Ian Rankin." (Daily Record). "The hallmarks of Val McDermid or Ian Rankin: it's dark, violent, noirish." (The Herald). "A good read." (The Times). "An excellent start to what promises to be a fine series." (Guardian).


The post-communist transitions in Europe are both economic and political reforms. Experiences with the economic reforms and attitudes about them might undermine support for the democratic reforms, a possible contradiction embedded in post-communist transitions. We examined first trends in support for the market and democratic reforms in the Czech Republic with eleven national surveys from 1990 to 1998. We then asked if respondents' economic experiences and their attitudes about the market reforms were associated with their support for democracy. Market support was measured by a pro-market index. A pro-democracy index, opposition to strong-hand government, and a political orientation toward the right measured support for the political reforms. Trends in market support and those for political reform are somewhat different. Support for the market declined over time as the Czechs passed from one phase of the reforms to another, particularly toward the end of the survey period. Support for the political reforms either remained stable after the first phase or it, too, dipped toward the end of the survey period, depending on the measure. Next, we found in regression analyses that respondents' economic experiences predicted their support for the market reforms and both predicted their support for the political reforms. Economic strain and insecurity and low support for market reforms did undermine support for democracy, even after controlling for demographic characteristics and time


Why do people start new online communities? Previous research has studied what helps communities to grow and what motivates contributors, but the reasons that people create new communities in the first place remain unclear. We present the results of a survey of over 300 founders of new communities on the online wiki hosting site Wikia.com. We analyze the motivations and goals of wiki creators, finding that founders have diverse reasons for starting wikis and diverse ways of defining their success. Many founders see their communities as occupying narrow topics, and neither seek nor expect a large group of contributors. We also find that founders with differing goals approach community building differently. We argue that community platform designers can create interfaces that support the diverse goals of founders more effectively.


Background/objective: The hybrid root canal preparation technique is better in a single visit as compared to multiple visit endodontic therapy in reducing the incidence of post endodontic pain. Relationship of post obturation pain and canal preparation has been studied in the past for the better outcomes of the treatment and for the patient's belief in the treatment. The objective of this study was to compare the frequency of post obturation pain after single versus multiple visits endodontic therapy by using hybrid root canal preparation technique. Materials and methods: This randomized clinical trial (RCT) was carried out in the Department of Operative Dentistry, College of Dentistry, BAMDC, Multan, Pakistan, between 15th December 2017 and 14th June 2018. After approval from the Institutional Ethical Review Committee, a total of 140 patients with acute pulpitis and non-vital asymptomatic maxillary central incisor to first molar teeth were divided into 2 equal groups. In both groups, canal preparation was done by following hybrid canal preparation technique. Group A patients were treated in a single visit and Group B patients were treated in 2 visits. Patient's pain response was recorded after 24 hours of treatment, using a Visual Analogue Scale. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Results: After 24 hours, when post-operative pain was compared in two groups, it was found that in one visit Group A post obturative pain was significantly less as compared to the 2 visit Group B. In one visit Group A, 18 (25.7%) patients reported pain as compared to the two visits Group B where 38 (54.3%) patients complained of pain. When both the groups were compared by Chi-square test p-value was found 0.001, which was highly significant. Conclusion: Single visit endodontic therapy is better than multiple visits endodontic, in relation to post obturation pain when hybrid root canal preparation technique was used.


High-density linkage maps are an important tool to gain insight into the genetic architecture of traits of evolutionary and economic interest, and provide a resource to characterize variation in recombination landscapes. Here, we used information from the cattle genome and the 50 K Cervine Illumina BeadChip to inform and refine a high-density linkage map in a wild population of red deer (Cervus elaphus). We constructed a predicted linkage map of 38,038 SNPs and a skeleton map of 10,835 SNPs across 34 linkage groups. We identified several chromosomal rearrangements in the deer lineage relative to sheep and cattle, including six chromosome fissions, one fusion, and two large inversions. Otherwise, our findings showed strong concordance with map orders in the cattle genome. The sex-averaged linkage map length was 2739.7 cM and the genome-wide autosomal recombination rate was 1.04 cM/Mb. The female autosomal map length was 1.21 longer than that of males (2767.4 cM vs. 2280.8 cM, respectively). Sex differences in map length were driven by high female recombination rates in peri-centromeric regions, a pattern that is unusual relative to other mammal species. This effect was more pronounced in fission chromosomes that would have had to produce new centromeres. We propose two hypotheses to explain this effect: (1) that this mechanism may have evolved to counteract centromeric drive associated with meiotic asymmetry in oocyte production; and/or (2) that sequence and structural characteristics suppressing recombination in close proximity to the centromere may not have evolved at neo-centromeres. Our study provides insight into how recombination landscapes vary and evolve in mammals, and will provide a valuable resource for studies of evolution, genetic improvement, and population management in red deer and related species.


Abstract. Rice paddies are a major anthropogenic source of the atmospheric methane. However, because of the high spatial heterogeneity, making accurate estimations of the methane emission from rice paddies is still a big challenge, even with complicated models. Data scarcity is one of the substantial causes of the uncertainties in estimating the methane emissions on regional scales. In the present study, we discussed how data scarcity affected the uncertainties in model estimations of rice paddy methane emissions, from county/provincial scale up to national scale. The uncertainties in methane emissions from the rice paddies of China was calculated with a local-scale model and the Monte Carlo simulation. The data scarcities in five of the most sensitive model variables, field irrigation, organic matter application, soil properties, rice variety and production were included in the analysis. The result showed that in each individual county, the within-cell standard deviation of methane flux, as calculated via Monte Carlo methods, was 13.5–89.3% of the statistical mean. After spatial aggregation, the national total methane emissions were estimated at 6.44–7.32 Tg, depending on the base scale of the modeling and the reliability of the input data. And with the given data availability, the overall aggregated standard deviation was 16.3% of the total emissions, ranging from 18.3–28.0% for early, late and middle rice ecosystems. The 95% confidence interval of the estimation was 4.5–8.7 Tg by assuming a gamma distribution. Improving the data availability of the model input variables is expected to reduce the uncertainties significantly, especially of those factors with high model sensitivities.


Knowledge bases such as Wikidata, DBpedia, YAGO, or the Google Knowledge Vault collect a vast number of facts about the world. But while quite some facts are known about the world, little is known about how much is unknown. For example, while the knowledge base may tell us that Barack Obama is the father of Malia Obama and Sasha Obama, it does not tell us whether these are all of his children. This is not just an epistemic challenge, but also a practical problem for data producers and consumers. We envision that KBs become annotated with information about their recall on specific topics. We show what such annotations could look like, how they could be obtained, and survey related work.


Background: Gitelman syndrome (GS) is a rare recessively inherited renal tubulopathy associated with renal potassium (K) and magnesium (Mg) loss. It requires lifelong K and Mg supplementation at high doses that are at best unpalatable and at worst, intolerable. In particular, gastrointestinal side effects often limit full therapeutic usage. Methods: We report here the analysis of a cohort of 28 adult patients with genetically proven GS who attend our specialist tubular disorders clinic, in whom we initiated the use of a modified‐release Mg preparation (slow‐release Mg lactate) and who were surveyed by questionnaire. Results: Twenty‐five patients (89%) preferred the new treatment regimen. Of these 25, 17 (68%) regarded their symptom burden as improved and seven reported no worsening. Of the 25 who were not Mg‐treatment naïve, 13 (59%) patients reported fewer side effects, 7 (32%) described them as the same and only 2 (9%) considered side effects to be worse. Five were able to increase their dose without ill‐effect. Overall, biochemistry improved in 91% of the 23 patients switched from therapy with other preparations who chose to continue the modified‐release Mg preparation. Eleven (48%) improved both their Mg and K mean levels, 3 (13%) improved Mg levels only and in 7 cases (30%), K levels alone rose. Conclusions: Patient‐reported and biochemical outcomes using modified‐release Mg supplements were very favourable, and patient choice should play a large part in choosing Mg supplements with GS patients.


This work presents re-created portraits of the saints, borders, Celtic symbols and elaborate initials from the Irish School manuscripts, spanning the period from the beginning of the 7th century until the 12th century. The accompanying text describes the historical background - the Christianization of Ireland, the Viking raids and the fleeing of monks with their precious books to libraries abroad. From the "Book of Durrow" to the "Corpus Missal", the origin of each manuscript is given, with an account of how, where and by whom it was made, its purpose and the symbolism of its designs.


