The emergence of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in the 1970s as the largest union in Canada was a major development in Canadian labour history and the result of extensive efforts to organize unorganized civil servants and public employees. Public sector union growth has often been thought to have differed fundamentally from the experience of private sector unions, on the grounds that union rights were extended to public sector workers without struggle. The history of CUPE New Brunswick, established in 1963, and its predecessor unions in the 1950s demonstrates the complex struggles of civil servants and public employees to acquire and then to apply collective bargaining rights in the province of New Brunswick. While the enactment of the Public Service Labour Relations Act (PSLRA) in 1968 provided a legal means for civil servants to join a union and bargain collectively, public sector workers continued to struggle for improved wages and working conditions throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These conflicts, which drew on both membership mobilization and legal strategies, are shown in detail in the experience of CUPE members in Local 963, New Brunswick Liquor Store Workers, and Local 1252, New Brunswick Council of Hospital Unions, the umbrella organization representing hospital support workers. While locals within CUPE New Brunswick worked independently of one another, the more than 200 CUPE locals in the province joined together in 1992 to resist measures introduced by the provincial Liberal government. While this was essentially a defensive struggle to protect existing rights, it also represented a challenge to the emerging policies of neo-liberalism and a culmination of a tradition of collective action within the union.


This article discusses the concept of construction in the Lexical Constructional Model, focusing on tensions, concerned largely with the relationship between meaning and form in constructions, which have arisen in the model as a result of contributions from three different groups of scholars: functionalists, cognitivists and computational linguists/computer scientists. The article examines precursors of the LCM which made use of ideas from Role and Reference Grammar, and then assesses the influence of the cognitivist contribution and the later input from the computational knowledge base, FunGramKB, also based partly on RRG. Finally, it summarises recent work in RRG, suggesting that the new proposals for treating constructional schemas as central to RRG could prove useful in working towards solutions of the problems arising within the LCM.


The aim of present study was to clarify the relationships between dynamic fearful face and EEG oscillations activities to predict neuroticism in healthy people. The participants included twenty-five undergraduate students (mean age=21.36, SD=23.39) at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad that were selected as volunteers. In order to analyze the data, path analysis was applied in AMOS software. The results showed that the predictive model of neuroticism is fit respect to the mediator role of fear and the criterion role of EEG oscillations. The results revealed that EEG is a fit device for predicting fearful and neuroticism and it can be used for further pathologically researches.


Paul Garner Large was brought up in Durban, and his boyhood and upbringing were comfortably serene. His scholastic promise became evident in his early years. His secondary school education was at Michaelhouse, a distinguished Diocesan school in inland Natal, whence he matriculated well in 1937. He had by then decided that he would pursue medicine as a career, and he enrolled at Guy's Hospital Medical School in 1938. He was one of many South Africans who, at that time, travelled to England to study medicine, many of them favouring Guy's. Its rugby side (the oldest extant rugby club in the world) was formidable, and strong in South African players.

The second world war came in September 1939, and as it grew fiercer, and London subject to aerial bombardment, many of Guy's patients, staff, and students were evacuated to so called sector hospitals in Kent and Sussex. Medical students, as everyone else, were inconvenienced by this decentralisation, by Home Guard and ARP (Air Raid Precautions) duties, and by uncertainty about improvised programmes of teaching. Required academic standards remained high, but distractions and a disjointed curriculum imposed extra strain on students. Any wish to join one of the armed forces was scotched, for medical students were labelled as being in a reserved occupation.

After qualifying MB BS (London) in …


This study provides a large-scale mapping of the French media space using digital methods to estimate political polarization and to study information circuits. We collect data about the production and circulation of online news stories in France over the course of one year, adopting a multi-layer perspective on the media ecosystem. We source our data from websites, Twitter and Facebook. We also identify a certain number of important structural features. A stochastic block model of the hyperlinks structure shows the systematic rejection of counter-informational press in a separate cluster which hardly receives any attention from the mainstream media. Counter-informational sub-spaces are also peripheral on the consumption side. We measure their respective audiences on Twitter and Facebook and do not observe a large discrepancy between both social networks, with counter-information space, far right and far left media gathering limited audiences. Finally, we also measure the ideological distribution of news stories using Twitter data, which also suggests that the French media landscape is quite balanced. We therefore conclude that the French media ecosystem does not suffer from the same level of polarization as the US media ecosystem. The comparison with the American situation also allows us to consolidate a result from studies on disinformation: the polarization of the journalistic space and the circulation of fake news are phenomena that only become more widespread when dominant and influential actors in the political or journalistic space spread topics and dubious content originally circulating in the fringe of the information space.


The 1983 Oregon legislature responded to public pressure to narrow the application of the insanity defense by eliminating personality disordered individuals from consideration for an insanity verdict. This article examined the effects of the statutory change, and found no significant change in the frequency of insanity acquittals of personality disordered subjects between the three pre-reform years (n = 21) and the three post-reform years (n = 14). We also reviewed how the Psychiatric Security Review Board handled these patients once committed to their jurisdiction. We constructed a matched comparison group of psychotic acquittees and found that in the pre-reform years the personality disordered subjects spent less time in the system and less time in the hospital than the psychotic patients. However, in the post-reform years their time in the system and time in the hospital was the same as the psychotic controls. There were fewer decisions to discharge personality disordered patients from the system after the reform, although this difference may be due to factors other than the statutory reform itself. The conclusion is that narrowing the insanity defense is a worthy goal which may be difficult to achieve.


Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) is a lifelong developmental disability that affects the way an individual communicates and relates to their environment and the people around them. Children and young people (0–18 years) with autism find change difficult and can demonstrate challenging behaviours when reacting to new situations. Children with autism can therefore be difficult to manage in paediatric intensive care settings, and this can become even more challenging when these children present with extensive burn injuries. A burns service at one children's hospital in Manchester explored these issues among staff, and the reasons why children with autism have challenging hospital stays. Lack of staff awareness was found to be the key indicator of this, stemming from concerns relating to patient/staff experience, rights, safety and behaviour, management skills and improving clinical effectiveness. To ameliorate this situation and improve care provision, a range of measures have been implemented, including a hospital-wide care standard, an autism training and education strategy, and development of an autism 'champion' role to ensure early intervention. This article outlines the development and implementation of these measures and future action plans.


The generation of coherent optical subcarriers based on a concatenated
 dual-drive Mach-Zehnder intensity modulator (IM) and two phase modulators (PMs) is
 proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The modulation index and DC bias of PM+IM
 modulation are theoretically investigated. Theoretical analysis and numerical study
 are also carried out to examine the proposed scheme. We use 25-GHz RF synchronous
 sinusoidal signals to drive cascaded two-stage PMs and IM, through which we generate
 28 subcarriers with peak power fluctuations less than 4 dB. The measured
 tone-to-noise ratio of the subcarrier is higher than 40 dB. The experimental results
 show that for 100-Gb/s polarization multiplexing QPSK signal, the receiver
 sensitivity of the back-to-back signal is -28.6 dBm, and the power penalty is lower
 than 1 dB after 100-km transmission at the BER of 1 × 10-9.


One of the most important architectural trends of the last two decades is commonly referred to as 'digital architecture'. This trend comprises digitally-generated geometrically complex, often irregular, yet fluent double-curved shapes (or rather 'free forms') in architecture. Although advanced digital manufacturing systems are emerging in architecture, the construction processes in general require some sort of boost to 'keep up' with the already heavily advanced (digital) design and analysis processes. Curable materials (such as concrete) are considered particularly useful for the realisation of the desired 'free forms'. The formability and the adaptability of the formwork system of choice, however, are typically considered the limiting factors. Previous research by the author has indicated the potential of so-called vacuumatic structures (or simply 'vacuumatics') to be used as semi-rigid formwork systems. Little is known, however, about the specific structural properties and to a lesser extent the morphological formability of these types of structures. Vacuumatic structures typically consist of an (unbound) aggregate core, which is enclosed by a flexible membrane envelope and structurally stabilised by means of an internal underpressure. The research presented in this thesis aims at defining the influence of the individual characteristics of the aggregate core and the membrane envelope on the overall flexural behaviour of vacuumatic structures. Furthermore, the basic structural mechanics is explored with which the flexural behaviour of vacuumatic structures can be explained. Apart from that, this research aims at defining which shaping techniques are considered most effective for using vacuumatic structures as semi-rigid formwork systems for producing 'free forms' and customised surface textures in concrete for architectural applications.


Postulated word-formation rules often exclude formations that can nevertheless be found in actual usage. This book presents an in-depth investigation of a highly heterogeneous word-formation pattern in English: the formation of nouns by suffixation with -ee . Rather than relying on a single semantic or syntactic framework for analysis, the study combines diachronic, cognitive and language-contact perspectives in order to explain the diversity in the formation and establishment of -ee words. It also seeks to challenge previous measurements of productivity and proposes a new way to investigate the relationship between actual and possible words. By making use of the largest and most up-to-date electronic corpus – the World Wide Web – as a data source, this research adds substantially to the number of attested -ee words. It furthermore analyses this word-formation pattern in different varieties of English (British vs. American English; Australian English). Due to the multiplicity of approaches and analyses it offers, the study is suitable for courses in English word-formation, lexicology, corpus linguistics and historical linguistics.


