ABSTRACT  Dolomite prairies are rare natural plant communities, with a few high-quality examples in northeastern Illinois. In this study, three dolomite prairies located in southwestern Will County, Illinois, were surveyed to assess species composition and quality. Two of the dolomite prairies were located on the Des Plaines Wildlife Conservation Area (i.e., Blodgett Road Dolomite Prairie Natural Area and Grant Creek Nature Preserve) and the third in the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie (i.e., Exxon Mobil Natural Area). Overall, a total of 438 taxa were recorded: 318 at Blodgett Road, 255 at Exxon Mobil, and 270 at Grant Creek, with 129 common to them all. Of these, 97 were mesic or wet prairie species, 26 were nonnative taxa, and six were native woody species. Three state endangered and two state threatened species were found associated with these dolomite prairies. The Blodgett Road site was dominated by the annual grass Sporobolus vaginiflorus, along with Andropogon gerardii, Sporobolus heterolepis, and Ambrosia artemisiifolia. The Exxon Mobil site was dominated by the exotic species Poa compressa and Daucus carota, and several native taxa including Sporobolus vaginiflorus, Allium cernuum, Andropogon gerardii, and Solidago altissima. The Grant Creek location was dominated by Sporobolus heterolepis, Rosa carolina, Sorghastrum nutans, and Solidago altissima. These three dolomite prairies can be considered good quality natural areas based on species richness and floristic quality. However, the presence and occasional dominance of nonnative species suggests the need for implementation and continuation of management practices that should maintain or improve their quality.


We have developed a new simple method to fabricate bulk amounts of colloidal spheres with well defined cavities from monodisperse emulsions. Herein, we describe the formation mechanism of "reactive" silicon oil droplets that deform to reproducible shapes via a polymerization-induced buckling instability. Owing to their unique shape, the resulting particles can be successfully used as colloidal building blocks in the assembly of composite clustersvia "lock-and-key" interactions.


Empirically estimated flexible functional forms frequently fail to satisfy the appropriate theoretical curvature conditions. Lau and Gallant and Golub have worked out methods for imposing the appropriate curvature conditions locally, but those local techniques frequently fail to yield satisfactory results. We develop two methods for imposing curvature conditions globally in the context of cost function estimation. The first method adopts Lau's technique to a generalization of a functional form first proposed by McFadden. Using this Generalized McFadden functional form, it turns out that imposing the appropriate curvature conditions at one data point imposes the conditions globally. The second method adopts a technique used by McFadden and Barnett, which is based on the fact that a non-negative sum of concave functions will be concave. Our various suggested techniques are illustrated using the U.S. Manufacturing data utilized by Berndt and Khaled


Over the last two decades I have been digging into the facts on a number of contracts cases, many of them featured in casebooks. I have collected the material in two books; one appeared in 2006 and the other is hot off the presses. This brief paper provides a roadmap for professors who might want more depth on the cases than is provided in the decisions or the casebooks. A recurring theme in the two books is that parties designing their contractual relationships must deal with change. This shows up in the manner in which they price the option to terminate (including the remedy for breach) and in the excuse cases. I include tables showing the incidence of my case analyses in three of the major casebooks. For example, 19 major cases in both the Scott-Kraus and Farnsworth, et al books are covered. As a bonus I include brief analyses of two cases not discussed in my books.


Elevated levels of tropospheric ozone can significantly impair the growth of crops. The reduced removal of CO2 by plants leads to higher atmospheric concentrations of CO2, enhancing radiative forcing. Ozone effects on economic yield, e. g. the grain yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), are currently used to model effects on radiative forcing. However, changes in grain yield do not necessarily reflect changes in total biomass. Based on an analysis of 22 ozone exposure experiments with field-grown wheat, we investigated whether the use of effects on grain yield as a proxy for effects on biomass under-or overestimates effects on biomass. First, we confirmed that effects on partitioning and biomass loss are both of significant importance for wheat yield loss. Then we derived ozone dose response functions for biomass loss and for harvest index (the proportion of above-ground biomass converted to grain) based on 12 experiments and recently developed ozone uptake modelling for wheat. Finally, we used a European-scale chemical transport model (EMEP MSC-West) to assess the effect of ozone on biomass (-9%) and grain yield (-14%) loss over Europe. Based on yield data per grid square, we estimated above-ground biomass losses due to ozone in 2000 in Europe, totalling 22.2 million tonnes. Incorrectly applying the grain yield response function to model effects on biomass instead of the biomass response function of this paper would have indicated total above-ground biomass losses totalling 38.1 million (i.e. overestimating effects by 15.9 million tonnes). A key conclusion from our study is that future assessments of ozone-induced loss of agroecosystem carbon storage should use response functions for biomass, such as that provided in this paper, not grain yield, to avoid overestimation of the indirect radiative forcing from ozone effects on crop biomass accumulation.


The pooling method of accounting for business combinations was banned in the USA in 2001 and by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in 2004. Although the US ban was controversial, the IASB ban received much less opposition. We review comment letters to the IASB and discuss possible reasons for this disparity. Understanding why reactions to similar proposals can be so different is increasingly important as efforts to converge US generally accepted accounting principles and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) gather pace. Our paper investigates the consultative stage for IFRS 3, exploring various aspects of the proposed standard, including elimination of pooling, non-amortisation of goodwill and consideration of fresh start. While the earlier US process possibly contributed to the lack of controversy around the IASB proposals, we suggest that other factors also played an important part. This study contributes to our understanding of factors that shape accounting reforms.


The interactions between different low work function metals aluminium,calcium and sodium, and α,ω‐diphenyltetradecaheptaene, a model molecule for certain conjugated polymers, have been investigated using both x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy. The spectra are interpreted with the help of the results of quantum chemical calculations performed within the local spin density (LSD) approximation methodology. The metals are found to interact with the conjugated system in very different ways. Aluminium forms a covalent bond, which strongly modifies the π‐electronic structure of the conjugated molecule, while both the sodium and the calcium atoms act as doping agents, inducing new states in the otherwise forbidden bandgap. These new gap states can be viewed as a soliton–antisoliton pair for the Na/DP7 and a bipolaronic‐like defect for Ca/DP7.


Socially-oriented technologies are growing in importance and are increasingly being used in organizations. There is an opportunity to enhance customer interactions in service offerings using social features, yet the incorporation of social features into information systems has been largely unexplored. In this paper, we propose a modeling extension that enhances existing information systems' modeling techniques such that they can be used to identify opportunities to incorporate social features in service system exchanges. We define social features as online technologies that support the creation of: 1) user profiles; 2) articulated social connections and membership within groups or communities; and, 3) user-generated content. We demonstrate the use of our social features modeling extension in a library service offering.


If we assess, on a scale of 1 to 10, the faith of someone in the power and potential of quantitative deterministic modelling, Darren Robinson is an 11. As the editor of the book and an author involved in seven of the ten chapters, Robinson has shaped a volume which foreshadows the day when a series of linked models on building performance, city performance, travel behavior and microclimate will help us to design sustainable cities. To put it more formally, to minimize "net internal entropy production and the exchange of non-renewable resources across the system boundaries." (p.9) However, this is a lot more than a paean to the modelling concept. Indeed it is taken as a given that mathematic modelling is an essential part of making urban areas more comfortable for users and less consumptive of resources – especially energy. The chapters are divided into four sections: Climate and Comfort, Metabolism, Measures and Optimization of Sustainability and an Eye to the Future. Within each section are two or three chapters dealing with specific aspects of these broader themes. Within Climate and Comfort, for example, the focus is on modelling of the radiant environment, urban climate and pedestrian comfort. Each chapter is ambitious seeking to give both a quick overview of the domain, details of one or more modelling approaches and a case study application. This is a good structure because readers without the faith or mathematical skills of Robinson and his co-authors can still get a clear sense of the possibilities of modelling in each case and see how they are currently being applied by researchers. According to the book cover the target audience is the "next generation of urban planners, architects and engineers" and current professionals. As an overview for an advanced class in urban modelling this is likely to work well. Fellow modellers are likely to be already aware of these formulations in their specific domain, while the more casual reader will find several sections, dense in formulae, impenetrable. There is a nice sense, however, of the benefits of model integration as a running theme. So, for example, we learn how the very specific work in radiant modelling contributes to our understanding of pedestrian comfort and feeds in turn into more comprehensive packages such as CitySim. Algorithms supporting the modelling include detail to the level of when blinds are up or down and windows open or closed. At some point one wonders what happened to Occum's razor. Nevertheless, the reasonable concept is that once we have the models running smoothly and accurately, we can begin to optimize. At this point Robinson, D. (ed.) (2011): Computer Modelling for Sustainable Urban Design – Physical Principles, Methods and Applications. London: Routledge, 277 pp., ISBN 978-1-84407-679-6. we meet the only chapter with a cautionary message. Flourentzos Flourentzou introduces a process for multi-criteria decision support called Hermione. This is a systematic vehicle for community discussion rather than a modelling process. Indeed Flourentzou argues a persuasive case, despite the risk of lowest common denominator outcomes, for not attempting define utility functions in decision situations with non-commensurate outcomes such as. Curiously, however, this is followed in the next chapter by an argument for optimization of decisions using computational processes. This is not necessarily a contradiction, but it would have been nice to also have been provided with a discussion of the circumstances in which the described qualitative and quantitative methods are best suited. Other chapters are contributed by Kay Axhausen (traffic) and Michael Batty (urban dynamics). These both given a strong sense of the possibilities in these areas. Despite the wide range of model types canvassed, there remains a sense that the sustainability being defended is a rather narrow definition. There is scarcely a mention, for example, of water, waste, recreational opportunity or community development. Agent-based modeling is introduced in a number of contexts and an alternative to numerical simulation. In the final chapter Robinson foreshadows increasing use of agents. He looks forward to the time when "our people-agents form unions with one another, procreate, purchase or rent a home, furnish this home, renovate this home, purchase a motor vehicle or invest in public transport season tickets, and so on" (p.265). There are some minor quality issues, variables not explained, lack of legends or units on the figures and use of acronyms not explained in the chapter (although they are in the glossary). Overall, however, the volume is well produced and provides a nice sense of the state-of-the-art 2011.


