This paper focuses on the small rural towns as intermediaries between the rural economies.,on the one hand, and the formal, mainly urban based, national industry on the other. Theoretically, the paper rests on a network concept of the enterprise which is related both to the Scandinavian network approach and to the Anglo-saxon theory of flexible specialisation. In the network approach, the small enterprise is seen neither as completely dependent nor as independent, but as a node in a network of enterprises where it is linked to other enterprises both public and private, both large and small. The networking is seen as leading to a process of specialisation and market segmentation which is beginning to be visible in the small towns of Zimbabwe that have been the focus of research. The paper argues that in economies like that of Zimbabwe where a large part of the population remains in semi-subsistence production while formal trade and industry is highly concentrated both organisationally and geographically, rural industrialisation combines consolidation and concentration of rural small-scale activities with decentralisation of formal sector activities. The paper then discusses policy initiatives usually associated with structural adjustment programmes in the light of the theory and the observed small-town economic structure. IDS Information Resource Unit University of Sussex Falmer, Brighton BN1 9RE. UK PLEASE R E f U R N BY


This paper proposes a novel method to characterize the availability of household loads to participate in demand response programmes, as well as detailed mathematical models to characterize households loads. The availability of the households results from the flexibility of their controllable loads to increase/reduce consumption. This flexibility is calculated taking into account the comfort levels predefined by the customers and the technical restrictions of the controllable loads. The proposed method was evaluated through a management algorithm developed to perform demand control actions in quasi-real-time, according to the objectives of the distribution system operator or energy aggregator and the availability of the household loads. A scenario with a single household located in a semi-urban area is used to illustrate the application of the algorithm and validate the proposed method.


Mouse salivary epithelium cannot undergo branching morphogenesis in the absence of the surrounding mesenchyme. To clarify the nature of the mesenchymal influence on the epithelium, we have investigated the culture conditions in which the epithelium could normally branch in the absence of mesenchymal cells. Combination of basement-membrane-like substratum (Matrigel) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) could substitute for the mesenchyme, the epithelium showing typical branching morphogenesis. Transforming growth factor alpha had the same effect as EGF. Matrigel plus basic fibroblast growth factor or transforming growth factor beta 1 and collagen gel plus EGF were not sufficient to support the branching of the epithelium. These results clearly reveal that the role of mesenchyme in salivary morphogenesis is both to provide the epithelium with an appropriate substratum and to accelerate growth of the epithelium.


An important family of span programs, st-connectivity span programs, have been used to design quantum algorithms in various contexts, including a number of graph problems and formula evaluation problems. The complexity of the resulting algorithms depends on the largest positive witness size of any 1-input, and the largest negative witness size of any 0-input. Belovs and Reichardt first showed that the positive witness size is exactly characterized by the effective resistance of the input graph, but only rough upper bounds were known previously on the negative witness size. We show that the negative witness size in an st-connectivity span program is exactly characterized by the capacitance of the input graph. This gives a tight analysis for algorithms based on st-connectivity span programs on any set of inputs.
We use this analysis to give a new quantum algorithm for estimating the capacitance of a graph. We also describe a new quantum algorithm for deciding if a graph is connected, which improves the previous best quantum algorithm for this problem if we're promised that either the graph has at least kappa > 1 components, or the graph is connected and has small average resistance, which is upper bounded by the diameter. We also give an alternative algorithm for deciding if a graph is connected that can be better than our first algorithm when the maximum degree is small. Finally, using ideas from our second connectivity algorithm, we give an algorithm for estimating the algebraic connectivity of a graph, the second largest eigenvalue of the Laplacian.


When either detection rate (sensitivity) or false alarm rate (specificity) is optimized in an artificial neural network trained to identify myocardial infarction, the increase in the accuracy of one is always done at the expense of the accuracy of the other. To overcome this loss, two networks that were separately trained on populations of patients with different likelihoods of myocardial infarction were used in concert. One network was trained on clinical pattern sets derived from patients who had a low likelihood of myocardial infarction, while the other was trained on pattern sets derived from patients with a high likelihood of myocardial infarction. Unknown patterns were analyzed by both networks. If the output generated by the network trained on the low risk patients was below an empirically set threshold, this output was chosen as the diagnostic output. If the output was above that threshold, the output of the network trained on the high risk patients was used as the diagnostic output. The dual network correctly identified 39 of the 40 patients who had sustained a myocardial infarction and 301 of 306 patients who did not have a myocardial infarction for a detection rate (sensitivity) and false alarm rate (1-specificity) of 97.50 and 1.63%, respectively. A parallel control experiment using a single network but identical training information correctly identified 39 of 40 patients who had sustained a myocardial infarction and 287 of 306 patients who had not sustained a myocardial infarction (p = 0.003).


During the COPS experiment performed in south-western Germany and eastern France in 2007, several insitu and remote sensing systems were operated at Hornisgrinde - the highest summit of the northern Black Forest mountains. For this case study, data from a surface flux station, radiosondes, cloud camera, cloud radar, wind lidar, water vapour differential absorption lidar, and microwave profiler were used to investigate turbulence characteristics in cloud-free and cloud-topped convective boundary layers (CBLs). Short time intervals were analysed, during which dry and moist convective cells occurred, in order to obtain insight of the processes that determine the turbulent characteristic in the CBL. The frequently-used aerosol concentration was used to calculate the CBL height, zi. It was found that active CBL clouds penetrated deeper into the free troposphere than dry convective cells. In the cloud-free CBL the normalised variance of the vertical velocity, rw 2 , decreased to zero approximately at zi, while rw 2 was nearly constant between 0.5 and 1 z/zi in the cloud-topped CBL. The higher normalised rw 2 values in the cloud layer could be attributed to the additional elevated heat source due to condensation. In the cloud-free CBL the latent heat flux showed a strong decrease between 0.7 and 1.1 z/zi, i.e., it considerably moistened the upper part of the CBL and entrainment zone. In the cloud-topped CBL the latent heat flux decreased significantly above the CBL top only and became zero at about 1.4 z/zi. CBL height calculations, which took measures of the turbulence into account, resulted in normalised rw 2 and E profiles, which became zero at the CBL top and appeared more appropriate for CBL height scaling over complex terrain. The case studies demonstrated that only the combined use of different monitoring systems allowed for the recording of the entire structure of the convective cells and that synergetic measurements in cloud-topped CBLs were indispensable to capture the latters' turbulent characteristics. Also, significant differences between turbulent characteristics in cloud-free and cloud-topped CBLs became evident.


This paper studies the wage inequality in Belarus' districts from 2000 till 2015 following the multistep and multi-mechanism framework. The empirical results show: first, that wage disparities across the districts decreased in the 2000-2012 period and then increased from 2013 to 2015; second, there is the spatial dependency in district wages and increasing separation between districts, and between rural and urban population in Belarus; third, the main economic factors that contribute to decrease in district wage inequality are industrial development, retail trade and agricultural development. Finally, from theoretical point of view this research rejects the inverted U-shaped relationship between spatial inequality and economic development for Belarus and supports the hypothesis made by French economist Thomas Piketty that slow growth rates lead to rising inequality.


Organic Chemistry Concepts: An EFL Approach provides an introductory overview of the subject, to enable the reader to understand many critical, experimental facts. Designed to cover a single-semester course or a needed review on the principles of Organic Chemistry, the book is written and organized for readers whose first language is not English. Approximately 80% of the words used are drawn from the list of the 2,000 most common English words; the remaining 20% includes necessary technical words, common chemistry terms, and well-known academic words (per the Academic Word List). The book has been class-tested internationally as well as with native English speakers, and differs from other introductory textbooks in the subject both in its coverage and organization, with a particular focus on common problem areas. Focused on a limited number of functional classes, Organic Chemistry Concepts: An EFL Approach introduces those organic compounds early in the book. Once readers have a foundation of the concepts and language of organic chemistry, they can build from that knowledge and work with relatively complex molecules, such as some natural product types covered in a later chapter. The book describes basic level reaction mechanisms when instructive, and illustrations throughout to emphasize the 3D nature of organic chemistry. The book includes multiple pedagogical features, such as chapter questions and useful appendices, to support reader comprehension. * Covers all primary concepts in accessible language and pedagogical features, worked examples, glossary, chapter questions, illustrations, and useful summaries* Builds a foundation of key material through a structured framework from which readers can expand their understanding* Contains class-tested content written in a straightforward and accessible manner for non-native English speakers


Recent studies of the European Union crisis management capability argue for establishing a permanent Operations Headquarters (OHQ) instead of the temporary alternatives currently available. These studies picture temporary OHQs as slow starters hampered by multiple interests and a lack of common grounds. This paper corroborates these studies by reporting on the empirical findings of a year‐long case study of the EUFOR Tchad/RCA OHQ. The combined results of observations, interviews, and surveys indicate that national perspectives not only existed in the OHQ, but were also asymmetric in the sense that staff members from France and Ireland nations displayed stronger national perspectives than staff members from other nations. However, the general trust between staff members seems to have been largely unaffected by this. The findings also indicate a process of familiarization spanning over several months. This paper argues that temporary multinational headquarters are likely to work around frictions and mature into well‐functioning organization, but that this is a time‐consuming process in which national parallel chains of command may remain. Prior training should prepare staff members for this. In addition, leading nations need to understand their strong visibility and to be careful not to dominate the day‐to‐day staff work.


