Although the calcium/calmodulin-activated phosphatase calcineurin may dephosphorylate many endocytic proteins, it is not considered a key molecule in mediating the major forms of endocytosis at synapses—slow, clathrin-dependent and the rapid, clathrin-independent endocytosis. Here we studied the role of calcineurin in endocytosis by reducing calcium influx, inhibiting calmodulin with pharmacological blockers and knockdown of calmodulin, and by inhibiting calcineurin with pharmacological blockers and knock-out of calcineurin. These manipulations significantly inhibited both rapid and slow endocytosis at the large calyx-type synapse in 7- to 10-d-old rats and mice, and slow, clathrin-dependent endocytosis at the conventional cultured hippocampal synapse of rats and mice. These results suggest that calcium influx during nerve firing activates calcium/calmodulin-dependent calcineurin, which controls the speed of both rapid and slow endocytosis at synapses by dephosphorylating endocytic proteins. The calcium/calmodulin/calcineurin signaling pathway may underlie regulation of endocytosis by nerve activity and calcium as reported at many synapses over the last several decades.


This chapter describes the context in which tropical forest plantations are expanding as a source of industrial wood and fuel. World demand for the former is increasing, but the rate of increase is slowing and is subject to fluctuations in economic activity. Dependency on fuelwood is very high in many countries, and it is not lessening overall. The use of planted trees by communities and industry to satisfy these demands is increasing. A small number of species have been very widely used, but there is merit in extending the choice available to growers, in part to better cater for the diverse biophysical and socioeconomic environments in tropical countries. The very varied climates and soils of the tropics are reflected in great variation in plantation yield, and there are many critical issues yet to be understood regarding sustainable production by tropical plantations. Several factors which cause low productivity are amenable to manipulation by managers. Experience from temperate regions can provide valuable guidance for both practice and research in the tropics. Wood requirements cannot be satisfied from native forests alone; plantations offer proven prospects for higher rates of production per unit area compared to native forests, and the production trend suggests that even forest-rich nations are shifting their reliance for wood supply from native forests to plantations. Long-term production with requisite environmental care is a challenge for both research and practice.


The finite degree of freedom (DOF) of a mechanism is determined by the number of independent loop constraints. In this paper a method is introduced to determine the maximal number of loop closure constraints (which is independent of a specific configuration) of multi-loop linkages and is applied to calculate the finite DOF. It rests on an algebraic condition on the joint screws and the corresponding computational algorithm to determine the maximal rank of the constraint Jacobian in an arbitrary (possibly singular) reference configuration, making use of the analytic condition that minors of certain rank and their higher derivatives vanish. Unlike the Lie group methods for estimation the DOF of so-called exceptional linkages, this method does not rely on partitioning kinematic loops into partial kinematic chains, and it is applicable to multi-loop linkages. The DOF computed with this method is at least as accurate as the DOF computed with the Lie group methods. It gives the correct DOF for any (possibly overconstrained) linkage where the constraint Jacobian has maximal rank in regular configurations. The so determined maximal rank has further significance for classifying linkages as being exceptional or paradoxical, but also for detecting singularities and shaky linkages.


This paper explores the relationship between financial structure and industrial structure in a panel cointegration framework, using annual data for 29 countries and 28 industrial sectors for the period 1990-2001. The results indicate that financial structure is to a significant extent related to industrial structure in the long run, yet their relationship is partly consistent with the industrial sectors' technological orientation postulated by the theoretical literature. It is in line, however, with the so-called financial services view that stresses the importance of a well developed financial system for growth, irrespective of its structure. In addition, the results indicate that financial structure does not seem to play a role in a sectors performance relative to GDP.


This survey was conducted with the research project "73/00 Determinanten des Freizeitverkehr" of the Swiss Association of Transport Engineers (SVI) and the research project "Kontrastraume und Raumpartnerschaften (BMBF)". It produces descriptive analyses as well as models of the variability of leisure travel (with hazard models), the impact of living conditions on leisure activities (with linear regression and Poisson regression), determinants of destination and mode choice in leisure travel (with multinominal and nested logit models). Additional travel group surveys looked at the motives behind leisure activities. All analyses focused on differences between week- and weekend leisure days. The discussions are based on our own surveys as well as on analyses of national datasets. The following surveys were conducted within this research project are: A survey which covered a period of 12 weeks of the leisure behaviour of 71 persons. They reported nearly 6000 leisure activities. This survey was the main source for the analysis of intrapersonal variability in leisure; Four focus groups, which enabled an analysis of personal attitudes and motives. Besides, the following datasets were used for modelling mode- and destination choice The National surveys of the Federal Office of Spatial Development (ARE) ("Mikrozensus 1994 und 2000"), die "Kontinuierlichen Erhebung Personenverkehr" of the Swiss Federal Railway (KEP 1999 und 2000) and the "Zusatzmodul Reiseverhalten der Einkommens- und Verbrauchserhebung 1994" (EVE) of the Federal Office of Statistic (BfS). A database covering all Swiss municipalities with information about their leisure infrastructure was collected from various sources during the research project. The results of the research can be summarised very briefly as follows: Attributes of leisure activities. The research confirms that different leisure activities are very distinct from each other in their travel characteristics. As most leisure activities are performed in groups, the spatial distribution of social networks and their development over time becomes crucial for the growth of leisure traffic. Because social networks are spatially distributed widely it is difficult to influence leisure traffic. Rhythms and Variability: It is too simplifying to assume, that daily leisure activities are mostly performed regularly or routinely - although aspects of leisure travel like the mode choice might be to a high degree routine. The analysis show that the majority of activities - and especially those that are performed most often, like visist of friends - do not take place within a rhythm. Impact of residential situation: The residential situation has statistically significant impact on the frequency of leisure activities out of home. Nonetheless this influence is weak compared to other influences like sociodemographic differences. Motives: Motives behind leisure are different for activities performed in everyday life compared to motives of holiday trips. For both categories of leisure activities social contacts and the search for variability are dominant motives. Destination choice: Main result of the destination choice modelling for short excursions (with less than two nights at the destination) is the fact, that the choice of a destination depends on the accessibility of them. Traveller evaluate a destination dependant on the distance and the travel time to the alternatives of a choice set. The influence of leisure infrastructure for the destination choice of shorter excursions is weak, but still detectable. Further research: All results show that the reasons of the growth of leisure activities are still not completely known. Because of the low goodness of fit of the models and the fact that new variables were found to have a significant influence (e.g. social networks) it is clear that the modelling approaches used so far in Switzerland need improvement. Additionally, the joint consideration of different leisure activities is not sufficient. Hence, further research is necessary. Social contact is a major motive of leisure traffic. Because of the spatially disperse distribution of acquaintances and friends - which is a problem to public transport - and indications, that the spatial spread of those networks has increased over the last years, those contacts are a main contributor to the growth of leisure traffic. It would be useful to get to know more about this spatial distribution and the development of these networks so that first trends can be derived. A second focus of further research should be the common separation of leisure into daily leisure, weekend leisure and holidays. Due to the growing number of short trips and new living forms (e.g. weekly commuter with second flats) they cannot be separated unambiguously. Besides, one can assume, that the performance of one type of leisure depends on the others- for instance that changes in daily leisure could possibly cause changes in holidays. The link between the times and activities need to be explored in more detail.


The current study asks when children begin to understand that when an object is added to a set, the numerosity of the set has increased regardless of set size. This knowledge can be expressed algebraically as 'x + 1 > x'. In Experiment 1, 3to 5-year-old children were asked to reason about transformations (i.e., addition, subtraction, rearrangement) performed on a visible set of objects. We found that 5-yearolds were able to reason about how each transformation affected numerosity, and 4-year-olds showed limited understanding. In Experiment 2, children were asked to reason about transformations performed on a hidden set of objects. Similar results were found. Together, we showed that the ability to reason about number algebraically develops gradually between the ages of 3 and 5. Implications for number word acquisition were discussed.


There is little consensus on what the January 25, 2011 Revolution in Egypt stands for, or whether Egyptians are living through the Revolution or in a post-Revolutionary State. Skeptics say that what occurred is the overthrow of an autocratic President, the retention of an Old Guard military and civil service establishment, and the potential for free and fair national elections. They contend, however, that this seminal event in the "Arab Spring" produced no revolutionary leadership and no clear platform or message. Is there a role for law schools in the revolutionary transformation? In this article, the author describes the changes taking place in Egyptian law schools, and how these changes can enhance the objectives of the Revolution. He next defines the critical elements of clinical legal education and the importance of social justice in the clinical model. He then identifies obstacles to making changes in the educational system. Finally, he makes recommendations for building a foundation of innovation, expertise, and institutional support before embarking on the ambitious establishment of a clinical component within the law faculty. After all, the Legal Clinic is more than a room with a sign on the door.


The operations management discipline has made substantial progress developing analytical models to help firms make tactical and strategic decisions (e.g., inventory control, assortment planning). The application of these models to real contexts requires several inputs, such as an estimate of the benefits and costs of various levels of the operational decision under study. It is often the case that the associated benefits depend on how customers react to changes in the operational decisions being modeled. This in turn requires an empirical validation of the consumer model that serves as an input when making operation decisions. Bringing together researchers from economics, marketing and operations management, this paper reviews and discusses recent findings in terms of modeling and empirically validating consumer choices in response to operational decisions. We structure this discussion along four major operational decisions and issues: product variety (including inventory and assortment), service capacity, pricing and supply chain coordination. For each of these areas, we review recent work and identify challenges that we believe are important to address in future research aimed at connecting operations management research to practice.


