The detection of software clones is gaining more attention due to the advantages it can bring to software maintenance. Clone detection helps in code optimization (code present in multiple locations can be updated and optimized once), bug detection (discovering bugs that are copied to various locations in the code), and analysis of re-used code in software systems. There are several approaches to detect clones at the code level, but existing methods do not address the issue of clone detection in the PLC-based IEC 61131-3 languages. In this paper, we present a novel approach to detect clones in PLC-based IEC 61131-3 software using semantic-based analysis. For the semantic analysis, we use I/O based dependency analysis to detect PLC program clones. Our approach is a semantic-based technique to identify clones, making it feasible even for large code bases. Further, experiments indicate that the proposed method is successful in identifying software clones.


I analyze the use of emotion words for approximately 100 million Facebook users since September of 2007. "Gross national happiness" is operationalized as a standardized difference between the use of positive and negative words, aggregated across days, and present a graph of this metric. I begin to validate this metric by showing that positive and negative word use in status updates covaries with self-reported satisfaction with life (convergent validity), and also note that the graph shows peaks and valleys on days that are culturally and emotionally significant (face validity). I discuss the development and computation of this metric, argue that this metric and graph serves as a representation of the overall emotional health of the nation, and discuss the importance of tracking such metrics.


Evolution Strategies (ES) emerged as a scalable alternative to popular Reinforcement Learning (RL) techniques, providing an almost perfect speedup when distributed across hundreds of CPU cores thanks to a reduced communication overhead. Despite providing large improvements in wall-clock time, ES is data inefficient when compared to competing RL methods. One of the main causes of such inefficiency is the collection of large batches of experience, which are discarded after each policy update. In this work, we study how to perform more than one update per batch of experience by means of Importance Sampling while preserving the scalability of the original method. The proposed method, Importance Weighted Evolution Strategies (IW-ES), shows promising results and is a first step towards designing efficient ES algorithms.


Volunteered Service Composition (VSC) refers to the process of composing volunteered services and resources. These services are typically published to a pool of voluntary resources. The composition aims at satisfying some objectives (e.g. Utilizing storage and eliminating waste, sharing space and optimizing for energy, reducing computational cost etc.). In cases when a single volunteered service does not satisfy a request, VSC will be required. In this paper, we contribute to three approaches for composing volunteered services: these are exhaustive, naïve and utility-based search approach to VSC. The proposed new utility-based approach, for instance, is based on measuring the utility that each volunteered service can provide to each request and systematically selects the one with the highest utility. We found that the utility-based approach tend to be more effective and efficient when selecting services, while minimizing resource waste when compared to the other two approaches.


The topic of this thesis is economic dynamism. The five articles contribute to the literature on firm entry and firm growth. Studies are based on a dataset covering all Swedish limited liability firms between 1997 and 2010. The first article investigates conditions for firm entry in Sweden, distinguishing regular entrants from entrants that survive for at least two years, modelling the firm entry decision using count data models. While high income and a well-educated population had a positive effect, the effect was more important for surviving entrants. The second article uses a similar method, but focuses on wholesale industries and distinguishes between regular entry and in-migration of firms, i.e. when an incumbent firm relocates its operations. Access to a university, many educated workers and low local taxes had positive effects. Better access to infrastructure had a strong positive effect on entrants, but it was smaller for in-migrating firms. The third article investigates if the industry context matters for whether Gibrat's law holds, i.e. whether firm growth is independent of firm size. The law is found more likely to be rejected in industries with a high minimum efficient scale and a large number of firms located in metropolitan areas, but more likely to hold in industries with high market concentration and more group ownership. The fourth and fifth article contribute to the high-growth firms (HGFs) literature. In the fourth article it is examined whether the way HGFs are defined matters for the policy implications. It is found that the economic contributions of HGFs differ significantly depending on definition. Young firms are however more likely to be HGFs irrespective of definition. The fifth article considers the frequent argument that policymakers should target high-tech firms, i.e., firms with high R&D intensity, because such firms are thought more likely to become HGFs. We examine this assumption by studying the industry distribution of HGFs. Results indicate that industries with high R&D intensity, ceteris paribus, can be expected to have a lower share of HGFs than can industries with lower R&D intensity. By contrast, we find that HGFs are overrepresented in service industries with a high share of human capital. Ke ywords: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Firm entry, Regional economics, Gibrat's Law, Firm growth, Firm size, Gazelles, High-growth firms, Highimpact firms.


In this paper we extend dynamic controllability of temporally-flexible plans to temporally-flexible reactive programs.  We consider three reactive programming language constructs whose behavior depends on runtime observations; conditional execution, iteration, and exception handling. Temporally-flexible reactive programs are distinguished from temporally-flexible plans in that program execution is conditioned on the runtime state of the world.  In addition, exceptions are thrown and caught at runtime in response to violated timing constraints, and handled exceptions are considered successful program executions.  Dynamic controllability corresponds to a guarantee that a program will execute to completion, despite runtime constraint violations and uncertainty in runtime state.  An algorithm is developed which frames the dynamic controllability problem as an AND/OR search tree over possible program executions.  A key advantage of this approach is the ability to enumerate only a subset of possible program executions that guarantees dynamic controllability, framed as an AND/OR solution subtree.


Resistive Random Access Memories (RRAMs) have gained high attention for a variety of promising applications especially the design of non-volatile in-memory computing devices. In this paper, we present an approach for the synthesis of RRAM-based logic circuits using the recently proposed Majority-Inverter Graphs (MIGs). We propose a bi-objective algorithm to optimize MIGs with respect to the number of required RRAMs and computational steps in both MAJ-based and IMP-based realizations. Since the number of computational steps is recognized as the main drawback of the RRAM-based logic, we also present an effective algorithm to reduce the number of required steps. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithms achieve higher efficiency compared to the general purpose MIG optimization algorithms, either in finding a good trade-off between both cost metrics or reducing the number of steps. In comparison with the RRAM-based circuits implemented by the state-of-the-art approaches using other well-known data structures the number of required computational steps obtained by our proposed MIG-oriented synthesis approach for large benchmark circuits is reduced up to factor of 26. This strong gain comes from the use of MIGs that provide an efficient and intrinsic representation for RRAM-based computing - particularly in MAJ-based realizations - and the use of techniques proposed for optimization.


This paper describes a technological study of a Japanese Pyrolysis Plant for Waste Treatment. Sometimes in the earlier stage of the plant operation, a certain amount of solid material deposition was observed.The result from chemical analysis showed that the major component of this material was ammonium chloride. Ammonium chloride was deposited on the pipe walls. The deposited ammonium chloride forms a dense brick like material that prohibits the gas movement. The gas in the pipe is choked by this deposition and this is disrupting the continuously plant operation. The source of the ammonia chloride was supposed to be Hydrochloric vapours and ammonia vapours, which gasified from the waste and formed somewhere in the plant.Although effective mechanical way to prevent the ammonia chloride accumulation was developed and continuously operation of the plant was established successfully, essential reduction of ammonium chloride formation was sought for future applications. To reach a conclusion with this issue several Test and Simulations were made, to find out effective countermeasures. The Paper is describing the result from five different simulations in the program ChemSage to predict what is happening with ammonia at different parameters. It also describes the results from several Tests performed on a laboratory scaled cracker, to verify how ammonia behaved under certain conditions. This paper concludes that the major part of the ammonia is formed in the cracker or/and downstream of the cracker.What could be done about the formation are as follows: Increase the temperature in the cracker. Have longer residence time in the cracker. Insert more oxygen into the cracker. Rather a combination of all these three solutions at the same time is the best way to come to an ending with the ammonium chloride issue without having to change the performance of the whole process too much.


Abstract: It has become increasingly clear that the standard nomenclature for many telencephalic and related brainstem structures of the avian brain is based on flawed once‐held assumptions of homology to mammalian brain structures, greatly hindering functional comparisons between avian and mammalian brains. This has become especially problematic for those researchers studying the neurobiology of birdsong, the largest single group within the avian neuroscience community. To deal with the many communication problems this has caused among researchers specializing in different vertebrate classes, the Avian Brain Nomenclature Forum, held at Duke University from July 18‐20, 2002, set out to develop a new terminology for the avian telencephalon and some allied brainstem cell groups. In one major step, the erroneous conception that the avian telencephalon consists mainly of a hypertrophied basal ganglia has been purged from the telencephalic terminology, and the actual parts of the basal ganglia and its brainstem afferent cell groups have been given new names to reflect their now‐evident homologies. The telencephalic regions that were incorrectly named to reflect presumed homology to mammalian basal ganglia have been renamed as parts of the pallium. The prefixes used for the new names for the pallial subdivisions have retained most established abbreviations, in an effort to maintain continuity with the pre‐existing nomenclature. Here we present a brief synopsis of the inaccuracies in the old nomenclature, a summary of the nomenclature changes, and details of changes for specific songbird vocal and auditory nuclei. We believe this new terminology will promote more accurate understanding of the broader neurobiological implications of song control mechanisms and facilitate the productive exchange of information between researchers studying avian and mammalian systems.


