Two less addressed issues of deep reinforcement learning are (1) lack of generalization capability to new goals, and (2) data inefficiency, i.e., the model requires several (and often costly) episodes of trial and error to converge, which makes it impractical to be applied to real-world scenarios. In this paper, we address these two issues and apply our model to target-driven visual navigation. To address the first issue, we propose an actor-critic model whose policy is a function of the goal as well as the current state, which allows better generalization. To address the second issue, we propose the AI2-THOR framework, which provides an environment with high-quality 3D scenes and a physics engine. Our framework enables agents to take actions and interact with objects. Hence, we can collect a huge number of training samples efficiently. We show that our proposed method (1) converges faster than the state-of-the-art deep reinforcement learning methods, (2) generalizes across targets and scenes, (3) generalizes to a real robot scenario with a small amount of fine-tuning (although the model is trained in simulation), (4) is end-to-end trainable and does not need feature engineering, feature matching between frames or 3D reconstruction of the environment.


Of all the areas of intonational research, study of the tendency of the
frequency of vocal fold vibration to decline during the course of an utterance
- F0 declination - is likely initially to be the most fruitful in determining the
interaction between perceptual and productive processes. A general
introduction to the phenomenon is augmented by analysis of different
methods of determining declination lines; theoretical treatments are then
introduced. One particular local factor contributing to the downward trend,
downstep, is discussed, and its pivotal role in the intonational phonology
developed by Janet Pierrehumbert critically examined. In the light of the
theoretical discussion, two competing hypotheses are presented as to the
mediation of the declination effect, which is the effect that of two accented
syllables in an utterance, the second has to have a lower peak F0 value than
the first for them to be judged to have equal prominence. The Global
Declination Hypothesis attributes this to the use by speakers and hearers of
one or two abstract reference lines declining through the course of a tone-unit.
The Local Declination Hypothesis attributes it to the disposition of F0
excursions surrounding the two accents as well as to the respective peak
values.
The Global Declination Hypothesis is tested by presenting listeners with
pairs of dual-peak accented utterances with the two peaks identical in F0,
without any physically present local declination, and asking them to rate the
prominence of the second peak of each such utterance. No significant
differences are found in the prominence ratings, so the Local Declination
Hypothesis appears to be favoured. That hypothesis is itself tested through
the development of a model of individual accent prominence, which
incorporates terms for surrounding unaccented context. This is then used
as the basis of a model of the perceptual constraints on the production of
intonation in the scaling of target peaks. The model predicts that local slope
between accents and slope of the context after the target accent, as well as
other local variables, jointly determine the F0 value of a peak with a
particular targetted prominence relationship with its predecessor. If the
interaccentual stretch is declining, the declination effect is predicted to
occur, ceteris paribus. The model is found to be initially acceptable. In
addition, a global interpretation of downstep is made within the model.
The mechanisms the model is suggested to represent are auditory feedback
control loops of a variety of possible degrees of complexity. An experiment
is devised to test for the basic existence of a feedback loop which is used to
prevent local slope exceeding an arbitrary threshold value. Auditory
feedback In subjects was disrupted by headphone-administration of low-pass
filtered masking noise during their utterance of a sustained vowel, and a
short and a long dual peak-accented sentence. The disruption was sufficient
to alter the apparent mechanism controlling the production of the sustained
vowel, but the Lombard effect, whereby subjects automatically raise the level
of their voice in ambient noise, was found to be a vitiating factor.
General conclusions are drawn on the nature of the declination phenomenon
In intonation, and proposals made for future research.


Among the properties in the mandate for the harmonised European standards for both bitumen and asphalt are adhesion and durability. Both these properties are difficult to measure because the adhesion and durability of the bitumen is affected by the asphalt mixture in which it is used and vice versa. Therefore, an ad-hoc group was set up jointly by CEN TC227/WG1 and TC336/WG1 on adhesion and durability whose goal is to come up with a recommendation for test methods both to characterise bituminous binders with regards to binder adhesivity to aggregate and the durability of this adhesitivity after ageing/with time and to characterise the durability of adhesion and cohesion in hot bituminous mixtures. The Highways Agency funded a programme of laboratory tests to support the ad-hoc group that incorporated variants of the saturation ageing tensile stiffness (SATS) procedure in order to try to measure the durability of adhesion and cohesion in the asphalt mixtures. This report gives the findings of that programme together with the main conclusions that can be drawn from it. (A)


Abstract MicroRNAs are small (∼22 nt) noncoding RNAs that repress translation and therefore regulate the production of proteins from specific target mRNAs. microRNAs have been found to function in diverse aspects of gene regulation within animal development and many other processes. Among invertebrates, both conserved and novel, lineage specific, microRNAs have been extensively studied predominantly in holometabolous insects such as Drosophila melanogaster . However little is known about microRNA repertoires in other arthropod lineages such as the chelicerates. To understand the evolution of microRNAs in this poorly sampled subphylum, we characterized the microRNA repertoire expressed during embryogenesis of the common house spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum . We identified a total of 148 microRNAs in P. tepidariorum representing 66 families. Approximately half of these microRNA families are conserved in other metazoans, while the remainder are specific to this spider. Of the 35 conserved microRNAs families 15 had at least two copies in the P. tepidariorum genome. A BLAST-based approach revealed a similar pattern of duplication in other spiders and a scorpion, but not among other chelicerates and arthropods, with the exception of a horseshoe crab. Among the duplicated microRNAs we found examples of lineage-specific tandem duplications, and the duplication of entire microRNA clusters in three spiders, a scorpion, and in a horseshoe crab. Furthermore, we found that paralogs of many P. tepidariorum microRNA families exhibit arm switching, which suggests that duplication was often followed by sub- or neofunctionalization. Our work shows that understanding the evolution of microRNAs in the chelicerates has great potential to provide insights into the process of microRNA duplication and divergence and the evolution of animal development.


Gretel and the Dark is Eliza Granville's dazzling novel of darkness, evil - and hope. It is suitable for fans of Markus Zusak's The Book Thief and Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth. Vienna, 1899. Josef Breuer - celebrated psychoanalyst - is about to encounter his strangest case yet. Found by the lunatic asylum, thin, head shaved, she claims to have no name, no feelings - to be, in fact, not even human. Intrigued, Breuer determines to fathom the roots of her disturbance. Years later, in Germany, we meet Krysta. Krysta's Papa is busy working in the infirmary with the 'animal people', so little Krysta plays alone, lost in the stories of Hansel and Gretel, the Pied Piper, and more. And when everything changes and the real world around her becomes as frightening as any fairy tale, Krysta finds that her imagination holds powers beyond what she could have ever guessed..."A powerful, terrifying story. It is impossible not to find yourself racing through the pages. Heartbreaking and heart-racing." (The Times). "Dark and intriguing ...a highly clever, original book". (Daily Mail). Eliza Granville was born in Worcestershire and now lives in the Welsh Marches. She has had a life-long fascination with the enduring quality of fairytales and their symbolism, and the idea for Gretel and the Dark was sparked when she became interested in the emphasis placed on these stories during the Third Reich.


Abstract Confinement of energetic ions from neutral beam injection heating is investigated by changing the magnetic field configuration of the Large Helical Device from a classical heliotron configuration to an optimized neoclassical transport configuration to a level typical of "advanced stellarators." The experimental results show the highest count rate of fast neutral particles not in the optimized configuration but in the inward-shifted one. The GNET simulation results show a relatively good agreement with the experimental results, and they also show a lower energy loss rate in the optimized configuration. This contradiction can be explained by the radial profile of the energetic ions. The relatively good agreement between experimental and simulation results suggest that ripple transport (neoclassical) dominates the energetic ion confinement and that the optimization process is effective in improving confinement in helical systems.


In the Machine Intelligence Laboratory, University of Florida. we have built a small autonomous robot and programmed it to exhibit various reactive behaviors. The robot. named Gator. performs area coverage in an interior room by combining distinct behaviors. Gator has 26 sensors of which only 7 are used in the coverage algorithms examined here. Gator's behaviors allow it to avoid obstacles. follow walls. seek open areas and break out of confined areas. In the limited number of experiments performed here it appears that the best coverage algorithm among those tried consisted of a random walk with a probability of 0.05 for following a wall after each encounter with an obstacle. After 20 minutes about 85% of the floor space was covered with an efficiency close to 85%.