In this paper we address the problem of simultaneous object class and pose estimation using nothing more than object class label measurements from a generic object classifier. We detail a method for designing a likelihood function over the robot configuration space. This function provides a likelihood measure of an object being of a certain class given that the robot (from some position) sees and recognizes an object as being of some (possibly different) class. Using this likelihood function in a recursive Bayesian framework allows us to achieve a kind of spatial averaging and determine the object pose (up to certain ambiguities to be made precise). We show how inter-class confusion from certain robot viewpoints can actually increase the ability to determine the object pose. Our approach is motivated by the idea of minimalistic sensing since we use only class label measurements albeit we attempt to estimate the object pose in addition to the class.


Three years after the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, economic growth has resurfaced across the world, but with significant variation. This timely book illustrates that although mature economies (the EU in particular) are still confronting sluggish economic performance, emerging markets seem to have fully recovered. It explores the reform of global economic governance after the crisis and, in this context, addresses the role of the EU and its economic prospects for the coming decade.


TO THE EDITOR: The ultimate scientific mission of our community is to understand how the brain works in health and disease. Because the functions of the brain depend on molecular, cellular, and network level processes, achieving this goal requires the ability to directly interrogate those mechanisms. Doing such work in humans would require the development of noninvasive techniques at appropriate spatial scales of resolution—technology that is not going to be available in the foreseeable future. As a consequence, progress in many areas of neuroscience relies on the use of invasive methods in animals. If we were to stop such work, both the ability to advance our field and the ultimate, desired development of alternative, noninvasive methods, would largely come to a halt. The need for direct, invasive studies is not unique to neuroscience; however, the absolutely necessity for research on complex organisms, including nonhuman primates, is. Whether studying sensory processing, motor planning and execution, memory processes, and executive cognitive functions, nonhuman primates, by virtue of their close phylogenetic relationship to humans, makes them indispensible subjects that play a unique, irreplaceable role in our endeavor to address disorders of the CNS. These facts, although self-evident to most scientists, are not appreciated by animal rights activists that attack our research on at least two grounds. First, they argue that research in animals cannot—and will not—produce the knowledge necessary to lead to cures for human disease. Second, they argue that even if such cures could be found using animals, work with animals is unethical and should not be performed at all. These views are gathering new adepts on a daily basis, largely because they are presented to the broad public without an opposing force from the scientific community or from the governmental agencies that fund the studies. One consequence of this situation has been a dramatic increase in animal rights extremism in recent years. At UCLA, we have seen our cars and homes set ablaze or flooded. We have been sent letters packed with razors and received countless death threats. Our children and neighbors have been terrorized. Misguided activists within the Los Angeles community openly incite others to violence and then brag about the resulting crimes, going so far as to call plots for our assassination "morally justifiable." Despite being in the spotlight, our work is not different from the majority of articles appearing in the pages of this Journal and has always been in compliance with all the regulations on the use of animals in research. Investigators using primates, mice, or flies have been assaulted, so nobody can feel at ease. With an expanding list of investigators listed in the extremists' crosshairs, it is clear that anybody could be next. Enough is enough! We believe time has come to express our outrage at the activities of animal rights extremists and to request from our political representatives the security we and our families need to carry out our work. We believe that time has also come to discuss, debate, and express our opinions on the importance and ethics of animal research. Perhaps, most important, the time has also come to defend our research collectively and not to let only those under attack confront their plight alone. On April 22nd, a new organization, Pro-Test @ UCLA, held a rally of 700 scientists, staff, and students that stood together in favor of the responsible use of animals in biomedical research and in solidarity with those under attack. At the event, Americans for Medical Progress, Speaking of Research, and Pro-Test @ UCLA called on our community to add their signatures to a petition in support of research and against animal extremisms. A similar petition in the UK, crafted in response to attacks on Oxford University, was signed by a number of politicians, including then Prime Minister Tony Blair. This was a critical milestone that marked the turn against extremists and their agenda in the UK. We ask that you join us in mobilizing the entire scientific community to defend biomedical research. You can start with the easy step of signing the petition at www.raisingvoices.net, which already counts with nearly 10,000 signatories. Write to your representatives explaining the dangers of the escalating animal rights extremism for basic and translational research and urge your colleagues to do the same. Reach out to your students and local communities to explain the value of research; no one has a greater responsibility for explaining and defending your research than you do. If you teach medical students, make sure they understand the contribution of animal research to the material they are learning. Come up with your own ideas about how to make a difference and share them with us. Together we can have a profound impact on what is growing into an important public debate. If we stand together as a community, we will be heard. Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: D. L. Ringach, Departments of Neurobiology and Psychology, Jules Stein Eye Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563 (E-mail: email@example.com). J Neurophysiol 102: 2007, 2009. doi:10.1152/jn.00578.2009.


We present the results of a large-scale study on speech perception, assessing the number and type of perceptual hypotheses which listeners entertain about possible phoneme sequences in their language. Dutch listeners were asked to identify gated fragments of all 1179 diphones of Dutch, providing a total of 488,520 phoneme categorizations. The results manifest orderly uptake of acoustic information in the signal. Differences across phonemes in the rate at which fully correct recognition was achieved arose as a result of whether or not potential confusions could occur with other phonemes of the language (long with short vowels, affricates with their initial components, etc.). These data can be used to improve models of how acoustic-phonetic information is mapped onto the mental lexicon during speech comprehension.


Virtue Ethics has had relatively little impact in legal theory and in the theory of legal reasoning. This paper (a) discusses some crucial reasons why that is the case and tries to identify the burdens of relevance that a theory of virtue has to discharge in order to be taken seriously in theories of legal decision-making. It the (b) discusses the relationship between rule-following the capacity to identify exceptional cases. It does so by analysing the perceptive aspect of prudence using the broader Thomistic 'inner senses' and by explaining how those inner senses generate both a zone of perceptual clarity and a peripheral perceptual zone. FInally, it (c) deals with some potential problems of translating a general account of moral perception into the specific context of legal decision-making.


With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Asians became the victims of a sudden increase in racial discrimination as public officials repeatedly referred to the virus as the "Chinese virus." We document that Asian entrepreneurship has been disproportionally hurt after January 2020, particularly among Asian immigrants, declining by 17 percent when compared to non-Hispanic whites. Examining the dynamics of transitions into and out of self-employment, we find a substantial increase in Asian immigrants' self-employment exits, increased necessity entries, and reductions in opportunity entries – patterns suggestive of customer and employer 'taste discrimination'. The pandemic has also proven particularly harmful on businesses owned by recently arrived immigrants and by East Asian immigrants. While Asian enclaves help palliate the pandemic's damaging impact, the latter has reached a broad spectrum of businesses. Gaining a better understanding of how the pandemic has impacted Asian businesses is crucial to inform about the emergence of discriminatory behaviors that widen inequities and endanger a fast recovery.


The Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is an acute post-infective autoimmune polyradiculoneuropathy, it is the commonest peripheral neuropathy causing respiratory failure. The aim of the study is to use the New Combined Scoring System in anticipating respiratory failure in order to perform elective measures without waiting for emergency situations to occur. Patients and methods: Fifty patients with GBS were studied. Eight clinical parameters (including progression of patients to maximum weakness, respiratory rate/minute, breath holding count (the number of digits the patient can count in holding his breath), presence of facial muscle weakness (unilateral or bilateral), presence of weakness of the bulbar muscle, weakness of the neck flexor muscle, and limbs weakness) were assessed for each patient and a certain score was given to each parameter, a designed combined score being constructed by taking into consideration all the above mentioned clinical parameters. Results and discussion: Fifteen patients (30%) that were enrolled in our study developed respiratory failure. There was a highly significant statistical association between the development of respiratory failure and the lower grades of (bulbar muscle weakness score, breath holding count scores, neck muscle weakness score, lower limbs and upper limbs weakness score , respiratory rate score) and the total sum score above 16 out of 30 (p-value=0.000) . No significant statistical difference was found regarding the progression to maximum weakness (p-value=0.675) and facial muscle weakness (p-value=0.482). Conclusion: The patients who obtained a combined score (above 16'30) are at great risk of having respiratory failure.