DEUTERONOMY 26:16-19 AS THE CENTRAL FOCUS OF THE COVENANTAL FRAMEWORK OF DEUTERONOMY Steven Ward Guest, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2009 Chairperson: Dr. Russell T. Fuller This dissertation maintains that the covenant relationship formula (CRF) as expressed in Deuteronomy 26:16-19 (~[;l. Al tAyh.li . . . ~yhil{ale ^l. tAyh.li) serves as a focal point which defines, unifies and bears the weight of the covenantal framework of the book of Deuteronomy. Chapter 1 reviews previous assertions that Deuteronomy is patterned after ancient Near Eastern treaties, highlights the conclusions of Rendtorff regarding the CRF, and identifies the translation difficulties in 26:16-19. Chapter 2 critiques the proposals of von Rad, Kline, Kitchen, and Wenham who suggest that Deuteronomy follows the pattern of the ancient Near Eastern treaties. An alternate schema for the covenantal framework of Deuteronomy 1-30 is proffered. Finally, an excursus addressing the Mosaic authorship of Deuteronomy 27 is included. Chapter 3 proposes that the Hiphil of rma in verses 17 and 18 is functioning causatively and utilizes dual direct objects in the sentence construction. Grammatical and syntactical features of the text of 26:16-19 are observed. Theological concerns on the translational renderings of 26:17-19 are posed. A proposed conceptual model of the sequence of events that may underlie the text of Deuteronomy 26:17-19 is offered. Chapter 4 considers the canonical context of Deuteronomy 26. A chart demonstrates the literary-structural unity of the three ceremonies of confession (26:1-11; 26:12-15; and 26:16-19). Further analysis, however, reveals that 26:16-19, while integrally connected to the other ceremonies, functions also on the macro level within the greater covenantal framework of Deuteronomy. Chapter 5 examines each of the expressions of the CRF (4:20; 7:6; 14:2; 27:9; 28:9; and 29:12) as they occur in the covenantal framework of Deuteronomy. An analysis of the function of the CRF reveals that prior to its expression in the focal text (26:16-19) it is associated with the notion of exclusive loyalty to Yahweh and after the focal text it is associated with the expectation of obedience to Yahweh. Chapter 6 summarizes the work of chapters 1 and 2 then applies the findings of chapters 3 through 5 to demonstrate that the CRF (Al tAyh.li . . . ~yhil{ale ^l. tAyh.li ~[;l. ) as expressed in 26:16-19 with its concomitant covenantal obligations can bear the weight of and does indeed serve as the keystone of the covenantal framework of Deuteronomy. The covenantal exchange in 26:17-19 connects the emphasis on obedience in 26:17 to that of the covenant relationship formula in 27:9; 28:9; and 29:12 and connects the emphasis on exclusive loyalty in 26:18-19 to that of the covenant relationship formula in 4:20; 7:6; and 14:2.


The adsorption and co-adsorption of lithium and oxygen at the surface of rutile-like manganese dioxide (β-MnO2), which are important in the context of Li–air batteries, are investigated using density functional theory. In the absence of lithium, the most stable surface of β-MnO2, the (110), adsorbs oxygen in the form of peroxo groups bridging between two manganese cations. Conversely, in the absence of excess oxygen, lithium atoms adsorb on the (110) surface at two different sites, which are both tri-coordinated to surface oxygen anions, and the adsorption always involves the transfer of one electron from the adatom to one of the five-coordinated manganese cations at the surface, creating (formally) Li+ and Mn3+ species. The co-adsorption of lithium and oxygen leads to the formation of a surface oxide, involving the dissociation of the O2 molecule, where the O adatoms saturate the coordination of surface Mn cations and also bind to the Li adatoms. This process is energetically more favourable than the formation of gas-phase lithium peroxide (Li2O2) monomers, but less favourable than the formation of Li2O2 bulk. These results suggest that the presence of β-MnO2 in the cathode of a non-aqueous Li–O2 battery lowers the energy for the initial reduction of oxygen during cell discharge.


Morphological characteristics of Mesocestoides lineatus tetrathyridia collected from Chinese snakes and their adults recovered from experimental animals were studied. The tetrathyridia were detected mainly in the mesentery of 2 snake species, Agkistrodon saxatilis (25%) and Elaphe schrenckii (20%). They were 1.73 by 1.02 mm in average size and had an invaginated scolex with 4 suckers. Adult tapeworms were recovered from 2 hamsters and 1 dog, which were orally infected with 5-10 larvae each. Adults from hamsters were about 32 cm long and those from a dog were about 58 cm long. The scolex was 0.56 mm in average width with 4 suckers of 0.17 by 0.15 mm in average size. Mature proglottids measured 0.29 by 0.91 mm (av.). Ovaries and vitellaria bilobed and located in the posterior portion of proglottids. The cirrus sac was oval-shaped and located median. Testes were follicular, distributed in both lateral fields of proglottids, and 41-52 in number per proglottid. Gravid proglottids were 1.84 by 1.39 mm (av.) with a characteristic paruterine organ. Eggs were 35 by 27 µm in average size with a hexacanth embryo. These morphological characteristics of adult worms were identical with those of M. lineatus reported previously. Therefore, it has been confirmed that the tetrathyridia detected in 2 species of Chinese snakes are the metacestodes of M. lineatus, and 2 snake species, A. saxatilis and E. schrenckii, play the role of intermediate hosts.


Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are used for converting heat into electricity, environmentally friendly, without moving parts and with less complexity. One of the problems with TEG is that it has low efficiency and therefore it is necessary to harvest maximum power from them to ensure their optimum utilization. Therefore, it is required to use the maximum power trackers (MPPTs) which for long time have demonstrated good performance in photovoltaic systems. The purpose of this work is to compare the performance of Extremum seeking control (ESC) algorithm with a classical incremental conductance (IC) method. Results indicate that ESC outperforms the IC technique in terms of extracting maximum power and the speed of computation. ESC method is faster than the IC method with simulation time of 152.1s and 781.8 s respectively. Moreover ESC is less complex in terms of model implementation than the IC method.


Separation difficulties have led to a paucity of purified metallic nitride fullerenes (MNFs). Fundamental research and application development has been hampered with limited sample availability. Separation techniques designed to remove contaminant empty-cage fullerenes (e.g., C(60), C(70)...C(2)(n)) and classical metallofullerenes (e.g., non-MNFs) traditionally require expensive and tedious chromatographic methods. Our motivation is an alternative purification approach to minimize dependence on HPLC. Herein we report the use of cyclopentadienyl (CPD) and amino functionalized silica to selectively bind contaminant fullerenes. This "Stir and Filter Approach" (SAFA) provides purified MNF samples at ambient and reflux conditions. Under reflux conditions, purified MNFs (80% recovery, 41 h) are obtained using CPD silica. However, at room temperature, there is an equilibrium established between fullerenes and CPD silica, and no purified MNF samples are obtained using SAFA. In contrast, purified MNF samples (99+%) are readily obtained at room temperature using amino, diamino, and triamino silica at recoveries of 93% (11 h), 76% (9 h), and 50% (6 h), respectively.


Abstract Entamoeba histolytica infection remains a public health concern in developing countries. Early diagnosis of amoebiasis can avoid disease complications, thus this study was aimed at developing a test that can rapidly detect the parasite antigens in stool samples. Rabbits were individually immunized with recombinant pyruvate phosphate dikinase (rPPDK) and E. histolytica excretory-secretory antigens to produce polyclonal antibodies. A rapid dipstick test was produced using anti-rPPDK PAb lined on the dipstick as capture reagent and anti-EhESA PAb conjugated to colloidal gold as the detector reagent. Using E. histolytica-spiked in stool sample of a healthy individual, the detection limit of the dipstick test was found to be 1000 cells ml−1. Meanwhile when rPPDK was spiked in the stool sample, the minimum concentration detected by the dipstick test was 0.1 μg ml−1. The performances of the dipstick, commercial Techlab E. histolytica II enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and real-time PCR were compared using 70 stool samples from patients infected with Entamoeba species (n = 45) and other intestinal pathogens (n = 25). When compared to real-time PCR, the diagnostic sensitivity of the dipstick for detection of E. histolytica was 65.4% (n = 17/26); while the diagnostic specificity when tested with stool samples containing other intestinal pathogens was 92% (23/25). In contrast, Techlab E. histolytica II ELISA detected 19.2% (5/26) of the E. histolytica-positive samples as compared to real-time PCR. The lateral flow dipstick test produced in this study enabled rapid detection of E. histolytica, thus it showed good potential to be further developed into a diagnostic tool for intestinal amoebiasis.


Roebel cables are one possible option for use in the manufacture of high current conductors for various technical applications. In this work the behaviour of critical current under transverse loads up to 90 MPa was studied in coated conductor Roebel cables. First the critical current evolution under transverse load was measured on 4 mm wide coated conductor tapes with Hastelloy substrate (copper surround stabilizer) and on punched tapes, which are used for the assembling of Roebel cables. It was found that they were able to withstand large transverse loads (>100 MPa) with less than 2% degradation of the critical current at 77 K. In contrast, with tapes, a significant reduction of the critical current (>20%) was observed in Roebel cable samples at pressure as low as 10 MPa. Marks of mechanical defects were observed in the strands extracted from the cable. Measurements of the local critical current on extracted strands confirmed that in the regions which were visually damaged the critical current was also reduced. The defects are attributed to pinching (stress concentration), which takes place in the cable. The results suggest that the integration of coated conductor Roebel cables into large systems should be carefully evaluated.


The following is a translation of the proposed diagnostic criteria established by a European group for twelve common psychosomatic syndromes found in general clinical practice. Many of them have the potential to occur during different stages of a large variety of diseases and their detection could lead to better holistic provision of health care.


Over the last 30 years the governance structure of air transport has changed. Typically a disaggregated approach has been adopted. Doubts however arise, because of the vertical relationships. This paper addresses the following two research questions: By what type of organization is which part of the value chain organized? What are the main problems of this organization from the point of competition and regulation policy? The first question will be analyzed with transaction cost theory, the second by reviewing the literature. Finally, policy recommendations will be drawn.


