The In-Your-Face, Results-Focused, No-Kumbaya Guide to Social Media for Business! Detailed techniques for increasing sales, profits, market share, and efficiency Specific solutions for brand-building, customer service, R&D, and reputation management Facts, statistics, real-world case studies, and rock-solid metrics Stop hiding from social media--or treating it as if its a playground. Start using it strategically. Identify specific, actionable goals. Apply business discipline and proven best practices. Stop fearing risks. Start mitigating them. Measure performance. Get results. You can. This book shows you how. Jason Falls and Erik Deckers serve up practical social media techniques and metrics for building brands, strengthening awareness, improving service, optimizing R&D, driving better leads--and closing more sales. Conversations and communities are wonderful, but theyre not enough. Get this book and get what you really want from social media: profits. Think social medias a passing fad? Too risky? Just a toy? Too soft and fuzzy? Not for your business? Wake up! Its where your customers are. And it aint going away. Does that suck? No. It doesnt. Do social media right, and all those great business buzzwords come true. Actionable. Measurable. And...wait for it...here comes the big one. Profitable. Damn profitable. Want to know how to do it right? Well show you. And, yeah, we know how because weve done it. This is the bullshit-free, lie-free, fluff-free, blessedly non-New-Age real deal. Youre going to learn how to use social media to deliver absolutely killer customer service. How to R&D stuff people actually want. Develop scads of seriously qualified leads. Youll figure out what you want. You know, the little things like profits, market share, loyalty, and brand power. Youll figure out how to measure it. And then youll go get it. One more thing. We know what scares you about social media. Screwing up (a.k.a., your mug on the front page of The Wall Street Journal). So well tell you what to do so that wont happen. Ever. No B.S. in this book. Just facts. Metrics. Best practices. Stuff to warm the hearts of your CFO, CEO, all your C-whatevers. And, yeah, you. So get your head out from under the pillow. Get your butt in gear. Lets go make some money.


A finite element model is used to study the stresses arising in ceramic matrix composites with different coatings and sliding interfaces. Stress concentrations in the fibers are found near matrix cracks, and their magnitudes depend on the location of the debonded interface and the sliding interfacial shear stress. When debonding occurs away from the fiber surface, fiber flaws are constrained from opening by the coating and fibers are effectively stronger. The probability of flaw failure under the computed stress fields is calculated and used in the Global Load Sharing model to predict composite strength. Results show that composite strength can be optimized by using fibers with a low Weibull modulus m and by designing interfaces with high interfacial shear stress tau, but with debonding away from the fiber/coating interface. These guidelines are consistent with data on "low" strengths in SiC/Glass composites (high m, high tau, fiber/coating debonding) and "high" strengths of SiC/SiC with multilayer coatings (low m, high tau, debonding in coating).


Beautifully told retellings of classic stories from India. Full of richness and warmth, these tales of tender love, great heroism, acts of sacrifice, foolishness and friendship come vividly to life. There is an epic battle in which monkeys and bears help rescue the beautiful princess Sita from evil demons and a simple fable about a jackal who tries to become king. This tapestry of stories is as colourful and diverse as India itself. Sources in selecting the stories have been Sanskrit and Pali, the classical languages of the Brahmans and the Buddhists. Many of these tales were current centuries before the Christian era and were given a sophisticated form by the storytellers of classical times. *The subject of myths and legends ties in with the National Curriculum. *Classic retellings have continued to sell for over thirty years. *Before his death the author lived in Maidstone in Kent.


This thesis presents an historical background on bryological studies in Tasmania in
order to provide a context for the floristic and ecological investigation of these
cryptogams as a component of the epiphytic flora in rainforest corrununities.
The period from the mid-nineteenth century to the early decades of the twentieth
century saw the greatest effort in taxonomy of bryophytes. The discovery and
description of much of the bryological flora of Tasmania resulted from the works of
J.D. Hooker. R.A. Bastow, W.A. Weymouth and culminated in the two volume
Bryophyta of Tasmania by Leonard Redway. There followed a period of almost half a
century during which bryophytes received little attention and the last two decades have
been devoted to a reappraisal of our taxonomic knowledge of this group. We can
confidently recognise in our current flora 361 species of moss and 282 species of
hepatics, and their biogeographical affinities to other southern land masses is
discussed. In contrast there have been relatively few studies on other aspects of their
biology and this thesis attempts to explore an ecological role of bryophytes.
In this account a study on a particular ecological niche has been chosen. The floristic
composition and adaptations of epiphytic bryophytes have been investigated on two
major rainforest tree species in western and north-western Tasmania. Studies
elsewhere on epiphytic bryophytes have produced varied results on both floristic
composition and controlling factors. There was a total of 61 bryophytes recorded from
the trunk region of Nothojagus cunninghamii (angiospenn) and Athrotaxis
selaginoides (conifer) throughout 12 rainforest sites. Most species were facultative
epiphytes. The hepatics were found to be the dominant component and the bark of N.
cunninghamii was clearly the preferred substrate. There was considerable variation in
numbers of epiphytes per tree and it would appear that microclimatic factors rather
than bark characteristics are having the greater influence for a change in composition
of the epiphytic flora from one forest system to another. The epiphytic bryophyte is almost entirely dependent on its surrounding environment
for its existence. Therefore a variety of ectohydric strategies would appear to be
employed to sustain the plant in that habitat. The majority of epiphytic mosses and
hepatics studied on the two host tree species exhibit inter-organ capillary ec[ohydric
conduction. A few displayed epi-organ capillary conduction (papillosity) and these
adaptations were studied in detail using scanning microscopical techniques. The fonn
of papillae ranged from a single dome-shaped papilla to multi-stalked papillae per cell. The advent of the environmental S.E.M. revealed a marked improvement in describing
these varied delicale surface features when compared to the traditional S.E.M.
procedure of fixation, dehydration and crilical point drying. The role of these papillae
in distributing water over the surface of the plant as well as preventing excessive
accumulation over the cell that would limit photosynthesis and respiration is
discussed.


In the conditions of climate change, the existing technologies for winter grain crops growing need constant improvement. Development of the leaf surface and its longest preservation is the main vector of any technology for growing winter wheat, and this issue is especially important in unstable weather conditions. The aim of the research was to establish the influence of multicomponent and multidirectional seed treaters on the state of pigment complex in the leaves of plants of different winter wheat varieties and its productivity during the growing season. When studying pigment complex in the leaves of winter wheat plants in the vegetative period of development this indicator for Antonivka variety was s fund to be 7.17 mg/g of dry matter, and for Shestopalivka variety – 8.04 mg/g of dry matter on average for the variants. The generative period was noted to have an increase in chlorophyll content for both varieties - it was 8.19 mg/g of dry matter for Antonivka and 8.22 mg/g of dry matter for Shestopalivka variety, which is 14.2 % and 2.2 % more than in vegetative period. The productivity of chlorophylls in the vegetative period of plants growth and development averaged 5.14 mg of dry matter/mg of chlorophyll per day for Antonivka, which is 28.4 % more than in Shestopalivka variety (3.69 mg of dry matter/ mg of chlorophyll) per day). With the beginning of the generative period, Shestopalivka variety was noted to have a more stable pigment complex, which is confrmed by a double increase in chlorophylls productivity compared to the previous period. Thus, the increase in chlorophyll content, depending on the pre-sowing treatment with the preparations, is more active in Antonivka variety, but the quantitative index is dominated by Shestopalivka variety. In arid climates, moderate formation of pigments and preservation of their productivity stabilizes grain maturation process, which was noted for both varieties treated with Lamardor and Lamardor plus Gaucho.
 Key words: chlorophyll, winter wheat, seed treater, pigment productivity.


Introduction: Carrion's disease is considered a re-emerging disease in Peru, and it leads to several non-infectious and infectious complications. Objectives: To assess cardiovascular complications (CC) during the acute phase of this disease. Methods: An observational study was conducted at Cayetano Heredia Hospital (HNCH) from 1987 to 2007. Adult patients with a confirmed diagnosis of Bartonellosis were included. Results: 68 patients were included (52 males, mean age 25,7 years). No one had prior cardiovascular disease. Main clinical findings were: fever (99%), hepatomegaly (79%), jaundice (74%), tachycardia (74%), tachypnea (71%), systolic murmur (68%), dyspnea (62%), hepatojugular reflux (19%) and jugular ingurgitation (15%). Sixty-four chest X-ray films showed the following findings: 44% cardiomegaly, 20% pulmonary congestion, and 16% pleural effusion. Transthoracic echocardiogram was performed in 42 patients: 38% had pericardial effusion, 19% dilated left atrium, and 17% dilated left ventricle. Thirty-six patients developed CC: congestive heart failure was found in 92%, effusive pericarditis in 44%, acute pulmonary edema in 36%, cardiogenic shock in 17%, pericardiac tamponade in 11% and myocarditis in 11%. Patients who developed CC had a shorter time of illness before admission (p= 0.01), stayed longer in the hospital (p= 0.014), used more chloramphenicol (p= 0.009) and less ciprofloxacin (p= 0.004), they developed more infectious complications (p= 0.002), and they were more frequently admitted in the ICU (p= 0.004), compared to patients who did not develop CC. Conclusion: CC are frequent in Bartonellosis. A variety of cardiovascular syndromes was observed, and they were associated to a shorter time of illness before admission, longer hospitalizations, more use of chloramphenicol and less use of ciprofloxacin, more frequent infectious complications, and more admissions to ICU, but they did not have higher mortality. Keyword: Carrions disease, bartonellosis, cardiovascular RESUMEN


Objective: To identify correlates of consistent condom use among commercial sex workers (CSW) over a four-week period. Methods: A total of 2638 CSW selected in all the provincial capital cities in the Democratic Republic of Congo using the time location sampling technique were interviewed to collect information on sociodemographic data, sexual history and behaviour, consumption of intoxicants (alcohol and drugs), knowledge of condoms, their accessibility and the pattern of their use over a four-week period, and exposure to HIV/AIDS prevention services. Results: 40% (95% CI 38.1 to 41.8) of the CSW have used condoms consistently and this pattern differed according to the category of sexual partners (61.4% in the case of paying partners and 38.2% in the case of non-paying partners). Consistent condom use was associated with age, those aged 20–44 years were more likely to be consistent users (OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.69), having cited it as a prevention means for HIV (OR 2.88, 95% CI 2.09 to 3.96), less time in commercial sex work, higher number of clients (OR 3.83, 95% CI 2.95 to 4.96), exposure to voluntary counselling and testing (VCT; OR 2.02, 95% CI 1.70 to 2.42), and access to condoms (OR 1.51, 95% CI 1.25 to 1.82). Conclusions: The risk perception bias associated with non-paying partners, time as a commercial sex worker and age should be taken into account when planning interventions targeting CSW. Access to condoms and VCT should be improved because they are likely to impact on behaviour.


