Characters or agents which react appropriately—-taking offense when reasonable, giving deference where appropriate, etc.-are a fundamental need for believability and accuracy in simulations of social interactions (including culture-specific and multi-cultural interactions). This is especially true for applications where complex and realistic interactions with intelligent agents are important-such as cross-cultural training for military personnel. We have developed a quantitative, computational implementation of a rich, universal theory of human-human "politeness" behaviors and the culture-specific interpretive frameworks for them (labeled "etiquette") from sociology, linguistics and anthropology. This model links observable and inferred aspects of power and familiarity relationships, the degree of imposition of an act (each of which have implications for roles and intents) and the actor's character to produce expectations about politeness behaviors. By using observations of politeness behaviors (or their lack), the same model permits inferences and updates about those attributes. We present the algorithm we have developed and describe its results in scoring the degree of politeness or rudeness across 8 test cases. We see applicability of this model to interactive agent behavior generation and adaptation through the creation of modular, cross-cultural etiquette libraries. While other methods of interactive behavior generation are available (e.g., behavior scripting) our modular, computational approach should provide substantial payoffs in terms of reducing software development costs and/or increasing the breadth of an agent's social interaction behaviors.


Three methodological short cuts potentially streamline antitrust litigation. The availability of the per se approach provides a time tested way to avoid conventional trials where illegality is obvious. However, the seeming collapse of per se rules in modern antitrust cases creates a need for some type of abbreviated assessment of economic impact of alleged restraints. The quick look approach provides a means for a truncated pretrial evaluation of competitive effect. At the same time, a third potential short cut, summary judgment, appears to be readily available in antitrust cases after a period of some skepticism toward its use and appears to also interject pretrial assessment of economic effect into a case. This article first describes the quick look and antitrust summary judgment, and then explores integration of the two complementary concepts. Although I find that only a few cases grant summary judgment using the quick look, I posit that these two different short cuts are capable of efficient synergy in the same case. The paper paradoxically concludes that courts appear skeptical of the quick look's vague contours and, yet, seem willing to employ summary judgment, a similar procedure.


Relation prediction for knowledge graphs aims at predicting missing relationships between entities. Despite the importance of inductive relation prediction, most previous works are limited to a transductive setting and cannot process previously unseen entities. The recent proposed subgraph-based relation reasoning models provided alternatives to predict links from the subgraph structure surrounding a candidate triplet inductively. However, we observe that these methods often neglect the directed nature of the extracted subgraph and weaken the role of relation information in the subgraph modeling. As a result, they fail to effectively handle the asymmetric/anti-symmetric triplets and produce insufficient embeddings for the target triplets. To this end, we introduce a Communicative Message Passing neural network for Inductive reLation rEasoning, CoMPILE, that reasons over local directed subgraph structures and has a vigorous inductive bias to process entity-independent semantic relations. In contrast to existing models, CoMPILE strengthens the message interactions between edges and entitles through a communicative kernel and enables a sufficient flow of relation information. Moreover, we demonstrate that CoMPILE can naturally handle asymmetric/anti-symmetric relations without the need for explosively increasing the number of model parameters by extracting the directed enclosing subgraphs. Extensive experiments show substantial performance gains in comparison to state-of-the-art methods on commonly used benchmark datasets with variant inductive settings.


An appropriate 'solution pattern' for social problems in a state based on the rule of law entails the existence of corresponding legislative regulations. The solution should be approved at the level of a law as a legislative act of supreme juridical power. A solution created at that level would fully correspond to the principle of rule of law and also minimise the possibility of socalled departmental special interests prevailing, in recognition that this danger accompanies efforts toward the solution of every multifaceted problem. The authors find that, since Estonia already possesses relatively extensive experience in legislative consolidation for various aspects of the society's reality, with most of this experience being of a positive nature, it would be a most welcome development if the issue of DV were to be included in the current process of consolidation under the auspices of the project Towards the Development of Better Legislation. Legislative drafting is stimulated by the perception of acute social problems and of a need to regulate them by legislative means. Results from 2014 and 2017 surveys show that Estonia's legal practitioners perceive DV as a problem the causes of which demand research and whose victims require help. Most legal practitioners surveyed encountered DV in their day-to-day work, with prosecutors and police detectives bearing the heaviest burden: it consumed nearly one third of their work hours. A serious problem was identified in prejudice and stereotypes, which yield an oversimplified and distorted image of the actual causes of DV, in which the victim frequently is considered responsible. Both the general population and legal practitioners widely share the erroneous impression that the victims could avoid violence through 'appropriate conduct'. Such stereotypic attitudes wherein victims are considered partially to blame for violence can obstruct the work of law-enforcement agencies. While the idea of a special law on DV found support and scepticism in roughly equal measure, support for it increased significantly when respondents judged the concrete opportunities and solutions offered by such a law. These legal practitioners perceived numerous bottlenecks and unsolved problems in relation to the existing legislative regulation and legal practice, which one would expect to be overcome through a special law on DV. The authors conclude from the survey-based findings that Estonia's legal practitioners demonstrate considerable anticipation for a law on DV. The participants in the surveys also perceived an increasing need for co-operation with law-enforcement agencies in this regard – i.e., for concentrating on collaboration within this domain. However, the authors consider it undoubtedly important also to increase the involvement of specialists in the DV field: victim support services, staff of women's shelters, and municipal social workers.


Representatives from several groups within the Athens community have come together to form the Community Watershed Project (CWP). The Athens CWP is designed to address the particular problems of the North Oconee River drainage in Clarke County, Georgia, while serving as a pilot for community watershed projects throughout the state. The CWP recognizes the need for holistic water quality approa,ches, and builds upon state and federal activity associated with the Georgia Total Maximum Daily Load (Clean Water Act Section 303) process. Major focus is directed to previously uncontrolled non-point sources. The CWP was initiated with the River Rendezvous: an opportunity for community members to participate in visual surveys assessing the general health and identifying threats to the North Oconee watershed. Future direction of the group will be determined by the goals and values established by participants and the Athens community


This groundbreaking examination of the cultural exchange between early 20th century French and German artists illuminates new ways of understanding the development of Expressionism. Although the Expressionist movement is widely considered to have arisen out of a German aesthetic, it was actually as much a result of German artists' exposure to artists living and working in France, such as van Gogh, Seurat, Gauguin, Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso, and Braque. In fact, in its early days, Expressionism was assigned no specific nationality at all. This fascinating book focuses on the key exhibitions, galleries, and museum directors that helped disseminate styles and techniques of revolutionary French artists throughout Germany. Included here are French masterpieces seen not only by German artists in Paris but also in important galleries, exhibitions, and private collections in Berlin, Dresden, Munich, Weimar, and other cities. More than 100 paintings and works on paper are grouped to encourage an understanding of artistic influence and interchange. The volume also reflects new scholarship on issues of French-German relations and contributes to our understanding of the ways the visual arts are influenced by ideas of national identity and cultural heritage."


The fast relaxation dynamics of the acid destabilized I form of apomyoglobin (pH* 3, 0.15 M NaCl; apoMb-I) following a laser-induced temperature-jump have been probed using time-resolved infrared spectroscopy. Only a fast, single exponential phase is observed (bleach centered at v = 1633 cm-1 and transient absorbance at 1666 cm-1) with relaxation times of 38 ns at 30 degrees C and 36 ns at 57 degrees C; no additional slow (microsecond) phase is observed as previously found in the native form of apomyoglobin. Folding times of approximately 66 ns are derived from the observed rates based on a simple two-state model. The equilibrium melting of the 1633 cm-1 component shows noncooperative linear behavior over the temperature range studied (10-60 degrees C). The low amide I' frequency, the fast relaxation dynamics, and the noncooperative melting behavior are characteristic of isolated solvated helix. The analysis of the amide-I' band reveals another major component at 1650 cm-1 assigned to native-like structure stabilized by tertiary contacts involving the AGH core, which does not show dynamic or static melting under our conditions. ApoMb-I has generally been taken to be a "molten globule" species. The present results indicate a heterogeneous structure consisting of separate regions of native-like unit(s), solvated helices, and disordered coil, excluding a homogeneous molten globule as a model for apoMb-I. From the current studies and other results, a detailed model of the folding of apomyoglobin is presented.


Standard deep learning based object detectors suffer from catastrophic forgetting, which results in performance degradation on old classes as new classes are incrementally added. There has been a few recent methods that attempt to address this problem by minimizing the discrepancy between individual object proposal responses for old classes from the original and the updated networks. Different from these methods, we introduce a novel approach that not only focuses on what knowledge to transfer but also how to effectively transfer for minimizing the effect of catastrophic forgetting in incremental learning of object detectors. Towards this, we first propose a proposal selection mechanism using ground truth objects from the new classes and then a relation guided transfer loss function that aims to preserve the relations of selected proposals between the base network and the new network trained on additional classes. Experiments on three standard datasets demonstrate the efficacy of our proposed approach over state-of-the-art methods.