Build profits even in the worst of times with the methods of a Technical Analysis legend "Deemer on Technical Analysis will become an instant investment book classic." --Douglas A. Kass, Seabreeze Partners Management, Inc. "Serving on the front lines of this investment discipline for the past 40 years with some of the most influential investors of our time, Deemer provides a front-row seat on some fascinating history, rich with insights and anecdotes and, of course, loaded with wisdom. His true gift is making the arcane world of technical analysis accessible and relevant to all investors. If Warren Buffett is the Oracle of Omaha, Deemer is the Prophet of Port St. Lucie." --Sandra Ward, Senior Editor, Barron's/p> "I have had the great pleasure of working with and getting to know some of the greatest technical analysts throughout the past 50 years. Walt Deemer is widely recognized as one of the best. His charm and wit in explaining the keys to successful investing will make [this] book a must-read and an all-time classic for first-time investors and professionals alike." --Paul Desmond, Lowry Research "Every investor can learn something from Walter Deemer." --David Fuller, Global Strategist, Fullermoney.com Today's volatile markets are challenging for professional and retail investors alike. Just in time, Walter Deemer, a cornerstone of technical analysis for nearly 50 years, has culled his insight and knowledge to show investors how to achieve steady investment gains in the current markets. With the stock market expected to trade generally sideways for many years, a buy-and-hold strategy may not give you the returns you need on your investments. In Deemer on Technical Analysis, Walter distills his decades spent on the front lines of the financial markets into a useful strategy that shows you how to time the markets to successfully grow wealth. The key is solid technical analysis. Inside, you will learn the nuts and bolts of charting, identifying indicators, recognizing trends, and selecting the best stocks for your goals. This step-by-step guide shows you how to: Read the emotional characteristics of the markets in order to better direct investments Pinpoint the most profitable entry and exit points Effectively use the long-term timing tools preferred by top experts, including investor sentiment, relative strength, and trend recognition Cut through short-term noise with the Kondratiev Wave Cycle, Four-Year Cycle, and simple long-term chart analysis Deemer on Technical Analysis also weaves in entertaining and clarifying anecdotes from the author's colorful life working at prestigious firms, where he rubbed elbows with A-list icons of Wall Street. Each anecdote reinforces real-world applications of covered material to help you more effectively seize opportunities in the financial markets. From his early days with Bob Farrell at Merrill Lynch and Gerry Tsai at the Manhattan Fund, to his years as head of market analysis at Putnam Investments and president of DTR, Inc., Deemer has been dispensing timely advice exclusively to top figures in the field. Now, in his quasi-retirement, this technician's technician has written a book that levels the playing field, so that you, too, can invest like a pro.


Examining the history of jazz in the Soviet Union between 1948 and 1953, this essay sheds light on the role of popular music in the cultural competition of the early Cold War. While the Soviet authorities pursued a tolerant policy toward jazz during World War II because of its wartime alliance with the United States, the outbreak of the Cold War in the late 1940s led to a decisive turn against this music. The Communist Party condemned jazz as the music of the "foreign bourgeoisie," instead calling for patriotic Soviet music. Building on previous studies of the complex fate of western music in the USSR during the postwar decades, this article highlights a previously unexamined youth counterculture of jazz enthusiasts, exploring the impact of anti-jazz initiatives on grassroots cultural institutions, on the everyday cultural practices of young people, and on the Cold War's cultural front in the USSR. It relies on sources from central and regional archives, official publications, and memoirs, alongside oral interviews with jazz musicians and cultural officials.


In this blistering memoir of his life in the baking business, Dean Brettschneider describes his journey from a small town baker's apprentice to Global Baker and the internationally successful entrepreneur he is today. Make no mistake — this is not a book about baking. As we follow the interwoven arcs of Dean's career and personal life, his experience teaches us practical lessons on how to harness our passion to strategically improve ourselves and advance our careers. His revelations on entrepreneurship — most notably how he founded Baker & Cook and transformed it from a neighbourhood bakery into a multi-national money-spinner in a matter of years — give us a first row view of what goes into building a business from the ground up, including all of the pain and sacrifice that comes with it. Told in a refreshingly frank manner, Dean's story is sometimes shockingly direct, often hilarious, and always enlightening, leaving us with valuable astute insights into how to navigate the trials and tribulations of life in business.


A new variety of Mallomonas multiunca, M. multiunca var. pocosinensis Siver var. nov., is described from very acidic, humic waterbodies situated on the Atlantic Coastal Plain of North Carolina, U.S.A. The new variety is similar to the type in scale structure, but differs in possessing a unique type of bristle. Bristles of M. multiunca var. pocosinensis have a double cleft-like expanded distal end somewhat similar to the plume-like bristles of Mallomonas plumosa. The concave region of the distal hooked end is interrupted by the presence of a long pointed tooth that essentially divides the cleft into two sections. Based on initial findings it appears that this taxon is an important member of the phytoplankton flora in waterbodies along coastal regions of North Carolina.


STUDY QUESTION
Does repeat-associated non-AUG (RAN) translation play a role in fragile X-associated primary ovarian insufficiency (FXPOI), leading to the presence of polyglycine containing protein (FMRpolyG)-positive inclusions in ovarian tissue?

SUMMARY ANSWER
Ovaries of a woman with FXPOI and of an Fmr1 premutation (PM) mouse model (exCGG-KI) contain intranuclear inclusions that stain positive for both FMRpolyG and ubiquitin.

WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY
Women who carry the FMR1 PM are at 20-fold increased risk to develop primary ovarian insufficiency (FXPOI). A toxic RNA gain-of-function has been suggested as the underlying mechanism since the PM results in increased levels of mRNA containing an expanded repeat, but reduced protein levels of fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP). Recently, RAN translation has been shown to occur from FMR1 mRNA that contains PM repeat expansions, leading to FMRpolyG inclusions in brain and non-CNS tissues of fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS) patients.

STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION
Ovaries of a woman with FXPOI and women without PM (controls), and ovaries from wild-type and exCGG-KI mice were analyzed by immunohistochemistry for the presence of inclusions that stained for ubiquitin and FMRpolyG . The ovaries from wild-type and exCGG-KI mice were further characterized for the number of follicles, Fmr1 mRNA levels and FMRP protein expression. The presence of inclusions was also analyzed in pituitaries of a man with FXTAS and the exCGG-KI mice.

PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS
Human ovaries from a woman with FXPOI and two control subjects and pituitaries from a man with FXTAS and a control subjects were fixed in 4% formalin. Ovaries and pituitaries of wild-type and exCGG mice were fixed in Bouin's fluid or 4% paraformaldehyde. Immunohistochemistry was performed on the human and mouse samples using FMRpolyG, ubiquitin and Fmrp antibodies. Fmr1 mRNA and protein expression were determined in mouse ovaries by quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. Follicle numbers in mouse ovaries were determined in serial sections by microscopy.

MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE
FMRpolyG-positive inclusions were present in ovarian stromal cells of a woman with FXPOI but not in the ovaries of control subjects. The FMRpolyG-positive inclusions colocalized with ubiquitin-positive inclusions. Similar inclusions were also observed in the pituitary of a man with FXTAS but not in control subjects. Similarly, ovaries of 40-week-old exCGG-KI mice, but not wild-type mice, contained numerous inclusions in the stromal cells that stained for both FMRpolyG- and ubiquitin, while the ovaries of 20-week-old exCGG-KI contained fewer inclusions. At 40 weeks ovarian Fmr1 mRNA expression was increased by 5-fold in exCGG-KI mice compared with wild-type mice, while Fmrp expression was reduced by 2-fold. With respect to ovarian function in exCGG-KI mice: (i) although the number of healthy growing follicles did not differ between wild-type and exCGG-KI mice, the number of atretic large antral follicles was increased by nearly 9-fold in 40-week old exCGG-KI mice (P < 0.001); (ii) at 40 weeks of age only 50% of exCGG-KI mice had recent ovulations compared with 89% in wild-type mice (P = 0.07) and (iii) those exCGG-KI mice with recent ovulations tended to have a reduced number of fresh corpora lutea (4.8 ± 1.74 versus 8.50 ± 0.98, exCGG-KI versus wild-type mice, respectively, P = 0.07).

LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION
Although FMRpolyG-positive inclusions were detected in ovaries of both a woman with FXPOI and a mouse model of the FMR1 PM, we only analyzed one ovary from a FXPOI subject. Caution is needed to extrapolate these results to all women with the FMR1 PM. Furthermore, the functional consequence of FMRpolyG-positive inclusions in the ovaries for reproduction remains to be determined.

WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS
Our results suggest that a dysfunctional hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal-axis may contribute to FXPOI in FMR1 PM carriers.

STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTERESTS
This study was supported by grants from NFXF, ZonMW, the Netherlands Brain Foundation and NIH. The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.


Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 imposes civil liability for misstatements or omissions of material facts in a securities offering registration statement. Potential section 11 defendants include the issuer, directors, underwriters and accountants. Although section 11 was designed to have an in terrorem effect on these parties, section 11 liability is not absolute. Among various affirmative defenses available to a defendant (other than the issuer) is the due diligence defense. Specifically, a non-issuer defendant avoids liability under section 11 if he can prove as to non-"expertized" portions of the registration statement that "he had, after reasonable investigation, reasonable ground to believe and did believe" there were no misstatements or omissions of material facts in such portions of the registration statement. As to "expertized" portions of the registration statement (such as audited financial statements), a non-issuer defendant avoids liability if he can prove that he "had no reasonable ground to believe and did not believe" that such portions of the registration statement contained misstatements or omissions of material facts. Hence, a reasonable investigation standard applies to non-expertized portions and a reasonable reliance standard applies to expertized portions. Because the frequency of pre-trial settlements has limited case law on the subject, Escott v. BarChris Construction Corporation remains the leading case on the due diligence defense to section 11 liability even though it was decided nearly 40 years ago. The recent WorldCom Securities Litigation, however, has provided several opinions that address in detail various aspects of the due diligence defense. The article brings the due diligence defense literature up to date through WorldCom. It explores the reasonable investigation standard of the defense as applied to five different types of defendants: inside directors/management, outside directors, lead underwriters, participating underwriters, and accountants. It concludes that the standard varies by defendant type based on a sliding scale which takes into account the defendant's involvement with the company and the defendant's involvement with the offering. As for the reasonable reliance standard applicable to expertized portions of the registration statement, the article posits that the current "red flag" approach as applied to publicly available information should be informed by teachings of the efficient capital market hypothesis. It also asserts that a narrower "smoking gun" approach is more appropriate with respect to audited financial statements.