This qualitative study of residents explores owners' and social renters' perceptions, views and experience of living in three mixed tenure neighbourhoods in Glasgow: Castlemilk, Drumchapel and the Gorbals. The report presents findings comparing and contrasting residents' experiences with respect to the three estates and in terms of the configuration of tenure.

Many similarities between owners and social renters living in the thee estates were found but also some clear differences, especially between the Gorbals and the peripheral estates. Incremental regeneration as experienced in the peripheral estates appears to have been less successful than the more radical 'purpose built' regeneration experienced in the Gorbals.

Mixed tenure is generally perceived as positive by residents and they see many benefits of living in their neighbourhoods and appreciate the improved housing and neighbourhood environment, but they recognise that new housing and improved environments do not address many problems in these estates.


A typhoon is a highly organized storm system that develops from initial cyclone eddies and matures by sucking up from the warm tropical oceans large quantities of water vapor that condense at higher altitudes. This latent heat of condensation is the prime source of energy supply that strengthens the typhoon as it progresses across the Pacific Ocean. A typhoon differs from other tropical cyclones only on the basis of location. While hurricanes form in the Atlantic Ocean and eastern North Pacific Ocean, typhoons develop in the western North Pacific around the Philippines, Japan, and China.
 Because of their violent histories with strong winds and torrential rains and their impact on society, the countries that ring the North Pacific basin—China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Taiwan—all often felt the need for producing typhoon forecasts and establishing storm warning services. Typhoon accounts in the pre-instrumental era were normally limited to descriptions of damage and incidences, and subsequent studies were hampered by the impossibility of solving the equations governing the weather, as they are distinctly nonlinear. The world's first typhoon forecast was made in 1879 by Fr. Federico Faura, who was a Jesuit scientist from the Manila Observatory. His brethren from the Zikawei Jesuit Observatory, Fr. Marc Dechevrens, first reconstructed the trajectory of a typhoon in 1879, a study that marked the beginning of an era. The Jesuits and other Europeans like William Doberck studied typhoons as a research topic, and their achievements are regarded as products of colonial meteorology.
 Between the First and Second World Wars, there were important contributions to typhoon science by meteorologists in the Philippines (Ch. Deppermann, M. Selga, and J. Coronas), China (E. Gherzi), and Japan (T. Okada, and Y. Horiguti). The polar front theory developed by the Bergen School in Norway played an important role in creating the large-scale setting for tropical cyclones. Deppermann became the greatest exponent of the polar front theory and air-masses analysis in the Far East and Southeast Asia.
 From the end of WWII, it became evident that more effective typhoon forecasts were needed to meet military demands. In Hawaii, a joint Navy and Air Force center for typhoon analysis and forecasting was established in 1959—the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC). Its goals were to publish annual typhoon summaries and conduct research into tropical cyclone forecasting and detection. Other centers had previously specialized in issuing typhoon warnings and analysis. Thus, research and operational forecasting went hand in hand not only in the American JTWC but also in China (the Hong Kong Observatory, the Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau), Japan (the Regional Specialized Meteorological Center), and the Philippines (Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration [PAGASA]). These efforts produced more precise scientific knowledge about the formation, structure, and movement of typhoons. In the 1970s and the 1980s, three new tools for research—three-dimensional numerical cloud models, Doppler radar, and geosynchronous satellite imagery—provided a new observational and dynamical perspective on tropical cyclones. The development of modern computing systems has offered the possibility of making numerical weather forecast models and simulations of tropical cyclones. However, typhoons are not mechanical artifacts, and forecasting their track and intensity remains an uncertain science.


How to build strong and sustainable economic relations between Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and Asia that go beyond commodities-for-manufacturing trade is a question of importance for policy makers on both sides of the Pacific. The relationship between Japan and LAC may offer a possible answer. Ties between Japan and the region have evolved over the course of several decades, diversifying from an initial focus on minerals and agriculture to encompass a broad panorama of trade, direct investment, and government-to-government cooperation that has shaped the development of sectors from automobiles and alternative energies to computer software and natural disaster preparedness, while helping launch some of LAC's signature export success stories. While trade between Japan and the region reached nearly US$65 billion in 2012, opportunities remain for LAC countries to deepen ties with the world's third-largest economy. This report provides an overview of the past trajectory and current state of the Japan-LAC relationship, highlighting its major achievements and showing how governments on both sides can take advantage of future opportunities.


Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a public health problem by quickly evolving into a global pandemic. Although the disease causes mild to moderate symptoms in large parts of society, severe respiratory distress develops in a significant portion. These patients need to be treated in the intensive care unit, and some of them also need invasive mechanical ventilation due to respiratory failure. Prolonged mechanical ventilation can bring out a need for tracheotomy in these patients. However, tracheotomy is a high-risk procedure in terms of transmission due to the high potential of aerosol generation. Therefore, some recommendations about the measurements to be taken and personal protective equipment (PPE) use were published. Until now, we performed tracheotomy in six patients with COVID-19 in our center and all these procedures were performed at the bedside. During these procedures, standard and enhanced PPE, including a powered air-purifying respirator, were used. No sign of the infection was seen in any member of the team who performed the procedures. In conclusion, the tracheotomy procedure in the patients with COVID-19 seems to be safe in terms of the transmission risk to the healthcare workers, based on articles published during the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic and our experiences. However, we still need data collection and documentation to establish the timing and benefit of tracheotomy in these patients.


As part of a 1–2.5 μm spectroscopic survey of jets and molecular outflows, we present the spectra of three Herbig Haro chains (HH111, HH240/241, HH120) characterized by strong emission from several Fe  transitions originating from the first 13 fine structure levels. Such emission is correlated with optical S  emission and appears to decrease moving away from the driving source. From the analysis of the Fe  lines we have derived electron densities values in the range 3 × 103– 2 × 104 cm−3, which are systematically larger than those inferred from optical S  line ratios. We suggest that Fe  lines, having critical densities higher than the optical S  transitions, trace either regions of the post-shock cooling layers with higher compression, or a section of the jet axis at a higher degree of ionization. Strong H2 emission lines are also detected along the three flows and their analysis indicates that a combination of different shocks can be responsible for their excitation in the different objects. Consequently the Fe  line emission, which requires the presence of fast dissociative shocks, is completely independent from the excitation mechanism giving rise to the molecular emission. In addition to the Fe  and H2 lines, emission from other species such as C , S , N  as well as recombination lines from the Paschen series are detected and have been used as a reference to infer the gas-phase iron abundance in the observed HH objects. We estimate a grain destruction efficiency of about 30–60%: the highest value is found for HH240A, which also shows the highest degree of excitation among the observed objects.


Limited availability of competent and motivated staff has been repeatedly cited as one of the major constraints on pig production in Australia. Whilst a considerable effort is put into training staff (Western Australia boasts the most advanced training facility in South-East Asia), practically nothing is known about the rates of employee turnover. Based on a postal survey and case studies of high and low turnover piggeries, this paper provides the first objective measures of staff turnover in the pig industry and explores possible explanatory factors. Measurement of turnover can provide managers with a benchmark to assess their own performance. This study also revealed shortcomings in the standard Separation Method used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics when it is applied to relatively small businesses. Alternative measures were calculated and are discussed.


A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management,
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements
for the degree of Master of Commerce (specialising in Taxation)


Abstract The purpose of this study was to test whether the priming of a brainstorming task by a persona increases ideational fluency and originality, i.e. the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of creative performance. We conducted a preliminary (n = 18) and final (n = 32) experiment with international students of business. These experiments revealed that priming of brainstorming by a persona increases originality of ideas by a large effect size (Cohen's d = .91, p = .02), and not significantly ideational fluency by a medium effect size (Cohen's d = .33, p = .39). As an alternative explanation to empathy, the found creativity effect may be attributed to priming that retrieves related memory items and thereby facilitates idea generation. As practical implications, design thinking practitioners can expect more original ideas and overcome design fixation if they brainstorm on a persona which is modelled in a concise and consistent way that caters to understanding the user need.


Satellite observations of tropospheric reactive gases are an integral part of the earth observing system but require continuous validation by independent measurements. For short-lived tropospheric species, the large variability in space and time results in specific challenges for validation, often combined with the scarcity of appropriate validation data. In this paper, the need for validation is discussed, previous work on validation of satellite observations is briefly reviewed, and the challenges and possible approaches for current and future validation networks are evaluated.


We compare three methods for fusing SPECT-CT images: ImageMatch - an automatic three-dimensional/two-dimensional method developed by Focus Imaging; IBM Visualization Data Explorer - a three-diemensional interactive method developed by Internation Business Machines, Inc.; and qsh - an interactive three-dimensional/two-dimensional method developed at New York University. While many fusion methods have proved successful for registering brain images, most methods have been less successful for thoracic and abdominal images. We use images of liver metastases obtained with a radiolabeled breast tumor-directed antibody to illustrate the strengths and weakness of the methods reviewed. The images used are typical clinical images from eigth patients. We conclude that an optimal image fusion program should combine the strengths of each of the methods reviewed.