We explore interpretations of MOOCs around the globe and, in particular, interpretations of MOOCs in Norway. Based on a review of previous studies relevant to these topics, we present two contrasting views on the emergence and development of MOOCs, namely the global interruption view and the national mediation view. We suggest, based on previous studies that MOOCs seem to follow national paths more than global paths. In order to grasp the diversity of understandings of MOOCs, we developed a framework that embraces various aspects of motivation, context, and structure regarding MOOCs. With these two polarised views of MOOC development (the global interruption view and the national mediation view), and the framework serving as an analytical approach, we looked at Norway and analyzed the understandings of the development of MOOCs within this particular national context. The national government seems to have been important in the development of the present MOOCs in Norway, both by organizing a particular group of experts in a dedicated commission to consider the future of MOOC in Norway, and by initiating and giving financial support to the development of MOOCs.


The Troodos ophiolite in Cyprus provides a unique opportunity to examine spatially varying patterns of deformation near a ridge-transform intersection. We focus on the paleo–inside corner defined by the E-W–striking, dextral Arakapas transform fault and the N-S–striking Solea graben. Rocks within the inside corner are primarily sheeted dikes and gabbros. The strikes of dikes vary with proximity to the Arakapas fault, changing from NW- to N- to E-striking with increasing proximity to the fault. We report new paleomagnetic results from 24 stations in the gabbroic rocks. When augmented with data from several previous studies, the combined paleomagnetic data set indicates that vertical-axis rotations increase from 5° to 90° with distance from the Solea graben. Rotations are also largest near the transform fault. We develop numerical kinematic models for deformation within the inside corner based on these field data. First, we fit an interpolation function to the two-dimensional field of vertical-axis rotations. This field is then used to undeform dikes, assuming that dikes were either part of rigid blocks or passive markers within a continuum. We find that dikes return to a consistent NW to NNW strike throughout much of the inside corner. This initial orientation is not ridge-parallel and therefore different from most common assumptions of dike behavior in Cyprus. However, the orientation is consistent with predictions from dynamic models of heterogeneous stress directions that develop near ridge-transform intersections.


We develop an incremental generalized expectation maximization (GEM) framework to model the multiframe blind deconvolution problem. A simplistic version of this problem was recently studied by Harmeling et al. [4]. We solve a more realistic version of this problem which includes the following major features: (i) super-resolution ability despite noise and unknown blurring; (ii) saturationcorrection, i.e., handling of overexposed pixels that can otherwise confound the image processing; and (iii) simultaneous handling of color channels. These features are seamlessly integrated into our incremental GEM framework to yield simple but efficient multiframe blind deconvolution algorithms. We present technical details concerning critical steps of our algorithms, especially to highlight how all operations can be written using matrix-vector multiplications. We apply our algorithm to real-world images from astronomy and super resolution tasks. Our experimental results show that our methods yield improved resolution and deconvolution at the same time.


The purpose of our research series is to examine issues related to the economic efficiency of the Hungarian bankruptcy procedure. Based on a broad-based representative sample, we empirically test and prove our hypothesis that corporate defaults are the consequence of a specific financial/economic process. Our results confirm that the primary cause of corporate bankruptcy in Hungary is the firms' inability to create value (e.g. inefficient use of the asset portfolio), the first signs of which become visible as early as 4–5 years prior to default. As a result of poor operational efficiency, firms increase their financial leverage and, due to the two factors described above, companies tend to encounter liquidity shortage in the last year of operation (they face default in legal terms). This research contributes to shedding light on the economic content of bankruptcy, allowing for a more accurate appraisal of the efficiency of bankruptcy procedures. Our study points out that the success of reorganisation depends on the restoration of value creation rather than on debt restructuring arrangements.


We present a 65-year-old diabetic patient with a complex liver abscess and bacteraemia from Lactobacillus paracasei. The abscess resulted in a prolonged hospital stay due to ongoing sepsis despite ultrasound-guided drainage and broad-spectrum antibiotics. Furthermore, the patient developed several secondary complications including a right-sided pleural effusion, an inferior vena cava thrombus and septic lung emboli. The abscess was eventually managed successfully with a prolonged course of antibiotics and multiple ultrasound-guided drainage procedures. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of probiotic consumption, confirmed by strain identification, as the likely source of a liver abscess. Probiotic products have been widely used for many years and are advocated to the general public for their health benefits with no warning of side effects. Lactobacilli are one group of bacteria commonly used in these products. Although rare, complications have been reported. Susceptible patients, such as those who are immunocompromised, should be advised against excessive consumption.


Oxidation of Metals is the premier source for the rapid dissemination of current research on all aspects of the science of gas-solid reactions at temperatures greater than about 400 ̊C, with primary focus on the high-temperature corrosion of bulk and coated systems. This authoritative bi-monthly publishes original scientific papers on kinetics, mechanisms, studies of scales from structural and morphological viewpoints, transport properties in scales, phase-boundary reactions, and much more. Articles may discuss both theoretical and experimental work related to gas-solid reactions at the surface or near-surface of a material exposed to elevated temperatures, including reactions with oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, carbon and halogens. In addition, Oxidation of Metals publishes the results of frontier research concerned with deposit-induced attack. Review papers and short technical notes are encouraged.  Commonly used title abbreviations: OXID


Christian religious experience whether it occurs in the second century or in modem Africa is one and the same, and although the experiences may differ it is possible to draw correlations to suggest that such experiences bear witness to a common reality. St. Ignatius of Antioch who lived in the second century and Afua Kuma who hails from Kwahu in the Eastern Region of Ghana, are used to demonstrate this reality. My sources for Ignatius' are the seven letters he wrote, six to churches he visited and one to his friend Polycarp of Smyrna, whilst he was on his way to martyrdom in Rome. As bishop of Antioch he is concerned about the unity of the church and consequently focuses attention on false doctrines and the development of what was becoming "orthodox" tradition. A number of peculiar images referring to Christ emerge in his work, such"as apXEta (archive), 8upa (door), xapaK1"rlp (stamp) and 8t)(:nacr'trlpwv (altar). This picturesque and vivid imagery is traced to his propensity for rhetoric, which, though Asian, bears resemblance to the Greek and Roman folkloric traditions. The Apae or the courthouse praise poetry of the Akan folkloric tradition is the vehicle that Afua Kuma employs to express her faith in Jesus. A crisis in Madam Kuma's life must have led her to fathom the depths of her traditional background and upbringing and this she feeds into her understanding of Jesus. In her poetry Jesus is imaged as Adontehene, Benkumhene, :Jkatakyie, :Jkokodurufo, Okuruakwaban, and Adubasap::m and is made to perform all the functions associated with regal authority. She also shows awareness of modem political and social structures in these images. This thesis shows that it is the fruit of the Christian imagination born in the context of praise and worship, which ought to feed and nourish academic theology so as to keep it in touch with the spiritual vitality experienced in the community of faith.


Steel waterway lock gates across the national inland waterway transportation network are reaching and exceeding their intended service life, often experiencing component failures that lead to service interruptions. Unscheduled maintenance and repair of lock gates can be expensive and cause economic ripples throughout the entire inland waterway network. These lock gate component failures are often caused by fatigue cracking from repeated loading during operation. This thesis develops and tests a prestressed carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) fatigue retrofit for controlling fatigue demands within lock gate components. The study expands upon a recent analytical work by Lozano (2017) by experimentally investigating prestressing strategies, bonding mechanisms, prestress creep/relaxation performance, and large-scale experimental fatigue testing. A total of seven large-scale cyclic tests were conducted on lock gate components (with and without applied retrofits) to gauge the effectiveness of the developed prestressing strategies. All gate specimens tested were artificially notched to create a local stress concentration and worsened fatigue condition. Results indicate that the addition of the prestressed CFRP retrofit increases the fatigue life of the retrofitted gate component despite the prestress loss due to epoxy adhesive debonding following rapid cyclic loading. The retrofitted specimen experienced a fatigue life increase of nearly 3 times over the un-retrofitted specimen. Additionally, load shedding into the CFRP, even without significant prestress applied, contributes to a reduction in the component notch stress. The applied CFRP clamping force is able to provide enough force transfer to the CFRP to reduce the notch local stresses.


Salivary measures have emerged in bio-behavioral research that are easy-to-collect, minimally invasive, and relatively inexpensive biologic markers of stress. This article we present the steps for collection and analysis of two salivary assays in research with frail, community residing older adults-salivary cortisol and salivary alpha amylase. The field of salivary bioscience is rapidly advancing and the purpose of this presentation is to provide an update on the developments for investigators interested in integrating these measures into research on aging. Strategies are presented for instructing family caregivers in collecting saliva in the home, and for conducting laboratory analyses of salivary analytes that have demonstrated feasibility, high compliance, and yield quality specimens. The protocol for sample collection includes: (1) consistent use of collection materials; (2) standardized methods that promote adherence and minimize subject burden; and (3) procedures for controlling certain confounding agents. We also provide strategies for laboratory analyses include: (1) saliva handling and processing; (2) salivary cortisol and salivary alpha amylase assay procedures; and (3) analytic considerations.


