Background: Moral sensitivity is the ability to identify a moral challenge and is the first step in moral decision-making and professional behavior. Objective: It is therefore necessary to examine the level of moral sensitivity in nursing and find interventions for its promotion. Methods: This two-stage pretest-posttest empirical study was conducted on 70 nurses working in Special Care Units (SCUs). The samples were recruited from SCUs including emergency departments, ICUs and CCUs and the share of each department was determined based on quota sampling. The samples were then randomly and regularly assigned to control and experimental groups based on the inclusion criteria. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire and the Modified Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire before, immediately after and one month after the intervention and were then analyzed in SPSS-20 software. Results: The mean score of the nurses' moral sensitivity in SCUs was 84.7 ± 6.51 before the intervention in both groups, which is considered good. The mean score of moral sensitivity did not change immediately after the intervention compared to before, but according to the repeated measures ANOVA, there was a significant difference in the mean score of moral sensitivity in the nurses working at SCUs one month after the intervention compared to before. The moral sensitivity score ultimately increased to 92.62 ± 6.28 in the last follow-up. Conclusion: Motivational interviewing is a practical technique that can enhance nurses' moral sensitivity by altering their mental insight as a key factor in overcoming the fundamental challenges of the healthcare system.


A multivariate model of the effect of population on local fiscal behavior, assessed value of property and average single family home values is estimated using cross-sectional data from Oregon. Regression results suggest that property tax levies are unit elastic with respect to population, that the total assessed value of property increases less than proportionally with population, and that the average value of a single family home increases with population. These results imply a positive relationship between population and both property tax rates and the tax bill of the average single family homeowner. Ceteris paribus, increases in average residential property taxes are associated with increases in population.


Participation in organized sports has a variety of health benefits but also has the potential to expose the athlete to a variety of infectious diseases, some of which may produce outbreaks. Major risk factors for infection include skin-to-skin contact with athletes who have active skin infections, environmental exposures and physical trauma, and sharing of equipment and contact with contaminated fomites. Close contact that is intrinsic to team sports and psychosocial factors associated with adolescence are additional risks. Minimizing risk requires leadership by the organized sports community (including the athlete's primary care provider) and depends on outlining key hygiene behaviors, recognition, diagnosis, and treatment of common sports-related infections, and the implementation of preventive interventions.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
Biliary atresia (BA) is the main cause of neonatal cholestasis and the primary reason for infant liver transplants worldwide. It is an obliterative cholangiopathy observed only in children and caused by progressive inflammation and fibrosis of the bile duct. We collaborated with a liver transplantation center to investigate the effects of follow-up in patients with BA.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Medical records of 99 patients who were diagnosed with BA and monitored at our center from 1990 to 2002 (27 patients) and from 2003 to 2015 (72 patients) were analyzed retrospectively. Patients were evaluated for birth weight; age at jaundice onset; age at alcoholic stool detection; age at the time of Kasai portoenterostomy (KPE), if performed; age at admission to our center; age at liver transplantation; duration between KPE and transplantation; pediatric end-stage liver disease (PELD) scores during transplantation; and growth and developmental status. The periods 1990-2002 and 2003-2015 were defined as phases I and II, respectively.

RESULTS
The median age of the patients at presentation to our hospital was 149 (range: 20-730) days during phase I and 61 (range: 28-720) days during phase II. The median age at jaundice onset was 7 days, and the median age at alcoholic stool detection was 15 days. There was no significant difference between phases I and II in terms of age at jaundice onset, age at alcoholic stool detection, or birth weight. Twenty-five (92.5%) of the 27 patients in the phase I group were admitted to our center after undergoing KPE. Forty-four (61.1%) of the 72 patients in the phase II group (median age at the time of KPE: 47 days) were operated at our center. Median ages of the patients at the time of KPE at our center were 67.5 (range: 25-220) and 47 (range: 28-139) days during phases I and II, respectively. The median age of the 28 patients who were transferred from another center was 70 (range: 45-105) days during phase II. Liver transplantation was performed in 55 of 99 patients (55.5%). Significant differences were observed in the age at transplantation, duration between KPE and transplantation, and PELD scores between patients with BA who underwent KPE at our center and who underwent KPE at other institutes from other institutes.

CONCLUSION
These findings demonstrate the importance of a timely diagnosis of BA and undergoing KPE before malnutrition and/or cirrhosis deteriorate the patient's health. Furthermore, follow-up of patients with BA at a liver transplantation center increased the success of KPE and improved survival rates.


The Selberg integral is an important integral first evaluated by Selberg in 1944. Stanley found a combina- torial interpretation of the Selberg integral in terms of permutations. In this paper, new combinatorial objects "Young books" are introduced and shown to have a connection with the Selberg integral. This connection gives an enumeration formula for Young books. It is shown that special cases of Young books become standard Young tableaux of various shapes: shifted staircases, squares, certain skew shapes, and certain truncated shapes. As a consequence, enumeration formulas for standard Young tableaux of these shapes are obtained. R´


The role of very-low-carbohydrate ketogenic diets (VLCKD) in the long-term management of obesity is not well established. The present meta-analysis aimed to investigate whether individuals assigned to a VLCKD (i.e. a diet with no more than 50g carbohydrates/d) achieve better long-term body weight and cardiovascular risk factor management when compared with individuals assigned to a conventional low-fat diet (LFD; i.e. a restricted-energy diet with less than 30% of energy from fat). Through August 2012, MEDLINE, CENTRAL, ScienceDirect, Scopus, LILACS, SciELO, ClinicalTrials.gov and grey literature databases were searched, using no date or language restrictions, for randomised controlled trials that assigned adults to a VLCKD or a LFD, with 12 months or more of follow-up. The primary outcome was body weight. The secondary outcomes were TAG, HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, glucose, insulin, HbA 1c and C-reactive protein levels. A total of thirteen studies met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. In the overall analysis, five outcomes revealed significant results. Individuals assigned to a VLCKD showed decreased body weight (weighted mean difference 2 0·91 (95% CI 2 1·65, 2 0·17)kg, 1415 patients), TAG (weighted mean difference 2 0·18 (95% CI 2 0·27, 2 0·08)mmol/l, 1258 patients) and diastolic blood pressure (weighted mean difference 2 1·43 (95% CI 2 2·49, 2 0·37)mmHg, 1298 patients) while increased HDL-C (weighted mean difference 0·09 (95% CI 0·06, 0·12)mmol/l, 1257 patients) and LDL-C (weighted mean difference 0·12 (95% CI 0·04, 0·2)mmol/l, 1255 patients). Individuals assigned to a VLCKD achieve a greater weight loss than those assigned to a LFD in the long term; hence, a VLCKD may be an alternative tool against obesity.


Objective: The purpose of this paper is to present preliminary results on the prevalence of fibromyalgia in the adult Danish population. Methods: The reported study is based on a national health interview survey on musculoskeletal diseases carried out by the Danish Institute for Clinical Epidemiology in 1990/91 on approximately 6,000 randomly selected Danish citizens more than 15 years of age. For this study, 1, 219 subjects from the eastern part of Denmark aged 18 to 79 years were asked about widespread muscle pain and/or fibromyalgia. One hundred and twenty-three persons fulfilling our screening criteria were asked to participate in a clinical examination. Clinical examination for fibromyalgia could be performed on 65 persons. Results: Eight female subjects out of 1,219 persons met the 1990 American College of Rheumatism criteria for fibromyalgia. Conclusion: The minimum prevalence of fibromyalgia in the Danish population between 18-79 years of age was found to be 0.66% [95% confidence limits 0.28%-1.29&].


The present study was carried out with the objectives of determining the learning needs of Staff Nurses regarding care of children receiving Oxygen Therapy; finding association between learning needs and selected variables: age, total years of experience, experience in Paediatric Ward, married with or without children; determining validity of self-instructional module, on "care of child receiving Oxygen Therapy", and evaluating the effectiveness of the self-instructional module or SIM. The study was conducted in two phases. A survey approach was used for Phase-I and one group pre-test post-test design was adopted for Phase-II. The total sample of the study was 30 Staff Nurses, of 6 months experience in Paediatric Ward. The findings of the study showed high learning need status in most of the areas and the Staff Nurses also expressed the desirable need for learning in detail. It was found that age, total years of experience, experience in Paediatric Ward and married with or without children were independent of their learning need. SIM was effective in terms of gain in knowledge score as well as acceptability and utility scores of Staff Nurses.