Miniaturized detection systems for nanometer-sized airborne particles are in demand, for example in applications for onboard diagnostics downstream particulate filters in modern diesel engines. A soot sensor based on resistivity measurements was developed and characterized. This involved generation of soot particles using a quenched co-flow diffusion flame; depositing the particles onto a sensor substrate using thermophoresis and particle detection using a finger electrode structure, patterned on thermally oxidized silicon substrate. The generated soot particles were characterized using techniques including Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer for mobility size distributions, Differential Mobility Analyzer—Aerosol Particle Mass analyzer for the mass–mobility relationship, and Transmission Electron Microscopy for morphology. The generated particles were similar to particles from diesel engines in concentration, mobility size distribution, and mass fractal dimension. The primary particle size, effective density and organic mass fraction were slightly lower than values reported for diesel engines. The response measured with the sensors was largely dependent on particle mass concentration, but increased with increasing soot aggregate mobility size. Detection down to cumulative mass as small as 20–30 μg has been demonstrated. The detection limit can be improved by using a more sensitive resistance meter, modified deposition cell, larger flow rates of soot aerosol and modifying the sensor surface.


We consider a K-user Interference Channel where each transmitter is interested in conveying a message to its corresponding receiver. In addition, we assume a fully connected noiseless backhaul network through which receivers can collaborate and help each other recover their desired messages. In this paper, we fully characterize the trade-off between the rate in wireless link (per user) in terms of degrees of freedom (DoF) versus backhaul load (per user) for large values of K. In particular, we characterize the optimal trade-off for all values of K, where K is an even number. For odd values of K, we characterize the trade-off within a gap of 2(k − 1)/k(k + 1), which goes to zero as K increases. For achievability we use time-sharing between two corner points: (i) using interference alignment for the case where backhaul load is zero, and (ii) collecting a quantized version of all the received signals at one of the receivers to jointly decode the messages, for the case where DoF of one per user is desired. For the converse, we develop a new outer-bound based on the results from two-user multiple antenna interference channel with limited backhaul cooperation. Recently, it was shown that for the case of three-user interference channel, the optimal trade-off is achieved by some sort of alignment in the backhaul messaging, known as Cooperation Alignment. Our result shows that unlike the gain of interference alignment, the gain of cooperation alignment does not scale with the number of users K.


The aim of this article is to overview the motivation for biodiversity of friendly farming and to investigate willingness and possibilities of Lithuanian farmers to participate in the management of protected areas. Lithuanian farmers are participating in different agri-environmental schemes, but participation is not widely used in practice. Agri-environmental schemes are oriented to involve more landowners and reach quantity results focusing of farmers' participation, but not seeking for the biodiversity of oriented quality results and outputs. Friendly farming programmes are not state funded, but they usually get their funds from international conservation projects. Lithuanian landowners are not expressing a high degree of willingness to participate in addition in biodiversity conservation programmes, but a certain amount of farmers are already involved in them and there are quite widely spread potential participators. The results of the investigation showed that farmers who have higher understanding of biodiversity would be willing to participate in additional programmes. Biodiversity of friendly farmers could be the potential stakeholders in the management of protected areas. The results of the interview with 80 Lithuanian farmers participating in agro-environmental measures showed that they would be willing to participate in the protected areas management in different ways. One part of them would like to participate in consultation dialogues, others in decision making process or participating in joint protected areas' administrations councils, but some of them stated that they would not be able to participate. The farmers expressed opinions that participation in any form would allow to avoid conflicts between landowners and protected area's administration staff.


The Cloud has changed how individuals record, store, and aggregate their personal information. As technology's capacity for holding an individual's most intimate details and recording day-to-day experiences increases, Fourth Amendment privacy protections become less equipped to respond to technological advances. These advances allow private companies to store an immense amount of their consumers' personal information, and government entities to obtain that information. In response, tech companies have begun refusing to comply with government demands for information collected and stored in their devices and in the Cloud, and are increasingly ending up in court, fighting orders to disclose consumer information. A dynamic tension has developed between the United States government's desire and increased capacity to obtain information about consumers, and tech companies wanting to keep their consumers' information private. The relevant statute, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), is not equipped to address these technological advances. The Supreme Court's extensive Fourth Amendment jurisprudence and guidelines for addressing Fourth Amendment issues are similarly ill-suited to answer the novel and unique issues that accompany digital, remote storage of personal information. This Comment identifies the inadequacies of ECPA and the Fourth Amendment jurisprudence as they each apply to technological advances and the potential of Cloud data. It argues that Congress must revise the legislative scheme to adequately protect information stored in the Cloud, particularly addressing whether consumers have a right to know when their information is being accessed by the United States government. Further, it argues courts lack the tools to adequately amend, reframe, repeal, or apply ECPA, and thus should not be the primary body making decisions about the bounds of technologically based government collection under the Fourth Amendment. Alternatively, if the legislature does not act, courts will remain required to make findings related to whether the collection of information is a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Courts should, then, recognize that digital data deserves a fundamentally distinct analysis and discontinue the trend of finding attenuated connections between classic surveillance techniques and government surveillance using advanced technology.


Soybean production in Paraguay now takes up 80 per cent of cultivated land, displacing agricultural production by family farmers and indigenous populations and deepening inequality in access to land. Among the agribusiness companies involved in soy monoculture in Paraguay, the company Desarrollo Agricola del Paraguay sought to distinguish its activity in the sector by adopting a policy of social and environmental responsibility and investing in community-based initiatives. The results are analyzed in this report. It finds that the company's efforts have not compensated for the negative impacts of a model of production that increases the concentration of land and wealth; contaminates the environment; harms people's health; competes for limited resources and puts at risk the traditional livelihoods of small-scale farmers and indigenous communities.


Saving America's Soul: Religion and Politics at Pat Robertson's Church Kempsville Presbyterian Church, Virginia Beach, Virginia, March 23, 2003 When televangelist Pat Robertson and his family relocated in 1959 to the Tidewater area of Virginia, the rapidly growing region was known for its beach-side resorts and its military bases. Its resorts are no longer so prominent, but Robertson has helped make the area a center of conservative Christianity. In 1960 he established the Christian Broadcasting Network, which now reaches a worldwide audience with such well-known programs as "The 700 Club," a news-format broadcast that he anchors. In 1977 he founded a Christian graduate school, originally named CBN University and now called Regent University, of which he is president and chancellor. In 1990 he began the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative counterpart to the American Civil Liberties Union. And since 1989 his Christian Coalition, which he describes as a "pro-family citizen action organization," has sought to "teach Christians effective citizenship, and to promote Christian values in government." It has also lobbied actively against conceding any part of modern Israel to the Palestinians, on the grounds that "God's chosen people" have reclaimed the "promised land" according to biblical prophecy. Robertson and his institutions are controversial-not only among political and religious liberals but also among moderate conservatives. Speaking in Virginia Beach in 2000, Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, described Robertson as an "agent of intolerance." Robertson's views, he declared, exist in the "outer reaches of American politics." Kempsville Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach is Robertson's church and proclaims his religious and political message. Only a few miles from the dual campus of Regent University and CBN, it counts among its members many Regent University staff and students, numerous employees of CBN (including its president and chief operating officer), and Pat Robertson's wife, Dede. According to a member of the church staff, Robertson attends the church on "special occasions." A visitor to the church is given to understand that because Robertson constantly receives threats to his safety, he worships privately on most Sundays. Kempsville Presbyterian Church was founded in 1962 in affiliation with the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, the largest Presbyterian body in the United States. In 1980 the congregation voted to affiliate itself instead with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The latter denomination was formed in 1980 by disgruntled members of mainline churches who were determined to jettison certain "corrupt" doctrines and practices in favor of what they considered pure New Testament standards. It characterizes itself as evangelical because of its view of scripture as "infallible, totally trustworthy and fully inspired" and its three-fold concern for proselytizing, achieving a personal relationship with God, and undergoing an emotional religious experience. It describes itself as "presbyterian" because of its Calvinistic beliefs and its governance by presbyters or elders. Today the EPC claims 65,000 active members and 190 congregations. It has eight presbyteries in the United States and one in Argentina. Kempsville Presbyterian Church stands adjacent to one of many strip-mall-style shopping centers common to its part of Virginia Beach. Entering the parking lot on 23 March 2003-the first Sunday following the start of the second war in Iraq-a visitor notices that nearly every vehicle bears an American flag (and sometimes two flags), usually in the form of a large magnet or bumper sticker. Other bumper stickers offer such messages as "Pray for our troops, join Operation Prayer Shield"; "I proudly pledge allegiance to one Nation under God"; and "God Bless America, But Will America Bless God?" In the style of many contemporary evangelical churches, the church building is plain, emphasizing function over form. …


Abstract:In Ethiopia's May 2015 parliamentary elections, the long-ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), together with its allies, claimed a historic victory with 100 percent of the seats. This result is not a surprising as it might seem: Since the 2005 general elections—the most contested in the nation's history—the party has been using antiterrorism laws and harsh restrictions on media and civil society to silence voices critical of the regime. The regime justifies its repressive measures by telling citizens that the country is in danger of ethnic strife and that maintaining law and order requires a firm approach. Like most autocratic regimes, however, the EPRDF worries that the more informed and connected the people are, the more empowered they will be to hold the government to account.


The Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) which reported in June 2013 conceded that undergraduate law degrees are generally outside the remit of the review other than when there is a direct impact on the provision of legal services. On first glance therefore the review has few implications for those of us interested in delivering a liberal legal education and developing socio-legal approaches to law and legal study. However, on closer reading, the report contains a number of suggestions which, if taken up by the regulators, have significant potential to change law degrees, even if regulation remains "light touch". This article explores those issues with a particular focus on the implications for liberal law degrees and socio-legal approaches to law teaching. In particular the article will explore issues around possible changes to foundation subjects; the creation of a framework of learning outcomes; the possible strengthening of legal writing and research in the curriculum and the opportunities offered for the introduction of more socio-legal material; and the trickle-down effect likely to be felt by providers of undergraduate law degrees of changes in regulation of legal services and as a result of student, employer and other stakeholder expectations.


In an effort to better understand and fully characterize human interaction with biometrically-based interfaces, the BioGauges method and toolset are presented. BioGauges provide a mechanism for determining the range, reliability, and granularity of control possible for a user operating a biometrically-based interface. We first demonstrate the method with a study of ten able-bodied people characterizing two different continuous biometrically-based interfaces with a thresholded task. Then, we further demonstrate the method by assessing the spatial granularity of two continuous biometrically-based interfaces for five people with varying stages of paralysis due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).


Populist parties increasingly take a welfare chauvinistic position. They criticize mainstream parties for cutting and slashing welfare at the expense of the 'native' population and to the benefit of the 'undeserving' immigrant. Given the electoral success of populist parties, we investigate whether and when mainstream parties ignore, attack or accommodate welfare chauvinism. Using key theories of party behaviour, we test whether mainstream parties (1) respond immediately to populist parties, (2) respond with a time lag, or (3) respond only when they lose elections or are in opposition. Our quantitative analyses of party manifestos, speeches and policies of European mainstream and populist parties (1980–2012) show that mainstream parties adapt to populist parties on welfare chauvinism, but which parties adapt and when varies significantly. In our in-depth examinations of the Dutch and Danish cases, we highlight important cross-country and cross-party differences.


The authors have analyzed two months of log data and 100 surveys on the phone use of a Swedish online community for teenagers to investigate the mobile use of an established online service. This shows that the phone use mostly takes place during times of the day when teenagers have social time and the use is not influenced by the availability of a computer. The phone makes the community access more private compared to the computer, but teens do share the use when they want to. The cell phone bridges the online and offline social communities and allows teens to participate in both at the same time. The online community is not only a place for social activity online; it is also a social activity offline that is carried out face-to-face with friends. Thus, the cell phone was a tool for the teens to combine their participation in the online and the offline world.


1. A major shift seems to be occurring in the amount of interest and action being given by the engineering community to teaching about engineering at the K-I2 level. Please describe what you see happening. SMITH: I believe the shift has come from technology education professionals who have held a long-time belief that we missed the opportunity to pursue a national focus on engineering education as part of the Technology for All Americans Project. While that initiative was a major challenge and excellent work, it should have been our call to arms for launching a set of national standards for Engineering Education for All Americans. The arguments for such a movement have been clearly presented for the past ten years or more. Engineering as a valuable part of general education for all children is as easily defended as the science community defending their mantra, "think like a scientist" as a noble skill. Well, science, until applied to enhance the designed world through engineering processes and techniques, has limited value in my opinion. Knowledge is a good thing; however, knowing how to apply such knowledge skillfully to improve human existence is a more worthy goal. The confusion over what technology education offers remains. There is great work being accomplished by the CATTS organization. Standards-based resources are being created that address content in technology education, mathematics, and science (MST). But I believe that the individuals who are calling for strong support for a national engineering education program, which I fully support, are correct and offer the next phase in the evolution of this dynamic content area. BURGHARDT: There seem to be several organizations that are becoming important to this effort--the ASEE K-12 division, the National Center for Technological Literacy at the Boston Museum of Science, the National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (an NSF-supported center), the National Academy of Engineering, and Project Lead the Way. Within the engineering education community, more faculty are becoming interested in engineering education at the K--12 and college levels. This is in contrast to their emphasis on content disciplinary interests in years past. For instance, I have been teaching elementary and middle school teachers engineering design problem-solving methodology for the past ten years as part of a master's degree in STEM education at Hofstra University. Engineers in industry are also very interested in having a voice, in participating in the K-12 educational process. We have had excellent support from corporate engineers on a number of grants for middle and high school teachers. This support ranges from serving on advisory boards to actually participating in workshops with teachers and students. There is a tremendous desire to help, and in the process of learning to help, the engineering community (academic and corporate) is beginning to become aware of the multiple demands placed on teachers. I believe the desire to help has a multiplicity of sources, some stemming from the wish that more students would consider engineering as a career choice, others from the desire that students become more technologically able and literate whether or not they intend to be future engineers. There is a move in some states, such as Massachusetts, to have (and assess) engineering and technology standards K--12. The Boston Museum of Science is creating engineering curriculum materials for elementary school teachers. Certainly curriculum materials exist for middle and high school teachers that have an engineering influence, such as the middle school text Mike Hacker and I coauthored, Technology Education--Learning by Design. Project Lead the Way has taken a strong role in providing engineering/technology education curriculum material at the high school and now middle school levels. 2. There is an ongoing discussion about what constitutes engineering education and what constitutes technology education. …


Family/school communication has not been a central theme of educational research in Spain. In fact, it can safely be stated that it has rarely been the focus of work although it is also true that the relation between these two institutions or the participation of the families in the school have been analysed in depth. This text aims to supply an overall view from our own empirical work (ethnographic and survey) of the main channels of communication and the use made of these. The starting point is that there are many channels but that these are not always used or used adequately which leads to important obstacles in the communication and that this can be improved. Moreover, a point that can be highlighted is the scant use of the new technologies despite their potential. The results of the two studies presented, one the base for the other, show that Spanish schools are not taking sufficient advantage of the potential of the new technologies for communication and to make information flow between families and professionals. However, this does not mean that there are no successful experiences.


Nubian Ensemble.

A) Jirjara robe (Nubian-style young woman's galabeyah) of sheer black machine-made lace with scattered "tendrils" of various sized dots all-over which extend from hem upwards. Full-length, with rounded neckline and slight "V" at front. Full-length sleeves flaring to wrist.

B) Under-dress of white cotton embroidered with ancient Egyptian-inspired motifs, including lotus blossoms. Full-length, with rounded neckline with small "V" at front. Neckline edged with green embroidery. Short sleeves edged with similar green embroidery, as are the short slits from the hem upwards. "Bib" at front of upper part of dress with green, yellow, blue, red, and pink embroidery of stylized lotus, scrolls, border lines, etc. Front of skirt with large embroidered motif of lotus(?) growing from bowl, with other blossoms around, in same colors. Back is plain. Unlined.

C) Head scarf of very fine black fabric. Triangular in shape, with edging of simulated gold-colored coins.

With suite of costume jewelery of gold-colored metal hung with faux coins, consisting of:

1) Necklace. Simple gold chain suspending triangular "net" of gold quaterfoil-shaped links hung with tiers of faux coins. Simple hook fastener. "Cascade" style.

2) Headpiece (?). Formed of two linked triangles of net with 6-lobed openwork links, hung with tiers of faux coins. At center point is large heart-shaped pendant hung with fringe of coins on short beaded strands.

3) Earrings. Pair. Simple hook suspends horizontal bar from which hangs a triangular "cascade" of tiers of faux gold coins hung on a net of quatrefoil-shaped links.

4) Bracelet. Cuff-style openwork wire bracelet with fringe of tiny spherical bells.

5) Bracelet. Cuff-style bracelet of openwork metal hung with a triangular "cascade" of tiers of faux gold coins hung on a net of quatrefoil-shaped links.