The evaluation of a large infrastructure project is a critical activity for bidders and governments under traditional procurement or through Public Private Partnership. When a project requires huge capital investment, public-private partnership (PPP) is often sought as an alternative in cases of shortage of public funds. Nevertheless, the complexity of the PPP arrangement has constituted a dilemma for government authorities to balance the interests between the public and the private parties (stakeholders). High capital burdens in terms of PPP bidding cost, construction cost, and operation and maintenance cost are part of the major challenges for private sponsors to get involved in PPP projects. Meanwhile, PPP scheme projects, believed to deliver better value for money, have been criticised by many as the product of highest influence level from either political patronage or corporate political power. There is an apparent need for a tool to help the government agency evaluate the delivery of value for money on PPP projects while still sustaining the interests of private parties. The aim of this research is to assist government agencies in evaluating bids and making decision efficiently for PPP seaport development projects through the use of an integrated project evaluation tool (IPET). A computer (MS excel program) based tool was developed to evaluate the project financial viability and negotiate the risk sharing mechanism of PPP Seaport Project at five different project stages. The stakeholders' expectations, financial indicators, financial risks, and mitigation measures are considered and developed into the following modules: (1) Financial viability module; (2) Financial risk analysis module; and (3) Financial risk mitigation module. A triangulation strategy was justified with caution due to the possibility of error. A qualitative method (i.e. literature review and interview to explore stakeholders' expectation and preferred indicators of PPP financial models) was undertaken prior to performing a quantitative technique (i.e. questionnaire survey to narrow down the preliminary findings). Then, the proposed tool was validated by comparing the results with secondary data and interviewing experts regarding their opinion on its applicability. The findings from the statistical analysis indicate that an efficient negotiation is possible if: (1) PPP financial models were used at the pre-proposal stage to examine the project's ability in generating enough cash flow; (2) All stakeholders know the most important expectations and the most preferred financial indicators of other stakeholders; and (3) IRR, NPV, Revenue, Operating Cost, and Principal Payback are not considered as the only financial indicators for evaluating PPP projects. By knowing the mutual agreement among stakeholders, any conflicting expectations can also be identified early and it may be possible to accommodate such expectations in the negotiation process. The IPET has been confirmed that it has several implications: (1) possibility to facilitate an efficient negotiation and effective evaluation process; (2) applicability in evaluating PPP seaport projects; and (3) potentially to be extended to other sectors. However, the IPET is designed to be used with financial model, hence it will require an actual PPP financial model.


This thesis will examine and attempt to explain how, in the first half of the sixteenth century, the central Italian port of Ancona achieved its greatest economic importance relative to other cities in the whole of its history. It will be seen that this development coincided with and was causally connected with the rise of other ports as widely dispersed as London, Antwerp, Ragusa and Constantinople.
During this period Ancona was transformed from a port of merely regional significance into a major international entrepot where the raw materials and manufactured goods of the Ottoman Empire were exchanged for agricultural produce and industrial goods from Italy and Western Europe. These changes were caused by developments outside Ancona itself, in particular the political stability of the lands of the eastern Mediterranean under Ottoman rule and the growing tendency for merchants to use land rather than sea trade routes as a result of improved organisation of land haulage and the growth of piracy.
The thesis has been based mainly on the hitherto unconsulted notarial archives of Ancona, and it should help to revise the view that post-medieval notarial records are of little value in studying commercial history. Other sources in Ancona itself and in the main cities with which she traded have also been consulted.
The thesis is arranged in six chapters. Chapter I sets the political and commercial framework of the Mediterranean with which Ancona was to develop. Chapter II sets the city in its geographical, historical and political perspective within this Mediterranean.
Chapter III consists of an examination and criticism of the sources consulted. Chapter IV is the core of the thesis, describing the commercial development if the city and attempting to explain it. Finally Chapters V and VI discuss the way in which trade was carried on in Acona. Chapter V deals with the structure of the merchant community and the way in which merchants operated, whilst Chapter VI deals with the organisation and operation of shipping.


How can we solve the national debt crisis? Should you or your child take on a student loan? Is it safe to talk on a cell phone while driving? Are there viable energy alternatives to fossil fuels? What could you do with a billion dollars? Could simple policy changes reduce political polarization? These questions may all seem very different, but they share two things in common. First, they are all questions with important implications for either personal success or our success as a nation. Second, they all concern topics that we can fully understand only with the aid of clear quantitative or mathematical thinking. In other words, they are topics for which we need math for life--a kind of math that looks quite different from most of the math that we learn in school, but that is just as (and often more) important. In Math for Life , award-winning author Jeffrey Bennett simply and clearly explains the key ideas of quantitative reasoning and applies them to all the above questions and many more. He also uses these questions to analyze our current education system, identifying both shortfalls in the teaching of mathematics and solutions for our educational future. No matter what your own level of mathematical ability, and no matter whether you approach the book as an educator, student, or interested adult, you are sure to find something new and thought-provoking in Math for Life .


Undifferenced ambiguity resolution for precise point positioning (PPP) can hardly be implemented for GLONASS data from inhomogeneous stations as GLONASS is based on FDMA (frequency division multiple access) signals. Since receiver hardware biases for all GLONASS satellites at a station are not identical, i.e., inter-frequency biases (IFBs), it is impossible to eliminate them by single differencing between satellites for the FCB (fractional-cycle bias) estimation to enable PPP ambiguity resolution. Although phase IFBs can be modeled with their linear relationship to the channel number, there is no easy approaches to correct for pseudorange IFBs, which thus prevent undifferenced ambiguity resolution across inhomogeneous GLONASS receivers. Geng and Bock (2016) proposed a method where external ionosphere products are introduced to constrain line-of-sight ionosphere parameters in order to reduce the adverse impact of pseudorange IFBs in contaminating undifferenced ambiguity estimates. In contrast, Banville (2016) proposed a method where ionosphere-free ambiguities of a wavelength of about 5 cm can be directly used for ambiguity resolution, as they are not affected by pseudorange IFBs. We can find that either method has its advantages and disadvantages, that is the former needs external ionosphere data which are not readily accessible or available to common users while Global Ionosphere Maps (GIMs) are disqualified due to their poor accuracy over a wide area, and the latter method is riskier when an ambiguity of about 5.3 cm wavelength has to be fixed to integers. Therefore, in this study, we are going to investigate both methods and inspect their performance in undifferenced ambiguity resolution with GLONASS data. We find that GLONASS ionosphere-free ambiguity resolution can achieve a high efficiency if integrated with GPS PPP ambiguity resolution, where about 90% of GLONASS ambiguities in hourly static solutions can be successfully fixed to integers, while 70% otherwise. However, GLONASS ionosphere-free ambiguity resolution in real-time scenarios is impaired by poor satellite orbits and insufficient error mitigations (atmosphere, etc.). On average, 16.8 minutes of observations are required to achieve an ambiguity-fixed solution in real time, even if GPS PPP ambiguity resolution is also carried out. In contrast, combining GLONASS and GPS PPP ambiguity resolution by resolving wide-lane and narrow-lane ambiguities can shorten the convergence time to about 6.2 minutes in real time.


Individual variation can be seen in many aspects of an organism, from its physical structure to its behaviour. Contributing factors to variation in behaviour may includes, age, genetic differences and even size. The response to new objects and environments is a varying behavioural trait found in a wide range of species. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the causes of variation in response to novel stimuli in the common marmoset, Callithrix jacchus. The investigation focused on the effects of sex, age, genetic differences and size. Variation in response was tested by a simple novel stimulus presentation test paradigm. Sixty eight animals were each individually presented with nine novel stimuli in home cage tests. Five measures of response were recorded: latency to approach and contact, duration of proximity and contact, and visual attendance. Responses were analysed and stimuli were categorised as: mirror, food related stimuli, unattractive stimuli and novel stimuli. Response across the nine stimuli was investigated for variation due to sex, age or weight of the subjects. Across the analysis, limited significant sex differences were seen in response to food related stimuli, with males being more responsive. To investigate whether general measures of response could be derived from the individual behaviours recorded, principal component analysis was carried out on the response data, which was split into the four stimulus groups. Simple response continua were successfully derived from components from analysis of mean stimulus group scores. The mirror and food stimulus groups each had two continua, one reflecting latency to response, and one reflecting the duration of time spent near the stimulus. The responses to the unattractive stimulus group and novel stimulus group could each be described by one response continuum. In order to assess whether genetic variation contributed to response, heritability analyses were carried out on both the derived continua and the five response measures, separated by stimulus group. No significant heritabilities were found after correction for multiple comparisons. This study thus demonstrates that sex is a more important determinant of response that individual genetic differences, age or weight in the common marmoset.


This paper describes theory, computational algorithms, and software associated with the new SPEER edit system. The SPEER edit system is based on the Fellegi-Holt model (JASA, 1976) of editing and is used on continuous data. The key feature of the new SPEER system is that it automatically does ratio editing and a limited form of balancing (assuring the items add to totals). The limited form of balancing appears to work in over 99% of the situations in which balancing is needed and the associated computational algorithms are exceedingly fast. Other economic edit systems are not able to do automatic balancing in a manner that assures records satisfy all edits.


A four-layer waveguide structure comprising a dielectric substrate, a metal layer, a left-handed material (LHM) as a guiding layer, and a cladding is investigated as a metal-clad waveguide sensor. Fresnel reflection coefficients are used to study the resonance dips at which the reflectance minimizes. Our calculations show that the proposed structure has a preference over the surface-plasmon resonance structure since it gives a much sharper reflectance dip and can achieve considerable sensitivity improvement. The effects of the LHM permittivity, permeability, and thickness on the reflectance curves is studied.