Although different DNA polymerases have distinct functions and substrate affinities, their general mechanism of action is similar. Thus, they can all be studied using the same technical principle, the primer extension assay employing radioactive tags. Even though fluorescence has been used routinely for many years for DNA sequencing, it has not been used in the in vitro primer extension assay. The use of fluorescence labels has obvious advantages over radioactivity, including safety, speed and ease of manipulation. In the present study, we demonstrated the potential of non-radioactive in vitro primer extension for DNA polymerase studies. By using an M13 tag in the substrate, we can use the same fluorescent M13 primer to study different substrate sequences. This technique allows quantification of the DNA polymerase activity of the Klenow fragment using different templates and under different conditions with similar sensitivity to the radioactive assay.


This paper examines the strategies used, challenges faced and lessons learned in meeting the diverse learning needs of graduate initial certification and graduate certified teachers in the same cross-listed early childhood mathematics class. Questions investigated included "How can instructors best meet the learning needs of diverse candidates in the same class?" and "What are the candidates' opinions of attending classes with candidates with diverse amounts of teaching experience?" Candidate surveys, focus groups, candidate work and assessments were used to determine the most successful strategies to meet candidates' diverse learning needs. Using a differentiated instructional approach including knowing the candidates and their needs, scaffolding candidate learning and using a variety of grouping arrangements, were found to help candidates successfully benefit from a class that had a diversity of candidate needs.


INTRODUCTION The aim of our study was to evaluate a possible relationship between the Lung Donor Score (LDS, Oto T., AnnThoracSurg 2007) assigned to the donor lung and the medium-term outcomes of the recipient. METHODS A retrospective study was conducted including all lung transplant (LTx) recipients from Jan2009 to Dec2014. Each donor lung was assigned a LDS, based on: donor age, smoke habit, chest X rays, respiratory secretions and P/F ratio; each variable received a score between 0 and 3, except for P/F, which was scored between 0 and 6; the higher, the worst. Clinical data were collected and analysed. RESULTS 94 patients were considered. LDS stratification is depicted in figure 1.

Ouctomes and survival rates are shown in figure 2.
 LDS was significantly higher in the group of patients who died within the first 12 months after LTx [4 (3; 6) vs. 3 (1; 4), p = 0.010]; in particular, P/F ratio was significantly lower in this same group of patients (p=0.035). CONCLUSIONS Poor medium-term survival may be associated with worse LDS, especially in terms of P/F of the donor lung; reconditioning techniques might be helpful to improve pulmonary gas exchange in case of "marginal" lungs (LDS>8).


The research project 'Mobilizing for Democracy: Democratization Processes and the Mobilization of Civil Society' is funded by European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant. (Grant Agreeement no: 269136.)


The Javan gibbon Hylobates moloch is confi ned to the last remnants of rainforest on the island of Java, Indonesia. As of 2002, the species has been recorded in 29 forest areas, and the wild population is conservatively estimated at 4100-4500 individuals. Over 95% of the gibbons are in populations of >100 individuals, and the four largest areas support populations of >500 individuals each. In 2003, 56 Javan gibbons were maintained at eight Indonesian zoos, 15 at four Indonesian wildlife rescue centres, with fi ve potential breeding pairs. There is no evidence that the species has bred successfully in captivity in Indonesia. Outside the range country, 48 Javan gibbons were maintained at ten institutions in nine countries, with six breeding pairs. The total ex-situ population is some 120 individuals, the majority of which is wild-caught. At present most initiatives relating to the conservation of the Javan gibbon have targeted small isolated forest areas and the ex-situ population, whereas in-situ protection of the largest populations in the wild has been largely ignored. Signifi cant populations are currently found in unprotected forests. The large captive population of Javan gibbons within Indonesia allows, with improved co-operation, to set up an integrated captive-breeding programme. This should, not be seen, however, as a means to improve the conservation status of the wild Javan gibbons, which needs to be achieved through protection of remaining habitat, but could be used for improving the prevailing low levels of conservation awareness in Java.


Recent economic treaties contain references to labour standards with increasing specificity and stringent enforcement mechanisms. However, despite evidence for continuing massive violations of workers' rights, forced and child labour, these mechanisms are very seldom used. This article focuses on enforcement in respect of gross and continuing violations of so-called peremptory standards i.e. those generally recognised as norms from which no derogation is permitted (cogent law or ius cogens). It looks at a number of new trade and investment agreements, and conditional tariff preferences. Goods and services produced in violation of clearly peremptory standards not only raise the question of importer involvement. These violations may also cause trade distortions against which importers may take countermeasures, sometimes explicitly in cooperation with non-state stakeholders. Sanctions may consist, for instance, in suspensions of tariff concessions or outright import bans in response to labour standard violations creating trade and investment conditions.
A possible barrier against sanctions are the non-discrimination rules enshrined in all economic treaties which seem to overprotect policy space and hence to also prevent, for instance, countermeasures against social dumping. This is particularly true for the rules framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which has no social clauses, but also for economic treaties with few stringent commitments, and a dearth of case law. Adjudicators in litigation cases would then have to decide whether ius cogens does take precedence over WTO and other economic treaty rules. Even though this has never occurred, this article argues that when trade measures are taken against violations of cogent law, they will withstand legal challenges better than would appear from looking at comparable WTO cases involving public morals. At the same time, producers respecting these international bottom lines for employment policies can defend their treaty-enshrined market access rights against unilateral standard setting and protectionism in disguise.
It is too early to contend that economic treaty implementation has become more holistic by adding social and environmental dumping to the list of trade distortions subject to trade remedies. Nonetheless, this article concludes that some peremptory labour standards have become easier to enforce. International Economic Treaty Law still protects against non-trade distorting sanctions. But the new venues described here can limit the race to the bottom, and contribute to sustainable employment even in countries needing 'more' rather than 'better' jobs.


The anion-exchange ability of layered double hydroxides (LDHs) has been exploited to create materials for use in catalysis, drug delivery, and environmental remediation. The specific cation arrangements in the hydroxide layers of hydrotalcite-like LDHs, of general formula Mg2+1–xAl3+xOH2(Anionn–x/n)·yH2O, have, however, remained elusive, and their elucidation could enhance the functional optimization of these materials. We applied rapid (60 kilohertz) magic angle spinning (MAS) to obtain high-resolution hydrogen-1 nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectra and characterize the magnesium and aluminum distribution. These data, in combination with 1H-27Al double-resonance and 25Mg triple-quantum MAS NMR data, show that the cations are fully ordered for magnesium:aluminum ratios of 2:1 and that at lower aluminum content, a nonrandom distribution of cations persists, with no Al3+-Al3+ close contacts. The application of rapid MAS NMR methods to investigate proton distributions in a wide range of materials is readily envisaged.


William Burroughs closed his classic debut novel, "Junky", by saying he had determined to search out a drug he called 'Yage' which he believed transmitted telepathic powers, a drug that could be 'the final fix'. In "The Yage Letters" - a mix of travel writing, satire, psychedelia and epistolary novel - he journeys through South America, writing to his friend Allen Ginsberg about his experiments with the strange drug, using it to travel through time and space, to derange his senses - the perfect drug for the author of the wild decentred books that followed. Years later, Ginsberg writes back as he follows in Burroughs' footsteps, and the drug worse and more profound than he had imagined.


Lured by a top academic position sponsored by the Prussian Academy of Sciences, Albert Einstein moved from Zurich to Berlin in 1914 and lived there until 1932, just weeks before Hitler became chancellor of Germany. During this fraught economic and political time, Einstein developed the general theory of relativity, gained worldwide fame, supported democratic, socialist, pacifist, and Zionist causes, and withstood the growing ire of ultranationalists. Naturally, he became entwined in a network of people and places throughout the city. With a foreword by Nobel Prize winner Walter Kohn, Einstein's Berlin combines narrative, maps, and period photographs to tell this story in the form of a sophisticated, annotated city guide, allowing readers and travelers to follow the physicist's footsteps throughout Berlin. Dieter Hoffmann conveys how Einstein's life and work were linked to the scientific and social life of the city and inspires the reader to explore the places where he made his mark.


Flow development within a laminar separation bubble and the effect of controlled acoustic excitation are investigated experimentally for a NACA 0018 airfoil at a chord Reynolds number of 125 000 and an angle of attack of 4°. The investigation is carried out in a series of wind tunnel tests and employs a combination of surface pressure measurements and time-resolved, planar, two-component Particle Image Velocimetry. Both streamwise and spanwise aspects of the flow development are assessed. Three types of acoustic excitation are investigated: (i) harmonic: tonal excitation at the frequency of the most amplified disturbances in the natural flow, (ii) subharmonic: tonal excitation at the subharmonic frequency, and (iii) random: white noise filtered to the naturally unstable frequency band. For all the cases examined, the results show that strongly periodic shear-layer vortices form in the separation bubble due to the amplification of disturbances in the separated shear layer. The formation of these structures is found to occur when velocity fluctuations reach a critical amplitude equal to approximately 6% of the free-stream velocity. These structures feature strong spanwise coherence at roll-up; however, they deform rapidly upstream of the mean reattachment point. Spanwise undulations in the vortex filaments develop in a non-periodic fashion, with the spanwise wavelength shown to be predominantly two and a half times the characteristic streamwise wavelength of the structures. These spanwise deformations lead to regions of local vortex breakup, which expand rapidly as the vortices approach the mean reattachment point. This is accompanied by a rapid decay of the spanwise coherence length, which reaches a value typical of turbulent boundary layers downstream of mean reattachment. Harmonic and random excitations are found to decrease the separation bubble in size, with the effect becoming more pronounced with increasing amplitude. The changes in the mean bubble topology are linked to alterations in the features of the shear layer vortices. Specifically, these types of excitation cause earlier shear layer roll-up, which results in the aft portion of the bubble shifting upstream. Harmonic excitation is shown to organize the shedding process and increase the spanwise coherence of the vortices, while random excitation has the opposite effect. It is proposed that mean reattachment in a separation bubble is a result of momentum exchange between the outer-flow and the near wall region, which can be facilitated by either the coherent roll-up vortices or the smaller scale structures that result from their breakdown, with the latter proving to be more effective. Subharmonic excitation is shown to promote periodic and spanwise non-uniform vortex merging, which otherwise occurs randomly in the unperturbed flow. The results demonstrate that the development of shear-layer vortices plays the fundamental role in defining the separation bubble, and the later stages of transition are directly related to the breakdown of these structures in the aft portion of the bubble.