The development of viable tissue surrogates requires a vascular network that sustains cell metabolism and tissue development. The coculture of endothelial cells (ECs) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), the two key players involved in blood vessel formation, has been heralded in tissue engineering (TE) as one of the most promising approaches for scaffold vascularization. However, MSCs may exert both proangiogenic as well antiangiogenic role. Furthermore, it is unclear which cell type is responsible for the upregulation of angiogenic pathways observed in EC:MSC cocultures. There is disagreement on the proangiogenic action of MSCs, as they have also been shown to negatively affect the formation of capillary networks. To address these issues, we investigated the regulation of key angiogenic pathways in scaffolds hosting different EC:MSC ratios fabricated via extrusion-based bioprinting. Human ECs were cocultured with either rat or human MSCs and the regulation of fundamental angiogenic and arteriogenic pathways was analyzed through DNA, gene, and protein expression. The use of a hybrid human/rat coculture system facilitated pinpointing each cell type role in the regulation of specific genes, and showed that MSCs exert a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on the EC expression of angiogenic factors within the first 24h. Within a week of coculture, MSCs exert a proangiogenic effect, as corroborated in human/human bioprinted cocultures. Interestingly, juxtacrine signaling promoted secretion of the angiogenic factor VEGF in direct cocultures (EC and MSC co-encapsulated), while paracrine signaling encouraged secretion of the arteriogenic factor PGDF in indirect cocultures (adjacent bioprinting of EC-laden and MSC-laden scaffolds). Overall, the use of a bioprinted system to elucidate EC:MSC interplay allows rapid leveraging of the data for novel vascular TE applications. Despite the transitory negative effect early in the culture, MSC presence is necessary for the regulation of pathways involved in arteriogenesis. With further validation in vivo, this study provides a possible explanation to the controversial findings present in literature and shows how MSCs effect on angiogenic pathway regulation mimics the dynamics of blood vessel formation reported in literature and normally occurring in vivo.


We obtain an exact matrix-product-state (MPS) representation of a large series of fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states in various geometries of genus 0. The states in question include all paired $k=2$ Jack polynomials, such as the Moore-Read and Gaffnian states, as well as the Read-Rezayi $k=3$ state. We also outline the procedures through which the MPSs of other model FQH states can be obtained, provided their wave function can be written as a correlator in a $1+1$ conformal field theory (CFT). The auxiliary Hilbert space of the MPS, which gives the counting of the entanglement spectrum, is then simply the Hilbert space of the underlying CFT. This formalism enlightens the link between entanglement spectrum and edge modes. Properties of model wave functions such as the thin-torus root partitions and squeezing are recast in the MPS form, and numerical benchmarks for the accuracy of the new MPS prescription in various geometries are provided.


This essay presents four ways of thinking about race. They consist of four related but distinct race concepts: the racialist concept of race, which is the traditional, pernicious, essentialist, and hierarchical concept of race; the concept of socialrace, which is the antiracist concept of race as a social construction; the minimalist concept of race, which is the deflationary concept of biological race that represents race as a matter of color, shape and geographical ancestry; and the populationist concept of race, the race concept that represents races as populations, deriving from geographically separated and reproductive isolated founding populations. Taken together, the four concepts can help us better navigate our way through the murky conceptual domain of "race."


The physical manifestations of economic globalization are two fold: (i) there are global processes at work; and (ii) there are impacts from those processes. In conceptualizing what global processes really are, the primary agent of global economic activity, the transnational corporation (TNC), must be scrutinized. Since TNC operations between industries differ, assessments must be made on an industry-specific level. Accordingly, this thesis uses an interdisciplinary approach to uncover and evaluate the global workings of TNCs in one of the largest worldwide industries - the food processing industry. Using as case studies the three largest TNCs in the industry (Nestle, Unilever and Philip Morris), an in-depth investigation is launched into how these institutions are global facilitators. A typology of food processing TNC activity is developed which identifies three key areas of global firm activity - Global Production, Global Management and Global Partnershipping. This triad provides the analytical framework with which to assess food TNC global processes and to subsequently link these global processes to local impacts. The impacts from TNC global processes are most keenly felt in economically sensitive areas in the developing world. The food industry is especially important to developing world economies, where, on average, 31% (the high is 73%) of all manufacturing output is in the food and drink industry (as compared to industrialized countries, where the average is 19% and the high is 35%). Prior to assessing impacts, it is first necessary to identify the linkages between TNC activity and the local communities in which they operate. Using the global strategy indicators of Global Production, Global Management and Global Partnershipping, a matrix is developed which links these TNC global processes to thirteen primary local impacts in the developing world. Local impacts are readily apparent on agriculture, rural community, food security, local incomes, education, employment, labour conditions, environment, local firms, training, technology, nutrition and consumption. Monitoring these linkages through assessments of TNC corporate social responsibility can assist in maximizing positive outcomes.


Executive Summary This paper explores the linkage between bank employee levels of optimism and performance outcomes. To date, there has been little empirical evidence assessing the impact that positive psychological capacities, such as the optimism of bank employees, may have on performance. This study was designed to help begin to fill this void. The study sample consisted of 90 bank employees from all areas of a metropolitan bank in the Midwest. Participants completed surveys to determine their current state of optimism. Supervisory performance appraisal data were gathered in order to measure performance outcomes. Results indicated a significant positive relationship between the midlevel managers' measured state of optimism and their supervisors' ratings of their overall work performance. Findings also indicated a positive correlation between self-rated optimism, job satisfaction, and self-rated performance for both midlevel managers and tellers. Suggestions for effectively developing and managing bank employees' optimism to positively impact their performance are provided. Introduction The competitive paradigm facing the retail banking industry has shifted. The proliferation of retail branches, coupled with changes which have allowed banks to expand their product lines, has resulted in a dynamic environment in which banks are seeking to differentiate themselves in order to create a source of sustained competitive advantage. Technological developments and organizational redesign have also changed the type of work being performed by bank employees. As noted by Bartel (2004), bank tellers have traditionally served more of a clerical role by simply processing customers' transactions. In today's competitive landscape, the job of a bank teller has been enlarged. Beyond the normal expectation of providing excellent customer service, tellers are also evaluated on their ability to sell various financial products or make referrals to the proper sales personnel. Due to these industry dynamics, banks can no longer rely on traditional sources of competitive advantage such as technology or superior efficiency based upon economies of scale to be successful. Instead, these changes have forced many retail banking operations to fundamentally reformulate how they attain a competitive advantage on a level playing field. A Resource-Based Perspective According to the resource-based theory of the firm, organizations can develop sustained competitive advantage only by developing value creating resources and capabilities which are rare and difficult for competitors to imitate (Barney, 1995). Although traditional sources of competitive advantage such as technological supremacy, patent protections, economies of scale and scope, and favorable government regulations create value, the resource-based view would argue that these sources are increasingly easy to replicate. Therefore, these traditional forms of competitive advantage can no longer be leveraged for long-term success. Instead, firms must now consider developing other forms of intangible and more difficult to imitate strategic resources in order to sustain their advantage over time. The High Performance Work System Many have argued that the implementation of a progressive set of human resource management policies and practices collectively known as a high-performance work system can lead to the development of a sustained competitive advantage. Consistent with a resource-based view, a conceptual argument can be made that the development of "human capital" within an organization creates value and is an "invisible asset" which might be especially difficult for competitors to replicate. For example, Becker and Gerhart (1996) have argued that human resource (HR) systems consist of policies and practices which have been implemented over time and cannot simply be purchased by industry competitors. Beyond the conceptual argument, a large amount of empirical evidence would also suggest a strong linkage between high-performance work systems and firm performance. …


Th ermophilic Campylobacter spp. are the leading cause of zoonotic enteric disease in Europe and USA. In Serbia, it has an upward trend in human population. Th e disease is usually indirectly transmitted to humans through the consumption of food contaminated by the faeces of infected animals. Th e aim of this paper was to analyze data on the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in poultry meat production chain and the risk for the development of the disease in humans. Th e Campylobacter jejuni/coli was identifi ed at farm level in 73.3% of poultry, 66.6% calves and 58.3% pig samples of already ill or suspected cases. Clinical manifestation of the disease in birds can be expected if an additional immunosuppressive factor is present. Artifi cial infection of healthy chickens with 6.77 log cfu C. jejuni per chicken on day 21st of life leads to 5.26 log cfu/g faeces aft er only fi ve days with a tendency to decrease during the next 18 days. Although chilling and freezing may signifi cantly reduce Campylobacter contamination of carcasses, it cannot completely eliminate the initial contamination. According to our experimental results the prevalence of Campylobacter contaminated chickens from positive fl ock appears to drop from 100% live birds (with 3.02 log cfu/g faeces) to 50% of chicken carcasses. Contamination of the carcasses depends on initial contamination of live birds, good hygiene practices andgood manufacturing practices. Th erefore, high variability in contamination of carcasses can be considered; prevalence range from 11.43 to 90.00% ofcarcases was established in various slaughterhouses. At retail, Campylobacter was detected in 18.8% poultry meat samples and 10.0% samples of othermeat types. Campylobacter is frequently found in the entire production chain of poultry meat and represents high risk for consumers' health.