This project was initiated in response to the establishment of mercury TMDLs around the country and issues raised by this process, specifically concerning the issue of mercury bioavailability. While many of these studies recognize that point sources constitute a small fraction of the mercury load to a water body, a question has been raised concerning the relative bioavailability of mercury coming from various sources. For instance, is the mercury discharged from a wastewater treatment plant more or less bioavailable than mercury in precipitation, mercury in urban stormwater, or mercury in sediments? This project seeks to address this question by developing a reliable definition and approach to estimating bioavailability, by profiling various sources of mercury in a watershed with regard to the species of mercury present and by profiling those factors or conditions in either the effluent or the receiving water that enhance or mitigate the bioavailability of those forms.

There were several important objectives relevant to the estimation of bioavailability and potential bioaccumulation of mercury from wastewater treatment plants and other sources in receiving waters. The first was to develop a working definition of bioavailability. For purposes of this project, this definition includes not only methylmercury, the form of mercury that readily bioaccumulates in aquatic food chains, but also bioavailable and potentially bioavailable inorganic mercury species that can be converted to methylmercury within a reasonable time frame. It is concluded that the strength of binding to solids and mercury-sulfur-organic matter associations are major factors in determining the bioavailability of inorganic Hg. A second major objective was to identify those factors or conditions in both the effluent and the receiving waters that enhance or mitigate the transformation of inorganic mercury to methylmercury and its subsequent bioaccumulation. Profiles were developed for various sources of mercury in watersheds, including wastewater treatment plants, with regard to bioavailable and potentially bioavailable mercury, and key factors in effluents and receiving waters that enhance or mitigate it. A procedure to assess the relative bioavailability of mercury from various watershed sources, including wastewater treatment plants was developed and tested using data from a US location. The project also features a literature review of conventional and emerging technologies for the removal of mercury from effluent streams and their effects on mercury bioavailability. A review of the salient aspects of mercury TMDLs completed by EPA and the states is also included.

This project concludes that, based on available data and bioavailability as defined in this report, wastewater effluent is one of the lowest among the sources evaluated with respect to mercury bioavailability, along with urban runoff and mining runoff. Atmospheric deposition and contaminated sediments tend to be among the highest sources with respect to mercury bioavailability.

This title belongs to WERF Research Report Series .

ISBN: 9781843393573 (Print)

ISBN: 9781780403601 (eBook)


Economics and game theory are replete with examples of parameterized games. We show that all minimal Nash payoff USCOs belonging to the Nash equilibrium correspondence of a parameterized game with payoff functions that are uniformly equicontinuous in players' action choices with respect to parameters have minimal Nash USCOs that are essentially-valued as well as connected-valued. We also show that in general for any uniformly equicontinuous parameterized game, the Nash equilibrium correspondence is the composition of two correspondences: the graph correspondence of the collective security mapping and the Ky Fan Correspondence. The graph correspondence, a mapping from the parameter space into Ky Fan sets, encodes the specifics of the parameterized game being consider, while the Ky Fan Correspondence (i.e., the KFC), a mapping from Ky Fan sets into Nash equilibria, is universal and common to all parameterized games. We also show that the range of the graph correspondence, contained in the hyperspace of Ky Fan sets is a hyperspace Peano continuum - and is therefore locally connected. This means that for any two distinct Ky Fan sets contained in the range of graph correspondence there is a continuous segment in the range of the graph correspondence containing these two distinct Ky Fan sets as endpoints.


Reinforced concrete (RC) beams and slabs can be strengthened by bonding fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites to their tension face. The performance of such flexurally strengthened members can be compromised by debonding of the FRP, with debonding initiating near an intermediate crack (IC) in the member away from the end of the FRP. Despite considerable research over the last decade, reliable IC debonding strength models still do not exist. The current paper attempts to correct this situation by presenting a local deformation model that can simulate IC debonding. The progressive formation of flexural cracks, and the associated crack spacings and crack widths are modelled from initial cracking to the onset of debonding. The bond characteristics between the longitudinal steel reinforcement and concrete, and the FRP and concrete, as well as the tension stiffening effect of the reinforcement and FRP to the concrete, are considered. The FRP-to-concrete bond-slip relation is used to determine the onset of debonding. The analytical predictions compare well with experimental results of FRP-strengthened RC cantilever slabs.


OBJECTIVE
To describe a patient with severe thyrotoxicosis attributable to Graves' disease who had a thrombotic cerebrovascular accident and hyperhomocysteinuria, which resolved on correction of the thyrotoxicosis, and to present findings in a pilot study undertaken to investigate the relationship among thyrotoxicosis, homocysteine, folate, and vitamin B(12).

METHODS
We present a case report of the index case, with clinical and laboratory details. For the investigative analysis, 21 patients who were 18 to 50 years old and had newly diagnosed, untreated Graves' disease and 10 age-and sex-matched euthyroid control subjects were studied. Of the patients with Graves' disease, 11 underwent studies both at diagnosis and after treatment. Fasting blood tests were performed for thyrotropin, free thyroxine, homocys-teine, vitamin B(12), folate, and methylmalonic acid, a marker of vitamin B(12) deficiency.

RESULTS
Vitamin B(12), folate, homocysteine, and methylmalonic acid levels were not significantly different between the thyrotoxic and control or posttreatment groups. In patients with thyrotoxicosis, however, free thyroxine was positively correlated with both homocysteine (r = 0.67; P = 0.03) and methylmalonic acid (r = 0.89; P = 0.003).

CONCLUSION
The positive correlation between free thyroxine levels and both homocysteine and methylmalonic acid suggests that thyrotoxicosis may be associated with functional vitamin B(12) deficiency. Such a deficiency may result in clinically important hyperhomocysteine-mia.


The purpose of this study was to compare four common rehabilitation exercises used in physical therapy clinics for activating the vastus medialis oblique (VMO) and vastus lateralis (VL). Thirty-four subjects, aged 22-28 years, without patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) (18 females and 16 males) were recruited. Subjects performed four exercises—straight leg raise with neutral and externally rotated hip positions (SLRN, SLRER), and short arc quad with neutral and externally rotated hip positions (SAQN, SAQER). The integrated electromyographic (iEMG) activity of the VMO and VL and were recorded, with means of the VMO, VL and VMO/VL compared across exercises. No significant difference was found for the VMO/VL ratio across the four exercises (p=0.147). However, for the VMO and VL individually, a significant difference was found (p=0.0001), SAQER was significantly greater than SLRN and SLRER; SAQN was significantly greater than SLRN and SLRER. These findings suggest that exercises including short arc quad knee extensions are more effective for both the VMO and VL activation than those incorporating straight leg raises, and potentially more beneficial in the rehabilitation of patients with PFPS.


Background: Novel models for the assessment of non-linear data are being developed for the benefit of making better predictions from the data. Objective: To review traditional and modern models. Results, and Conclusions: 1) Logit and probit transformations are often successfully used to mimic a linear model. Logistic regression, Cox regression, Poisson regression, and Markow modeling are examples of logit transformation; 2) Either the x- or y-axis or both of them can be logarithmically transformed. Also Box Cox transformation equations and ACE (alternating conditional expectations) or AVAS (additive and variance stabilization for regression) packages are simple empirical methods often successful for linearly remodeling of non-linear data; 3) Data that are sinusoidal, can, generally, be successfully modeled using polynomial regression or Fourier analysis; 4) For exponential patterns like plasma concentration time relationships exponential modeling with or without Laplace transformations is a possibility. Spline and Loess are computationally intensive modern methods, suitable for smoothing data patterns, if the data plot leaves you with no idea of the relationship between the y- and x-values. There are no statistical tests to assess the goodness of fit of these methods, but it is always better than that of traditional models.


Ageing is an important part of a manufactured nanomaterial's life cycle and can be considered as a transformation over time. It is particularly relevant to nanomaterials (NMs) because they are more reactive than their bulk counterparts and therefore are likely to undergo more significant or faster transformations with time. The conditions upon exposure of a NM to the environment, e.g. temperature, humidity and redox, will all individually affect ageing, as well as time. In experimental simulations, time has to be substituted by a proxy that makes timescales more realistic. Thermal ageing accelerates the normal ageing processes of NMs and thus elevated temperatures can be used to simulate prolonged ageing, allowing access to information on the long-term effects of NM ageing within a shorter time. Similar approaches are utilised in experimental simulation of protein fibrillation, for example, where processes that naturally occur over decades are accelerated to days or hours. In this work, time and temperature dependent studies were carried out on a fully characterised library of laboratory synthesised comparable polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) capped NMs (with core compositions of ceria, copper oxide and zinc oxide) and a commercially available uncoated cerium dioxide NM, to assess their transformations. Specifically, physical and chemical changes were studied on NMs exposed to various temperatures (25, 45, 65 and 80 °C) for a period of 4 weeks. The size, zeta potential, agglomeration/aggregation and valence state of the NMs were studied through dynamic light scattering (DLS), zeta potential, ultra-violet visible light spectroscopy (UV-VIS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), as a function of time. Results generally show a decrease in NM stability with increasing temperature and time. Changes in the NM size and core oxidation state were noted with increasing temperature/time. These changes varied depending on the NM core composition. Additionally the PVP capping, despite stabilising the NM dispersion, still allowed the NM core to be influenced by external factors, thus indicating likely ageing-related reduction in efficiency, though to a lesser extent than the uncapped particles. Overall the experiments recorded a complex picture of transformations as a function of time/temperature highlighting the complexity of NMs' ageing.