Within the last decade, the cabbage whitefly has become a major agricultural pest for Brassica crops, which has influenced the agricultural productivity of cabbage (Brassica oleracea convar. capitata L.) Brussels sprouts (Brassica oleracea var. gemmifera DC.), cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.), kale (Brassica oleracea var. sabellica L.), kohlrabi (Brassica oleracea var. gongylodes L.), savoy cabbage (Brassica oleracea convar. capitata var. sabauda L.), and broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica Plenck). The current population increase of this species could be explained by climate change with warmer winters, increasing cultivated areas of oilseed rape and Brassica cover crops, and the development of insecticide resistant strains of cabbage whitefly. In the past, the cabbage whitefly was known as a non-significant pest of Brassica crops, which is partly why its biology has only been marginally studied. In this respect, exploring the biological parameters of A. proletella is likely to be of great value to understand the population dynamics of this insect species as well as to discover the reasons behind its current outbreak.
The biological parameters of A. proletella on different host plants were examined in a greenhouse experiment to assess their suitability for the cabbage whitefly. The impact of constant and alternating temperature regimes on the major life cycle component of cabbage whitefly were investigated in growth chamber-experiments. The influence of mating history on the population dynamics of this species was also examined and evaluated under different conditions.
1. Various biological traits (fecundity, pre-oviposition period, survival rate, sex ratio) of A. proletella were studied on winter oilseed rape, kale, cabbage, and kohlrabi to assess the suitability of these host plants.
a. A. proletella was more fecund on winter oilseed rape than kale, kohlrabi, and cabbage.
b. Host plants influenced the pre-oviposition period of A. proletella, resulting in shorter pre-oviposition periods on oilseed rape.
c. Survival rate of A. proletella adults was strongly influenced by host plants, which was the lowest on white cabbage.
d. The sex ratio of A. proletella offspring was significantly influenced by the host plant, with the highest female ratio being on kale and winter oilseed rape.
e. Winter oilseed rape was therefore determined to be the most suitable host plant among all those considered.
2. Evaluating the influence of fluctuating temperatures versus their equivalent constant average on reproduction parameters (fecundity, mean daily fecundity, age-specific fecundity, survival rate, sex ratio) of cabbage whitefly.
a. The 23 °C fluctuating temperature regime decreased the survival rate of cabbage whitefly males in comparison to their equivalent constant temperature mean.
b. The 20 °C fluctuating temperature increased the total fecundity of cabbage whitefly females in comparison to their representative constant temperature mean.
c. The pattern of the age-specific fecundity curve under fluctuating temperature regimes differs from those at constant regimes, leading to a higher peak throughout the earlier stages of the lifespan and a sharper decrease as females become older.
d. The temperature regime did not affect the sex ratio of cabbage whitefly.
3. The influence of mating scenarios (life span mated female and male; virgin female and male; short time mated females) on longevity, survival rate, total fecundity, and sex ratio of A. proletella was examined under constant temperature regimes of 20°C. In addition, the first two experiments also evaluated the influence of mating scenarios on the survival rate and oviposition of cabbage whitefly.
a. The total number of eggs of eight day mated females was slightly lower than those of virgin and life span mated females.
b. The mating history did not influence the life span or survival rate of A. proletella females or males.
c. The sex ratio of life span mated females was lower than that of short time (eight day) mated females, whereas virgin females produced purely male offspring.
d. In the greenhouse experiment the mating history did not affect the survival rate and oviposition of the cabbage whitefly.
e. Under fluctuating temperature conditions, the influence of mating scenario was only detectable under the 20 °C fluctuating temperature regime, where the fecundity of eight day mated females was reduced in comparison to the virgin and life span mated females.


G.K. Chesterton's "The Man Who Was Thursday" is a thrilling novel of deception, subterfuge, double-crossing and secret identities, and this "Penguin Classics" edition is edited with an introduction by Matthew Beaumont. The Central Anarchist Council is a secret society sworn to destroy the world. The council is governed by seven men, who hide their identities behind the names of the days of the week. Yet one of their number - Thursday - is not the revolutionary he claims to be, but a Scotland Yard detective named Gabriel Syme, sworn to infiltrate the organisation and bring the architects of chaos to justice. But when he discovers another undercover policeman on the Council, Syme begins to question his role in their operations. And as a desperate chase across Europe begins, his confusion grows, as well as his confidence in his ability to outwit his enemies, unravelling the mysteries of human behaviour and belief in a thrilling contest of wits. But he has still to face the greatest terror that the Council has: a man named Sunday, whose true nature is worse than Syme could ever have imagined...In his introduction, Matthew Beaumont examines the book's themes of identity and confrontation, and explores its intriguing title. This edition also contains a chronology, notes and suggested further reading. G.K. Chesterton (1874-1938) attended the Slade School of Art, where he appears to have suffered a nervous breakdown, before turning his hand to journalism. A prolific writer throughout his life, his best-known books include "The Napoleon of Notting Hill" (1904), "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1922) and the "Father Brown stories". Chesterton converted to Roman Catholicism in 1922 and died in 1938. If you enjoyed "The Man Who Was Thursday", you might enjoy Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Agent", also available in "Penguin Classics". "The most thrilling book I have ever read". (Kingsley Amis, author of "Lucky Jim").


Abstract This article provides an overview of the issues surrounding the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM). FGM is a general term used to describe various forms of genital cutting that are performed on girls and women. There is a definitive need for health education professionals to gain awareness and develop an understanding of this practice. Increasingly, health educators will be called on to teach others about this practice. To be effective, health educators need to develop an understanding of the terminology, the procedure, the extent of the incidence and prevalence of the practice, worldwide prevention efforts, and the various roles that professional health educators can play. This information can be used as a basic guide for the development of curricula, lesson plans, or educational materials for use in schools, communities, work sites, and health care settings.


We propose a differentially private data generation paradigm using random feature representations of kernel mean embeddings when comparing the distribution of true data with that of synthetic data. We exploit the random feature representations for two important benefits. First, we require a minimal privacy cost for training deep generative models. This is because unlike kernel-based distance metrics that require computing the kernel matrix on all pairs of true and synthetic data points, we can detach the data-dependent term from the term solely dependent on synthetic data. Hence, we need to perturb the data-dependent term once and for all and then use it repeatedly during the generator training. Second, we can obtain an analytic sensitivity of the kernel mean embedding as the random features are norm bounded by construction. This removes the necessity of hyper-parameter search for a clipping norm to handle the unknown sensitivity of a generator network. We provide several variants of our algorithm, differentially private mean embeddings with random features (DP-MERF) to jointly generate labels and input features for datasets such as heterogeneous tabular data and image data. Our algorithm achieves drastically better privacy-utility trade-offs than existing methods when tested on several datasets.


According to the 3rd Arab Human Development Report (AHDR) (2003), contemporary translation movement in the Arab world is "weak and chaotic". However, the Arab history witnessed astonishing eras of translation activities, productions, programs, and projects. This paper aims to trace translation movement in the Arab world and to investigate different aspects of this movement from the rise of Islam in the 7th century until the beginning of the 21st century. This study is divided into four main sections. First, it tackles the Arabic translation movement during the golden era and modern history. Second, it explores national and foreign translation programs and projects. Third, it investigates contemporary Arabic translation movement and current challenges. Finally, it looks at the Arabic machine translation (MT) systems and audiovisual translation. This paper closes with proposing general recommendations to enhance contemporary translation movement and translation activities in the Arab world for a knowledgeable Arab society in the globalized 21st century. The findings provide a better understanding of the changes that took place to the Arabic translation movement throughout different historical stages. As well, the findings uncover current shortcomings and challenges that encounter contemporary translation movement in the Arab world.


The Nile is the lifeblood of northeastern Africa, and its roles for and interdependency with the national economies it traverses and binds together grow as it moves from source to sea. With rapid economic development—population growth, irrigation development, rural electrification, and overall economic growth—pressures on the Nile's water resources are growing to unprecedented levels. These drivers of change have already contributed to stark changes in the hydropolitical regime, and new forms of cooperation and cross-sectoral collaboration are needed, particularly in the Eastern Nile Basin countries of Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, and South Sudan. As direct sharing of water resources is hampered by unilateral developments, the need has increased for broader, cross-sectoral collaboration around the water, energy, and food sectors. This study is conducted to assess and understand the challenges of and opportunities for cooperation across the water-energy-food nexus nationally in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan, as well as regionally across the Eastern Nile. To gather data, the paper uses an e-survey supplemented with key informant interviews geared toward national-level water, energy, and agriculture stakeholders, chiefly government staff and researchers. Findings from the survey tools suggest that most respondents strongly agree that collaboration across the water, energy, and agriculture sectors is essential to improve resource management in the region. At the same time, there is ample scope for improvement in collaboration across the water, energy, and food sectors nationally. Ministries of water, energy, and food were identified as the key nexus actors at national levels; these would also need to be engaged in regional cross-sectoral collaboration. Respondents also identified a wide range of desirable cross-sectoral actions and investments—both national and regional—chiefly, joint planning and operation of multipurpose infrastructure; investment in enhanced irrigation efficiency; joint rehabilitation of upstream catchments to reduce sedimentation and degradation; and investment in alternative renewable energy projects, such as wind and solar energy.