For the first time in a single volume, this book brings together more than 140 of the best walks, tracks or trails in New South Wales, which can be walked by the moderately fit individual. They are located in national parks, coastal parks, state forests, conservation reserves, historic parks and local government and public easements. Other routes follow state highways, minor roads, coastal cliffs, old gold routes, or pass bushranger haunts and back roads linking towns and historical features.

Most routes do not require specialist navigation or bushcraft skills, and vary in length from a 45-minute stroll to a 4-day, 65-kilometre camping trip.

Walks, Tracks and Trails of New South Wales highlights the best the state has to offer, from an outback ghost town and ancient lake beds, to Australia's highest mountain, coastal environments and World Heritage rainforests. Easy-to-interpret maps are included to help you navigate, and the book's size makes it convenient to bring with you on your adventures.


At first sight, a free trade agreement (FTA) between Switzerland and the United States seems implausible, but this important new study concludes that a FTA between the two countries would be highly worthwhile to both countries. As leading advocates of market capitalism, Switzerland and the United States are well situated to conclude an FTA that breaks new ground in dismantling barriers. The study finds that the annual GDP gains to each partner from expanded trade could be on the order of $1.1 billion.


ABSTRACT Detrital zircon from the Carboniferous Girrakool Beds in the central Tablelands Complex of the southern New England Orogen, Australia, is dominated by ca 350–320 Ma grains with a peak at ca 330 Ma; there are very few Proterozoic or Archean grains. A maximum deposition age for the Girrakool Beds of ca 309 Ma is identified. These data overlap the age of the Carboniferous Keepit arc, a continental volcanic arc along the western margin of the Tamworth Belt. Zircon trace-element and isotopic compositions support petrographic evidence of a volcanic arc provenance for sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks of the central Tablelands Complex. Zircon Hf isotope data for ca 350–320 Ma detrital grains become less radiogenic over the 30 million-year record. This pattern is observed with maturation of continental volcanic arcs but is opposite to the longer-term pattern documented in extensional accretionary orogens, such as the New England Orogen. Volcanic activity in the Keepit arc is inferred to decrease rapidly at ca 320 Ma, based on a major change in the detrital zircon age distribution. Although subduction continues, this decrease is inferred to coincide with the onset of trench retreat, slab rollback and the eastward migration of the magmatic arc that led to the Late Carboniferous to early Permian period of extension, S-type granite production and intrusion into the forearc basin, high-temperature–low-pressure metamorphism, and development of rift basins such as the Sydney–Gunnedah–Bowen system.


The objective of this investigation was to determine the effect of technology on attention and achievement within a classroom context, taking motivation and concentration into account as well. Lessons in Geography, English and Mathematics were presented to an experimental and a control group consisting of 23 and 22 Grade 8 learners, respectively. Technology was implemented for the experimental group but not for the control group. Significant differences were found between the average achievements of a group of learners, exposed to technology during a lesson, compared to a group not exposed to technology. Significant differences were also found between the average attention of a group of learners, exposed to technology during a lesson, compared to a group not exposed to technology. A high positive relationship was obtained between motivation and concentration and moderate to high positive correlations were obtained between attention, concentration and motivation, taken jointly as independent variables and achievement as the dependent variable. Keywords: achievement, attention, concentration, motivation, technology


In many industries, it is quite common to observe firms delegating the production of essential inputs to independent ventures jointly established with competing rivals. The diffusion of this arrangement and the favourable stance of competition authorities call for the assessment of the social and private desirability of Input Production Joint Ventures (IPJV), which represent a form of input production cooperation, scantly investigated so far. IPJV can be seen as an intermediate organizational setting lying between the two extremes of vertical integration and vertical separation, with a major difference, due to partial collusion. Our investigation is based on an oligopoly model with horizontally differentiated goods. We characterize the conditions under which IPJV is privately optimal finding that firms' incentives may be welfare detrimental. We also provide a rationale for the empirical relevance of IPJV both in terms of its ability to survive and in terms of disengagement incentives which account for the large number of divorces among members of joint ventures. The stance of the paper as to IPJV is more cautious with respect to the received wisdom of competition authorities and in favour of the wide application of the rule of reason.


Strategic human resource (HR) management suggest that HR strategic partnerships bring positive impacts to business resulting in an improvement in organisational excellence. Qualitative and quantitative surveys of the Banking industry in Cambodia were executed to determine the current HR strategic partnerships in the business; and what is the extent of the effectiveness of the partnerships on the organisational performance. The findings revealed that effective HR strategic partnering affects organisational performance positively; HR strategic partners play an increasingly important role to achieve business objectives. HR leaders achieved a moderate extent of HR effectiveness, leaving areas for improvement outlined in this article.


Background Injuries are the major public health problem in India. The present study was conducted to assess the aetiology, prevalence and pattern of facial fractures amongst the treated cases of maxillofacial fractures at the trauma centres in Hassan District, South India. Methods Retrospective data of three years, 2011to 2014 was collected from records of five trauma-treating centres of a Hassan District in Southern India. Age, sex, aetiology, location of fractures and various other variables were collected. Results Total 208 patients were treated in the hospitals for facial bone fractures. Men were more affected than women with a male to female ratio of 6:1. Nearly 50% of patients were aged between 21–30 years and road traffic injuries (62.85%) caused most of the fractures, mostly among non-helmet two wheeler users. Road traffic injuries causing facial fractures occurred predominantly on weekdays (Tuesday and Wednesday). Chi-square test was used to test for significance and a p-value < 0.05 is regarded as significant. 60.35% of patients had fractures of mandible followed by 24.85% of zygomatic bone and 5.31% of maxillary bone. Conclusions This study has shown that road traffic Injuries are responsible for most of the maxillofacial fractures. Non-helmet usage among two wheeler users being the most common factor, which needs to be addressed through education and enforcement.


In recent years there are numerous institutions providing education in tourism sector which increase its importance,because of the need for qualified staff. School of Tourism and Hotel Managements are one of these institutions which provide the highest level of education. Due to the forefront of human element because of tourism sectors' structural caharcteristics the purpose of this study is to evaluate optimism and life satisfaction of the undergraduate tourism and hotel management students. "Optimism Scale" developed by Balci and Yilmaz (2002) was used to measure students' optimism, and "Life Satisfaction" developed by Diener, Emmons, Larsen and Griffin (1985), translated into Turkish by Koker (1991) was used to measure students' life satisfaction. Element sampling method was used. The sample involved the students who enrolled at School of Tourism and Hotel Management, Selcuk University in Turkey, during the spring semester of 2010-2011 academic year (n= 479). Results showed that the students scored moderately on satisfaction and highly on optimism. Female students were more optimistic and satisfied than male students and the higher the level of income students had, the more optimistic and satisfied they were. Another result showed that there was a positive correlation between students' optimism and life satisfaction.


In this paper, we will propose a novel spatiotemporal filter that utilizes image sequences in order to remove noise. The consecutive frames include: current, previous and next noisy frames. The filter proposed in this paper is based upon the weighted averaging pixels intensity in image sequences. It utilizes the Appropriate Number of Consecutive Frames (ANCF) based on the noisy pixels intensity among the frames. The number of consecutive frames is adaptively calculated for each region in image and its value may change from one region to another region depending on the pixels intensity within the region. The weights are determined by a well-defined mathematical criterion, which is adaptive to the feature of spatiotemporal pixels of the consecutive frames. It is experimentally shown that the proposed filter can preserve image structures and edges under motion while suppressing noise, and thus can be effectively used in image sequences filtering. Most importantly, our proposed filter is independent of noise variance and only utilizes the intensity of pixels to suppress noise.