The C cycle in the Brazilian forests is very important, mainly for issues addressed to climate changes and soil management. Assessing and understanding C dynamics in Amazonian soils can help scientists to improve models and anticipate scenarios. New methods that allow soil C measurements in situ are a crucial approach for this kind of region, due to the costs for collecting and sending soil samples from the rainforest to the laboratory. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a multielemental atomic emission spectroscopy technique that employs a highly energetic laser pulse for plasma production and requires neither sample preparation nor the use of reagents. As LIBS takes less than 10 s per sample measurement, it is considered a promising technique for in situ soil analyses. One of the limitations of portable LIBS systems, however, is the common overlap of the emission lines that cannot be spectrally resolved. In this study a method was developed capable of separating the Al interference from the C emission line in LIBS measurements. Two typical forest Brazilian soils rich in Al were investigated: a spodosol (Amazon Forest) and an oxisol (Atlantic Forest). Fifty-three samples were collected and analyzed using a low-resolution LIBS apparatus to measure the intensities of C lines. In particular, two C lines were evaluated, at 193.03 and 247.86 nm. The line at 247.86 nm showed very strong interference with Fe and Si lines, which made quantitative analysis difficult. The line at 193.03 nm showed interference with atomic and ionic Al emission lines, but this problem could be solved by applying a correction method that was proposed and tested in this work. The line at 247.86 was used to assess the proposed model. The strong correlation (Pearson's coefficient R=0.91) found between the LIBS values and those obtained by a reference technique (dry combustion by an elemental analyzer) supported the validity of the proposed method.


Sustainability is a critical issue in higher education curriculum development and organisational culture, yet its contested nature necessitates a shared understanding to support a distinct mission across institutional efforts. Therefore, this work intended to foster a common language for sustainability competencies through an overarching framework that may be applied across university functions. This case study draws upon key informant interviews and focus groups with sustainability experts within and beyond Penn State University faculty and staff. The five meta-competencies in the resulting framework are systems thinking, temporal thinking, interpersonal literacy, ethical literacy and imagination/creativity. The framework assumes certain foundational competencies are also in evidence, including logical thinking, critical thinking, quantitative analysis, reading and writing. The results offer a starting point for future discussion and application of meta-competencies of sustainability; bridge sustainability competencies work in higher education and in workforce development; and identify the role of imagination/creativity as an important sustainability meta-competency.


DaRWIN (Data Research Warehouse Information Network) is an in-house solution developed by the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), as a Natural History collections management system for biological and geological samples in collections. In 2014, the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) adopted this system for its collections and started to take part in new developments.
 The DaRWIN database currently manages information on more than 600,000 records (about 4 million specimens) housed at the RBINS and more than 650,000 records (more than 1 million specimens) at the RMCA.
 DaRWIN is an open source system, consisting of a PostgreSQL database and a customizable web-interface based on the Symfony framework (https://symfony.com).
 DaRWIN is divided into 2 parts:

 one public section that gives a "read-only" access to digitised specimens,

 one section for registered users, with different levels of access rights (user, encoder, conservator and administrator), customizable for each collection and allowing update of specimens and collections, daily management of collections, and the potential for dealing with sensitive information.

 one public section that gives a "read-only" access to digitised specimens,
 one section for registered users, with different levels of access rights (user, encoder, conservator and administrator), customizable for each collection and allowing update of specimens and collections, daily management of collections, and the potential for dealing with sensitive information.
 DaRWIN stores sample data and related information such as place and date of collection, missions and collectors, identifiers, technicians involved, taxonomy, identification information (type, stage, state, etc.), bibliography, related files, storage, etc. Other features that deal with day-to-day curation operations are available: loans, printing of labels for storage, statistics and reporting. DaRWIN features its own JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) webservice for specimens and scientific names and can export data in tab-delimited, Excel, PDF and GeoJSON formats.
 More recently, a procedure for importing batches of data has been developed, based on tab-delimited files, making integration of data from (old/historical) databases faster and more controlled.
 Additional improvements of the user interface and database model have been made. For example, parallel taxonomical hierarchies can be created, allowing users to work with temporary taxonomies, old scientific names (basionyms and synonyms) and document the history of type specimens.
 Finally, quality control and data cleaning on several tables have been implemented, e.g. mapping of locality names with vocabularies like Geonames, adding ISO 3166 two-letter country codes (https://www.iso.org/iso-3166-country-codes.html), cleaning duplicates from people/institutions and taxonomy catalogues. A tool for checking taxonomical names on GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility), WoRMS (World Register of Marine Species) and DaRWIN itself, based on webservices and tab-delimited files, has been developed.
 Last year, RBINS, RMCA and Meise Botanic Garden (MBG) defined a new framework of collaboration in the NaturalHeritage project (http://www.naturalheritage.be), in order to foster interoperability among their collection data sources. This new framework presents itself as one common research portal for data on natural history collections (from DaRWIN and other existing collection databases) of the three partnered institutions and makes data compliant to a standard agreed by the partners. See Poster "NaturalHeritage: Bridging Belgian Natural History Collections" for more information.
 DaRWIN is accessible online (http://darwin.naturalsciences.be). A Github repository is also available (https://github.com/naturalsciences/natural_heritage_darwin).


Put your game into overdrive with this complete guide to harnessing your athletic instincts. In baseball, a five-tool player possesses the five most important skills: hitting for power, hitting for average, defense, arm strength, and speed. But there is one essential skill that brings it all together: the sixth tool. It's that extra something, an X-factor that can make a good player great. In this fully illustrated, information-packed guide, coach Mark Gola shows you how to use your smarts to channel your instincts, psych out your opponents, deal with pressure, and much more. Whether you're in Little League or heading for the majors, "Baseball's Sixth Tool" will teach you how to: Fire up your baserunning without increasing speed Step up your defensive play using keen observation and communication Master pitching with super-smart strategies Perfect your swing by getting prepared before you step to the plate Become the all-around all-star player that every coach wants


Description: Practical approaches to ensure that analytical methods and instruments meet GMP standards and requirements Complementing the authors' first book, Analytical Method Validation and Instrument Performance Verification, this new volume provides coverage of more advanced topics, focusing on additional and supplemental methods, instruments, and electronic systems that are used in pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, and clinical testing. Readers will gain new and valuable insights that enable them to avoid common pitfalls in order to seamlessly conduct analytical method validation as well as instrument operation qualification and performance verification. Part 1, Method Validation, begins with an overview of the book's risk-based approach to phase appropriate validation and instrument qualification; it then focuses on the strategies and requirements for early phase drug development, including validation of specific techniques and functions such as process analytical technology, cleaning validation, and validation of laboratory information management systems Part 2, Instrument Performance Verification, explores the underlying principles and techniques for verifying instrument performance?coverage includes analytical instruments that are increasingly important to the pharmaceutical industry, such as NIR spectrometers and particle size analyzers?and offers readers a variety of alternative approaches for the successful verification of instrument performance based on the needs of their labs At the end of each chapter, the authors examine important practical problems and share their solutions. All the methods covered in this book follow Good Analytical Practices (GAP) to ensure that reliable data are generated in compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP). Analysts, scientists, engineers, technologists, and technical managers should turn to this book to ensure that analytical methods and instruments are accurate and meet GMP standards and requirements.


The role of farm size has recently come to the forefront of agricultural development debates. Agricultural development policy often focuses on small farms given evidence of their role in poverty reduction and of higher yields. Yet policy has also focused on large farms due to their share of output, efficiency gains from vertical and horizontal integration, and potential employment generation. Brazil offers an interesting case study because of its wide spectrum of farm sizes and the country's dual agricultural policy focus towards large commercial agribusiness enterprises, led by the Ministry of Agriculture, and family farms, led by the Ministry of Agrarian Development. Our purpose is to examine the role that farm size may have in Brazil's agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) growth, which has accelerated at one of the world's fastest rates over the last twenty years. The data are drawn from the agricultural censuses of 1985, 1995-96, and 2006, aggregated at the municipality level into five farm-size classes. The findings of this study point to heavy technical efficiency losses across all size classes, creating a substantial drag on national agricultural TFP growth. Moreover, because farms in the middle of the size distribution achieved the slowest technical change and TFP growth bookended by faster growth in the smallest and largest farm-size classes we identify an unexpected and unexplored source of inefficiency, namely medium-sized farms.


"Tikkun olam" is a marvelous term that is used as a slogan for activism, political involvement, and social justice. The term has had numerous lives, such that its endurance and malleability over time are truly impressive. This paper is a whistle stop tour that provides an overview of the vicissitudes of the term. This journey demonstrates how "tikkun olam" has come to connote a disparate array of values, and has been assimilated into modern, liberal, democratic discourse. With the course of time, "tikkun olam" has come to serve as watchword for any value, even if a particular value – laudable as it may be – is not rooted in Jewish tradition. This trend raises a question that should be considered: What is the opportunity cost of the cultural assimilation of the term "tikkun olam"?


This article reflects on how to activate and capitalise on adult migrant learners' plurilingual repertoires through intercomprehension in the Italian L2 classroom. Firstly, two survey results with adult migrant learners and teachers of Italian as L2 are discussed so as to show how plurilingual practices are perceived and activated by both parties. Secondly the article discusses how studies on the intercomprehension between related languages and on the role of English as a bridge language towards Romance languages can be usefully applied in the given learning context in order to enhance the metalinguistic awareness of learners and develop teachers' ability to capitalize their language repertoires in the teaching of the target language.