Adequate representation in securities class actions is, at best, an afterthought and, at worst, usurped and subsumed by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act's lead-plaintiff appointment process. Once appointed, the lead plaintiff bears a crushing burden: Congress expects her to monitor the attorney, thwart strike suits, and deter fraud, while judges expect her appointment as the "most adequate plaintiff" to resolve intra-class conflicts and adequate-representation problems. But even if she could be all things to all people, the lead plaintiff has little authority to do much aside from appointing lead counsel. Plus, class members in securities-fraud cases have diverse preferences – their litigation stakes, risk preferences, relationships with class counsel, financial sophistication, and desired remedies all vary. Yet, the presumption is that because class members are absent, a lead plaintiff with claims and motivations similar to theirs will advance their interests and ensure due process. But a single institution or investor pursuing its or her own interests is hard pressed to represent a diverse class, much less to fulfill Congressional and judicial expectations. In practice if not in print, courts define "interests" in terms of a widely shared desire to recover one's losses. This broad definition allows judges to certify securities class actions and thus promote private enforcement's public function by holding the government and corporations accountable. But it also means that attorneys can pursue an institutional lead plaintiff's interests at the other class members' expense. The "other class members" are principally individual investors, those who need the class-action vehicle the most. The logical solution is to appoint a lead-plaintiff group. But so far, groups have underperformed largely because courts prefer members with preexisting relationships and group cohesion – the same qualities that lead to group polarization and confirmation bias. Consequently, this Article suggests an alternative remedy: appoint a cognitively diverse lead-plaintiff group with individuals and institutions and link diversity to class members' heterogeneous interests. Once a richly representative group exists, it should have more decision-making autonomy; lead counsel should consult and defer to the group's decisions on matters that implicate plaintiffs' values and litigation objectives or affect the case's merits just as attorneys do in individual litigation.


We investigate the possibility that negative moral associations can reduce the desirability and perceived value of money, and that they do so by threatening to contaminate individuals' perceptions of their morality. In Study 1, participants filled out fewer raffle tickets to obtain a money prize with immoral associations and perceived it to have less purchasing power than a morally neutral prize. In Study 2, we experimentally manipulated participants' moral self-image, reasoning that ameliorating moral self-image concerns would make participants less averse to accepting morally tainted money. Consistent with this, participants who recounted a past virtuous act completed more tasks to receive monetary payment with immoral associations than participants who recounted a neutral act. These findings provide experimental evidence that immoral associations reduce the desirability of morally tainted money by threatening to contaminate the recipient's moral self-image.


Just in time for the centennial of the sinking of the Titanic, this graphic deluxe edition compiles firsthand accounts, testimonies, and letters by notable Titanic survivors, including Archibald Gracie, Lawrence Beesley, Elizabeth W. Shutes, and the "unsinkable" Molly Brown. Full of historically accurate details and an afterword by the grandson of Lawrence Beesley, Titanic Survivors and author of "The Loss of the S.S. Titanic", it will be the gift to give die-hard Titanic buffs. Authoritative, commemorative and in a striking, luxurious package with and introduction by Titanic enthusiast and expert, Tim Maltin, this will be the authoritative work on the disaster.


This article gives an overview of the physiology of the COX enzymes, selectivity of NSAIDs and efficacy of COX-2 selective inhibitors in comparison to nonselective ones. Many articles focus on the cardiovascular side-effects of COX-2 inhibitors, but in this paper we describe the effects of COX inhibition in a number of other physiological systems, for example the bones and soft tissues, kidneys, lungs and the female reproductive tract. In particular we look at the gastrointestinal tract, where factors such as H. pylori infection and duration of NSAID use may influence clinical outcomes.

Furthermore, we investigate the potential role of COX inhibition in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and cancer. Lastly, we address the controversy of some COX-2 inhibitors possibly being cardioprotective and look at their safety in combination with aspirin.


This paper proposes a new single-phase transformerless photovoltaic (PV) inverter for grid-tied PV systems. The topology is derived from the concept of a charge pump circuit in order to eliminate the leakage current. It is composed of four power switches, two diodes, two capacitors, and an LCL output filter. The neutral of the grid is directly connected to the negative polarity of the PV panel that creates a constant common mode voltage and zero leakage current. The charge pump circuit generates the negative output voltage of the proposed inverter during the negative cycle. A proportional resonant control strategy is used to control the injected current. The main benefits of the proposed inverter are: 1) the neutral of the grid is directly connected to the negative terminal of the PV panel, so the leakage current is eliminated; 2) its compact size; 3) low cost; 4) the used dc voltage of the proposed inverter is the same as the full-bridge inverter (unlike neutral point clamped (NPC), active NPC, and half-bridge inverters); 5) flexible grounding configuration; 6) capability of reactive power flow; and 7) high efficiency. A complete description of the operating principle and analysis of the proposed inverter are presented. Experimental results are presented to confirm both the theoretical analysis and the concept of the proposed inverter. The obtained results clearly validate the performance of the proposed inverter and its practical application in grid-tied PV systems.


Introduction: Cubitus varus (gunstock deformity) is the most common complication of supracondylar fracture of the humerus. Several osteotomies and various fixation techniques are described for its correction. The most commonly used is the lateral closing-wedge osteotomy, also known as French osteotomy with variable results. Persistent lateral condyle prominence leads to cosmetically unacceptable appearance and poor patient satisfaction. To avoid this problem, dome osteotomy is performed. We have evaluated results of dome osteotomy in our population. Material and Methods: This was a retrospective study carried out in our institute. Ten patients with cubitus varus treated by dome osteotomy were evaluated at 24 months. All patients were operated by triceps-splitting approach. Pre- and postoperative carrying angle of elbow, range of motion, and lateral condyle prominence index were compared according to Banerjee criteria. Results: Ten patients with average age of 9.1 years were followed up for 2 years. Mean gap between injury and surgery was 15 months. Postoperative improvement in carrying angle and lateral condylar prominence index was significant. One case developed ulnar neuropraxia, which recovered fully within 2 weeks. Pin tract infection was seen in three cases and skin infections in two cases. Conclusion: Dome osteotomy is a technically demanding surgery. The functional and cosmetic correction is better compared to that for French osteotomy.


The article is focused on literary groups and the emergence of young authors in the 2000s. So far literary researchers have mainly studied the influential literary groups of the first third of the 20th century (Noor-Eesti, Siuru, Tarapita etc.). But literary groups have had a remarkable impact on contemporary Estonian literature as well. Many present-day well-known writers entered the literary scene through groups which were active in the 1990s (e.g. TNT and Erakkond). In the 2000s forming a literary group lost its appeal as young authors found more individual ways to introduce themselves to the public. At the beginning of the 2000s a couple of attempts were made to form new literary groups, but those groups were short-lived and unproductive (e.g. TNT! and !peatus). Young authors were very active in publishing both on paper and online. The emergence of new publishing channels is one of the reasons why young authors did not have the ambition or need to form groups. For example, in the 2000s literary debuts appeared in the web-based literary club POOGEN and the literary magazine Varske Rohk (established in 2005). So the 2000s actually saw a new type of convergence: web-based literary clubs and forums. Unfortunately, many of the new channels of the 2000s are already out of reach: the web pages of KLOAAK, noortekas.delfi.ee, People&Poetry, Bahama Press and ThePression have been removed from the internet. Debuts were welcomed by mainstream media eager to spot the next big thing, new rebels and rule breakers. Being "a young author" became a functioning brand, and youth became a form of currency for beginning writers.


A coastal change potential index (CPI) was used to map the relative change potential of the coast to future lake-level change within Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Wisconsin. The CPI ranks the following in terms of their physical contribution to lake-level change-related coastal change: geomorphology, regional coastal slope, rate of relative lake-level change, historical shoreline change rates, mean annual ice cover and mean significant wave height. The rankings for each input variable were combined and an index value calculated for 1-minute grid cells covering the park. The CPI highlights those regions where the physical effects of lake-level rise might be the greatest. This approach combines the coastal system's susceptibility to change with its natural ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions, yielding a quantitative, although relative, measure of the park's natural succeptibility to the effects of lake-level change. The CPI and the data contained within this dataset provide an objective technique for evaluation and long-term planning by scientists and park managers.


Scanning electron microscopy of foraminifera from the lowermost Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) deposits at Speeton, eastern England, reveals that about 4% of the agglutinated tests are constructed almost exclusively of coccoliths of the species Watznaueria barnesae . The majority of the foraminifera that agglutinate coccoliths are trochospiral forms resembling Trochammina depressa , but planispiral, unilocular, uniserial, biserial and triserial forms have also been observed. The tests are small, rarely exceeding 125 μm in length. Specific identification is difficult due to the small size of the tests, the unusual building material and compression. In the simplest state, the walls of the trochamminids consist of a single layer of coccoliths. The foraminifera were highly efficient in selecting and handling the coccoliths, which were always placed with their distal surfaces facing outward. The outline of the coccoliths was modified from oval to hexagonal, probably by a dissolution process, apparently in order to fit the coccoliths closer together and to diminish the amount of empty spaces between them. On larger tests, a secondary layer of cement coated the layer of coccoliths. Today the cement consists of silica, but it was probably originally organic. The silica contains a few grains of mixed sedimentary and skeletal origin. Most of the grains in the cement-rich layer are coccoliths, but in contrast to the inner coccolith layer, which was constructed exclusively of W. barnesae , the outer layer contains a large number of forms apparently picked at random among the species available on the sea bottom. A second dissolution process affected 10–20% of the tests by attacking all the crystals of the coccoliths, not just their edges as in the primary layer. The dissolution resulted sometimes in the almost total destruction of the coccoliths. In most tests, the dissolution occurred post mortem. However, in a few cases the dissolution took place while the protists were still alive. In many of the serial species, the coccoliths interlock as in coccospheres, producing similar globular structures. In a triserial species, the tests show a distinct ontogenetic shift from an early part constructed mainly of coccoliths to a later part constructed of sedimentary grains and silica cement.