Title of Dissertation: A THREE DEGREE OF FREEDOM PARALLEL MANIPULATOR WITH ONLY TRANSLATIONAL DEGREES OF FREEDOM Richard Eugene Stamper, Doctor of Philosophy, 1997 Dissertation directed by: Professor Lung-Wen Tsai Department of Mechanical Engineering and Institute for Systems Research In this dissertation, a novel parallel manipulator is investigated. The manipulator has three degrees of freedom and the moving platform is constrained to only translational motion. The main advantages of this parallel manipulator are that all of the actuators can be attached directly to the base, closed-form solutions are available for the forward kinematics, the moving platform maintains the same orientation throughout the entire workspace, and it can be constructed with only revolute joints. Closed-form solutions for both the forward and inverse kinematics problems are presented. It is shown that the inverse kinematics problem has up to four real solutions, and the forward kinematics problem has up to 16 real solutions. The Jacobian matrix for the manipulator is also developed, and used to identify singular poses of the manipulator, where the manipulator instantaneously gains or loses a degree of freedom. The manipulator workspace volume as a function of link lengths and leg orientation is determined using the Monte Carlo method. A procedure for characterizing the quality of the workspace is also developed. Using these results, optimization studies for maximum workspace volume and for well-conditioned workspace volume are conducted. The objective function for the well-conditioned optimization study is defined as the integration of the reciprocal of the condition number of the Jacobian matrix over the workspace volume, and named the global condition index. Three different models are developed for the manipulator dynamics, with numerical simulations presented for all three models. The first model is based upon the application of the Newton-Euler equations of motion used in conjunction with the Jacobian matrix to map the inertial and gravitational loadings of the moving platform to the actuators. The second model was developed to give a more complete characterization of the dynamics, and is based upon the Lagrangian multiplier approach. The third model neglects the highly coupled nature of the manipulator and models each input link individually. This model is developed for use with single-input single-output type controllers. A prototype was fabricated to demonstrate this manipulator. Three controllers are developed and tested on the prototype, where each type of control tested relied on different characterizations of the manipulator dynamics. The three controllers are a PID controller, a computed torque controller, and an iterative learning controller. The research presented in this dissertation establishes this parallel manipulator as a viable robotic device for three degree of freedom manipulation. The manipulator offers the advantages associated with other parallel manipulators, such as light weight construction; while avoiding some of the traditional disadvantages of parallel manipulators such as the extensive use of spherical joints and coupling of the platform orientation and position. A THREE DEGREE OF FREEDOM PARALLEL MANIPULATOR WITH ONLY TRANSLATIONAL DEGREES OF FREEDOM


In recent years, the product safety regime in the European Union ("EU") has been amended to provide increased stability for producers and more protection for consumers. The framework seeks to balance the interest of consumers in having access to safe products with the interest of producers in avoiding costly litigation due to differing national standards. There are currently three prominent EU directives designed to protect the health and safety of consumers. These three directives are the Product Liability Directive (the "Directive"), the European General Product Safety Directive (the "GPSD"), and the Product Warranty Directive.1 This paper will focus on the impact of the Directive and the GPSD in the EU and will compare these two directives with product liability law in the United States ("U.S."). This paper will also explore the newly proposed Product Safety and Market Surveillance Package (the "Package"), expected to replace the GPSD as soon as 2015, and the impact that the Package will have on product liability law in the EU.The combination of the Directive and the GPSD provide a comprehensive scheme for product liability law in the EU. When compared with U.S. product liability law, these two directives achieve greater harmonization across member states than the current U.S. product liability regime. Although both the EU and the U.S. have similar product liability laws, the current EU regime often affords consumers greater access to redress and maintains strict requirements in regards to product labeling. The proposed Package will introduce even more harmonization into the EU, making it harder on economic operators who sell or produce defective products to escape liability. However, the EU product liability regime is not without problems and there are multiple areas in which the U.S. product liability framework offers better alternatives and provides less confusion for manufacturers and consumers.


As stock market indexes are not tradeable, the importance and trading volume of Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) cannot be understated. ETFs track and attempt to replicate the performance of a specific index. Numerous studies have demonstrated a strong relationship between the S&P500 Composite Index and the Volatility Index (VIX), but few empirical studies have focused on the relationship between VIX and ETF returns. The purpose of the paper is to investigate whether VIX returns affect ETF returns by using vector autoregressive (VAR) models to determine whether daily VIX returns with different moving average processes affect ETF returns. The ARCH-LM test shows conditional heteroskedasticity in the estimation of ETF returns, so that the Diagonal BEKK (named after Baba, Engle, Kraft and Kroner) model is used to accommodate multivariate conditional heteroskedasticity in the VAR estimates of ETF returns. Daily data on ETF returns that follow different stock indexes in the USA and Europe are used in the empirical analysis, which is presented for the full data set, as well as for the three sub-periods Before, During, and After the Global Financial Crisis. The estimates show that daily VIX returns have: (1) significant negative effects on European ETF returns in the short run; (2) stronger significant effects on single-market ETF returns than on European ETF returns; and (3) lower impacts on the European ETF returns than on S&P500 returns. For the European markets, the estimates of the mean equations tend to differ between the whole sample period and the sub-periods, but the estimates of the matrices A and B in the Diagonal BEKK model are quite similar for the whole sample period and at least two of the three sub-periods. For the US Markets, the estimates of the mean equations also tend to differ between the whole sample period and the sub-periods, but the estimates of the matrices A and B in the Diagonal BEKK model are very similar for the whole sample period and the three sub-periods.


For applications such as targeting therapeutic nanocarriers to specific tissues, as well as for the more general problem of assessing binding affinity between proteins, it is important to discover tools which may be used for both micromanipulation as well as force microscopy. In this work, we measure picoscale forces using microscale robots, using antibody-coated microbead probes as an interface. We develop a model for a detailed understanding of the relationship between robot velocity and applied force, and apply this to the measurement of binding forces between antibody-coated beads and protein-coated glass slides. We also verify binding between specific antibody/protein combinations relative to untargeted control combinations, and we measure the rate at which this binding occurs. This offers a truly novel technique for measuring binding forces between proteins.


Nowadays, planning is no more is considered as a scientific and technical profession or a governmental and state duty rather it is envisioned as a bridge connecting the planners to the institutional changes. In other words, the planning theory is not formed within social, economic and/or political considerations rather it is configured by the individuals in social situations with the objective of elaborating the current status and prescribing of more appropriate procedures and processes. The present study has been conducted with the objective of introducing the elaborative and prescriptive power of the structural-strategic programs on the institutionalism grounds for the enhancement of the capacity of their application in Iran's urban planning system. To do so, grounded theory has been utilized as the study strategy. The data collection instruments of the present study are documentary and library research, interviews with the experts, managers and specialists and participatory observation in the study environment; the instruments are composed of two microand macro-levels. In the latter level, Iran's urban planning system's conditions and indicators are taken into account with a pervasive comprehensiveness; in the former level, the sample evaluation is carried out with the objective of investigating the local scales of urban planning and management in the development and civil planning of the city of Mashhad. Following these analyses, 159 concepts and 44 topics and 9 meta-topics were identified in relation to Iran's urban planning system and structural-strategic planning under six titles using a coding method. Amongst the identified topics, institutionalism was selected in the structural-strategic plans as the pivotal issue and the paradigmatic model was delineated with an emphasis on the causal, background and intervening conditions and strategies and outcomes. Based on this analytical model, the structural-strategic planning provides the prerequisites for the development of the scales and various levels as the discourse framework and in respect to the social mobilization.


The corporate characteristics and competences of successful fashion retail businesses encompass both 'back of house' and 'market facing' capabilities including financial discipline, product design, supplier management and logistics, sales channel management, and marketing capabilities such as pricing and branding. It is clear that success in this market demands the development of both 'back-of-house' and 'market-facing' competences contributing to relationships extending up the supply chain to designer, supplier and manufacturer and down to distributor, retailer and consumer. The diversity of these relationships mean that they may be beyond the scope of one organization. Hence strategic alliances are commonly used throughout the fashion industry, most often supporting 'back of house' competences in the design, manufacturing or distribution of a completely new product line - for example a fashion brand introducing cosmetic and fragrance products. While such 'back of house' alliances are fairly well understood, alliances focused on 'market facing' competences such as branding, retailing and promotion are less well covered within the literature. Using the example of a successful alliance between two European fashion businesses to develop and promote a new branded product line in China, this paper explores the motivations for, processes involved in and potential outcomes of, market-facing alliances in the fashion retail sector. The presentation will contextualise this instance within the scope of the existing alliance literature and indicate characteristics which make the fashion retail sector distinctive within the topic area. The case will be explored from the perspectives of motives for alliance, partner selection and the management and operation of the alliance. A framework covering motives for alliance within the fashion sector will be proposed and a three-stage model describing their creation, construction and ongoing management will be discussed.


At the core of most disputes concerning the licensing of standard-essential patents (SEPs) lies the inability of the SEP holder and the standard implementer to agree on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) license terms. As an alternative to court litigation, a growing number of academics, agency officials and private practitioners have advocated arbitration of SEP-related disputes, and there is anecdotal evidence that are increasingly relying on arbitration to settle such disputes. The purpose of this paper is to discuss based on the author's personal experience how arbitral proceedings to set FRAND terms work in practice, as well as the various challenges faced by arbitrators, parties, and counsel involved in such proceedings.


The debate over acid rain in North America has produced an interesting set of political interactions within the United States and between Canada and the U.S. at the subnational level. The long delay in reaching a bilateral agreement coupled with congressional inaction has stimulated relations at the subnational level between the two countries. This article will investigate the role of provinces and states in foreign policy-making and the agreements that have occurred. This type of activity - known as paradiplomacy - has been the subject of research in both North America and Europe in recent years by a number of political scientists (Duchacek 1986, Soldatos 1986). The focus for the analysis to follow is the nonbinding agreement - the Memorandum of Understanding. To date, eight Memoranda either entirely or in part devoted to acid rain have been signed by states and provinces. The first was signed by New York and Quebec in 1982 and the most recent was an expanded agreement signed by New York and Quebec in 1986. Other agreements include New York and Ontario (1983), Minnesota and Ontario (1983), a New York and Quebec Amendment to the 1982 Agreement (1984), Michigan and Ontario (1985), British Columbia and Washington State (1985), and Wisconsin and Quebec (1985). It is important to review briefly the politics of acid rain in order to understand the context for the subnational agreements. After this overview, the conceptual work done by two political scientists in the area of paradiplomacy will be discussed. The eight agreements will then be compared and analyzed. The article will conclude with a summary of how these Memoranda of Understanding shed light on the theoretical work.