The efficient use of electrical energy is a topic that has attracted attention for its environmental consequences. On the other hand, induction motors represent the main component in most industries. They consume the highest energy percentages in industrial facilities. This energy consumption depends on the operation conditions of the induction motor imposed by its internal parameters. Since the internal parameters of an induction motor are not directly measurable, an identification process must be conducted to obtain them. In the identification process, the parameter estimation is transformed into a multidimensional optimization problem where the internal parameters of the induction motor are considered as decision variables. Under this approach, the complexity of the optimization problem tends to produce multimodal error surfaces for which their cost functions are significantly difficult to minimize. Several algorithms based on evolutionary computation principles have been successfully applied to identify the optimal parameters of induction motors. However, most of them maintain an important limitation: They frequently obtain sub-optimal solutions as a result of an improper equilibrium between exploitation and exploration in their search strategies. This paper presents an algorithm for the optimal parameter identification of induction motors. To determine the parameters, the proposed method uses a recent evolutionary method called the gravitational search algorithm (GSA). Different from most of the existent evolutionary algorithms, the GSA presents a better performance in multimodal problems, avoiding critical flaws such as the premature convergence to sub-optimal solutions. Numerical simulations have been conducted on several models to show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.


Much has been written about why economists failed to predict the latest financial and real crisis. Reading the recent literature, it seems that the crisis was so obvious that economists must have been blind when looking at data not to see it coming. In this paper, we analyze whether such claims are justified by looking at one of the most cited and relevant variables in this analysis, the now infamous credit to GDP chart. We compare the conclusions reached in the literature after the crisis with the results that could have been drawn from an ex ante analysis. We show that, even though credit affects the business cycle in both the expansion and the recession phases, this effect is almost negligible and impossible to exploit from a policymaker's point of view.


ABSTRACT Research Findings: The current study analyzed the relation between the amount of mathematical input that preschool children hear (i.e., math talk) from their mothers in their homes and their early math ability a year later. Forty mother–child dyads recorded their naturalistic exchanges in their homes using an enhanced audio-recording device (the Language ENvironment Analysis System). Results from a sample of naturalistic interactions during mealtimes indicated that all mothers involved their children in a variety of math exchanges, although there were differences in the amount of math input that children received. Moreover, being exposed to more instances of math talk was positively related to children's early mathematical ability a year after the recordings, even after we controlled for maternal education, self-regulation, and recorded minutes. Practice or Policy: These findings improve the understanding of how mothers use math with their preschool children in naturalistic contexts, providing some insight for parents into how to foster children's math skills through verbal input in their normal routines. Moreover, these findings inform kindergarten teachers and practitioners about the math input that children receive at home, which may encourage them to adapt their practice by considering the home environment.


The existence of succinct non-interactive arguments for NP (i.e., non-interactive computationally-sound proofs where the verifier's work is essentially independent of the complexity of the NP nondeterministic verifier) has been an intriguing question for the past two decades. Other than CS proofs in the random oracle model [Micali, FOCS '94], the only existing candidate construction is based on an elaborate assumption that is tailored to a specific protocol [Di Crescenzo and Lipmaa, CiE '08].
 We formulate a general and relatively natural notion of an extractable collision-resistant hash function (ECRH) and show that, if ECRHs exist, then a modified version of Di Crescenzo and Lipmaa's protocol is a succinct non-interactive argument for NP. Furthermore, the modified protocol is actually a succinct non-interactive adaptive argument of knowledge (SNARK). We then propose several candidate constructions for ECRHs and relaxations thereof.
 We demonstrate the applicability of SNARKs to various forms of delegation of computation, to succinct non-interactive zero knowledge arguments, and to succinct two-party secure computation. Finally, we show that SNARKs essentially imply the existence of ECRHs, thus demonstrating the necessity of the assumption.


Agita Chrisnawa Resti. M3306036. AUTOMATIC ORDERING
SYSTEM BASE ON THE MIKROKONTROLLER AT89S52 AT
RESTAURANT. Final Duty, Surakarta : Faculty of Mathematics and Natural
Sciences, Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta, 2009.
Ordering system in this present moment restaurant still use the system of
manual ordering. system of manual Ordering of mentioned in clear time facet less
be efficient, others also rentan happened by the good mistake from facet of menu
writing ordered and or enumeration of struk purchasing. Is therefore required by a
direct ordering appliance can be used from buyer desk Intention of this research is
make the appliance to water down the ordering of food and note making at
restaurant by using module of system of minimum AT89S52. Research Method
used with the making prototype, hardware good and also software. The appliance
own 2 important shares that is module of client and module server which can do
the serial communications of serial passing interface.
Part of module client is shares which be at the dining table. input Keypad
from dining table comprising menu code and sum up the menu will be presented
at LCD. In this research is used by 2 buyer desk. Secondary shares is shares being
based on PC. This Shares is consisted of the application program made by using
programming of Borland Delphi 7. Function from this application program is to
accept the input data from first shares pass the serial port to be processed
furthermore. The data will be presented so that can be kept and printed, where
data which have been kept can be reopened for the report of at restaurant.
Examination done by connecting system of minimum AT89S52 by PC
directly. From result of system examination, as a whole this system can work
better. And seen from its function, this appliance enough assist if application in
restaurant management.


Religion plays a significant role in human life, yet its potential to influence health and health-related conditions is not well studied. Becker (2001) contends that there are several words like "spirituality," "faith," and "divinity" that have been used in the literature along with religion and while these terms appear similar, they cannot be used interchangeably. She says that spirituality refers to the soul or mind and is not tangible and a highly subjective experience. Divinity is about presence of a divine power. Faith can exist without belief of divine power and is unconditional confidence in something. Religion is a system of beliefs unified by acceptance of a divine or superhuman power. Religiosity is usually familial and is shaped by religious beliefs of parents, peer group, and community. Religion is multidimensional. However, religion has been insufficiently operationalized in the published literature. The most common construct of religion that has been reified has been affiliation (Gartner, Larson, & Allen, 1991). Other dimensions such as importance, extent of devotion and beliefs also need to be considered. First of all, for research of religiosity on alcohol and substance abuse there is a need for more multidimensional, valid, and reliable instruments. Secondly, definitive empirical studies have not been undertaken that delineate the influence of religion on substance abuse (Gartner, Larson, & Allen, 1991; Larson & Larson, 1994). In general, studies that have used religious affiliation have found an inverse relationship between religiosity and attitudes toward drinking, knowledge about alcohol, amount of alcohol consumed, and physical complications of alcohol abuse (Dunn, 2005; Zucker, Austin, Fair, & Branchey, 1987). Most of the studies are cross-sectional in nature and what are needed are longitudinal studies. Further studies are needed that elaborate the mechanism by which religiosity operates to influence substance abuse: whether it is a direct causative role, or a buffer-like role, or some other form of effect modification. One study that has utilized a broader definition of religiosity is by Kendler and colleagues (1997) who studied the relationship between religiosity and substance abuse in a sample of 1,902 twins. They utilized several scales including a 10-item scale of different religious beliefs and behaviors, and a scale of institutional conservatism of current religious affiliation. They found that personal devotion and personal and institutional conservatism were significantly and inversely associated with current levels of drinking and smoking as well as lifetime risk for alcoholism and nicotine dependence. Another study by Cronin (1995) examined the relationship among religious affiliation, importance of religious values, and alcohol and drug use among college students (n = 216). The study found that religious affiliation played the strongest role in predicting drug use. In addition, the study found that alcohol consumption did not differ among various groups defined by religious affiliation. Another study by Brizer (1993) examined the role of religiosity on alcohol and drug abuse in an inpatient psychiatric population (n = 168). The author developed a three-page religious involvement questionnaire (RIQ), which is an extension of the religious interest questionnaire (Kroll & Sheehan, 1989) and describes intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity. The RIQ also includes six items that rate the patients' belief upon their behavior (for example, I avoid certain food/music/drink because of my religion) and six items from the social cohesiveness scale that rates the strength of subjects' affiliation with co-members of their faith. …


Social network has gained remarkable attention in the last decade. Accessing social network sites such as Twitter, Facebook LinkedIn and Google+ through the internet and the web 2.0 technologies has become more affordable. People are becoming more interested in and relying on social network for information, news and opinion of other users on diverse subject matters. The heavy reliance on social network sites causes them to generate massive data characterised by three computational issues namely; size, noise and dynamism. These issues often make social network data very complex to analyse manually, resulting in the pertinent use of computational means of analysing them. Data mining provides a wide range of techniques for detecting useful knowledge from massive datasets like trends, patterns and rules [44]. Data mining techniques are used for information retrieval, statistical modelling and machine learning. These techniques employ data pre-processing, data analysis, and data interpretation processes in the course of data analysis. This survey discusses different data mining techniques used in mining diverse aspects of the social network over decades going from the historical techniques to the up-to-date models, including our novel technique named TRCM. All the techniques covered in this survey are listed in the Table.1 including the tools employed as well as names of their authors.