202.347.1895  For Immediate Release  National Medical Association and National Black Nurses Association Releases Consensus Report on Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)   Silver Spring, Maryland ‐ October 27, 2010 – Today, the National Medical Association (NMA) and the National Black Nurses Association (NBNA) released a consensus report on RSV. Concerned that recent clinical guidelines published by the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee of Infectious Disease (AAP/COID) may leave some infants unprotected from RSV, the NMA/NBNA RSV Consensus Panel recommended that additional research be conducted to ensure that physicians provide the maximum protection to infants and children at risk of RSV. RSV is directly responsible for the hospitalization of up to 125,000 infants on an annual basis.  The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that approximately 14,000 persons in the United States die each year as a result of RSV. In addition, despite its status as one of the most common viral infections, RSV is not yet a reportable disease. In response to the magnitude of RSV, the newly released consensus report makes several priority recommendations. The report recommends: that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention make RSV a reportable disease, that equal treatment be provided to infant children and other at‐risk populations independent of their insurance status, and that physicians and other public health professionals participate in current ICD‐10 coding discussions in order to guarantee that infants with RSV are properly diagnosed.  "The recent proposed change to the FDA approved dosage may have an unintended consequence of disproportionately affecting African American infants. Not only are African Americans over‐represented among infants who are premature and/or low birth weight, they are also over‐represented within the ranks of almost all other RSV risk factors," says Debra A. Toney, PhD, RN, FAAN, President, National Black Nurses Association.  While there is no vaccine for this disease, the possibility of hospitalization can be reduced in vulnerable, high risk populations such as premature and/or low birth weight babies by providing prophylactic doses of an agent known as Palivizumab. The recommended dosage was recently reduced for some at risk infants. However, the NMA/NBNA consensus panel recommends that more research is needed to confirm when fewer doses will achieve the same effect as a full season of prophylaxis. "Indeed, it is critical that these recommendations be implemented immediately," adds Willarda V. Edwards, M.D., M.B.A., Chair of the Consensus Panel and Immediate Past President of the National Medical Association.   To download a copy of the executive summary of the report visit www.NMAnet.org


Although 1.4 million people speak Northern Khmer in Thailand, they are aware that their language is still in decline. To deal with this threat, native speakers have cooperated with linguists from Mahidol University to work on a community-based research project since 2007. Teaching the Northern Khmer language as a subject in the formal school system was the first project which started at Ban Pho-kong school, Surin Province. Later, however, they realized that their children had enough potential in their mother tongue to teach a bilingual program from kindergarten 1, and there were teachers available who could speak Northern Khmer fluently. However, when they started the bilingual education program at the kindergarten level, the children could not use Northern Khmer language to communicate with the teachers. Linguists from Mahidol tried another approach to increase the use of the mother tongue by applying a language nest pattern at the pre-kindergarten level to prepare a strong foundation for the student's mother tongue, before they go on to kindergarten and then primary school.


Tooth agenesis or congenital tooth absence is the absence of development of at least one permanent tooth and a common dental anomaly in man. Hypodontia may occur either as part of a syndrome or as a non-syndrome developed by MSX 1 and PAX 9 are causative genes co-expressed in dental mesenchymal resulting in early developmental arrest of the developing tooth. As compared with permanent dentition, the prevalence of hypodontia in primary dentition is found to be very small. Most commonly missing tooth is a third molar. Most commonly missing tooth is a third molar. It is evident from the literature that the etiology of hypodontia is varied, and genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors that contribute. Research has suggested that clinical hypodontia management requires careful planning across multidisciplinaires .


In this dissertation, the author conducted a survey study of practicing school psychologists on their knowledge of, familiarity with, and use of treatment integrity in school-based interventions. A total of 195 self-identified practicing school psychologists provided information on their measurement and evaluation of treatment integrity on school-based intervention via a one-on-one consultation with teacher and/or parents and within a school-based problem-solving team. Furthermore, data were collected on the barriers school psychologists encounter when trying to implement treatment integrity protocols and what would make them more successful in measuring and evaluating treatment integrity within their practices. The most significant finding from this study was that specific training in treatment integrity had the strongest influence on the increased likelihood of school psychologists measuring and evaluating treatment integrity in both a one-on-one consultation with teachers and/or parents and within a school-based problem-solving team. Specific trainings on treatment integrity were more significant than years of experience, national certification credentials, or degree earned. When asked about barriers school psychologists experience, lack of time was reported to be the number-one barrier. Lastly, when asked what would make school psychologists more successful in measuring and evaluating treatment integrity, more training and more support from individuals involved were most reported. Based on these results, various recommendations were made on how to increase the measurement and evaluation of treatment integrity on school-based interventions.


Matching taxi supply with demand is one of the biggest challenges faced by taxi fleet operators today. One of the reasons why this problem is so hard to solve is because there are no readily available methods to infer unmet taxi demand from data. An algorithm that reliably does so would be of enormous value to fleet operators because it could be used to dispatch available taxis to areas where passenger demand greatly exceeds supply. In this paper, we formally define unmet taxi demand and develop a heuristic algorithm to quantify it. We explain how our method improves on traditional approaches and present the theoretical details which underpin our algorithm. Finally, we develop a smartphone application that uses our algorithm together with a live taxi data feed to provide real time recommendations to participating drivers and efficiently route taxis to where they are needed most.


"Yam hi na vyathayanthyethe purusham purusharshabha; Samadhukha sukham dheeram somruthathvaya kalpathe" [In Sanskrit] This analytic sloka from the Bhagavad-Gita (Chapter II, Verse 15) sums up the entire concept of Emotional Intelligence (EI). It says: a person who is calm and remains unperturbed by either pain or pleasure is the one who attains immortality. The theory of EI which has been popularized by Goleman can be traced down to David Wechsler, who, as early as in 1940 said that intelligence does not denote just the cognitive abilities of a person but the non-cognitive abilities as well. This idea was again put forward by Howard Gardner in 1983 when he brought forth the multiple intelligence theory and said that intrapersonal and interpersonal skills are as important as the traditional concept of intelligence which focused on the cognitive skills alone. In 1990, Mayer and Salovey introduced the concept of Emotional Intelligence as a distinct form of intelligence which can be measured and evaluated. This paper analyses the possibility of developing the theory of EI into a more comprehensive one. It compares and contrasts the theory of EI against the concept of emotions as discussed in the Bhagavad-Gita and explores the possibilities of finding specific methods through which a person's emotional competencies can be enhanced by incorporating the ideals of Sri Krishna as discussed in the Bhagavad-Gita.


Annual Illness and Injury Surveillance Program report for 2003 for Y-12. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of epidemiologic surveillance activities that provide an early warning system for health problems among workers. The IISP monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence of workdays, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.


When determining if involuntary treatment is appropriate, the proper question for courts to ask is not whether autonomy is preferable to involuntary treatment, but whether no treatment at all is preferable to involuntary treatment. When legislatures develop and courts apply statutes governing civil commitment, the interests at stake should be considered not at the abstract level of "freedom" or "autonomy," but rather at the concrete level of the consequences that are likely to result from providing or not providing involuntary treatment. Only by examining the particular interests that are likely to be affected can informed decisions be made about when involuntary treatment is appropriate.If courts were to ask whether, for someone who is mentally ill, the overall benefits of providing involuntary treatment would be greater than the overall benefits of not providing any treatment at all, the result might not be that any more people, or any fewer, would be committed to involuntary treatment. The advantage of this approach, then, would not be the number of people who were committed but the reason that anyone was committed. If courts considered the specific consequences of allowing, as well as not allowing, the choice to refuse treatment, then commitment decisions could be based on the concrete realities of living with an untreated mental illness as well as the concrete realities of living with involuntary treatment. These issues would become somewhat less problematic if the concern of courts was to maximize the overall well-being of those who are mentally ill, rather than to maximize only their autonomy.


Indexing of high-dimensional data is essential for building applications such as multimedia retrieval, data mining, and spatial databases. Traditional index structures rely on centralized processing. This approach does not scale with the rapidly increasing amount of application data available on massively distributed systems like the Internet. In this paper, we propose a distributed high-dimensional index structure based on peer-to-peer overlay routing. A new routing scheme is used to lookup data keys in the distributed index, which guarantees logarithmic lookup and maintenance cost, even in the face of skewed datasets. We propose a novel nearest neighbor (NN) query scheme that can substantially reduce search cost by sacrificing a small amount of precision. We propose a load-balancing mechanism that partitions the high dimensional search space in a balanced manner. We then analyze the performance of our proposed using a variety of metrics with simulation as well as a functional PlanetLab implementation.


This paper explores a personal iterative retrospective of a series of expansive social-learning processes that were collaboratively developed through practice-based enquiry across 17 South African towns/contexts. This reflexive narrative explores the development of a 'Climate Train', a mobile social-learning platform, that was conceived and created through a collaborative social movement of 'cultural practitioners' ranging from visual artists, poets, film-makers, theatre-makers, guerrilla-gardeners, musicians, facilitators, to educational researchers, among others, who created new 'connective aesthetic' social spaces for dialogue and exchange. Drawing from a variety of artistic genres, including but not limited to theatre and social sculpture (an expanded concept of public/participatory art), I reflect on the formative, foundational qualities of these approaches and share insights into social-learning praxis that emerged on the tracks. Of primary focus is the use of aesthetic praxis as a means that transforms how we engage with our inner capacities as well as how we develop our relational sensibilities. Key findings include the vital role of connective aesthetics in establishing imaginal thinking, moral intuition, empathy, participative parity, and emergence, and how these are important for transformation and establishing new capacities for ecological/global citizenship and collaborative intelligence. Keywords : Connective aesthetics, transgressive learning, transformation, social learning, transdisciplinary praxis, practice-based research, commons, ecological citizenship.


Pachomius, who died in 346, has long been regarded as the "founder of monasticism." Available again, Philip Rousseau's careful reading of the available texts reveals that Pachomius's pioneering enterprise has been consistently misread in light of later monastic practices. Rousseau not only provides a fuller and more accurate portrait of this great teacher and spiritual director but also gives a new perspective on the development of monasticism. In a new preface Rousseau reviews the scholarly developments that have modified his views and emphases since the book was published. The result is to make Pachomius an even less assured pioneer, a man likely to have been more involved in the village and urban society of his time than previously thought.