Twelve women tenured as associate professors in American Psychological Association—accredited counseling psychology doctoral programs were interviewed regarding their pursuit of promotion to full professor. Interview data were analyzed using a modified version of consensual qualitative research. Most participants indicated a strong desire to be promoted and stated that they would not change their minds about achieving this goal. Participants reported that their universities' guidelines for promotion emphasized a strong publication record and evidence of a national reputation, but participants often described these criteria as vague. Pursuit of full professorship was encouraged by having a current mentor, receiving supportive feedback about applying for promotion, and publishing noteworthy research. Pursuit of full professorship was discouraged by negative prior promotion experiences, feelings that colleagues did not value the participant's research, and conflicts between career and family obligations. Results are discussed within the context of Super's theory of career development and social cognitive career theory.


Key Points Officials in the Obama administration have highlighted the need for a "positive, cooperative, and comprehensive relationship" with China that can help the United States address an array of global challenges. Administration officials have not adopted the "responsible stakeholder" language that characterized recent U.S. China policy, but their overall approach appears compatible with that concept. Initial policy statements have focused on expanding U.S.-China cooperation, with particular emphasis on addressing the global economic crisis and climate change. This paper focuses on an important but neglected topic: how to address the challenges posed by China's development of advanced strategic and military capabilities that might threaten U.S. interests within the context of a broader policy emphasizing engagement and cooperation with China. Relations in four strategic areas--nuclear modernization, space and counterspace, cyber warfare, and conventional force modernization--are analyzed, and the potential for competitive dynamics in these areas to affect the stability of the broader U.S.-China bilateral relationship is explored. The paper suggests that China's approach to nuclear modernization, which has sought to maintain a credible second-strike capability that would induce U.S. restraint while minimizing economic and political costs, may be a model for its future behavior in other areas. However, specific characteristics of these areas--including the expected costs of competitive behavior and the extent to which deterrence functions effectively--may also influence competitive dynamics. The prospect of continued U.S.-China strategic competition suggests that nuclear, missile defense, space, and cyber issues will be irritants (and potentially destabilizing factors) in bilateral relations. Perceptions about the likelihood of conflict over Taiwan are likely to intensify or ease competitive dynamics, but competition already goes beyond Taiwan scenarios. The ultimate impact will depend on whether competition over strategic issues comes to dominate the relationship. The paper suggests four potential means of limiting the impact of competitive dynamics: placing limits on competition that might make both sides worse off; keeping competitive dimensions of relations within the context of a broader, generally cooperative relationship of huge importance to both sides; providing a path for China to pursue its legitimate interests while taking on more responsibility for maintenance of the international system; and actively seeking to expand security cooperation, including bilateral and multilateral cooperation, between the U.S. and Chinese militaries. In the Obama administration's first major speech on Asia policy, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton highlighted the need for a "positive, cooperative relationship" with the People's Republic of China (PRC) that could help the United States address an array of global challenges. Dismissing the view that a rising China must be an adversary, she argued that "the United States and China can benefit from and contribute to each other's successes" and stressed the importance of working "to build on areas of common concern and shared opportunities." (1) Her subsequent remarks in Beijing highlighted the importance of U.S.China cooperation in addressing the global economic crisis, building a partnership on clean energy and climate change, and working together on a range of shared international security challenges. (2) Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg later called for building a "positive, cooperative and comprehensive U.S.-China relationship for the 21st century." (3) These remarks acknowledge the reality that cooperation with China is essential to a range of important U.S. interests and Obama administration policy priorities. They also appear to reflect a determination to avoid the pattern evident in previous U.S. administrations of adopting a hardline approach toward China during the campaign and early days in office before recognizing the need to build good working relations with Beijing. …


This is the first part of a research study focusing the viability analysis of metallic fibers application for concrete sewage and water rain systems pipes. In this work is presented the methodology, materials, and
test procedures used in the study, together with some results obtained in tests carried out in Brazil. For the experimental program concrete pipes were produced with ordinary rebar reinforcement, together with others
made with the same conditions but using steel fibers. Both test programs were accomplished with the intention of verify the technical feasibility of the ordinary reinforcement replacement by metallic fibers,
depending on geometric characteristics of the pipe and the strength requirements. Other secondary objectives of the study are: (1) to demonstrate that the continuous three-edge-bearing test (TEBT) or crushing strength test provides reliable information for the fiber reinforced concrete pipes (the Brazilian NBR 8890:07 and European NBN-EN 1916 standards prescribe the cycled test with the intention to verify the post-crack performance of the fibers); (2) to confirm the possibility of fiber reinforcement to present similar performance to ordinary rebar reinforcement; (3) to produce results to calibrate a non-linear model Tubos de
Hormigon (ATH) implemented in order to simulate the crushing test response of concrete pipes with fibers and/or with traditional reinforcement. Concrete pipes with conventional reinforcement and with steel fiber consumption of 40kg/m3 were produced at the same conditions to check if they meet the requirements of the class EA2. Crushing tests were performed with continuous loading together with the displacement control. It was found that the test of continuous crushing of pipes made with diametrical deformation monitoring of the component can be used as a reliable tool to control them. It was also observed that the performance of fiber reinforced concrete was higher than in conventionally reinforced concrete in the regions of initial cracking,
surpassed by that for higher levels of displacement and cracking. The tubes were approved by wide margins left for the class EA2, and the pipes with conventional reinforcement could be classified as EA3. On the other hand, the use of the calibrated ATH model, with the constitutive equations to model the fiber reinforced
concrete behavior under compression and tension stresses, turns possible to predict the pipe response under test loading. So, the ATH model could be used as an instrument to optimize the pipe reinforcement for
each class of strength. Consequently, this experimental-numerical design approach provide a feasible instrument for reinforced concrete pipes design to feat the crushing test requirements, and taking into account the different materials and production conditions for each production plant.


BACKGROUND
Exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are associated with accelerated loss of lung function and death. Identification of patients at risk for these events, particularly those requiring hospitalization, is of major importance. Severe pulmonary hypertension is an important complication of advanced COPD and predicts acute exacerbations, though pulmonary vascular abnormalities also occur early in the course of the disease. We hypothesized that a computed tomographic (CT) metric of pulmonary vascular disease (pulmonary artery enlargement, as determined by a ratio of the diameter of the pulmonary artery to the diameter of the aorta [PA:A ratio] of >1) would be associated with severe COPD exacerbations.

METHODS
We conducted a multicenter, observational trial that enrolled current and former smokers with COPD. We determined the association between a PA:A ratio of more than 1 and a history at enrollment of severe exacerbations requiring hospitalization and then examined the usefulness of the ratio as a predictor of these events in a longitudinal follow-up of this cohort, as well as in an external validation cohort. We used logistic-regression and zero-inflated negative binomial regression analyses and adjusted for known risk factors for exacerbation.

RESULTS
Multivariate logistic-regression analysis showed a significant association between a PA:A ratio of more than 1 and a history of severe exacerbations at the time of enrollment in the trial (odds ratio, 4.78; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.43 to 6.65; P<0.001). A PA:A ratio of more than 1 was also independently associated with an increased risk of future severe exacerbations in both the trial cohort (odds ratio, 3.44; 95% CI, 2.78 to 4.25; P<0.001) and the external validation cohort (odds ratio, 2.80; 95% CI, 2.11 to 3.71; P<0.001). In both cohorts, among all the variables analyzed, a PA:A ratio of more than 1 had the strongest association with severe exacerbations.

CONCLUSIONS
Pulmonary artery enlargement (a PA:A ratio of >1), as detected by CT, was associated with severe exacerbations of COPD. (Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; ClinicalTrials.gov numbers, NCT00608764 and NCT00292552.).


This research looked at the impact a police officer's manner has in road policing interactions. Seven video clips were filmed, all from the driver's perspective, showing an officer using different manners while issuing a speed infringement notice. The video clips were then shown to groups of Lions Club members, students, prisoners and police recruits. Prior to seeing any of the scenes, and at the completion of each one, participants completed two rating scales. These assessed their impression of the officer's manner and how they were left feeling, the latter included items such as 'feel like hitting the officer' and 'feel like complaining about the officer'. The results clearly indicate that quite small changes in an officer's manner have a marked impact on the way the manner is perceived and how people are left feeling about the officer. This includes how much they would feel like hitting or complaining about the officer. The results also indicated that people perceive an officer's manner in a remarkably similar way regardless of the subgroup they were in (Lions, students, etc.), or age or gender. The implications for police officers involved in roadside interaction and police training are also outlined.


Abstract This paper shows how the Energy System Sciences provide the theoretical backbone and empirical substance we need to connect findings from across the human and natural sciences in a way that is practical, rigorous, and heart-warming at the same time. Our premise is that the same energy science that explains systemic health in ecosystems can be used to create an empirical explanation of systemic health in human systems too. This integrated understanding of planetary health directly addresses the underlying socio-economic drivers of today's crises in a rigorous yet emotionally compelling picture of how to save civilization socially, economically and environmentally.