OBJECTIVE
Assessment of the long-term course of shoulder complaints in patients in general practice with special focus on changes in diagnostic category and fluctuations in the severity of the complaints.

DESIGN
Prospective descriptive study.

SETTING
Four general practices in The Netherlands.

METHOD
All patients (101) with shoulder complaints seen in a 5 month period were included. Assessment took place 26 weeks and 12-18 months after inclusion in the study with a pain questionnaire and a physical examination.

RESULTS
A total of 51% of the patients experienced (mostly recurrent) complaints after 26 weeks and 41% after 12-18 months. Diagnostic changes were found over the course of time, mostly from synovial disorders towards functional disorders of the structures of the shoulder girdle, but also the other way round. Although 52 of the 101 patients experienced complaints in week 26, 62% of those patients considered themselves 'cured'. After 12-18 months, 51% of the 39 patients experiencing complaints felt 'cured'.

CONCLUSION
Many patients seen with shoulder complaints in general practice have recurrent complaints. The nature of these complaints varies considerably over the course of time, leading to changes in diagnostic category. Because of the fluctuating severity of the complaints over time, feeling 'cured' or not 'cured' is also subject to change over time.


1. ABSTRACT Nowadays, Audio Description is used to enable visually impaired people to access films. However, it presents an important limitation, which consists in the need of the visually impaired audiences to rely on a describer, not being able to access the work directly. The aim of this project was to design a format of sonic art called audio film that eliminates the need of visual elements and of a describer, by providing information solely through sound, sound processing and spatialization, and which might be considered as an alternative to Audio Description. In order to explore the viability of this format an example has been designed based on Roald Dahl's Lamb to the Slaughter (1954) using a 6.1 surround sound configuration. Through the design of this example it could be noticed that this format can successfully convey a story without the need of either visual elements or of a narrator.


The curse of knowledge can impede communication between experts and laymen. We propose a new task of expertise style transfer and contribute a manually annotated dataset with the goal of alleviating such cognitive biases. Solving this task not only simplifies the professional language, but also improves the accuracy and expertise level of laymen descriptions using simple words. This is a challenging task, unaddressed in previous work, as it requires the models to have expert intelligence in order to modify text with a deep understanding of domain knowledge and structures. We establish the benchmark performance of five state-of-the-art models for style transfer and text simplification. The results demonstrate a significant gap between machine and human performance. We also discuss the challenges of automatic evaluation, to provide insights into future research directions. The dataset is publicly available at https://srhthu.github.io/expertise-style-transfer/.


Ultra-relativistic heavy ions generate strong electromagnetic fields which offer the possibility to study γ-γ and γ-nucleus processes at the LHC in the so called ultra-peripheral collisions (UPC). The photoproduction of J/ψ vector mesons in UPC is sensitive to the gluon distribution of the interacting nuclei. In this thesis the study of coherent and incoherent J/ψ production in Pb-Pb collisions at √sNN = 2.76 TeV is described. The J/ψ has been measured via its leptonic decay in the rapidity range -0.9 < y < 0.9. The cross section for coherent and incoherent J/ψ are given. The results are compared to theoretical models for J/ψ production and the coherent cross section is found to be in good agreement with those models which include nuclear gluon shadowing consistent with EPS09 parametrization. In addition the cross section for the process γ γ→ e+e− has been measured and found to be in agreement with the STARLIGHT Monte Carlo predictions.
The analysis has been published by the ALICE Collaboration in the European Physical Journal C, with one of its main plot depicted on the cover-front of the November 2013 issue.


Ostracods are common yet understudied prey item in the fossil record. We document drill holes in Paleocene (Danian) ostracods from central Argentina using 9025 specimens representing 66 species. While the percentage of drilled specimens at assemblage‐level is only 2.3%, considerable variation exists within species (0.3–25%), suggesting prey preference by the drillers. This preference is not determined by abundance because no significant correlation is found between species abundance and drilling percentages. Seven methods were used, some of which are new, to quantify drilling percentages for the abundant and commonly drilled Togoina argentinensis. The resulting range, from 9.9% to 14.6%, suggests that drilling percentages are fairly insensitive to the method used, implying that comparisons across studies are possible. This information, combined with data from the literature, suggests the Cretaceous–Palaeogene mass extinction may have had a limited effect on drilling intensity in ostracods. The cylindrical (Oichnus simplex) and parabolic (O. paraboloides) drill holes from Argentina may have been caused primarily by naticid and possibly muricid gastropods. Two oval drill holes (O. ovalis) are morphologically similar to octopod drill holes, but their small size, the fact that extant octopods are not known to drill ostracods and the absence of such holes in co‐occurring gastropods, preclude ascription to a predator clade. Drill holes are located preferentially in the median and dorsal regions, where most soft tissue, including the adductor muscle, is located. Drilled specimens are statistically taller than non‐drilled specimens for T. argentinensis and larger predators selected larger ostracods. The drilling percentage does not significantly differ in ornamented ostracods.


OF DISSERTATION RETIREMENT PLANNING VERSUS FAMILY SUPPORT: WHAT DRIVES PEOPLES` DECISIONS? A slight majority of American households headed by 55–64-year-olds do not have any savings for retirement, and those who have retirement savings have a median of around $109,000 saved, which is equivalent to an inflation-protected annuity of $405 per month (i.e., well below the official poverty level). Among the main reasons cited for the lack of retirement savings among parents is a desire to provide financial support to their young adult children. Indeed, on the whole, parents spend twice as much on financial support of their adult children as they save for retirement (Merryl Lynch, 2018). Understanding the precursors and predictors of this spending behavior may provide insight into decisions that lead to a lack of self-sufficiency in retirement, and hint at opportunities for prevention and intervention efforts aimed at bolstering retirement savings. To that end, this project was designed to examine the extent to which these financial decisions vary by context and belief systems. Specifically, three studies were developed to investigate motivation for providing support to young adult children in lieu of retirement savings. A sample of 496 respondents who were 40 years of age or older was recruited using the online Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) platform. Respondents were presented three factorial vignettes in which hypothetical parents were deciding whether to provide support to their adult child with a major expense—a car (Study 1, Chapter 2), college tuition (Study 2, Chapter 3), and a house (Study 3, Chapter 4)—and respondents were asked on a four-point Likerttype response scale whether parents should (definitely yes, probably yes, probably no, definitely no) provide financial support to their adult children in the given context, and to provide a rationale for their response. In each study, key contextual variables were randomly manipulated within the vignette across respondents (e.g., adult child's gender [female vs. male], parents' age [early 60s vs. late 40s], source of money [withdrawal from vs. under-contributing to retirement savings], college major [social sciences vs. business degree], and number of siblings [one vs. three]). Ordinal regression models were used to estimate the effects of the randomly manipulated variables on endorsement of parental provision of financial support to adult children, and content analysis was used to identify the most common rationales respondents provided for the beliefs they espoused in the closed-ended items. Endorsement of parental use of retirement saving for financial support varied depending on whether the stated purpose of the money was for purchasing a car (67% endorsed), paying for college tuition (34% endorsed), or paying the down payment on a house (31% endorsed). Across the three studies, only older parents (in their early 60s [Study 1]) and withdrawing money from a retirement account (Studies 2 and 3) had negative effects on endorsement of parental support; responses according to the other randomly manipulated variables did not statistically vary in these data, suggesting norms that supersede the other manipulated variables. Among respondent sociodemographic characteristics—gender, socioeconomic status, clarity of retirement goals, having adult children, and helping them with large purchases similar to situations described in the vignette—only ownership of a retirement savings account or a pension plan had a consistent negative association with endorsement of parental support across all three studies, indicating that people with retirement plans were more conservative in their attitudes about financially supporting young-adult children than were those without retirement plans. Major rationales for the provision of parental financial support included (a) responsibility for the child (i.e., a solidarity belief system), (b) a belief that children pay back their parents (i.e., a reciprocity belief system), and (c) a belief that parents should make sacrifices for their children (i.e., an altruistic belief system). Given that the majority of studies investigate retirement planning from an individual perspective, as if workers were making their decisions rationally in isolation from their family context, future studies may benefit from a more inclusive approach that takes into account the complexity of family relationships and also social perception of parental financial obligations toward their children.