Clustering techniques are very attractive for extracting and identifying patterns in datasets. However, their application to very large spatial datasets presents numerous challenges such as high-dimensionality data, heterogeneity, and high complexity of some algorithms. For instance, some algorithms may have linear complexity but they require the domain knowledge in order to determine their input parameters. Distributed clustering techniques constitute a very good alternative to the big data challenges (e.g.,Volume, Variety, Veracity, and Velocity). Usually these techniques consist of two phases. The first phase generates local models or patterns and the second one tends to aggregate the local results to obtain global models. While the first phase can be executed in parallel on each site and, therefore, efficient, the aggregation phase is complex, time consuming and may produce incorrect and ambiguous global clusters and therefore incorrect models. In this paper we propose a new distributed clustering approach to deal efficiently with both phases, generation of local results and generation of global models by aggregation. For the first phase, our approach is capable of analysing the datasets located in each site using different clustering techniques. The aggregation phase is designed in such a way that the final clusters are compact and accurate while the overall process is efficient in time and memory allocation. For the evaluation, we use two well-known clustering algorithms, K-Means and DBSCAN. One of the key outputs of this distributed clustering technique is that the number of global clusters is dynamic, no need to be fixed in advance. Experimental results show that the approach is scalable and produces high quality results.


Much of Internet-related scholarship over the past ten years has focused on the enormous benefits that come from eliminating intermediaries and allowing user generated one-to-many (one person to many people) communications. Many commentators have noted the tension created between the positive benefits for free speech and the negative effects on user privacy. This tension has been exacerbated by technologies that permit users to create social networks with "blurry edges" - places where they post information generally intended for a small network of friends and family, but which is left available to the whole world to access. The thought is that someone the user cannot identify a priori might find the information interesting or useful. These technological advances have created enormous benefits as people connect to each other and build communities online. The technology that enables these communities, however, also creates an illusion of privacy and control that the law fails to recognize. This Article discusses the technological, social, and legal regimes that have created this framework, and proposes a technical solution to permit users to maintain networks with blurry edges while still appropriately balancing speech and privacy concerns.


In today´s fast changing global environment, organizations from both private and public sectors are under an increased pressure to continuously change and adapt in order to survive and provide meaningful services and products to their users. Innovation has therefore become an on-going effort that is not only a matter of R&D and product development departments, but rather a responsibility of all employees. To think how products, services, processes, methods and business models can be constantly improved or replaced by new ones is becoming a core competence needed across organization. While many organizations in Sweden have already developed a capability to innovate incrementally through continuous improvements, they often struggle to innovate radically by engaging the talent, knowledge and skills of all employees. In this thesis we thus look at how organizations could enable employees to strengthen their ability to innovate and move from incremental towards more radical innovation.Insights from the practice of contemporary dance groups were used for inspiration, exploring how dancers work in their creative processes and what enables them to move from ideas towards developing a new performance. Since there is very limited literature about the connection between contemporary dance practice and organizational innovation, we tried to build our own framework based on empirical data. In the first study, 20 semi-structures interviews with choreographers from different countries were performed and a model with key phases, tools and enablers of innovation process from choreographic perspective developed. The model was then compared with innovation management theory and empirical data from the industry to identify similarities and differences between the innovation concepts and practice in dance and business. In the second study the model was tested in practice through participatory action research with 27 participants from different companies and public sector. The study explored how principles and methods from contemporary dance and choreography could be applied to enable innovation in organizational context and what are the effects and limitations of using knowledge from contemporary dance to enable innovation in organizations.The main contribution of the research presented in this thesis is the conceptual framework about innovation process, tools and enablers from a choreographic perspective and a proposed practical method for applying it in organizational context which was developed as a part of the research. Several examples of how practitioners from business and public sector experienced dance-based methods and then translated them into their own working environment to support innovation are presented.


Permafrost conditions are assumed to be stable in the Siberian Arctic since probably 2.5 million years. The permafrost deposits of the Siberian lowlands are excellent climate and environmental archives and important links between marine records of the Pacific, Atlantic, Arctic Ocean, glacial records from Greenland as well as the high-resolution lacustrine records. The abundance of well-preserved bioindicators (pollen, plant macrofossils, rhizopods, chironomids, beetles, ostracods, diatoms, mammal bones) in permafrost deposits allows multiproxy paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Ground ice data and sedimentological characteristics reflect the conditions of permafrost formation and transformation. These records are also suitable datasets for climate reconstructions. Although, they are not always as highly resolved as other archives, permafrost deposits are widely distributed in Siberia and contain data of several climate stages. Moreover, they are the only available records for the validation of climate models in high latitudes of Siberia. The investigations will be focused on the New Siberian Archipelago and the Yana-Kolyma lowland, wherefrom the oldest deposits, and the most diverse stratigraphic, and facial permafrost sequences are reported. Neotectonics play an important role for the Quaternary environmental changes in this region. Moreover, the region between 130° and 150°E is assumed to be influenced by both, the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean, and thus be sensitive for changes in atmospheric circulation patterns.The main objectives of studies on selected locations are Dating and characterization of the first tracks of permafrost in the Arctic Correlation of Pliocene/Early Pleistocene marine deposits exposed along the coasts with marine records Distribution and characterization of Saalian ice-rich deposits in Arctic shelf areas The Eemian in the Arctic and the degradation of permafrost Periglacial landscapes on the dry arctic shelf during the LGM The Holocene Arctic flood and modern patterns of coastal landscape extreme environmental transformations of Arctic landscapesThe response of the permafrost dominated Arctic landscapes to global climate changes and their feedback on the climate are still poorly understood. A set of paleodata equally covering the Arctic is required for reliable environmental reconstructions. The proposed project will help to reconstruct or estimate: Paleogeographic patterns of Arctic shelf areas (e.g. transgression-regression, extreme freshwater runoff, thermokarst processes) during the Quaternary vegetation and faunal changes, Paleotemperature and precipitation Greenhouse gas emission from thawing permafrost mainly during warm periodsIn summer 2007 field-work should be realized along the Dimitrii Laptev Strait between Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island and the mainland coast of Oygossky Yar. The main goal of the expedition is multidisciplinary study of middle and late Quaternary permafrost sequences exposed on both coasts. These sequences are the largest and most extended Arctic permafrost archive containing traces of two or three glacial-interglacial-cycles. Large coastal sections must be studied in order to produce a comprehensive picture of the Quaternary landscape dynamics and to understand the complex stratigraphy. This work is based on previous studies in 1999 and 2004 on Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island and Cape Svyatoy Nos as well as in 2002 on Oygossky Yar by teams from AWI-Potsdam, Moscow State University (MGU), and Permafrost Institute Yakutsk (PIY).


The qualitative upgrading of the services offered by libraries and information services are connected with the existence and operation of digital libraries in the Internet. Definitions are presented, while distinction between terms like electronic, digital and virtual library as well as Libraries Networks and libraries consortia are provided. A brief reference to a number of the most important publishers, involved in the area of digital information provision, follows. The various components of a digital library from the content, procedures and technical characteristics points of view are described. Commends are also provided concerning technological, and institutional issues as well as problems faced by librarians, arisen during the current transitional phase of establishment of digital libraries. Finally a checklist of actions to do is presented including the procedures needed for the development and the operation of a digital library system.


This paper discusses a technique for adjusting laser IR-radiation expanders that does not require the use of complex and expensive equipment. The technique is based on the use of an IR collimator and makes it possible to adjust expanders with small relative aperture of the optical components. © 2004 Optical Society of America


Previous studies have shown that pairing a film excerpt with different musical soundtracks can change the audience's interpretation of the scene. This study examined the effects of mixing the same piece of music at different levels of loudness in a film soundtrack to suggest diegetic music ("source music," presented as if arising from within the fictional world of the film characters) or to suggest nondiegetic music (a "dramatic score" accompanying the scene but not originating from within the fictional world). Adjusting the level of loudness significantly altered viewers' perceptions of many elements that are fundamental to the storyline, including inferences about the relationship, intentions, and emotions of the film characters, their romantic interest toward each other, and the overall perceived tension of the scene. Surprisingly, varying the loudness (and resulting timbre) of the same piece of music produced greater differences in viewers' interpretations of the film scene and characters than switching to a different music track. This finding is of theoretical and practical interest as changes in loudness and timbre are among the primary post-production modifications sound editors make to differentiate "source music" from "dramatic score" in motion pictures, and the effects on viewers have rarely been empirically investigated.


The use of instant messaging (IM) technology at work is controversial, due to the interruptions it may cause and the difficulties associated with quantifying its benefits. In this study, we investigate the use and impact of IM tools in the workplace. Based on the communication performance theories and social network theory, we propose that the use of IM will result in work disturbance, improved communication quality and the establishment of trust between colleagues. These mediating variables will in turn enhance group outcomes. Our research model is validated by a survey of 253 working professionals. The data suggests IM can significantly contribute to communication performance in the workplace, where the benefits overwhelm the work interruption caused. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.


Good Roads and Potholes" collects some of the lessons learned by the World Future Society (WFS) in exploring the concept of foresight with groups of children of elementary and secondary school age. The article covers past presentations, tactics and techniques and catalogues a range of appropriately successful outcomes. Groups range from Pre-K summer programs, to Cub Scouts, to national science and engineering competitions, as well as model programs in the environmental area. In addition, it captures a range of visions of the future developed by some of the groups of children with whom WFS has worked.