We analyze the determinants of female labor market participation for different age-groups in the European Union. We show that female participation is positively affected by tertiary education at any age. But upper secondary education increases participation only up to an age of 40 while after that it has no effect or even a negative impact The results are tested for robustness and controlled for endogeneity. The results show that increasing educational attainment levels in the female population will contribute significantly to higher aggregate participation rates. However,in simulations up to 2050 such benefits are partially offset by a negative aging effect. This paper is based on the first author's Master thesis presented for the Master of Science in Economics, University of Amsterdam.


With the need for limiting pollutant emissions, careful management of energy plants should be considered to reduce the footprints that can be caused by these systems. Advantages of district heating (DH) systems have been linked to a decrease in local and global emissions, centralized heat production located outside urban centres, possible utilization of renewable heat sources. District heating, consisting of the distribution of hot water by means of underground networks for the buildings' heating and sanitary water, is an ever-expanding technology that allows the optimization of energy resources, with positive consequences in terms of both economic savings and environmental impacts. The aim of this work is to analyse the district heating system from an environmental point of view, in way to realize a general procedure of evaluation. To this end, the Italian city of Turin is taken as case study. Turin has long been subject to high concentration levels of pollutants, especially NO x and particulate. The environmental compatibility of extending the district heating network is evaluated. Two different tools are used: first, the environmental balance is defined to perform an evaluation of the flux modification at the emission sources; secondly, the atmospheric impacts of emissions are estimated using CALPUFF dispersion model. The results show a future reduction in overall NO x emission, as well as a reduction of ground level average NO x concentration ranging between 0.2 and 4 μg/m. This study provides important information on the effects of a change of the energy configuration on air quality in an urban area. The proposed comprehensive methodology is applicable for other similar cases.


Hepatic portal venous gas (HPVG) is usually caused by air entry into the portal venous tributaries from the bowel lumen or due to the presence of gas-forming bacteria in portal system. In the past many years, the appearance of gas in the portal venous system was considered as a life threatening but more recently is of less concernas it is also present in both iatrogenic and benign conditions. Regardless of the cause, it is imperative to rule out the life threatening etiologies. Here we describe a case of an asymptomatic patient with HPVG who presented with unusual pathology


This groundbreaking anthology brings together for the first time the works of women poet-composers, or trouveres, in northern France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Refuting the long-held notion that there are no extant Old French lyrics by women from this period, the editors of the volume present songs attributed to eight named female trouveres along with a varied selection of anonymous compositions in the feminine voice that may have been composed by women. The book includes the Old French texts of seventy-five compositions, extant music for eighteen monophonic songs and nineteen polyphonic motets, English translations, and a substantial introduction.


Malaysia's 2008 Control of Tobacco Product (Amendment) Regulations (CTPR)1 prohibit use of misleading information or terms on cigarette packages. This measure marks another major milestone in Malaysian public health and tobacco control policy, and means. Malaysia joins the more than 50 countries to have banned use of misleading 'light' and 'mild' descriptors.2 Tobacco products manufactured in Malaysia now meet the regulatory requirements of export destinations, including Australia, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.3

To monitor implementation of the new regulations, we reviewed flagship brands from the three major tobacco companies in Malaysia (British American Tobacco (BAT), Philip Morris (PM) and Japan Tobacco International (JTI)), which we had collected since 2008 as part of an ongoing monitoring and surveillance programme. We analysed pack designs pre and post implementation.

The new regulations came into effect in 2009 and prohibited use of words such as 'light', 'ultra light', 'mild', 'cool', 'extra', 'low tar', 'special', 'full flavour', 'premium', 'slim'.1 The tobacco industry responded to the policy change by incorporating new words in their brand names and overall pack livery. These included 'Kent Futura', 'Kent Silver Neo', 'Kent Nanotek', 'Salem Elite', 'Salem Nova', 'Salem Seasons' and others (figure 1).

Figure 1
A …


Similar in format to the "Billboard Book of Number One Hits" and "The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits", this book traces the history of soul and R&B music by focusing on the songs that topped Billboard's Top R&B Singles chart over the past 40 years. All the great Motown hits are covered as are the classic tunes by such non-Motown stalwarts as Sam Cooke, James Brown, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and Sam and Dave, as well as contemporary stars like Prince and Michael Jackson. Arranged chronologically, the book looks at the each number-one hit and probes the stories behind the songs, providing trivia, key biographical information on artists and songwriters, and basic chart data. Taken as a whole, "The Billboard Book of Number One Rhythm & Blues Hits" amounts to a detailed overview of an immensely popular musical genre - a genre that has been enjoying a huge historical reassessment in recent years, with soul artists finally getting their due and being recognised as having been every bit as important as Elvis and the Beatles in shaping the course of modern rock and roll.


We investigated the ~2 μm spectroscopic and lasing performance of Tm(3+) and Tm(3+)-Ho(3+) co-doped tungsten tellurite glass single mode fibers with a commercial 800 nm laser diode. The double cladding single mode (SM) fibers were fabricated by using rod-in-tube method. The propagation loss of the fiber was ~2.5 dB/m at 1310 nm. The spectroscopic properties of the fibers were analyzed. A 494 mW laser operating at ~1.9 μm was achieved in a Tm(3+) doped 20 cm long fiber, the slope efficiency was 26%, and the laser beam quality factor M(2) was 1.09. A 35 mW ~2.1 μm laser output was also demonstrated in a 7 cm long of Tm(3+)-Ho(3+) co-doped tungsten tellurite SM fiber.


Contemporary global order for the promotion of innovation exaggerates the role of intellectual property (IP) as a closed proprietary model of knowledge production and protection. Partly as a boomerang effect of that order or partly as a coincidence of the phenomenal rise in the information and communication technologies or both, there has been increased gravitation toward open, collaborative, shared, communal and interdependent models of innovation. This trend is typified by the rise of open software movement and cognate endeavours. The article attempts to transpose the open innovation dynamic to the context of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGFA); and draws attention to the customary seed sharing and exchange as the centre-piece of the inherent open nature of innovation in agriculture, especially in indigenous and local communities. Focusing on the emergent institutional and legal frameworks for the governance of PGRFA, the article finds that they reflect pragmatic attempts at melding both the IP-driven closed model and the accommodation of open or public goods approach toward the promotion of access and overall management of innovation in PGRFA. It concludes that IP is not necessarily antithetical to open innovation, but could be calibrated to advance it.


A water soluble chitosan derivative (p-chitosan) was synthesized and used to functionalize multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) through the noncovalent interaction. The interaction of p-chitosan with MWCNTs was investigated by analyzing the spectra of ultraviolet-visible, Fourier transform infrared, Raman, and X-ray photoelectron. Circular dichroism spectroscopy was used to study the interaction as well. The results of the circular dichroism spectra indicate that, the interaction of p-chitosan with MWCNT makes p-chitosan less regularly structured. It was found that the interaction of p-chitosan with MWCNTs at a lower temperature is stronger than that at a higher temperature; pH conditions affect the interaction between p-chitosan and MWCNTs. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2012


This paper develops a model where the incumbent may expand to a second related market so as to signal the existence of scope economies and deter potential entry. We show that the incumbent only expands to another market when scope economies are large enough. Thus expansion is indeed a signal of larger economies of scope and, for certain parameter values, it leads to entry deterrence. We show that the perfect bayesian equilibrium may involve entry accommodation, entry deterrence or a mixed strategy equilibrium. We investigate the welfare implications of prohibiting an entry deterrent expansion. In our model, such prohibition would always decrease consumer surplus. The welfare impact of preventing entry deterrence is ambiguous but negative for many parameter values.


Our paper describes our project to develop curricular materials for a course that introduces students at the post-calculus level to statistical concepts, methods, and theory. This course provides a more balanced introduction to the discipline of statistics than the standard sequence in probability and mathematical statistics. The materials incorporate many features of successful statistics education projects that target less mathematically prepared students. The student audiences targeted by this project are particularly important because they have been overlooked by previous curricular reform projects. Most importantly, the proposed audience includes prospective teachers of statistics, introducing them to content and pedagogy that prepare them for implementing NCTM Standards with regard to statistics and probability and for teaching the Advanced Placement course in Statistics.


Buddhist culture was most active and prosperous in early modern Japan (1600–1868). Buddhist temples were ubiquitous throughout the country, and no one was untouched by Buddhism. Buddhist priests wielded considerable power over the populace, and Shinto was largely subject to Buddhist control. Buddhist culture attained this considerable influence in early modern Japan through the performance of death-related rituals and prayer.
 Death-related rituals (also known as funerary Buddhism) were rooted in the nationwide anti-Christian policy of the Tokugawa bakufu that utilized the administrative machinery of Buddhist temples. Using the opportunity provided by the anti-Christian policy, Buddhist temples were able to bind all households to death-related rituals and this, in turn, gave rise to the danka system in which dying a Buddhist soon became the norm in early modern Japan.
 Given the rigid social status, mutual surveillance, and highly regulated nature of everyday life in Tokugawa Japan, people through prayer often turned to Buddhist deities to seek divine help for their wishes or ad hoc solutions to worldly problems. Beyond being sites of prayer services, Buddhist temples also served as spaces of learning, relief, and/or leisure, thus catering to people from all walks of life. Both prayer and play were also integral to Buddhist culture in early modern Japanese society.