The purpose of this study is to report the impact of the pedagogical processes and organisational changes made as a result of professional learning strategies that have been adopted and developed by the Wagga Wagga Catholic Schools Office (CSO) primary schools. Since 1994, more than 95% of primary school teachers of the twenty seven primary schools in the Wagga Wagga CSO system of schools have participated in a targeted and intensive professional learning program called an "Institute". Within each Institute, participant teachers were encouraged to adapt and implement learning community philosophies and strategies under the direction of external consultants. From these activities, a CSO core document, 'Today's Children, Tomorrow's Adults' was developed, which defined the principles and practices for effective learning and teaching to be adopted within all CSO schools. This study investigates how the Learning Communities Institute became a means of effecting educational change. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies was employed to collect data for this research. Teachers, students and parents were provided with an opportunity to reflect, dialogue and comment on their experiences of effective learning and teaching strategies identified in 'Today's Children, Tomorrow's Adults'. The data collected for this investigation indicated that varying degrees of success were observed in pockets across CSO primary schools. Where the Institute experience was followed by spaced, on-site follow-up and professional dialogue with the external consultants over a period of time, teachers became confident and prepared to take risks by embedding the learning and teaching principles and practices of 'Today's Children, Tomorrow's Adults' into their classroom structure and planning. It was also observed that these pockets of success were found in schools where the principal was leading and supporting the school's learning community journey. Additionally it was found that attending an Institute alone does not guarantee educational change. This experience, however, gave participants strong professional support. This was seen in the context of the study to promote collaborative leadership practices which have in time led to substantive educational change within the Wagga Wagga system of Catholic Schools. Change becomes a reality when there was a whole school approach to learning and teaching supported by collaborative leadership practices, structures and encouragement, while at the same time accompanied by system leadership, financial and policy support.


The Cardsharps, one of the paintings that launched Caravaggio's spectacular career in Rome, captured the turbulent social reality of the city in the 1590s. This early masterpiece not only documented one of the everyday activities of Rome's citizens, but its vivid, lifelike style also opened the door to a revolutionary naturalism that would spread throughout Europe. Helen Langdon, the scholar whose illuminating Caravaggio: A Life became a best-seller, returns to her subject and his milieu in this new, richly illustrated volume. She sets Caravaggio's Cardsharps within the context of contemporaneous literature, art theory, and theater and incorporates new archival research to enliven our understanding of the painter's time, place, and contemporaries. By fully analyzing one of Caravaggio's most daringly novel works, Langdon demonstrates the significant influence he had on the future of European art.


Component-based software engineering, separation of concerns, model-driven architecture, and aspect-oriented programming are four active research areas tat have been around for several years now. In this paper, we present how these four paradigms can be put together in the context of a new software development method and we show how they can complement each other are different stages in the development life-cycle of enterprise, middleware-mediated applications. Different software development methods, such as Fondue, Catalysis, KobrA, and the Rational Unified Process, are also analyzed, pointing out their differences and limitations. In the end, requirements for a dedicated tool infrastructure that would support the new development approach are discussed.


Objective: To establish whether savings could be made by changing patients from intramuscular to high doses of oral vitamin B12 in primary care without compromising their wellbeing. Methods: Cost-minimization analysis from a UK perspective, using secondary data obtained from the literature available and expert opinion. Results: The cost of the resources used to treat patients with vitamin B12 deficiency with intramuscular vitamin B12 was calculated as between £55.99 (€83.1) and £99.99 (€148.5) per year. The cost of treating patients with high doses of oral vitamin B12 during the first year was between £125.55 (€186.5) and £248.55 (€369.1). However, once patients receiving intramuscular treatment had been converted to oral treatment, or in new patients treated orally from the outset, the cost was £35.55 per year (€52.8). One variable, home visits, had a high impact on the calculations. Conclusion: Switching patients with vitamin B12 deficiency from intramuscular to high-dose oral therapy and treating patients newly diagnosed with vitamin B12 deficiency with oral vitamin B12 from the outset could save resources in the medium and long term, and in newly diagnosed patients. Savings would come particularly in the form of nursing time.


Brief Reports are accounts of completed research which do not warrant regular articles or the priority handling given to Rapid Communications; however, the same standards of scientific quality apply. (Addenda are included in Brief Reports.) A Brief Report may be no longer than four printed pages and must be accompanied by an abstract. The same publication schedule as for regular articles is followed, and page proofs are sent to authors.


Virtual machines (s) have enjoyed a resurgence as a way of allowing the same application program to be used across a range of computer systems. This flexibility comes from the abstraction that the  provides over the native interface of a particular computer. However, this also means that the application is prevented from taking the features of particular physical machines into account in its implementation. This dissertation addresses the question of why, where and how it is useful, possible and practicable to provide an application with access to lower-level interfaces. It argues that many aspects of  implementation can be devolved safely to untrusted applications and demonstrates this through a prototype which allows control over run-time compilation, object placement within the heap and thread scheduling. The proposed architecture separates these application-specific policy implementations from the application itself. This allows one application to be used with different policies on different systems and also allows naïve or premature optimizations to be removed.


Usually, most of the AUV has the propeller and it is placed in a suitable position for maneuvering in the required direction. For single propeller AUVs, propeller is placed at the aft, and direction is controlled using wings that are placed aft. Energy is a major part of an underwater operation to decide the duration of underwater operation. To increase the duration of the battery, either the energy consumption can be reduced or the efficiency of the propulsion system needs to be improved. Here the possible opportunities to improve the propulsion system using hydrodynamic energy devices are discussed. Though many options are available, based on space availability & speed, a suitable combination of devices can be added. It is recommended to carry out CFD analysis to make sure that proposed devices can bring improvement in the propulsion system before it is implemented.


Panama has been one of the fastest growing economies in the world over the previous decade. Growth has been spearheaded by the development of a modern service sector on the activities surrounding the Canal, and non-residential construction. Large public infrastructure projects and the private provision for infrastructure demanded by the service sector, have fueled growth and created a vibrant labor market for non-skilled workers. Two warning signals hover over Panama's stellar performance. The construction sector has been growing for a decade at a rate that is equivalent to doubling its stock of structures every four years. The demand for non-residential construction cannot grow indefinitely at a higher rate than the rest of the economy. This feeds into the second signal: Income inequality. In spite of the minor improvements registered over the accelerated-growth spell, Panama remains amongst the world's top five most unequal countries. Both warning signals point out to the need of further diversifying the Panamanian economy, and promoting economic activity in the provinces so as to deconcentrate growth and make it more inclusive. We deployed our Growth Diagnostic methodology in order to identify potential binding constraints to that process. Skilled labor, necessary to gradually diversify into more complex and high value-added activities, is relatively scarce. This scarcity manifests into large wage-premiums to foreigners across all occupations, which are particular large within more complex industries. Major investments in education have improved indicators of schooling quantitatively, but quality remains a major concern. We find that Panama's immigration policies are preventing skills from spilling over from their special economic zones into the rest of the economy. On top of that, the list of professions restricted to Panamanians and other constraints on skilled labor flows, are constraining even further the pool of skills. As we document here, these efforts are not helping the Panamanian workers, quite the contrary. We also find that corruption, and to a lesser extent, red tape, are other important factors that shall be addressed in order to allow Panama to shift the gears of growth, tackle inequality and continue growing at a fast pace.


ends along open channels always pose difficulties for water transfer systems. One undesirable effect of bends in such channels, i.e. separation of water from inner banks, was studied. For the purposes of this study, the literature on the subject was first reviewed, and a strongly-curved open channel was designed and constructed on the laboratory scale. Several tests were performed to evaluate the accuracy of the lab model, data homogeneity, and systematic errors. The model was then calibrated and the influence of curvature on flow pattern past the curve was investigated. Also, for the first time, the influence of separation walls on flow pattern was investigated. Experimental results on three strongly-curved open channels with a curvature radius to channel width ratio of 1.5 and curvature angles of 30°, 60°, and 90° showed that, in all the cases studied, the effect of flow separation could be observed immediately after the curve. In addition, the greatest effect of flow separation was seen at a distance equal to channel width from the bend end. In the presence of middle walls and flow separation, the effect of water separation reduced at the bend, especially for a curvature of 90°.


Carbon Zero Ltd has developed novel energy storage systems that store energy as heat by the use of various designs of zeolite molecular sieve energy cells operating under low pressures. Its initial application is to store off peak electricity in a form that can be outputted during the day as central heating and hot water. Whilst this approach competes against gas boiler a theoretical application exists to charge the system using heat from solar hot water panels. Carbon Zero claimed that the temperature output from zeolite cells can be at a high grade of 150oC and believed that the heat output can be converted into electricity using a Rankine cycle connected to a scroll expander to generate rotational movement. Lancaster University has been appointed by Carbon Zero to undertake this innovation project to review the methods of generating both heat and electrical power based on Rankine cycle systems using scroll expanders. This report presents the findings in this project.


It used to be only dotcom start-ups lacked workable business models. But now the ubiquity of cheap communications and computing is deeply wounding business models across the board. Combined with rapidly changing customer expectations, the rules for how value is delivered, and what, when, and how much customers will pay are in flux. What can you do to ensure that you have a business model that will work today and in the future? Create new revenue models, advises Saul J. Berman in Not for Free. The most important strategy now is wringing new income streams from existing assets, physical and digital, by exploiting new segments, new uses and new value additions. Using the media industry, the canary in the coalmine for business model disruption, as a starting point, Berman explores the revenue strategies that are working, and the ones that are failing, in this new world. Drawing on examples from a variety of industries like Progressive Insurance, Rent the Runway, Castrol, Redbox, Mint and many others, Berman guides you through the opportunities and pitfalls of new revenue strategies. Timely and practical, Not for Free tackles a problem plaguing all companies: growing revenue organically in the near term.