The major objective of this research is to contribute to the academic literature by developing a comprehensive multi-modal framework to document the impression management strategies that might underpin the narrative and visual material voluntarily included in corporate annual reports. The analysis takes as its starting point the seminal work of Goffman [1959] into self-presentation, widely acknowledged as the first comprehensive exposition of the sociological phenomenon of impression management. The eight elements identified by Goffman in his dramaturgical description of impression management performances are presented as an integrated conceptual model from which such behaviour can be analysed.
Using a meso-paradigmatic approach, propositions are developed which underpin a multi-level theory explaining how micro-level incentives motivate individual organisational members to engage collectively in impression management behaviour at a meso (team) level to produce macro-level organisational phenomena such as organisational image or reputation. Prior research into impression management and organisational phenomena has typically either anthropomorphised the organisation or employed a personification metaphor in which the organisation is equated to an individual to facilitate analysis. Neither of these approaches, both of which lack empirical validity, is utilised here because the view articulated in the multi-level theory is one of the organisation as a coalition of individual actors, working collectively to produce what observers perceive as the actions or outcomes of the organisation.
Focus then narrows to the use of the corporate annual report as a strategic impression management instrument. The approach adopted is holistic and multi-modal because, as Goffman [1959] clearly articulated, impression management performances are of this nature. In the context of annual reporting, it is the combination of narrative and visual report content that represents the elements of the impression management performance. However, the question of whether mutually supportive narrative and visual strategies are adopted within and across the various sections and subsections of the annual reports has been largely ignored. As such, any understanding of impression management activity in annual reports is partial at best, and it may be the case that behaviour has been misunderstood or misinterpreted.
To facilitate the required holistic view, an integrated framework of mutually supportive rhetorical elements for narrative and visual annual report content is developed. This forms the basis from which three exploratory research questions are formulated. Case study analysis of the reporting practices of five large listed Australian companies is presented to explore these research questions. The evidence suggests that, on the whole, the nature of voluntary disclosure in the annual reports studied is consistent with the staging of a holistic impression management performance in the Goffmanian sense.
ii


Challenges facing ocean remote sensing are as unlimited as the variety of sea surface dynamics and meteorological conditions across the globe and their range of spatial and time scales. Ultimate goals are to be able to make accurate estimates of selected key sets of geophysical variables, with the intention of either making predictions across time and spatial boundaries, or advancing fundamental knowledge through development of empirical relationships and/or theoretical models. Improvements are constantly being sought in both our understanding of the geophysical processes themselves, the sensor physics and the electromagnetic and microwave properties of the surface and its associated air-sea interface, as well as the sampling capabilities to ensure proper monitoring using the vast number of specialized technologies that can be selected to concentrate on one or a few of the physical processes for accurate measurements. The increasing quality, quantity and duration of these ocean observations are then critically important for practical applications as well as to assess local or global climate changes, both from natural and man-made influences.


This column highlights and evaluates apps, computer programs, and websites that teachers, students, and other interested parties can use to explore, research, and engage in content learning and literacy practices.


In this paper, the simultaneous measurement of out-of-plane thermal diffusivity and effective infrared absorption coefficient of an IR semi-transparent GaAs wafer using infrared lock-in thermography technique (LIT) is presented. The method relies on analysis of the generated LIT phase images recorded at different modulation frequencies, using the thermal wave model in the transmission configuration. The out-of-plane thermal diffusivity and effective infrared absorption coefficient are estimated from the best fit of the theoretical model to the experimental data. The obtained values are in good agreement with those obtained by supplementary measurement using the modulated photothermal infrared radiometry technique (PTR) in the reflection mode, and also with data reported in the literature. In addition, simple modification of the LIT experiment set up allows one to determinate the in-plane thermal diffusivity of n-GaAs wafer. It was found that in-plane and out-of-plane thermal diffusivities of the GaAs wafer are very close, as expected, within the limit of measurement errors. The results show that the LIT technique in transmission configuration can provide spatial information about both the (effective) infrared absorption coefficient and thermal diffusivity of semiconductor crystals.


Academic Standards Eligibility for the nursing major is dependent upon at least a C in each of the specified math, biology and chemistry courses and a minimum overall grade point average of 2.75. Admission is competitive and usually requires above 3.0 overall GPA. Admission is based upon the BSN Admission Ranking Formula in addition to the successful completion of a pre-admission entrance exam. More information about the pre-admission entrance exam is included in the College of Nursing undergraduate application instructions. Instructions can also be found on the ECU College of Nursing website.


This article examines what an ethic of care could offer to discussions about Europe's increasing cultural diversity by analyzing the important White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue published by the Council of Europe in 2008. The authors consider the White Paper from the perspective of the political ethic of care and thus examine its adequacy in dealing with issues of care. Their point of departure is that policy texts display normative ways of speaking about certain issues – in this case, issues of diversity, multiculturalism and citizenship in Europe. They first contextualize the discussions for promoting intercultural dialogue in the Council of Europe and analyze the normative framework of the White Paper. Then, they use the care perspective as a lens to comment on notions of diversity, multiculturalism and citizenship. Finally, they discuss how the notion of care as a citizenship issue could contribute towards further development of discussions on citizenship education and intercultural dialogue in Europe.


Book synopsis: Unique among the Icelandic sagas, part-history, part-fiction, the Saga of the Jomsvikings tells of a legendary band of vikings, originally Danish, who established an island fortress of the Baltic coast, launched and ultimately lost their heroic attack on the pagan ruler of Norway in the late tenth century. The saga's account of their stringent warrior code, fatalistic adherence to their own reckless vows and declarations of extreme courage as they face execution articulates a remarkable account of what it meant to be a viking. This translation presents the longest and earliest text of the saga, never before published in English, with a full literary and historical introduction to this remarkable work.


An accurate, dependable determination of 0–60 μg-at./l. of NO−3-N in sea water has been developed. The sample is treated with tetrasodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate solution and passed through a column of copperized cadmium filings. A nearly quantitative reduction of nitrate to nitrite results. Nitrite is then determined by a diazotization method. Neither sulphide nor high nitrite concentrations interferes. Approximately eight samples per hour per column can be analysed with a standard deviation of 0.12 μg-at./l. at the 20 μg-at./l. level. Introduction Accurate determinations of nitrate ions in sea water have been difficult, especially under shipboard conditions. The colorimetric method described by Harvey (1926, 1930) and improved by Cooper (1932), Zwicker & Robinson (1944), and others uses strychnidine in concentrated sulphuric acid to produce a red colour. The reagent lacks reliable sensitivity, because it is dependent on the rates of mixing and cooling. In a method by Armstrong (1963), the absorbance of nitrosyl chloride in the UV region is measured with a spectrophotometer. While the method is good for small samples containing high concentrations of nitrate, the use of concentrated sulphuric acid and lack of sensitivity limit its use in routine analysis. A method in which nitrate is quantitatively reduced to nitrite would be advantageous, because nitrite can be readily determined by the sensitive diazotization method proposed by Griess (1879). Several such methods have been proposed. FØyn (1951), Vatova (1956), and Chow & Johnstone (1962) used zinc powder for the reduction, but the reduction is sensitive to temperature, and it is necessary to centrifuge or filter each sample.


Objectives
Traditional dietary assessment methods in low-middle income countries (LMICs) have significant limitations. The objective of this study was to test the feasibility of using the Automatic Ingestion Monitor (AIM), an eyeglasses-mounted wearable chewing sensor and micro-camera, to monitor food acquisition, preparation and consumption of a household in a LMIC setting.

Methods
This is a case of an 8-member household from Mampong-Akuapem, a semi-rural community in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The household was made up of mother (35 years), father (37 years), and six children (ages 17 years, 13 years [twins], 8 years, 5 years, and 18 months). Mother has no formal education and works as a cook, whereas the father has elementary education and is a farmer/construction worker. All members of the household consume the same prepared meals. The AIM was used to monitor household activities for a day. The primary food preparer (mother) wore the AIM during all waking hours on the chosen day as she went about her daily activities, except any activities where she wanted to preserve privacy. The mother also responded to a socio-demographic questionnaire and evaluated her perceived burden of wearing the AIM. Images captured by the AIM were processed and annotated in custom software. Major household related activities around food are reported.

Results
Overall, a total wear time of 776 minutes (12.9 hr; 76.1% of usual wake time) was recorded with images spanning a total of 681 minutes (11.4 hr; 87.8% of total wear time). Cooking and food preparation (four different meals) accounted for 47.9%, shopping 1.5%, breastfeeding and other child feeding 5.1%, and eating 5.4% (communal 4.9% and non-communal 0.5%), and other daily activities 40.1% of usual wake time. Three main meals captured on the AIM were breakfast (rice porridge - boiled watery rice with added sugar, milk and bread), lunch (fufu - pounded boiled cassava and plantain, and chicken soup), and dinner (kelewele - fried spiced yellow plantains). The AIM was generally accepted by the participant and household members although they preferred a smaller size version.