Thursday 2 February, 9.45am–5.45pm + Friday 3 February, 9.45am–4.30pm

This two-day event aims to explore the ways in which artists engage with ideas of Perfection. An eclectic group of artists and writers whose lens-based practices engage or disrupt ideas of Perfection, will present works which question how these ideas shape our personal identities, and our social and political systems.

The programme includes formal papers, screenings, artist talks, conversation and performance, new works by emerging artists, and presentations from international guests.

Participants include: Marco Bohr, Photographer and Lecturer in Visual Communications, Loughborough University, Clive Cazeaux, Reader in Aesthetics, Cardiff School of Art and Design, Charlotte Cotton, Creative Director, National Media Museum, Leslie Dick, Co-Director, Art Program, CalArts, Liam Devlin, Photographer and Lecturer, eCPR/ Goldsmiths, Mark Durden, Artist and Professor of Photography, University of Wales, Newport, David Evans, Senior Lecturer in the History and Theory of Photography, Arts University College at Bournemouth, Oriana Fox, Artist, Catherine Grant,  Writer and lecturer, Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths, Mark Godfrey, Curator, Tate Modern, Michal Heiman, Artist and Lecturer at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem and the Faculty of Arts, Tel Aviv University, Sarah James, writer and lecturer, UCL, Jo Longhurst, Artist, Leverhulme Fellow, eCPR, Ray Muller, Director, 'The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl', Francette Pacteau, Writer and lecturer, Royal College of Art, Julian Rosefeldt, Artist, Aaron Schuman, Photographer, Curator, Editor of SeeSaw Magazine, Eva Stenram, Artist, Jonathan Whitehall, Artist and lecturer, London Metropolitan University and artists Jane and Louise Wilson.

Session 1
Chair: Aaron Schuman, Photographer, Curator, Editor of SeeSaw Magazine
Dr Mark Durden, Professor of Photography, University of Wales , Newport , 'Defining the Moment'
Eva Stenram, Artist, 'Despoiling the Ideal'

Organised by Jo Longhurst, in collaboration with European Centre for Photographic Research, University of Wales, Newport and The Photographers' Gallery. Supported by Arts Council England and Leverhulme Trust.


The purpose of this study was to examine the role trust plays in shaping the parent-child relation and the reasons why children trust and distrust their mother. A total number of 507 university students (males= 140, females=367) at the Universitas Gadjah Mada completed an open-ended questionnaire that asked how much they trust their mothers and the reason why they trust and distrust their mothers. The data was analyzed using indigenous psychological approach of analyzing the content of open-ended responses, categorization of the responses, and cross tabulating. Result from these study shows that 57.63% of participants' trust their mothers to a great extent and 33.69% of respondents largely trust their mothers. Second, there are five main categories of reasons for trusting mothers and six main categories of reasons for distrusting their mothers that have emerged. First category focuses on mother's personal quality such as honesty and reliability. Second, what mothers are able to bring into the life being that involved mother critical role for children surviving the world, physically, psychologically, and socially. Third, what exist between the relations counts the trust existence. Fourth, the perceived figure of mother. Fifth, the role of self in deciding when to trust. The six categories for distrust suggest the unconditional trust toward mother that indicate the strong bend of trust-relation between mother and children once it is established. It reaches to the conclusion that reasons for trusting mother is much colored by the spiritual and emotional nuance, whereas honesty and reliability, empathy, give the best, closeness and consanguinity, are factors that play quite important role in the development or establishment of trust to mother. From the reasons of trust and distrust, we learned that trust can play as the modality to consider act or to relate and as a product or result and is dynamic rather than static.


Freedom of religious association should imply that the state maintains neutrality towards the different religious groups without restricting religious activities or views. The way in which religious neutrality is applied in the United States entails that the state promotes anti-religious views to the detriment of religious views (e.g. in education). This should not be followed in South Africa. The procedure to ban political associations in terms of the Internal Security Act 74 of 1982 (as amended) does not take freedom of political association into account and it will be impossible to reconcile these measures with the proposed bill of rights. American law offers an excellent application of the principle that subversive, violent behaviour should be restricted rather than banning a political organisation because of unpopular or opposing views. The best way to maintain a balance between individual freedom and the interests of the community or state, is by establishing a constitutional court in terms of a generally-accepted, trustworthy bill of rights.


Tax shelters and aggressive planning derive in part from a structural imbalance in our tax system that has not been adequately explored: In important respects, the private tax bar outmatches their counterparts in government. Although a strong policy case can be made for remedying this mismatch, this Article emphasizes two institutional barriers that complicate any solution, rooted in the political economy of taxation and the economics and professional norms of the legal profession. First, although it would be enormously helpful to dramatically increase the staffing levels and pay of government tax administrators, this is a politically daunting task. Second, a fallback strategy is to look to the private bar for help, but they face a significant conflict. Both market pressure and professional norms motivate them to serve their clients, who generally do not have an interest in improving government tax enforcement. In light of these two challenges, what can be done to mitigate the mismatch between the government and private bar? This Article offers two sets of proposals. First, a number of suggestions focus on the government, offering ways to improve recruiting and reinforce the expertise at their disposal without dramatically increasing funding or raising pay substantially across the board. For example, the government should focus on recruiting senior lawyers out of retirement (whose financial demands will be limited) and having them mentor junior lawyers directly from law school (whose private sector pay is high, but not nearly as high as it will become in later years). The government should also consider a loan forgiveness program for these recent graduates, and should also enlist academics to assist with discrete projects. The government should also retain private law firms to litigate tax controversies with extraordinary precedential value. Second, this Article offers guidance about the right way (and the wrong way) to tap the expertise and information possessed by the private bar. It is more effective, whenever possible, to ask lawyers to help the government in a way that also helps their clients. Using this principle, this Article identifies promising opportunities that have been overlooked, and critiques unpromising initiatives that have attracted significant government support. For example, clients do not want their own tax deals shut down, but they feel differently about their competitor's deals, so the government should make more systematic use of this opportunity. Likewise, although clients are less motivated to help the government identify bad transactions that are inadvertently permitted, they are highly motivated to identify good transactions that are inadvertently prohibited. As a result, the government can look to the private bar for help in narrowing overbroad anti-abuse measures. On the other hand, in asking tax advisors to disclose their clients' aggressive transactions - in effect, to "rat" on their clients - the government is asking for something that clearly is not in the clients' interest. This reality is likely to undercut this initiative, which has been one of the centerpieces of the government's efforts to date.


Regulation of transmembrane ion transport is a vital aspect in the maintenance of a healthy organism. To understand how this highly selective process occurs, how it can become impaired and how impairment may be treated, model compounds are useful tools. Several systems are presently being explored but one of the most widely applicable combines a rigid macrocycle, capable of size-based ion recognition, with membrane spanning substituents that allow the target ions to transverse a phospholipid bilayer. The calixarene class of macrocycles is ideally suited to this task. Previous work had shown that oxacalix[3]arenes could act as models for the filters in natural transmembrane ion channels. Nitrogen-containing analogues of these calixarenes, azacalix[3]arenes, were investigated with a view to constructing a chloride transporting system. Synthetic difficulties encountered when introducing lower rim substitutents precluded the use of azacalix[3]arenes and attention turned to 4-t-butylcalix[n]arenes. 4-t-Butylcalix[4]- and [6]arenes were derivatised with a commercial, membrane disrupting surfactant, Triton X-100®, forming compounds designed to form lipid bilayer-spanning, channel-like structures. The ion transporting ability of these, and other bilayer-spanning O-substituted calixarene derivatives, was determined by planar bilayer electrophysiological methods. Results showed that this modular approach to artificial ion channel construction was successful; calixarene derivatives formed transmembrane channels that allowed sodium ions to pass through but not the larger potassium ions.


Corporations are consumers of treaty law. In this article, I empirically examine three biodiversity treaty regimes - the Convention on Biological Diversity, Ramsar Convention, and World Heritage Convention - to demonstrate that corporations implement or internalize treaty norms in a variety of ways that are not captured by the dominant model of treaty implementation – national implementation. As an exegetical model, I explore how corporations use biodiversity treaties as a source of private environmental standards. I focus on the interactions between mining and oil and gas companies and biodiversity treaties, as revealed through transactional documents, corporate reports, security law filings, and treaty secretariat reports. My central claim is that treaties provide a vital, but overlooked, point of interaction between intergovernmental environmental law and transnational law as developed by private actors. This article reveals that the gravitational pull of treaties on private actors is differentially experienced. The shadow of law (both national and international) works variably across different companies, different industries and different geographies. And the same companies that are 'dumbing down' treaty meanings in one context may be advancing tools that promote stronger and deeper implementation of these same treaty norms in another. While the empirical record is thus littered with inconsistencies and seeming contractions, one thing is clear: the implications of corporate channelling of treaty meanings and obligations are significant for international law far beyond the context of biodiversity conventions. Growing pressure to define acceptable standards of environmental and social behavior for companies is creating a robust market for 'international standards' – a market for treaties.