Several proteins that are anchored to the surface of T lymphocytes via a phosphatidylinositol (PI) moiety can initiate cell stimulation upon cross-linking. Inasmuch as these proteins do not traverse the plasma membrane, it is not clear how they are capable of signaling across the membrane. Herein we report two distinct sets of experiments that examine the consequence of cross-linking PI-anchored molecules on murine T cells. We first analyzed the fate of antibody cross-linked TAP (Ly-6A.2) and Thy-1 molecules on T-T hybrids. Using an assay to measure receptor-mediated endocytosis, an intracellular accumulation of 125I labeled anti-TAP and anti-Thy-1 mAb was documented that was specific and Ag dependent. The internalization of these molecules was confirmed by cytotoxicity assays using antibody-toxin conjugates, and electron microscopic studies. Although the PI-anchored proteins lack a cytoplasmic domain that is necessary for the internalization of many receptors, they nevertheless can be induced to enter the cell upon cross-linking. The rate of entry of cross-linked TAP and Thy-1 into cells was shown to be 10 and 2% per hour, respectively, which is considerably less than that observed for the transferrin receptor or TCR/CD3 complex. To assess whether the internalization of TAP and Thy-1 might be of importance in their ability to stimulate T cells, we attempted to cross-link these molecules under conditions where the mAb or its cross-linked complex can not enter the cell. We observed that anti-TAP and anti-Thy-1 mAb conjugated to a cell impermeant matrix fail to stimulate T cells. This loss of stimulatory activity was observed with multiple T-T hybridomas and mAb over a wide titration of antibody concentration and was independent of the mAb isotype. Results from experiments with anti-Ig cross-linking of the mAb-PI anchored protein complex suggested that the loss of T cell stimulation upon mAb immobilization is not simply due to an alteration in the degree of antibody cross-linking. These findings were generalized to three distinct PI-anchored proteins: TAP, Thy-1, and Ly6C on normal T cells. When the same cells were stimulated through the TCR/CD3 complex, only immobilized mAb are stimulatory. These results demonstrate a marked difference in the cross-linking requirements for stimulating T cells through PI-anchored molecules in contrast to the transmembrane TCR complex. Furthermore, these findings raise the possibility that molecular internalization of Ab-PI-anchored complexes may be necessary in signaling through these molecules.


Chemical and isotopic gradients in pore water in Devils Lake indicate that maximum rates of sulfate reduction occur between 1 and 3 cm depth in the bottom sediments. Dissolved sulfate diffuses into the sulfate-reduction zone upward from deeply buried saline pore water at an average rate of 1.4 {times} 10{sup {minus}5} {mu}mol {center dot} cm{sup {minus}2} {center dot} s{sup {minus}1}, and downward from the overlying water column at an average rate of 2.4 {times} 10{sup {minus}5} {mu}mol {center dot} cm{sup {minus}2} {center dot} s{sup {minus}1}. The result is a bidirectional flux of sulfate into sulfate-reduction zone. Upward-diffusing sulfate provides a ready supply of electron acceptors for sulfate-reducing bacteria even at fairly great depths in the sediments. The abundance of electron acceptors enables sulfate-reducing bacteria to outcompete methanogenic bacteria for organic material and thereby suppress methane production. Suppression of methanogenesis may be widespread in sulfate-rich lakes and wetlands and may limit methane fluxes from these water bodies to the atmosphere.


This report presents findings of the study on land cover changes and river discharge trends as from 1973 to 2006 within Kisii and Nyamira counties. The area is characterized by high rainfall and fertile, deep soils that support intensive agricultural activities. Land cover in this area is predominantly related to the human activities. Vegetation cover includes crops such as tea, coffee, maize, bananas and trees mainly eucalyptus. The main objective to the study was to fill the information gap with respect to the land cover of area for effective management of water and other available resources for the benefit of the residents of the counties and the nation at large. Specifically the study sought to assess landcover changes and the effectiveness of medium resolution satellite images like Landsat for such assessment in a highly populated rural environment. Additionally, the study tried to analyze the surface water discharge trends of the area. The study utilized four sets of Landsat remote sensing images (1973, 1986, 2000 and 2006) for land cover classification and temporal change analysis. The land cover classification came up with five classes namely woodlot/forest, tea/woodlot, cultivated land, buildup areas and grassland/valley bottom. Grassland/valley bottom reduced and eventually disappeared by the year 2000 in favour of woodlot and cultivated land. The other land cover types changed variously over the years. Flow data for River Gucha is available for the period 1964-87 which does not adequately cover the study period. Thus analysis of water discharge trends was only done for the period between 1973 and 1986, during which there was little change in the river flow. The accurate assessment of land cover changes was hampered by two main factors. First, images from the same season for each year of interest could not be accessed given that the study area is covered by four Landsat scenes. Second, the study area has highly mixed land cover classes not suited for interpretation by medium resolution images such as Landsat. The study found that there were land cover changes of varying proportions during the period 1973-2006. It has also shown that Landsat images may not be the most suitable for land cover studies in this kind of environment. However, it was difficult to draw any meaningful conclusions on water discharge. Finally, the use of high resolution satellite imagery is recommended, without overemphasizing the necessity of adequate and up to date data.


The ongoing economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has generated important proposals for addressing countries' financial distress in the short to medium term. However, it has also made even more apparent the existing gaps in the global financial architecture writ large and highlighted the extent to which key actors pay closest attention to this infrastructure in situations of crisis. By then, of course, it is already too late.

This essay argues that the international community should use the energy generated in the current context to move toward 'disaggregated sovereign bankruptcy'—which can be understood as a framework by which multiple processes at varying levels simultaneously support or instantiate a shared set of sovereign debt resolution principles and commitments. Such an approach moves beyond overly simplistic and binary framings of market-based versus statutory options, and instead conceives of improvements in the contractual realm, in the multilateral arena, and at the level of domestic legislation as complementary rather than competitive. The essay also clarifies that the explicit embrace of a more disaggregated framework for implementing debt resolution principles need not be disorganized. It argues in favor of establishing an international body purpose-built to recommend, coordinate, and facilitate steady, incremental progress in the architecture for dealing with sovereign debt across multiple vectors. Advocates of more rational debt restructuring should take steps now to adopt an infrastructure that would make future debt crises less severe and perhaps less likely—even when the spotlights are directed elsewhere.


This thesis is about writing proficiency among students of secondary education. Due to globalization, the ability to express oneself in a language other than the first language (L1) is increasingly becoming a condition for educational success. In The Netherlands, this 'other' or second language (L2) is usually English. Although secondary school students are already quite able to express themselves in English, their L2 essays are often of lower quality than L1 essays, in terms of language use, but also in terms of organization. The research reported in this thesis was aimed at explaining this quality difference by comparing L1 and L2 relations between essay quality and writing processes. Analyses of writing processes involved cognitive activities such as reading the assignment, process planning, content planning, evaluating and revising. Results show that, in general, cognitive activities are relevant to essay quality at different stages of task execution during L1 and L2 writing. This means that writers need to distribute their attention differently across task execution during L1 and L2 writing. However, additional analyses show that if students' general language proficiency levels are included in the analyses, this L1/L2 contrast disappears. For students with high general L2 proficiency, the demands of L2 writing in terms of how often cognitive activities are applied during certain stages of task execution are similar to the demands of L1 writing.


The longevity of an iron making blast furnace is largely limited by the erosion of hearth refractory. The addition of titanium (Ti)‐bearing materials into the furnace may promote so‐called Ti‐rich scaffolds along the damaged hearth lining. A Computational Fluid Dynamics model is used to investigate the complex transport phenomena associated with the formation and dissolution of solid particles. Based on the modeling results, the isotherm of the equilibrium temperature of the incoming hot metal solution can be used as an indicator for the extent and phase of Ti compounds. It is proposed that the particles can be managed by controlling the location of this isotherm. This can be conducted by either (a) altering the Ti dosage and concentration or (b) altering the hot metal pool temperature. The effects of these parameters on the solids holdup along the hearth refractory linings are investigated. The equilibrium isotherm concept may provide a more suitable way to control the location of Ti‐based particles for furnace operators.


The world's most isolated continent has spawned some of the most unusual words in the English language. In the space of a mere century, a remarkable vocabulary has evolved to deal with the extraordinary environment and living organisms of the Antarctic and subantarctic.

Here, for the first time, is a complete guide to the origin and definitions of Antarctic words. Like other historical dictionaries, The Antarctic Dictionary gives the reader quotations for each word. These quotations are the life-blood of the dictionary — more than 15 000 quotations from about 1000 different sources give the reader a unique insight into the way the language of Antarctica has evolved. The reader will find out what it means to be slotted, the shortcomings of homers, the joys of a donga and the hazards of a growler.

The Antarctic Dictionary has been meticulously researched, and will appeal to all those who have been to the frozen continent or have ever dreamed of going there. It will also appeal to those fascinated by the development of language.

With a forward by Sir Ranulph Fiennes.


While fish is rich in essential nutrients and women are encouraged to consume fish products, fish may contain methylmercury, which is an established neurotoxin to the fetus. Not surprisingly, there are high levels of anxiety among women of reproductive age regarding fish consumption. To be able to counsel women in this complex area, we have developed a two-step program: (1) probing women of reproductive age for their perceptions regarding the safety of consuming fish, and (2) piloting an intervention program with women of reproductive age to ensure mercury levels are below the recently proposed Lowest Observable Adverse Effect Level. This method may be used as a template to improve the understanding of clinicians, legal experts, and policy makers on the fetal risk-benefit ratio of environmental chemicals.