Teachers are often taught that young children are incapable of logical thought. Prone to fantasy and unruffled by inconsistency, preschool children are frequently baffled by the first lessons of early schooling. Trained to gently resist the child's illogic, teachers sometimes create just the incomprehension and anxiety they mean to avoid. In Wally's Stories, Vivian Paley shows that none of this need be so. Wally's Stories is itself a story: the story of the evolution of a kindergarten classroom in which Vivian Paley learned to stop fighting childish fantasy and instead make use of it to stimulate the very best brand of thinking her five year-olds can muster. Stories also lie at the heart of her classroom: stories that are first told by one of the children, then transcribed by the teacher, and then acted out by the class in dramatic productions of their own design. Vivian Paley shows that in the course of creating their own dramatic world, five-year-olds are capable of thought and language far in advance of what they accomplish in traditional classroom exercises. The children's stories also become a vehicle that they can use to explain themselves to their teacher and to one another. Together, teacher and children develop an unusual environment, one that is logical and literate, based on rules of fairness, friendship, and fantasy. Vivian Paley's book is as refreshing as her teaching method. A new kind of book about a new kind of classroom.


Employers from two hundred ninety-nine companies responded to a survey on electronic resume practices. Nearly a third of the companies electronically scan resumes. The results indicate that electronic technology is influencing the way job seekers develop their resumes and market themselves to employers. Meyers (1984) reported the frustration of students writing resumes because no specific guidelines existed to help them in the preparation of their documents. Over a decade later, students are still frustrated in preparing resumes, but the frustration may be resulting from a different source. The proliferation of electronic and electronically scanned resumes has confused student job seekers and seasoned professionals. The computer is significantly influencing how individuals undertake a job search and how they compose a resume (Quible, 1995). Today, career counselors must, in addition to their regular duties, be part reference librarian and Internet maven. A decade ago, issues like bond selection (white or off-white), underlining and italicization, resume length, presentation order and general information versus specific information held debate. A decade later, these issues still stir discussion, but for a different reason-computer application. New questions are being raised as a result. "May I send a resume to a company via E-mail?" "Should a faxed resume be followed up by a hard copy sent through snail mail?" Career counselors need to be able to answer these kinds of questions. In order to address issues relating to new questions being asked, and to readdress the current relevance of old questions, a survey on electronic resume usage of employers who hire college graduates was conducted. METHOD A five-question survey was mailed to 1,200 employers registered with the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE-a clearinghouse for the exchange of information and data between universities and employers). Employers were asked if they electronically screened resumes. If they did, they were then asked whether they used their own database or a database service. Information was sought based on the system used: Document Scanned (each resume electronically scanned), Data Coded (relevant information entered into computerized databases), and Synonym-based (computerized expert system with key word library). Employers were also asked if they requested faxed-only resumes, and if they received and used resumes that had been sent via the Internet and World Wide Web. Lined spaces were provided at the end of the survey for employers to write (open-ended) comments on resume preparation. Results from this survey have implications for career counselors and confused job seekers. RESULTS and DISCUSSION Of the 299 responding companies (ranging in size from 14 to 320,000 employees, X(overscored) = 14,494 employees), 32% electronically scanned resumes. Of those companies, 64% used their own database. Forty-nine percent of the companies using their own database employed document scanning, while another 29% utilized a combination of document scanning, data coding, and synonym-based matching. Only 8% of the companies requested a resume by fax only. Sixty-one percent indicated they received and used resumes that had reached them via the Internet or World Wide Web. Should a student send a resume to a company via E-mail? With 61% of the companies receiving and using resumes that had reached them via the Internet or Web, the answer appears to be yes. While not all companies use this technology, many megacompanies do. The average size of a company using the Internet or Web was 12,875 employees, compared to the average size of a company not using the Internet or Web, I5,888 employees. The implication is that it is not just the super large companies using the Internet/Web. Career counselors and student job seekers should not take for granted that small companies will not be up to speed technologically, and thus ignore this route of job application. …


This paper provides a cradle-to-grave model for political union between two unequally endowed states. We introduce negotiated, contested, and time-consistent contested constitutions to address various classes of merger problems. Merger agreement is shown to be path dependent and, in some cases, time inconsistent. The possibility of contest constrains the set of mutually agreeable tax rates and provides stability to a constitution. Demographic heterogeneity constrains the set of mutually agreeable mergers. Rent extracted by technologically advanced province for transferring technology to the backward province in a union is shown to be increasing in complexity of technology but bounded from above. The model can also support the possibility of historical cycles of political geography. The main contribution of this paper is to highlight the role of technology gap and unequal distribution of resources in all the above cases.


This paper proposes a soft input decoding algorithm and a decoder architecture for generalized concatenated (GC) codes. The GC codes are constructed from inner nested binary Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) codes and outer Reed-Solomon codes. In order to enable soft input decoding for the inner BCH block codes, a sequential stack decoding algorithm is used. Ordinary stack decoding of binary block codes requires the complete trellis of the code. In this paper, a representation of the block codes based on the trellises of supercodes is proposed in order to reduce the memory requirements for the representation of the BCH codes. This enables an efficient hardware implementation. The results for the decoding performance of the overall GC code are presented. Furthermore, a hardware architecture of the GC decoder is proposed. The proposed decoder is well suited for applications that require very low residual error rates.


The adoption of e-learning in Hong Kong has been increasing rapidly in the past decade. To understand the e-learning experiences of the students, the School of Professional and Continuing Education of The University of Hong Kong conducted a survey. The survey aimed to collect students' experiences in using learning management system, their perceived e-learning advantages, barriers in e-learning and preferences in new e-learning development. A questionnaire with 84 questions was distributed in mid 2012 and 608 valid responds were received. The analysis results showed that the students found e-learning helpful to their study. They preferred interactive functions and mobile features. Blended learning mode, both face-to-face learning mode integrated with online learning and face-to-face learning mode supplemented with online resources, were preferred by the students. The results of experiences of Hong Kong students in e-learning provided a contemporary reference to the e-learning practitioners to understand the e-learning situation in Asia. Keywords—E-learning, blended learning, learning experience, learning management system.


Government-owned development banks have often been justified by the need to respond to financial market imperfections that hinder the establishment and growth of promising businesses, and as a result, stifle economic development more generally. However, evidence on the effectiveness of these banks in mitigating financial constraints is still lacking. To fill this gap, this paper analyzes the impact of Bancoldex, Colombia's publicly owned development bank, on access to credit. It uses a unique dataset that contains key characteristics of all loans issued to businesses in Colombia, including the financial intermediary through which the loan was granted and whether the loan was funded with Bancoldex resources. The paper assesses effects on access to credit by comparing Bancoldex loans to loans from other sources and study the impact of receiving credit from Bancoldex on a firm's subsequent credit history. To address concerns about selection bias, it uses a combination of models that control for fixed effects and matching techniques. The findings herein show that credit relationships involving Bancoldex funding are characterized by lower interest rates, larger loans, and loans with longer terms. These characteristics translated into lower average interest rates and larger average loans for firms that used Bancoldex credit. Average loans of Bancoldex' beneficiaries also exhibit longer terms, although this effect can take two years to materialize. Finally, the findings show evidence of a demonstration effect of Bancoldex: beneficiary firms that have access Bancoldex credit are able to significantly expand the number of intermediaries with whom they have credit relationships.


This essay proposes to measure the denotative and connotative force - that is, the range and intensity - of the expression 'majority democracy' obviously in reference to the scientific exigencies and purposes of constitutional law. As the author observes, political science has elaborated the notion of majority democracy for the very purpose of describing the actual functioning of the English parliamentary form: majority democracy is the Westminster model. Every other democratic experience different from the English one is said to be 'majority' if its politico-institutional dynamics coincide exactly with those of the Westminster model, or if they approach them to a high degree. Taking for granted that for some time now the real dynamics of the Italian form of government have been moving in the direction of the majority principle, the author asks himself what is the utility of this prognosis for the science of constitutional law. It is observed that the majority democracies are not necessarily included among the rationalised forms of government, which is to say among 'those forms of government that tend to organise the constitutional institutions in such a way as to discipline and keep under control the use made of them by the political forces', and that the attempt to artificially induce majority regularities by means of constitutional rules aimed at rationalising the form of government may lead to naught, or even encourage dynamics much different than those observable in the English model. In substance, the destiny of the concept of 'majority democracy' is the same as for the notion of 'political direction'. It follows its fortunes and reflects its decline. If it is therefore true that we are headed toward a single model of democracy, it is not at all certain that the direction taken is determined by the paradigm of majority democracy.


The development of taxonomies/ontologies is a human intensive process requiring prohibitively large resource commitments in terms of time and cost. In our previous work we have identified an experimentation framework for semi-automatic taxonomy/hierarchy generation from unstructured text. In the preliminary results presented, the taxonomy/hierarchy quality was lower than we had anticipated. In this paper, we present two variations of our experimentation framework, viz. Latent semantic Indexing (LSI) for document indexing and the use of term vectors to prune labels assigned to nodes in the final taxonomy/hierarchy. Using our previous results of taxonomy/hierarchy quality as the baseline we present results that demonstrate significant improvement in taxonomy/hierarchy label quality resulting from the above and present insights into the reason for the same. Finally, we present a discussion on methods for further improving taxonomy/hierarchy quality.