This study analyzes female friendship in Sula and also focuses on the impact of race, class and gender on women's relationships. The novel emphasizes how women face the challenges of patriarchal institutions and other attempts to subjugate through polygamy, constraints of tradition, caste prejudice and political instability. Thus, the chief aim of this study is to show how the black women are treated unfairly and suffer from male domination within their community also. The study portrays the healing powers of female bonding, which allows women to overcome prejudice and survival, to enjoy female empowerment, selfhood establishment and to extend female friendship into female solidarity that participates in nation building. However, another conclusion focuses on the patriarchy which constitutes a threat to female bonding and usually causes women's estrangement.


OBJECTIVE
Surgical removal of impacted mandibular third molars with primary wound closure may result in postoperative edema, facial swelling, pain, and restriction of mouth opening. The type of closure may be a cause of these complications. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of placement of a surgical tube drain before primary closure with the effects of primary closure alone after removal of fully impacted mandibular third molars.

METHOD AND MATERIALS
The study group included 13 patients aged 15 to 39 years with bilateral fully impacted mandibular third molars. The insertion of a small surgical tube drain before primary closure (drain group) was compared to a simple primary closure procedure (no drain group) after removal of the impacted third molars in a randomized crossover design. The duration of the operation was recorded. Patients were evaluated 1, 2, 3, and 7 days postoperatively for facial swelling and trismus.

RESULTS
The facial swelling experienced by the drain group was significantly less than that experienced by the no drain group. The degree of trismus was greater in the no drain group than in the drain group, but the difference was not statistically significant.

CONCLUSION
Use of a surgical drain, especially after removal of fully impacted third molars, will reduce postoperative facial swelling.


PURPOSE
ECG-gated CT enables the visualization of motions caused by the beating of the heart. Although ECG gating is frequently used in cardiac CT imaging, this technique is also very promising for evaluating vessel wall motion of the aortic artery and the motions of (stent grafts inside) abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). Late stent graft failure is a serious complication in endovascular repair of aortic aneurysms. Better understanding of the motion characteristics of stent grafts will be beneficial for designing future devices. In addition, these data can be valuable in predicting stent graft failure in patients. To be able to reliably quantify the motion, however, it is of importance to know the performance and limitations of ECG gating, especially when the motions are small, as is the case in AAA. Since the details of the reconstruction algorithms are proprietary information on the CT manufacturers and not in the public domain, empirical experiments are required. The goal of this study is to investigate as to what extent the motions in AAA can be measured using ECG-gated CT. The authors quantitatively investigate four aspects of motion in ECG-gated CT: The detectability of the motion of objects at different amplitudes and different periodic motions, the temporal resolution, and the volume gaps that occur as a function of heart rate.

METHODS
They designed an experiment on a standard static phantom to empirically determine temporal resolution. To investigate motion amplitude and frequency, as well as patient heart rate, they designed dynamic experiments in which a home-made phantom driven by a motion unit moves in a predetermined pattern.

RESULTS
The duration of each ECG-gated phase was found to be 185 ms, which corresponds to half of the rotation time and is thus in accordance with half scan reconstruction applied by the scanner. By using subpixel localization, motions become detectable from amplitudes of as small as 0.4 mm in the x direction and 0.7 mm in the z direction. With the rotation time used in this study, motions up to 2.7 Hz can be reliably detected. The reconstruction algorithm fills volume gaps with noisy data using interpolation, but objects within these gaps remain hidden.

CONCLUSIONS
This study gives insight into the possibilities and limitations for measuring small motions using ECG-gated CT. Application of the experimental method is not restricted to the CT scanner of a single manufacturer. From the results, they conclude that ECG-gated CTA is a suitable technique for studying the expected motions of the stent graft and vessel wall in AAA.


Long-term ecological research (LTER) sites need a periodic assessment of the state of their ecosystems and services in order to monitor trends and prevent irreversible changes. The ecological integrity (EI) framework opens the door to evaluate any ecosystem in a comparable way, by measuring indicators on ecosystem structure and processes. Such an approach also allows to gauge the sustainability of conservation management actions in the case of protected areas. Remote sensing (RS), provided by satellite, airborne, or drone-borne sensors becomes a very synoptic and valuable tool to quickly map isolated and inaccessible areas such as wetlands. However, few RS practical indicators have been proposed to relate to EI indicators for wetlands. In this work, we suggest several RS wetlands indicators to be used for EI assessment in wetlands and specially to be applied with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). We also assess the applicability of multispectral images captured by UAVs over two long-term socio-ecological research (LTSER) wetland sites to provide detailed mapping of inundation levels, water turbidity and depth as well as aquatic plant cover. We followed an empirical approach to find linear relationships between UAVs spectral reflectance and the RS indicators over the Doñana LTSER platform in SW Spain. The method assessment was carried out using ground-truth data collected in transects. The resulting empirical models were implemented for Doñana marshes and can be applied for the Braila LTSER platform in Romania. The resulting maps are a very valuable input to assess habitat diversity, wetlands dynamics, and ecosystem productivity as frequently as desired by managers or scientists. Finally, we also examined the feasibility to upscale the information obtained from the collected ground-truth data to satellite images from Sentinel-2 MSI using segments from the UAV multispectral orthomosaic. We found a close multispectral relationship between Parrot Sequoia and Sentinel-2 bands which made it possible to extend ground-truth to map inundation in satellite images.


Lesson Study is an approach used for critical analysis during the teaching and learning process. The effectiveness of this approach was proven when the Ministry of Education implemented it by stages in schools. This approach was also used to enhance the development process in the teaching profession. In conjunction with this, the science program students from the Faculty of Education were also given early exposure to Lesson Study. This approach was applied by integrating it in the teaching methods through simulated microteaching. Thus, the purpose of this study was to observe the assessment process in microteaching, which integrated with the approach of Lesson Study. This study was carried out in the Chemical Teaching Methods Course in the Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). It focused on how the pre-service teachers assessed the elements in microteaching. A total of 27 pre-service teachers were involved in the qualitative study. This study was carried out in one 14-weeks semester. This study involved the collection and qualitative analysis of data. Data sources were derived from observation, interviews, written reports by pre-service teachers, audio recordings (mp3), and video that was transcribed verbatim. Triangulation was done on each of the data sources. The findings showed that, through Lesson Study in microteaching, pre-service teachers were able to construct skills in doing assessment based on the lesson plan, teaching approach, and students' behaviour. Findings from this study had a positive impact on the pre-service teachers in making assessments. This is due to the fact that the microteaching of Lesson Study allowed the pre-service teachers to construct their skills in doing assessments during the lessons. The construction of these skills is important because of the school-based assessment that focuses on the assessment process is being implemented in the school curriculum in Malaysia. Hence, the construction of skills to assess the entire lesson process is very significant for the pre-service teachers.


As a result of wartime research on ocean surface waves a method has been available since 1943 for the prediction of wave characteristics of interest to engineers (O'Brien and Johnson, 1947). The initial stimulus for the development came during the planning of the invasion of North Africa, and the methods subsequently devised were later used in a number of amphibious operations (Bates, 1949). The same techniques have found useful peacetime application in problems connected with coastal engineering. Much of the application to date has consisted in applying wave prediction techniques to historical rather than current meteorological data, hence the term "wave hindcasting."