This Article argues that the current foreclosure crisis illustrates how economic stability and racial justice are intertwined. Recent research has found that the more racially segregated a metropolitan region is, the higher the number and rate of its foreclosures. Indeed, the high levels of racial residential segregation in the U.S. facilitated discriminatory and abusive lending practices and contributed to instability in regional housing markets. The Article contends that current fair housing laws alone are insufficient to dismantle the economic and political structures that continue to produce segregation, particularly the architecture of fragmented and unequal local governments competing with each other for resources. Responses to foreclosures provide an opportunity to chip away at these incentives for segregation by encouraging regional collaboration and shared-equity homeownership structures. Two promising examples of such collaboration are examined: first, a partnership between local governments and non-profits conducting targeted redevelopment through the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program; and, second, a joint effort by a community development financial institution and a community development corporation to buy portfolios of distressed notes at a discount in order to rehabilitate scattered-site properties as affordable housing. Building on these examples, the Article proposes that the next significant step toward creating durable solutions is for municipalities to support shared-equity homeownership structures designed to create permanent affordability and neighborhood stability. Innovative responses to foreclosures from federal, state, and local policymakers hold the promise of advancing both economic security and racial justice.


The objective of this study was to propose the walking in water for ACL injury rehabilitation program by simulation. For this objective, the simulator which can compute the body load considering the fluid force and force acting on the ACL was utilized. The optimal walking forms for three rehabilitation phases were then computed by the simulation. From the simulation analysis, the form for the first phase of rehabilitation was obtained as "bend the knee all through the swing phase". This form can prevent the ACL from loading the force. The form for the second phase was obtained as "bend the knee greatly and stretch the ankle first, then bend the hip keeping the knee bent and the foot stretched in the swing phase". By this form, the muscles around the knee joint can be trained without loading force on the ACL. The form for the last phase was obtained as "keep the thigh backward and the ankle stretched first, then bend the hip joint quickly and greatly in the swing phase". By this form, the muscles around the knee joint can be trained to the utmost.


Abstract This paper takes a new look at ideals generated by 2×2 minors of 2×3 matrices whose entries are powers of three elements not necessarily forming a regular sequence. A special case of this is the ideals determining monomial curves in three-dimensional space, which were studied by Herzog. In the broader context studied here, these ideals are identified as Northcott ideals in the sense of Vasconcelos, and so their liaison properties are displayed. It is shown that they are set-theoretically complete intersections, revisiting the work of Bresinsky and of Valla. Even when the three elements are taken to be variables in a polynomial ring in three variables over a field, this point of view gives a larger class of ideals than just the defining ideals of monomial curves. We then characterize when the ideals in this larger class are prime, we show that they are usually radical and, using the theory of multiplicities, we give upper bounds on the number of their minimal prime ideals, one of these primes being a uniquely determined prime ideal of definition of a monomial curve. Finally, we provide examples of characteristic-dependent minimal prime and primary structures for these ideals.


This collection of essays addresses the important issue of public space in terms of its design, use and management and value as a social, economic and cultural resource, with special reference to Singapore. Multi-disciplinary in perspective, it represents the first concerted attempt by academics and practitioners involved in the physical design and planning of Singapore to closely analyse a much neglected aspect of the Singapore's rapid industrialisation and provide suggestions for the country's future development. The book should interest ecologists, sociologists, botanists, geographers, urban planners, engineers, architects and other building professionals as well as the general public.


Judicial decisions do more than resolve disputes. They are also crucial sources of prospective law, because stare decisis obligates future courts to follow those decisions. Yet there remains tremendous uncertainty about how we identify a judicial decision's lawmaking content. Does stare decisis require future courts to follow the rules stated in a precedent-setting opinion? Or must future courts merely reconcile their decisions with the ultimate result of the precedent-setting case? Although it is widely assumed that a rule-based approach puts greater constraints on future courts, two recent Supreme Court decisions — Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes and Ashcroft v. Iqbal — turn this conventional wisdom on its head. In both cases, what the Court said about the governing rules was not inherently controversial, and would leave courts with considerable flexibility going forward. But what the Court did in applying those rules — the ultimate results in Wal-Mart and Iqbal — could be very destabilizing if stare decisis mandates consistency with those results in future cases.This article assesses competing approaches to stare decisis, and argues that the lawmaking content of a judicial decision should be only the rules that the court states in deciding the case. While the end result may be instructive, enlightening, or valuable for any number of reasons, it should not create binding obligations on future courts as a matter of stare decisis. A rules-only approach is an unconventional position (even those who favor rule-based stare decisis typically presume that consistency with results is also required). But it strikes the optimal balance. To infer binding obligations from results alone creates a risk that — as with Wal-Mart and Iqbal — future courts will be forced to intuit more radical legal changes than the precedent-setting court actually embraced. Put simply, a judicial decision should create binding law only to the extent that it says what the law is. Unless and until new legal rules are declared (whether by the judiciary in later cases or by legislation), courts should be free to operate within the existing legal framework, without being required to reconcile their decisions with the mere results of earlier ones.


To my parents and my girlfriend. Abstract Techniques of Artificial Intelligence and Human-Computer Interaction have empowered computer music systems with the ability to perform with humans via a wide spectrum of applications. However, musical interaction between humans and machines is still far less musical than the interaction between humans since most systems lack any representation or capability of musical expression. This thesis contributes various techniques, especially machine-learning algorithms, to create artificial musicians that perform expressively and collaboratively with humans. The current system focuses on three aspects of expression in human-computer collaborative performance: 1) expressive timing and dynamics, 2) basic improvisation techniques, and 3) facial and body gestures. Timing and dynamics are the two most fundamental aspects of musical expression and also the main focus of this thesis. We model the expression of different musicians as co-evolving time series. Based on this representation, we develop a set of algorithms, including a sophisticated spectral learning method, to discover regularities of expressive musical interaction from rehearsals. Given a learned model, an artificial performer generates its own musical expression by interacting with a human performer given a pre-defined score. The results show that, with a small number of rehearsals, we can successfully apply machine learning to generate more expressive and human-like collaborative performance than the baseline automatic accompaniment algorithm. This is the first application of spectral learning in the field of music. Besides expressive timing and dynamics, we consider some basic improvisation techniques where musicians have the freedom to interpret pitches and rhythms. We developed a model that trains a different set of parameters for each individual measure and focus on the prediction of the number of chords and the number of notes per chord. Given the model prediction, an improvised score is decoded using nearest-neighbor search, which selects the training example whose parameters are closest to the estimation. Our result shows that our model generates more musical, interactive, and natural collaborative improvisation than a reasonable baseline based on mean estimation. Although not conventionally considered to be " music, " body and facial movements are also important aspects of musical expression. We study body and facial expressions using a humanoid saxophonist robot. We contribute the first algorithm to enable a robot to perform an accompaniment for a musician and react to human performance with gestural and facial expression. The current system uses rule-based performance-motion mapping and separates robot motions into three groups: finger motions, …


In some parts of the world mushrooms have had a central role in religious ritual ceremonies. Ethnomycological studies among the Indian tribes of Mexico - the Aztecs and the Chichimecas - revealed the mushrooms to be hallucinogenic. Chemists from a leading Pharmaceutical company took over, isolated and described the mushroom alkaloid psilocybin, that upon dephosphorylation after collection of the mushroom or in the human body, form psilocin that is the active hallucinogenic compound. For a long time psilocybin/psilocin was expected to become a constituent of psychedelic drugs useful for treatment of specific psychoses. As the effect of psilocybin/psilocin resembles that of LSD the isolated compound, as well as mushrooms containing the compound, became popular among recreational users of hallucinogenic drugs in Western America, and from there the habit of using these mushrooms have spread around the world. Psilocybin/psilocin is legally prohibited in many countries which usually treat the compound as a narcotic drug. Some countries also prohibit the use of some or all psilocybin-containing mushrooms. In this respect, the legal situation differs between Nordic countries. Although psilocybin-containing mushrooms are not what Nordic mushroom pickers are trying to find as food or food supplement, there is a risk, admittedly small, that these mushrooms accidentally will be collected. At the present situation, this may be a legal problem in some Nordic countries. This document aims at identifying when this might be the case without going into legal interpretations.


Yellow fever is a non-contagious, viral, multisystem syndrome, that causes an estimated 200 000 human infections annually, and has a high fatality rate. Yellow fever vaccination is one of the main methods of primary prevention. Although the yellow fever vaccine is largely considered to be safe, adverse events, which are sometimes life-threatening, can occur. This article explores the safety and tolerability of yellow fever vaccines.


The diagnosis of cancer begins a period of significant distress and adjustment for both patients and their partners. To cope better with the distress, both partners are expected to support each other. However, this is not always the case and sometimes even well-meant support may hamper adjustment. This thesis describes the role of interpersonal factors (i.e., past spousal support) and intrapersonal (e.g., personal control) in the association between spousal support and wellbeing of couples coping with colorectal cancer. The results suggest that overall people who perceived their partner to be supportive in the past, had a high sense of personal control and/or had a low need for emotional expression were less affected by their partners' current behavior compared to people who perceived their partners not to be supportive in the past, had a low sense of personal control and/or had a high need for emotional expression. As more studies examine couples' adjustment to cancer, the challenges of recruiting both members of the dyad to studies are becoming apparent. Hence, the second part of this thesis focuses on a common methodological issue; namely, couples recruitment to psycho-oncological studies. A systematic review was conducted to examine the average Couples Response Rates (CRR), systematically review the quality of reporting of couples' response rate, and assess potential determinants of this rate in studies of couples coping with cancer. The results revealed incomplete reporting of response rate and potential determents of CRR. Recommendations and guidelines to improve reporting are provided.