An estimated 4 billion people worldwide still lack reliable access to the Internet, with the majority concentrated in developing countries. It is within this context that a significant expansion of the satellite Internet industry is taking place, bringing grand visions of social and economic growth through connectivity. Previously dismissed as a limited technology due to high operating costs and latency, as well as the failure of early ventures like Teledesic, satellite Internet has re-emerged in recent years as a viable alternative to the time and energy-intensive practice of laying thousands of miles of fiber optic cable. Utilizing innovative non-synchronous orbit constellations of small, mass-produced satellites that lower production costs and improve latency to better compete with broadband, new Silicon Valley–related companies such as OneWeb, SpaceX, and O3b have promised cheap, high-speed Internet access throughout the world. Drawing upon industry research, site visits, and interviews with technical specialists, development experts, and other actors, this article briefly explores the history of satellite Internet services, analyzes the promises of emerging satellite Internet companies, and argues that without serious commitments from governments and the private sector to follow through on this rhetoric, satellite Internet technology could fail to reach the communities that need it most.


The earliest means of separating hydrogen from water was by electrolysis using electrical energy that usually had been produced by low-efficiency thermodynamic processes. Substitution of thermal energy for electrical energy in high-temperature electrolysis gives a somewhat higher overall efficiency, but significantly complicates the process. Today, the vast majority of hydrogen is produced by steam methane reforming (SMR) followed by a water-shift reaction. A well-designed SMR plant will yield hydrogen having 75?80% of the energy of the methane used. Recent work in Japan has demonstrated the feasibility of substituting high-temperature heat from a gas-cooled nuclear reactor to replace the heat supplied in SMR by the combustion of methane. Using high-temperature heat from nuclear plants to drive thermochemical processes for producing hydrogen has been studied extensively. Bench-scale tests have been carried out in Japan demonstrating the sulphur-iodine (SI) process to produce hydrogen.


Over the past three years Italy has witnessed a rapid growth in the photovoltaic energy market, followed by an equally sudden decline when the government decided to reduce the incentives. This sharp change in the trend of the market calls into question the achievement of Grid Parity and the possibility that the market is able to develop independently. Starting from the standard Grid Parity Model, widely used for the photovoltaic (PV) market, we internalize the uncertainty surrounding both the energy price and PV module costs, to forecast the dynamics of the Italian PV market. We show that these sources of uncertainty can delay the Grid Parity timing of several years compared to current forecasts, well describing the current market situation.


Trace norm based rank regularization techniques have been successfully applied to learn a low-rank recovery for high-dimensional noise data. In many applications, it is desirable to add new samples to previously recovered data which is known as out-of-sample data recovery problem. However, traditional trace norm based regularization methods can not naturally cope with new samples and thus fail to deal with out-of-sample data recovery. In this paper, we propose a new robust out-of-sample data recovery (ROSR) model for trace norm based regularization methods. An effective iterative algorithm, with the proof of convergence, is presented to find the optimal solution of ROSR problem. As an application, we apply our ROSR to image classification task. Experimental results on six image datasets demonstrate the effectiveness and benefits of the proposed ROSR method.


The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) criminalizes bribery of foreign government officials; the frequency of enforcement actions and severity of fines levied against corporations under the FCPA have significantly increased in the last few years. There is an ongoing problem, however, with the sanctions for FCPA violations: enforcement authorities (DOJ and SEC) and contracting officials have limited themselves to fines, civil penalties, and occasional imprisonment of individual violators. Debarment from future federal government contracts, even temporarily, is an unused sanction for FCPA violations, even though Congress provided for this punishment by statute. Debarment offers a far more potent deterrent than fines and penalties, as multinational contractors that conduct business with the U.S. are much less likely to view the sanction as merely a cost of doing business. If ridding foreign markets of corruption truly is a top priority of the U.S., it seems both unfair and imprudent for federal agencies to continue awarding lucrative, multibillion-dollar contracts to firms recently prosecuted for fraudulently obtaining such contracts overseas. Enforcement officials shy away from debarring entities that violate the FCPA due to the short-term inconvenience of an agency's inability to transact business with its favorite contractor, its inability to demand favorable bids from contractors when the field of potential bidders has thinned, the resulting job loss, and the risk of overdeterring companies that might otherwise pursue lucrative opportunities in emerging markets. This is the "too big to debar" problem – the federal government is too dependent on a particular set of large, private-sector corporations for equipment and services. In addition to the virtual immunity from debarment enjoyed by these firms when they violate the FCPA, the fines imposed for engaging in foreign corrupt practices comprise a tiny fraction of the potential revenue generated by lucrative contracts with the U.S. and foreign states. When discounted by the low probability of detection, these sanctions are far too low to deter unlawful activity. Debarment would deter potential wrongdoers and incapacitate actual offenders. The deterrent would induce more firms to comply with the law, which would allow the "too big to debar" problem to diminish over time. To help illuminate these concerns and lend support to the thesis, this Article will examine the third largest FCPA-related enforcement action to date: the BAE Systems case. On March 1, 2010, BAE Systems paid approximately $400 million in fines for its corrupt practices abroad. In the year that followed however, the federal government awarded BAE contracts in excess of $6 billion dollars. The U.S.'s refusal to debar BAE because of the potential "collateral consequences" provides a case study on the benefits and drawbacks of deterring foreign corruption through suspension and debarment. This Article concludes that the U.S. must begin to diversify its portfolio of federal contractors so that prosecutors may leverage the legitimate threat of suspension and debarment to more effectively deter foreign corruption.


With the increasing global population,
providing sufficient food to meet the rising demand has become a great
challenge to food-producing sectors. Aquaculture is one of the food sources
which produces varieties of seafood. Shrimp is the most popular seafood in the
US, and its production plays an important role in the aquaculture industry. However,
shrimp farming causes various types of pollution to damage the environment and
aquatic biodiversity, the associated impacts must be mitigated to ensure the
sustainability of shrimp production. This study performed a life cycle
assessment (LCA) on different shrimp production chains from cradle to the market
in Midwestern US covering three farming systems and eight shrimp feed formulas.
Midpoint environmental impacts including acidification potential (AP),
eutrophication potential (EP) and global warming potential (GWP) were
determined. Feed production was identified as the main contributor to the AP
and GWP for both the intensive and semi-intensive production systems (SPS),
regardless of the feed formula. While the environmental performance of feed
production highly depended on the feed conversion ratio, feed ingredient was
another determining factor in which animal protein sources, including poultry
by-product meal and fishmeal, showed high contributions to the AP and GWP.
However, plant proteins such as soybean, wheat, and corn gluten meals produced
higher EP, therefore, substituting plant-based ingredients for animal-based
ones in shrimp feeds did not all result in positive environmental consequences.
Shrimp farming was the hotspot of all the three impacts, especially accounting
for the highest EP. Among the three farming systems studied here, the SPS caused
the highest environmental burdens due to the intensive uses of chemicals and
fertilizers. On the contrary, the extensive farming was found to be the most
sustainable system because no inputs of feeding and additional materials and
energy are required for its operation. The LCA model developed in this study is
expected to serve as US shrimp farmers' decision-making guidelines to adapt
farming practices with lower environmental footprint.


An examination of why NGOs often experience difficulty creating lasting change, with case studies of transnational conservation organizations in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.Why do nongovernmental organizations face difficulty creating lasting change? How can they be more effective? In this book, Cristina Balboa examines NGO authority, capacity, and accountability to propose that a ?paradox of scale? is a primary barrier to NGO effectiveness. This paradox?when what gives an NGO authority on one scale also weakens its authority on another scale?helps explain how NGOs can be seen as an authority on particular causes on a global scale, but then fail to effect change at the local level. Drawing on case studies of transnational conservation organizations in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, The Paradox of Scale explores how NGOs build, maintain, and lose authority over time.Balboa sets a new research agenda for the study of governance, offering practical concepts and analysis to help NGO practitioners. She introduces the concept of authority as a form of legitimated power, explaining why it is necessary for NGOs to build authority at multiple scales when they create, implement, or enforce rules. Examining the experiences of Conservation International in Papua New Guinea, International Marinelife Alliance in the Philippines, and the Community Conservation Network in Palau, Balboa explains how a paradox of scale can develop even for those NGOs that seem powerful and effective. Interdisciplinary in its approach, The Paradox of Scaleoffers guidance for interpreting the actions and pressures accompanying work with NGOs, showing why even the most authoritative NGOs often struggle to make a lasting impact.


We present a new method for real-time physics-based simulation supporting many different types of hyperelastic materials. Previous methods such as Position Based or Projective Dynamics are fast, but support only limited selection of materials; even classical materials such as the Neo-Hookean elasticity are not supported. Recently, Xu et al. [2015] introduced new "spline-based materials" which can be easily controlled by artists to achieve desired animation effects. Simulation of these types of materials currently relies on Newton's method, which is slow, even with only one iteration per timestep. In this paper, we show that Projective Dynamics can be interpreted as a quasi-Newton method. This insight enables very efficient simulation of a large class of hyperelastic materials, including the Neo-Hookean, spline-based materials, and others. The quasi-Newton interpretation also allows us to leverage ideas from numerical optimization. In particular, we show that our solver can be further accelerated using L-BFGS updates (Limited-memory Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno algorithm). Our final method is typically more than 10 times faster than one iteration of Newton's method without compromising quality. In fact, our result is often more accurate than the result obtained with one iteration of Newton's method. Our method is also easier to implement, implying reduced software development costs.


A study has been carried out to explore the processes of creativity and innovation . This took the form of a three day workshop between sc i entists and designers. In particular , the study concentrated on the differences in approaches to idea generation between the backgrounds of science and art . The study has raised issues regarding the environments that are favourable for creativity , whether it is art or science-based . It has also indicated that conventional commercial modes employed to stimulate novelty , such as brainstorming , could be outmoded and restrictive. The study has identified gulfs between the areas of science and art in the techniques used for imagination ; such as the tools and processes applied , which inspire the transfer of these techniques. In particular , the environment, and changes in this environment have been identified as important factors in the stimulation of ideas ; this has implications for the present change culture strategies adopted by many commercial industries .