During the heated debate leading up to the Senate's ratification of the Clinton administration decision to enlarge NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), opponents predicted that expansion would alienate Russia, with dire consequences for world peace.(1) Nevertheless, by a vote of 80 to 19, the Senate endorsed the policy on 30 April 1998.(2) One by one, over the ensuing months, parliaments in other NATO member countries ratified the expansion decision as well. Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic became the newest members of NATO in a ceremony held in Independence, Missouri, on 12 March 1999. The crisis in Kosovo that occasioned NATO military action against the Russian-favored Yugoslavian government and its president, Slobodan Milosevic, has ended. However, the issues of NATO expansion and Kosovo will no doubt figure prominently in the Russian presidential election in June 2000. The time is right to take stock and ask: Have recent NATO decisions discredited the liberal Russian political parties and strengthened the conservative ultranationalist and Communist parties? A common shortcoming of articles predicting the worst in this regard has been the tendency to treat Russia as a unified body. Perhaps this was permissible, indeed necessary, when the West lacked detailed information about the Kremlin during the cold war period. Today, however, a more discriminating analysis is not only possible, but imperative. Russia has a more-or-less free press and more than one hundred political parties (forty-three of which gained enough support to run slates of candidates in the December 1995 Duma elections),(3) Unlike many oversimplified articles by Western pundits with a political agenda, in this article I will draw mainly on statements made by Russians themselves. I will provide a framework for assessing the impact of the NATO expansion policy on internal Russian politics and public opinion using the positions and motivations of the Russian political parties. After a brief discussion of the Yeltsin administration's viewpoint, I will summarize the views of each of the other key parties across the political spectrum and will show that, while most Russian political parties oppose the expansion policy, they do so for different reasons.(4) Why NATO Expansion? The origins of the U.S. decision have been covered extensively elsewhere, and will be touched on only briefly here.(5) In the first term of the Clinton presidency, not long after the Soviet collapse, Washington policymakers acknowledged that the United States has a vital interest in Russia's evolution toward democratic stability and in its incorporation into the newly developing European security order. President Clinton stated as much in his May 1997 document "National Security Strategy for a New Century." A Partnership for Peace (PfP) program between Russia and NATO, signed on 27 May 1997, constituted an important step toward this goal.(6) Policymakers also realized that Russia still has about 7,000 long-range missiles capable of reaching the United States, and that implementing the START II treaty, which would eliminate 3,000 of those warheads, was a top priority. Yet, concurrent with PfP negotiations between Russia and NATO, the Clinton administration in 1994 abruptly announced a separate NATO enlargement program, with plans to expand the alliance by admitting qualified Eastern European countries. Former Secretary of Defense William Perry disclosed in his latest book that he warned the president at a top-level meeting on 21 December 1994 that "early expansion was a mistake" because it would provoke "distrust" in Russia and undermine cooperation on arms control.(7) NATO allies were also puzzled. As one European diplomat said, "Like everyone else, we assumed that PfP would last for a decade at least, and Clinton took us by surprise in 1994 with NATO expansion. We couldn't afford another split with the USA, after what happened in Bosnia, so we went along with it. …


Have you ever arrived in a hotel room and been baffled by the information provided? Beware of your luggage. In your room, you will find a minibar which is filled with alcoholics. Do not throw urine around. Have you ever been to a restaurant and wondered what on earth to order? Bored Meat Stew, Lorry Driver Soup, or Kiss Lorraine. Have you ever arrived in an airport and found that the supposedly helpful signs just make you feel more lost? You are required to declare all sorts of private things. Departure. Bus stop. Car rental. Please buy your ticket consciously. Charlie Croker has, and in 2006 he gathered together what he thought was the definitive collection of English language howlers for his bestselling book "Lost in Translation". But he reckoned without the great British public.Not only was the book a smash hit, it also opened the floodgates to a deluge of emails and letters stuffed full of further mistranslations and mutilated phrases. From a leaflet from the Museum of Rasputin in Russia (which is apparently situated in a house that belonged a pilot fish Zubov) to a song title on a pirated Pink Floyd CD ("Come Fartably Numb"), the scrambled sentences just kept flooding in. At the same time Charlie has continued his travels and picked up gems of his own. With such a wealth of material, a sequel wasn't just a necessity, it was a public service, and "Still Lost in Translation" is even more addictive, whimsical and side-splittingly hilarious than the first book.


This design led research advocates for an architecture indicative of the preceding history; that engages in an active dialogue with the site. Developed through shifting scales and media, the thesis investigates how architecture can give expression to the singularities of site. The milieu of erasures and the enduring traces are drawn to the surface and manifested across three design phases: 1 Chinese Garden, present condition; 2 Art School, past reflection; 3 Artist Colony, future projection. Through a process of editing, fragments are extended and retracted between the phases as more intense programs are introduced. The final design outcome is the result of an additive design methodology, developed across the course of the thesis. The design methodology is a model for combining sites in contemporary urban development; a model for co-existence of past and present into the future.


We have designed and implemented a compiler for the parallel execution of Prolog programs as a machine independent application on top of a run time environment for parallel programming called the Chare Kernel. The compiler is based on the Reduce-OR process model for the AND and OR parallel execution of Prolog programs and hence exploits both OR and independent AND parallelism found in Prolog programs. We describe the salient features of the parallel Prolog compiler from the viewpoint of its implementation as a Chare Kernel application. The responsibilities of process creation, load balancing, queueing strategies for work pool management, memory management and interprocess communication are all assumed by the Chare Kernel thereby eliminating these concerns at the application level. We discuss the effectiveness of this separation for a large application like the parallel Prolog compiler. The machine independence property makes the compiler easy to port on all machines, both shared and nonshared, that support the Chare Kernel. The compiler has been implemented on a variety of machines, including the Encore Multimax, the Sequent Symmetry, the Intel iPSC/2 hypercube and the Alliant FX/8. We briefly discuss its performance on a range of benchmarks exhibiting AND, OR and AND/OR parallelism on two of these machines. The speedups obtained are linear, demonstrating the effectiveness of the Chare Kernel as a simple, elegant, yet powerful environment for parallel programming.


Summary
1.
Eleven hundred and ten students at the University of Wisconsin, most of whom were service veterans of World War II, have been examined for E. histolytica: 4.5 per cent of overseas veterans, 2.5 per cent of those with domestic service, and 1.6 per cent of those with no war service, were found infected.
2.
Studies on the incidence of amebiasis in over 50,000 service personnel during the late war are summarized and the average incidence of 14.7 per cent has been computed.
3.
Studies on the incidence of amebiasis in college student populations prior to the war are summarized and the average incidence of 4.9 per cent has been computed.
4.
The incidence of amebiasis among service personnel during the war is comparable to the estimated incidence in the general population for the United States. When compared to similar groups three years after the war this rate seems to be significantly higher.
5.
The incidence in a postwar student population composed of men with military service is no greater than before the war in student populations.
6.
It seems probable on the basis of the present findings that there has been little change in general incidence of amebiasis as a result of the war.


As the Great Recession dramatically illustrated, state and local governments need a more stable revenue source. Accordingly, states and localities as diverse as Texas and San Francisco, are experimenting with new kinds of taxes. However, there has been essentially no experimentation with the oldest and most traditional local tax, namely the tax on real property. This blindness to the property tax is unfortunate for many reasons, including that the property tax is both relatively efficient and stable compared to the other taxes available to states and localities. Of course, it is possible that the property tax has been ignored because, despite its merits, it has structural weaknesses that cannot be reformed. For instance, property tax liability is based on the value of the property and not on the income of the owner, which means that property taxes can impose great burdens on taxpayers on a fixed income. Furthermore, property taxes are typically collected once or twice a year, which imposes a significant obligation on taxpayers to budget correctly. Yet there is no reason that the property tax needs to continue to be collected in much the same way as it was in the nineteenth century. Property taxes could be withheld from income just like income taxes, thereby making them easier to budget for. Furthermore withholding the property tax as part of a larger income tax system allows for the property tax to respond effectively to the cogent concern that taxpayers may not always have the income in a given year to pay their property taxes. Since the property tax and income tax systems would be integrated under my reform proposal, property tax liability could also be deferred (and perhaps forgiven) when the property tax liability grows to be too high as a percentage of income. Such a regime of incorporating income tax elements into the property tax would allow local taxpayers to respond directly to the relative merits of proposed public projects and services without concern for insuring themselves against future liquidity problems.


An article presents the results of research based on influence of cluster technologies on the process of social-and-economic development of the region. Foreign and local experience of clustering has been analyzed in economics; the main advantages of cluster structures providing upgrade of competitive ability of the regions and innovative area development have been shown. Restrictions of cluster usage have been defined in Russian practice. Based on the example of creation and development of North Caucasian tourist cluster, problems of cluster technologies usage have been revealed in management of regional development and the main of them is the problem of staffing. To solve this problem the authors have developed a model of a field educational cluster in the sphere of tourism and service, which is based on the estimate of the amount of personnel resources and existing educational potential of the region. In addition they recommended an organizational and functional structure of a corporate university and created an interaction model between assessment center and certification with executive bodies, educational facilities and interested organizations. Realization of suggested events will contribute a successful fulfillment of one of the biggest projects in Russia based on cluster technologies usage.


Abstract : The Inverted Echo Sounder (IES) is an ocean bottom-moored instrument that measures the vertical acoustic travel time (VATT) round-trip from the sea floor to the sea surface and back. The VATT varies principally due to changes in the temperature profile of the water column, making the IES well-suited for monitoring changes in temperature structure and dynamic height (baroclinic signal). Currently, the Model 6.2, a combined IES, data-logger, and acoustic release, with optional measurements of bottom pressure, temperature and current speed and direction (with attached AanderaaTM Doppler current sensor) is produced at URI/GSO. Data are processed in situ and are available (optional) remotely by an acoustic telemetry link or expendable, satellite-link data shuttle. In addition to the IES-measured baroclinic signals, barotropic near-bottom pressure variations may be measured with the optional pressure sensor. A report was written in 1991 describing IES data processing (Fields et al., 1991). Since that report, significant improvements have been made to both IES hardware and software, warranting an update of the IES data processing. This report will document standard processing steps currently carried out for IES Models 6.1 and 6.2 at URI/GSO. A separate document, Inverted Echo Sounder User's Manual, IES Model 6.2, describes the IES hardware and instrument configuration.


The mechanism by which the nonreceptor tyrosine kinase Src is activated may determine how different cell surface receptors can generate specific effects through a common kinase. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and the G-protein-linked β2-adrenergic receptor (βAR) both activate Src, yet different Src substrates become phosphorylated. Goi et al. show that the EGFR activates Src through the small GTP-binding proteins Ras and Ral, resulting in phosphorylation of the Src targets cortactin and Stat3. In contrast, the Ras-Ral pathway was not required for βAR to activate Src, and instead, the adaptor protein Shc was phosphorylated by Src. Just how substrate specificity is achieved remains to be determined, but the authors propose that the EGFR-Ral signaling pathway may activate a specific pool of Src that has access to specific substrates. Goi, T., Shipitsin, M., Lu, Z., Foster, D.A., Klinz, S.G., and Feig, L.A. (2000) An EGF receptor/Ral-GTPase signaling cascade regulates c-Src activity and substrate specificity. EMBO J. 19: 623-630. [Abstract] [Full Text]


In order to display human-like intelligence, advanced computational systems should have access to the vast network of generic facts about the world that humans possess and that is known as commonsense knowledge (books have pages, grocery has a price, ...). Developers of AI applications have long been aware of this, and, for decades, they have invested in the laborious and expensive manual creation of commonsense knowledge repositories. An automated, high-throughput and low-noise method for commonsense collection still remains as the holy grail of AI.