This paper reports on a study in Hong Kong that investigates the pragmalinguistic choices and sociopragmatic judgements of 15 American-English-speaking students (NS) and 15 Chinese learners of English (CLE) in making e-mail requests to their professors. The study found that all students tended to be indirect in making such requests. Despite the fairly strong pragmalinguistic control developed by the CLEs in realising specific indirect strategies, they were particularly weak in employing certain syntactic devices as downgraders; to compensate, they made excessive use of lexical/phrasal and external mitigating moves to soften the requestive force. The CLEs were less confident in their judgements of language appropriateness and they perceived such requests as more imposing than their NS counterparts. Implications for methodology and pedagogy are highlighted. Keywords: request modification; academic e-mails; perception


This sophisticated primer draws together in an accessible form the principles of management as they need to be understood by library and information professionals.

Written by a practising library manager and a management academic, the text introduces and applies the latest management concepts to library management practice. Since most libraries are part of a wider organization, their management practice will be influenced by that organizational setting, whether the setting be a university, a local authority or a business. Responding effectively within this organizational context is a key theme that runs through this text. Library management is concerned with managing collections, people, services, resources, information and finance, but managers also need to work beyond the confines of the library. They need to understand and influence their environment, to respond to the power and politics of a situation, to contribute to strategic direction in arenas related to knowledge management, learning and information, and to promote their own careers.

The scene is set through the first two chapters, on management and organizations respectively. The first chapter covers the nature of management, management roles and competencies, and reviews the range and scope of library management. The second chapter focuses on the organizational context in which management is performed. The core of the book is a series of chapters in some of the key areas that constitute the management role: people, and their behaviour and management, marketing and user relationships, quality management, finances and resources, environment and context, and strategy and planning.

Each chapter is well illustrated with relevant examples, checklists and models. Chapters conclude with a list of further reading, and a list of review topics, which can be used as the basis for revision for study purposes, or as a prompt to encourage reflection on the content of the book, for the professional reader. Key areas covered:

•management and managing organizations;
•people in organizations;
•human resource management;
•marketing and user relationships;
•quality management;
•finance and resources;
•environment and context;
•strategy and planning.
This book will be a key text for students of library and information management, designed to introduce them to the practice, experience and theoretical principles of library management. In particular it should prepare them for their first posts as library managers, and alert them to the challenges and rewards of management. Practising library managers will also benefit from revisiting some of the topics covered in the book.


BACKGROUND: Retrospective and prospective studies 2 decades ago from the authors' institution reported the incidence of perioperative ulnar neuropathy persisting for at least several months in a noncardiac adult surgical population to be between 30 and 40 per 100,000 cases. The aim of this project was to assess the incidence and explore risk factors for perioperative ulnar neuropathy in a recent cohort of patients from the same institution using a similar definition for ulnar neuropathy. METHODS: We performed a retrospective incidence and case-control study of all adults (≥18 years) undergoing noncardiac procedures with anesthesia services between 2011 and 2015. Each incident case of persistent ulnar neuropathy within 6 months of surgery was matched by age, sex, procedure date, and procedure type to 5 surgical patient controls. For the case-control study, separate conditional logistic regression analyses were performed to assess specific risk factors including the patient's body position and arm position, as well as body mass index (BMI), surgical duration, and selected patient comorbidities. RESULTS: Persistent ulnar neuropathy of at least 2 months duration was found in 22 of 324,124 anesthetics for patients who underwent these procedures during the study period for an incidence rate of 6.8 (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.3-10.3) per 100,000 anesthetics. The incidence of ulnar neuropathy was higher in men compared to women (10.7 vs 3.0 per 100,000; P = .016). From the matched case-control study, the odds of ulnar neuropathy increased with higher BMI (odds ratio [OR] = 1.67 [1.16-2.42] per 5 kg/m2 increase in BMI; P = .006), history of cancer (OR = 6.46 [1.64-25.49]; P = .008), longer procedures (OR = 1.53 [1.18-1.99] per hour; P = .001), and when 1 or both arms were tucked during surgery (OR = 6.16 [1.85-20.59]; P = .003). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of persistent perioperative ulnar neuropathy observed in this study was lower than the incidence reported 2 decades ago from the same institution and using a similar definition for ulnar neuropathy. Several of the previously reported risk factors continue to be associated with the development of persistent perioperative ulnar neuropathy, providing ongoing targets for practice changes that might further decrease the incidence of this problem.


Background Low back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are recommended as the first-line pharmacologic therapy for subacute or chronic low back pain, with opioids reserved for patients who fail on NSAIDs. CYP2D6, CYP2C9, and CYP2C19 genes have variants that place patients using analgesics at risk for adverse events. However, precision medicine based on pharmacogenetically informed prescribing is becoming more feasible as genotyping costs decline. This study aims to compare opioids vs NSAIDs in treating adults with subacute or chronic low back pain under the alternative models of usual care and precision medicine. Methods An observational cohort study within the Pain Registry for Epidemiological, Clinical, and Interventional Studies and Innovation (PRECISION) will be used to simulate a randomized controlled trial. Patients using opioids and NSAIDs will be optimally matched at baseline using propensity scores. A saliva sample will also be collected to determine patient genotypes for drug metabolism based on CYP2D6 (single-gene model) and CYP2D6, CYP2C9, and CYP2C19 (multigene model). Prescribing that is concordant with pharmacogenetically informed care under these models will be considered "low risk", whereas discordant prescribing will be considered "high risk". Primary outcomes will be assessed over 6 months using a Numerical Rating Scale for pain, the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire, and the Drug Adverse Events Index. Secondary outcomes will be assessed using quality-of-life measures. An estimated 600 patients will be enrolled to acquire at least 400 patients after attrition and allowing for unmatched patients. This will achieve a statistical power of at least 80% in detecting the effect sizes ranging from 0.35 (small–medium effect) to 0.69 (medium–large effect). Discussion This PRECISION Pain Research Registry study builds on the concepts espoused in the Precision Medicine Initiative and addresses long-term goals established by the National Institutes of Health by assessing how precision medicine may prevent and treat chronic pain.


As the second decade of the 21st century draws to a close, Indigenous literary studies in Aotearoa New Zealand are characterized primarily by tension between abundance and scarcity. The abundance relates to a wealth of writers, texts, and forms, both contempo rary and archival. Many historical texts and literary contexts are being revealed and in vestigated for the first time. Abundance in this context also signifies the richness of ap proach, technique, and language use in both contemporary and archival texts. The signifi cance of this deep archive is yet to be fully realized, due in part to the scarcity of scholars in Indigenous literatures of Aotearoa, a lack which is cemented and institutionalized by the absence of university courses that focus primarily on Indigenous literatures in Eng lish. A paucity of published Māori and Pasifika creative texts, particularly long-form fic tion, further solidifies a perceptible absence in New Zealand writing. Significant scholar ship is being developed despite this, however. And rather than being limited to viewing Indigenous literatures through the lens of English or New Zealand literary history, Indige nous scholars present innovative historical, geographical, and creative genre frameworks that open up multiple ways of reading and engaging with Indigenous literatures. In New Zealand, Māori literature is any writing produced by the Indigenous population. Māori and Moriori are the name of the Indigenous peoples of New Zealand, who also identify within distinct tribal groupings. In international contexts, the word "Indigenous" may be used more frequently to describe Māori, but in a New Zealand context, the term "Māori" is almost exclusively used. It should be noted that Māori is not a literary category, howev er. It is a cultural identity. It therefore follows that any form of literature can be produced by a Māori writer, and may be labeled "Māori writing."
Drawing on a long literary whakapapa, or genealogy, Māori writers and literary scholars are crossing colonially imposed boundaries to recognize distinctively Indigenous creative and critical epistemologies. Having passed through the Māori cultural renaissance of the 1970s to the 1990s, Māori writers no longer grapple with the need to articulate their right to existence as distinct peoples, but instead enjoy the autonomy to decide how that distinctive existence may best be expressed. One of the most lively aspects of contempo rary Indigenous literature in New Zealand is the emphasis on new ways to present, read, incorporate, and interpret te reo Māori in English language texts.


Constraints enable flexible graph layout by combining the ease of automatic layout with customizations for a particular domain. However, constraint-based layout often requires many individual constraints defined over specific nodes and node pairs. In addition to the effort of writing and maintaining a large number of similar constraints, such constraints are specific to the particular graph and thus cannot generalize to other graphs in the same domain. To facilitate the specification of customized and generalizable constraint layouts, we contribute SetCoLa: a domain-specific language for specifying high-level constraints relative to properties of the backing data. Users identify node sets based on data or graph properties and apply high-level constraints within each set. Applying constraints to node sets rather than individual nodes reduces specification effort and facilitates reapplication of customized layouts across distinct graphs. We demonstrate the conciseness, generalizability, and expressiveness of SetCoLa on a series of real-world examples from ecological networks, biological systems, and social networks. CCS Concepts •Human-centered computing → Graph drawings;


We investigate the three-dimensional structure of the streamer belt of the solar corona using a model that allows us to simulate its quasi-stationary configuration. Starting from the National Solar Observatory photospheric magnetograms, the position of the neutral line at the source surface ($2.5 ~R_\odot$) is determined using the potential field source surface model. A plasma sheet is centered around the current sheet represented as the radial extension of the neutral line. Comparing the synoptic maps of the streamer belt obtained with the SOHO/LASCO-C2 coronagraph and the simulated synoptic maps constructed from our model of the warped plasma sheet, we confirm earlier findings by Wang et al. (1997, ApJ, 485, 875; Wang et al. 2000, Geophys. Res. Lett., 27, 149) that the streamers are associated with folds in the plasma sheet. Although the large-scale structure of the streamer belt is described reasonably well, some features, however, cannot be explained in this framework. We propose that two types of large-scale structures take part in the formation of these additional features. The first one is an additional fold of the neutral line, which does not appear in the modeled source surface neutral line, but is well visible in photospheric magnetograms. The second one is a plasma sheet with a ramification in the form of a secondary short plasma sheet. We show that these structures better describe the observed configurations of the streamer belt. The secondary plasma sheet can be formed between two secondary current sheets connected to the main current sheet. Our results suggest that the potential field source surface model is not fully adequate for the description of the fine structure of the streamer belt, even during the time of low solar activity.