The biosynthesis of carboxylic acids including fatty acids from biomass is central in envisaged biorefinery concepts. The productivities are often, however, low due to product toxicity that hamper whole-cell biocatalyst performance. Here, we have investigated factors that influence the tolerance of Escherichia coli to medium chain carboxylic acid (i.e., n-heptanoic acid)-induced stress. The metabolic and genomic responses of E. coli BL21(DE3) and MG1655 grown in the presence of n-heptanoic acid indicated that the GadA/B-based glutamic acid-dependent acid resistance (GDAR) system might be critical for cellular tolerance. The GDAR system, which is responsible for scavenging intracellular protons by catalyzing decarboxylation of glutamic acid, was inactive in E. coli BL21(DE3). Activation of the GDAR system in this strain by overexpressing the rcsB and dsrA genes, of which the gene products are involved in the activation of GadE and RpoS, respectively, resulted in acid tolerance not only to HCl but also to n-heptanoic acid. Furthermore, activation of the GDAR system allowed the recombinant E. coli BL21(DE3) expressing the alcohol dehydrogenase of Micrococcus luteus and the Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenase of Pseudomonas putida to reach 60% greater product concentration in the biotransformation of ricinoleic acid (i.e., 12-hydroxyoctadec-9-enoic acid (1)) into n-heptanoic acid (5) and 11-hydroxyundec-9-enoic acid (4). This study may contribute to engineering E. coli-based biocatalysts for the production of carboxylic acids from renewable biomass.


As a medical student, one of the most surprising encounters I had was with a 24-year-old pregnant woman who entered the obstetric emergency department with seizures and cytopenias in 2011. Initially the diagnosis was eclampsia, but soon the name thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) emerged and when plasmapheresis was performed, the patient improved and was able to be discharged and take care of her son. Since then, this disease has gained much of my dedication.


The rapid technological advancement in the past century resulted in a decreased life cycle of a large number of products and, consequently, increased the rate of technological obsolescence. The disposal of obsolete products has resulted in rapid landfilling and now poses a major environmental threat. The governments in many countries around the world have started imposing regulations to curb uncontrolled product disposal. The consumers, too, are now aware of adverse effects of product disposal on environment and increasingly favor environmentally benign products. In the wake of imminent stringent government regulations and the consumer awareness about ecosystem-friendly products, the manufacturers need to think about the alternatives to product disposal. One way to deal with this problem is to disassemble an obsolete product and utilize some of its components/subassemblies in the manufacturing of new products. This seems to be a promising solution because products now-a-days are made in accordance with the highest quality standards and, although an obsolete product may not be in the required functional state as a whole, it is possible that several of its components or subassemblies are still in near perfect condition. However, product disassembly is a complex task requiring human labor as well as automated processes and, consequently, a huge amount of monetary investment. This research addresses a disassembly optimization problem, which aims at minimizing the costs associated with the disassembly process (namely, the costs of breaking the joints and the sequence dependent set-up cost associated with disassembly operations), while maximizing the benefits resulting from recovery of components/subassemblies from a product. We provide a mathematical abstraction of the disassembly optimization problem in the form of integer-programming models. One of our formulations includes a new way of modeling the subtour elimination constraints (SECs), which are usually encountered in the well-known traveling salesman problems. Based on these SECs, a new valid formulation for asymmetric traveling salesman problem (ATSP) was developed. The ATSP formulation was further extended to obtain a valid formulation for the precedence constrained ATSP. A detailed experimentation was conducted to compare the performance of the proposed formulations with that of other well-known formulations discussed in the literature. Our results indicate that in comparison to other well-known formulations, the proposed formulations are quite promising in terms of the LP relaxation bounds obtained and the number of branch and bound nodes explored to reach an optimal integer solution. These new formulations along with the results of experimentation are presented in Appendix A. To solve the disassembly optimization problem, a three-phase iterative solution procedure was developed that can determine optimal or near optimal disassembly plans for complex assemblies. The first phase helps in obtaining an upper bound on our maximization problem through an application of a Lagrangian relaxation scheme. The second phase helps to further improve this bound through addition of a few valid inequalities in our models. In the third phase, we fix some of our decision variables based on the solutions obtained in the iterations of phases 1 and 2 and then implement a branch and bound scheme to obtain the final solution. We test our procedure on several randomly generated data sets and identify the factors that render a problem to be computationally difficult. Also, we establish the practical usefulness of our approach through case studies on the disassembly of a computer processor and a laser printer.


In this paper a method to find a radar reflectivity spatial profile for comparing 3D surrogate targets with real vehicles is proposed. Utilizing this method, the spatial profile can be acquired using only high-level data from an automotive grade radar. For data within a small angular window at arbitrary aspect angle relative to the target, the proposed method back-projects Radar Cross Section (RCS) detections, to build up a spatial profile. This profile can then be used to evaluate multiple scattering centers on targets, which are important during test of autonomous vehicles and active safety functions. The method is used on measured data from 3D surrogate targets as well as real vehicles, which are presented in the paper.


In the current debate over whether the President has the inherent power to authorize the National Security Agency to monitor international communications with suspected terrorists, one thing is clear - even the most strident opponents concede the need to identify and monitor the communications of terrorists and stop them before they can act. Preempting terrorist attacks requires uncovering information useful to anticipate and counter future events. Automated data analysis technologies can help by monitoring communications and revealing evidence of organization, relationships, or other relevant patterns of behavior indicative or predictive of potential threats, thus allowing law enforcement or security resources to be focused more effectively on likely targets. This essay examines certain implications of employing these techniques for foreign intelligence surveillance and suggests that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ("FISA") is inadequate to address recent technology developments, including: the transition from circuit-based to packet-based communications; the globalization of communications infrastructure; and the development of automated monitoring techniques, including data mining and traffic analysis.


This qualitative case study aimed to explore the experiences and perceptions of Saudi adult learners of English as a second language (ESL) about what motivates them to learn English at a language school in the United Kingdom (UK). Motivation is widely considered to be an influential factor in second language acquisition (SLA), and it still draws increasing attention from theorists and practitioners. Despite significant contributions from psychological, sociopsychological and recent trends of process-oriented research there is still a marked lack of knowledge about the complexity of the context of learning and its impact on motivating students to learn English. Building on a tripartite theoretical lens grounded in Gardner's (1981) socio-educational model, Nortons' (2001) concept of investment and social interdependence theory, this research study aimed to bridge this gap and contribute more broadly to deepening our understanding about the socially constructed nature of motivation to learn a second language (L2). The findings revealed four interrelated factors that shape learners' motivation to learn English in an L2 context. These are the second language learner, the school community, the social milieu, and other macro-context factors. Implications for language learners and language schools in the UK and elsewhere and future motivation research were explored.


The papers in this volume were presented and discussed at a meeting held at IIASA. The meeting's goals were to stimulate interaction and collaboration, and to encourage setting research priorities for the future.

Indeed, it is in this latter area where the meeting appeared to yield some of its greatest benefits. It became clear from the deliberations that much needs to be done to better specify the microfoundations of general equilibrium models. More realistic specifications of "conflict resolution" in resource allocation, in both market and nonmarket economies, need to be developed. Equally importantly, much work is required to explore the role of economic disequilibrium in economic growth and development. "Equilibrium" and "disequilibrium" are positive, not normative concepts; neither view is right or wrong; neither will necessarily yield desired social outcomes at all stages of development, or across all regions. Rather, they yield quite different outcomes, which themselves should be subjects for scientific inquiry. The meeting pointed out the potential for expanding the conceptions of general equilibrium modeling to incorporate elements of disequilibrium analysis, so that this framework may not only be increasingly relevant to Eastern countries, but so that the possibilities of East-West interaction on critical aspects of resource allocation and economic growth can be enhanced.


In the Iranian public media, it was widely reported that by the end of 2004, 380 hectares of the eastern farthest end of the Peninsula Mianqala (northern part of Iran, located in the southeastern coasts of Caspian Sea) were sold to an organisation – the result is that "Asurada" Island will be turned into a so-called "Tourist Village". The decision has been made and civil works are to begin. The village planned as a new settlement is specifically considered to work with Mianqala, which since June 1976 is an international biosphere reserve and since 1969, an Iranian nature protected area. Considering the special condition of the region as a biosphere reserve, this paper introduces the current situation of the Island Āŝūrāda and the suggested program by the aforementioned organisation. Subsequently, it tries to find an optimal answer to the question of whether "Āŝūrāda" is appropriate for such a purpose and how far it is allowed to be interfered with, through this new settlement. The paper asserts for this development, there is consideration of the settlement's urban and architectural concept; subsequently analysis is conducted for the spatial development of the settlement, in terms of its influences on the ecological sources, the rural structure and the financial as well as social aspects. Such study is required, particularly due to the chain of tourist influences, which certainly will introduce a new pattern of urban character in terms of quality and quantity. Finally, with the assistance of the case presented, this paper poses the question of whether a new urban pattern like this can endanger a traditional and above all a nature protected context or not.