A dry three-dimensional baroclinic life cycle model is used to investigate the role of turbulent fluxes of heat and momentum within the boundary layer on midlatitude cyclones. Simulations are performed of life cycles for two basic states: with and without turbulent fluxes. The different basic states produce cyclones with contrasting frontal and mesoscale flow structures. The analysis focuses on the generation of potential vorticity (PV) in the boundary layer and its subsequent transport into the free troposphere. The dynamic mechanism through which friction mitigates a barotropic vortex is that of Ekman pumping. This has often been assumed to also be the dominant mechanism for baroclinic developments. The PV framework highlights an additional, baroclinic mechanism. Positive PV is generated baroclinically due to friction to the northeast of a surface low and is transported out of the boundary layer by a cyclonic conveyor belt flow. The result is an anomaly of increased static stability in the lower troposphere, which restricts the growth of the baroclinic wave. The reduced coupling between lower and upper levels can be sufficient to change the character of the upper-level evolution of the mature wave. The basic features of the baroclinic damping mechanism are robust for different frontal structures, with and without turbulent heat fluxes, and for the range of surface roughness found over the oceans.


This study aimed to discuss the results of a rostrotentorial decompressive craniotomy performed in a ram with had severe neurological signs. The patient had a clinical picture of right paresis product of a left hemisphere syndrome. A computerized axial tomography (CAT) was conducted and a tumour was found in the left cerebral hemisphere. In order to extend the productive life of the animal, given his value as a sire, a decompressive craniotomy was performed. Part of the cranial vault was dissected to provide more space to the brain and relieve intracranial hypertension caused by this pathology. Once recovered from anaesthesia, the animal presented a remission of neurological signs. The patient did not present the previous compulsive circling behaviour, ataxia and head-pressing behaviour. The patient remained under observation for a period of 20 days, during which he presented good temper and appetite. The results of the surgery showed the possibility of using this technique for the relief of neurologic clinical signs in animals suffering cerebral neoplasia, cerebral oedema, cerebral bruises or coenuruses.


In this paper we test empirically with the Nordhaus and Yang (1996) RICE model the core property of the transfer scheme adv ocated by Germain, Toint and Tulkens (1997). This scheme is designed to sustain full cooperation in a voluntary international environmental agreement by making all countries at least as well off as they would be by joining coalitions adopting emission abatement policies that maximize their coalition payoff; under the scheme no individual country, nor any subset of countries would have an interest in leaving the international environmental agreement. The simulations show that the transfer scheme yields an allocation in the core of the carbon emission abatement game associated with the RICE model. Finally, we discuss some practical implications of the transfer scheme for current climate negotiations.


This paper provides new foundations for Bayesian Decision Theory based on a representation theorem for preferences de…ned on a set of prospects containing both factual and conditional possibilities. This use of a rich set of prospects not only provides a framework within which the main theoretical claims of Savage, Ramsey, Je¤rey and others can be stated and compared, but also allows for the postulation of an extended Bayesian model of rational belief and desire from which they can be derived as special cases. The main theorem of the paper establishes the existence of a such a Bayesian representation of preferences over conditional prospects i.e. the existence of a pair of real-valued functions respectively measuring the agent's degrees of belief and desire and which satisfy the postulated rationality conditions on partial belief and desire. The representation of partial belief is shown to be unique and that of partial desire, unique up to a linear transformation.


The government announced in late 2009 that it would freeze tariffs at current levels until 2015 at the earliest. We examine the potential costs and benefits to the New Zealand economy of this policy decision using a recently-developed dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the New Zealand economy. We find that the elimination of tariffs in New Zealand delivers a very small increase in GDP as allocative efficiency improves. However, the terms of trade effects associated with the tariff removal generate a very small welfare loss. We assess the sensitivity of the welfare results to key elasticity parameters.


In 2005 a course text book was published which was written by Géza Jeszenszky and used for courses taught by Jeszenszky at the Corvinus University. In the text book there is a sentence which generated a great deal of debate and controversy. "The reason why many Roma are mentally ill is because in Roma culture it is permitted for sisters and brothers or cousins to marry each other or just to have sexual intercourse with each other" (Jeszenszky, 2005, 273). In November 2012 the Corvinus Rector issued a statement which declared the Corvinus University did not agree with the sentence. Péter Csermely in a Magyar Nemzet (newspaper) editorial responded to criticism of Jeszenszky's sentence and stated that the author had simply drawn some conclusions from "evident facts", "supported by many researchers" (Magyar Nemzet, 2012). It was suggested in late 2012 that the Corvinus University establish a commission to provide an academic and scientific statement on the sentence with a view to seeking Jeszenszky's endorsement of the note and clarifying the actual expert opinion on these matters in order to diminish the damage caused by confusion and or acceptance of unsubstantiated claims. In May 2013 at a conference on Roma issues hosted by the Corvinus University the Vice Rector Zoltán Szántó stated he now felt it was an appropriate time to initiate the commission. The scientific note summarises the findings of the commission which was established to investigate this issue.


The initial aims of this investigation were to develop a reliable assay system for measuring serum 1,Z5-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,Z5(OH)ZD] concentrations and to establish a normal range in young healthy adults. Compared with young healthy individuals, the elderly population are indeed vitamin D deficient.
Vitamin D deficiency was also demonstrated in a group of elderly osteomalacic patients. Slight improvements in osteomalacia was achieved by one month of treatment with vitamin D3' or alphacalcidiol with or without calcium supplements. The improvements were small and occured slowly. A significant increase in the strength of bone seems unlikely to occur in the short term. On the present evidence the combination of alphacalcidiol and calcium supplements seems no better than vitamin D3 or alphacalcidiol alone although it may require closer monitoring to avoid hypercalcaemia.
In a group of elderly patients with osteoporosis and femoral neck fracture (FNF), serum osteocalcin concentrations rose significantly in the first week after fracture fixation. The change in osteocalcin correlated well (p < 0.001) with the change in serum 1,Z5(OH)ZD concentration. Histomorphometric measurements of the extent of osteoid correlated better with osteocalcin than alkaline phosphatase.
Serum concentrations of 1,Z5(OH)ZD were also reduced in elderly patients with FNF irrespective of the presence of osteomalacia and therefore cannot be used as a screening test for osteomalacia in this patient group. Reduction of 1,Z5(OH)ZD was not due to a reduction in vitamin D binding protein. It is suggested that the low rate of bone turnover in these elderly patients reduces the requirement of vitamin D.
Of the ten elderly patients who had underwent laryngo pharyngeal surgery all developed hypocalcaemia. This immediate post-operative decrease, due to a rapid reduction in circulating PTH concentrations, lead to an overall increase in urinary calcium excretion. Serum concentration of 1,25(OH)2D also fell postoperatively thus potentiating the hypocalcaemic state in these patients. Thus, it is important to give parenteral feeding supplemented with calcium and vitamin D, preferably alphacalcidiol. If delayed then profound as well as prolonged hypocalcaemia can occur.
The human osteosarcoma cell 20S metabolised 25(OH)D3 in a substrate concentration and time dependent manner to produce products which were secreted into the extracellular medium. These products eluted from HPLC with a retention time coincident with 24,25(OH)2D3 and exhibited an UV absorption spectrum characteristic of a vitamin D sterol. Mass spectroscopy analysis indicated at least two products were synthesised by the cells. One was identical to 24,25(OH)2D3; the other appeared to be an unsaturated trihydroxylated derivative of vitamin D3.


Our nation was founded more than two hundred years ago through a popular revolution against a sovereign monarch. In the past half-century, avenues for litigation have expanded, along with more frequent invocation of rights as claims in court - constitutional, statutory, and common-law. For better or worse, in the present day, individual sovereignty appears to be the cultural byword, celebrating unconstrained personal autonomy. Thus, the proposition that the government may be excused from having to answer to individuals in court may seem antithetical to most Americans. And yet few doctrines are more solidly anchored in Supreme Court precedent than that the United States government may not be sued without its consent. Before the Supreme Court and in the Congress, the debate rages on about whether the states should be regarded as retaining immunity from suit even when litigation is authorized by federal legislation. But the premise that the federal government is not subject to suit without its consent occasions little meaningful dissent in public life today. Properly understood, and given the longstanding acceptance of judicial restraint of ongoing government conduct that truly contravenes constitutional directives, federal sovereign immunity fits comfortably with popular sovereignty, divided and diminished government power, and political accountability for public officers. Sovereign immunity - or something like it - may have been an inevitable legal development, because open-ended and unconstrained access to the courts by those who object to governmental policies or actions could undermine effective governance by the people through an electoral majority. At the same time, when the federal government has been made amenable to litigation by the democratically-elected Congress, the courts should not reconstruct a broader immunity through a jaundiced and hostile interpretation of the statute. If a statutory waiver of federal sovereign immunity is construed too strictly and narrowly, so that every statutory term is slanted against the claimant, the legislative promise of meaningful judicial relief may be frustrated.