Conclusions
The AIM has the potential of capturing household food related activities and practices that affect dietary intake and nutritional health in LMIC.

Funding Sources
Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.


Abstract Underlying higher order chromatin organization are Structural Maintenance of Chromosomes (SMC) complexes, large protein rings that entrap DNA. The molecular mechanism by which SMC complexes organize chromatin is as yet incompletely understood. Two prominent models posit that SMC complexes actively extrude DNA loops (loop extrusion), or that they sequentially entrap two DNAs that come into proximity by Brownian motion (diffusion capture). To explore the implications of these two mechanisms, we perform biophysical simulations of a 3.76 Mb-long chromatin chain, the size of the long Schizosaccharomyces pombe chromosome I left arm. On it, the SMC complex condensin is modeled to perform loop extrusion or diffusion capture. We then compare computational to experimental observations of mitotic chromosome formation. Both loop extrusion and diffusion capture can result in native-like contact probability distributions. In addition, the diffusion capture model more readily recapitulates mitotic chromosome axis shortening and chromatin compaction. Diffusion capture can also explain why mitotic chromatin shows reduced, as well as more anisotropic, movements, features that lack support from loop extrusion. The condensin distribution within mitotic chromosomes, visualized by stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM), shows clustering predicted from diffusion capture. Our results inform the evaluation of current models of mitotic chromosome formation.


The master-slave synchronization of two chaotic systems that interact over a noisy channel is analyzed from an information theoretic point of view. It is argued that arbitrarily precise synchronization, in the sense of the mean square synchronization error, is possible if the channel capacity is higher than the information production rate of the master system. Thus, even with considerable channel noise, very precise synchronization is possible. This is in contrast to the intuitive idea that synchronization necessarily degrades with increasing noise in the channel. A concrete way to achieve this is demonstrated for the Lozi map.


The Late Ordovician equatorial zone, like the zone today, had few hurricane-grade
 storms within 10o of the equator, as emphasized by the preservation of massive-bedded Thalassinoides
 ichnofacies in a trans-Laurentian belt more than 6000 km long, from the southwestern United States
 to North Greenland. That belt also includes nonamalgamated shell beds dominated by the brachiopod Proconchidium , which would not have been preserved after hurricane-grade storms. The belt lacks
 such storm-related sedimentary features as rip-up clasts, hummocky cross-stratification, or large
 channels. In contrast, other contemporaneous Laurentian Thalassinoides facies and shell beds on
 either side of the belt have been disturbed by severe storms below fair-weather wave base. The
 position of the biofacies-defined equatorial belt coincides with the Late Ordovician equator deduced
 from paleomagnetic data from Laurentia, thus providing both a high-precision equatorial location
 and an independent test of the geocentric axial dipole hypothesis for that time.


We developed a rapid and simple UHPLC-UV method for quantitative determination of erlotinib and its metabolite, OSI-420, in order to monitor their serum levels in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Erlotinib and OSI-420 were extracted from 100 μL of human serum by liquid–liquid extraction using t-butyl methyl ether. The analytes were separated on Inertsil ODS-3 (100 mm × 2.1 mm I.D., 2 μm) as an analytical column using 20 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 2.5)/acetonitrile (74:26, v/v) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.6 mL/min, and monitored at a UV wavelength of 345 nm. This method covered a linear concentration range of 6–6000 ng/mL for erlotinib and 6–2000 ng/mL for OSI-420, respectively (r > 0.999). The intraand inter-day precisions of the analysis were < 6.8%, and the accuracy was ± 7.4%. This method has been successfully applied to measure erlotinib and OSI-420 in the serum of an NSCLC patient.


Galambos and Pratt provide an insightful and fast-paced account of the growth and development of the American corporate economy over the past century. At a time when American business is yet again in the midst of a crisis, the book is a timely reminder of the value of history in analyzing contemporary problems. Free enterprise and the government have had various relationships over the years: friendly, adversarial, and sometimes both. The authors present in their book a dynamic picture of U.S. business and public policy in the twentieth century, which portrays the flexibility of the American business system and its tradition or successfully adapting to change.The reader is led from the world of J. P. Morgan at the turn of the century, where a few powerful private investment bankers could control an economy dominated by the entrepreneurial firm to the world of Iacocca in the 1980s, where the power of any individual is subordinate to that of the government. The authors make effective use of these powerful symbols of the American way of doing business during their times.The framework for analyzing the development of institutions over time is their ability to strike a balance between innovations, efficiency, and environmental control. The authors also portray the changing role of the government in three major areas over the century: single industry regulation, cross-industry regulation, and government-directed activities.J. P. Morgan's era saw the rise of the combine from the entrepreneurial firm of the nineteenth century. The entrepreneurial firm, with its flexibility to innovate, played a vital role in the nation's rapid economic expansion during that period. Out of its inability to take advantage of economies of scale and its lack of capital, came the centralized corporate combine. The authors suggest that Morgan and investment bankers, because of their unique role of selling securities to finance the combines, became the chief architects of the system. The authors describe the outstanding record of technical and organizational change and economic growth that characterized the Morgan era on one hand, and the abuses of power and natural resources and growing tensions between the corporations and society on the other.The period 1901-1930 was characterized by an expanding public presence, generally intended to limit the power of private interests to manipulate the economy. The development of independent regulatory commissions, the passage of the antitrust laws, and the creation of the Federal Reserve System marked significant turning points in business-government relations. The authors characterize the process of change in these relations as "piecemeal, uneven, and at times, haphazard." These measures were, the authors claim, "a curious innovation," and "a political and intellectual compromise." It was also a "distinctively American approach to balancing public and private interests," a way to have more government without more politics. The coming of the Federal Reserve signalled the demise of the world of J. P. Morgan.This was also an era when business consolidated its controls. Managers had to learn to balance the firm's need for innovation against the need for control of its environment, and the need to achieve high efficiency in mass production and distribution. Most of the large firms of this era were created through mergers of competitors. There was a need for administrative controls using more active and systematic forms of management. The results were organizations structured along functional lines, with increased specialization, a changed workplace in response to mechanization, more formalized labor relations, and vertical integration to achieve better control of the environment. The need for innovation and the great expansion of science and engineering at the turn of the century saw the beginnings of research and development and the modern industrial laboratory. Companies took a long-term view. …


An approach is provided to the prediction and explanation of quantity implicata (implicata whose calculation depends on adversion to Grice's maxim of Quantity) that, unlike the majority of approaches available, does not construe Quantity as requiring speakers to make the strongest claim that their evidence permits. Central to this treatment is an elaboration of the notion of what a conversation requires as appealed to in the Cooperative Principle and the Quantity maxim. What a conversation requires is construed as depending, at any given point, upon (i) the aim(s) of the conversation taking place, (ii) the conversational record, which includes such features as common ground and salience relations among objects, and (iii) any proffered illocution calling for a reply. In accounting for this third dimension a partial characterization is provided of the speech acts of assertion and interrogation in terms of their role in constraining the progress of the conversation in which they occur.


Genital self-mutilation (GSM) is a rare phenomenon. In the majority of cases, GSM is secondary to psychotic illness. Among the nonpsychotics, the motives behind GSM are varied. We report a rare case in which a non-psychotic, non-paraphilic patient suffering from excessive sexual drive carried out GSM to curb hypersexuality. Aetiological factors behind GSM are discussed. This case report emphasises that excessive sexual drive may lead to distress and GSM. Effective management of excessive sexual drive and active inquiry into any intentions of GSM in such patients may be helpful in preventing GSM.


We studied the reproductive performance of herring gulls (Larus argentatus) in an old stable colony in SW Finland. Over the period 1993–1997, the colony decreased, and the garbage dumps the birds may have utilised have all closed. This had an effect on the breeding performance of the colony when comparing the year prior to the closing of the last garbage dump available (1996), and the following season (1997). It is clear that the last-laid egg size decreased significantly between years, more eggs were lost due to predation, and fewer of the hatched young fledged. The quality (in terms of body weight) of hatching chicks (both first and last) was not reduced, but first chicks grew slower in 1997. These changes are in agreement with predictions from other studies, and are likely effects of diminishing food resources. However, overall production was still good, and the birds seem capable of successful breeding without the presence of nearby garbage dumps.