Analog design is one of the more difficult aspects of electrical engineering. The main reason is the apparently vague decisions an experienced designer makes in optimizing his circuit. To enable fresh designers, like students electrical engineering, to become acquainted with analog circuit design, structuring the analog design process is of utmost importance. Structured Electronic Design: Negative-Feedback Amplifiers presents a design methodology for negative-feedback amplifiers. The design methodology enables to synthesize a topology and to, at the same time, optimize the performance of that topology. Key issues in the design methodology are orthogonalization, hierarchy and simple models. Orthogonalization enables the separate optimization of the three fundamental quality aspects: noise, distortion and bandwidth. Hierarchy ensures that the right decisions are made at the correct level of abstraction. The use of simple models, results in simple calculations yielding maximum-performance indicators that can be used to reject wrong circuits relatively fast. The presented design methodology divides the design of negative-feedback amplifiers in six independent steps. In the first two steps, the feedback network is designed. During those design steps, the active part is assumed to be a nullor, i.e. the performance with respect to noise, distortion and bandwidth is still ideal. In the subsequent four steps, an implementation for the active part is synthesized. During those four steps the topology of the active part is synthesized such that optimum performance is obtained. Firstly, the input stage is designed with respect to noise performance. Secondly, the output stage is designed with respect to clipping distortion. Thirdly, the bandwidth performance is designed, which may require the addition of an additional amplifying stage. Finally, the biasing circuitry for biasing the amplifying stages is designed. By dividing the design in independent design steps, the total global optimization is reduced to several local optimizations. By the specific sequence of the design steps, it is assured that the local optimizations yield a circuit that is close to the global optimum. On top of that, because of the separate dedicated optimizations, the resource use, like power, is tracked clearly. Structured Electronic Design: Negative-Feedback Amplifiers presents in two chapters the background and an overview of the design methodology. Whereafter, in six chapters the separate design steps are treated with great detail. Each chapter comprises several exercises. An additional chapter is dedicated to how to design current sources and voltage source, which are required for the biasing. The final chapter in the book is dedicated to a thoroughly described design example, showing clearly the benefits of the design methodology. In short, this book is valuable for M.Sc.-curriculum Electrical Engineering students, and of course, for researchers and designers who want to structure their knowledge about analog design further.


We develop new economic policy uncertainty (EPU) indices for Japan from January 1987 onwards, building on the approach of Baker, Bloom and Davis (2016). Each index reflects the frequency of newspaper articles that contain certain terms pertaining to the economy, policy matters, and uncertainty. Our overall EPU index co-varies positively with implied volatilities for Japanese equities, exchange rates and interest rates and with a survey-based measure of political uncertainty. The EPU index rises around contested national elections and major leadership transitions in Japan, during the Asian financial crisis and in reaction to the Lehman Brothers failure, U.S. debt downgrade in 2011, Brexit referendum, and Japan's deferral of a consumption tax hike. Our uncertainty indices for fiscal, monetary, trade, and exchange rate policy co-vary positively but also display distinct dynamics. For example, our trade policy uncertainty (TPU) index rocketed upwards when the U.S. withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership in January 2017. VAR models imply that upward EPU innovations foreshadow deteriorations in Japan's macroeconomic performance, as reflected by impulse response functions for investment, employment and output. Our study adds to evidence that credible policy plans and strong policy frameworks can favorably influence macroeconomic performance by, in part, reducing policy uncertainty.


A terahertz (THz) spectrometer is demonstrated that is based on a 25 K cryogenically cooled cesium iodide prism using a bolometer as detector. We present the THz spectrum of short pulses from a large biased semiconductor irradiated with femtosecond pulses from a Ti:sapphire laser and calibrate the spectrum with the transmission spectra of frequency-selective surface filters centered at 300 and 600 GHz. In addition, the optical properties (absorption and dispersion) in the THz frequency range are reported for CsI, and also KBr and KCl for temperatures between 10 and 300 K. These were obtained using THz time domain transmission spectroscopy using electro-optic sampling. The CsI prism spectrometer is sufficiently transparent from 0.2 to 1.1 THz, ensuring an overall energy throughput exceeding 10%. The resolution equals about 100 GHz at 0.6 THz and 170 GHz at 0.3 THz.


Purpose of the article: Corporate management understands the importance of proving the quality of their products as well as other aspects, particularly environmental and safety issues in business connections and their possible negative impact on the company's competitiveness and image.
Methodology/methods: A data analysis was carried out based on a questionnaire research conducted in a selection group of Czech businesses with the objective to identify the reasons for introducing and using a management system, or to identify difficulties and problems in introducing it. The questionnaire research was statistically processed using analytic classification, hypotheses testing as well as a correlation analysis.
Scientific aim: The objective of the research was to validate or invalidate the hypotheses concerning the measures taken by a business in implementing and maintaining a quality management system (QMS), problems in its implementation, and to analyse competitive advantages and influence on the image.
Findings: The research results confirmed that internal reasons for QMS implementation prevail in national businesses. Nevertheless, the main problem is the complexity of QMS/ understanding of the QMS by employees. An implemented QMS motivates the personnel, however, only a small number of enterprises use it to motivate their employees. The main benefits quoted by the respondents were improved company process management and relations between the processes, increased customer satisfaction as well as improved corporate image.
Conclusions: A quality management system helps organisations to introduce system and order. Corporate processes are systematically managed, which significantly contributes to meeting the business objectives of a company. Having integrated the implemented QMS in their organisation, the respondents demonstrated they can effectively work with it and flexibly react to the changes faced in the present market environment.


This paper establishes a simple model of long run economic and political development, which is driven by the inherent technical features of di⁄erent production factors and the political con(cid:135)icts among factor owners on how to divide the outputs. The main production factor in economy evolves from land to physical capital and then to human capital, which enables their respective owners (landlords, capitalists, and workers) to gain political power in the same sequence, shaping the political development path from monarchy to oligarchy and (cid:133)nally to democracy with full su⁄rage. When it is too costly for any group of factor owners to repress others, political compromise is reached and economic progress is not blocked; otherwise, the political con(cid:135)icts may lead to economic stagnation.


Developing organisms must reconcile conflicts between demands of survival within the current life-history stage, with those of maturation, while negotiating the transitions through succeeding stages. In the case of feeding performance, the parts of the feeding apparatus and their biomechanics must maintain functional integrity to meet the feeding needs of a juvenile even as they develop toward their adult form. We concurrently examine the ontogenetic relationships of feeding performance, dentition and feeding biomechanics, relative to key life-history events, utilizing samples drawn from the same population of known-age coyotes Canis latrans. The development of feeding performance is asynchronous with development of both feeding biomechanics and skull morphology; feeding performance lags during ontogeny despite surprisingly large early mechanical advantage of the temporalis, due in part, to early relative maturity of mandibular shape. Feeding performance and biomechanics, like skull morphology, mature well after weaning at 6 weeks of age. Late maturation of bite strength and feeding performance is mediated by ongoing and continued growth of the temporalis muscles as measured by maximum zygomatic arch breadth (ZAB). Males and females may resolve developmental conflicts differently, as females trade earlier maturity for smaller maximum ZAB, decreased relative bite strength and diminished feeding performance, compared with males. The asynchrony of feeding performance development seen in coyotes, is also characteristic of a highly specialized carnivore, the spotted hyena, but coyotes have a much less protracted development, being handicapped relative to adults for a much shorter time. This developmental asynchrony between feeding performance and morphology suggests that a certain minimum threshold of physical growth and development, together with the associated development of biomechanics, are required to produce effective mastication. The relationships among biomechanics, life-history schedules and ontogeny of feeding performance have obvious implications for fitness.


Summer Lecture Series 2009: Arun Majumdar, Director of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division, discusses current and future projections of economic growth, population, and global energy demand and supply, and explores the implications of these trends for the environment.


OBJECTIVE
Major steps in the evolution of advanced neurosurgical techniques include microneurosurgery, neuroendoscopy and its minimally invasive variations, neuronavigation, and advanced intraoperative imaging. With traditional neuroendoscopic techniques (e.g., freehand endoscopy or the use of mechanical arms), definitive controlled movement of the endoscope within the brain depends on the experience and skill of the individual neurosurgeon.

METHODS
With the Evolution 1 precision robot (Universal Robot Systems, Schwerin, Germany), a new neurosurgical tool has become available for the precise steering of instruments within the cranium. After preclinical anatomic and precision studies, the system was used for neuronavigated endoscopic procedures for three patients.

RESULTS
All robot-assisted, navigated, endoscopic procedures were successfully completed. The time for the registration procedure and setup of the robot decreased from 60 minutes for the first patient to 30 minutes for the third patient. The time for the surgical part of the endoscopic procedure ranged from 17 to 65 minutes. No complications occurred during any procedure.

CONCLUSION
The use of robotic technology for neuroendoscopic procedures is a major advance for controlled movement of the endoscope within the cranium. The start-up procedure and calibration of the robot are still time-consuming, but the actual operation time is comparable to that of freehand neuroendoscopic procedures. Steering of the endoscope is facilitated, and the precision of the endoscopic movements is noteworthy.