Justice Antonin Scalia recently declared that the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause simply does not apply to discrimination based on sex or sexual orientation. Though Justice Scalia's statement is not exactly news, as he had previously suggested as much in dissenting opinions in Romer v. Evans and United States v. Virginia, it does provide an opportunity to consider how he arrived at these conclusions. Justice Scalia argues that he is simply applying the original meaning of the Equal Protection Clause, deferring to tradition and the will of the people until and unless democratic action provides new instructions. This article argues that Justice Scalia's conclusions can be understood in a different way. Scalia's dissenting opinions in cases involving sex and sexual orientation discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause, as well as in cases involving the Establishment Clause, represent a failure to learn and apply the fundamental lessons of Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education. As this article will discuss in Parts I-III, Brown can be seen as a triumph of empathy with Plessy, by contrast, an example of judicial decisionmaking in a vacuum, cut off from vital social and historical context. When Justice Scalia disdains empathy and ignores context, as he does in his dissenting opinions in Romer, U.S. v. Virginia, Lee v. Weisman, and Edwards v. Aguillard, discussed in Part IV, he ends up following Plessy's reasoning, not Brown's, writing opinions in a judicial vacuum that fail to take reality into account. Others have written about empathy and social context as tools for judging, and others have suggested that Justice Scalia is following Plessy's approach in specific opinions. This article does something new by connecting these ideas to argue that (a) Brown corrected Plessy's errors by relying on social and historical context and by engaging in empathy; and (b) judges who fail to recognize that this is the crucial distinction between Plessy and Brown run the risk of repeating Plessy's errors, though surely unintentionally, in different areas of the law, as Justice Scalia does in the Equal Protection and Establishment Clause cases I discuss in Part IV. My conclusion is that, if we want justices who will truly follow Brown, not Plessy, future Senate confirmation hearings must seek to discover whether nominees understand the crucial distinctions in reasoning between Brown and Plessy. Justices who narrowly reject only Plessy's holding will be more likely to repeat its substantive errors and will fail to do justice, as the Court failed in Plessy itself.


Writing short stories is both a science and an art. You need a certain amount of skill but you will increase your chances by studying your market and learning what magazine editors are looking for. It is not always obvious. How to Write Short Stories will take you as a would-be writer through the tricks of the trade by: - helping you discover what the different magazines are looking for and how to think up ideas to suit; - demonstrating how you can write different slants, such as twist in the tales and feel-good stories; - advising on how you can win fiction competitions.


Over 50 years since Lorenz's 1963 study and a follow-up presentation in 1972, the statement "weather is chaotic" has been well accepted. Such a view turns our attention from regularity associated with Laplace's view of determinism to irregularity associated with chaos. In contrast to single-type chaotic solutions, recent studies using a generalized Lorenz model (GLM) have focused on the coexistence of chaotic and regular solutions that appear within the same model using the same modeling configurations but different initial conditions. The results, with attractor coexistence, suggest that the entirety of weather possesses a dual nature of chaos and order with distinct predictability. In this study, based on the GLM, we illustrate the following two mechanisms that may enable or modulate two kinds of attractor coexistence and, thus, contribute to distinct predictability: 1) the aggregated negative feedback of small-scale convective processes that can produce stable nontrivial equilibrium points and, thus, enable the appearance of stable steady-state solutions and their coexistence with chaotic or nonlinear oscillatory solutions, referred to as the first and second kinds of attractor coexistence; and 2) the modulation of large-scale time-varying forcing (heating) that can determine (or modulate) the alternative appearance of two kinds of attractor coexistence. Based on our results, we then discuss new opportunities and challenges in predictability research with the aim of improving predictions at extended-range time scales, as well as subseasonal to seasonal time scales.


Purpose: Small animal microSPECT is an important pre‐clinical imaging modality. However, the quantitative accuracy is limited by photon attenuation in the subject and scatter in the subject and the collimator. In this study we investigate correcting for both scatter and attenuation in the reconstruction of a small animal sized phantom. Methods: A phantom consisting of a cold centre surrounded by a hot shell, surrounded by an outer layer of either water or air, was scanned in a multiplexing multi‐pinhole (MMP) SPECT scanner. Scan parameters were as follows: 9 pinholes/detector, 2.5 mm diameter; 48 projections; helical scan; 3 minutes per projection. Projection data was recorded for two energy windows, one centered at the photopeak (140 keV) and a second window below the photopeak centered at 110 keV. The phantom was also scanned with the built‐in CT scanner (45 keV, cone beam) and reconstructed using filtered backprojection. The SPECT data were reconstructed using an iterative ordered subsets expectation maximization (OSEM) algorithm with no correction, attenuation correction (AC) only, and both scatter (SC) and AC. Attenuation was estimated from the CT and incorporated into the system matrix as part of the reconstruction.Scatter was estimated using the dual energy window method and subtracted from the projections prior to reconstruction. Absolute quantification was derived from a scan of a point source with known activity. Results: With attenuation and scatter correction, the measured activity concentrations in the hot region of the phantom were within 12% of the true value with the external chamber of the phantom both full and empty. Scatter correction in addition to AC improves the accuracy over AC alone in the cold regions. Conclusions: Attenuation correction significantly reduces the subject‐size dependence of the quantitative accuracy in small‐animal MMP SPECT.Scatter correction may provide some additional benefit. Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario (NA6374) National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (PGS D)


Biometrics—a field that grew out of fingerprinting to encompass emerging areas like gait and heartbeat recognition—is in its heyday in China. A large research force, generous government support, and advances in the algorithm speeds that enable biometric applications have pushed innovation in areas like intelligent surveillance and infrared face recognition. The leading Chinese image-processing and machine-learning labs now compete with the top institutions in the United States. Chinese biometric applications are being put to use for security in areas such as banking and sporting events. But critics worry that concerns about an Orwellian state—often overblown in the past—are finally well-founded. They fear that the new technologies will help China9s one-party state clamp down on dissent and monitor political opponents.


Eye movement (EM) analyses for static images are well defined, but less so for dynamic stimuli. There are limits in applying static measures, such as fixation duration, to dynamic stimuli, that prevent the appropriate characterization of eye movements over space and time. Consequently, moving stimuli are often analyzed using 'swarm analysis' or dynamic heat maps to describe EM. Although these allow for qualitative representations of EM, it is difficult to quantify similarities between observers. Previous researchers have used the separate variance in X and Y gaze position to describe EM variability, however, in clinical research, two measures of EM stability combine X and Y gaze position: the bivariate contour ellipse area (BCEA), and the within-isoline area. The BCEA calculates the highest density of eye movements using a Gaussian ellipse that encompasses 68% of the fixation data, thus assuming normality in EM. The within-isoline area does not assume normality. It is based on the probability density estimate of EM, with a level of density chosen (e.g., 68%), so that 68% of the data points have a higher density estimate than this level. Here we apply these metrics to EM generated while watching either an intact version of an emotionally salient movie, or a version where the movie's scenes were scrambled in sequence. EM were recorded using a 60Hz binocular tracker (Mirametrix S2), with sample gaze positions analyzed in MATLAB using two algorithms. We found that both algorithms show EM are more variable during the scrambled movie in comparison to the intact movie. However, the BCEA shows greater variance in EM within and across both conditions in comparison to the within-isoline area. We attribute this difference due to the assumption of normality in the BCEA calculation, and recommend the within-isoline area when describing group variance of EM in dynamic stimuli. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


Wobbling mass (WM), fat mass (FM), lean mass (LM) and bone mineral content (BMC) for the head, neck, trunk and pelvis were predicted using anthropometric measures in stepwise linear regression analyses. Reference tissue masses from 101 (51 M, 50 F) adults (35 to 65 years of age), were collected via Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry. Data from 76 participants were used to generate the equations; data from an independent sample of 25 participants were used to assess equation validity. Adjusted R2 values for the equations ranged from 0.326 (Head BMC) to 0.949 (Trunk WM) and mean percent errors between actual and predicted masses ranged from -2.63% (Trunk LM) to 6.08% (Trunk FM). These positive results are comparable to equations previously developed for the extremities. Having tissue mass prediction equations for all body segments of living people will help to improve biomechanical model fidelity, and evaluations of human movements involving impacts.


Different viruses use different components of cytoplasmic dynein complex to traffic to their replication site. We have found that murine leukemia virus (MLV) depends on dynein light-chain Dynlrb2 for infection, retrograde traffic, and nuclear entry. Our study provides new information regarding the molecular requirements for retrograde transport of MLV preintegration complex and demonstrates the essential role of Dynlrb2 in MLV infection. ABSTRACT Murine leukemia virus (MLV) requires the infected cell to divide to access the nucleus to integrate into the host genome. It has been determined that MLV uses the microtubule and actin network to reach the nucleus at the early stages of infection. Several studies have shown that viruses use the dynein motor protein associated with microtubules for their displacement. We have previously reported that dynein light-chain roadblock type 2 (Dynlrb2) knockdown significantly decreases MLV infection compared to nonsilenced cells, suggesting a functional association between this dynein light chain and MLV preintegration complex (PIC). In this study, we aimed to determine if the dynein complex Dynlrb2 subunit plays an essential role in the retrograde transport of MLV. For this, an MLV mutant containing the green fluorescent protein (GFP) fused to the viral protein p12 was used to assay the PIC localization and speed in cells in which the expression of Dynlrb2 was modulated. We found a significant decrease in the arrival of MLV PIC to the nucleus and a reduced net speed of MLV PICs when Dynlrb2 was knocked down. In contrast, an increase in nuclear localization was observed when Dynlrb2 was overexpressed. Our results suggest that Dynlrb2 plays an essential role in MLV retrograde transport. IMPORTANCE Different viruses use different components of cytoplasmic dynein complex to traffic to their replication site. We have found that murine leukemia virus (MLV) depends on dynein light-chain Dynlrb2 for infection, retrograde traffic, and nuclear entry. Our study provides new information regarding the molecular requirements for retrograde transport of MLV preintegration complex and demonstrates the essential role of Dynlrb2 in MLV infection.