This working paper examines why a significant number of businesses have made non-profit investments in education in emerging markets between the 1960s and the present day. Using a sample of 110 interviews with business leaders from an oral history database at the Harvard Business School, the study shows that more than three-quarters of such leaders invested in education as a non-profit activity. Three different types of motivations behind such high levels of engagement with education are identified: values driven, context focused, and firm focused. It also identifies significant regional variations in terms of investment execution, structure, and impact. In South and Southeast Asia, there was a preference for long-term investment in primary and secondary education. In Africa and Latin America, some initiatives sometimes had a shorter-term connotation, but with high-profile projects in partnerships with international organizations and foreign universities. In Turkey, there was heavy focus on training and the creation of universities. The working paper concludes by examining the impact of this investment, comparing Chile and India especially. It discusses issues such as the paucity of financial data and the challenges of comparing different types of educational spending, which make robust conclusions hard, but does suggest that although such spending did not resolve major educational roadblocks across Africa, Asia and Latin America, it represented a positive overall social gain.


We show that some classes of small sets are topological versions of some combinatorial properties. We also give a characterization of spaces for which White has a winning strategy in the point-open game. We show that every Lusin set is undetermined, which solves a problem of Galvin.


While the International Production Network (IPN) phenomenon has accelerated trade and investment linkages between countries in East and South-East Asia, the remainder of the region has not matched those countries in this process. The objective of this study is to explore the reasons for this by using India's performance in the Asian IPNs as a case study for other countries that are trailing behind in this area. The study seeks to identify the reasons why India has performed below its potential in this new form of international division of labour, even though that country possess several supportive factors including: (a) the sheer size of the economy and population; (b) a large pool of engineers; (c) relatively sound intellectual property protection; and (d) an increasingly open trade and investment climate resulting from progressive economic reforms.


One of the most significant indicators of heart disease is arrhythmia. Detection of arrhythmias plays an important role in the prediction of possible cardiac failure. This study aimed to find an efficient machine-learning method for arrhythmia classification by applying feature extraction, dimension reduction and classification techniques. The arrhythmia classification model evaluation was achieved in a three-step process. In the first step, the statistical and temporal features for one heartbeat were calculated. In the second, Genetic Algorithms (GAs), Independent Component Analysis (ICA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were used for feature size reduction. In the last step, Decision Tree (DT), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Neural Network (NN) and K-Nearest Neighbour (K-NN) classification methods were employed for classification. The proposed classification scheme categorizes nine types of Electrocardiogram (ECG) beats. The experimental results were compared in terms of sensitivity, specificity and accuracy performance metrics. The K-NN classifier attained classification accuracy rates of 98.86% and 99.11% using PCA and ICA features. The SVM classifier achieved its best classification accuracy rate of 98.92% using statistical and temporal features. The K-NN classifier feeding genetic algorithm features achieved the highest classification accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity rates of 99.30%, 98.84% and 98.40%, respectively. The results demonstrated that the proposed approach had the ability to distinguish ECG arrhythmias with acceptable classification accuracy. Furthermore, the proposed approach can be used to support the cardiologist in the detection of cardiac disorders.


An assemblage of reflections on the nature of writing and the writer from one the greatest American writers of the twentieth century. Throughout Hemingway s career as a writer, he maintained that it was bad luck to talk about writing that it takes off whatever butterflies have on their wings and the arrangement of hawk s feathers if you show it or talk about it. Despite this belief, by the end of his life he had done just what he intended not to do. In his novels and stories, in letters to editors, friends, fellow artists, and critics, in interviews and in commissioned articles on the subject, Hemingway wrote often about writing. And he wrote as well and as incisively about the subject as any writer who ever lived This book contains Hemingway s reflections on the nature of the writer and on elements of the writer s life, including specific and helpful advice to writers on the craft of writing, work habits, and discipline. The Hemingway personality comes through in general wisdom, wit, humor, and insight, and in his insistence on the integrity of the writer and of the profession itself. From the Preface by Larry W. Phillips"


This report is a terminal evaluation for a UNEP-GEF project implemented between 2002 and 2009. the project's objectives were to create an environment at the regional level, in which collaboration and partnership in addressing environmental problems of the South China Sea, between all stakeholders, and at all levels is fostered and encouraged; and to enhance the capacity of the participating governments to integrate environmental considerations into national development planning. The evaluation seeks to assess the actual performance and results of the SCS project against the planned project activities and outputs at the regional, national and local levels. It focuses on the seven-year implementation phase, but includes an assessment of project design, and also makes recommendations related to the project's post-implementation period.


Background: With its known benefits in other mental illnesses, there have been increasing interest to understand the effects of mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) in schizophrenia. The systematic review aimed to summarize and synthesize the evidence regarding the effectiveness of MBI for people with schizophrenia.

Methods: The review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. Relevant studies systematically searched from seven main electronic databases. The studies included were assessed for their methodological qualities using the standard Cochrane's risk of bias assessment tool. Estimated effect sizes of the main study outcomes were calculated to assess/estimate the magnitude of the treatment effects of MBI in schizophrenia.

Results: Six experimental studies were selected for inclusion in the analysis. The study results were not appropriate to be combined for meta-analysis due to marked variations in the study designs, interventions and reported outcome measures. The findings show that there are potential effects of MBI for patients with schizophrenia on emotional regulation, global functioning and prevention of relapse. However, there was insufficient evidence to indicate these promising effects.

Conclusion: While mindfulness-based intervention may result in several benefits in schizophrenia, there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate its promising effects and evidence-based recommendations. More research is warranted to identify the therapeutic components and treatment effects of MBI in diverse samples with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.


Recycled used lubricant oils offers the benefits of recovering base oils prevents environment from harmful uses and protects the environment from disposal of used lubricant oils. It also promises to save billions of dollars of new base oil used in formulating new lubricant oils. It is argued that failure to ensure return of used lubricant oil and poor reverse logistics is the result of market failure, where the customer is not charged the true cost of using this valuable resource, which should include factors such as cost to the environment. This provides a possible economic rationale for government to intervene in the market to encourage return of used oil for recycling closer to the optimum level. The research found that charging an amount on the purchase of new lubricant, which would be adjusted on return of used lubricant oil, would ensure optimum return of lubricant oil. The amount should be high enough to discourage inappropriate users from buying the used oil. Alternatively, incentives such as free service or free replacement of oil filter could also be used. Findings suggest that the incentives such as free oil filter with oil replenishment or offering free car wash seems to be the most practical as it will also avoid the problems in handling and adjusting cash charged for ensuring used oil return.


Summary Objectives: To identify common methodological challenges and review relevant initiatives related to the re-use of patient data collected in routine clinical care, as well as to analyze the economic benefits derived from the secondary use of this data. Through the use of several examples, this article aims to provide a glimpse into the different areas of application, namely clinical research, genomic research, study of environmental factors, and population and health services research. This paper describes some of the informatics methods and Big Data resources developed in this context, such as electronic phenotyping, clinical research networks, biorepositories, screening data banks, and wide association studies. Lastly, some of the potential limitations of these approaches are discussed, focusing on confounding factors and data quality. Methods: A series of literature searches in main bibliographic databases have been conducted in order to assess the extent to which existing patient data has been repurposed for research. This contribution from the IMIA working group on "Data mining and Big Data analytics" focuses on the literature published during the last two years, covering the timeframe since the working group's last survey. Results and Conclusions: Although most of the examples of secondary use of patient data lie in the arena of clinical and health services research, we have started to witness other important applications, particularly in the area of genomic research and the study of health effects of environmental factors. Further research is needed to characterize the economic impact of secondary use across the broad spectrum of translational research.


Today's online social networking applications (e.g., Face-book, Twitter, Last.Fm) allow users that are socially close to each other (i.e., users with shared interests) to participate in the collective production and sharing of information (i.e., virtual interactions). Pervasive Social Networking (PSN) is a new vision that aims to complement virtual interactions with physical ones, by enabling users who are both socially and physically related to find each other and perform activities of common interest. To enable this vision, both users' social networks and mobility patterns must be reasoned upon. In this paper, we present a social networking middleware service that dynamically combines both social and physical proximity relations between mobile users to accurately recommend them people with whom to perform activities of common interest. At the heart of this service is a social network propagation component that infers users' relations both within the same (intra) and across (inter) users' activities. We evaluate the impact of various middleware deployment strategies on the ability of the social network propagation component to find related users, and analyse the advantages and shortcomings of each of them.


Two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy (2D-IR) is a non-linear spectroscopy that is capable of resolving molecular dynamics with picosecond time resolution and molecular-level spatial resolution. 2D-IR has been successfully implemented in a myriad of solution systems to study the local solute and solvent dynamics. Ionic liquids are a unique type of liquid with each formula unit a pair of cation and anion. The structure grants it unique properties that are suitable for many potential applications, and the chemical structure can be modified to be "task-specific".