Stimulation of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate hydrolysis is an important signalling reaction involved in the responses of cells to some, but not all, stimuli that promote cell proliferation. Active agents in this regard include antigens activating T and B lymphocytes, angiotensin (employing a receptor encoded by the mas oncogene), bombesin and platelet-derived growth factor PDGF). However, accumulating evidence suggests that inositol lipids and phosphates also have other roles in the regulation of cell growth and differentiation. Growth factor receptors that encode tyrosine kinases (such as that for PDGF) activate a kinase that synthesises phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate, a novel lipid, and loss of this kinase-activating function abolishes growth-promoting activity. Human interleukin-4, a lymphokine that activates B lymphocytes, appears to employ phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate hydrolysis as a brief initial signal that is followed by a sustained rise in cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP): both signals are needed for the successful induction of the surface antigen CD23. Moreover, the same inositol lipid signalling pathway as is employed by antigen-stimulated mature T lymphocytes to provoke proliferation may be redeployed in immature T cells to trigger their elimination when they encounter self-antigens. Finally, studies of HL60 promyelocytic cells have shown that these cells contain high concentrations of inositol 3,4,5,6-tetrakisphosphate, 1,3,4,5,6-pentakisphosphate and hexakisphosphate, three inositol polyphosphates that are probably formed independently of inositol lipid metabolism. When these cells are induced to differentiate either towards neutrophils (in the presence of dimethylsulphoxide) or macrophages (in phorbol myristate acetate), cessation of growth and acquisition of differentiated characteristics are accompanied by large and different changes in the concentrations of these inositol phosphates that may be characteristic of these two pathways of differentiation.


OBJECTIVE
Anomalies of structure and asymmetry of the parahippocampal gyrus (origin of the perforant path input to the hippocampal formation in the medial temporal lobe) have been shown in some postmortem studies of schizophrenia, but previous studies have not included the fusiform gyrus (which may have a role in facial recognition and naming), adjacent to the parahippocampal gyrus on the ventral occipitotemporal surface.

METHOD
The volumes of gray matter in the left and right parahippocampal and fusiform gyri were assessed with a stereological point-counting technique in the temporal lobes from formalin-fixed brains of 27 comparison subjects and 31 patients with schizophrenia. Age was a covariate and gender was a factor in the analysis.

RESULTS
In relation to the comparison subjects, the schizophrenic patients (both sexes) had lower volumes of both the parahippocampal and fusiform gyri on the left side. For both structures a left-greater-than-right volume asymmetry was present in the comparison subjects, but this asymmetry was reversed in the parahippocampal and fusiform gyri of the schizophrenic patients. A sex difference was present with respect to age at onset-degree of anomaly of asymmetry for both gyri increased with age at onset in men but not in women.

CONCLUSIONS
The findings add substance to the view that the sex-related dimension of symmetry/asymmetry is integral to the disease process in schizophrenia and draw attention to the fusiform gyrus as a structure of particular interest in relation to disturbances of identification and naming in psychosis.


Kinross Gold Corporation has several porphyry/epithermal gold properties in Maricunga gold belt in northern Chile. The Maricunga site comprises the operating Verde pit and the Pancho deposit, currently under development. Currently active operations are all open pits mines of a medium scale, and have experienced varying degrees of geotechnical difficulties due to the highly altered and fractured nature of the rock mass. Kinross is currently conducting, at a feasibility engineering level, the Maricunga Mine Slope Optimization. A geomechanical assessment is being carried out to evaluate the wall stability of the final open pits at Verde and Pancho. To evaluate the mechanical stability of the open pits, a series of field work and geomechanical studies have been performed. These studies involved, among others, slope stability analyses based on limit equilibrium methods and numerical modeling. This paper describes the analysis methodology for the slope design applied to the optimization project.


It is a great pleasure for us to welcome you to Manchester UK for the 36th European Microwave Conference. This long-established and distinguished event has become a core feature of the European Microwave Week programme and we are confident that this year's meeting will more than fulfil your expectations for an informative, thought-provoking and enjoyable conference. This year has seen a number of important innovations in the way papers are submitted, processed and reviewed for selection at the Conference, which has been at times a challenging experience for all concerned. However, in conjunction with the exceptionally high number of submissions received from all over the world, the outcome of all of this has been an increased emphasis on delivering to you, the delegate, a high quality and comprehensive technical programme. We would like to extend a special thanks to the many reviewers who have given generously of their time in the process of paper selection, as well as to all the members of the Technical Programme Committee (TPC) with a special thanks to the various sub-committee chairs of the TPC in their important new roles this year. The EuMC began in the UK in 1969 and has since returned several times to England but this year is coming to Manchester for the first time. Manchester has a well-deserved reputation as a lively, dynamic city and is also an excellent base for exploring many nearby attractions. The G-Mex/MICC is modern, centrally-located and of an ideal size to accommodate the many events of the European Microwave week. As usual, there will be a large industry exhibition and we would urge you to take the opportunity to become aware of the latest products and offerings from suppliers at the exhibition during your stay at the conference. The EuMC is dedicated to a broad range of high frequency related topics, from materials and technologies to integrated circuits, systems and applications, addressed in all aspects: theory, simulation, design and measurement. It is intended as a forum to bring together international experts, specialising in a wide range of subjects with both academic and industrial backgrounds, and allow for the presentation and discussion of the most recent advances in the field. A striking feature this year has been the very high number of submitted papers in the topics of antennas, filters and passive components. The large Networks of Excellence and Integrated Projects funded through the European Union's 6th Framework Programme of research are also maturing and producing many interesting results. Several of these are relevant to the themes of the conference, and, continuing a trend already visible at last year's event in Paris, are playing a prominent role in this year's programme though focussed sessions, workshops and other activities. This year, the EuMC will consist of 60 regular oral sessions, including several focused sessions on specific topics, and two poster sessions. The concept of EuMW favours the integration of the four component conferences, uniting their respective communities. In this spirit, EuMC also features 9 joint sessions with its sister conferences: EuMIC, ECWT and EuRAD. In addition, there are various workshops designed to encourage technical exchanges on certain topics, which will take place on Sunday 10th September and Friday 15th September.


Through its excellence in scholarship, clarity, and ease of use, this casebook engages readers in a critical thinking about tort law. It sets forth crisply edited classic tort cases as well as cases reflecting the newest tort law trends. Its authors are a strong combination of respected scholars and those who practice in the subject. The casebook goes beyond judicial decisions and includes key tort-centered legislation and comparative perspectives where relevant. The casebook encourages the reader to understand the law's foundations and debate modern trends within various policy prescriptions. Unbiased in its approach and organized in manageable sections of information, the casebook is a superb tool for productive and stimulating classroom debate. Tort law doctrine and its rationale will come alive for students. The casebook, proven over 13 editions, assures that our students will be effectively guided to embrace the law of torts as a building block for the remainder of law school and a life in the law beyond. This new edition insures that it will maintain its place as the most widely adopted Torts casebook.


Dyadic data are common in the social sciences, although inference for such settings involves accounting for a complex clustering structure. Many analyses in the social sciences fail to account for the fact that multiple dyads share a member, and that errors are thus likely correlated across these dyads. We propose a non-parametric, sandwich-type robust variance estimator for linear regression to account for such clustering in dyadic data. We enumerate conditions for estimator consistency. We also extend our results to repeated and weighted observations, including directed dyads and longitudinal data, and provide an implementation for generalized linear models such as logistic regression. We examine empirical performance with simulations and an application to interstate disputes.


This publication discusses the topic of the relationship between legal systems and employment in relation to one of the major obstructive factors: discrimination and unequal treatment. Its topicality is confirmed by the fact that through the occurrence of unequal treatment, considerable sources of tension are encountered currently in the various fields of employment, thinking, inter alia, about of discrimination related to sex, certain individuals, groups, and associated wages and benefits. The purpose of this short publication is to point out deficiencies in equal treatment through the examination of EU and Hungarian legal regulations, and to formulate suggestions to eliminate them – by, inter alia, amendments of and or additions to regulations, which steps will enable the law to really become a more effective infrastructural tool in the field of employment.


ABSTRACT This article discusses the shortcomings of the "de-radicalization doctrine" in sub-Saharan Africa. The issues raised are illustrated by the war against Boko Haram, which involves Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon. Relying on interviews with security officers, insurgents, civil servants, displaced people, humanitarian workers and Muslim and Christian clerics in Nigeria, Niger and Chad since 2005, the investigation shows that the four states focused on repression rather than demobilisation programs in prison or outdoors. The Boko Haram crisis is mainly a story of mismanagement. The article thus challenges the assumptions of the "de-radicalization doctrine" in Muslim Africa South of the Sahara. First, attempts to de-radicalize jihadi terrorists tend to focus too much on religious fanaticism and the exegesis of the Quran. Secondly, they are neither feasible nor efficient. Finally, they obscure priorities that are more important to counter extremism and demobilize insurgents.


Edited by Francis G. Castles, a leading authority in the field, and bringing together an outstanding group of British, German and American scholars, it examines trends in non-social or 'core' spending on public administration, defence, public order, education, economic affairs and debt financing and in the regulatory ordering of the economic sphere. The book not only opens up new areas of comparative public policy research, but also demonstrates clearly that there have been real reductions in the reach of state in some areas, although patterns of causation are more complex and varied than generally presumed by the retrenchment literature.