The article is devoted to the psychological phenomenon of identity and self-concept, the peculiarities of their formation and development in early youth. An attempt was made to compare different interpretations of the concept of identity, the main aspects and types of identity were considered. Various approaches of domestic and foreign scientists to the problem of identity formation are analysed. A psychological analysis of scientific approaches to the problem of the formation and development of identity during the period of personality maturation was carried out. The main mechanisms of the formation of self-identity in the process of ontogenetic development of the personality are highlighted. The results of the study of social roles and individual characteristics (family, interpersonal, individual-age, educational-professional, personal-civic, personal-individual) are presented, the ratio of types of personal identity and the level of awareness and acceptance of them are determined. It is shown that identity is an integral component of a person's personal development, the result of self-awareness and self-determination of one's "I". The result of these processes is a dynamic system of a person's ideas about himself, evaluations of his actions, thoughts, feelings, morality and interests, ideals and motives of behaviour, a holistic assessment of himself as a person, his place in life, a sense of the personal value of everything that is included in the sphere "I". The study of the psychological foundations of this concept is important for self-development, self-actualization of the individual, which contributes to the formation of a mature, and later professional identity of the individual.


Abstract We report 4 incidents of large (hundreds to hundreds of thousands of individuals) mixed-species flights of predatory and scavenging aquatic Heteroptera and Coleoptera. The events occurred on normal (mostly clear, calm) autumn 2005 and spring 2006 late afternoons near Flagstaff, Arizona. Flight days were either near the full moon or in advanced waning lunar periods. At least 18 species were involved in the flights, with as many as 16 species (7 species of Heteroptera in 3 families, 9 species of Coleoptera in 2 families) in a single flight. Heteroptera (especially from the family Corixidae) were 2–4 orders of magnitude more numerous than Coleoptera. The diasporas plummeted, with much direct mortality, onto green metal roofs, and the largest event lasted more than 2 hours. Even after 2 days, uninjured individuals failed to resume their flights. The literature suggests that such flights occur for autumn movement to winter habitats or for location of springtime habitats for reproduction. The relative proportions of species in flocks were similar neither to the relative proportions in the region nor to those in nearby livestock watering tanks, indicating that the flights consisted of nonrandom assemblages of species. These events are rare or unique observations of coordinated movement of mixed predatory and scavenging invertebrate species.


Peruvian average wage profile with respect to schooling is convex. Returns to higher education are around nine percentage points larger than returns to basic education. We explore two possible explanations for this phenomenon: a composition effect driven by differences in individual ability and heterogeneous education quality. We use the theoretical models developed in Card (1994) and Card and Krueger (1996) to analyze the effects that individual ability and education quality can have on the observed relationship between wages and schooling. We test the implications of these models using Peruvian data from a novel survey that includes measures of cognitive skills. We do not find evidence of increasing returns by ability. Instead, empirical results are consistent with the predictions of a model of endogenous schooling with heterogeneous education quality. Evidence suggests that the Peruvian convex wage schedule is the result of two superimposed wage profiles: one corresponding to a low quality basic education system and, the other, to a higher education system with better quality. Declining education quality at basic and higher education, thus, appear to have a role when explaining the "convexification" and recent "deconvexification" of the wage profile, respectively.


Neuronal activity can lead to marked increases in the concentration of cytosolic calcium, which then functions as a second messenger that mediates a wide range of cellular responses. Calcium binds to calmodulin and stimulates the activity of a variety of enzymes, including calcium-calmodulin kinases and calcium-sensitive adenylate cyclases. These enzymes transduce the calcium signal and effect short-term biological responses, such as the modification of synaptic proteins and long-lasting neuronal responses that require changes in gene expression. Recent studies of calcium signal-transduction mechanisms have revealed that, depending on the route of entry into a neuron, calcium differentially affects processes that are central to the development and plasticity of the nervous system, including activity-dependent cell survival, modulation of synaptic strength, and calcium-mediated cell death.


Background: Medicinal plants occupy an important position for being the paramount sources of drug discovery against cancer. Medicinal plants have been used as cancer chemopreventive nutraceuticals, and functional food is promising. Thus, there is a need for exploring drugs/agents which act as best chemopreventive agents. Lawsonia inermis L. is a well-known medicinal plant which has been used in Ayurvedic medicine as hepatoprotective, antiviral, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, and cytotoxic. Objectives: The main objective of the study is to investigate the in vivo antitumoral effect of L. inermis extract on melanoma tumor-bearing C57BL/6 mice. Materials and Methods: In in vivo experiments, about 5 × 105 B16F10 cells in 50 μL of phosphate-buffered saline were subcutaneously injected into C57BL/6 mice that had received plain drinking water for 40 days. Tumor volume was measured using digital calipers. The behavior of the antioxidant defenses (superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase) was evaluated after the termination of treatments. Results: Preventive oral administration of L. inermis leave extracts (500 and 1000 mg/kg body weight) significantly suppressed the growth of B16F10 tumors in mice on day 40th, with an increased tumor necrosis area, increased infiltration of mononuclear cells at the site of the tumor. L. inermis L. leaf extract dose dependently reduced the amounts of free oxygen radicals (hydroxyl and superoxide anion radicals), generated in chemical systems. Conclusion: Our study suggests that in vivo antitumoral effect of L. inermis extracts is directly linked with enhanced antioxidant activity and depicted a significant reduction in tumor size against melanoma tumor. Hence, further elucidation of active components of L. inermis extract could lead to the development of potent antitumor agent or complementary and alternative medicine for the treatment against skin melanoma tumors.


Aim
Identifying the factors that drive large-scale patterns of biotic interaction is fundamental for understanding how communities respond to changing environmental conditions. Mycorrhizal symbiosis is a key interaction between fungi and most vascular plants. Whether plants are obligately (OM) or facultatively (FM) mycorrhizal, and which mycorrhizal type they form – arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM), ectomycorrhizal (ECM), ericoid mycorrhizal (ERM) or non-mycorrhizal (NM) – can have strong implications for plant species distribution at the continental scale and on the responses of plants to environmental gradients.

Location
Europe, north of 43° latitude and excluding Russia, Belarus and Moldova.

Time period
Undefined.

Major taxa studied
Vascular plants.

Methods
Using published sources, we compiled the most complete dataset yet of plant mycorrhizal and geographical information for Europe, comprising 1442 plant species. We mapped the European distributions of plant mycorrhizal status (OM and FM) and type (AM, ECM, ERM and NM) and analysed their relationships with climatic, edaphic and plant productivity drivers on a 50 km × 50 km equal-area grid.

Results
The distribution of mycorrhizal types in Europe was driven by mean temperature, soil pH and productivity. AM plant species predominated throughout the region, but at higher latitudes the share of NM and, to a lesser extent, ECM and ERM species increased. FM species predominated over OM species, and this increased with latitude and was dependent on temperature drivers. The high share of OM species in the central European mountains indicates a possible influence of historical glacial refugia.

Main conclusions
Our results challenge the prevailing view of parallel trends in the latitudinal and elevational distribution of mycorrhizal types and demonstrate distinctive responses of plants with different mycorrhizal status to climatic, edaphic and biogeographical drivers at the European scale.


AIMS/BACKGROUND: Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) is a growing public health problem in Britain; currently its aetiology is unclear. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that the age specific incidence of blinding ARMD has increased in Britain in the past 50 years, using data on cause of visual loss in people registered as blind, published every 10 years since 1950. METHODS: Data were abstracted from published sources for the years 1950, 1960, 1970, and 1980. Data for the standard year, 1990, were provided in a database from the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. The numbers of new registrations attributed to ARMD per head of population were compared with registrations for cataract, glaucoma, and optic atrophy. Indirect standardisation was used to control for changes in the age structure of the population over time. RESULTS: After controlling for changes in the age structure of the population, registration rates for all causes, cataract, glaucoma, and optic atrophy have decreased while registrations attributed to ARMD have increased in the order of 30-40%. CONCLUSIONS: These findings are compatible with the hypothesis that the incidence of ARMD is increasing in Britain. It is difficult to exclude potential sources of bias in these data, however, particularly with respect to classification and coding of cause; more reliable population based data on ARMD in Britain are needed.


Introduction: The educational supervisors should attempt to plan and implement nurses' development programs according to the principles of educational process. The present study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of educational supervisors from the viewpoints of clinical nurses and nurse managers in 2007. Methods: 97 clinical nurses and 33 nurse managers in educational hospitals of Yazd participated in this cross sectional study. The questionnaire including 56 items related to expected professional competencies of educational supervisor was prepared and its validity and reliability was confirmed. Overall Cronbach's alpha was 0.97 ranging from 0.77 to 0.96 for different dimensions which indicated internal consistency of the questionnaire. Results: The results showed 42.3% of nurses considered the function of their hospital as effective, 52.6% as ineffective, and 5.2% as relatively effective. One hundred percent of metrons considered the function of educational supervisors as effective. All the educational supervisors considered their function effective. The study samples reported that all the listed criteria were important in the effectiveness of educational supervisors' function. Conclusion: In order to improve the effectiveness of educational supervisors' function their management and leadership competencies should be developed. Competency-based approach is suggested in preparing educational supervisors for implementing the educational process from the problem solving skills. This will help nurse managers to make their work environments a learning and educational institute.