Abstract Background: The relationship between deprivation status and health is well documented with less deprived populations experiencing lower rates of morbidity and mortality than those from more deprived groups. The mechanisms that link deprivation to health are multi-factorial and complex. The relationship between deprivation and health remains largely unexplored in physiotherapy management. Objectives: To systematically collate, appraise, and summarize primary studies that investigate the relationship between deprivation and treatment outcomes in physiotherapy. Methods: A systematic search of electronic databases was performed using a specified strategy. A three-phase screening process was used to identify relevant primary studies. Two independent reviewers selected the articles, rated quality, and extracted data. Meta-analysis was not performed due to diversity of conditions, interventions, and outcome measures used. Qualitative analysis was performed, and levels of evidence were generated using an established framework. Results: Three studies met the inclusion criteria; all were deemed of high quality. All three studies found that low socioeconomic status (SES) negatively influenced physiotherapy treatment outcomes. Conclusion: There is strong evidence to suggest that low SES negatively affects treatment outcomes in physiotherapy. This is in line with findings from other areas of medicine and allied health. The relationship appears to be complex and multifaceted. Key potential causal mechanisms are identified and explored with reference to existing literature. Further research is required to elucidate this complex relationship and to allow development of strategies that reduce the impact of deprivation on physiotherapy outcomes.


Environmental pollution, including air and water contamination, causes or aggravates many acute and chronic human diseases. Although scientific literature prior to the last decade showed some associations between hardness/softness of water with cardiovascular diseases, recent data do not support this proposition. Previously postulated associations were derived from the data generated from observations and uncontrolled epidemiological and cohort studies, the results of which have not been confirmed. It was claimed that consumption of soft water increased cardiovascular diseases whereas hard water decreased them. Critical evaluation of recent data support neither of these claims. Recently, an association between drinking hard water (or ionicity) and chronic kidney disease of multifactorial origin (CKDmfo/CKDuo) has been proposed but disputed by others. CKDmfo/CKDuo is prevalent in dry-zonal, agriculture-based tropical countries, including Sri Lanka. Most regions affected by CKDmfo had hard water for centuries, but this disease has manifested only during the past few decades. However, during the past four decades, there had been several key changes in these agricultural regions, such as the increased use of agrochemicals associated with the green revolution, environmental pollution, and human behavioral changes including abandoning traditional agricultural methods and unhealthful food habits. Despite the absence of scientific data, few claim that CKDmfo is caused by the hypothetical complexes of pesticides, heavy metals, and hard water. Even if such complexes are formed, these components are insoluble in water and highly unlikely to be absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract. Apart from the well-known association of the consumption of hard water and chronic dehydration with urinary stones, there are no other scientifically established associations of water hardness with human diseases. Considering the pathophysiology and after a detailed review of published literature, the author concludes there is no confirmatory scientific evidence to support these hypotheses.


Dolomite refractories have a good production potential in Iran due to the existence of high-quality dolomite ore in many regions of the country, particularly in Isfahan and Hamedan. The basic problem associated with the production and use of this type of refractories is inherent tendency to hydration of calcined dolomite. One of the methods to overcome this problem is to increase the amount of magnesia in doloma. This study focuses on the use of Iranian dolomite to produce magnesia –doloma (mag-dol) refractory with high resistance to hydration and corrosion. It was found that addition of 20wt% magnesite to dolomite would result in capsulating of CaO by MgO that protects doloma from further hydration.


Neonatal herpes is a devastating disease, the most serious complication of genital herpes, one of the most common serious congenital or perinatal infections, and the most frequent complication of sexually transmitted infections among children. Nevertheless, neonatal herpes is not reportable to health authorities in most states. The potential for prevention has been enhanced by recent diagnostic and therapeutic advances, and the disease meets widely accepted criteria for reporting, including incidence rates that exceed those of comparable conditions, epidemiologic instability, disease severity, direct and indirect socioeconomic costs, concern by persons at risk, the potential for prevention by public health interventions, and the prospect that the resulting data would influence public health policy. The absence of national surveillance contributes to beliefs by healthcare providers and the public health community that genital and neonatal herpes are uncommon conditions that affect small segments of society, beliefs that directly interfere with prevention. Neonatal herpes should be a reportable condition.


Beyond phones, watches, and activity tracking devices, a new ecosystem of functional and fashionable wearable technologies can easily, safely, and economically be designed, prototyped, and integrated directly on the body. In this paper, we present AlterNail, a fingernail form factor, ambient, low-power, stateful, wireless, dynamic display with onboard vibrational sensing. AlterNail integrates a batteryless design using inductive coupling with e-ink technology to enable both quick dynamic and long-term static fingernail based visual designs without the need for power. We also detail the use of simple vibrational signals to uniquely identify everyday objects as they are handled using AlterNails. The intentionally limited interactional functionality of AlterNails, coupled with the rich personal and dynamic expressive potential, combine to present a compelling range of opportunities for designers of new interactive wearable technologies. We detail a range of practical and playful applications using this technology.


Globalization is expected to be reversed, at least partially, in the post pandemic era. The Great Financial Recession of 2008–10 marked a historic turning point in the direction of weakening the degree of global economic integration. Now, in the post-pandemic era, policymakers appear poised to take deliberate steps to reinforce the movement toward de-globalization. At the same time, safety nets are expected to be strengthened. In this paper, we develop a model, with which we analyze central macroeconomic interactions between globalization and safety nets. We put together stylized elements of trade globalization, financial globalization, international tax competition, immigration, and welfare state, all in a two-skill, two-period stylized model, where policy (taxes and social benefits) is determined through majority voting.


ABSTRACT Cryptococcus neoformans is the leading cause of fungal meningitis worldwide. Previous studies have characterized the cryptococcal transcriptome under various stress conditions, but a comprehensive profile of the C. neoformans transcriptome in the human host has not been attempted. Here, we extracted RNA from yeast cells taken directly from the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of two AIDS patients with cryptococcal meningitis prior to antifungal therapy. The patients were infected with strains of C. neoformans var. grubii of molecular type VNI and VNII. Using RNA-seq, we compared the transcriptional profiles of these strains under three environmental conditions (in vivo CSF, ex vivo CSF, and yeast extract-peptone-dextrose [YPD]). Although we identified a number of differentially expressed genes, single nucleotide variants, and novel genes that were unique to each strain, the overall expression patterns of the two strains were similar under the same environmental conditions. Specifically, yeast cells obtained directly from each patient's CSF were more metabolically active than cells that were incubated ex vivo in CSF. Compared with growth in YPD, some genes were identified as significantly upregulated in both in vivo and ex vivo CSF, and they were associated with genes previously recognized for contributing to pathogenicity. For example, genes with known stress response functions, such as RIM101, ENA1, and CFO1, were regulated similarly in the two clinical strains. Conversely, many genes that were differentially regulated between the two strains appeared to be transporters. These findings establish a platform for further studies of how this yeast survives and produces disease. IMPORTANCE Cryptococcus neoformans, an environmental, opportunistic yeast, is annually responsible for an estimated million cases of meningitis and over 600,000 deaths, mostly among HIV-infected patients in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Using RNA-seq, we analyzed the gene expression of two strains of C. neoformans obtained from the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of infected patients, thus creating a comprehensive snapshot of the yeasts' genetic responses within the human body. By comparing the gene expression of each clinical strain under three conditions (in vivo CSF, ex vivo CSF, and laboratory culture), we identified genes and pathways that were uniquely regulated by exposure to CSF and likely crucial for the survival of C. neoformans in the central nervous system. Further analyses revealed genetic diversity between the strains, providing evidence for cryptococcal evolution and strain specificity. This ability to characterize transcription in vivo enables the elucidation of specific genetic responses that promote disease production and progression. Cryptococcus neoformans, an environmental, opportunistic yeast, is annually responsible for an estimated million cases of meningitis and over 600,000 deaths, mostly among HIV-infected patients in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Using RNA-seq, we analyzed the gene expression of two strains of C. neoformans obtained from the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of infected patients, thus creating a comprehensive snapshot of the yeasts' genetic responses within the human body. By comparing the gene expression of each clinical strain under three conditions (in vivo CSF, ex vivo CSF, and laboratory culture), we identified genes and pathways that were uniquely regulated by exposure to CSF and likely crucial for the survival of C. neoformans in the central nervous system. Further analyses revealed genetic diversity between the strains, providing evidence for cryptococcal evolution and strain specificity. This ability to characterize transcription in vivo enables the elucidation of specific genetic responses that promote disease production and progression.


Motivated by the similarities between the theory of spherical $t$-designs and that of $t$-designs in $Q$-polynomial association schemes, we study two versions of relative $t$-designs , the counterparts of Euclidean $t$-designs for $P$- and/or $Q$-polynomial association schemes. We develop the theory based on the Terwilliger algebra , which is a noncommutative associative semisimple $\mathbb{C}$-algebra associated with each vertex of an association scheme. We compute explicitly the Fisher type lower bounds on the sizes of relative $t$-designs, assuming that certain irreducible modules behave nicely. The two versions of relative $t$-designs turn out to be equivalent in the case of the Hamming schemes. From this point of view, we establish a new algebraic characterization of the Hamming schemes.