The present work demonstrates the usefulness of the soft-template directed approach in preparing mesoporous titanium dioxide and applying it in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Mesoporous titanium dioxide with nanograins of dimension in the range, 16–20 nm were prepared through the soft-templating approach using various cationic surfactants such as octyl-, dodecyl-, cetyl trimethylammonium bromide with different surfactant compositions and titania precursor concentrations. As-synthesized mesoporous titanium dioxide samples were characterized by TGA, PXRD, FESEM, HRTEM and surface area measurements, used as photo-electrode material in DSSCs. Under global AM 1.5 solar irradiation, the best photovoltaic performance of 7.5% with a short circuit photocurrent density of 14.2 mA/cm−2, an open circuit voltage of 748 mV, and a fill factor of 70.83% were obtained for the DSSC using a film of mesoporous TiO2 synthesized from the cetyl trimethylammoniumbromide surfactant. In contrast, the use of commercial titania powder P25 resulted in an efficiency of 5.0% under similar conditions. The structural and morphological merits of these template-directed materials will be especially addressed in comparison with their traditional bulk forms.


Management of patients with poor ovarian response to controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) is a challenging and still a controversial issue. Despite the advances in reproductive medicine in the past decades, there is still no consensus regarding fertility treatment of this population group. In terms of improving the clinical outcomes by increasing the cumulative live birth rates per each started IVF cycle, increasing evidence demonstrate the importance of the number of oocytes retrieved after COH, which can be optimized by correct evaluation of the ovarian reserve, also taking into consideration the woman's age. The classic paradigm of folliculogenesis (one cycle = one cohort of follicles responsive to stimulation) has been overtaken by the theory of follicular waves, which opened new therapeutical possibilities for the advanced maternal age patients with low ovarian reserve. This article is a review of the up-to-date information regarding low responsive patients, including more precise classification of these patients by the POSEIDON expert group, and a review of the existing data about the Duostim protocol – a promising instrument for improving the results of the fertility treatment in poor responders.


The prevalence of overconfidence when making entrepreneurial decisions has led some scholars to argue that it has positive ramifications while others to disagree. The question is: Will highly overconfident individuals who consider starting a venture be willing to correct initial misconceptions? We found that it depends upon the source of overconfidence. Even at equally high overconfidence levels, individuals who reached that level by intentionally processing additional evidence were less likely to revise erroneous beliefs when compared to those with a natural tendency toward high overconfidence. In contrast to the overconfidence source, overconfidence level was not associated with changing incorrect beliefs.


Evidence on the association between BMI, height, and endometrial cancer risk, including by subtypes, among Asian populations remains limited. We evaluated the impact of BMI and height on the risk of endometrial cancer, overall and by histological subtype. We prospectively investigated 53 651 Japanese women aged 40–69 years. With an average follow-up duration of 18.6 years, 180 newly diagnosed endometrial cancers were reported, including 119 type 1 and 21 type 2. The association between BMI, height, and endometrial cancer risk was assessed using a Cox proportional hazards regression model with adjustment for potential confounders. Overweight and obesity were associated positively with the risk of endometrial cancer. Compared with BMI of 23.0–24.9 kg/m2, hazard ratios (HRs) (95% confidence intervals) were 1.93 (1.17–3.16) for BMI of 27.0–29.9 kg/m2 and 2.37 (1.20–4.66) for BMI of at least 30.0 kg/m2. On analysis by histological subtype, with each increase in BMI of 5 U, the estimated HR of type 1 endometrial cancer increased (HR=1.54, 95% confidence interval: 1.21–1.98), but HR of type 2 endometrial cancer was unaffected. There was no statistically significant association between height and endometrial cancer risk. In conclusion, the risk of endometrial cancer was elevated in women with a BMI of at least 27.0 kg/m2. By histological subtype, BMI was associated with type 1, but not type 2 endometrial cancer risk among a population with a relatively low BMI compared with western populations.


We revisit the planning problem in the blocks world, and we implement a known heuristic for this task. Importantly, our implementation is biologically plausible, in the sense that it is carried out exclusively through the spiking of neurons. Even though much has been accomplished in the blocks world over the past five decades, we believe that this is the first algorithm of its kind. The input is a sequence of symbols encoding an initial set of block stacks as well as a target set, and the output is a sequence of motion commands such as "put the top block in stack 1 on the table". The program is written in the Assembly Calculus, a recently proposed computational framework meant to model computation in the brain by bridging the gap between neural activity and cognitive function. Its elementary objects are assemblies of neurons (stable sets of neurons whose simultaneous firing signifies that the subject is thinking of an object, concept, word, etc.), its commands include project and merge, and its execution model is based on widely accepted tenets of neuroscience. A program in this framework essentially sets up a dynamical system of neurons and synapses that eventually, with high probability, accomplishes the task. The purpose of this work is to establish empirically that reasonably large programs in the Assembly Calculus can execute correctly and reliably; and that rather realistic --- if idealized --- higher cognitive functions, such as planning in the blocks world, can be implemented successfully by such programs.


Sophisticated packaging solutions can be used in order to preserve vegetables during storage and transport. Polymeric films with selective barriers matching the respiration of the produce, thereby creating an ideal atmosphere inside the package, are available on the market. Fresh broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. italica 'Monterey') heads were packed in 4 different commercially available polymeric films, and stored at 4 and 10°C respectively. During storage the weight, colour, chlorophyll content and texture were monitored. The investigated polymer materials were oriented polypropylene (OPP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and two types of polyethylene (PE) packagings. The choice of packaging material had an impact on the measured quality parameters of broccoli. Storage in OPP resulted in the longest storage life. Broccoli stored in PVC film deteriorated faster than broccoli packaged in the other materials. It was also observed that the influence of the type of packaging material was more important at the higher temperature. The implications of this work for the packaging and storage of fresh broccoli will be discussed. (Less)


Sport heritage is analyzed in the article is an important source of physical culture and sport research that helps to specify, underlie and reconstruct the details of historical sport processes and events, determining their role, sense and significance in political and social cultural development of the state. Individual experience of sport heritage collection and protection is summarized through the analysis of scientific literature and empirical research; the forms of sport heritage actualization and protection are presented. The research data has been systemized, analyzed and discussed using classic content analysis. The society's attitude towards the collecting of sport objects is revealed in the article; the data of sport heritage motivation and attitude to the importance of collection and protection is systemized; the main tendencies of sport heritage collections saving, as well as the variety in local geographic territory, North Lithuania is determined. 275 informants (202 men and 73 women) participated in the research—citizens of Akmenė, Mažeikiai, Pakruojis, Pasvalys, Joniskis, Siauliai, Kursėnai, Radviliskis, Biržai regions and cities. Women formed 25,5% of respondents and men made up 74,5% of the sample. The analysis of sport heritage collecting experience showed that most frequently people collect sport trophies, prizes, documents, sport inventory or iconographical material forming the major part of valuable objects. Material prizes and sport clothes are rare in collections of sport heritage. The motives of keeping sport collections and taking care of them are usually related to a profession or a hobby; they are seldom determined by the aspects of social prestige, loyalty, curiosity, aesthetic charm and, very seldom, by comprehension of value or scientific research. The most popular ways and spaces of sport heritage scattering are studied in the article; the most usual dangers for sport heritage collections and state of disposal are determined. The category "place of scattering" demonstrates a big part of sport heritage collected specially for exposition in state institutions, non-state institutions, various educational institutions, research and study institutions, enterprises, organizations and other spaces. The possibilities of scattering of sport heritage collections are developed by private space that is frequently used for this purpose. The most frequent participants of sport collections' scattering are coaches, teachers, sportsmen, journalists, museum workers. The most frequently used forms of sport heritage scattering are the following: radio, internet, mass media, sport events. The opinions about the dangers to sport collections are usually expressed in statements about inappropriate record and care, keeping conditions; careless keeping was indicated as one of the frequent dangers while natural disasters are one of the most seldom dangers for sport heritage collections. The conclusions concerning the needs of sport heritage, keeping the environment suitable, the state of scattering and significance of possibilities, regulation and legalization are formed basing on conducted classic content analysis.


BACKGROUND & AIMS
Acute gastroenteritis is the strongest risk factor for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In May 2000, >2300 residents of Walkerton, Ontario, developed gastroenteritis from microbial contamination of the municipal water supply; a longitudinal study found that >36.2% of these developed IBS. We used this cohort to study genetic susceptibility to post-infectious (PI)-IBS.

METHODS
We screened 79 functional variants of genes with products involved in serotoninergic pathways, intestinal epithelial barrier function, and innate immunity and performed fine mapping in regions of interest. We compared data from Walkerton residents who developed gastroenteritis and reported PI-IBS 2 to 3 years after the outbreak (n = 228, cases) with data from residents who developed gastroenteritis but did not develop PI-IBS (n = 581, controls).

RESULTS
Four variants were associated with PI-IBS, although the association was not significant after correction for the total number of single nucleotide polymorphisms. Two were located in TLR9, which encodes a pattern recognition receptor (rs352139, P545P; P = .0059 and rs5743836, -T1237C; P = .0250; r(2) < 0.14); 1 was in CDH1, which encodes a tight junction protein (rs16260, -C160A; P = .0352); and 1 was in IL6, which encodes a cytokine (rs1800795, -G174C; P = .0420). Denser mapping of these 3 regions revealed 1 novel association in IL6 (rs2069861; P = .0069) and 14 associations that could be accounted for by linkage disequilibrium with the 4 original variants. The TLR9, IL6, and CDH1 variants all persisted as independent risk factors for PI-IBS when controlling for previously identified clinical risk factors.