Two relatively recent developments in computer science and computational linguistics that may provide an answer to the commonsense collection problem are text mining from large amounts of data, something that has become possible with the massive availability of text on the Web, and human computation, which is a workaround technique implemented by outsourcing the 'hard' sub-steps of a problem to people. Text mining has been very successful in extracting huge amounts of commonsense knowledge from data, but the extracted knowledge tends to be extremely noisy. Human computation is also a challenging problem because people can provide unreliable data and may lack motivation to solve problems on behalf of researchers and engineers. A clever, and recently popularized, technique to motivate people to contribute to such projects it to pose the problems as entertaining games and let people solve those problems while they play a game. This technique, commonly known as games-with-a-purpose approach, has proved a very powerful way of recruiting laypeople on the Web.

The focus of this thesis is to study methods to collect common sense from people via human computation and from text via text mining, and explore the opportunities in bringing these two types of methods together. The first contribution of my study is the introduction of a novel text miner trained on a set of known commonsense facts. The text miner is called BagPack and it is based on a vector-space representation of concept pairs, that also captures the relation between the pairs. BagPack harvests a large number of facts from Web-based corpora and these facts constitute a -- possibly noisy -- set of candidate facts.

The second contribution of the thesis is Concept Game, a game with a purpose which is a simple slot-machine game that presents the candidate facts -- that are mined by BagPack -- to the players. Players are asked to recognize the meaningful facts and discard the meaningless facts in order to score points. Thus, as a result, laypeople verify the candidate set and we obtain a refined, high-quality dataset of commonsense facts.

The evaluation of both systems suggests that text mining and human computation can work very efficiently in tandem. BagPack acts as an almost-endless source of candidate facts which are likely to be true, and Concept Game taps laypeople to verify these candidates. Using Web-based text as a source of commonsense knowledge has several advantages with respect to a purely human-computation system which relies on people as the source of information. Most importantly, we can tap domains that people do not talk about when they are directly asked. Also, relying on people just as a source of verification makes it possible to design fast-paced games with a low cognitive burden.

The third issue that I addressed in this thesis is the subjective and stereotypical knowledge which constitutes an important part of our commonsense repository. Regardless of whether one would like to keep such knowledge in an AI system, being able to identify the subjectivity and detect the stereotypical knowledge is an important problem. As a case study, I focused on stereotypical gender expectations about actions. For this purpose, I created a gold standard of actions (e.g., pay bill, become nurse) rated by human judges on whether they are masculine or feminine actions. After that, I extracted, combined, and evaluated two different types of data to predict the gold standard. The first type of data depends on the metadata provided by social media (in particular, the genders of users in a microblogging site like Twitter) and the second one depends on Web-corpus-based pronoun/name gender heuristics. The metadata about the Twitter users helps us to identify which actions are mentioned more frequently by which gender. The Web-corpus-based score helps us to identify which gender is more frequently reported to be carrying out a given action. The evaluation of both methods suggests that 1) it is possible to predict the human gold standard with considerable success, 2) the two methods capture different aspects of stereotypical knowledge, and 3) they work best when combined together.


Though mammals adapted on land, a new study by Chikina et al. (2016) has shown that during three major independent evolutionary events, a number of mammals harkened back to the sea. For the manatee, walrus, dolphin, and killer whale, the return to the sea involved many evolutionary trade-offs amongst hundreds of genes: A general loss of the number of sensory genes for smell and taste, new functions for genes forming skin and connective tissue, and genes involved in muscle structure and metabolism. "By exploiting the diversity within mammals, we stand to learn much about our own genetics and physiology," said Clark. "Our new approach is poised to reveal the evolutionary adaptations for countless other environments, from the sea, high altitudes, the desert, or even underground." In a massive undertaking, they used 59 placental mammal genomes to calculate the relative rates of evolution for all branches in 18,049 gene trees. To hone in identifying key genes, they used a new approach: rather than catalogue single genetic mutations from genome-wide studies, or look for candidate genes in key pathways, or catalogue single amino acid changes at the protein level, they calculated a genomewide average rate of evolution across all species. Then, they determined whether sea mammals had put the evolutionary gas pedal or brake on compared to the average rate. In the next step, they employed these relative rates to identify those genes that may have independently shifted to higher (or lower) rates for five marine species—bottlenose dolphin, orca, walrus, Weddell seal, and West Indian manatee. They identified hundreds of genes that revealed three main evolutionary themes—a burst of adaptation, followed by relaxation, and additional constraint—in response to the marine environment. Next, to ask which biological functions were enriched among marine-accelerated genes, they searched databases of gene pathways and mutant phenotypes. The marineaccelerated genes were significantly enriched for functional categories that align well with the current knowledge of marine mammal adaptations: sensory systems, muscle function, skin and connective tissue, lung function, and lipid metabolism. For example, they found also accelerated adaptation for a gene encoding a lung surfactant protein (SFTPB), which may have been due to lung changes necessary for diving. Interestingly, evolutionary decelerations associated with marine species accounted for a larger proportion of genes ( 11%) than the accelerated classes ( 9%). The function of these genes was involved in molecular maintenance strategies, such as DNA repair, chromosomal maintenance, immune response, and programmed cell death. The authors argue that the "slower rate of change in these functions is consistent with increased constraint on somatic cell maintenance as would be required in these relatively long-lived and large-bodied mammals, illustrated by the additional large and long-lived species with slower rates in these genes (e.g., double-strand break repair gene XRCC4 is also highly constrained in elephant." The authors conclude that the study of marine mammals is just the first demonstration of this new evolutionary approach, and is versatile enough to be applied to many other emerging questions concerning key genes involved in the diversity of life.


In this paper, we propose a doubly robust method to estimate the heterogeneity of the average treatment effect with respect to observed covariates of interest. We consider a situation where a large number of covariates are needed for identifying the average treatment effect but the covariates of interest for analyzing heterogeneity are of much lower dimension. Our proposed estimator is doubly robust and avoids the curse of dimensionality. We propose a uniform confidence band that is easy to compute, and we illustrate its usefulness via Monte Carlo experiments and an application to the effects of smoking on birth weights.


Townships are part and parcel of the business landscape in South Africa although it was started during the apartheid era in South Africa. The impact of the apartheid era is still evident in the townships and is a testimony of abandonment, poor investment, overpopulation and isolation from urban areas and a serious lack of infrastructure and necessary resources in these areas (Thulo, 2015). A significant amount (60%) of the unemployed comes from townships and informal settlements (Thulo, 2015). It is evident that townships are complex and integrated at the same time with poor and middle class communities living side by side. Government has been attempting to kick start the economy and in the process to increase employment through small businesses and the generation of jobs in townships. This process is however hampered by a range of factors including a lack of infrastructure. The research highlighted the serious shortcomings in infrastructures throughout South Africa, and a need for advisory centres were indicated as being the most dire need in these areas to assist small business.


Degradation of urban river systems is a global problem that poses challenges in Tanzania and other low-income countries, as well as in the rest of the world. To a large extent this is a result of fast urbanization, pollution and floods, that changes and deteriorate natural riverine systems and their ecosystems.

Over the past ten years a rapid urbanization and population growth has occurred in Tanzania, particularly in Dar es Salaam. This has increased the demand of basic urban services, infrastructure, housing, and water. In the meantime, the city planning in Dar es Salaam has lacked to follow set plans, regulations and to update the plans. As a result of this, the city is now struggling with spatial disorder, poor infrastructure fast expanding informal settlements and inadequate city planning.

One site seriously affected by all these problems is the Msimbazi River flood plain, situated in central Dar es Salaam. Pollution levels in the water and soil have reached very high percentages and due to the recent urbanization and lack of planning, the flood plain can no longer maintain and control the flood water in a sustainable way. This is also due to heavy seasonal rains, lack of infrastructure and clogging of drainage channels. Large parts of the flood plain have also been built upon with mainly many informal settlement which gets flooded every year.

The thesis focuses on managing flood water, decreasing pollution levels in the water and soil, and restoring the riverine ecosystem. Four main research themes; restoration of urban river systems, flood water management, pollution reduction in urban watercourses and turning flood plains into multiple-use spaces, leads to specific design strategies that are presented to be applied on this specific site in Dar es Salaam and also on similar sites around the world.

The project combines theoretical and practical knowledge in order to obtain a design proposal which considers strengths and weaknesses on site, restore the urban wetland and is also realistic to implement. The developed design proposal for the Msimbazi river and flood plain, Msimbazi Wetland Park, creates a multi-use green space which combines all of these strategies as well as important social and recreational functions. With this transformation and restoration, Msimbazi flood plain can restore its function as a retention area for floods as well as become a sustainable public green space for the citizens of Dar es Salaam.