This paper, proposes the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methodology for selection of a maintenance strategy to assure the consistency and effectiveness of maintenance decisions. The methodology is based on an AHP-enhanced TOPSIS, VIKOR and benefit-cost ratio, in which the importance of the effectiveness appraisal criteria of a maintenance strategy is determined by the use of AHP. Furthermore, in the proposed methodology the different maintenance policies are ranked using the benefit-cost ratio, TOPSIS and VIKOR. The method provides a basis for consideration of different priority factors governing decisions, which may include the rate of return, total profit, or lowest investment. When the preference is the rate of return, the benefit-cost ratio is used, and for the total profit TOPSIS is applied. In cases where the decision maker has specific preferences, such as the lowest investment, VIKOR is adopted. The proposed method has been tested through a case study within the aviation context for an aircraft system. It has been found that using the methodology presented in the paper, the relative advantage and disadvantage of each maintenance strategy can be identified in consideration of different aspects, which contributes to the consistent and rationalized justification of the maintenance task selection. The study shows that application of the combined AHP, TOPSIS, and VIKOR methodologies is an applicable and effective way to implement a rigorous approach for identifying the most effective maintenance alternative.


A simple, precise, accurate, and selective method with low limit of quantitation (LOQ) was developed and validated for analysis of elaidic acid which is the predominant trans fatty acids in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. Separation was achieved on a reversed-phase C18 column, using mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile/water (80:20, v/v) containing 0.1% acetic acid, and using UV detection at 205 nm. This method was validated according to the requirements for new methods, which include accuracy, precision, selectivity, robustness, limit of detection (LOD), LOQ, linearity and range. The current method demonstrates good linearity over the range of 3-1000 mg L -1 of elaidic acid with r 2 greater than 0.999. The recovery of elaidic acid in oils and fats ranges from 94.5 to 98.7%. The method is selective where elaidic acid is good separated from oleic acid and other components of fats and oils with good resolution. The method is also precise where the RSD of the peak areas of replicate injections of elaidic acid solution is less than 1%. The degree of reproducibility of the results obtained as a result of small deliberate variations in the method parameters and by changing analytical operators has proven that the method is robust and rugged.


An insight moment is defined as a sudden new idea, understanding or solution to a problem accompanied by an Aha experience. Typically researchers have described this experience in terms of positive emotions, with a recent shift in focus from purely cognitive aspects to explore the phenomenology of insight. Taking such an approach, this thesis firstly identifies that the historical research focus on cognitive, experimental methods in the study of insight may have led to an incomplete definition. A series of qualitative studies were therefore undertaken to characterise everyday experience of insight.
Firstly an online questionnaire collected 76 open, qualitative descriptions of everyday insight moments. These were analysed by an adapted qualitative method, Integrative Thematic Analysis (ITA); developed within this thesis to minimise the effects of researcher subjectivity bias. Results identified a typology of insight, with themes describing the Process (Time Away, Active Search, Social Facilitation), Content (Intellectual, Practical, Personal) and Feeling (Positive and Negative) aspects of insight. These findings represent the documentation of negative insight in research for the first time. A follow up study using the same methodology was then conducted to specifically record everyday experiences of negative insight. ITA and Deductive Content Analysis were performed on the 67 insight descriptions collected. Findings suggest a functional role of everyday negative insight as a problem finding process, which is not recognized in current definitions of insight framed as a positive event. As a result, this thesis proposes the development of an updated definition of the insight moment for further experimental testing as:
A sudden new understanding, realisation or idea that is accompanied by a positive feeling Aha moment, or negative feeling Uh-oh moment.
A third qualitative study was then conducted to record everyday insight moments in real-time, using a diary methodology and event contingent sampling in a focused sample of 11 participants. This aimed to explore the prevalence of insight in in real-time in everyday life for the first time. Follow-up semi-structured interviews with participants were then conducted that intended to enable rich accounts of their insight experiences. Insight moments were shown to be rare, with few reports made during the participants' week of recording. This corresponds with researchers expectations in terms of prevalence but was shown to contrast to the participants who were surprised by how few insights they experienced. Furthermore, the de-brief interviews identified some participants who reported never experiencing insight, corroborating other recent research suggesting that the insight moment might not be a universal experience. ITA identified themes, including Individual Differences in insight, where participants suggested that differences in factors such as trait emotionality may affect how people experience insight.
The emotional aspects of insight identified from the qualitative studies were then explored in two laboratory-based experiments. Psychological and physiological aspects implicated in previous insight and emotion research were measured including: emotional expressivity (Berkeley Expressivity Questionnaire), interoceptive accuracy (Heart Beat Counting [HBC] task) and heart rate [HR]. In Study 4, 79 participants completed Compound Remote Associates, an established problem solving task that elicits positive insight and search experiences. No relationship was seen between emotional expressivity or heart beat counting accuracy and performance (proportion of insight and search reported) on the CRA. Different HR changes were shown between insight and search trials, with decreased deceleration in insight. A biphasic HR change response was seen for both solving types that was congruent to HR changes shown in previous research in response to emotional stimuli.
Study 5, then aimed to explore the same measures using a problem solving task that in addition, elicited negative insight. In order to do this, a novel paradigm was developed, using Connect 4 as a naturalistic problem solving task. This was demonstrated to elicit the full range of problem solving experiences, positive and negative, insight and search in a sample of 80 participants. No associations were seen between solving performance and emotional expressivity or heart beat counting accuracy. HR change patterns seen in Study 4 were replicated, with greater HR decreases for search compared to insight trials, although evidence was less clear in terms of the biphasic response.
The utility of Connect 4 as a naturalistic problem solving task was demonstrated by Study 5, however limitations in the computer-based version of the game developed in this thesis were also identified. As such, future research is recommended with an improved version Connect 4 to enable more robust conclusions to be drawn. In addition, the limitations of the proportion of insight, a problem solving performance measure, were also highlighted. Therefore, future work to better validate this measure in laboratory based tasks, and in relation to everyday insight experience are proposed.
The findings in this thesis are discussed in terms of wider impact, in relation to applied fields beyond academic study. For example, in Counselling Psychology where insight is seen as a central process in therapeutic change, there are implications in terms of individuals who do not report having insight. Furthermore, everyday creativity including experiencing insight has been demonstrated elsewhere to relate to flourishing and wellbeing, with this research offering corroboration in terms of the positive experiences reported in relation to insight.
This thesis contributes to our knowledge in first offering an updated and ecologically validated definition of insight. Furthermore it highlights the role of emotion in insight experience and corroborates the phenomenological approach that is now being seen in insight research. Finally, it identifies a possible somatic marker in HR, to distinguish insight and search solving. In addition, novel methods of qualitative analysis (ITA) and a naturalistic experimental problem solving (Connect 4) have been developed.


In this article, the second of three, we discuss and develop the basis of a Weyl quantisation for compact Lie groups aiming at loop quantum gravity-type models. This Weyl quantisation may serve as the main mathematical tool to implement the program of space adiabatic perturbation theory in such models. As we already argued in our first article, space adiabatic perturbation theory offers an ideal framework to overcome the obstacles that hinder the direct implementation of the conventional Born-Oppenheimer approach in the canonical formulation of loop quantum gravity. Additionally, we conjecture the existence of a new form of the Segal-Bargmann-Hall "coherent state" transform for compact Lie groups $G$, which we prove for $G=U(1)^{n}$ and support by numerical evidence for $G=SU(2)$. The reason for conjoining this conjecture with the main topic of this article originates in the observation, that the coherent state transform can be used as a basic building block of a coherent state quantisation (Berezin quantisation) for compact Lie groups $G$. But, as Weyl and Berezin quantisation for $\mathbb{R}^{2d}$ are intimately related by heat kernel evolution, it is natural to ask, whether a similar connection exists for compact Lie groups, as well. Moreover, since the formulation of space adiabatic perturbation theory requires a (deformation) quantisation as minimal input, we analyse the question to what extent the coherent state quantisation, defined by the Segal-Bargmann-Hall transform, can serve as basis of the former.