In preparation for a workshop at Monash University, where a group of Australian educators were to be involved in writing a book based on their collective wisdom and interest in the fostering of excellence in young people and children in the 1990's, the present writers engaged in a reflective exercise in ascertaining how best to educate our most talented science students. However, in the eventual chapter written by Newhouse et al. (in Goodall and Culhane 1991:70), the theme was related to the concept of empowering a whole school community, 'globally' a far cry from the notion of empowering talented students to be competent, creative and autonomous scientists. In the present social climate in Australia, where there is an increasing demand for creative scientists and caring technologists, it would appear to be both appropriate and timely to consider a Science Extension programme in which both writers were engaged in the early eighties. The focus will be a description of the strategy which progressively produced over a three year period, not only efficacy in the student's preparation for research, efficiency and creativity in open ended inquiry in science, but a group of young people who thought reflectively and productively as scientists. In the light of their analysis of the role of the teacher /mentor and the outcomes of the science extension program, the writers will speculate on the implications for teacher education in the 1990's.


ENTER THE SORCERESS! Back from the abyss, Castaneda encounter his greatest test on the journey towards impeccability and freedom: to outwit and overpower the sorcery of Dona Soledad, herself transformed from a defeated and meaningless life to a warrior, a hunter and a "stalker of power." Now the combat will begin. Now the journey will continue. Till the last danger is faced...the final paradox embraced."


A prose poem is a poem written in prose rather than verse. But what does that really mean? Is it an indefinable hybrid? An anomaly in the history of poetry? Are the very words "prose poem" an oxymoron? This groundbreaking anthology edited by celebrated poet David Lehman, editor of "The Best American Poetry" series, traces the form in all its dazzling variety from Poe and Emerson to Auden and Ashbery and on, right up to the present. In his brilliant and lucid introduction, Lehman defines the prose poem, summarizes its French heritage, and outlines its history in the United States. Included here are important works from masters of American literature, as well as poems by contemporary mainstays and emerging talents who demonstrate why the form has become an irresistible option for the practicing poet today. "Great American Prose Poems" is a marvelous collection, a must-have for anyone interested in the current state of the art.


Many advances have been made recently in metaheuristic methods, from theory to applications. The editors, both leading experts in this field, have assembled a team of researchers to contribute 21 chapters organized into parts on simulated annealing, tabu search, ant colony algorithms, general-purpose studies of evolutionary algorithms, applications of evolutionary algorithms, and various metaheuristics.

The book gathers contributions related to the following topics: theoretical developments in metaheuristics; adaptation of discrete metaheuristics to continuous optimization; performance comparisons of metaheuristics; cooperative methods combining different approaches; parallel and distributed metaheuristics for multiobjective optimization; software implementations; and real-world applications.

This book is suitable for practitioners, researchers and graduate students in disciplines such as optimization, heuristics, operations research, and natural computing.


Long-term electrocardiogram data can be acquired by linking a Holter monitor to a mobile phone. However, most systems of this variety are simply designed to detect arrhythmia through heartbeat classification, and do not provide any additional support for clinical decisions. HeartSearcher identifies patients with similar arrhythmias from heartbeat classifications, by summarising each patient's typical heartbeat pattern in the form of a regular expression, and then ranking patients according to the similarities of their patterns. Results obtained using electrocardiogram data from the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database show that this abstraction reduces the volume of heartbeat classifications by 98% on average, offering great potential to support clinical decisions.


We explored whether students' perceptions of emotional and instrumental support provided by their mathematics teacher constitute separate dimensions of teacher support and how they are related. We also analyzed how students' perceptions of emotional and instrumental support in math lessons relate to math anxiety, intrinsic motivation, help-seeking behavior, and effort. The participants were 309 Norwegian students in 9th and 10th grade. The data were analyzed by means of structural equation modeling (SEM). The results revealed that emotional and instrumental support constitute separate but strongly correlated constructs. Directly or indirectly, both emotional and instrumental support was related to all motivational constructs. The strongest relations were found for instrumental support. Additionally, instrumental support predicted lower levels of anxiety. One implication of this study is that teachers should aim at providing both emotional and instrumental support.


This study analyzes the relationship between nationalism and the political use of history in the two "small nation-states" in Cyprus. It also examines the relevant effects of Cyprus's European Union (EU) membership and the emergence of alternative historiographies. The hostile historiographies of the two sides of Cyprus since 1974 have crystallized because of the de facto emergence of the two political units. It is argued that Greek and Turkish Cypriot historiographies have played a vital role in determining the fate of the Cyprus Problem as seen in the case of the April 2004 referendum. Recent revisionist attempts based on Cypriotism have promoted an exclusionary ideological perspective and are subject to political debate, too. The case of North Cyprus shows that new historiography produces new myths, projecting rightist groups and immigrants from Turkey as the main Others.


Potato virus Y (PVY) is a reemerging problem in potato production in North America. Although the "ordinary" strain, PVYO, is still the dominant isolate in U.S. seed potatoes, the recombinant strain of the virus PVYN-Wi (= PVYN:O) has become widespread. An increase in the prevalence of a PVY strain could be due to differences in the efficiency of transmission by aphid vectors. The transmission efficiency by a clone of Myzus persicae was determined for five isolates each of PVYO and PVYN-Wi. An aphid transmission assay was developed based on the use of potato seedlings from true potato seed, allowing for greater control of plant age and growth stage. No apparent differences in transmission by M. persicae were observed. Single isolates of PVYO and PVYN-Wi were tested for their ability to be transmitted from potato to potato by five aphid species: Aphis glycines, A. gossypii, A. nasturtii, M. persicae, and Rhopalosiphum padi. Both PVY isolates showed a similar transmission phenotype in being transmitted efficiently by M. persicae but very poorly or not at all by A. glycines, A. gossypii, and R. padi. The aphid A. nasturtii transmitted both isolates with an intermediate level of efficiency. The data do not support a model for a differential aphid transmissibility being responsible for the increase in the prevalence of PVYN-Wi.


We collected fecal samples to examine stress levels in a fenced population of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). The purpose of the study was to determine how stress levels fluctuated throughout the breeding season, if there was a difference between males and females, and if levels in a high density, fenced population differed from those in a free-ranging environment. Fecal glucocorticoid levels of males peaked during the rut, while those in females remained relatively stable throughout the breeding season. When we compared glucocorticoid levels of the fenced population with a freerange population, we found conflicting results across the two years of the study. Remote photography is increasing in its popularity as a tool for scientists and wildlife biologists. Camera surveys have been used to estimate population parameters among a variety of species. However, this survey technique involves placing bait in front of the camera in order to capture animals more frequently, which could introduce biases in parameter estimates. We monitored cameras placed at random, along game trails, and at feed stations to determine if sex/age structure could be accurately assessed in a population of white-tailed deer. Our results indicated that there was no single time period in which cameras placed at feed stations provided sex ratio and recruitment estimates similar to those acquired from randomly placed cameras. Trail-based camera surveys provided population estimates very similar to those from random sites, and may provide a feasible alternative to using baited camera stations.


ing and Indexing Weather is covered by the following abstracting and indexing services: CAB Abstracts® (CABI), Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA/CIG), CSA Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management Database (CSA/CIG), GEOBASE/ Geographical & Geological Abstracts (Elsevier), Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch®) (Thomson ISI), Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition (Thomson ISI), Current


From Retrogene to Phenolic Metabolism Metabolic plasticity, which involves the creation of new genes, is an essential feature of plant adaptation and speciation. Studying plants from the mustard family, Matsuno et al. (p. 1688) show that variants of the cytochrome P450 enzyme family were derived through retroposition, duplication, and subsequent mutaton. Evolutionary changes increased the volume of the substrate pocket altering with what sorts of substrates the enzymes could interact. The enzymes formed the basis for a new metabolic pathway, the products of which include constituents of pollen and of phenylpropanoid metabolism. Gene copying and positive Darwinian selection promoted the emergence of a phenolic pathway in Brassicaceae. Metabolic plasticity, which largely relies on the creation of new genes, is an essential feature of plant adaptation and speciation and has led to the evolution of large gene families. A typical example is provided by the diversification of the cytochrome P450 enzymes in plants. We describe here a retroposition, neofunctionalization, and duplication sequence that, via selective and local amino acid replacement, led to the evolution of a novel phenolic pathway in Brassicaceae. This pathway involves a cascade of six successive hydroxylations by two partially redundant cytochromes P450, leading to the formation of N1,N5-di(hydroxyferuloyl)-N10-sinapoylspermidine, a major pollen constituent and so-far-overlooked player in phenylpropanoid metabolism. This example shows how positive Darwinian selection can favor structured clusters of nonsynonymous substitutions that are needed for the transition of enzymes to new functions.


A novel method for indoor orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) quality of service (QoS) analysis using the robust sparse channel estimator is proposed in this paper. Through the procedures of radiofrequency propagation modeling, sparse channel estimation and interference analysis, OFDM quality-of-service measures, such as signal-to-interference-and-noise ratios (SINR) and bit error rates (BER) can be generated using this computer simulation tool. The geometry-dependent QoS measure contours from the simulations can be used by service providers and OFDM communication system designers to quantify the system performance and determine the optimal access locations indoors.