In this thesis, I describe our implementation of 2D-IR to understand different aspects of the solvation dynamics of ionic liquids, including solvent dynamics, ultrafast structures and dynamics of small solutes, and the dynamics of ionic liquids under confinement. A direct correlation between the microscopic solvent dynamics and the macroscopic viscosity has been observed, indicating the molecular origin of viscosity in ionic liquids is possibly the ion-cage lifetime. Some small inorganic salts form ion-pairs in the ionic liquids, and have a Gibbs free energy of ~8 kJ/mol. Some uncharged small molecules can cluster in ionic liquids, like water clusters with thiocyanate anion. The detailed structural and reorientation dynamics of ionic liquid-surfactant complexes imply a random cluster picture, rather than previously-believed reverse micelle picture; the shape of the dynamic correlation function also indicates a non-isotropic local orientation distribution that could originate from the ion-exchange between anionic surfactants and ionic liquids.


The Government of Malaysia encourages its people to use public transport instead of private vehicles in order to reduce traffic congestion. However, the failure of public transport to serve their users with high quality of service has discouraged the use of
public transport. Therefore, the government through RapidKL introduced RapidBET bus service, which is a new system of transit system during the peak hour only. This study aims to investigate the service quality performance of RapidBET bus services which are RapidBET 1, RapidBET2, RapidBET3 and RapidBET4. In addition, this study focused on the quantifying the customer satisfaction level and determine the mean satisfaction rating on the selected service quality factors of RapidBET bus services. A questionnaire was designed to obtain the customer satisfaction level during the customer satisfaction survey. The selected service quality factors for the customer satisfaction survey include information, scheduling, frequency, hours of service, coverage, travel time, safety, reliability, cost and comfortability. The qualitative data was then transformed by using SPSS software. From the analysis, it showed that most of the RapidBET bus services users' satisfaction level was average. However, the users chose ticket fare as the highest mean satisfaction rating of service
quality while the lowest mean satisfaction ratings were scheduling, frequency and comfortability. The Level of Service (LOS) of each RapidBET bus service quality was also determined. By using the methodology in Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual (TCQSM), the performance measure of RapidBET bus service
quality was determined. The quantitative data of RapidBET bus service quality was obtained by making observations by taking ride as a passenger in the bus. The selected service quality factors to determine the LOS of RapidBET bus service were
frequency, hours of service and travel time. The LOS of each RapidBET bus services were determined to be C, D and F for the service quality factors measured. From this study, it was found that most of the RapidBET bus services quality factors are tolerable and the limited service provided by the operator and the RapidBET bus services is an improvement of the conventional pubhc transportation during the peak hours. As a conclusion, it is important to encourage the study on the service quality performance of our public transport to increase the public transportation demand and achieving the sustainable transportation system in Malaysia


Classically, data interpolation with a parametrized model class is possible as long as the number of parameters is larger than the number of equations to be satisfied. A puzzling phenomenon in deep learning is that models are trained with many more parameters than what this classical theory would suggest. We propose a partial theoretical explanation for this phenomenon. We prove that for a broad class of data distributions and model classes, overparametrization is necessary if one wants to interpolate the data smoothly. Namely we show that smooth interpolation requires d times more parameters than mere interpolation, where d is the ambient data dimension. We prove this universal law of robustness for any smoothly parametrized function class with polynomial size weights, and any covariate distribution verifying isoperimetry (or a mixture thereof). In the case of two-layer neural networks and Gaussian covariates, this law was conjectured in prior work by Bubeck, Li, and Nagaraj. We also give an interpretation of our result as an improved generalization bound for model classes consisting of smooth functions.


Oil samples from six oilfields in the Central Niger Delta were analyzed for normal alkanes, aliphatic isoprenoid hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons and biomarkers using gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry (GC‐MS). The study was carried out with the aim of assessing the origin and thermal maturity of the oils and the depositional environment of the organic matter from which they were derived, and to evaluate similarities (or differences) among the oils from the Central Niger Delta in comparison to those from other parts of the Delta. The ratios of n‐alkanes and aliphatic isoprenoids showed that Pr/nC17 ranged from 0.56 to 0.86 while Ph/nC18 ranged from 0.22 to 0.31 indicating that the oils were derived from organic matter of both terrestrial and marine origin. Pristane/phytane ratios ranged from 2.67 to 3.50, suggesting that the organic matter was deposited in generally oxidizing environments. The oleanane index, which ranged from 0.07 to 1.39, and other biomarker data also indicate contributions from both marine and terrestrial organic matter. Both saturated and aromatic hydrocarbon biomarker data indicate that the oils are thermally mature. The study showed that the Central Niger Delta oils have organic geochemical characteristics similar to those of oils from other parts of the Delta. However, there is a striking difference in the distribution of aromatic hydrocarbons, and this may in future be used as a tool with which oils from different parts of the Delta can be differentiated.


We tested the hypotheses that nonselective beta-adrenergic blockade does not cause absolute hypoglycemia unawareness but shifts the glycemic thresholds for symptoms to lower plasma glucose concentrations and that neither neuroglycopenic symptoms nor cognitive impairments during hypoglycemia are altered by beta-adrenergic blockade. To do so, we applied the euglycemic and stepped hypoglycemic clamp techniques to patients with moderately controlled insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) in the absence (n = 8) and presence (n = 9) of the nonselective beta-adrenergic antagonist propranolol. Compared with the corresponding euglycemic clamps, total symptom scores first increased at the 4.4-mM plasma glucose step (a higher level than that of 2.8 mM in nondiabetic subjects studied previously) in the absence of propranolol. Beta-adrenergic blockade did not produce absolute hypoglycemia unawareness. Indeed, at the frankly hypoglycemic step of 2.8 mM, total symptom scores tended to be higher in the presence than in the absence of propranolol. This was largely the result of greater (P less than 0.01) perception of diaphoresis. However, symptom scores did not increase until the 3.3-mM plasma glucose step during beta-adrenergic blockade. The perception of hunger, and perhaps that of tremulousness, was reduced by propranolol at the higher glucose steps. Neuroglycopenic symptoms were not reduced by propranolol. The cognitive function of memory, but not that of attention, was impaired, also starting at the 4.4-mM glucose step. This was not impaired further by propranolol. Thus, we formed the following conclusions. 1) Nonselective beta-adrenergic blockade does not cause absolute hypoglycemia unawareness but shifts the glycemic thresholds for symptoms to lower plasma glucose concentrations in patients with IDDM. 2) Beta-adrenergic blockade does not reduce neuroglycopenic symptoms, and it does not further impair cognitive function during hypoglycemia in IDDM patients.


The recognition of facial gestures and expressions in image sequences is an important and challenging problem. Most of the existing methods adopt the following paradigm. First, facial actions/features are retrieved from the imag es, and then facial expressions are recognized based on the retrieved temporal parameters. Unlike this main stream, this paper introduces a new approach allowing the simultaneous recovery of facial actions and expression using a particle filter adopting multi-class dynamics that are conditioned o n the expression. For each frame in the video sequence, our approach is split in two consecutive stages. In the first stag e, the 3D head pose is recovered using a deterministic registration technique based on Online Appearance Models. In the second stage, the facial actions as well as the facial expression are simultaneously recovered using the stochasti c framework with mixed states. The proposed fast scheme is either as robust as existing ones or more robust with respect to many regards. Experimental results show the feasibility and robustness of the proposed approach.


Burkholderia pseudomallei is the causative agent of the melioidosis and is endemic to Southeast Asia and northern Australia. There is no available vaccine and accurate diagnosis is difficult, time-consuming and labor intensive. Early diagnosis is an important part of successful treatment and current serological tests are inadequate and based upon multiple antigens. Identifying specific immunogenic proteins which are highly seroreactive may yield potential diagnostic targets for detecting antibodies and antigens specific to melioidosis. We have used 2D gel electrophoresis and Western blotting analysis to analyze protein antigenicity of whole cell lysates extracted from four B. pseudomallei strains and the sera from the specific infected humans. We found a total of 135 immunogenic proteins, 62 of which we were able to identify to a specific gene by mass-spectrometry. Results from the Western blotting of each strain's proteins and the corresponding patient serum reveal between 30 – 40% serum x strain specific immunogenic proteins. In most cases, these differences exist despite the fact that the genes encoding these proteins were present among all four B. pseudomallei strains. Eight particular proteins were immunogenic in all four strain x serum combinations and could represent novel diagnostic and vaccine subunit targets.