The properties of polymer networks composed of flexible monomer units are well understood, however only limited investigations into the properties of networks composed of rigid rodlike monomer units linked by flexible netpoints have been carried out to date. The aim of this work was to develop a method of synthesising processable difunctional rigid rodlike molecules which could be incorporated into polymer networks; the physical properties of the polymer networks would then be investigated. The following thesis describes the background to both processable rigid rod polymers and to rigid rod polymer networks. The route utilised in an attempt to synthesise processable, difunctional rigid rodlike materials is described and details of the characterisation and properties of those difunctional rods successfully synthesised are given. Attempts to incorporate the difunctional rods into polymer networks are discussed. A series of rigid rod polymers, in the class of either poly(arylene diynylene)s or poly(arylene ynylene)s, were synthesised. The materials were either unsubstituted linear polymers, linear polymers substituted with alkyl side chains, or polymers containing a bend via an ether or a ketone link. The synthesis and molecular structural characterisation of the polymers is described and investigations of their solubilities, thermal properties and, in some cases, bulk and LB film ordering behaviour are discussed.


OBJECTIVE
To present comparative study aims to assist the practitioner to choose between behavior modification (BM) techniques, pharmacologic sedation (N2O-O2 alone or combined with midazolam 0.5 mg/ kg) or routine general anesthesia (GA) for the most successful approach in enabling pediatric dental care.

STUDY DESIGN
Dental records of 56 children treated in a university dental clinic between 2006-2016 were reviewed, and data on age, gender, required treatment (amalgam restorations, composite restorations, pulpotomy, and stainless steel crowns [SSC]), treatment approaches and therapeutic success at final follow-up were retrieved.

RESULTS
Treatment under GA had the best success rates compared to both BM and pharmacologic sedation. N2O-O2 alone had a 6.1-fold greater risk of failure compared to N2O-O2+midazolam (p- <0.008). Amalgam restorations had a 2.61-fold greater risk of failure than SSC (p- <0.008).

CONCLUSIONS
The GA mode yielded significantly greater success than the N2O-O2 mode alone. There were no significant differences in success rates between GA and combined midazolam 0.5 mg/kg+N2O-O2. When choosing restoration material, it is important to remember the high success rate of SSC compared to amalgam restoration.


This paper introduces a comprehensive mobile learning (m-learning) model in the context of smart classrooms environment as a part of a holistic approach to implement an efficient Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) Environment. In this new model, the mobile learning components, as a crucial part of the smart classroom, systematically integrate the "mobile tools" with the teaching-learning practices. However, there are many challenges to generalize such kind of learning to any educational system.  A major reason for these challenges is the lack of an integrated model in a holistic approach of the smart classroom and TEL environment. Another critical challenge is designing and developing an efficient m-learning in a smart classroom and inside smart school environment which is due to the complex environment that incorporates many pedagogical and technological elements. The proposed model in this paper is based on an integrated m-learning framework to implement a holistic e-learning approach capable of overcoming these challenges.


This study provides new insights into the transient uid ow dynamics that characterise high temperature hydrothermal systems. So far, these kind of studies have used process models that tend to over-simplify the geology and focus instead on the physical processes, hence not revealing the hidden behaviour that depends on the complex geological structures often encountered in hydrothermal systems. This study is one of the rst examples where high resolution numerical simulations in two and three dimensions have been applied to hydrothermal systems in order to preserve geological detail in the models explicitly. Two prime examples in Iceland for seismicity-induced uid ow and groundwater ow during volcanic eruptions, respectively, have been selected for this purpose. The rst example is the Tjörnes Fracture Zone, a heavily faulted transform zone o shore in North Iceland where most of the Icelandic earthquakes occur. The work demonstrated that a moderate permeability contrast between the shallow sedimentary basins and deep crustal basement causes two distinct uid ow regimes which are only connected during a seismic event. When such an event occurs, faults in the Tjörnes Fracture Zone in ate and connect the two uid ow systems, causing hot uids migrating from the basement into the basins at extreme ow rates. This explains key geochemical observations made in the Tjörnes Fracture Zone before and after a seismic event. The second study investigated the 1874 to 1875 volcano-tectonic episode at the Askja volcano, which is the third largest silicic eruption since settlement in Iceland. Here it was demonstrated how syn-eruptive groundwater ow inside the Askja caldera changed the eruptive style of the March 1875 eruption, causing a well-documented change from a wet to dry eruptive style. The results of this work provide some fundamental new insights into the transient dynamics of uid ow in active high temperature hydrothermal systems and suggest that these kind of simulations may be used to complement studies assessing the risk and hazard of future volcanic eruptions and seismic events.


Over the 2002 to 2010 period of New Labour administration, a key strand of educational policy was the notion of 14-19 education. A key component of which was a belief that for this to be delivered most effectively, organisations needed to work in partnership.
This research aimed to understand and explain the operation of a 14-19 partnership, of which I was a member, and to suggest possible ways in which its operation could be improved. It was carried out as the Conservative Liberal Democrat Coalition was introducing significantly different accountability measures for the 14-16 age group.
A critical realist methodology was used as the ontological and epistemological basis (Bhaskar 1998; Bhaskar 2008). Since such a methodology does not have a preferred underpinning theoretical framework, results were predominantly analysed through the lens of Bourdieu's triad of sociological principles of habitus, field, and capital (Bourdieu and Wacquant 1992). Where appropriate, results were also framed by performativity (Lyotard 1984) and partnership perspectives from education (Hodgson and Spours 2006) and organisational studies (Contractor and Lorange 2004).
Two key data collection methods, both from the perspective of an insider researcher, were used. Participant observation was used to obtain in situ evidence of partnership operation. In addition, eleven senior managers from partnership organisations were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. An analysis of field positions and a reflexive self-analysis were also carried out.
This study identified that, for this partnership, the introduction of 'Progress Eight' led to the partnership's demise. Using empirical evidence, the study provides theorised explanations of factors that affected partner engagement within this particular 'weakly-collaborative' 14-19 partnership, thus providing a number of original contributions to knowledge. It extended conceptions of educational partnership based upon theories of social capital by linking partnership engagement to capital exchange, capital cost-benefit analysis and the influence of government statist capital. The study also provided an early indication of the likely influence of 'Progress Eight' on partnership behaviour and, more generally, on the 14-16 curriculum within schools. Finally, the research methodology is an operationalised example of how a Bourdieun theoretical framework could be combined with a critical realist ontology to research the educational organisation context.


We set out to create the Electronic World Treaty Index (eWTI), a comprehensive list of both bilateral and multilateral treaties formed during the 20th century. This project augments Rohn's World Treaty Index by integrating several other depositories of treaties, such as the League of Nations Treaty Series and the United Nations Treaty Series. Once complete, this digital dataset will allow scholars to quickly and easily consider the universe of treaty-making over the course of the 20th century. Though other scholars have collected and coded various treaty data, prior projects have focused on a specific treaty topic (alliances for Leeds et al., 2003), a random sub-sample of specific treaty categories (Koremenos, Lipson and Snidal, 2001) or limit their search to multilateral agreements (Hoffman and Denemark, 2008). Our Electronic World Treaty dataset, on the other hand, will contain the state of world and regional relations across all cross-sections of agreements in the 20th century.


INTRODUCTION: In the past 25 years only modest advancements in glioma treatment have been made, with patient prognosis and median survival time following diagnosis only increasing from 3 to 7 months. A substantial body of clinical and preclinical evidence has suggested a role for aspirin in the treatment of cancer with multiple mechanisms of action proposed including COX 2 inhibition, down regulation of EGFR expression, and NF-κB signaling affecting Bcl-2 expression. However, with serious side effects such as stroke and gastrointestinal bleeding, aspirin analogues with improved potency and side effect profiles are being developed. METHOD: Effects on cell viability following 24 hr incubation of four aspirin derivatives (PN508, 517, 526 and 529) were compared to cisplatin, aspirin and di-aspirin in four glioma cell lines (U87 MG, SVG P12, GOS – 3, and 1321N1), using the PrestoBlue assay, establishing IC50 and examining the time course of drug effects. RESULTS: All compounds were found to decrease cell viability in a concentration and time dependant manner. Significantly, the analogue PN517 (IC50 2mM) showed approximately a twofold increase in potency when compared to aspirin (3.7mM) and cisplatin (4.3mM) in U87 cells, with similar increased potency in SVG P12 cells. Other analogues demonstrated similar potency to aspirin and cisplatin. CONCLUSION: These results support the further development and characterization of novel NSAID derivatives for the treatment of glioma.


This study investigates different receive single-branch switch-based diversity schemes for dual-hop amplify-and-forward relaying networks. Specifically, three receive processing algorithms are adopted, in which the receive branch is selected using the arbitrary selection algorithm, the switching algorithm, or the switching algorithm with post-examining best branch selection. The identification of the receive branch is carried out for two different system models. For the first model, a single-antenna relaying station is used in conjunction with a multiple-antenna transceiver, where the processing is performed independently of the first hop-fading conditions. The second model suggests the use of parallel deployment of single-antenna relays to transfer information from a multiple-antenna transmitter to a single-antenna receiver, where the active relaying station is determined based on the pre-combining end-to-end fading conditions. Performance comparisons for various transmission scenarios on the first hop are presented using new formulations for the statistics of the combined signal-to-noise ratio. Simulation results are also provided to validate the mathematical development and to verify the numerical computations.