CONCLUSION
This is the first descriptive study to assess potential genetic determinants of PI-IBS. Genes that encode proteins involved in epithelial cell barrier function and the innate immune response to enteric bacteria are associated with development of IBS following acute gastroenteritis.


Purpose of review On the basis of the definition of high-risk soft tissue sarcomas and prognostic factors, the most recent developments of preoperative treatment strategies with special emphasis on regional hyperthermia combined chemotherapy are reviewed. Recent findings The most important prognostic factors (e.g. size, grade, depth and resection margins) for localized soft tissue sarcomas have been defined to predict the probability of sarcoma-specific death providing a useful tool for patient stratification and clinical trial eligibility determination that are also relevant in the outcome of paediatric patients with adult type soft tissue sarcomas. Clinical research on innovative preoperative treatment strategies has essentially focused on the combination of preoperative radiochemotherapy or chemotherapy alone, but unfortunately the reported results are based upon retrospective analysis or nonrandomized phase II studies with small sample size. For the use of regional hyperthermia (RHT) therapy, phase II studies have advocated a possible benefit of the use of regional hyperthermia in combination with chemotherapy targeting the heating field to the region of tumour burden. The preliminary results of a completed European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer–European Society of Hyperthermic Oncology intergroup randomized phase III trial for the most common types of adult high-risk soft tissue sarcomas demonstrate a significant benefit in the clinical outcome of patients receiving regional hyperthermia therapy. Summary Regional hyperthermia combined with preoperative and postoperative chemotherapy offers a new appropriate treatment option for high-risk soft tissue sarcomas.


Catastrophic events such as hurricanes, earthquakes or floods require emergency responders to rapidly distribute emergency relief supplies to protect the health and lives of victims. In this paper we develop a simulation and optimization framework for managing the logistics of distributing relief supplies in a multi-tier supply network. The simulation model captures optimized stocking of relief supplies, distribution operations at federal or state-operated staging facilities, demand uncertainty, and the dynamic progression of disaster response operations. We apply robust optimization techniques to develop optimized stocking policies and dispatch of relief supplies between staging facilities and points of distribution. The simulation framework accommodates a wide range of disaster scenarios and stressors, and helps assess the efficacy of response plans and policies for better disaster response.


This thesis examines the integration of maps to distribute public transport information. The topic is based on map usage for journey planning, route path visualization and real-time information retrieval. Additionally, the topic for map usage aboard public transport modes is examined, for distribution of journey information in real-time. Information distribution within public transport systems has its basis in location-based services, which is an emerging field founded on the combination of information with spatial locations and context-awareness. The common way to distribute real-time information is by information screens at stops, in a textual format. In recent times, several mobile applications has been developed, distributing the same at-stop information. The emerge of easy access to real-time information has proven to be of high interest of users. People are able to better time their arrival at stops, plan their journeys and they are generally more positive towards the use of public transportation. In order to examine the topics in this thesis two prototypes was developed, covering the bus system in the city of Trondheim, Norway. The first prototype was developed for the mobile environment for multifunctional information distribution. The other prototype was developed as a web-service for use on public transport modes. In general, this thesis will show how a higher use of maps for information distribution can be implemented within the field of public transportation.


Abstract Recent works have suggested that the fossil record exhibits a fractal structure; i.e., that processes, such as extinction, follow a power-law size distribution and their time series show a 1/f power spectrum. This structure has been used as evidence that evolutionary dynamics are an example of a self-organized critical (SOC) process. We have reexamined this claim by analyzing a detailed record of marine genus-level extinctions and originations. Our results indicate that neither extinctions nor origination metrics show the power-law size distribution or a 1/f power spectrum characteristic of SOC and related models. We also believe that the underlying assumptions of SOC are incompatible with our understanding of the processes controlling macroevolutionary patterns. Statistical analyses of the data sets are compatible, however, with the presence of multifractal self-similarity in both records, consistent with a hierarchical and multiplicative generating process. This model assumes that multiple causal mechanisms, acting over many spatial and temporal scales, interact to promote or inhibit originations and extinctions. In this view, the same event can have quite different impacts depending on the state of the biotic or physical system at the time that it occurs. This may at least partially explain such phenomena as the imperfect correlation between eustatic sea-level changes and macroevolutionary processes and the apparent nonlinear response of biotic systems to bolide impacts.


We examine the generation of axially modulated plasmas produced from cluster jets whose supersonic flow is intersected by thin wires. Such plasmas have application to modulated plasma waveguides. By appropriately limiting shock waves from the wires, plasma axial modulation periods can be as small as 70 μm, with plasma structures as narrow as 45 µm. The effect of shocks is eliminated with increased cluster size accompanied by a reduced monomer component of the flow.


Despite the wealth of subordinators in Hiw and Lo-Toga (Oceanic, north Vanuatu), two of their Tense-Aspect-Mood categories – the Subjunctive and the Background Perfect – can do without them, and encode clause dependency by themselves. A pragmatic hypothesis is proposed to account for this clause-linking faculty. The Subjunctive differs from other irrealis categories insofar as it lacks any specific illocutionary force; the Background Perfect labels its predicate as informationally back grounded. In both cases, the clause lacks certain key properties (illocutionary force; informational weight) which are normally required in pragmatically well-formed utterances. This pragmatic demotion makes the clause dependent on external predications, which naturally results in syntactic subordination. This case study illustrates how syntax can be reshaped by the pragmatic parameters of discourse.


Purposes: The first purpose of this study is to describe the ideal characteristics of a model offender reintegration program based on a review of the literature. The second purpose is to conduct a limited case study and assess Texas' Project RIO (Reintegration of Offenders) using the ideal characteristics. The third purpose is to make recommendations that should assist all offender reintegration programs to assist offenders more effectively in the reintegration process. Methodology: The methodologies used in this limited case study of Project RIO include document and archival analysis. The document and archival analysis include a collection of reports published by Project RIO's operating agencies and several independent reports. Results: Overall, Project RIO does not adhere to the practical ideal type model developed through the literature. Project RIO could improve services by: increasing requirements regarding participation in life skills and educational programming; adding a reintegrative focus to the intake assessment of the offender; creating a method for diverting offenders from a return to prison for technical violations; and developing a method for offenders to earn the reintegration of their rights.


The results from this study show that it is possible to obtain data series on the steel scrap collection based on mass balance model on the crude steel production figures by steelmaking reactor type and additional knowledge on process metallurgy as well as information on inputs and outputs into the reactors with an area correlation coefficient of 0,91 compared to data obtained from trade statistics. Furthermore, the study shows that based on a new method it is possible to calculate the time duration of mass flows on a continuous basis. Furthermore, two complementary statistical dynamic material flow models that can be used to calculate the societal recycling rates of steel was constructed. These statistical models contribute to a standardized way of obtaining consistent results. The new models are able to segregate the non-recirculated amounts of steel into the hibernating steel stock available for future collection from the amounts of losses based on statistics. The results show that it is possible to calculate the amounts of steel scrap available for steelmaking at a given point in time. In addition, based on the new models it is possible to calculate recycling trends in society. Also, the models are able to calculate robust forecasts on the long-term availability of steel scrap, and test if forecast demand of steel scrap exceeds a full recovery. This due to that the steel scrap generation is a function of the collection rate of steel scrap. Also, a method for obtaining representative samplings on the alloy content in steel scrap called random sampling analysis (RSA) was developed. The results from the RSA show that it is possible to optimize the recovery of valuable elements in the production process of steelmaking based on the information on the composition of steel scrap.


The experience of international migration is generally found to turn migrants into culturally hybrid communities. Yet, migrant communities often hold on to their religious moorings even as they relocate. From the 1970s onwards, the emerging leadership of Hindu settlers in Denmark consciously tried to transfer with them what they saw to be key aspects of Hinduism as they migrated to Denmark. In 1985, Hindus organized a major conference to position the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) as the umbrella organization for Hinduism in Denmark. Later on they established a Temple of Indians called Bharatiya Mandir to provide a place of worship for local Hindus. The philosophy behind the temple conformed to the nondenominational Hindu nationalist vision of Hindus as a unified community. This article, which contrasts the aim of Hindu nationalism with the on-the-ground realities of Hindu mobilization in Denmark, reveals that two major factions spearheaded Hindu nationalist endeavors in Denmark from the 1980s until 2006. The two factions successfully launched several projects, and even collaborated in their execution, but the initiatives were beset with rivalries that hampered the communal unity they had set out to achieve. The authors analyze this factional rivalry as an expression of Indian political culture, arguing that tensions among Hindu activists in Denmark is an instance of the political factionalism prevalent in the Indian subcontinent. The unintended emergence of such factionalism represents the successful transfer of a core element of Indian political culture to a new locale through Hindu nationalist politics. The authors base their argument on field observations since the 1980s, recent interviews with key religious players, and more than two hundred pages of written materials that offer a rare entry point to the study of Hindu nationalism ex situ.