The OECD through its BEPS initiative should strongly recommend to OECD member and non-member countries that they abandon the territorial and deferral systems that they currently use. To replace these systems, they would implement full-inclusion systems under which all foreign income, including profits in foreign subsidiaries, would be currently taxed by each MNE's home country. A foreign tax credit mechanism would prevent double-taxation.This action would eliminate or significantly reduce the motivation of multinationals to shift profits into tax havens and other low-tax countries. As such, there would be significantly reduced MNE profit-shifting structures that erode the tax bases of all countries and require considerable time and resources of all tax authorities as well as of the multinationals that must create and maintain complicated supply-chain and other tax-motivated structures.Other benefits include an expanded tax base for all countries, simplification through elimination of home country transfer pricing issues and need for CFC rules, and a more level-playing field competitively both for competition between multinationals headquartered in different countries and for competition between pure domestic companies and multinationals headquartered in that country. And the expanded tax base could allow a reduction in the overall corporate tax rate, a factor that could make the change to this full-inclusion system more politically acceptable.The basic concept is simple. By being subject to current home-country taxation on its worldwide earnings, a multinational's motivation for complicated structures that shift profits into tax havens from countries where operations, sales and services take place is significantly reduced or eliminated.


Success of invasive species has been frequently estimated as the present distribution range size in the introduced region. However, the present distribution range is only a picture of the invasion for a given time step and do not inform on the potential distribution range of the species. Based on niche-based models we used climatic, geographic and landscape information on the present distribution range for 78 major plant invaders in Spain to estimate and map their potential distribution range. We found a positive relationship between present and potential distribution of species. Most of the species have not yet occupied half of their potential distribution range. Sorghum halepense and Amaranthus retroflexus have the widest potential distribution range. Sorghum halepense and Robinia pseudoacacia have the highest relative occupancy (i.e. proportion of potential distribution range currently occupied). Species with a larger minimum residence time have, on average, higher relative occupancy. Our study warns managers that it might be only a matter of time that currently localized invasive species reach their potential area of distribution.


Relationships and the pattern of relationships have a large and varied influence on both individual and group action. The fundamental distinction of social network analysis research is that relationships are of paramount importance in explaining behavior. Because of this, social network analysis offers many exciting tools and techniques for research and practice in a wide variety of medical and public health situations including organizational improvements, understanding risk behaviors, coordinating coalitions, and the delivery of health care services. This book provides an introduction to the major theories, methods, models, and findings of social network analysis research and application. In three sections, it presents a comprehensive overview of the topic; first in a survey of its historical and theoretical foundations, then in practical descriptions of the variety of methods currently in use, and finally in a discussion of its specific applications for behavior change in a public health context. Throughout, the text has been kept clear, concise, and comprehensible, with short mathematical formulas for some key indicators or concepts. Researchers and students alike will find it an invaluable resource for understanding and implementing social network analysis in their own practice.


REQUIRED) The concept of IT disaster recovery planning is receiving an increasing amount of attention from IT practitioners and business managers due to its importance in averting disasters and ensuring the continuity of organizations. Surprisingly, little research has been aimed at providing a comprehensive definition of this topic. Thus, this manuscript describes the process by which conceptual definition of IT disaster recovery planning is developed and an exhaustive listing of the construct's dimensions is derived via content analysis. In this meta-study, 72 articles were found to yield 572 individual planning recommentations related to IT disaster recovery planning. The data were analyzed using a clustering technique and formed into 7 dimensions and 16 sub-dimensions. The results can be used to guide organizations' IT disaster recovery planning processes.


The content of this book is concerned with various issues at stake in Creole studies that are also of interest for general linguistics. These include the general issue of Creole genesis and of the accelerated linguistic change that characterizes the emergence of these languages as compared to ordinary cases of linguistic change, the problem of the development of morphology in incipient Creoles, the problem of the validity of data in linguistic analysis, the issue of multifunctionality as regards the concept of lexical entry, the question of whether Creole languages are semantically more transparent than languages not known as Creoles, the issue of whether Creole languages constitute a typologically identifiable class and the problem of the interaction between the processes involved in the emergence and development of Creole languages. The purpose of this book is to present the major debates that are currently taking place in the field of Creole studies; evaluate the arguments against data (mainly drawn from Haitian Creole); and address the issues at stake within the framework of new paradigms. The various positions on each issue are summarized on the basis of a thorough review of the literature.


Mercury pollution is a global crisis facing society today because it is a toxic and hazardous element that can severely threaten human health and environment.Activated carbon as an effective adsorbent in capturing elemental mercury from flue gas was used for this research. In this research, activated carbon was produced from oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) using physical (steam) activation method and response surface methodology (RSM) is applied in order to maximize the BET surfacearea. One model has been developed for BET surface area and showed the activation
temperature and activation time are the affecting factors for optimum activated carbon production. The optimum operating conditions were calculated using this model to produce activated carbon with relatively large BET surface area (>500 m2/g). Based
on this optimum condition (765°C, 77 min), the experimental value of BET surface area obtained was 720.0 m2/g, which is in agreement with that predicted from the
model (717.6 m2/g). The activated carbon produced at optimum conditions was used as adsorbent for the mercury removal from simulated flue gas. The effect of flue gas temperature, inlet mercury concentration and types of activated carbon (modified AC
and unmodified AC) were investigated throughout this work. Initially, activated carbon showed a good potential for adsorption of mercury at low temperature.However, as temperature increases from 90°C to 180°C, the efficiency of mercury removal decreased. When the inlet mercury concentration was increased, the mercury removal efficiency was increased. The effect of adsorption efficiency on surface modified activated carbon with potassium iodide (KI) was also studied and showed that the presence of F ion on the surface of activated carbon increased the percentage removal of up to 99% and concluded that 5 wt% of KI is deemed to be the maximum desirable loading.


This is a study of the radical changes that occurred at the London-based Institute of Race Relations and is thus historically focussed on the period from 1969-1972. Although an attempt is made to trace the history of the Institute from 1950 onwards and indeed account for and explain the so-called 'palace revolution' that occurred during 1972, the major theoretical focus of this study stems from an interest in two questions: why and how did resistance emerge at the Institute? What are its implications for a more general theory of resistance? It is suggested here that an understanding of what happened cannot be fully achieved without locating the events within, firstly, the broader historical and political framework of the development of black resistance, and, secondly in a sociological tradition concerned in particular with explaining social change, conflict, power, and approaches to the understanding of race relations situations. Given this framework which is developed more fully in Chapter Two it is suggested that the resistance which occurred evolved as a result of the combination of a number of discernable social conditions or factors. Firstly, the governing body, seen here as 'ideologists' in the Mannheimian sense of the term, consciously attempted to protect certain interests, values and beliefs, irrespective of the wider changes that were taking place during the late 1960s in the field of race research, policy, and practice. Their total insistence on this, which incorporated a specific conception of social reality, gave rise, secondly, to a sense, amongst sections of the staff, of controlled domination and oppression. This however could not be articulated by the staff, or 'Utopians', until, thirdly, social space had been created in order, fourthly, to allow for the development of consciousness, and, fifthly, the construction of an alternative, Utopian, approach to race relations in which was subsumed a radically different conception of social reality. When, sixthly, this in turn was rigorously suppressed, and when, seventhly, the Utopians saw in this and subsequent actions a real threat to their whole existence and identity as meaningful and relevant workers, they consciously organised resistance Although the ultimate success of their resistance depended upon a number of variables, including that of how effectively they could project their alternative approach, conception of reality and role for a radically restructured Institute, the dialectical and sociological quality of their resistance remained constant: it arose within a conflict situation and as a result of a profound clash between two socially organised and competing conceptions of the nature of social reality and the place or role of the Institute within that reality. Through the process of constructing 'instrume power', resistance was consciously organised and employed politicall to obtain 'property power', which entailed not only the eventual overthrow of the IRR Council but also the absolute rejection of the social sources on which its authority was based. From this explanation a systematic attempt is made in the concluding chapter to unpackage and reorder these and other conditions, factors, and/or relations in order to formulate the prepositional basis for a dialectical theory of resistance.


This volume, one of the most important and timely publications of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), represents the latest effort by scholars associated with the organization to formulate an educational program for Muslims. Ziauddin Sardar and Jeremy Henzell-Thomas revise and update the attempts by Ismail Faruqi and fellow founders of IIIT in the 1980s to address the crisis of education faced then by Muslim societies.That is appropriate, for the crisis has not disappeared with the passage of time. If anything, it has become greater and now encompasses Muslims worldwide—not just those in Muslim societies. And, as the authors of this volume note repeatedly, it has captured the attention of educators in the US, UK, and most other European nations.Now, eschewing the older Islamization of knowledge approach, Sardar and Henzell-Thomas propose the integration of knowledge. They set aside the old paradigm while offering minimal comments about the shortcomings that warrant such a change, perhaps so as to avoid giving rise to unnecessary quarrels. Major attention must be accorded, therefore, what the authors understand integration of knowledge to be and how it might address the needs of their specific audience—Muslim societies. One must wonder, all the same, why the audience is so defined. After all, the crisis of education affects people everywhere, Muslims in Muslim and non-Muslim societies as well as non-Muslims living in Muslim and non-Muslim societies. How do differences in political and economic problems faced by these various groups affect the educational goals to be achieved and who is affected by them?Another preliminary objection concerns the way both the earlier IIIT reformers and those involved in the new project ignore or neglect the critique of shortcomings in educational approaches launched in the US early in the twentieth century by Robert Maynard Hutchins and Mortimer Adler, a critique that culminated in the Great Books movement. It, or, more accurately, offshoots of it, have given rise to attempts at general or liberal education in numerous American and European institutions. Especially pertinent for the integration of knowledge project is how these offshoots of the Great Books movement, ostensibly centered on Western writings at the outset, have gradually come to incorporate fundamental texts from the Golden Age of the Arabic and Islamic tradition. Today more than ever, it is essential to promote the cultural phenomena common to all. Only greater awareness of the extent to which we are one people will allow us to counter those who seek to divide us and thereby fuel enmity.Finally, no attention is accorded here to how the issues identified with the crisis of education are addressed in other faith traditions or to the way members of those traditions attempt to integrate the teachings of revealed texts with ones arising from simple human reasoning. Such a broader focus would have permitted the authors to propose an approach that might resonate with the general malaise expressed by many educators and suggest a way forward that all, not just Muslims, could embrace.Still, these preliminary objections are just that, preliminary. To assess their merit, it is essential to consider carefully what is actually proposed in the volume under review. It consists of a Foreword setting forth the basic principles of the revised project and four chapters. The first, "Mapping the Terrain," is by Sardar, as is the second, "From Islamization to Integration of Knowledge." Henzell-Thomas is the author of the third and fourth chapters, "The Integration We Seek" and "Towards a Language of Integration."