This paper presents a system for automatically detecting and analyzing complex player actions in moving background sports video sequences, aiming at action-based sports videos indexing and providing kinematic measurements for coach assistance and performance improvement. The system works in a coarse-to-fine fashion. For an input video, in the coarse granularity level, we automatically segment the highlights, that is, the video clips containing the desired action as summaries for general user viewing purposes; in the middle granularity level, we recognize the action types to support action-based video indexing and retrieval; and finally in the fine granularity level, the critical kinematic parameters of player action are obtained for sports professionals' training purposes. However, the complex and dynamic background of sports videos and the complexity of player actions bring considerable difficulty to the automatic analysis. To fulfill such a challenging task, robust algorithms including global motion estimation with adaptive outliers filtering, object segmentation based on adaptive background construction, and automatic human body tracking are proposed in this paper. Two visual analyzing tools: motion panorama and overlay composition, are also introduced. Real diving and jump game videos are used to test the proposed system and algorithms, and the extensive and encouraging experimental results show their effectiveness.


In this paper, we discuss the development and piloting of a new methodology for illuminating the socio-material constitution of data objects and flows as data move between different sites of practice. The data journeys approach contributes to the development of critical, qualitative methodologies that can address the geographic and temporal scale of emerging knowledge infrastructures, and capture the 'life of data' from their initial generation through to re-use in different contexts. We discuss the theoretical development of the data journeys methodology and the application of the approach on a project examining meteorological data on their journey from initial production through to being re-used in climate science and financial markets. We then discuss three key conceptual findings from this project about: (1) the socio-material constitution of digital data objects, (2) 'friction' in the movement of data through space and time and (3) the mutability of digital data as a material property that contributes to driving the movement of data between different sites of practice.


BACKGROUND
Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) formation is associated with by inflammation and matrix degradation. This study tested the hypothesis that calprotectin, a novel biomarker for inflammation, as well as established biomarkers such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and matrix metalloproteinase- 9 (MMP-9) could also be indicative inflammatory biomarkers during AAA pathogenesis and progression. We also evaluated the correlation of serum soluble Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products (sRAGE) with AAA diameter and serum calprotectin levels.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Rat abdominal aortas were perfused with porcine pancreatic elastase (AAA Group) or saline (Control Group) and studied on post-perfusion days 7 and 14 (n=11 per treatment group). Aneurysm was defined as a dilatation of the aorta above 150% of its original diameter. Laparotomy was performed on days 0 (T0), 7 (T7) and 14 (T14) for aortic diameter measurement. At the same time intervals, we measured the serum levels of calprotectin, CRP, sRAGE and MMP-9.

RESULTS
All animals developed AAA and no rupture occurred. MMP-9 in AAA group at T14 (p<0.05 compared with T7 and p<0.005 compared with T0) and calprotectin in AAA group at T14 (p<0.001 compared with T7 and T0) continued to significantly increase at all times. Serum sRAGE was significantly lower in the AAA group compared with the control group and within AAA group at all time points (p<0.001). On the other hand, the highest levels of CRP were identified at T7 in both groups. Calprotectin concentrations in AAA group were significantly higher compared with controls at T7 and T14 (p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively). Aortic diameter was significantly correlated with MMP-9 and calprotectin serum concentrations at all time points (r=0.51, p<0.001; r=0.728, p<0.001 respectively). Serum sRAGE levels were significantly correlated with aortic diameter at all time points (r=-0.48, p<0.001) and serum calprotectin levels (r=-0.22, p<0.001).

CONCLUSION
This is the first evaluation of calprotectin as an AAA inflammation biomarker. It seems to be a promising marker related to AAA natural history. Further experimental and large human studies are needed to fully elucidate the role of calprotectin in the development and progression of AAAs.


What is the significance of feeling unbearably weighed-down by everyday life on the social and economic margins of a Central American city? What are the politics of a mother feeling there is no longer any point in showing up for work given the limited impact it makes for the everyday needs of her family? Relatedly, what is the significance of another woman carrying on with the business of survival as a member of Nicaragua's urban poor majority? In this article, I question the differences and connections between two women's engagements with poverty in a shanty on the outskirts of Leon, Nicaragua's second biggest city. Subject to isolated analysis, each woman's corporealization of poverty appears ambiguous in terms of what they do to the inequalities that structure their existence. By engaging these corporealities as affective forces—trans-personally constituted and constituting forces that impact human action—they can be understood as agencies capable of impacting the future. The impetus to carry on and to curl up in bed may represent seemingly contradictory engagements in (or away from) social life, but they both animate a sense of the present's painful inadequacy, which may be socially transformative. Approaching bodies pushed to their limits as affective forces complicates individual-centric notions of agency, and, I argue, is crucial for understanding how and when social and political transformation becomes imaginable and achievable (or not) in particular contexts.


Energy saving in cellular networks can be achieved by implementing the cell switch-off (CSO) approach in periods of light traffic. Regular static CSO (CSO patterns) is a type of CSO where the set of active cells is predetermined such that they are located on a regular grid. It is known that regular cell layouts generally provide the best coverage and downlink SINR. Furthermore, CSO patterns assure that interfering cells are as far away as possible and help in modeling interference accurately. Existing lit- erature on CSO patterns focuses only on site-level CSO (switching off entire BSs); however, significant gains can sometimes be obtained from sector-level CSO patterns (switching off individual sectors). This paper is the first to introduce and investi- gate sector- based regular CSO patterns by providing illustrative examples. We compare the performances of different CSO patterns in terms of the number of supported users. Also, we analytically compare site- based versus sector-based CSO patterns in terms of power saving. Our results show that patterns with only one of the three sectors active (each with the same orientation) can support the most users per sector, due to a favourable interference situation.


OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: In the context of skeletal muscle, IL-6 plays a major role in muscle quality. The goal of this project was to study the influence of systemic IL-6 on skeletal muscle mitochondrial physiology, most notably mitochondrial function (respiration and ROS production) and mitochondrial content. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: To determine the influence of interleukin-6 (IL-6) on skeletal muscle mitochondria, high-resolution respirometry was performed to simultaneously measure oxygen consumption (JO2) and ROS production in differentiated myotubes incubated with increasing IL-6 (0, 10, 50, 100 ng/mL) for 18 hours in serum free conditions. To evaluate the impact of IL-6 on mitochondrial content we performed western blots on cell lysates from treated cells, measuring proteins of the mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) using a cocktail antibody and PGC-1α/PGC-1ß for mitochondrial biogenesis. To determine the role of mitochondrial ROS production on JO2 and mitochondrial content, we co-treated differentiated myotubes for 18 hours with 50 and 100ng/mL IL-6 and the mitochondrial specific antioxidant, MitoQ and performed respirometry for mitochondrial functional measurements and western blots for mitochondrial content.Statistical significance was evaluated by using a 2-tailed Student's t-test and two-way ANOVA. Post hoc all-group analyses were conducted to determine which groups were different when the model was significant. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Mitochondrial functional measurements show increased JO2 and increased ROS production in an IL-6 dose-dependent manner. Targeting mitochondrial ROS production with 0.5µm MitoQ attenuated IL-6 induced increases in JO2 and ROS production. Complexes I and II (CI, CII) of the ETC increased significantly in an IL-6 dose-wise fashion, and co-treatment with MitoQ normalized increases at 100ng/mL Il-6. 100ng/mL IL-6 significantly increased protein expression of PGC-1α and PGC-1ß. Co-treatment with MitoQ normalized IL-6 induced increase in PGC-1α. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Our data suggest that when treated chronically at a high dose, IL-6 increases mitochondrial respiration, ROS production, and content. Targeting mitochondrial ROS production normalizes these mitochondrial adaptations. The present study provides new insights into mitochondrial physiology in the context of inflammation. Therapeutically targeting mitochondrial ROS production may impact skeletal muscle quality in certain populations.


In 2019, the world witnessed the onset of an unprecedented pandemic. In September 2021, the infection by SARS-CoV-2 had already been responsible for the death of more than 4 million people worldwide. Recently, we and other groups discovered that SARS-CoV-2 infection induces ER-stress and activation of unfolded protein response (UPR) pathway. The degradation of misfolded/unfolded proteins is an essential element of proteostasis and occurs mainly in lysosomes or proteasomes. The N-terminal arginylation of proteins is characterized as an inducer of ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation by the N-end rule pathway. Here we present, for the first time, data on the role of arginylation during SARS-CoV-2 infection. We studied the modulation of protein arginylation in Vero CCL-81 and Calu-3 cells infected after 2h, 6h, 12h, 24h, and 48h. A reanalysis of in vivo and in vitro public omics data combined with immunoblotting was performed to measure the levels of ATE1 and arginylated proteins. This regulation is seen specifically during infections by coronaviruses. We demonstrate that during SARS-CoV-2 infection there is an increase in the expression of the ATE1 enzyme associated with regulated levels of specific arginylated proteins. On the other hand, infected macrophages showed no ATE1 regulation. An important finding revealed that modulation of the N-end rule pathway differs between different types of infected cells. We also confirmed the potential of tannic acid to reduce viral load, and furthermore, to modulate ATE1 levels during infection. In addition, the arginylation inhibitor merbromin (MER) is also capable of both reducing viral load and reducing ATE1 levels. Taken together, these data show the importance of arginylation during the progression of SARS-CoV-2 infection and open the door for future studies that may unravel the role of ATE1 and its inhibitors in pathogen infection.