The aim of this dissertation is to contribute to the knowledge on how user participation can be effective to improve the quality of work of users when using information systems (IS) and information technology (IT). The focus of this research is from the perspective of the users and from a specific application of IS/IT, namely business process management (BPM) systems. The reason is that BPM systems intervene directly on the design of the workflow of employees and therefore to the activities conducted. Consequently, these systems can greatly affect the quality of work of the employees. The main research question is: How can user participation in BPM implementation be successful? To answer the research question a Structure-Agency model of User Participation Practice is developed which consists of two elements: the structure of user participation practice and the human agency during user participation. In this model it is assumed a relationship between user participation practice and BPM implementation success and that this relationship is influenced by management support and user attributes. The research question is answered in different case studies by a mixed method approach to test the associations between the different variables with quantitative data and to explore the underlying motives and mechanism with qualitative data. The research question is elaborated in three themes. In the first theme, the concept of implementation success in the practice of user participation was investigated. In the second theme the question of whether this relationship is influenced by managerial interventions was investigated. To answer this question the contribution of management to user participation was explored. The third theme of this dissertation addresses the question of how individual attributes of users influence the relationship between user participation practice and implementation success. Variations in these attributes may lead to different outcomes, especially where this is related to the quality of work as indicator of implementation success. The results of the different studies show that customizing and specifying user participation practices is of key importance for understanding the success of BPM implementation. Furthermore, it appears that management support and end-user training should be considered as important parts of the user participation practice. The creation by management of a beneficial implementation climate that favors innovation is crucial for implementation success. Realizing that the contribution of management to user participation always occurs in the context of multiple stakeholders, it was found that management support concerning awareness creation, end-user training and user participation were critical in relation to the multiple stakeholders' vision sharing and alignment. The studies further show that the age of users has a significant moderating effect on the perceived quality of work and that user attitude variables have a significant moderating effect on implementation success. The results of the studies in this dissertation lead to an expanded structure-agency model of user participation practice, which provides multiple triggers for further research questions and for the elaboration of the theory of user participation. Practitioners can use the model to structure their efforts of user participation in BPM implementation.


We report on the results from a comparative study on the continuous-wave laser performance of Yb:YGG, Yb:LuGG, and Yb:GGG gallium garnets grown by the optical floating zone technique, conducted under identical experimental conditions. 5−7 W of output powers were generated with the three garnet crystals in a compact linear resonator longitudinally pumped by a diode laser emitting at 970−974 nm. The optical-to-optical and slope efficiencies measured for Yb:YGG amounted to 68% and 80%, respectively, which proved to be much higher than the corresponding efficiencies for Yb:LuGG (49% and 60%) or Yb:GGG (52% and 64%).


This study considers life satisfaction in relation to the empty nest syndrome, which is a situation where there are feelings of loss or loneliness for mothers and/or fathers following the departure of the last child from the parental home. In particular, the investigation considers the significance of Identity Economics when applied to parents experiencing a reduction in well-being following an extended period of child-rearing. The origins of the empty nest syndrome are first considered briefly before conducting an economic analysis of life satisfaction using the German Socio-Economic Panel. Our particular focus is the change in the subjective well-being of the individuals who become empty nesters, taking advantage of the richness of this dataset. As a result, this is the first large sample economic analysis of its kind to use identity to evaluate the effects of becoming "empty nest" parents in a systematic way.


In 2009–10, 17 states considered expanding taxation on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) as a potential source of funds and a means to curb obesity. This article examines the various types of soda tax proposals, the underlying economic theory, and the anticipated impact of the proposed taxes on different population groups.


Beginning in the nineteenth century with Anthony Comstock, America's 'censor in chief,' The Mind of the Censor and the Eye of the Beholder explores how censors operate and why they wore out their welcome in society at large. This book explains how the same tactics were tried and eventually failed in the twentieth century, with efforts to censor music, comic books, television, and other forms of popular entertainment. The historic examples illustrate not just the mindset and tactics of censors, but why they are the ultimate counterculture warriors and why, in free societies, censors never occupy the moral high ground. This book is for anyone who wants to know more about why freedom of speech is important and how protections for free expression became part of the American identity.


This thesis explores the influence of the Dutch colonialism and the Javanese anti-colonialism in Minke's, the main male character of Pramoedya Ananta Toer's Child of All Nations life. In this study, I will pay attention to how the Dutch colonialism and the Javanese anti-colonialism affect this Dutch-educated Javanese writer's personality and leads him to the process of decolonization. Through post-colonial theory, particularly on Fanon's discussion about the nature of colonialism, this thesis firstly identifies the colonizer-colonized perspectives and ideas, as they have been depicted and transfered into Minke's mind by several Dutch and Javanese figures in Minke's life. In the analysis, I find out that the Dutch colonialism influences Minke to believe that European is always superior and the Javanese remains inferior. On the other hand, the Javanese anti-colonialism triggers him to admit that the Javanese people are brave and persistent while the Dutch colonials are manipulative and exploitative. The second, supported by Fanon's theory of decolonization, is to show that Minke, after experiencing these two conflicting influences, undergoes the process of decolonization. The first phase is his assimilation to the Dutch colonial system which is signified by his acceptance and enjoyment over his social status as a Raden Mas. Then, he encounters the phase of self-discovery, signified by his deep sympathy toward his fellow Javanese and his passionate attempt to fight for his people. To conclude, this thesis eventually indicates that Minke's depiction of Dutch colonial is rebuked by the growing influence of the Javanese anti-colonial and, thus, caused his revolutionary struggle, the last phase in Fanon's theory of decolonization. It reveals that Minke manages himself to be the defender of his Javanese people, a Native intellectual who reveals the injustice and exploitation of the Javanese people under the rule of Dutch colonizer.


Coastal marine sediments are a hotspot of organic matter degradation. Mineralization products of early diagenetic processes accumulate in the pore waters of the sediment, are subject of biological uptake and secondary biogeochemical processes and are released back into the water column via advective and diffusive fluxes across the sediment-water interface. Seven representative sites in the shallow coastal area of the southern Baltic Sea (15–45 m water depth), ranging from permeable sands to fine grained muds, were investigated on a seasonal basis for their key mineralization processes as well as their solid phase and pore water composition to identify the drivers for the variability of early diagenetic processes in the different sediment types. The sandy sediments showed about one order of magnitude lower organic carbon contents compared to the muds, while oxygen uptake rates were similar in both sediment types. Significantly higher oxygen uptake rates were determined in two near-shore muddy sites than in a deeper coastal muddy basin, which is due to higher nutrient loads and the corresponding addition of fresh algal organic matter in the near-shore sites. Pore water concentration profiles in the studied sediments were usually characterized by a typical biogeochemical zonation with oxic, suboxic, and sulfidic zones. An up to 15 cm thick suboxic zone was sustained by downward transport of oxidized material in which dissolved iron and phosphate indicate an intensive reduction of reactive Fe with the release of adsorbed phosphorus. While the geochemical zonation was stable over time in the muds of the studied deeper basin, high variability was observed in the muds of a near-coastal bay probably mainly controlled by sediment mixing activities. The sediments can be characterized by essentially two factors based on their near-surface benthic solute reservoirs: (1) their organic matter mineralization and solute accumulation efficiency and (2) their redox-state. Benthic solute reservoirs in the pore waters of the top decimeter were generally higher in the muddy than in the sandy sediments as the more permeable sands were prone to an intensive exchange between pore water and bottom water. The three studied muddy sites showed great dissimilarities with respect to their predominating redox-sensitive metabolites (dissolved iron, manganese, and sulfide). Surface-near advective transport like irrigation of permeable sands and rearrangement of cohesive muds had a particularly strong influence on early diagenetic processes in the studied sediments and were probably the most important cause for the spatiotemporal variability of their benthic solute reservoirs.


States are more concerned than ever before about their business tax climate. Over the past two decades, profound technological and political changes have enhanced employers' geographic mobility and extended their geographic range, thereby intensifying economic competition both within the United States and throughout the world. This study ranks the business tax climate of 22 states, including the six within New England. It finds only modest differences in business tax climate among most states. Within the region, New Hampshire and Massachusetts have the most attractive business tax climates.> The study also estimates the importance of business tax climate in determining where manufacturers invest in plant and equipment. Business tax climate exerts only a small, highly uncertain effect on such investment. States may be more likely to stimulate their economy by enhancing public services valued by business.


A bulky α-diimine ligand with a three dimensional geometry and strong electron-withdrawing groups (–NO2), 9,10-dihydro-9,10-ethanoanthracene-11,12-di(p-PhNO2)imine(L), and a corresponding single nickel catalyst (NiL2Br2) were synthesized, and the molecular structure of the NiL2Br2 catalyst was confirmed by X-ray crystallography. After being activated with B(C6F5)3, the NiL2Br2 catalyst exhibited high activity towards homopolymerization and copolymerization of norbornene(NB) and butyl methacrylate (BMA). The obtained poly(NB-co-BMA)s were confirmed to be vinyl-addition copolymers and noncrystalline. The BMA monomer content in the copolymers could be controlled up to 6.0%–78.7% by varying the BMA monomer feed ratios from 10% to 90%. The obtained poly(NB-co-BMA)s exhibited high thermal stability (Td > 390 °C), high-molecular-weight and narrow molecular weight distribution (PDI ≤ 1.4) and could be processed into films with good transparency and mechanical properties.