Combining forecasts, we analyse the role of information flow in computing short-term forecasts up to one quarter ahead for the euro area GDP and its main components. A dataset of 114 monthly indicators is set up and simple bridge equations are estimated. The individual forecasts are then pooled, using different weighting schemes. To take into consideration the release calendar of each indicator, six forecasts are compiled successively during the quarter. We found that the sequencing of information determines the weight allocated to each block of indicators, especially when the first month of hard data becomes available. This conclusion extends the findings of the recent literature. Moreover, when combining forecasts, two weighting schemes are found to outperform the equal weighting scheme in almost all cases. Compared to an AR forecast, these improve by more than 40% the forecast performance for GDP in the current and next quarter. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The study examined the analysis of interest rate determination and its effect on economic growth in Nigeria; for the period 1990-2017. Secondary data were used and sourced from Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin. The study employed Gross Domestic Product as proxy for Economic Growth and used as the dependent variable; whereas, prime lending rate (interest rate), inflation and private domestic investment were used as explanatory variables to measure interest rate. Hypotheses were formulated and tested using Ordinary Least Square econometrics models. Private domestic investment had a positive significant effect on Gross Domestic Product in Nigeria. Inflation had a positive insignificant effect on Gross Domestic Product in Nigeria. Interest rate had an insignificant effect on Gross Domestic Product in Nigeria. The coefficient of determination indicates that about 65% of the variations in economic growth can be explained by changes in commercial bank lending variables in Nigeria. The study concluded that interest rate determination had a positive; but, insignificant effect on economic growth in Nigeria. The study recommended that Government and policy makers should focus on maintaining inflation at a low rate (single digit) and ensure that the rate is stable; this will take care of the problem of inflation on the economy. CBN should increase their surveillance on the commercial banks; in order to address the issue of arbitrarily increase of the lending rate. Government should provide healthy environment for the banks in the industry so as to render efficient financial services to the economy.


The intrazeolite chemistry of the two germylene complexes Cl2CTHF)GeM(CO)5 (M = Mo,
W) was studied with x-ray absorption spectroscopy (Ge, Mo, W edge EXAFS) and in-situ
FTIR/TPD-MS techniques. The slightly decarbonylated GeMo complex interacts with the
framework of NaY zeolite at room temperature and retains the Ge-Mo bond up to about 100° C. In
proton-loaded HY zeolite, framework interactions increase at elevated temperature, and the attached
complex retains the Ge-Mo bond up to about 120° C. The Ge-Mo bond is cleaved at higher
temperatures. MoClx and Mo-Mo species are formed in NaY and HY zeolite, respectively, while
GeClx fragments are anchored to the zeolite framework.
The complex Cl2(THF)GeW(CO)5 retains all five CO ligands up to about 100° C in both
NaY and the proton form. Detectable anchoring occurs at room temperature in NaY and at about
80° C in the proton form. WC1X species are formed upon cleavage of the Ge-W bond at higher
temperatures.


Tinnitus, the perception of phantom sound, is often a debilitating condition that affects many millions of people. Little is known, however, about the molecule that underlies vulnerability and resilience to tinnitus. We investigated these mechanisms in the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN), an auditory brainstem nucleus that is essential for the induction of tinnitus. In DCN principal neurons (fusiform cells), we reveal a tinnitus-specific increase in the spontaneous firing rate (hyperactivity). We show that a reduction in Kv7.2/3 (KCNQ2/3) channel activity is essential for tinnitus induction and for the tinnitus-specific hyperactivity. This reduction is due to a shift in the voltage-dependence of KCNQ channel activation to more positive voltages. Importantly, in vivo pharmacological manipulation that shifts the voltage-dependence of KCNQ channels to more negative voltages prevents the development of tinnitus and provides an important link between the biophysical properties of the KCNQ channel and the vulnerability to tinnitus. Fusiform cells from noise-exposed mice that show resilience to tinnitus (non-tinnitus mice) display normal levels of spontaneous firing, but have more hyperpolarized subthreshold dynamics and more hyperpolarized resting membrane potential. These differences are due to a reduction in hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channel activity. Longitudinal study reveals that 4 days after noise exposure, noise-exposed mice display non-tinnitus behavior, no fusiform cell hyperactivity, but reduced KCNQ2/3 currents. Importantly, while the preservation of reduced KCNQ2/3 currents 7 days after noise exposure gives rise to tinnitus behavior, the recovery of KCNQ2/3 currents to pre-exposed control levels is associated with non-tinnitus behavior, and is accompanied by a decrease in HCN channel activity. In vivo pharmacological opening of KCNQ2/3 channels prevented the development of tinnitus and decreased HCN currents, suggesting that KCNQ2/3 plasticity determines vulnerability and resilience to tinnitus and drives the reduction in HCN channel activity. Reduced HCN channel activity in non-tinnitus mice, by hyperpolarizing the resting membrane potential, may further prevent fusiform cell hyperactivity and contribute to tinnitus resilience. Together, our results highlight KCNQ2/3 and HCN channels as potential targets for designing therapeutics that may reduce vulnerability and promote resilience to tinnitus.


This paper presents an application of the well-known cutting stock problem to a construction firm. The goal of the 1Dimensional (1D) cutting stock problem is to cut the bars of desired lengths in required quantities from longer bars of given length. The company for which we carried out this study encounters 1D cutting stock problem in cutting steel bars (reinforcement bars) for its construction projects. We have developed several solution approaches to solving the company's problem: Building and solving an integer programming (IP) model in a modeling environment, developing our own software that uses a mixed integer programming (MIP) software library, and testing some of the commercial software packages available on the internet. In this paper, we summarize our experiences with all the three approaches. We also present a benchmark of existing commercial software packages, and some critical insights. Finally, we suggest a visual approach for increasing performance in solving the cutting stock problem and demonstrate the applicability of this approach using the company's data on two construction projects.


Triply heavy baryons are very interesting systems analogous to heavy quarkonia, but are difficult to access experimentally. Lattice QCD can provide precise predictions for these systems, which can be compared to other theoretical approaches. In this work, the spectrum of excited states of the Ωbbb baryon is calculated using lattice NRQCD for the b quarks, and using a domain-wall action for the u, d and s sea quarks. The calculations are done for multiple values of the sea-quark masses, and for two different lattice spacings. The energies of states with angular momentum up to J = 7/2 are calculated, and the effects of rotational symmetry breaking by the lattice are analyzed. Precise results are obtained even for the small spin-dependent energy splittings, and the contributions of individual NRQCD interactions to these energy splittings are studied. The results are compared to potential-model calculations.


The search for a universal formula for brand equity management, especially in conditions which lead the company towards choosing a strategy to compete in the international market can be summed up in one sentence – per aspera, ad astra (through the thorns, to the stars). The main subject of this paper is the analysis of the models that synthesize the key factors that define the successful expansion of the brand into new markets. There is no doubt that it is quite difficult to synthesize a model which would be suitable for any company, because companies are too different, even within the same industry, and even more in different sectors and in different markets. However, the analysis of the contemporary scientific thought in the field of strategic management of brand equity synthesizes ten so-called strategic factors that determine the relationships with the brand equity. The aim of the research is to determine the extent to which companies implement the ten strategic factors of brand equity and then to assess the benefits of the application of the model. The research results confirm that in order to maximize the positive effect of these factors, the support from top management is crucial (where from the implementation needs to start) and, also, to nurture the approach of continuous improvement.


The research goal is to assess Medical Doctors" knowledge of the various dental specialties and to determine if their past dental experience affects their level of knowledge. Resident Doctors and Medical Officers working in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria were surveyed with self-administered questionnaire in 2008. A total of 142 doctors responded to the questionnaire, giving a response rate of 71%. The female: male ratio was approximately 1:2.5. The designations of respondents were Senior Registrar 21.8%, Registrar 48.6% and Medical Officers 29.6%. The Departments that returned the questionnaire were Internal Medicine 21.1%, Surgery 19%, Paediatrics 15.5% Family Medicine 11.3%, Accident and Emergency 5.6%, Radiology 4.9%, Ophthalmology 8.5%, Pathology 5.6%, Anaesthesiology 5.6% and Mental Health 2.8% The mean knowledge score was 10.1±3.3. (Maximum score =21). Only a small percentage (5.6%) had a good knowledge (scored above 16), 79.6% had a fair knowledge (scored 8-15) and 14.8% had a very poor knowledge (scored less than 8). Doctor with history of previous dental treatment had better knowledge (P=0.03). The knowledge of Medical Doctors about the various areas in Dentistry is presently not satisfactory. Comprehensive care of patients, which includes prompt and appropriate referral, can be optimized by improvement of Doctors" knowledge of dental specialty through seminars and other educational interventions


This article considers the extent to which civil and criminal law in Singapore deters the unlawful removal of cultural objects from the possession of private owners, art galleries and museums, or from archaeological sites, and provides redress to victims. Given Singapore's position as the crossroads of Asia, the law must be able to cope with the flow of objects in and out of the country. The law is currently deficient as it is not tailored to deal with issues concerning cultural heritage, and needs to be reformed in several respects. There are sound reasons for a modern State like Singapore to enact legislation, as well as to enter into regional and international treaties, to protect its national heritage and to promote global co-operation in opposing the illicit trade in unlawfully removed cultural objects.