Despite the growing recognition of their importance, immaterial cultural values associated with the sea still tend to be neglected in marine spatial planning (MSP). This socio-cultural evidence gap is due to inherent difficulties in defining and eliciting cultural values, but also to difficulties in linking cultural values to specific places, thus enabling an area-based approach to management. This paper addresses three aspects that are important for including marine cultural values in MSP: Defining cultural values, identifying places of cultural importance, and establishing the relative significance of places of cultural importance. We argue that common classification schemes such as cultural ecosystem services can be a helpful starting point for identifying cultural values, but only go so far in capturing communities' cultural connections with the sea. A method is proposed for structuring a community-based narrative on cultural values and "spatialising" them for MSP purposes, using five criteria that can lead to the definition of "culturally significant areas". A baseline of culturally significant areas is suggested as an aid to planners to pinpoint places where cultural connections to the sea are particularly strong. Throughout, we emphasise the need for participative processes.


Multiple efforts have been made to develop small-diameter tissue engineered vascular grafts using a great variety of bioreactor systems at different steps of processing. Nevertheless, there is still an extensive need for a compact all-in-one system providing multiple and simultaneous processing. The aim of this project was to develop a new device to fulfill the major requirements of an ideal system that allows simultaneous seeding, conditioning, and perfusion. The newly developed system can be actuated in a common incubator and consists of six components: a rotating cylinder, a pump, a pulse generator, a control unit, a mixer, and a reservoir. Components that are in direct contact with cell media, cells, and/or tissue allow sterile processing. Proof-of-concept experiments were performed with polyurethane tubes and collagen tubes. The scaffolds were seeded with fibroblasts and endothelial cells that were isolated from human saphenous vein segments. Scanning electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry showed better seeding success of polyurethane scaffolds in comparison to collagen. Conditioning of polyurethane tubes with 100 dyn/cm2 resulted in cell detachments, whereas a moderate conditioning program with stepwise increase of shear stress from 10 to 40 dyn/cm2 induced a stable and confluent cell layer. The new bioreactor is a powerful tool for quick and easy testing of various scaffold materials for the development of tissue engineered vascular grafts. The combination of this bioreactor with native tissue allows testing of medical devices and medicinal substances under physiological conditions that is a good step towards reduction of animal testing. In the long run, the bioreactor could turn out to produce tissue engineered vascular grafts for human applications "at the bedside".


With the world becoming more interconnected, interdependent, and complex, research needs to take into account the dynamism of interacting systems. Whereby traditional research methodologies have allowed for significant epistemological advances in policy studies, there remain opportunities to augment methodologies to account for emergence, rare events, tipping points, patterns, and processes found in complexity science. This research provides rationale, background, and policymaking considerations applying complexity science to policy studies research. To this end, we employ an agent-based model simulation of citizen alliance for the population of Afghanistan to demonstrate real-world application in policy studies. The flexibility of the model and its ability to change parameters demonstrate outcomes of varying policy scenarios. Additionally, the model tests the influence of Afghanistan news reports of insurgents attempting to gain influence by co-opting established leadership.


In most societies, of the world, including in Africa, responsibility for the material support of older people, unable to sustain themselves through work or investments, has originally resided with their younger generational family members - especially their adult children. Aboderin explores this topic specifically for Africa. In the wake of social or economic change, societies experience shifts in the degree in which families support their elders. Questions about the proper balance of family and state responsibilities, however, persist, especially in the light of socio-demographic trends and constraints in public expenditure. In most of sub-Saharan Africa, in contrast to other world regions, economic security policies for older people have not yet been formulated, despite declines in material family support along with rising poverty to which a growing elderly population is particularly exposed. In part, this betrays the crucial lack of understanding about how and why these shifts in support have occurred in African societies - and, thus, a profound uncertainty about what balance of individual, family and state responsibilities will be culturally appropriate and effective in ensuring economic security for older Africans both now and in the future. Abdorein aims to address these gaps in understanding. She provides an empirical and theoretical analysis of the micro and macro level processes that have underpinned recent declines in old age family support in African societies and likely parameters of future familial support. She also addresses more fundamental theoretical questions about how we should think about the relationships between intergenerational support, norms and values, and societal change. "Intergenerational Support in Africa" should be of interest to anyone interested in the subjects of African studies, economic policy and theory concerning elder care as well as those interested in sociology and social welfare development.


In recent years zemiology has emerged to pose key questions about the ways in which social harm emerges from non-criminalised deleterious acts, from criminalisation processes and from the everyday workings of our socioeconomic systems. This article both explores and contributes to the zemiological perspective by focusing specifically on developing the notion of cultural harm, as one aspect of social harm. Utilising the examples of (i) the Gender Recognition Act 2004, (ii) a case of 'trans fraud' and imprisonment, (iii) and three legal cases involving 'gender deception', it explores the limitations of zero-sum approaches to recognising harm. In doing so, the article develops a typology of cultural harm that enables us to move beyond current conflicting claims to harm and begin to identify alternatives that better recognise and address all forms of harm, including those imposed by the hegemonic cis-hetero-patriarchal structures.


How does cortical state affect neural responses to naturalistic stimuli, and is it analogous between anesthetized and awake animals? We recorded spikes and local field potential (LFP) in isoflurane-anesthetized cat V1 while repeatedly presenting wide-field natural scene movie clips. Spiking responses were remarkably precise, reliable and sparse. Many units had distinct barcode-like firing patterns, with features as little as 10 ms wide. LFP-derived cortical state switched spontaneously between synchronized (1/f) and desynchronized (broadband). Surprisingly, responses were more precise, reliable and sparse during the synchronized than desynchronized state. However, the desynchronized state under anesthesia is thought to correspond to attending periods in awake animals, during which responses are enhanced. Our results therefore complicate the analogy between cortical states in anesthetized and awake animals. The presence of orientation maps in cat V1 may explain contrary reports in anesthetized rodents, and predicts a similar result in anesthetized ferret and primate V1.


Photostrictive materials are lanthanum-modified lead zirconatetitanate (Pb, La)(Zr, Ti) O3 ceramics doped with WO3, called PLZT, exhibit large photostriction under uniform illumination of high-energy light. Photostrictive materials are ferrodielectric ceramics that have a photostrictive effect. Photostriction arises from a superposition of the photovoltaic effect, i.e. the generation of large voltage from the irradiation of light, and the converse-piezoelectric effect, i.e. expansion or contraction under the voltage applied. Photostrictive materials offer the potential for actuators with many advantages over traditional transducing electromechanical actuators made of shape memory alloys and electroceramics (piezoelectric and electrostrictive). Drawback of traditional actuators is that they require hard-wired connections to transmit the control signals which introduce electrical noise into the control signals; on the other hand PLZT actuators offer non-contact actuation, remote control, and are immune from electric/magnetic disturbances.The main goal of the research work is to investigate the feasibility of utilizing photostrictive materials as an optical actuator for Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) applications. In this investigation process both experimental and computational approaches have been implemented. In the experimental part of this research, a test set-up has been designed and developed to measure the photostriction effect of a PLZT thin film on a silicon wafer as smart beams. The experimental set-up includes high pressure short arc xenon lamp with lamp housing, power supply, lamp igniter, hot mirror, band pass filters, optical chopper, and laser sensor with sensor head and controller.1 μm PLZT thin film on the silicon wafer sample has been tested as a cantilever beam with different light intensities, and focusing the light at the different locations on the PLZT cantilever beam. The experiment has been performed for continuous and pulses of lights focusing on the PLZT optical actuator. An optical chopper was used to make pulses of light on the PLZT cantilever beam. Also, a computational finite element method useful for design of systems incorporating thin film photostrictive actuators has already been developed by the authors. The element has been implemented in an in-house finite element code. This derived finite element for continuous illumination of light on the photostrictive thin film has been used to investigate the application of photostrictive actuators for the different structures and various boundary conditions of microbeams with various actuator locations and length intensities. A successful conclusion of these tasks will affirm the potential of the PLZT optical actuator to use in the MEMS devices.© 2012 ASME


This Article conducts an empirical experiment to shed light on a simply stated, but vexing, question in contract law: What is the optimal precision of legal default rules? Should lawmakers pick just one simple default rule for an entire legal system, or should they design more complex default rules to offer customized legal treatment for different markets - or even for different parties? The Article uses empirical data and analytical modeling to explore this problem of default rule precision. I do not presume to offer a comprehensive theory, but the experiment should help to define the contours of the problem a bit more clearly. Empirical work is perfectly suited for gnawing at the corners of a tough problem, and hopefully this Article will make a little headway on the trade-offs between simple and complex default rules in contract law. The main claim of the Article is that simple default rules often do seem better than complex ones - at least for the markets and rules used in this experiment. I am unable to draw more definitive conclusions because the work relies, at least in part, on assumptions for some of the variables. Overall, however, there are reasons to believe that contract law should usually prefer simple default rules and leave more detailed adjustments of these rules to the contracting parties. This abstract is taken from an article titled An Experiment in the Optimal Precision of Contract Default Rules, by George S. Geis, published in 80 TUL. L. REV. 1109 (2006). Reprinted with the permission of the Tulane Law Review Association, which holds the copyright.