Traditionally, the "elderly" are believed to be those individuals age 65 and older. People ages 65-74 years referred to as the "young-old," persons ages 75-84 years as "old," and persons ages 85 years and older as the "old-old". Research on sexuality in the elderly is still rather infrequent. Many older adults are sexually active. Adult females are less likely than humans to have a spousal or other intimate relationship and to be sexually active. Sexual problems are frequent among older adults, but these problems are infrequently discussed with doctors. Others consider that sexual activity in long-term care facilities is against the rules.


The present volume aims at offering a less detailed but chronologically broader survey of the agents of the above mentioned matrix of communications across the Mediterranean basin from the early Medieval to the Modern era. Rather than indulging upon the supposed and catastrophic mid-seventh century caesura (as advocated by Pirenne), or moving from the second trade cycle (as described by Wickham) this collection of articles stresses the continuities in the dynamic connectivity of the Mediterranean. By observing the faces of those who continuously build these networks and goods which travel across, the reader will enact Penelope and her loom where endless threads and knots were made and destroyed in a fortnight. In a similar vein (loosely in tune with a Braudelian longue duree ), the volume offers an interdisciplinary and encompassing digest over the manifold actors of this incessant weaving and undoing of communications across different periods of Mediterranean history.


Using Jacques Ranciere's theoretical development of an a priori logic of an equality of intelligence (2009), I will examine how an assumed equality of intelligence, applied across all the various forms of photography can provide a more productive framework to consider how images are used and reused. It will be argued that by assuming this a priori logic, we can move the debate beyond questions that are concerned with the originality of an image or its status as document and allows for a reconsideration of its use as a catalyst for debate. What is called for is a photographic discourse that reformulates the role of documentary photography as a means to engage with the reader's imagination as an explicit challenge to perception. This new discourse re-frames the photograph as a vehicle for debate, as a discursive document.


The Study approaches the organizational analysis known as knowledge-audit, and in particular proposes to extend the structure of the related models over the mere analysis of the organizational knowledge including the knowledge-management capabilities.
 A specific assessment-process of the knowledge-management capabilities is thus structured basing upon a specific grid whose components address the organization's intellectual capital, from one side, and the main perspectives of the balanced-scorecard [Kaplan, Norton, 1996; 2001] from others. In particular, by applying such grid is here produced an estimate of the correlation occurring between the efficiency of the knowledge-management system and the business performances of the organization; and basing on such correlation it is defined a metric addressing the possible existing relationships among: (a) the support level provided by the knowledge-management system to the organization's intellectual capital components; (b) the improvements of the same system achievable by taking a changes in some of the main constituting components (i.e. technology, personal competence, and personal motivation); and (c) the increases in the business performances. It is then proved that such metric not only allows to estimate the effectiveness of the knowledge-management systems but also allows to individuate those interventions, that must be taken to boost the capabilities of the same system, in terms of technology, personal motivation and personal competencies.
 Such metric is tested in the Study's empirical part on two main samples constituted by different subjects; the first is constituted by two subgroups of private technology consulting firms - one operating worldwide and the other operating locally in the Southern Italy area; the second instead is constituted by several different public organizations that have been selected among Italian public administration bodies, Italian Public Agencies (i.e. INPS, Agenzia Dogane, etc.), public research centers, and international organizations. Specifically, the deep difference presumably existing between the samples in the progress of their own operational knowledge-management systems is here used as reference term to test the intrinsic consistency of such metric as very different values characterize the estimates produced by applying this metric: over proving the meaningfulness of the metric the positive exit of the test allows to define a quantitative estimate of the real divide existing between the subjects and to propose a related suitable strategy for improving the knowledge-management systems of the same subjects.


Can we rely on the altruism of professionals or the public service ethos to deliver good quality health and education services? And how should patients, parents, and pupils behave - as grateful recipients or active consumers? This book provides new answers to these questions - a milestone in the analysis and development of public policy, from one of the leading thinkers in the field. It provides a new perspective on policy design, emphasising the importance of analysing the motivation of professionals and others who work within the public sector, and both their and public service beneficiaries' capacity for agency or independent action. It argues that the conventional assumption that public sector professionals are public-spirited altruists or 'knights' is misplaced; but so is the alternative that they are all, in David Hume's terminology, 'knaves' or self-interested egoists. We also must not assume that individual citizens are passive recipients of public services (pawns); but nor can they be untrammelled sovereigns with unrestricted choices over services and resources (queens). Instead, policies must be designed so as to give the proper balance of motivation and agency. The book illustrates how this can be done by detailed empirical examination of recent policies in health services, education, social security and taxation. It puts forwards proposals for policy reform, several of which either originated with the author or with which he has been closely associated: universal capital or 'demogrants', discriminating vouchers, matching grants for pensions and for long-term care, and hypothecated taxes. Available in OSO: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/economicsfinance/0199266999/toc.html


The most fatal form of breast cancer, triple negative (TNBC), continues to challenge clinicians worldwide with its lack of reliable prognostic biomarkers and pharmacologically actionable treatment targets. In the US, this aggressive disease disproportionately afflicts African-American (AA) women at a rate 2-3 times higher than European-American (EA) women, thereby contributing to the observed higher mortality rates of AA BC patients.  In order to address the unmet clinical need for new and effective treatments for AA TNBCs, we describe herein a potentially actionable pathway that appears to be in overdrive in TNBCs of AA patients compared to EA TNBCs: the Notch signaling pathway. Notch signaling is implicated in multiple aspects of carcinogenesis and tumor progression including in regulation of proliferation, apoptosis, the biology of cancer stem cells, tumor angiogenesis and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Our gene expression analyses uncover significant upregulation of Notch signaling as well as gene ontologies reflecting dysregulation of key processes regulated by Notch signaling among AA compared to EA TNBC patients. Furthermore, we present evidence suggesting that upregulated Notch signaling may predict poor prognosis in TNBC. Our findings thus suggest differences in Notch signaling among racially-distinct TNBC patients that may contribute to the more aggressive clinical behavior of TNBC in AAs. These observations also suggest that Notch signaling may be an attractive therapeutic target for high-risk AA TNBC patients.


In this study I examine young peoples' experiences of managing their diabetes in
university. Previous studies of students with diabetes have highlighted the
problematic effects that the transition from home to university can have for these
young people. Young people with diabetes are thought to be at risk of experiencing
peer pressure, drinking too much alcohol and eating unhealthy foods. Such practices
are often figured to be representative of a `student lifestyle', one governed by selfindulgence,
and are seen to be in conflict with the lifestyle that a well controlled
young person with diabetes should maintain. Earlier studies are themselves
problematic in several respects, however. First of all they typically see the young
person's `student identity' as being an a priori risk to their diabetes care. Secondly
these studies often ignore young people's own understandings of risk, or fail to
recognize the socially embedded nature of risk for young people with diabetes.
Thirdly they often see the transition from home to university as an undifferentiated,
uni-directional phenomenon whose effect is the same for all young people with
diabetes. Once these students make the transition to university, their diabetes control
is thought to take second place to more `pressing', risky concerns. In this study I
argue otherwise. By attending to young people's own narratives of practice in
relation to their food, alcohol and technological consumption, I show that young
people with diabetes are often extremely concerned about their diabetes control at
university, though the meaning of control for these students is mediated by their
positions within and dispositions towards discourses of gender and health, the stages
they are at in their university careers, and what they consider to be `normal'
behaviours. Overall, my findings challenge the received wisdom of much medical
research on young people with diabetes who have been characterised as leading
`hedonistic' lifestyles, taking undue risks with little apparent concern for the future.
By attending to students' own narrative accounts of living with diabetes a very
different picture emerges where risks are embedded within specific social contexts.
This more relational view of respondents' experience has implications for how health
professionals care for young people with diabetes


Designing computer programs to automatically categorize images using low-level features is a challenging research topic in computer vision. In this paper, we present a new learning technique, which extends Multiple-Instance Learning (MIL), and its application to the problem of region-based image categorization. Images are viewed as bags, each of which contains a number of instances corresponding to regions obtained from image segmentation. The standard MIL problem assumes that a bag is labeled positive if at least one of its instances is positive; otherwise, the bag is negative. In the proposed MIL framework, DD-SVM, a bag label is determined by some number of instances satisfying various properties. DD-SVM first learns a collection of instance prototypes according to a Diverse Density (DD) function. Each instance prototype represents a class of instances that is more likely to appear in bags with the specific label than in the other bags. A nonlinear mapping is then defined using the instance prototypes and maps every bag to a point in a new feature space, named the bag feature space. Finally, standard support vector machines are trained in the bag feature space. We provide experimental results on an image categorization problem and a drug activity prediction problem.


On a startlingly bright autumn night in 2006, Harper Regan walked away from her home, her husband and daughter, and kept walking. She told nobody that she was going. She told nobody where she was going. She put everything she ever built at risk. For two lost days and nights, until it looked as though her entire life might unravel, she didn't turn back.

From Uxbridge to Stockport to Manchester and back again, Harper Regan navigates the UK, exploring family, love and delusion. It received its world premiere at the National Theatre, London, in 2008.