The fiber coating method is essential for improving the interfacial adhesion in glass fiber reinforced polyester composites. In our study, plasma polymer interlayers of pure tetravinylsilane monomer and monomer in a mixture with oxygen gas (0-71%) were used to surface modify glass fibers at an effective power of 2.5 W. We demonstrate that elemental composition and chemical structure of plasma polymer can be influenced by an amount of oxygen atoms (0-19 at.%) partly incorporated into plasma polymer network and partly forming side hydroxyl and carbonyl groups eliminating cross-linking of the network. Thus, the chemical properties result in reduced mechanical properties at enhanced oxygen concentration. The adhesion at the interlayer/glass interface can be optimized as the result of sufficient concentration of Si-O-C bonding species and adequate crosslinking of the network. The vinyl groups at the interlayer surface are responsible for chemical bonding to the polyester resin and their concentration was approximately constant. The polar groups (hydroxyl, carbonyl) at the interlayer surface are favorable for wetting the surface by the resin. A fiber bundle (unsized fibers) coated by plasma coatings was embedded in polyester resin and cured to fabricate composite specimen that was cut and polished using conventional metallographic techniques to form composite cross-sections. The microindentation test (Interfacial Testing System) was carried out on the individually selected glass fibers (GF) on a cross-section of GF/polyester composite to determine the interfacial shear strength. The shear strength for plasma coated fibers depends on oxygen amount in mixture and varied from 0 to 32% above the strength of industrially sized fibers. Nonlinear finite element analysis was used to correctly interpret the microindentation data. The plasma polymer interlayers with high shear yield strength (0.6-1.5 GPa) may be effectively applied to improve the interfacial shear strength in GF/polyester composites.


This new edition of the universally acclaimed and widely-used textbook on fungal biology has been completely re-written, drawing directly on the authors' research and teaching experience. The text takes account of the rapid and exciting progress that has been made in the taxonomy, cell and molecular biology, biochemistry, pathology and ecology of the fungi. Features of taxonomic relevance are integrated with natural functions, including their relevance to human affairs. Special emphasis is placed on the biology and control of human and plant pathogens, providing a vital link between fundamental and applied mycology. The book is richly illustrated throughout with specially prepared drawings and photographs, based on living material. Illustrated life-cycles are provided, and technical terms are clearly explained. Extensive reference is made to recent literature and developments, and the emphasis throughout is on whole-organism biology from an integrated, multidisciplinary perspective.


Genetic engineering of T cells for adoptive transfer by introducing a tumor-targeting chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) is a new approach to cancer immunotherapy. A challenge for the field is to define cell surface molecules that are both preferentially expressed on tumor cells and can be safely targeted with T cells. The orphan tyrosine kinase receptor ROR1 is a candidate target for T-cell therapy with CAR-modified T cells (CAR-T cells) because it is expressed on the surface of many lymphatic and epithelial malignancies and has a putative role in tumor cell survival. The cell surface isoform of ROR1 is expressed in embryogenesis but absent in adult tissues except for B-cell precursors and low levels of transcripts in adipocytes, pancreas, and lung. ROR1 is highly conserved between humans and macaques and has a similar pattern of tissue expression. To determine if low-level ROR1 expression on normal cells would result in toxicity or adversely affect CAR-T cell survival and/or function, we adoptively transferred autologous ROR1 CAR-T cells into nonhuman primates. ROR1 CAR-T cells did not cause overt toxicity to normal organs and accumulated in bone marrow and lymph node sites, where ROR1-positive B cells were present. The findings support the clinical evaluation of ROR1 CAR-T cells for ROR1þ malignancies and demonstrate the utility of nonhuman primates for evaluating the safety of immunotherapy with engineered T cells specific for tumor-associated molecules that are homologous between humans and nonhuman primates. Cancer Immunol Res; 3(2); 206–16. 2014 AACR.


Two image-coding capabilities associated with far-field holograms are analytically and experimentally evaluated. It is demonstrated that preprocessed information concerning the shape of a small object can be efficiently coded into the fringe structure associated with a far-field hologram. In addition, the resultant record has a smaller bandwidth than the original object, and this reduces the resolution requirements when the hologram is used as the input to an information processing system.


How can we reconcile belief in God and Darwinism, divine action and an evolutionary world? The first book of its kind, this Reader represents the diversity of views which surround the interaction of evolutionary theory and the Christian tradition. Ideal for students with no previous knowledge of the field, the book introduces the methodologies of the study of science and religion, and evolutionary biology, and presents the views of influential thinkers from a variety of disciplines, including: * the natural sciences * history * theology * philosophy. From current scientific developments to contemporary philosophical perspectives, Darwin to Dawkins, Creationism to Intelligent Design, God and Evolution highlights neglected but important views, such as those of feminist scholars, and contemporary revisionists, as well as some of the best known writers in the field.


Background: In late October, 2008, Dr. Mike Abrams presented a four hour lecture with questions on his text (written with Albert Ellis et al) at the Albert Ellis Institute in Manhattan. Dr. McMahon attended the lecture. At the conclusion of the lecture, Dr. McMahon asked Dr. Abrams if he would consent to answer questions (below). He accepted to do so without reservation. In turn, Dr. McMahon asked Prof. Dr. Daniel David, Editor of the Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapies if he would be interested in publishing the interview. He readily agreed. McMahon is a trustee of the AEI, as well as a life member and supervisor of the Institute. Abrams is a Fellow of the Institute, co-leader of a private practice in psychotherapy with his wife, Lidia Abrams PhD, and a faculty member at Montclair State University in New Jersey. McMahon is Professor of the University. State University of Oradea, Romania, and Visiting Professor of Pastoral Interventions in Theology at BBU, Cluj, Romania. McMahon 1. Briefly tell us about the following: where did you grow up, in what kind of family, what kinds of grade and high school did you attend, what was your undergraduate major, and where did you do your graduate work and in what field(s)? Abrams I grew up in Queens, NYC in a home with two working class parents and a younger sister. I attended local public schools in New York City all the way through Queens College of the City University of New York. At Queens College I had a dual major in history and college administration. Immediately upon graduation I commenced studies at the New York University Stern School of Business. I was given a graduate teaching fellowship, which made a private university financially accessible to me. After earning my MBA I worked for several years in large finance corporations such as Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and The New York Stock Exchange After 7 years of such work, I started graduate studies again, earning an advanced certificate in statistics, which I saw as a means to acceptance to a doctoral program in psychology. This led to my acceptance into PhD psychology program at the City University of New York in 1984 from which I was awarded that degree in 1987. From seeking additional clinical training I studied for a while under psychoanalyst Robert Langs, and then attended the Freudian based post-doctoral clinical program at Columbia University. These studies crystallized my conviction that psychoanalysis did no represent a scientifically based clinical theory or scientifically based basis for clinical practice. It was then that I went to study at the Albert Ellis Institute where I completed the two year fellowship program in 1992. This is also where I would meet my future wife, Dr. Lidia Dengelegi Abrams, who completed the Fellowship at AEI in 1992 as well. It was shortly after we completed the Fellowships that we began a long-term collaborative effort with Dr. Ellis-although we interacted with him quite productively and often during the period of Fellowship at AEI. 2. Can you name your first three life thoughts and did they help to shape your vocational choices? Among my earliest memories was accompanying my mother to visit my psychiatrically disabled half-brother to the numerous psychiatric hospitals in which he was placed. The squalor, the apparent indifference of the staff, and his assertions of continual mistreatment left me with salient and visceral memories. These memories, at least in part, are the impetus of my ultimate pursuit of psychology as a profession. I was always troubled by what I viewed as the harsh and ineffective practices of psychiatry, and after my foray into the business world I pursued my true vocation. Another quite early memory was of my father telling me of a man who had a doctorate. I remember the awe he expressed when describing the meaning of this degree. Despite having very little formal education himself, he deeply admired those who obtained it. …


We studied the possibility of exciton condensation in Mott insulating bilayers. In these strongly correlated systems, an exciton is the bound state of a double occupied and empty site. In the strong coupling limit, the exciton acts as a hard-core boson. Its physics is captured by the exciton t -J model, containing an effective XXZ model describing the exciton dynamics only. Using numerical simulations and analytical mean-field theory, we constructed the ground-state phase diagram. Three homogeneous phases can be distinguished: the antiferromagnet, the exciton checkerboard crystal, and the exciton superfluid. For most model parameters, however, we predict macroscopic phase separation between these phases. The exciton superfluid exists only for large exciton hopping energy. Additionally, we studied the collective modes and susceptibilities of the three phases. In the superfluid phase, we find the striking feature that the bandwidth of the spin-triplet excitations, potentially detectable by resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS), is proportional to the superfluid density. The superfluid phase mode is visible in the charge susceptibility, measurable by RIXS or electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS).


Humans are plagued by shortsighted thinking, preferring to put off work on complex, deep-seated, or difficult problems in favor of quick-fix solutions to immediate needs. When short-term thinking is applied to economic development, especially in fragile nations, the results—corruption, waste, and faulty planning—are often disastrous. In Bringing in the Future , William Ascher draws on the latest research from psychology, economics, institutional design, and legal theory to suggest strategies to overcome powerful obstacles to long-term planning in developing countries. Drawing on cases from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, Ascher applies strategies such as the creation and scheduling of tangible and intangible rewards, cognitive exercises to increase the understanding of longer-term consequences, self-restraint mechanisms to protect long-term commitments and enhance credibility, and restructuring policy-making processes to permit greater influence of long-term considerations. Featuring theoretically informed research findings and sound policy examples, this volume will assist policy makers, activists, and scholars seeking to understand how the vagaries of human behavior affect international development.