Indigenous sheep of Kenya are very important to resource-poor farmers and pastoralists. They have over time adapted to the harsh environmental conditions of the arid and semi-arid lands where they are faced with challenges of persistent droughts, diseases, conflicts and poor nutrition, yet show resistance to gastrointestinal nematodes. In recent years, these indigenous sheep populations have been crossbred indiscriminately to exotic breeds particularly the Dorper. A study was undertaken to determine the level of genetic diversity and relatedness between the various sheep populations and breeds of Kenya. This paper reports results on the genetic diversity and admixture observed using microsatellite DNA markers.


The security in MANET has become a significant and active topic within the research community. In spite of the several attacks aimed at specific nodes in MANET that have been uncovered, some attacks involving multiple nodes still receive little attention. Furthermore, it may also have to do with the fact that no survey or taxonomy has been done to clarify the characteristics of different multiple node attacks. This thesis addresses the aforementioned gap by providing a proper definition and categorization of collaborative attacks against MANET from the various multiple node attacks found. Simulation using OPNET Modeler was used to investigate the performance impact of a collaborative blackhole attack on a mobile ad hoc network. Network throughput, packet delivery ratio and end-to-end delay are the performance metrics used in our result analysis. Based on the analyses of performance metrics made, we realised the consequences of a collaborative blackhole attack on MANET. In order to prevent or reduce these consequences, we also discuss a number of mitigation plans to counteract the different kinds of collaborative attacks.


Background Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease affecting 70,000 individuals worldwide and results from mutations in the gene that encodes the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). In the lungs, the mucociliary clearance mechanism is impaired and the airways of CF patients are often colonized by bacteria, yeasts and filamentous fungi. Among clinically significant fungi, Candida spp. are the most common yeasts but their prevalence rates vary greatly according to the different studies. It is still controversial as to whether Candida spp. are transient or persistent colonizers of the respiratory tract of CF patients. Candida dubliniensis is pathogenic yeast of the genus Candida which is phenotypically closely related to C. albicans. It is emerging yeast in the respiratory tract of patients with CF. Aims and objectives To determine the frequency of C. dubliniensis recovered from lower respiratory samples of CF patients and compare between pediatric ( ≤ 18 year) and adult (> 18 year) CF patients. The secondary objective was to evaluate whether CF patients have persistent C. dubliniensis isolated in their lower respiratory secretions. Methods A prospective study of 52 CF patients (38 pediatric and 14 adult CF patients) over a period of 14 months. Each CF patient had at least two lower respiratory secretions either an outpatient or in-patient setting with interval 3–5 months between specimens during the study period. Sputum samples, deep pharyngeal swabs (taken from patients who did not produce sputum), and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples were collected and immediately delivered to the Mycology Laboratory at Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar. Patients were excluded from the study if they had only one respiratory sample. Respiratory secretions were cultured for Candida species and identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Clinical data including body mass index (BMI) and the FEV1% (the volume of air forcefully exhaled in one second and then converted to a percentage of normal) were collected. Descriptive statistics and unpaired t test were used to analyze the data using SPSS 21software. Results Candida isolates were obtained from 40 CF patients (76.9%). There were 56.2% (77/137) of respiratory specimens positive for Candida species. C dubliniensis was the most prevalent Candida sp. 65%(50/77) isolated from 29 CF patients more often from adults than children (91.3% vs 53.7%; respectively). Other Candida spp. isolated was C. albicans 27.2%(21/77), C. tropicalis 6.5%(5/77) and C. glabrata 1.3%(1/77). In CF patients, two or more Candida spp. were never isolated from the same respiratory specimen. During the study period, C. dubliniensis was isolated repeatedly in 11 (27.5%) CF patients and transient isolates were found in 13 (32.5%) patients. C. dubliniensis was recovered from the first respiratory specimen followed by other Candida spp. in subsequent samples in 5 (12.5%) patients. C. dubliniensis has no significant effect on BMI and the FEV1% during the study period in each persistent and intermittent C. dubliniensis group respectively (P>0.05). None of the CF patients received antifungal therapy. The prevalence of C. dubliniensis was higher in adults harboring Pseudomonas aeruginosa, while in pediatric patients C. dubliniensis coexisted with Staphylococcus aureus. Conclusion The present study reports the high and frequent occurrence of C. dubliniensis from the lower respiratory secretions of CF patients and has no effect on both BMI and FEV1%.


Amongst the Lepidoptera, ultraviolet wing patterns are common. Where closely related species are sympatric, it has been thought that these patterns play a significant role in species recognition. In Europe, a number of Colias and Gonepteryx species of butterflies occur sympatrically, exhibiting similar visible and ultraviolet (uv) patterns. We analysed the uv and visible wavelengths, using reflectance spectrometry, for evidence of species specific uv colours. A great deal of variation was found to occur between reflected wavelengths of individuals but not between species. Individual variation in uv was so great that butterflies (or butterfly predators) would be unlikely to recognise particular species on the basis of uv colours. We suggest that variation in uv reflectance in male Pierid butterflies is more likely to be associated with mate choice by females or with male-male interactions.


Abstract. Changes in ocean temperature and salinity are expected to be an important determinant of the Greenland ice sheet's future sea level contribution. Yet, simulating the impact of these changes in continental-scale ice sheet models remains challenging due to the small scale of key physics, such as fjord circulation and plume dynamics, and poor understanding of critical processes, such as calving and submarine melting. Here we present the ocean forcing strategy for Greenland ice sheet models taking part in the Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project for CMIP6 (ISMIP6), the primary community effort to provide 21st century sea level projections for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report. Beginning from global atmosphere–ocean general circulation models, we describe two complementary approaches to provide ocean boundary conditions for Greenland ice sheet models, termed the "retreat" and "submarine melt" implementations. The retreat implementation parameterises glacier retreat as a function of projected subglacial discharge and ocean thermal forcing, is designed to be implementable by all ice sheet models and results in retreat of around 1 and 15 km by 2100 in RCP2.6 and 8.5 scenarios, respectively. The submarine melt implementation provides estimated submarine melting only, leaving the ice sheet model to solve for the resulting calving and glacier retreat and suggests submarine melt rates will change little under RCP2.6 but will approximately triple by 2100 under RCP8.5. Both implementations have necessarily made use of simplifying assumptions and poorly constrained parameterisations and, as such, further research on submarine melting, calving and fjord–shelf exchange should remain a priority. Nevertheless, the presented framework will allow an ensemble of Greenland ice sheet models to be systematically and consistently forced by the ocean for the first time and should result in a significant improvement in projections of the Greenland ice sheet's contribution to future sea level change.


The distribution and use of pelagic habitat by sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) is generally poorly understood in Western Australia. However, a variety of data are becoming available via online portals where records of historical expeditions, commercial whaling operations, and modern scientific research voyages can now be accessed. Crowdsourcing these online data allows collation of presence-only information of offshore animals such as sperm whales and provides a valuable tool to help augment areas of poor research effort and fill in the gaps. Four data sources were examined, the primary one being the Voyage of the Odyssey expedition, a five-year global study of sperm whales and ocean pollution. From December 2001-May 2002, researchers surveyed 5200 nautical miles off Western Australia including historical whaling grounds off Albany and the Perth Canyon, an area previously known for pygmy blue whale distribution, using acoustic techniques and obtained 57 tissue biopsies. To augment areas not surveyed by the RV Odyssey, historical Yankee whaling data, commercial whaling data, and citizen science reports of sperm whale sightings were used. Using Maxent, a species distribution modeling tool, we found that the submarine canyons off Albany and Perth provide important habitat for sperm whales. Recent management measures implemented by the Australian government in this region were evaluated with respect to the sperm whale distribution model and only 1.8% of their predicted habitat occurs within a designated IUCN marine protected area restricting offshore activities.


This paper presents an evaluation of Clilstore, a web-based service that was designed to assist with the delivery of Content and Language Integrated Learning. Clilstore claims to be a flexible resource that facilitates the authoring and sharing of multimedia materials to suit the teaching and learning requirements of a variety of end users. The language learning requirements of students on an undergraduate Irish language programme at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland are considered, as is the challenge facing the programme delivery team to develop materials leading to the achievement of the learning outcomes set out in the New Third Level Syllabus for Irish (see www.teagascnagaeilge.ie), a learner-centred syllabus based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The creation of a sample Clilstoreunit is described, and qualitative data collected from group of students on the above programme following testing in a face to face multimedia language laboratory setting is presented. Analysis of this data suggests that using Clilstore units in a technology rich learning environment provides a very effective means of introducing and processing new content, and that the inherent emphasis placed on dictionary consultation by individual users generally leads to a productive and positive learning experience.


The purpose of the present study was to compare the effects of alendronate (ALN) and alfacalcidol (ALF) on the femoral bone mass and bone strength in orchidectomized rats and to clarify the skeletal benefits of combined administration of ALN and ALF. Fifty male Sprague-Dawley rats, 3 months of age, were randomized by the stratified weight method into five groups: the age-matched control (CON), orchidectomy (ORX), ORX + ALN (2.5 microg/kg, s.c., 5 times a week), ORX + ALF (0.1 microg/kg, p.o., 5 times a week), and ORX + ALN + ALF groups. After 12 weeks of feeding, the femoral distal metaphysis and mid-diaphysis were processed for peripheral quantitative tomographic analysis and biomechanical testing. In the femoral distal metaphysis, ALN prevented the ORX-induced reduction in the trabecular volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) and breaking energy, and ALF prevented the ORX-induced reduction in the trabecular vBMD and increased the breaking energy to values above those observed in the CON group. Both ALN and ALF increased the maximum load to values above those observed in the ORX group. The improvements in parameters described above were more pronounced when ALN and ALF were administered in combination. In the femoral mid-diaphysis, on the other hand, ALN did not significantly affect the cortical bone parameters, whereas ALF increased the cortical area and maximum load to values above those observed in the ORX group. Furthermore, no apparent benefit of combined administration of ALN and ALF was observed. These findings suggest differential effects of ALN and ALF on femoral bone mass and the beneficial effects of combined administration of ALN and ALF on the trabecular bone of the femur in ORX rats.