The present thesis research was focused on the assessment of hydrological drought in the Tempisque-Bebedero catchment system in Costa Rica as part of the TropiSeca project framework. The study area is in the province of Guanacaste and has an extension of 5449.94 Km2, the region is characterized by a defined wet and dry season resulting in a marked seasonality in precipitation and streamflow regime which provokes frequent periods of water deficits considered as drought.
The main objective of this research is to conduct an analysis on hydrological drought in the study area through the understanding of the behavior of hydrological cycle and its implications for the rice sector by applying different drought indices such as Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Streamflow Drought Index (SDI). From the values obtained in the calculation of drought indices were studied the temporal distribution and spatial distribution based on the characterization of drought periods in terms of frequency, severity, duration, and seasonality.
For the characterization of meteorological drought in the study area an approach based on area average precipitation was implemented to calculate a regional representative SPI for each sub-basin, in contrast, hydrological drought was assessed using only two streamflow gauges data provided by the ICE from 1973 until 2003.
As result, Tempisque showed longer drought periods in comparison with Bebedero whose mean duration was lower but the number of drought events were more frequent. In terms of spatial distribution, it could be found that the upper basin experienced extreme meteorological drought periods at high time scales tied to a severe streamflow deficit probably justified by its low permeability due to geological characteristics that allow a slow movement of groundwater.
Additionally, one of the aims of this thesis was to analyze the existence of correlation between precipitation and streamflow anomalies with rice yield and, to determine the influence of ENSO in climate variability using Sea Surface Temperature indices; in this phase of the research was found that climate patterns in the catchment system exhibited a significant influence by ENSO events with a significance level of 99% (r > 0.7) showing an important dependence of meteorological drought periods presented during the period 1980-2016.
In terms of temporal behavior of rice yield anomalies was revealed moderate correlation coefficients (r < 0.4) in both watersheds due to in most of the cases the response of water deficit did not have significant impact in terms of magnitude as expected; in some periods in which drought period was present categorized as mild-drought, rice yield had a considerable decreasing compared with those in which was categorized as extreme event; these differences can be justified mostly because crop yield depends not only on weather, but also on variety of seed used and its coping capacity to periods of water scarcity, fertilizers, soil moisture, farming techniques, sowing date, temperature, irrigation, use of pesticides etc.
The results of this thesis can be used to motivate future researches in the elaboration of crop models to predict yields based on physiological processes during plant development considering water requirement to take enough measures to mitigate the effects of drought periods. Furthermore, it should be considered to implement a drought monitor system in the area as an important tool of early warning system and as an indicator for the efficient water resources management.


From the late 1960s until the mid-1980s, the influence of Marxist ideas expanded in sub-Saharan Africa. The Catholic Church saw this influence as likely to affect the accomplishment of its mission, and its pastoral efforts accordingly sought to deal with the Marxist thrust. In the late 1980s, Marxist influence in Africa declined sharply as Marxist political dominance became less intense. Nevertheless, the Church's encounter with Afrcian Marxism constituted an important chapter in both secular and ecclesiastical history. Finding a Social Voice records and analyzes the significant elements of this encounter. Father McKenna's book investigates how postcolonial African regimes under varying degree of Marxist influence have interacted with the Catholic Church, and studies how the Chruch has grown through its response to that interaction. The book contributes greatly to the virtually unexplored topic of church-state interaction in contemporary Africa. McKenna's claim that the Catholic Chruch's response to Marxism was a part of its coming to maturity,part of its bringing its social perspective to bear on the processes of political, economic, and social modernization through which traditional cultures were passing, is an important contribution to the more recent literature on the emergence of civil societyin Sub-Saharan Africa. The text also provides an introduction to post-Vatican II understandings of ecclesiastical activity in Africa. It reviews the theory and practice of Marxism as developed by Marx, Engels, Lenin, and the leaders of Soviet Russia and other Communist countries. It then presents an overview of the ways in which Marxist influence worked in Africa and a similar overview of how the Church functioned and was affected by that influence. Finally, the book offers case-studies on the interaction of Marxism and the Church in four diverse Africa countries: Mozambique, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. The introductory chapters make this book accessible to the general reader; the book as a whole is an enrichment of our understanding of contemporary Africa.


The history of special education is long and varied. Almost as long as there have been structured education delivery systems in the United States, there have been special education systems. Additionally, just as long as those systems have existed, so have private schooling systems. Many times, private schools and special education systems have coexisted, but typically only in programs that were exclusively for students with special needs, and these programs tended to segregate students with special needs in private programs, separated from typically developing students. Rarely were students with special needs included in the regular education programs of private schools. Because the practice of integrating special education into regular settings within private schools is relatively new, there is virtually no work that has been done on the topic. The concept of including students with special needs in the regular classroom of even public schools is a relatively new phenomenon. This practice of placing students with special needs in the least restrictive environment has been legally mandated in public schools since the passing of Public Law (RL.) 94-142 in 1975.1 Public education has since wrangled with the issue of educating children with special needs with typically developing peers, using terms such as the continuum of services, the regular education initiative, mainstreaming, and inclusion. Since PL. 94-142 applied only to public schools, and additional legislation such as the Rehabilitation Acts of 1973 only applied to entities that accepted federal funding, most private schools were unaffected. However, the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990 changed that distinction. ADA was largely based on Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, but widened the application of the law to private facilities that are open to the public, even if they do not receive federal funding. Title III of the ADA specifies which facilities are considered public accommodations. "A facility, operated by a private entity, whose operations affect commerce and fall within at least one of the following categories . . . (J) A nursery, elementary, secondary, undergraduate, or postgraduate private school, or other place of education"2 There is one exception to Title III of the ADA, and that applies to "religious organizations or entities controlled by religious organizations, including places of worship."3 Because of this exemption, parochial schools that are owned and operated by the religious organization do not have to comply with ADA regulations. Schools must be cautious when claiming exemption because of this section. If a school is only renting space from a religious organization, they cannot claim the religious exemption.4 A possible guideline for this issue was illustrated in a case involving hiring practices at a private school, EEOC v. Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate.5 Kamehameha involved a school organization founded in the late 1800's that required teachers to be "Protestant." When a teaching candidate was refused a position because the applicant was a non-Protestant, the applicant filed a discrimination suit under Title VII. However, when the Court examined the practices of the school, they felt that the school no longer actively demonstrated adherence to any particular form of Protestantism, the pastor of an affiliated church had no control over school curriculum or decisions, the activities at the school did not differ substantially from those at local public schools, and that while there were some religious overtones in the use of hymns and religious coursework, there was no concerted effort to instruct students in any Protestant doctrine. While this case did not result from the religious exemption clause in ADA, it gives a good example of how courts have previously interpreted the idea of religious organizations. Parents have become more aware of ADA and its stipulations, and many have asked private schools to accept their children with special needs. …


We propose a matching method that recovers direct treatment effects from randomized experiments where units are connected in an observed network, and units that share edges can potentially influence each others' outcomes. Traditional treatment effect estimators for randomized experiments are biased and error prone in this setting. Our method matches units almost exactly on counts of unique subgraphs within their neighborhood graphs. The matches that we construct are interpretable and high-quality. Our method can be extended easily to accommodate additional unit-level covariate information. We show empirically that our method performs better than other existing methodologies for this problem, while producing meaningful, interpretable results.


8 B-ring hydroxylation is a major metabolic pathway for cholesterols and some steroids. In liver, 7 -hydroxylation of cholesterols, mediated by CYP7A and CYP39A1, is the rate-limiting step of bile acid synthesis and metabolic elimination. In brain and other tissues, both sterols and some steroids including dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) are prominently 7 -h droxylated by CYP7B. The function of extra-hepatic steroid and sterol 7-hydroxylation is unknown. Nevertheless, 7-oxygenated cholesterols are potent regulators of cell proliferation and apoptosis; 7-oxygenated derivatives of DHEA, pregnenolone, and androstenediol can have major effects in the brain and in the immune system. The receptor targets involved remain obscure. It is argued that B-ring modification predated steroid evolution: non-enzymatic oxidation of membrane sterols primarily results in 7-oxygenation. Such molecules may have provided early growth and stress signals; a relic may be found in hydroxylation at the symmetrical 11-position of glucocorticoids. Early receptor targets probably included intracellular sterol sites, some modern steroids may continue to act at these targets. 7-Hydroxylation of DHEA may reflect conservation of an early signaling pathway. © 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Inc. 9


A recent slew of ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements (ENCODE) Consortium publications, specifically the article signed by all Consortium members, put forward the idea that more than 80% of the human genome is functional. This claim flies in the face of current estimates according to which the fraction of the genome that is evolutionarily conserved through purifying selection is less than 10%. Thus, according to the ENCODE Consortium, a biological function can be maintained indefinitely without selection, which implies that at least 80 − 10 = 70% of the genome is perfectly invulnerable to deleterious mutations, either because no mutation can ever occur in these "functional" regions or because no mutation in these regions can ever be deleterious. This absurd conclusion was reached through various means, chiefly by employing the seldom used "causal role" definition of biological function and then applying it inconsistently to different biochemical properties, by committing a logical fallacy known as "affirming the consequent," by failing to appreciate the crucial difference between "junk DNA" and "garbage DNA," by using analytical methods that yield biased errors and inflate estimates of functionality, by favoring statistical sensitivity over specificity, and by emphasizing statistical significance rather than the magnitude of the effect. Here, we detail the many logical and methodological transgressions involved in assigning functionality to almost every nucleotide in the human genome. The ENCODE results were predicted by one of its authors to necessitate the rewriting of textbooks. We agree, many textbooks dealing with marketing, mass-media hype, and public relations may well have to be rewritten.