The returns management (RM) process has traditionally been seen as a value recovery
process, which has resulted in an efficiency focus in the returns flow. This thesis
present, the effects on a fashion e-commerce organisation, which is underprioritising or
neglecting RM in general and consumer returns specifically. In the reported and
described single-case study and through a real-life experiment, performed with the
case organisation nelly.com, it is shown that the consumer returns rates are not only
influenced by the product itself. They represent a complex problem that has its reasons
and causes, whereby the product (size, fit, quality, et cetera) together with consumer
buying and returning behaviour ultimately have a combined effect on the organisation.
The results from the thesis are based on previous research and rest heavily on the
research performed since the start of the research journey. Consumer returns form
part of the value creation in e-commerce and therefore returns management is a
strategic part of the business as such.
Handling consumer returns in a traditional or efficient returns system without knowing
the reason for return and the state of the returned item is nothing other than gambling
with resources. The proposed returns information system (RIS) framework in the
thesis addresses this issue and facilitates the downstream application of the
gatekeeping activity, near or at the end-user location; managerial attention is required
at the strategic process level to build a proper returns system that is partly, and quite
likely, decentralised.
Products, suppliers, customers and internal processes cause consumer returns and
therefore a returns manager needs to address these with other functions and SC
partners. This result is partly new and the proposed alignment of RM as a strategic
process is new in the sense that RM is part of value creation. This thesis empirically
supports the conclusion that "one size fits all" is outdated and does not fit with ecommerce
business. The results imply that managers need to gain a profound
understanding of consumers' buying behaviour and also to create differentiated
delivery and returns processes to be able to grow within the existing customer
segments and possibly to attract new or non-customers who are out of reach at present.
Seeing the RM process as strategic in e-commerce, as proposed in the thesis, facilitates
the development of the process to become both effective and efficient. Returns
management has the potential for revenue creation and cost reduction.


Photoactivation of bacteriophytochrome involves a cis–trans photoisomerization of a biliverdin chromophore, but neither the precise sequence of events nor the direction of the isomerization is known. Here, we used nonadiabatic molecular dynamics simulations on the photosensory protein dimer to resolve the isomerization mechanism in atomic detail. In our simulations the photoisomerization of the D ring occurs in the counterclockwise direction. On a subpicosecond time scale, the photoexcited chromophore adopts a short-lived intermediate with a highly twisted configuration stabilized by an extended hydrogen-bonding network. Within tens of picoseconds, these hydrogen bonds break, allowing the chromophore to adopt a more planar configuration, which we assign to the early Lumi-R state. The isomerization process is completed via helix inversion of the biliverdin chromophore to form the late Lumi-R state. The mechanistic insights into the photoisomerization process are essential to understand how bacteriophytochrome has evolved to mediate photoactivation and to engineer this protein for new applications.


This paper quantifies the interdependence in labor markets that exists in the Mercosur countries. Two sets of panel data are constructed: one formed by the aggregation of annual time series data from Argentina and Brazil, and another with data from Uruguay and Paraguay. These two sets of data are used to estimate a Var model that includes the following variables: economic growth, real effective exchange rates, and unemployment rates. Another Var is estimated including the change in the wage levels in place of the unemployment rates. The results indicate that strong cross border effects ensue between countries such that national unemployment rates drop in response to shocks of economic growth and devaluation in other member countries. The paper ends with a series of recommendations on the design of regional stabilization policies.


Asphaltene precipitation and deposition is a serious problem in many Iranian fields. The deposited asphaltene results in partial or total blockage of the wellbore and wellstring reducing or completely seizing oil production. This paper studies the asphaltene problem and mitigation methods in wellstring systematically. It presents new approach based on the combination of thermodynamic modeling of asphaltene precipitation with hydrodynamic well modeling. The developed model is capable to determine the asphaltene precipitation and deposition interval through the wellstring. Therefore, it could study the effect of hydrodynamic parameters such as wellhead pressure, well flow-rate and tubing size on the mitigation of asphaltene deposition. The conventional way to treat asphaltene deposition was through remediation which attacks the problem after it occurs. This model is capable to determine the severity of asphaltene deposition even before start of production. The model was applied to simulate the asphaltene precipitation in one of the south Iranian oil fields (Kupal) and important guidelines have been studied to mitigate the risks associated with asphaltene deposition. The results of modeling show that change in hydrodynamic condition could reduce and mitigate asphaltene deposition damage. But in some cases it would not be possible to prevent asphaltene precipitation completely. Therefore, the approach for flow assurance in those cases would be to change the well completion and inject asphaltene inhibitor, in order to prevent deposition of asphaltene flocculates.


The potential of heteropoly acid H3PW12O40 to catalyze the chemical transformation of ginsenoside Re into rare ginsenosides was explored. This homogeneous catalyst can be recycled by extraction with diethyl ether. Eight resulting products were separated and identified through a developed high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with multistage tandem mass spectrometry and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HPLC-MSn/HRMS) method. Multistage tandem mass spectrometry was employed to trace the source of fragments and determine fragmentation pathways. Also, high-resolution mass spectrometry was used for the accurate structural elucidation of fragments. Ginsenosides 25-OH-Rg6 and 25-OH-F4, consisting of the aglycone structures of "3β, 12β, 25-trihydroxy-dammar-20 (21/22)-ene", were obtained via chemical transformation for the first time. Chemical transformation pathways of ginsenoside Re were summarized, which involved deglycosylation, hydration, dehydration, and epimerization reactions. A carbenium ion mechanism was further employed to elucidate each transformation process, and the stability of carbenium ions was supposed to be responsible for the reaction pathways and selectivity.


1. The role of nitric oxide as mediator of the vascular alterations present in different models of experimental liver cirrhosis is controversial. In the present study, we evaluated the role of nitric oxide and that of the endothelium in the response to phenylephrine and acetylcholine of isolated aortic rings from chronic bile duct-ligated (29 days) rats and their corresponding controls. Experiments were performed in rings with or without endothelium, in rings pretreated with N-omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (10(-4) mol/l) to inhibit nitric oxide synthesis and in rings pretreated with aminoguanidine (10(-4) mol/l) to inhibit inducible nitric oxide synthesis. 2. Under basal conditions, the maximum absolute tension developed in response to cumulative addition of phenylephrine was significantly decreased in rings from bile duct-ligated animals (1.62 +/- 0.06 g) compared with the control rings (2.15 +/- 0.099). This hyporesponsiveness to phenylephrine of rings from bile duct-ligated animals was corrected after treatment with N-omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester and reduced, but not completely eliminated, in rings without endothelium. In contrast, aminoguanidine did not modify the lower response to phenylephrine rings from bile duct-ligated animals. ED50 values were not different between groups under any experimental conditions. 3. The endothelium-dependent vasodilatation to acetylcholine in phenylephrine-constricted rings was similar in both groups of animals, control and bile duct ligated, under all experimental conditions. N-omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester pretreatment and removal of the endothelium completely abolished the response to acetylcholine in cirrhotic and control rings. 4. These results demonstrate that in aortic rings from cirrhotic, bile duct-ligated rats, increased production of nitric oxide, mainly of endothelial origin, is responsible for the lower contractile response to phenylephrine. Our data, however, do not support the involvement of the inducible nitric oxide synthase isoform in this alteration. In contrast, endothelial vasodilatory response to acetylcholine is not altered in this model of cirrhosis, which indicates that not all mechanisms of nitric oxide release are abnormal.


A system of functional differential equations arising from Fermat's principle is used to study qualitative questions concerning the mathematical possibility of certain rotationally symmetric piecewise homogeneous optical systems. In particular, it is shown that, given two pairs of points on the optical axis, there exist precisely two systems of single-element lenses having prescribed axial thickness and index of refraction such that these points are perfect foci. This finding sharpens an earlier result. Embedding the solution in a one-parameter family permits the construction of an asymptotic solution that requires the solution of a single nonlinear ordinary differential equation. The leading-order solution corresponds to an optical system satisfying the Herschel condition. The existence and uniqueness results are extended to optical systems having three lens boundaries such as achromatic doublets.