We report the effects of zinc acetate dihydrate [Zn(CH3COO) 2H2O, ZnAc] precursor concentration on the structural properties of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures. The nanostructures are successfully fabricated on seeded silicon (Si) substrates using hydrothermal growth method. For a fixed hexamine [(CH2)6N4, HMTA] concentration, ZnAc affects the dimensions, morphology, and preferential orientation of the ZnO nanostructures. Increasing the ZnAc concentration overcomes the inhibitory action of HMTA which preferentially attaches on the ZnO crystals' prismatic sides during hydrothermal growth. Control of the structural properties of hydrothermal-grown ZnO nanostructures can then be achieved by varying the ZnAc concentration.


SCOPE
Recent findings indicate that ketogenic diet is neuroprotective and electrical stimulation can improve functional recovery from peripheral nerve injury. However, it is not clear whether ketogenic diet and electrical stimulation play synergistical role in the peripheral nerve recovery following injury.

METHODS AND RESULTS
We used ketogenic diet consisting of 3:1 ratio of fat to carbohydrate+protein and coupled it with electrical stimulation treatment in a rat model of peripheral nerve crush injury. Neuromuscular recovery was evaluated by electromyography, and axonal regeneration and myelination by histological methods. We also investigated the effects on IGF-1 and IGF-1 receptor expression in peripheral nerve tissue, pre- and post-nerve injury. Combination of ketogenic diet and electrical stimulation synergistically increased muscle force in biceps femoris and gluteus maximus and prevented development of hypersensitivity in biceps femoris. It promoted peripheral nerve regeneration by increasing total axons, axons density, and axonal diameter, as well as myelin thickness and axon/fiber ratio. These effects were due to modulation of IGF system as the treatment expression of IGF-1 and IGF-1 receptor in regenerated nerve tissue.

CONCLUSION
Our results establish that ketogenic diet and electrical stimulation promote peripheral nerve regeneration. Patients recovering from peripheral nerve injury may benefit from this combinational approach. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


The reintroduction of the gray wolf to Montana and other western states has to date largely pitted ranchers against environmental groups, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as the central agency for this reintroduction. There is also another group affected by wolves that to date have had little influence on this reintroduction. Hunters have diverse views on wolves, and accordingly have not spoken with one voice concerning their reintroduction. This lack of a common view is mirrored by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation's (one of the largest hunting groups in North America) evolving policy statements in 1995 and 2003 that specifically addresses that their membership will take different sides to wolf reintroduction, and that the group supports state control of wolves, 'ultimately achieving an appropriate balance between wildlife, habitat, and people' (Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, 2005). Part of the ambivalence of hunters towards wolves stems from the general lack of published knowledge regarding the actual impacts of wolves on game populations, game behavior, and ultimately hunters- satisfaction. This lack of knowledge arises due to the complex nature of the predator/prey relationships, the extensive movements of wolves and their prey, and the difficulty of obtaining good population estimates of both wolves and particularly their prey. Additionally from an economic perspective, hunters- property rights to game are ill-defined, with the political strength of hunting "rights" and their values quite difficult to determine. This paper provides estimates of the effects of wolves on hunter opportunities, where these opportunities are influenced by actions taken by both the game agency and hunters in response to the spread of wolves. We utilize observed measures for these effects -permit availability, hunter success, and measures of hunter - to assess the impacts of wolves on hunters. We focus on elk − a game species that are both vulnerable to wolves and that is in high demand in Montana. Our estimation approach draws from a hedonic model in which hunters compete for a rivalrous good (elk hunting opportunities) that is not allocated through a price mechanism. Hunters in most western states compete for hunting rights by entering a special permit lottery in some cases, while they compete in other cases by undertaking costly activities to obtain a right under open access. Hunters compete for these rights under open access by racing to reach hunting areas early, establishing expertise and customary areas, and in other ways consistent with Barzel (1997). Both types of competition are observable using different instruments as in Nickerson (1990), by Buschena, Anderson, and Leonard (2001), and by Scroggin, Berrens, and Bohara (2000). Hunters are empirically modeled in such a way that allows them to benefit from elk and also from experience value of wolves. The paper provides not only a study of agency decisions in response to impacts of a threatened species, but also applies a relatively little-studied method of determining factors affecting demand and agency decision for goods distributed via a non-price mechanism. Our application (1) uses observable measures of hunter competition that reflect good valuation, (2) statistically accounts for the endogeneity of hunter and agency decision, and (3) models the simultaneous equilibria across numerous and diverse hunting districts (the "goods" being competed for in this case). Our statistical estimation shows that as wolf populations in a particularly high profile region outside Yellowstone National Park become established in a hunting district, (1) the state game agency reduces the supply of special hunting permits, (2) there are fewer hunters hunting in that district under open access licenses, and (3) hunter success rates for both special permits and open access decline with increased wolf pressure in areas with the heaviest wolf pressure. We find that the game agency and hunters respond to reduced hunting opportunities, and that their responses are larger in magnitude for high-profile (political profile) wolf populations. We believe that this paper is quite relevant to numerous parties involved in resource allocation, endangered species policy, state and federal agencies, and recreational users of public and private lands. The paper should be of interest to resource economists as it provides an application of an observable "market" for desirable resources as a complement to elicitation-based valuation methods. We expect the paper to generate a good deal of interest and discussion regarding the methodology and policy implications. Barzel, Yoram. Economic Analysis of Property Rights: Second Edition. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Buschena, D.E., T. Anderson, and J Leonard. "Valuing Non-Market Goods: The Case of Elk Hunting in Colorado and Montana." Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 41 (2001): 33-43. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. "FWP Takes Lead in Wolf Management in Montana." http://fwp.state.mt.us/news/article_3700.aspx. June 24, 2005. Nickerson, Peter H. (1990) "Demand for the Regulation of Recreation: The Case of Elk and Deer Hunting in Washington State." Land Economics, 66, 437-447. Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. "Our Positions" (official position statements on wolves). Bugle, the Journal of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. July/August, 2005. pp 78. Scroggin, David, Robert P. Berrens, and Alok. K. Bohara. (2000). "Policy Changes and the Demand for Lottery-Rationed Big Game Hunting Licenses." Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 25(2): 501-519.


The heterogeneous cloud radio access network (H-CRAN) is a promising paradigm that incorporates cloud computing into heterogeneous networks (HetNets), thereby taking full advantage of cloud radio access networks (C-RANs) and HetNets. Characterizing cooperative beamforming with fronthaul capacity and queue stability constraints is critical for multimedia applications to improve the energy efficiency (EE) in H-CRANs. An energy-efficient optimization objective function with individual fronthaul capacity and intertier interference constraints is presented in this paper for queue-aware multimedia H-CRANs. To solve this nonconvex objective function, a stochastic optimization problem is reformulated by introducing the general Lyapunov optimization framework. Under the Lyapunov framework, this optimization problem is equivalent to an optimal network-wide cooperative beamformer design algorithm with instantaneous power, average power, and intertier interference constraints, which can be regarded as a weighted sum EE maximization problem and solved by a generalized weighted minimum mean-square error approach. The mathematical analysis and simulation results demonstrate that a tradeoff between EE and queuing delay can be achieved, and this tradeoff strictly depends on the fronthaul constraint.


One million plastic bottles is currently consumed every minute in the world. This consumption trend is expected to further increase thereby worsening the problem of plastic pollution across the globe. Mauritius is also not left unaffected by plastic pollution and an increase in consumption of plastic bottles. Although plastic recycling is encouraged on the island, low recycling rate has been recorded (40%). In this context, this research attempts to enhance the solid waste management methods of Mauritius, more specifically in terms of PET beverage bottles, by creating a persuasive technological tool that promotes recycling behavior among the citizens of Mauritius. The persuasive technological tool developed is a mobile application which allows its users to locate their nearest recycling bins while also providing them with facts about the effects and significance of plastic pollution and recycling respectively. The tool also included a survey page for gathering data on demographic, the recycling attitude/ behavior of the users prior to and after the introduction of the tool and on the functionalities of the tool itself. The results showed that the tool helped 80% of the users in initiating their recycling activities while the rest reported that the tool helped them increase those activities.


Abstract The present work displays the first detailed taxonomic study on the freshwater gastropod fauna of the Upper Miocene Lake Turiec. Apart from several mentions of species and genus names in the literature, the mollusc fauna has been poorly studied up to now. Some of the cited genera implied peculiar paleobiogeographic relationships, urging a taxonomic investigation to either prove or revise such arising claims. Variable degrees of preservation, however, limited the possibility to identify all the fossils at species level. The fauna includes at least ten species, of which five turned out to be new to science. Four of those were sufficiently well preserved to be described as new species, namely Viviparus pipiki Neubauer & Harzhauser nov. sp., Melanopsis glaubrechti Neubauer & Harzhauser nov. sp., Tournouerina turiecensis Neubauer & Harzhauser nov. sp., and Radix kovaci Neubauer & Harzhauser nov. sp. Additionally, the new genus Popovicia Neubauer & Harzhauser nov. gen. is introduced for the primary homonym Metohia Popović, 1964 non Absolon, 1927. Most importantly, this taxonomic study revises many of the names cited in the literature and proves most of the alleged paleobiogeographic relationships wrong. The only biogeographic and stratigraphic surprise is the record of Popovicia cf. compressa, a species described from lower Pliocene deposits of the Metohia Basin in Kosovo. The majority of the fauna, however, has only been documented for the Turiec Basin, once more confirming the high degree of its endemicity. The faunal relationships indicate a latest Middle to early Late Pannonian (Middle to Late Tortonian) age, which is in agreement with available age models.