The use of computational methods to develop innovative forms of storytelling and poetry has gained traction since the late 1980s. At the same time, legacy publishing has largely migrated to using digital workflows. Despite this possible convergence, the electronic literature community has generally defined their practice in opposition to print and traditional publishing practices more generally. Not only does this ignore a range of hybrid forms, but it also limits non-digital literature to print, rather than considering a range of physical literatures. In this article, I argue that it is more productive to consider physical and digital literature as convergent forms as both a historicizing process, and a way of identifying innovations. Case studies of William Gibson et al.'s Agrippa (A Book of the Dead) and Christian Bök's The Xenotext Project's playful use of innovations in genetics demonstrate the productive tensions in the convergence between digital and physical literature.


We report continuous-wave tunable laser operation over the 635–637-, 605–622-, 517–540-, and 491– 493-nm wavelength bands in Pr3+/Yb3+-doped ZrF4 –BaF2 –LaF3 –AlF3 –NaF (ZBLAN) optical fiber. A single Ti:sapphire laser is used as the pump source. With as little as 60 mW of pump power launched into the fiber, laser output is obtained over the entire pump-wavelength tuning range of 780 to 880 nm. At a pump wavelength of 860 nm, we have produced output powers of 300 mW at 635 nm (760 mW of launched pump power), 45 mW at 615 nm (430 mW of launched power), 20 mW at 520 nm (200 mW of launched power), and 4 mW at 493 nm (200 mW of launched power).


PLAYING IN CUBBY HOUSES has been a long tradition with children. When a cubby house is given sustainable lifestyle components—that is, converted into a 'Cool Cubby'—how does this influence awareness about sustainability? Since 2009 there have been significant innovations in Australia to promote sustainable practices, and the Cool Cubbies Project is a small-scale example of such an initiative. Giving cubby houses sustainable components is innovative, and represents a play-based approach to teaching, in line with early childhood principles of learning. This paper reports on an evaluation of the Cool Cubbies Project (Rous Water, 2015). Cubby houses in five preschools were converted into Cool Cubbies by adding features of sustainable living, including biodiversity, water, waste and energy. An evaluation of the impact of Cool Cubbies raised awareness about sustainable living with young children, educators, families and community. This is a key example of developing resources to support a more sustainable future, through the act of creating a learning resource grounded in sustainable practices for children's play.


In this Article, which was prepared for the Fordham Law Review Symposium on "Civil Procedure and the Legal Profession," we make a preliminary effort to identify a principled basis for distinguishing self-interested conduct by attorneys that violates the fiduciary duty from similar conduct that is a proper exercise or assertion of an attorney's contractual right to payment. We believe that a start at distinguishing properly selfish from improperly selfish behavior can be made by examining the reasonable expectations of clients and attorneys. An implication of this expectations-based approach is that attorney-client retainer agreements trump the common law fiduciary duty on matters to which the contracts properly apply. By entering into a retainer agreement, a client endows a lawyer with legal rights against the client. The only reasonable expectation the client can have is that the lawyer will look out for his own interests, not the client's, when handling matters governed by those rights. In Part I, we examine the little existing law regarding the boundaries that separate matters to which lawyers' fiduciary responsibilities apply from other matters to which they are inapplicable, and further elaborate on the basic principles that we believe to be useful in this area. In Part II, we first examine two fee issues that contingent-fee plaintiffs' attorneys have recently confronted which our proposed principles suggest should not constitute a breach of an attorney's fiduciary duties. Thus, we believe that these scenarios fall on the side of permissible fee collection. The first issue is whether it is a breach of fiduciary duty for a contingent-fee attorney to challenge a court's sua sponte order reducing the attorney's fees below the amount set out in the attorney-client contract. The second issue is whether, when confronted with a variety of possible venues in which to file or settle a case, the attorney has a fiduciary obligation to choose the venue that ensures that the client pays the smallest possible fee to the attorney. We go on to examine a third issue of recent interest to contingent-fee plaintiffs' attorneys that we believe does constitute a breach of the attorney's fiduciary obligations: whether it is permissible for the attorney to negotiate a settlement agreement with the defendant that obligates the client to pay for a service that would not otherwise be properly chargeable to the client, such as the resolution by a third party of any Medicare liens on the client's settlement proceeds.


This article describes the findings of empirical research conducted in Hungary in 2017 for a Country Report under the EU Erasmus+ Project: NQF-IN developing organisational and financial models for including non-formal sector qualifications in national qualifications frameworks. The research involved interviews with non-formal training providers focused on the possibilities and obstacles of inclusion of 'certifications' issued by non-formal training providers into the Hungarian Qualifications Framework. According to the interviewees, current regulation requires a lot of administration thereby hindering the flexible organisation of training, limiting the tailoring of training to customers' needs, and resulting in the loss of ownership of their own programmes through the licencing process. In addition, employers have little confidence in 'paper' qualifications: they are more confident in their own competence assessment methods. As a result, instead of creating transparency, the training sector is divided regarding the principle that output regulation based on learning outcomes will only be implemented in a narrower, regulated sector.


This study examined the methods used by the Kenya Tourist Board in marketing adventure tourism in the Mount Kenya region. The study used descriptive survey design in which data was collected using both open and close-ended questionnaires and interviews. The questionnaire was administered to 120 tourists selected using stratified random sampling in order to capture their socio-demographic profiles. Questionnaires were also administered to 13 camp sites and 20 tour operators to obtain information on the methods of marketing of adventure tourism in the study area. An interview schedule was used to obtain information from the senior management of the Kenya Tourist Board. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The research findings indicate that the study area has a lot of potential for adventure touiism. A significant majority of the tourists (91.2%) interviewed stated that the region has potential for adventure tourism. The Null hypothesis that there is no significant difference between the number of visitors attracted to the study area by its potential for hard adventure tourism activities and those attracted by its soft adventure tourism activities was rejected and the alternative hypothesis was accepted. It was also revealed that the Kenya Tourist Board did not playa major role in the marketing of adventure tourism in the area. The study found out that majority of tourists (83%) obtained information about adventure tourism in the region from tour operators, travel agents and campsite owners. The Null hypothesis that there is no significant difference between the frequency of visits by tourists obtaining information from Kenya Tourist Board and those with alternative sources of information was rejected and the alternative one accepted. The Chi-square test established that there was no difference between the methods of marketing used by the Kenya Tourist Board and those of other marketing organizations. Student's t test revealed that there was a significant relationship between the level of education of tourists and their frequency of visit in the area. This study recommends that the Kenya Tourist Board should find ways of raising adequate funds for marketing the region. It should also improve its website to include accurate and relevant information on adventure tourism in order to gain competitive edge over its rivals. Furthermore, there is need for further research on tourists' preferences regarding the type of activities at camp sites and their attitudes towards adventure tourism facilities and services offered.


Since 1989, newly added stocks in the S&P 500 Index have been observed to experience an upward price drift during the time between the moment when the index constituency change is first announced to the public and the moment when the index change becomes effective. The literature has shown that this upward price drift results in a positive abnormal return for stocks when they are first added to the S&P 500. This price drift (and the corresponding positive abnormal return), referred to as the S&P game, has historically allowed some stock traders to exploit positive abnormal returns by buying newly added stocks on the announcement date and selling them on the effective date. The S&P game is a clear violation of the notion of market efficiency, but it has been consistently identified in the literature across several decades. The authors examine the degree to which this S&P effect still persists. Consistent with the notion that markets adapt over time, the evidence suggests that the upward price drift between the announcement and effective dates has mostly disappeared in recent years. They find no evidence of a positive price drift between the announcement date and the effective date for newly added stocks from 2010 to 2013. Nearly all of the price impact for a newly added stock occurs prior to the opening of the market on the day immediately following the announcement; afterward, the authors observe that prices of newly added stocks actually tend to drift downward.


The prisoner's dilemma game is a mixed-motive game that offers two players the simultaneous choice between a cooperative and a defective alternative. An often neglected aspect of such a binary-choice game, however, is that in many real-life encounters, people can choose not only to cooperate or defect, but they also have a third option: to exit the social dilemma. Although in the literature a consensus has emerged that the addition of an exit opportunity benefits cooperation, there is only scant research into its effect on social welfare. In order to allow a direct comparison of cooperation rates and welfare levels across binary-choice and trinary-choice games, in this study, we used a design in which the same participants played similar games with and without an exit option (i.e., a within-subjects design), and this in a range of structural variations. The findings of our study indicated that the aggregated outcome of both players is generally lower in games with an exit option than in games without an exit option. Moreover, our results showed that the efficiency of the exit option strongly depends on the specific outcome structure of the game (in terms of its endowment size, (a)symmetry, and level of noncorrespondence). In the discussion, it is argued that the implementation of an exit option as a strategy to increase social welfare should be critically assessed.