Asia is the birthplace of several successful and large Social Enterprises (SEs) such as Grameen Bank, BRAC and PDA. While extensively covered in the media, these entities are the exception rather than the norm. These SEs were, and some remain, lucky to receive unquestioned government and donor support. Not all the SEs in Asia is in the same position. Unfortunately most of the SEs are mid-sized; with neither have the unlimited access to capital nor the required recognition of their impactful work. At the same time, SEs in Asia operate within contexts that, while impossible to generalise across the whole region, provide some unique opportunities for growth. In an increasing number of instances, SEs are accomplishing the region's socio-economic goals in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. Moreover, Asian SEs are finding increasing opportunities to raise capital, in line with the emergence of an exchange or financial platform specifically for SEs, a rise in Islamic banking and Shariah compliant funds and increasing government interest in incubating social enterprises as a new sector. While SEs have had, and are likely to continue to have, significant impact on their communities, they have received little attention from academia. There is a dearth of analytical research aimed at understanding the causes and impacts of Asia's explosion of social innovation, or of the direction such innovation is likely to take. This paper aims to provide such a comprehensive overview. In particular, this paper will contextualise the efforts to develop a methodology for measuring social impact of sustainable SEs in Asia. By defining the motivations of financial platforms, institutional and retail impact investors, government regulators, clients and operators of SEs in Asia, and how these might differ from those in Europe or the United States, this paper will not only provide a clearer general understanding of the environment in which the Asian SEs thrive and operate, it will also analyse to what ends and how different stakeholders are likely to process the information stemming from such measurement. This work will therefore provide the foundational understanding of how the flow of capital and indeed the entire social enterprise sphere is likely to develop in Asia in the years to come.


1 Introduction Modelling biological systems, is impaired by the cost of experimentally obtaining the data required to build the models. The resources available are typically very limited compared to large experimental parameter spaces, so have to be used efficiently. Similarly, in engineering with biological systems such as is found in synthetic biology and molecular computation, models of the phenomena to be harnessed are required. These models can only be obtained experimentally. As a consequence, for engineering with biological systems to become more prevalent, tools and techniques are required to assist in the experimentation performed to develop these models. Here we focus on one such tool, a computational system capable of autonomously investigating an experimental parameter space to identify phenomena that exist within. We call this computational system an autonomous experimentation system. Autonomous experimentation systems try to capture the efficiency of experimentalists, who are able to successfully navigate a seemingly boundless space of potential experiments. Autonomous experimentation systems develop hypotheses, plan experiments and perform experiments, in a closed loop manner without human interaction. As a foundation for our approach to autonomous experimentation, we draw on ideas from the philosophy of science. 2 Experimentation Experimentation should work to disprove hypotheses [1]. A hypothesis gives a possible explanation for some observed phenomena. Hypothesis lead experimentation can benefit from considering many hypotheses simultaneously, so as to allow for different explanations for a particular phenomenon to be developed without prejudice [2, 1]. While human scientists are limited in the number of different working hypotheses that they can realistically contemplate and visualise at any one time, a computer has no such limitation and could compare many thousand different hypotheses simultaneously. The hypotheses that are developed through experimentation, need not be mechanistic in nature. The investigation of the relationship between cause and effect can be performed experimentally, without developing mechanistic hypotheses. It is known for instance that children display an ability to associate cause with effect from an early age through their early play [3]. The use of cause and effect experimentation in scientific, medical and engineering work, has allowed for developments in these areas without an understanding for why the cause and effect are related. For example, a cure for scurvy was produced long before anyone understood why the cure worked [4]. 3 From Experimentation to Autonomous Experimentation Computational systems capable of scientific discovery are interlinked with artificial intelligence systems. Computational scientific discovery puts into practice artificial intelligence methods and brings real world benefits with it. It is important to note that neither artificial intelligence or autonomous experimentation systems will be able to match the abilities of human creativity. The KEKADA system [5], was an early computational experimentation system that was able to develop hypotheses and plan experiments to investigate an experimental parameter space. The KEKADA system took the approach of performing a broad search of the experimental parameter space through experimentation until a surprising phenomena was found, at which point the system performs more focussed experiments on the surprising phenomena. The hypotheses developed were mechanistic in nature and the system was able to rediscover known phenomena, such as determining the mechanism for how urea is synthesised in the body, and determining the structure of common alcohol, which also showed the systems generality in its hypotheses [5]. The KEKADA systems limitations came to the fore when comparing it to scientists, where scientists have the advantage of being able to employ additional heuristics and so able to solve a significantly larger number of problems. The authors concluded that improvements to the KEKADA system could come through increasing the amount of domain knowledge available to the system. Domain knowledge to developing hypotheses in other computational experimentation systems. It was shown that reaction pathways could be obtained automatically from experimental evidence and domain knowledge [6]. The use of increased domain knowledge was influential in the DENDRAL project, which built an expert system for use in scientific reasoning, and in particular aiding structure elucidation in organic chemistry [7]. The combination of domain knowledge and experimental results through abductive reasoning, was shown to be able to rediscover the function of genes in known roles [8]. The Robot Scientist project largely automated the majority of the physical side of experimentation and was also able to show that the computational system and human scientists could comparatively well interpret experimental results, albeit in the limited domain space in which the Robot Scientist operated [8]. In the technical application of enzymes for molecular computing, such large amounts of domain knowledge do not exist. A different approach for autonomous experimentation therefore has to be taken than those that already exist. One autonomous experimentation system has moved away from the requirements of large amounts of domain knowledge and instead concentrated on searching the experimental parameter space for surprising phenomena, through a fully closed-loop system [9]. Such an approach does not lend itself well to the development of mechanistic hypotheses, which is why we look to investigate causality in our approach. By investigating causality, we are still able to develop hypotheses that are both useful to a scientist and are free from large amounts of domain information. 4 Autonomous Experimentation for Molecular Computing Enzymes can be thought of as a pattern recognizer working at the molecular level. An enzymes ability to process multiple inputs simultaneously, make it a candidate for use in molecular computing [10]. At present enzymes cannot be designed for purpose, therefore experimentation is necessary to develop these models. An example of a typical experiment that our system could perform, is monitoring the activity of an enzyme by spectroscopically measuring the ultra-violet (UV) absorbance of the enzyme. Models can then be made of the interplay between different substances that effect the enzymes activity and the quantities of those substances, with the resulting UV absorbance. Of particular interest are regions of the parameter space where a combination of factors cause a specific change in the enzymes behaviour. Such changes in behaviour are the properties that could be harnessed in molecular computation. Our system will determine these regions of interest for molecular computation. A microfluidic device is under development to allow for a fully autonomous, closed-loop experimentation system. This lab-on-a-chip technology uses only small amounts of chemistry for each experiment, which will make autonomous experimentation more practical in terms of cost. We follow a conceptual design similar to those of previous work [5, 11], as shown in figure 1, where hypotheses are generated, experiments are proposed so as to try and disprove hypotheses, then an automatically chosen experiment is performed, with the results being used to update the working set of hypotheses. Any practical experimentation system has to robustly model a set of data, capable of handling noise on the dependent and independent parameters. Our prototype implementation shows that smoothing splines offer these properties for modelling the type of data we expect. We are currently investigating the use of smoothing splines modified with a Bayesian framework, to develop models with lower dimensional data sets than those we expect to be using in later work. These lower dimensional data sets will allow for easier conceptualisation of the problems of autonomously developing hypotheses and methods for exploring the experimental parameter space.


In this work, a novel combined trajectory planner and tracking controller is developed for autonomous vehicles operating on off-road deformable terrains. Common approaches to trajectory planning and tracking often rely on model-dependent schemes, which utilize a simplified model to predict the impact of control inputs to future vehicle response. However, in an off-road context and especially on deformable terrains, accurately modeling the vehicle response for predictive purposes can be challenging due to the complexity of the tire-terrain interaction and limitations of state-of-the-art terramechanics models in terms of operating conditions, computation time, and continuous differentiability. To address this challenge and improve vehicle safety and performance through more accurate prediction of the plant response, in this paper, a nonlinear model predictive control framework is presented that accounts for terrain deformability explicitly using a neural network terramechanics model for deformable terrains. The utility of the proposed scheme is demonstrated on high fidelity simulations for a notional lightweight military vehicle on soft soil. It is shown that the neural network based controller can outperform a baseline Pacejka model based scheme by improving on performance metrics associated with the cost function. In more severe maneuvers, the neural network based controller can achieve sufficient fidelity as compared to the plant to complete maneuvers that lead to failure for the Pacejka based controller. Finally, it is demonstrated that the proposed framework is conducive to real-time implementability.


This work presents the assessment of the aerosol direct radiative effects for a special episode of transatlantic transport of a biomass burning plume, performed over Granada, south-eastern Iberian Peninsula, on 20 th August 2007. The knowledge of aerosol radiative impact requires an accurate determination of their optical and microphysical properties, which are obtained here using ground-based remote sensing instrumentation by means of a combination of lidar and sun-photometer. Our data highlight the presence of a multilayered structure with a well-defined planetary boundary layer and biomass-particles in elevated layers, extending up to 9 km asl, at the south-eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula. The aerosol direct shortwave radiative effects, evaluated from simulations with SBDART code, show that the biomass burning plume increases the heating rate up to 0.5 K/day in spite of the small contribution of these particles to the total aerosol optical depth (10-20%). In addition, our results indicate that the biomass burning plume strengths the negative radiative forcing about -5 down to -8 W/m 2 at the surface, between noon and evening. At the TOA, radiative forcing appeared slightly positive but very close to zero at noon, and negative in the evening with a decrease of 1.5 W/m 2 caused by the presence of the biomass burning plume.