Biosorption is a unique ability of living or dead biomass to interact with substances such as metals where reduction of sorbate concentration can be achieved. Thus, it has been widely proposed as a promising alternative for metal remediation and recovery owing to its low cost and sustainable "green" nature. Despite considerable biosorption‐related research performed in the past few decades, no significant commercial success has been achieved so far. This chapter starts with discussion of the basic science of biosorption and the potential of some selected biomasses such as yeast, algae, agro‐based waste and vermicompost to be used as biosorbent material. Following this, some important issues regarding the practical application of biosorption are highlighted, including the advantages and disadvantages of using dead or living biomass, the availability of biosorption reactors, immobilization techniques, metal recovery and post‐treatment of spent biosorbent. Lastly, current challenges that limit the commercial success of biosorption as well as the direction of future research are discussed.


Information network mining often requires examination of linkage relationships between nodes for analysis. Recently, network representation has emerged to represent each node in a vector format, embedding network structure, so off-the-shelf machine learning methods can be directly applied for analysis. To date, existing methods only focus on one aspect of node information and cannot leverage node labels. In this paper, we propose TriDNR, a tri-party deep network representation model, using information from three parties: node structure, node content, and node labels (if available) to jointly learn optimal node representation. TriDNR is based on our new coupled deep natural language module, whose learning is enforced at three levels: (1) at the network structure level, TriDNR exploits inter-node relationship by maximizing the probability of observing surrounding nodes given a node in random walks; (2) at the node content level, TriDNR captures node-word correlation by maximizing the co-occurrence of word sequence given a node; and (3) at the node label level, TriDNR models label-word correspondence by maximizing the probability of word sequence given a class label. The tri-party information is jointly fed into the neural network model to mutually enhance each other to learn optimal representation, and results in up to 79% classification accuracy gain, compared to state-of-the-art methods.


A reaction for an esterase, with a nonhalogenated, short-chain naphthyl ester (alpha-naphthyl butyrate or alpha-naphthyl acetate) as the substrate, has been used to identify mononuclear phagocytes by light microscopy. By analyzing techniques used in the collection, separation, fixation, processing, and embedding of human blood leukocytes for electron microscopy, we adapted the light microscopic method for use in determining the fine structural localization of this reaction. In monocytes, the reaction product covered the external surface of the plasma membrane. This distribution indicated that monocytic esterase is an ectoenzyme. The addition of NaF completely inhibited the monocytic reaction. In lymphocytes, the reaction product was localized in membrane-bounded intracellular organelles, similar to those previously shown to contain phospholipid and called Gall bodies. These organelles correspond with the punctate densities or focal reaction product observed by light microscopy. Other investigators believe that this distribution of enzyme in lymphocytes marks a subset of T cells, the Tmicro. The lymphocytic reaction was not inhibited by NaF.


The study presented adduces an adoption of the Agenda 2000 ideas. It concerns the field recently studied by A.Kudzys, J.Juocevicius and the authors of this publication. The study also evaluates a standpoint investigating the objects and problems previously discussed by J. Juozaitis, J. Pranevicius and the others (including the authors of present study). It is based on space pollution data set built up in official statistics or publications by B.Kavolėlis, B.Bakutis, M.Lippa, M.Spakauskas, V.Sukytė, E.Zelionkaite and many other authors. The analysis of the current design statements and the cases of damage of high-rise structures used in the open air are also provided in the paper. This is followed by data grouping. The aim is to determine initial sources of pollution, the relations between the pollution flows during their migration etc. The experimental component of this study reveals a formation of micro and local defects, their spontaneous joining that stipulates the stress concentration around defects, and after-effects as the wear and tear of structure, the scattering (loss) of strength resources, loss of the durability of single element and the whole structure. An imitation model is applied for the research which included the reconstruction of conditional monotoneous succession of destruction operations while simulating them sequentially step by step. The reconstruction requires iterative calculations usually named as the Bellman's damnation of multiversity. However, the processing process of today enables us to perform it with the rate that is acceptable for design practice.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sace.17.4.16080


The growing complexity of digital signal processing applications implemented in programmable logic and embedded processors make a compelling case the use of high-level methodologies for their design and implementation. Past research has shown that for complex systems, raising the level of abstraction does not necessarily come at a cost in terms of performance or resource requirements. As a matter of fact, high-level synthesis tools supporting such a high abstraction often rival and on occasion improve low-level design. In spite of these successes, high-level synthesis still relies on programs being written with the target and often the synthesis process, in mind. In other words, imperative languages such as C or C++, most used languages for high-level synthesis, are either modified or a constrained subset is used to make parallelism explicit. In addition, a proper behavioral description that permits the unification for hardware and software design is still an elusive goal for heterogeneous platforms. A promising behavioral description capable of expressing both sequential and parallel application is RVC-CAL. RVC-CAL is a dataflow programming language that permits design abstraction, modularity, and portability. The objective of this thesis is to provide a high-level synthesis solution for RVC-CAL dataflow programs and provide an RVC-CAL design flow for heterogeneous platforms. The main contributions of this thesis are: a high-level synthesis infrastructure that supports the full specification of RVC-CAL, an action selection strategy for supporting parallel read and writes of list of tokens in hardware synthesis, a dynamic fine-grain profiling for synthesized dataflow programs, an iterative design space exploration framework that permits the performance estimation, analysis, and optimization of heterogeneous platforms, and finally a clock gating strategy that reduces the dynamic power consumption. Experimental results on all stages of the provided design flow, demonstrate the capabilities of the tools for high-level synthesis, software hardware Co-Design, design space exploration, and power optimization for reconfigurable hardware. Consequently, this work proves the viability of complex systems design and implementation using dataflow programming, not only for system-level simulation but real heterogeneous implementations.


Fly-ash scale on boiler tubes in waste incineration plants can significantly decrease the lifetime of high-temperature alloys in the boiler due to corrosion. These reactions occur between sulphates and chlorides of the fly-ash and the metallic substrate. The influence of the fly-ash deposits on corrosion reactions is not known in detail. However, it is well established that tubes without deposits have a much longer lifetime. Several reactions take place between the corrosive flue gas containing HCl and SO 2 and the deposit. The phase composition of the deposit strongly depends on the composition of the gas phase. In order to study the effect of gas composition on the mineralogical phases in fly-ashes, deposits were recovered from boiler tubes of a waste incinerator and treated in a thermobalance (TG) at 500 degrees C with atmospheres resembling the typical conditions inside waste incineration plants (500 vppm HCl, 250-1000 vppm SO 2 , 500 vppm HCl+500 vppm SO 2 , 500 vppm HCl+1000 vppm SO 2 ). After the TG-runs, the reacted material was examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron microprobe (WD-EPMA) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). The original fly-ash is composed of various sulphates (CaSO 4 , K 3 Na(SO 4 ) 2 , K 2 Pb(SO 4 ) 2 , K 2 Ca 2 (SO 4 ) 3 ), alumino-silicate glass and iron oxides. The introduction of a HCl-atmosphere at 500 degrees C leads to a considerable weight loss of the sample and the formation of chlorides (NaCl, KCl). The weight loss is due to the removal of heavy-elements (Pb, Zn) as volatile chlorides and the production of SO 2 from the chloridation of sulphates. In the SO 2 -containing atmosphere, a weight gain occurs due to the uptake of SO 2 /SO 3 from the gas phase, accompanied by the formation of pyrosulphates. In atmospheres containing both HCl and SO 2 a minor weight loss occurs due to the uptake of SO 2 /SO 3 from the atmosphere and the reduced volatilization of heavy-metal chlorides. Both atmospheres (HCl, SO 2 ) decompose complex sulphate phases and initiate the crystallisation of endmember sulphates. These results have implications for the choice of corrosion-resistant high-T alloys in municipal waste incinerators and for the performance of flue-gas purification procedures.


Coronary Heart Disease can be diagnosed by measuring and scoring regional motion of the heart wall in ultrasound images of the left ventricle (LV) of the heart. We describe a completely automated and robust technique that detects diseased hearts based on detection and automatic tracking of the endocardium and epicardium of the LV. The local wall regions and the entire heart are then classified as normal or abnormal based on the regional and global LV wall motion. In order to leverage structural information about the heart we applied Bayesian Networks to this problem, and learned the relations among the wall regions off of the data using a structure learning algorithm. We checked the validity of the obtained structure using anatomical knowledge of the heart and medical rules as described by doctors. The resultant Bayesian Network classifier depends only on a small subset of numerical features extracted from dual-contours tracked through time and selected using a filter-based approach. Our numerical results confirm that our system is robust and accurate on echocardiograms collected in routine clinical practice at one hospital; our system is built to be used in real-time.


Balancing is usually done in the later phases of creating a game to make sure everything comes together to an enjoyable experience. Most of the time balancing is done with a series of playthroughs by the designers or by outsourced play testers and the imbalances found are corrected followed by more playthroughs. This method occupies a lot of time and might therefore not find everything. In this study I use information gathered from interviews with experienced designers and designer texts along with features from methods frequently used for aiding the designers to make a conceptual design of a tool that is aimed towards simplifying the process of balancing and reducing the amount of work hours having to be spent on this phase.


While less than 1% of reported mine accidents are associated with slope stability problems, slope failure accidents were responsible for about 15% of U.S. surface mine fatalities between 1995 and 2003. Small rockfalls, which may involve hand-sized rocks weighing only a few pounds, can cause fatal injuries to workers away from the protection of large machinery. Massive highwall failures containing a million cubic yards of material or more can be fatal even for heavy-equipment operators. As part of an ongoing study at the Spokane Research Laboratory, several remote sensing technologies are being evaluated as tools to assess slope stability and monitor slopes for hazards. An interferometric radar device capable of detecting very small displacements on slopes has been assembled and tested. Radar techniques can provide new tools to augment current methods for monitoring ground control hazards in mines.