J. Inst. Brew. 115(4), 318–327, 2009 The historical development of equations used to relate alcohol and real extract to apparent extract and original gravity, as well as ratios between the corrected Real (RDF) and Apparent Degrees of Fermentation (ADF), were examined in light of modern polynomial and non-linear regression techniques. Comparisons were performed using an extensive data set of 532 brews obtained from commercial and pilot fermentations with statistical error analysis of these empirical relationships. New predictions of apparent extract were calculated as a function of alcohol and real extract analogous to the Improved Tabarie's formula. In addition, attempts at improving Balling's original equation model estimating original gravity from alcohol and real extract are detailed and discussed. The statistical analyses of relationships between Aw/w (alcohol by weight) and functions of OE (Original Extract), AE (Apparent Extract) and RE (Real Extract) as well as ratios between the corrected Real and Apparent Degrees of Fermentation (RDF/ADF) are reported. It is expected that this paper will be useful for brewers to more accurately estimate Aw/w and real extract values.


This descriptive method of study aimed to determine the Professional Characteristics and Level of Competence of Receiving Teachers on Mainstreaming. Results indicated that: (1) Receiving teachers were composed of baccalaureate and master's degree holders. Receiving teachers do not have a long-time experience in teaching children with special needs. Majority of the receiving teachers have no trainings/ workshops related to special education. They are also lacking of course in college related to educating children with special needs; (2) Receiving teachers perceived themselves proficient in the three areas including development and characteristics of learners, assessment and curriculum, and collaboration with parents and other professionals. Experts perceived that receiving teachers are competent in the areas of development and characteristics of learners, and assessment and curriculum. However, receiving teachers were proficient with the area of collaboration with parents and other professionals; (3) Significant relationships were identified between the educational attainment, number of years in teaching children with special needs, and number of special education trainings and workshops attended, to the receiving teachers' level of competence. Meanwhile, there is no significant relationship that existed between the number of courses taken in college related to educating children with special needs and receiving teachers' level of competence; (4) Significant differences exist between the receiving teachers' self-assessment and experts' assessment in all areas of receiving teachers' competence on mainstreaming. Receiving teachers overestimated their performance and they perceived it higher than the experts.


In Georgia, over 600 stream segments are scheduled for TMDL development due designated use. Seventy-seven stream segments are listed for excessive sediment. The state does not have quantitative standards for the regulation of sediment concentration. The development of sediment yields using appropriate reference streams with minimum development may be a way to determine what the maximum daily sediment loading should be for impaired streams. This study was initiated to compare water quality in six streams with differing land use. This paper focuses on suspended sediment comparisons among the six streams. Two streams drain areas that are entirely forested and these represent reference streams for the purpose of this study. Two streams drain areas that are predominately agricultural (one dairy and the other a combination of poultry and cattle), and two streams drain areas that are in subdivisions with septic systems. Suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) and stream stage were measured during base flow and storm flow conditions. Annual sediment and water yields were calculated and for each stream for the years 2003 and 2004. Average SSC ranged from 155 to 720 mg/L and was lowest in one of the forested steams and highest in the dairy stream. Sediment yield ranged from 0.91 to 10.11 Mg/ha/yr and was lowest in one of the forested steams and highest in the dairy stream. In general, the forested streams had the lowest sediment yields, the agricultural watersheds had the highest sediment yields, and the suburban streams were intermediate.


This paper describes how a system, consisting of a discrete controller (e.g. a PLC) that controls a physical plant/process, can be formally verified. The physical process is assumed to be modeled using Sensor Graphs, a discrete event modeling language directed at physical systems with binary and identity sensors (e.g. RFID). The formal and graphical syntaxes of Sensor Graphs are presented and exemplified. The "semitimed" semantics is defined considering a process model together with a controller model, represented as a discrete state equation. Finally, it is shown how requirements on the closedloop system, represented by a Sensor Graph and a controller model, can be verified using the model checker Cadence SMV.


The "BH3-only" proapoptotic BCL-2 family members initiate the intrinsic apoptotic pathway. A small interfering RNA knockdown of BIM confirms this BH3-only member is important for the cytokine-mediated homeostasis of hematopoietic cells. We show here that the phosphorylation status of BIM controls its proapoptotic activity. IL-3, a hematopoietic survival factor, induces extracellular signal-regulated kinase/mitogen-activated protein kinase-mediated phosphorylation of BIM on three serine sites (S55, S65, and S100). After IL-3 withdrawal, only nonphosphorylated BIM interacts with the multidomain proapoptotic effector BAX. Phosphorylation of BIM on exposure of cells to IL-3 dramatically reduces the BIM/BAX interaction. A nonphosphorylatable BIM molecule (S55A, S65A, and S100A) demonstrates enhanced interaction with BAX and enhanced proapoptotic activity. Thus, ERK/mitogen-activated protein kinase-dependent phosphorylation of BIM in response to survival factor regulates BIM/BAX interaction and the pro-death activity of BIM.


Coupling between electricity systems and heating systems are becoming stronger, leading to more flexible and more complex interactions between these systems. The operation of integrated energy systems is greatly affected, especially when security is concerned. Steady-state analysis methods have been widely studied in recent research, which is far from enough when the slow thermal dynamics of heating networks are introduced. Therefore, an integrated quasi-dynamic model of integrated electricity and heating systems is developed. The model combines a heating network dynamic thermal model and the sequential steady-state models of electricity networks, coupling components, and heating network hydraulics. Based on this model, a simulation method is proposed and quasi-dynamic interactions between electricity systems and heating systems are quantified with the highlights of transport delay. Then the quasi-dynamic interactions were applied using security control to relieve congestion in electricity systems. Results show that both the transport delay and control strategies have significant influences on the quasi-dynamic interactions.


Does the concentration of recent Latino immigrants into occupational linguistic niches—occupations with large numbers of other Spanish speakers—restrict their wage growth? On the one hand, it is possible that Latino immigrants who are concentrated in jobs with large numbers of Spanish speakers may have less onthe-job exposure to English, which may isolate them socially and linguistically and limit their subsequent economic mobility. On the other hand, working in linguistic niches can also be beneficial for upwardly mobile immigrants if it allows them to gain a foothold in the United States while they improve their English skills and develop labor market experience. Using data from the 1996, 2001 and 2004 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), we test for the effect of working in occupational linguistic niches on wages and wage growth. The results show that while workers in linguistic niche occupations earn lower wages on average, they do not experience lower rates of wage growth over time. Moreover, we find that about 20 percent of workers who start the 4-year SIPP panel in linguistic niches experience occupational mobility that reduces the percentage of workers speaking Spanish in their occupation by over 10 percent over the course of the study, and these "movers" have higher levels of wage growth than other workers in the sample.


Dual analyses of the interactions between Ostreid herpesvirus 1 (OsHV-1) and the bivalve Crassostrea gigas during infection can unveil events critical to the onset and progression of this viral disease and can provide novel strategies for mitigating and preventing oyster mortality. Among the currently used "omics" technologies, dual transcriptomics (dual RNA-seq) coupled with the analysis of viral DNA in the host tissues has greatly advanced the knowledge of genes and pathways mostly contributing to host defense responses, expression profiles of annotated and unknown OsHV-1 open reading frames (ORFs), and viral genome variability. In addition to dual RNA-seq, proteomics and metabolomics analyses have the potential to add complementary information, needed to understand how a malacoherpesvirus can redirect and exploit the vital processes of its host. This review explores our current knowledge of "omics" technologies in the study of host-pathogen interactions and highlights relevant applications of these fields of expertise to the complex case of C gigas infections by OsHV-1, which currently threaten the mollusk production sector worldwide.


Grid computing is a field of research that combines many computers from distant locations to form one large computing resource. In order to be able to make use of the full potential of such a system there is a need to effectively manage resources on the Grid. There are numerous scheduling systems to perform this management for clusters of computers and a few scheduling systems for the Grid. These systems try for optimality (or close to optimality) with the goals of obtaining good throughput and minimizing job completion time. In this research, we examine issues that we believe have not been tackled in schedulers for the Grid. These issues revolve around the problem of coordinating resources belonging to separate administrative domains and scheduling in this context. In order for grid computing's vision of virtual organizations to be realized to its fullest extent, there is a need to implement and test schedulers that find resources and schedule tasks on them in a manner that is transparent to the user. These resources might be on a different administrative domain altogether and obtaining either resource or user account information on those resources might be difficult. Also, each organization might require their own policies and mechanisms to be enforced. Hence having a centralized scheduler is not feasible due to the pragmatics of the Grid. There are two basic aims to this thesis. The first aim is to design and implement a framework that takes administrative concerns into consideration during scheduling. The aim of the framework is to provide a lightweight, extensible, secure and scalable architecture under which multiple scheduling algorithms can be implemented. Second, we evaluate two prototypical of scheduling algorithms in the context of this framework. Scheduling algorithms are diverse and the applications are varied. Thus no single algorithm can obtain a good mapping for every application. We believe that different scheduling algorithms will be necessary to schedule different types of applications. In order to facilitate development of such algorithms, a framework in which it is easy to integrate other scheduling algorithms is necessary. The framework developed in this project is designed for such extensibility.