In theory, natural resource governance through co-management promises a rich array of benefits for local populations, from representative decision-making to legitimately equal and open access to natural resources. Anthropologists, social geographers and other practitioners of political ecology will not be surprised to learn that such theory rarely bears out in practice, but that instead sociopolitical relationships are forged in the niches created by reoriented power structures. These reconfigured relationships exhibit not only shifts in peer networks but also in relationships of scale, for example, among local fishers and chiefs, and chiefs and government agents. Recent application of a co-management system of enforcement in the Zambian portion of the Mweru-Luapula fishery shows how well-intentioned policy fails to produce expected results: leading to spoils for some and reduced value of access for others. This paper focuses on one among several case studies derived from this region. It describes how a small group of roughly fifty lake island residents gain advantage from the dubious legality of their incursion into a perpetually closed fish breeding area because, while legislative statute restricts all fishers from these fecund common-pool resource grounds, comanagement empowers "traditional" modes of authority with the de facto clout to rebuff civil officers charged with evicting these potentially destructive occupants. For their part, the recent immigrant squatters argue a moral imperative to residence by claiming autochthony. By doing so they leverage the comanagement prerogative intended to protect indigenous rights, while bolstering their own campaign to entrench themselves in the most valuable waters of the fishery. Keywords: co-management, fishery, commons, autochthony, Zambia, Mweru-Luapula fishery, Kanakashi Island


This article is a review of the main aspects of anthropometry and various technologies for the capture of the anthropometric dimensions. Anthropometry is a scientific discipline that is closely related to Physical Ergonomics and develops in different fields of application. The science studies the dimensions of the human body, the knowledge and skills to perform measurements, as well as their statistical treatment. In order to obtain anthropometric data for ergonomic ends, be it for actual or academic studies, it is necessary to have the appropriate tools for the realization of these types of measurements. There are various existing technologies and devices for capturing the anthropometric dimensions and anthropometry and although, historically, anthropometry has been one dimensional and manually registered using different instruments such as, stadiometer, anthropometer, anthropometric compass, measuring tape, anthropometric chair, among others, the development of technologies has enabled the creation of systems to capture anthropometric dimensions that do not require direct contact with the person being measured.


Bone drilling is an important and the most frequent operation in orthopaedics and other bone surgical procedures. Prediction and control of drilling force and torque are critical to safe and efficient surgeries. This paper studies the drilling force and torque arising from bone drilling process. Drilling parameters such as drilling speed, feed rate, drill size and drill condition (sharp and worn) were changed to measure the force and torque in the direction of the drill penetration. Experimental results demonstrated lower drilling force using a sharp drill compared to a worn drill for similar drilling conditions. Contrary to the drilling force, lower torque was measured using a worn drill compared to a sharp drill. The drilling force was found to decrease with increase in drill speed and increased with rise in the feed rate using both types of drills. A linear drop in drilling torque was measured with increase in drilling speed. This study provided scientific information to orthopaedic surgeons and technicians to use appropriate surgical drill and cutting parameters to avoid overstressing of the bone tissue and drill breakage during drilling operations.


As the stable compound in boron nitrides, stoichiometric BN is a well-known insulator, irrespective of its structure and dimensionality. The exploration of novel B–N compounds with various stoichiometric ratios can lead to the discovery of unexpected electrical and mechanical properties. To the best of our knowledge, previously reported graphite-like or diamond-like B–N compounds obtained from experimental synthesis and theoretical prediction are mostly insulators or semiconductors. In this paper, a sp2–sp3 hybridised tetragonal phase of B3N4 (t-B3N4) possessing unique two-dimensional (2D) metallicity in a 3D ultra-strong framework has been predicted through an unbiased swarm structure search. The structure of t-B3N4 can be considered as sp3-hybridised cubic BN blocks interlinked by sp2 N–N bonds. Noticeably, t-B3N4 is metastable at ambient pressure, but becomes stable under high pressure. The transition pressure from layered B3N4 to t-B3N4 is 14.7 GPa, and the calculated formation enthalpies of t-B3N4 with respect to h-BN and N2 become negative at pressures above 20 GPa, indicating its viability under pressure. Its structure stability has been confirmed by the criteria of both elastic constants and phonon frequency dispersions. The analyses of the band structure, density of states, and electron orbitals show that the metallic behaviour of t-B3N4 mainly originates from the N 2p electrons, and that the conduction is interrupted by the insulated boron sheets stacked along the c axis, giving rise to the 2D metallicity of the material. The theoretical Vickers hardness of t-B3N4 is estimated to reach 42.5 GPa, which is the highest among all proposed B3N4 polymorphs. Furthermore, t-B3N4 exhibits ultra-high axial incompressibility even beyond that of diamond, due to the existence of strong short N–N bonds.


Wine in tourism has gained importance in recent years. From being just an inconsequential holiday necessity, it has become a distinct sector in tourism as well as a motivator to travel. Thus, studying travellers' attitudes towards wine experiences has a practical importance to the tourism industry, especially in Italy, where wine production has always represented an attraction itself. This paper aims at gaining a deeper understanding of the role of wine and wine experiences in Italian travellers' decisions by extending culinary theory. For the purpose of the paper, a Computer-Assisted Web Interview survey on a representative sample of 1,001 Italian travellers was carried out. Findings shows that wine experiences such as wine events and visits to wineries appeal to all tourists, but often in combination with other food activities. This means that Italian travellers seek not only one type of experiences, but a wide variety of. Additionally, wine and food offering tend to influence also travellers' decision before the departure, not just in site. When choosing the destination, they are concerned with the quality of local wine and food products and sustainability of the offerings.


Purpose – This paper aims to re-examine the determinants of ecologically conscious consumer behaviour (ECCB) by analysing the green consumer profile (socio-demographic and psychographic variables), building on the work of Straughan and Roberts. Moreover, the study explores the determinants of effective green purchase behaviour (GPB) considering ECCB and green purchase intention (GPI) previously evaluated. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a quantitative study based on an online survey. Data collection was implemented in two different phases: in the first phase ECCB, GPI and profiling variables were measured. One month later, the same respondents evaluated their effective GPB. Through path analysis the effects of ECCB and GPI on GPB were measured. Findings – The results show that psychographic variables, with emphasis on perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE) and altruism, are more relevant than socio-demographics in explaining ECCB. The consumers with higher ECCB have shown higher green purchase intention (GPI). ECCB has a positive impact on GBP, higher than GPI, which in turn mediates that relationship. Research limitations/implications – The research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further. Practical implications – The paper provides evidence that whenever ecological consciousness is high, the gap between GPI and GPB is less evident, which provides clear evidence that an understanding of green consumer profiles and behaviour can enable organizations to respond better to new management challenges. Originality/value – This paper provides a comprehensive understanding about the green consumer profile and behaviour, including the effect of GPI on GPB, and which contribute to the coordination of future marketing strategies to target this segment.


A 'wilful extremist' according to the London Times, Helene Cixous is hailed as one of the most formidable writers and thinkers of our time. Acclaimed by luminaries such as Jacques Derrida, her writing has nonetheless been misunderstood and misread, to a surprising extent. With the inclusion of Stigmata, one of her greatest works into the Routledge Classics series, this is about to change. Questions that have long concerned her - the self and the other, autobiographies of writing, sexual difference, literary theory, post-colonial theory, death and life - are explored here, woven into a stunning narrative. Displaying a remarkable virtuosity, the work of Cixous is heady stuff indeed: exciting, powerful, moving, and dangerous.


Semi-batch crystallization experiments have been performedboth in a loop reactor and in stirred tank reactors.Hydrochloric acid was fed to a stirred solution of sodiumbenzoate, and benzoic acid immediately formed. Benzoic acid isformed in excess of the solubility making the solutionsupersaturated.The loop reactor is U-shaped. In one leg a propeller stirrerwas placed to circulate the solution and in the other a turbinestirrer was placed in front of the feed point to vary the localmixing intensity. The objective was to analyse the relativeimportance of different levels of mixing on the product sizedistribution. The importance of mixing as well as scaling-upeffects on the product size distribution were studied in threestirred tank reactors of volumes 2.5 L, 10 L, and 200 L. Thestirred tank reactors had different geometry and were equippedwith either a marine propeller or a pitched blade turbine.The weight mean size generally increases with increasingtotal feeding time and increasing mixing intensity. The weightmean size increases by locating an extra turbine impeller atthe feed point in the 10 L stirred tank reactor. The turbineimpeller provides the desired feed point mixing intensitywithout raising the mixing intensity of the whole tank.The weight mean size increases with decreasing feed pipediameter in the loop reactor and for low feed rates in the 10 Lstirred tank reactor. The weight mean size increasessignificantly by changing the feed pipe opening from circularto rectangular with a constant cross-sectional area at equalfeed rates. Backmixing is visually observed in the largest feedpipe diameter in the loop reactor, thus, reducing the weightmean size. However, backmixing is not considered to be adominant phenomenon in the present work.Mesomixing time constants have been calculated according tothe turbulent dispersion mechanism and the inertial-convectivemechanism. The time constants for mesomixing are generallylonger than the time constant for micromixing. Thus, the ratioof the mesomixing and the micromixing time constants shows aninfluence of mesomixing as is shown by the experimentalresults. The experimental results are best described by theinertial-convective disintegration mechanism showing that thefeed plume mixing increases with decreasing feed pipe diameterand increased feed point mixing.The weight mean size is not strongly affected by the reactorvolume. However, the mixing conditions in the reactors have astrong influence on the weight mean size. No suggestedscaling-up rule can satisfactorily predict the weight mean sizein the different volumes. No single physical parameter, such asthe local energy dissipation rate, the mean energy dissipationrate or the circulation time, can satisfactorily explain theexperimental results. A new dimensionless mixing parameter, TR,has been defined as the ratio of the total feeding time and themesomixing time constant. The mesomixing time constant isdefined as the shortest dimension of the feed pipe divided bythe resultant bulk velocity passing the feed pipe entrance. Theexperimental results from both the loop reactor and the stirredtank reactors of different volumes can be correlated with TR.The weight mean size increases with increasing TR.Keywords: reaction crystallization, precipitation,benzoic acid, macromixing, mesomixing, micromixing,semi-batch, loop reactor, backmixing, colour experiments,scaling-up.Keywords: reaction crystallization, precipitation,benzoic acid, macromixing, mesomixing, micromixing,semi-batch, loop reactor, backmixing, colour experiments,scaling-up.