Integrated apatite fission track analysis and vitrinite reflectance data show that well 204/19-1 in the West of Shetland region, UK Atlantic margin, has experienced only limited additional burial beyond present-day depths. Uplift and cooling to present-day levels probably occurred during late Cenozoic (Eocene to Miocene) basin inversion. Fluid inclusion data indicate that Paleocene–Eocene sandstones have experienced temperatures much higher than can be explained by burial alone. Temperatures up to 200±°C indicate the passage of hot fluid through Cenozoic sandstones, which by-passed the pre-Cenozoic section in this and other wells. The hot fluid event must have been of very brief duration (up to 100 years) to show no record in the fission track and reflectance data, implying that the fluids migrated through fracture systems. Oil inclusions in the Cretaceous of well 204/19-1 have a chemistry that suggests derivation from a Kimmeridgian-aged source rock. They occur in cements that show no evidence for the hot fluid event and it is concluded that the cements pre-date the event. Oil inclusions in Cenozoic sandstones have a heavy, degraded character and were trapped at high temperature, suggesting that degradation was related to the hot fluid event. Present-day oils in the West of Shetland region are mixtures, which could reflect components from the two charges distinguished by the integrated thermal and geochemical histories. The inference of fracture-bound flow is consistent with existing models of overpressure development and hydrofracturing.


Context: The reduction or loss of natural fertility is deeply painful in couples that are considering the use of donor gametes or donor embryos. This is the first study to assess the acceptability of donor gametes or embryos in Indian population. Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the attitude toward egg, sperm, and embryo donation among Indian the infertile couples. Settings: This study was conducted at infertility outpatient clinic New Delhi. Design: This study was a cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: From October 1, 2015, to December 31, 2015, a total of 594 infertile couples were assessed. A well-structured questionnaire was given to each infertile couple at the first visit. Both female and male partners had filled the questionnaire separately. The acceptance rate of couple toward the egg, sperm, and embryo donation was assessed. Results: Out of 594 female partners, 118 females agreed for donor eggs (19.9%), 116 females agreed for donor sperms (19.5%), and 93 females agreed for donor embryos (15.7%). Out of 594 male partners, 262 males agreed for donor eggs (44.1%), 90 males agreed for donor sperms (15.2%), and 141 males agreed for donor embryos (23.7%). Conclusions: The overall acceptance of donor eggs, sperms, or embryos in Indian infertile couples is low. The acceptance rate of females for donor eggs or donor sperms is same, but males are more amenable to accept donor eggs than donor sperms. This is the first study to assess the acceptability of donor gametes or embryos in Indian population.


Advocates argue that gun control laws reduce the incidence of violent crimes by reducing the prevalence of firearms. Gun laws control the types of firearms that may be purchased, designate the qualifications of those who may purchase and own a firearm, and restrict the safe storage and use of firearms. On this view, fewer guns mean less crime. Thus, there is a two-step linkage between gun control and crime rates: (1) the impact of gun control on the availability and accessibility of firearms, particularly handguns, and (2) the effect of the prevalence of guns on the commission of crimes. The direction of the effect runs from gun control to crime rates. Conversely, because high crime rates are often cited as justifying more stringent gun control laws, high rates may generate political support for gun regulations. This suggests a causal effect running from crime rates to more stringent gun laws. But because both relationships between gun control and crime rates unfold over time, they are not simultaneously determined in the usual econometric sense. For example, crime rates in the early 1990s could be expected, ceteris paribus, to influence the stringency of gun control measures in the late 1990s. In turn, more stringent gun control in the late 1990s could be expected, ceteris paribus, to affect crime rates several years later. Using state-level data, this article provides estimates of these twin relationships between gun control and crime rates. Measuring the Degree of Gun Control Researchers attempting to estimate the effect of gun control on crime rates face two problems. First, how is gun control to be measured? What is the empirical counterpart to gun control? Gun control is an umbrella term covering everything from laws prohibiting the ownership of defined classes of firearms to mandating the inclusion of gun locks with every firearm sold. These measures represent discrete legislative acts passed on different dates by different governing bodies. How do they interact to control the availability of firearms? Are the various measures complements or substitutes? Second, the effectiveness of a particular gun control statute depends not only on its being on the books but the degree to which the law is enforced. Two jurisdictions may have the same gun control statute but experience very different effects, because in one of the jurisdictions little effort is devoted to enforcing the regulation. Enforcement of gun laws must be taken into account in order to accurately assess gun control. One contribution of this study is that it addresses these problems by using a comprehensive index of gun control laws for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The index includes those laws in place in 1998. Normalized to take on values of 0 to 100, the index is based on 30 weighted criteria applied to six categories of gun control regulations. The index was constructed as a project of the Open Society Institute's Center on Crime, Communities and Culture. (1) The index "concentrates on states because most gun laws are state laws, though federal law also plays an important role" (Open Society Institute 2000: 1). Because our study uses cross-sectional data by state, to match up with the index, federal laws are treated as a constant across all states and the District of Columbia. (2) Another reason for focusing on states is that 40 states prohibit or restrict local governments from enacting gun control ordinances. Although there are literally thousands of state and local gun control statutes, the authors of the index group specific gun control measures into the following six categories. (1) Registration of firearms including purchase permits and gun registration of handguns and long guns (rifles and shotguns). (2) Safety training required before purchase. (3) Regulation of firearm sales including background checks, minimum age requirements for purchasing a firearm, a waiting period before a sale can be completed, one-gun-a-month limitation on purchases, all applied to long guns and/or handguns, plus a ban on "Saturday night specials," junk guns, and assault weapons. …


Pod rot disease in cacao (Theobroma cacao) caused by Phytophthora palmivora has been loss until 90%. The major economic loss is from infection of the pod. Pods can be infected at any age, but most significant economic loss arises from infection during the two months prior to ripening. Pod infected at this stage can be a total loss because the fungus can easily pass from the pod husk to the seed-coat of the bean in a cacao still be convergent only at usage of synthetic pesticide. Therefore need to be searched other alternative to control the disease, namely by exploiting antagonist microbe. Research has been done in Laboratory of Microbiology and Microbial Pesticide, Department of Agroecotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Udayana University, Jl. PB. Sudirman Denpasar, from April until October 2007. There are three research phases done like : 1) insulation pathogen cause of disease, 2) antagonist microbe inhibitory activity test to growth of pathogen in vitro, and 3) inhibitory activity test free cell antagonist microbe to growth of pathogen in vitro. Result of research shows, found two species pathogen cause of pod rot disease of cacao namely Phytophthora sp. (A) and Phytophthora sp. (B). Based on result of examination out of four antagonist microbes tested like Trichoderma sp.; Saccharomyces sp.; Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus sp., that is most effective in depressing pathogen is Trichoderma sp. with inhibitory activity equal to 83,98% to Phytophthora sp. (A) and 82,18% to Phytophthora sp. (B) at PDA media. Secondary metabolite released by fourth of antagonist microbe depress both pathogen cause of pod rot disease of cacao at PDA media.


Silvopastoral systems are traditional components of the landscape in the Swiss Jura Mountains, and are promising approaches for the sustainable management of mountain areas worldwide. Due to complex vegetation dynamics, pasture-woodlands are very vulnerable to the currently occurring land use and climate changes. Therefore, management requires integrative long-term predictions of successional trends. We present a refined version of the spatially explicit, dynamic simulation model WoodPaM with improved climate sensitivity of simulated vegetation. We investigate pasture-woodland dynamics by applying an innovative combination of retrospective simulations starting in the Middle Ages with prospective simulations following two climate change scenarios. The retrospective simulations demonstrate the strong dependency of the landscape mosaic on both climate and management. In high elevation mountain pastures, climate cooling during the Little Ice Age hindered simulated tree regeneration and reduced forage production of grasslands. Both led to an increase in open grassland and to a structural simplification of the landscape. In turn, climate warming afterwards showed the opposite effect. At lower elevations, high cattle stocking rates generally dominate simulated succession, leading to a slow development of quite homogenous landscapes whose structures are hardly affected by historical climate variability. Aerial photographs suggest that logging and windstorms critically shaped the current landscape, both homogenizing mosaic structures that emerge from selective grazing. Simulations of climate change scenarios suggest delayed but inevitable structural changes in the landscape mosaic and a temporary breakdown of the ecosystem service wood production. The population of currently dominating Norway spruce collapses due to simulated drought. Spruce is only slowly replaced either by beech under moderate warming or by Scots pine under extreme warming. In general, the shift in tree species dominance results in landscapes of less structural richness than today. In order to maintain the mosaic structure of pasture-woodlands, we recommend a future increase in cattle stocking on mountain pastures. The (re-) introduction of mixed herds (cattle with horses, sheep, and goats) could mitigate the simulated trend towards structural homogenization of the forest-grassland mosaic because diverse browsing effects selectively control tree regeneration and would counteract simulated forest encroachment. This could prevent the loss of species-rich open grasslands and forest-grassland ecotones. Forest management should respect forest-grassland mosaics and ecotones by following the traditional selective felling of single trees instead of large clear-cutting. Additionally, beech regeneration should be promoted from now on in order to smoothen tree species replacement with warming and to ensure the continuous provision of forest ecosystem services.