While the refugee protection system is one of international law's most recognizable features, it routinely places massive numbers of refugees in camps in the developing world, where they face chronic threats to their physical security from crime and disorder, physical coercion, and military attacks. Yet key actors responsible for refugee protection, including host states, advanced industrialized countries, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), have failed to prioritize refugee security. This article asks: (1) Why? (2) What have been the consequences? (3) And what do these answers reveal about how organizations carry out legal mandates in complicated political environments? Conventional wisdom holds that security only recently became a major problem in the refugee protection system, that UNHCR's role in enhancing refugees' physical security is limited by the agency's legal mandate and practical constraints, and that problems of violence and physical security are largely episodic concerns affecting small numbers in discrete refugee populations. Drawing on historical documents, interviews, data on budgets and performance measures, and legal doctrine, I show this conventional wisdom to be wrong. Only some of the problems associated with the current system can be explained by international geopolitics or by legal compromises reflected in refugee law. Instead, that system's brutal realities also reflect the intersecting effects of bureaucratic dynamics, political pressures, and legal interpretations shaping the discretionary choices of UNHCR and its nongovernmental organization partners. I develop the argument by tracing the remarkable history of UNHCR as it transformed itself from a refugee advocacy organization with a limited mandate into a modern relief agency. This evolution helps explain the persistence of security problems, and sheds light on the challenges of implementing ambitious legal mandates under uncertainty, particularly when the organizations doing so operate in complex political environments.


Binary Neural Networks (BNNs) have been garnering interest thanks to their compute cost reduction and memory savings. However, BNNs suffer from performance degradation mainly due to the gradient mismatch caused by binarizing activations. Previous works tried to address the gradient mismatch problem by reducing the discrepancy between activation functions used at forward pass and its differentiable approximation used at backward pass, which is an indirect measure. In this work, we use the gradient of smoothed loss function to better estimate the gradient mismatch in quantized neural network. Analysis using the gradient mismatch estimator indicates that using higher precision for activation is more effective than modifying the differentiable approximation of activation function. Based on the observation, we propose a new training scheme for binary activation networks called BinaryDuo in which two binary activations are coupled into a ternary activation during training. Experimental results show that BinaryDuo outperforms state-of-the-art BNNs on various benchmarks with the same amount of parameters and computing cost.


The Edwards aquifer of central Texas is an extensive, karstified flow system developed in rocks deposited on a Cretaceous limestone platform. Development of the aquifer was controlled by changes in sea level, large-scale hydrodynamic and tectonic processes in the Gulf of Mexico, and local climatic and geomorphic processes. The aquifer is a vital water resource and provides a diverse set of habitats, including those for several endangered species that live in its major spring systems. Because of its unique stratigraphic, hydraulic, and hydrochemical properties, the Edwards aquifer is a natural laboratory that is well suited for hydrogeologic studies. Because of numerous economic, social, and political interests in the use of the water and because of the rapid rate of population growth (and urbanization) of its watersheds, the aquifer is also a source of political conflict. Competing interests for its waters have stimulated an ongoing debate over how the aquifer would best be utilized. Historical water-balance analysis demonstrates that major water shortages will develop with the recurrence of historic decadal droughts. Future decisions regarding the aquifer's use will therefore have significant socioeconomic and environmental ramifications. These decisions should be based upon accurate hydrogeological data. The general nature of how the aquifer functions is understood, but more detailed interpretations are needed. Application of ground-water flow models based on field data and natural geochemical tracers have the potential to reduce uncertainties in the details of how the aquifer functions now and will function in response to potential future developments. Edwards Aquifer continued on p. 2


Although I congratulate Newman et al for bravely taking up the challenge that wading through the mire of qualitatively derived evidence entails, I find that their ultimate argument leaves me with more confusion than clarity. I fully agree with many of the excellent points they raise, but I would certainly take issue with others. However, reflecting on the thesis of their argument, I realise that the important conversation is not to argue the specific claims they make about qualitative research, its application, or its evaluation, but rather to examine the reasons that they are explaining these in the first place. Sometimes the greatest service a thoughtful paper can provide is sufficient discomfort to provoke further critical thinking. In that light, I hope that my response is understood as a beginning dialogue toward finding the clarity that we all aspire to within this complex, but ultimately fascinating, question.

Newman et al have usefully articulated many of the current confusions and contradictions within the existing literature on what constitutes qualitative research, the criteria against which its quality can be determined, and the context within which its products can be reasonably taken up to inform clinical practice. They alert us to the taxonomy of methodological approaches that appear in our nursing literature (and the interdisciplinary literature upon which we draw) with regard to distinctions among and between these approaches and the manner in which they are actually applied. Quite rightly, they note that there are often far fewer distinctions between methods claiming to draw upon distinct approaches than would be anticipated. However, I would take issue with their conclusion that these methods are not all that dissimilar from one another after all. From my perspective, the problem is that none of these conventional qualitative methods were developed for quite the purposes that nurses …


Predicting future brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis distributions at the population scale under various climate scenarios is of interest to the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture. Previous larger scale models have been useful in highlighting the potential threat; however, the predicted air and water temperature errors associated with these models makes predictions of the persistence of individual brook trout populations problematic. We directly measured paired air and water temperatures in watersheds (N = 77) containing reproducing populations of brook trout in Virginia. We found that paired air and water temperature relationships are highly variable among patches but are a useful dataset to classify sensitivity and vulnerability of existing brook trout patches. We developed a classification system using sensitivity and vulnerability metrics that classified sampled brook trout habitats into four categories (High Sensitivity- High Vulnerability (51.9%); High Sensitivity-Low Vulnerability (10.4%); Low Sensitivity-High Vulnerability (7.8%); Low Sensitivity-Low Vulnerability (29.9%). Our direct measurement approach identified potential refugia for brook trout at lower elevations and with higher air temperatures than previous larger scale modeling efforts. Our sensitivity and vulnerability groupings should be useful for managers making investment decisions in protecting and restoring brook trout.


Pakistan has a population of over 199 million and total road network of approximately 264,400 kilometers that serve about 16.2 million vehicles of all types. According to WHO estimates, there were approximately 30,000 annual Road Crash Fatalities (RCF) in Pakistan in year 2010. Work zone crashes account for significant proportion of all traffic crashes in Pakistan due to higher crash rate as compared to other parts of the highway network. Highway work zone is referred to road area where highway construction, maintenance or activity related to utility maintenance takes place. Workers in highway work zone are exposed to a variety of hazards and face risk of injury and death from construction equipment as well as passing motor vehicles. Safety measures and better understanding of risks involved while moving through the work zone have significant effects on the overall safety climate at work zones. Mismanaged work zone traffic increases the travel time delays, safety issues, vehicle operating costs (VOC) and other associated costs. Performance measures for the work zone traffic management includes user costs (travel time delay, crash cost, VOC), incident response and clearance time, queue length and community complaint. Different work Zone Traffic Management methodologies are being practiced worldwide and extensive research has been carried out at international level on country specific highway work zone safety but in Pakistan very few studies have been carried out on highway work zones. This research aims to critically analyze the impacts of the different Work Zone Traffic Management methods and recommend the best option for Expressways / Motorways in Pakistan. For the purpose of research, the author has selected a section of Motorway (M-2). Two different work zone traffic management methods are being followed in rehabilitation of M-2 .i.e. Parallel / Adjacent Method and Median Cross-Over Method. Performance measures selected for purpose of analysis are Article history: Received: December 23, 2017 1st Revision: February 7, 2018 Accepted: March 10, 2018 DOI: 10.14254/jsdtl.2018.3-3.8 ISSN 2520-2979 Journal of Sustainable Development of Transport and Logistics, 3(3), 2018 ‹ 100 › Travel Time Delay, Crash Cost (Safety) and VOC and data collected on section of M-2. After critical analysis, it is concluded that Parallel/ Adjacent Method results in lesser Travel Time delay and lesser VOC due to higher operating speeds and thus has higher savings, whereas Median Cross over Methods yield more Crash Cost savings. Keeping in view the driving habits / skills, poor maintenance of vehicles in Pakistan and risk of fatal accidents involved in parallel /adjacent method, median cross over method is preferred.


The matching decision of choosing which available foster family is the best fit for a foster child needs to be made with great care. A mismatch can have negative consequences with long-lasting effects on the development of foster children and families. However, despite the importance of the matching decision, research on this topic is scarce. This dissertation provides valuable insights into the decision-making process of matching by examining the different influencing factors. The results reveal that a diverse, broad range of factors influence the matching decision in family foster care. First of all, exceptions from what normally would be done according to common procedures and ideas are part of practitioners' daily work. On the one hand, these exceptions are caused by a belief that tailoring the matching process might benefit those involved; on the other hand, obstacles such as shortage of foster families, lack of time, and scarcity of information compromise the decision. The influence of children, parents and foster carers on the matching decision differs per situation. Matching practitioners are key figures when it comes to facilitating the participation of stakeholders; they have to cope with multiple stakeholders with often opposing interests, in a compromised setting with limited choices. The final choice also depends on the used heuristics and the (differences in) practitioners' argumentation by which they determine which foster family seems the best fit for a child. In short, this dissertation proves the complexity of the matching decision.