The article investigates the structure and physical properties of the multicomponent high-entropy alloy CoCr0.8Cu0.64FeNi in the cast and quenched state. The composition of the alloy under study is analyzed using the criteria available in the literature for predicting the phase composition of high-entropy alloys. These parameters are based on calculations of the entropy and enthalpy of mixing and also include the concentration of valence electrons, the thermodynamic parameter Ω, which takes into account the melting point, entropy of mixing, and enthalpy of mixing. Another important parameter is the difference in atomic radii between the alloy components δ. Cast samples of the CoCr0.8Cu0.64FeNi alloy of nominal composition were prepared on a Tamman high-temperature electric furnace in an argon flow using a copper mold. The weight loss during the manufacture of ingots did not exceed 1%, and the average cooling rate was ~ 102K/s. Thereafter, the cast ingot was remelted, and films were obtained from the melt. The splat quenching technique used in this work consisted of the rapid cooling of melt droplets when they collide with the inner surface of a rapidly rotating (~ 8000 rpm) hollow copper cylinder. The cooling rate, estimated from the film thickness, was ~ 106 K / s. X-ray structural analysis was performed on a DRON-2.0 diffractometer with monochromatic Cu Kα radiation. Diffraction patterns were processed using the QualX2 program. The magnetic properties of the samples were measured using a vibrating sample magnetometer at room temperature. The microhardness was measured on a PMT-3 device at a load of 50 g. In accordance with theoretical predictions confirmed by the results of X-ray diffraction studies, the structure of the alloy, both in the cast and in the quenched state, is a simple solid solution of the FCC type. The lattice parameters in the cast and liquid-quenched states are 0.3593 nm and 0.3589 nm, respectively. Measurements of the magnetic properties showed that the CoCr0.8Cu0.64FeNi alloy can be classified as soft magnetic materials. In this case, quenching from a liquid state increases the coercivity. On quenched samples, increased microhardness values were also obtained. This can be explained by internal stresses arising during hardening.


Arsenic (As) contamination of groundwater is a serious health and environmental issue in the world. Hence, in this study, we evaluated the biosorption potential of pomegranate peel as a novel material for arsenite (As(III)) and arsenate (As(V)) removal from aqueous solutions as a function of pH, initial As concentration, biosorbent dose and contact time. The results showed that pomegranate peel removed more As(III) (77 %) compared to As(V) (52 %) at an optimum pH of 7.6 and 4.5 and at 1 g L – 1 biosorbent dose. Sorption isotherm data showed greater sorption capacity for As(III) than As(V) (2.90 and 2.6 mg g –1 , respectively). The pseudo-second order kinetic model and Langmuir model provided the best fits ( R 2 = 0.99) for As(III) and As(V) sorption, suggesting chemisorption as a dominant process for removal in aqueous solutions. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy complemented our modeling data and indicated that mainly hydroxyl (–OH), carboxyl (–COOH), alkyl (–CH 3 ) and amine (–NH 2 ) surface functional groups were involved in As(III) and As(V) sorption. However, scanning electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) was unable to detect sorbed As (wt. %). Arsenite (68 %) desorption was more compared to As(V) (66 %) from pomegranate peel in first cycle demonstrating its reusability and possibility of As recovery. Overall, this pilot scale study highlights the potential use of pomegranate peel as an efficient and cost-effective precursor biowaste for As removal, preferably As(III), in naturally occurring aqueous environments, such as As-contaminated drinking water or wastewater.


The two volumes set LNCS 7653 and 7654 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computational Collective Intelligence, ICCCI, held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in November 2012.The 113 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 397 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on (Part I) knowledge integration; data mining for collective processing; fuzzy, modal, and collective systems; nature inspired systems; language processing systems; social networks and semantic web; agent and multi-agent systems; classification and clustering methods; modeling and optimization techniques for business intelligence; (Part II) multi-dimensional data processing; web systems; intelligent decision making; methods for scheduling; collective intelligence in web systems web systems analysis; advanced data mining techniques and applications; cooperative problem solving; computational swarm intelligence; and semantic methods for knowledge discovery and communication


The core assumption of this book is the interconnectedness of humans and nature, and that the future of the planet depends on humans' recognition and care for this interconnectedness. This comprehensive resource supports the work of pre-service and practicing elementary teachers as they teach their students to be part of the world as engaged citizens, advocates for social and ecological justice.

Challenging readers to more explicitly address current environmental issues with students in their classrooms, the book presents a diverse set of topics from a variety of perspectives. Its broad social/cultural perspective emphasizes that social and ecological justice are interrelated. Coverage includes descriptions of environmental education pedagogies such as nature-based experiences and place-based studies; peace-education practices; children doing environmental activism; and teachers supporting children emotionally in times of climate disruption and tumult. The pedagogies described invite student engagement and action in the public sphere. Children are represented as 'agents of change' engaged in social and environmental issues and problems through their actions both local and global.


We hire 1,800 Indian gig economy workers for a real-effort transcription task and randomize the gender of the (fictitious) manager as well as the delivery of performance feedback. We find that negative feedback (i.e. criticism) leads to moderate deterioration in worker attitudes, but it increases effort provision in both mandatory and voluntary tasks. By contrast, praise affects neither attitudes nor effort provision. Importantly, feedback effects do not vary between workers assigned to female and male managers. Consistent with this finding, there is no evidence for attention discrimination towards female managers, implicit gender bias, or gendered expectations among workers. By contrast, Abel (2019) employs the same research design in the U.S. and finds substantial gender discrimination and no effect of feedback on effort. This highlights that the effects of feedback and manager gender vary across different contexts.


It is now obvious that there is a problem of possible massive failures of the various systems on which modern society, indeed all of civilisation, depends. Thanks to climate change and instability, we must reckon with the prospect of at the very least the disruption of our civilisation, quite possibly its serious damage or collapse, and indeed the real possibility of an extinction of species on a scale that takes us back to early in the history of life on the planet. Should we escape from any of those fates, we still must reckon with the fragility of many other global systems. Those of national defence are threatened by the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Those of the management of wastes are already compromised by insidious pollutants. Our systems of maintaining health are seriously threatened by biological pathogens which are created by the conditions of modern technology, be they in mass over-medication, mass travel or mass food. Even the systems of communication are vulnerable to 'malware', pathogens of information which, it now seems, can at best be kept at bay and never wiped out. And suddenly the world, particularly the Anglo-Saxon part, perceives itself as threatened with a failure of systems of protection against 'terror'. This is considered by governments to be so serious as to justify the suspension of liberties that were won many hundreds of years ago. Everywhere we look, there are threats of failures of systems, many on a global scale.


INTERNAL EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS AND LOW-WAGE WORKERS: PRACTITIONERS' PERCEPTIONS OF SERVICES Kathleen E. McDonough, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2005 Utilizing a mailing list secured from the Employee Assistance Professionals' Association, practitioners of internal employee assistance programs (EAPs) were surveyed to assess their perceptions of how their programs compared in service provision between low-wage and other workers. The sample consisted of 71 respondents, and was gender-balanced but overwhelmingly Caucasian. Respondents estimated minor differences between the two worker groups in program utilization, but programs that offered concrete, tangible services had higher low-wage utilization rates. Supervisory and human resource referrals were generally higher for low-wage workers, but programs that used a variety of promotional strategies had higher low-wage self-refer rates. There were no major disparities in problem categories between the two groups with the exception of financial and attendance difficulties. Respondents rated their EAPs helpfulness with low-wage workers positively, but were less optimistic in comparison to other workers. The majority of respondents did not perceive major differences in treatment between the two worker groups, but they did think that low-wage workers were less likely to remain in treatment. Analyses of responses to open-ended items sometimes conflicted with the quantitative data. Implications for practice and policy in EAP service provision to low-wage workers and recommendations for future research are discussed. iii


While much work has recently focused on the analysis of social media in order to get a feel for what people think about current topics of interest, there are, however, still many challenges to be faced. Text mining systems originally designed for more regular kinds of texts such as news articles may need to be adapted to deal with facebook posts, tweets etc. In this paper, we discuss a variety of issues related to opinion mining from social media, and the challenges they impose on a Natural Language Processing (NLP) system, along with two example applications we have developed in very different domains. In contrast with the majority of opinion mining work which uses machine learning techniques, we have developed a modular rule-based approach which performs shallow linguistic analysis and builds on a number of linguistic subcomponents to generate the final opinion polarity and score.


During the Reagan years, Americans witnessed an extraordinary array of changes, from major technological advances to sweeping revisions of the tax code to the deregulation of major industries and the advent of the culture wars. America emerged from the decade completely transformed: political and social arrangements derived from post-World War II liberalism had given way to the highly competitive, fast-changing, technology-driven society we know today. In The Eighties, John Ehrman tracks this transformation in the context of Ronald Reagan's policies and convictions and examines the broader trends that enabled Reagan to achieve so much of his agenda. At a time when most Americans remained fairly centrist in their political commitments, Reagan was able to shift policy toward the right by building support for a few key policies. His gradualist approach met with little opposition from Democrats, who failed to mount a coherent response. Based on a broad range of primary source material, The Eighties offers an accessible and balanced account of a watershed decade in American history.