Abstract Background: Recently, there is a growing interest in independent learning approaches globally. This is, at least in part, due to an increased demand for so-called '21st century skills' and the potential of independent learning to improve student skills to better prepare them for the future. Purpose: This paper reports a study that explored the effectiveness of two different independent learning approaches: (i) guided independent learning and (ii) unguided independent learning with independent research, in enabling students in an undergraduate Macromolecules course to acquire knowledge in one chemistry context and apply it successfully in another. Sample: The study involved 144 chemistry students commencing their first term of undergraduate study at a northern university in England. Students completed pre- and post-intervention tests containing 10 diagnostic questions, of which 4 measured students' knowledge acquisition in one context and 6 measured their ability to apply it in another. Design and methods: Diagnostic questions had been identified using a Delphi approach. Paired t-tests and chi-square tests were used to analyse the significance of any change in students' responses to the diagnostic questions and the number of responses evidencing misconceptions, respectively. Results: Whilst guided independent learning settings were found to improve students' knowledge and ability to apply that knowledge in novel situations, unguided independent learning had no statistically significant effect. Unguided independent learning was also linked to a statistically significant increase in the number of student misconceptions in one of the diagnostic questions. Conclusions: The results of this study show that guidance in independent learning activities is a key necessity for effective learning in higher education. This paper has strong relevance and high significance to tertiary STEM education, especially in the light of increased importance of teaching, such as the Teaching Excellence Framework in the UK, and shifts to more independent learning activities.


TDP-43 is an RNA-binding protein linked to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that is known to regulate the splicing, transport, and storage of specific mRNAs into stress granules. Although TDP-43 has been shown to interact with translation factors, its role in protein synthesis remains unclear, and no in vivo translation targets have been reported to date. Here we provide evidence that TDP-43 associates with futsch mRNA in a complex and regulates its expression at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) in Drosophila. In the context of TDP-43-induced proteinopathy, there is a significant reduction of futsch mRNA at the NMJ compared with motor neuron cell bodies where we find higher levels of transcript compared with controls. TDP-43 also leads to a significant reduction in Futsch protein expression at the NMJ. Polysome fractionations coupled with quantitative PCR experiments indicate that TDP-43 leads to a futsch mRNA shift from actively translating polysomes to nontranslating ribonuclear protein particles, suggesting that in addition to its effect on localization, TDP-43 also regulates the translation of futsch mRNA. We also show that futsch overexpression is neuroprotective by extending life span, reducing TDP-43 aggregation, and suppressing ALS-like locomotor dysfunction as well as NMJ abnormalities linked to microtubule and synaptic stabilization. Furthermore, the localization of MAP1B, the mammalian homolog of Futsch, is altered in ALS spinal cords in a manner similar to our observations in Drosophila motor neurons. Together, our results suggest a microtubule-dependent mechanism in motor neuron disease caused by TDP-43-dependent alterations in futsch mRNA localization and translation in vivo.


This article reexamines a series of Antonine mythological group portraits frequently identified as imperial commissions. Drawing on new archaeological evidence as well as sources for their findspots and restoration histories, I argue that they were private portraits suitable for the commemoration of married couples in house and tomb. The sculptures juxtaposed idealized divine bodies based on Greek statue types of Ares and Aphrodite with descriptive portrait heads of Antonine elite couples. In so doing, they offered patrons an unusual yet compelling means by which to represent the affective qualities of Roman marriage through reference to Greek myth and art. My analysis of the monumental groups in Mars-Venus format complements recent scholarship on single-figure mythological portraits to offer a fuller picture of the transformation of classical Greek imagery in Roman private art.


Ranu Pani and Ranu Regulo (2,200 masl) are lakesin Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park (TN.BTS) by area 1 ha and 0.7 5ha. Lakes were used for tourism,agriculture, live stock and fishing spot. Civil and visitors activities give an effect onwater quality. The study was conducted in February-June2011, the aim of study to determine the diversity of macrozoobenthos, to know the water quality by seen thebioindicators and physico-chemical factors. Samples were taken at each of the five observation stations by Ekman Dredge and by hand. Samples were identified and analyzed by Shannon – Winner diversity ('H) and Simpson dominance(D) indices. The results of study in Ranupani were consisted by 93 of Bulimidae, 14 of Hirudidae, 22 of Glossiphoniidae, 1 of Syrphidae, 1 of Gomphidae, 1 of Gammaridae and 3 of Coanagrionidae The results in Ranuregulo were consisted by50 of Coanagrionidae,5 of Asselidae and 5 of Aeshnidae. The diversity indices was higher in RanuPani (0,98) than Ranuregulo (0.57). The dominance in deces was lower in Ranu Pani (0.51) than Ranu Regulo (0.71). Water conditions based on bioindicator in Ranu Pani were classified as medium polluted–polluted.Water conditions in Ranu Regulo were polluted. The condition both ofwatersbased on'H was weight polluted. The analysis ofphysico-chemical factors (based on PP.No.82.year.2001 onWater Quality Standards) for measuringof pH, DO, BOD, COD, nitrate, TSS and TDS showed that the watersin Ranu Pani and Ranu Regulo included to class II and III(except Hatstation IV Ranu Regulo included to class IV and TSS at station II, IV, V waters Ranu Pani feasible for classIII). The Phosphate analysis showed that both of waters included to class III.


Conducting a classroom dialogue for reasoning can be very challenging for teachers and, in particular for students-teachers. Research on classroom discussions provides examples of models that can be used to help teachers organize, analyse and conduct classroom discussions. One of these models is the five-practices framework (Stein, Engle, Smith, & Hughes, 2008). In this study we investigate how this framework has been applied in one course of mathematics' pedagogies for in-service student-teachers at the applied university of Amsterdam to support mathematics student-teachers in conducting classroom dialogue based on students reasoning. The study was conducted in the academic year 2017-18 and involved 15 in-service student-teachers and their teachers. The data concerns students written rapports to an individual assignment in which they were requested to use the five-practices in an hypothetical classroom discussion. The preliminary results confirm that the model can be useful for students-teachers to prepare themselves beforehand and to think about creating opportunities for dialogue to occur in the classroom. But, the practice of making connections during the classroom discussion remains misunderstood or superficially performed by the students teachers. These results suggest the need of a more fine grained description of the practice of connecting as ways to involve students-teachers in it.


Written on the occasion of the centenary of landscape architectural education at the University of Pennsylvania (1914–2014), this paper is a wide-ranging reflection upon landscape architecture's highest ambition: to serve as the agent of large-scale landscape stewardship leading to an ideal state of sustainability. Stewardship, as conceived by Ian McHarg, is critically examined, with discussion of how nature and ecology are constructed in McHarg's worldview and how this legacy continues to inform landscape architectural discourse. Reactions to and extensions of McHarg's planning methodology are summarized with particular emphasis on the lineage of thought emerging in large part, but not entirely, from the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Landscape architecture (UPenn). As it emerged out of the rift between planning and design that opened up in late 20th century landscape architecture, landscape urbanism is discussed and situated within the deeper and broader concept of stewardship, as is the emerging interdisciplinary field of Geodesign. The theory of stewardship is then related to the current global crisis of biodiversity depletion and the research directions in this regard being undertaken at UPenn's landscape department are outlined.


This paper presents data on carbonation measurements taken from a range of test specimens stored outside but protected from rainfall. A wide range of concretes were tested that were representative of UK ready-mixed concrete production at ages of between 3·5 and 5·7 years. None of the traditional specification parameters (maximum water/cement (w/c) ratio, minimum cement content and compressive strength class) on their own or in combination give a consistent carbonation resistance. When compared at a fixed w/c ratio of 0·55, there was no clear influence of cement content on carbonation resistance. The measured carbonation depths of the Portland cement concretes were too low to show any influence of aggregate type. When extrapolated to 35 years, in a conservative manner, the data provide no grounds for concern with the BS 8500-1 recommendations with respect to carbonation resistance. There is some indication that the BS 8500-1 recommendations with respect to CEM I concretes may be too conservative. The predi...


This article examines sites of ruinations that include zones of radioactive decay, 'illegal' housing projects, electromagnetic emissions, and e-waste dismantling and metal extraction. These sites have stories of people who are anticipating ruinations such as dreading a nuclear fallout or apartment demolition that has not yet happened. The article argues that ruination is an explicitly political process and exploring relations between humans who are living in ruins with the objects/things they are left with, out there, could lead to questioning power relations – both state power and infrastructural power. Borrowing from research methods such as media archaeology, media geology and media anthropology, the article points to generative connections between mediations of ruins and media ruins (consisting of media objects/infrastructures that are themselves marked by disruptive materialities and (un)planned obsolescence). While approaching media ruins, interrogating the politics embedded within research methods would help in understanding ruination itself as a political project.


Background: Advance care planning (ACP) involves several behaviors that individuals undertake to prepare for future medical care should they lose decision-making capacity. The goal of this study was to assess whether playing a conversation game could motivate participants to engage in ACP. Methods: Sixty-eight English-speaking, adult volunteers (n = 17 games) from communities around Hershey, Pennsylvania, and Lexington, Kentucky, played a conversation card game about end-of-life issues. Readiness to engage in 4 ACP behaviors was measured by a validated questionnaire (based on the transtheoretical model) immediately before and 3 months postgame and a semistructured phone interview. These behaviors were (1) completing a living will; (2) completing a health-care proxy; (3) discussing end-of-life wishes with loved ones; and (4) discussing quality versus quantity of life with loved ones. Results: Participants' (n = 68) mean age was 51.3 years (standard deviation = 0.7, range: 22-88); 94% of the participants were caucasian and 67% were female. Seventy-eight percent of the participants engaged in ACP behaviors within 3 months of playing the game (eg, updating documents, discussing end-of-life issues). Furthermore, 73% of the participants progressed in stage of change (ie, readiness) to perform at least 1 of the 4 behaviors. Scores on measures of decisional balance and processes of change increased significantly by 3 months postintervention. Conclusion: This pilot study found that individuals who played a conversation game had high rates of performing ACP behaviors within 3 months. These findings suggest that using a game format may be a useful way to motivate people to perform important ACP behaviors.