We studied the horizontal oculomotor neural integrator in healthy human subjects during gaze holding in darkness. We found large variability among subjects with respect to the estimated time constants and the integrator's null position. We also found that individual subjects could demonstrate significantly nonlinear drift velocities as a function of eye position. Nevertheless, a consistent trend did not emerge. Consequently, cross subject averaging eliminates idiosyncratic nonlinear patterns and the average can be approximated by a linear function inside the range that was tested.


It is observed that the limited memory space of direct-mapped caches is not used in balance therefore incurs extra conflict misses. We propose a novel cache organization of a balanced cache, which balances accesses to cache sets at the granularity of cache subarrays. The key technique of the balanced cache is a programmable subarray decoder through which the mapping of memory reference addresses to cache subarrays can be optimized hence conflict misses of direct-mapped caches can be resolved. The experimental results show that the miss rate of balanced cache is lower than that of the same sized two-way set-associative caches on average and can be as low as that of the same sized four-way set-associative caches for particular applications. Compared with previous techniques, the balanced cache requires only one cycle to access all cache hits and has the same access time as direct-mapped caches


The flipped classroom relies on the use of video technology to create instructional lectures delivered online and classroom meetings with in-class exercises that involve active learning. The main research method of this study consisted of a mixed methods embedded design with a quasi-experimental study. This study consisted of 22 participants enrolled in two advanced EAP writing courses in a large Southern State College and sought to measure whether the flipped model improved students' academic writing performance and understand their perceptions of the flipped instruction. Results indicated that there were statistically significant differences in students' academic learning outcomes between the control group and the treatment group. Qualitative results also indicated that students positively perceived the use of the flipped model as more effective and as a great resource of learning that helped them improve their writing skills in an interactive and collaborative environment.


Purpose: This cross-sectional study of young adult lesbians explores their healthcare experiences including having a primary care provider, forgone care, knowledge of where to obtain Pap testing, and sexually transmitted infection testing. Methods: Quantitative surveys were conducted at lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender venues and events with a sample of 100 young adult lesbians in New York City between June and October 2016. Using the Andersen model of healthcare access, this study examined associations between sociodemographic characteristics and healthcare experiences using multivariable logistic regression models. Results: Having a primary care provider was associated with having health insurance (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 4.9, p < 0.05). Both insurance (AOR = 0.2, p < 0.05) and employment (AOR = 0.2, p < 0.05) status were protective against foregone care among young adult lesbians. Disclosure of sexual orientation to a provider improved knowledge of where to access Pap testing (AOR = 7.5, p < 0.05). Disclosure of sexual orientation to friends and family improved knowledge of where to access sexually transmitted infection testing (AOR = 3.6, p < 0.05). Conclusion: Socioeconomic factors are significantly associated with healthcare access among young adult lesbians in New York City. Maintaining non-discrimination protections for both healthcare services and insurance coverage are important for this population. In addition, financial subsidies that lower the cost of health insurance coverage may also help improve healthcare access among young adult lesbians.


The clinical pharmacokinetic properties of NSAID's are markedly influenced by the
affinity and extent of their protein binding properties in plasma and synovial fluid.
Whilst the total level of NSAID is dependent upon concentration and affinity of local
protein, it is the unbound / free fraction that is the species which readily diffuses
between plasma and synovial fluid. The synovial fluid kinetics of the NSAlD's
have received remarkably little attention until recent years, despite the increasing
accumulation of evidence casting doubt on a consistent pharmacokinetic correlation
between plasma concentrations of NSAID's and respective analgesic / anti -
inflammatory activity. This study examined the effect of some physical and
environmental factors on the protein binding of piroxicam and ibuprofen in synovial
fluid.
In this current work, the Amicon MPS-1 ultrafiltration device provided rapid and
consistent separation of unbound NSAID in synovial fluids and HSA solutions.
Radiolabelled piroxicam provided a convenient and relatively simple means of
measuring the free fraction of this drug in synovial fluid using this device, with a
coefficient of variation of 9.8%.
The 2-arylpropionic acids include some marketed and commonly prescribed
NSAID's. They possess a chiral centre, are stereospecific in action and may
undergo metabolic inversion from the inactive R-(-) to the active S-(+) enantiomer.
The prostaglandin inhibitory effect resides with the S-(+) enantiomer, yet with the
exception of S-(+) naproxen, these agents are generally administered as racemic mixtures. The extent of metabolic chiral inversion in man is variable and may be one
very important factor in explaining the variability in response to these agents.Despite
the fact that the enantiomers of the 2-arylpropionic acid NSAID's differ in
pharmacological properties, we are still witnessing articles in the literature that
generate data of a non stereospecific nature.
In order to characterize the protein binding of the enantiomers of the chiral NSAID's
(ibuprofen and ketoprofen) in synovial fluid, a GC/MS assay procedure was
developed that was capable of determining ibuprofen enantiomer concentrations of
2ng/mL with a coefficient of variation of 5_ 10.8% and 7.4% for s-ibuprofen and
r-ibuprofen respectively. The entire procedure (complete in a matter of minutes),
was in marked contrast to the more lengthy methods found in the literature. The
procedure was readily adaptable to allow resolution of ketoprofen enantiomers with
a similar degree of sensitivity.
The free fractions of piroxicam and ibuprofen enantiomers were found to be
markedly dependent upon their respective drug and associated albumin
concentrations in synovial fluid according to pre-determined physical conditions.
Binding of piroxicam was found to be independent of pH at concentrations of drug
and albumin typically found in synovial fluid. There were marked differences in the
extent of binding of ibuprofen enantiomers to human serum albumin (HSA)
solutions, "fatty acid - stripped" HSA solutions, and synovial fluid. The current
studies suggest that caution with interpretation of binding constants determined from
experimental data (in these and similar studies), is essential, as most of the
commonly calculated values are based on saturation functions such as those
described by Scatchard and Klotz. Consideration should also be given to alternative
mathematical functions when interpreting the results of non-saturated binding
studies. As synovial fluid is close to the target tissue where a NSAM's effect is exerted, it is
reasonable to expect its concentration in this fluid to be a better indicator of drug
activity in rheumatic disease than in plasma. However, before an attempt to
correlate synovial fluid NSAID concentration with clinical response can be made,
consideration of the physical and environmental parameters affecting the protein
binding of the whole class of these drugs in synovial fluid may be beneficial.


Rising health care spending is a source of concern in the U.S. With new, high-cost health care technology, paying higher prices for the use of new technology without considering cheaper, equally effective alternatives leads to inefficient spending. This Note focuses on proton beam therapy ("PBT") for treatment of prostate cancer to explore several causes that contribute to high health care spending in the U.S. In treating prostate cancer, PBT has not been shown to be more effective than its cheaper alternative, IMRT. Yet, investors and many states continue to encourage its use for prostate cancer. This Note argues that inefficient use of PBT increased because existing standard for review of new health care technology and its reimbursement often suggest new health care technology will be reimbursed at a prime rate. Hence, private investors fueled the development of PBT Centers indiscriminately, expecting a high return on their investment. Then, this Note proposes several ways to encourage a more efficient use of PBT.


The objective of this study was to examine the evaluation of training courses applied in succession planning in organizations using the CIPP model. This was an applied research in terms of purpose and descriptive-survey in terms of data gathering type. Statistical population of the study included 100 employees of Chamber of Commerce, of which a sample size of 80 people were selected using the random sampling method and Cochran formula. Face validity and content validity were also used to assess the validity of questionnaire and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to calculate its reliability that the value of them was higher than 0.7, and the results indicated the validity and reliability of the researcher-made questionnaire. To analyze the data, with respect to research questions, descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequency distribution tables and charts) and inferential statistics (confirmatory factor analysis and one-sided one-sample t test) were applied using SPSS and PLS software. The results revealed that context, input, output (product) and process components in the evaluation model of training courses used in succession planning are at a favorable level.


This study aimed at showing the role of practicing management "by walking around" on the organizational commitment in the Jordanian hospitals among doctors and nurses. The sample of the study consisted of (106) male and female doctors, and (440) male and female nurses who work in the public and private hospitals in Jordan. A questionnaire was developed to measure the variables of the study which consists of (71) items; (35) items which measure practice management" by walking around" and (15) items to measure the organizational commitment. Means, standard deviation and multiple regression tests were used to answer the questions of the study and test its hypothesis. The main results of the study are as follows: The degree of the doctors and nurses' practice of management "by walking around" in the Jordanian was medium. The level of the organizational commitment of the doctors and nurse was medium. There was statically significant impact for practicing management "by walking around" on the organizational commitment of the doctors and nurses at the Jordanian hospitals. In the light of the study results, the study presented a set of recommendations: Encourage the doctors and nurses to practice management "by walking around", and to cooperate with the managers to make the work successful. In addition to provide the individuals (employees) with training programs that help them to improve their skills in practicing management "by walking around" which enhances making relations based on the mutual respect and trust between the manager and the employees.


We develop and apply a new set of empirical tools consistent with the tenets of value-based business strategies, leveraging the principle that "no good deal comes undone" and the methods of revealed preferences to empirically estimate drivers of value creation. We demonstrate how to use these tools in an analysis of value creation in buyer-supplier relationships in the UK corporate legal market. We show how the method can uncover evidence of subtle mechanisms that traditional methods cannot easily distinguish from each other. Furthermore, we show how these estimates can be used as parameters of biform games for out-of-sample analyses of strategic decisions. With readily available data on relationships between firms, this approach can be applied to many other contexts of interest to strategy researchers.