High crystalline ZSM-5 was synthesized by hydrothermal method using localKaolin (Zonouz-EastAzarbaijan- Iran). The effect of several parameters such as time and template type on ZSM-5 crystallization and also calcination medium were studied. The as-synthesized ZSM-5 was characterized by XRD, FT-IR, SEM, TEM and BET surface area techniques. The ratio of Si:Al of synthesized ZSM-5 was 13 with a surface area of around 300 m2/g usingTPABr as template. The Zn(II)-ZSM-5,Cu(II)-ZSM-5 andNi(II)-ZSM- 5 sorbents were prepared through liquid phase ion exchange (LPIE) method at roomtemperature. Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) for this zeolite was determined with ICP-AES technique. The ion exchanged ZSM-5 zeolites were used as adsorbents for removing of fuel organosulfurs in order to reduce air pollutants. The effect of each individual adsorbent is studied by using a model fuel (2000 ppm thiophene in toluene). The efficiency of the adsorbents was determined by Gas Chromatography analysis. Ð- complexation between thiophene ring and metal loaded in adsorbents is considered as removing mechanism. By increasing the cation amount in the adsorbents, the removing process improves. The Zn(II)-ZSM-5 adsorbent with themostmetal loading amount showed the best performance in thiophene removing (~64%).


Wind farm layout optimisation (WFLO) is carried out in this study considering the wake effect, and cabling connections and losses. The wind farm micro-siting optimisation problem is formulated with the aid of Jensen's wake model. Cabling between the wind turbines and the point of common coupling is an important aspect of the wind farm design as it affects the capital investment as well as income over the lifetime of the wind farm. The cabling layout must satisfy the connection of the wind turbines to the point of common coupling in such a way that the total cable length is reduced while reliability is maintained. Introducing the cabling layout optimisation to the WFLO, further complicates the optimisation problem. An integrated tool is developed to optimise the wind farm layout and cabling simultaneously. The main contribution of this work is the development of an integrated tool that maximizes the energy production of the wind farm via optimal allocation of wind turbines with optimal cable routing. This tool considers the capital cost of wind turbines and cabling, wind farm power production, and power losses in the cabling over the lifetime of the wind farm. The proposed co-optimisation problem is solved using genetic algorithm. The decision variables are the wind farm layout, cable paths and sizes, and the location of the point of common coupling within the land perimeter. A case study incorporating a multi-speed and multi-direction wind profile is carried out to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach. Moreover, the proposed methodology is compared to the separate optimisation method where the WFLO and cabling optimisation are solved sequentially with two separate steps. It is shown that the co-optimisation method is superior in terms of cable power losses, overall wind farm cost, and compactness (land use).


Effects of Prolonged and Timing-Specific Exposure to Neighborhood Disadvantage during Childhood and Adolescence on Health and Health Inequalities in Early Adulthood Nicole D. Kravitz-Wirtz Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Kyle Crowder Sociology Mounting evidence that purely individual-based explanations fail to fully explain persistent disparities in morbidity and mortality has contributed to a surge in research investigating how residential contexts further shape the health of individual residents. Until recently, however, the majority of scholarship in this area measured neighborhood characteristics only once or over just a short window of observation, conflating persons who were recently exposed with those who have – and in the case of many communities of color, are more likely to have – experienced repeated or prolonged residential adversity. Such a conceptualization is inconsistent with most theories of neighborhood effects, which tend to specify mechanisms that imply sustained or age-specific exposures, as well as with a developmental or life course perspective in which experiences earlier in life are posited to have formative and enduring impacts on future outcomes, even when controlling for more contemporaneous determinants. Using data from the 1970 to 2011 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) merged with census data on respondents' neighborhoods, this dissertation comprises three interrelated studies examining the effects of prolonged and timing-specific exposures to neighborhood disadvantage throughout childhood and adolescence on health and health inequalities later in life, including self-rated health status, obesity incidence, and early smoking initiation. Neighborhood disadvantage is characterized regularly throughout the child and adolescent life course using a composite index based on the spatial clustering of poverty, unemployment, female-headed households, public assistance receipt, and educational and occupational marginalization.1 The assumption is that such collective conditions of neighborhoods are concomitant to social and structural resources and opportunities (or the lack thereof) that can, alone or in conjunction with individualand household-level risk and protective factors, be health promoting or health compromising. Analyses employ marginal structural models with inverse probability of treatment (and censoring) weights to adjust for selection bias without "controlling away" the effects of neighborhood exposures that operate indirectly though the same individual-level covariates that are associated with mobility into and out of different neighborhood contexts. Results indicate that prolonged exposure to neighborhood disadvantage throughout childhood and adolescence is strikingly more common among nonwhite, predominantly African American, respondents and is associated in turn with significantly greater odds of experiencing worse self-rated health as well as obesity in early adulthood. Moreover, contrary to familylevel poverty in which experiences during early childhood have been shown to be particularly influential, these analyses suggest that exposure to neighborhood-level deprivation during adolescence may be more detrimental to young adult health than exposure that occurs earlier in life. Nonetheless, the findings for early smoking initiation highlight the potential for differential impacts of neighborhood poverty across different racial/ethnic groups. Overall, however, this dissertation adds support to the growing body of literature suggesting that place-based, developmentally-appropriate, and ongoing investments in the social, economic, institutional, and physical structures of under-resourced communities and communities of color can have longterm benefits for population health and health equity that extend over the life course. 1 For the early smoking initiation outcome, only the poverty rate of the census tract is used to characterize neighborhood disadvantage.


Introduction: There is certainly no doubt that health is one of the most important aspects of human life which as an essential condition plays social roles. The concept of lifestyle relies on the notion that individuals usually exhibit a recognizable model of behavior in their daily life. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between lifestyle and general health of students at Islamic Azad University of Bandar Abbas. Methods: This is a descriptive correlational study which included 764 students at Islamic Azad University of Bandar Abbas with no history of mental health disorders, chronic illness and disability before admission to the university. In this study, three questionnaires were used for the collection of data. Results: Most of students were single. The frequency of local students (from Bandar Abbas) was more than non-local ones. Most of them were financially dependent. There was a significant relationship between sex, marital status, state of residency, and the economic situation from the view point of general health (P<0.001). In terms of general health, there found a significant relationship between socioeconomic status, sport, smoking, nutrition, the principles of safety and stress. (P<0.05) Conclusion: This study shows the necessity for the attention and emphasis on the role of increased awareness of students about improvement of lifestyle and proper behavioral models. Through the improvement of lifestyle, outbreak of diseases may be prevented. Finally, this factor should be considered as a preventive factor.


A fundamental belief in professional sport leagues is that competitive balance is needed to maximize demand and revenues; therefore, leagues have created policies attempting to attain proper competitive balance. Further, research posits that objectives of professional sport teams' owners include some combination of winning and profit maximization. Although the pursuit of wins is a zero sum game, revenue generation and potential profit making is not. This article focuses upon the National Football League's potential unintended consequences of creating the incentive for some teams to free ride on the rest of the league's talent and brand. It examines whether an owner's objectives to generate increased revenues and profits are potentially enhanced by operating as a continual low-cost provider while making money from the shared revenues and brand value of the league. The present evidence indicates that, overall, being a low-cost provider is more profitable than increasing player salaries in an attempt to win additional games.


The paper discusses three aspects of belonging to religious systems of belief
 within a modern liberal society, namely (1) the sincerity and consistency of
 belief, (2) the possibility of exteriorization of belief through broader
 social interactions or transactions, and (3) the relationship between
 religious belief and the modern concept of affirmative tolerance, or
 affirmation of differences, which has become a pronounced public policy in
 multicultural liberal societies. The author argues that, while negative
 tolerance allows sincere religious belief to flourish in the private sphere
 and for benevolence to be shown to those who are seen as mistaken in their
 beliefs, affirmative tolerance opens an array of logical issues. The demand
 to extend potential substantive validation to opposed beliefs produces the
 ricochet effect of de-validating one's own beliefs. This creates difficulties
 for religious communities when issues at stake are beliefs that, in the
 respective belief-systems, are definitive of the moral goodness and moral
 badness. Upon a more careful examination of the logical relations between the
 soteriological promises characteristic of what is sometimes called the
 'substantive' layer of religiousness, on the one hand, and the public
 expectation of a tolerant coexistence of religious communities on a social
 level, on the other hand, it becomes clear that the tolerance required can
 only be a negative tolerance. Any expectation of affirmative tolerance
 de-values the soteriological script of the respective system of religious
 belief, and is thus likely to lead to serious disturbances in a liberal
 context of multi-cultural coexistence. The author argues that the recent
 political announcements of a 'failure of the multicultural experiment' are
 caused by the aggressive pursuit of 'affirmative tolerance' rather than by
 any in-built intolerance of others in any of the large religious belief
 systems now prevalent in the liberal democratic world.