For the last few years, thanks to the Leverhulme Trust, I've been largely absent from my department, working on the late antique philosopher Plotinus. To speak personally – it's been a difficult few years, since my youngest daughter has been afflicted with anorexia during this period, and my own bowel cancer was discovered, serendipitously, and removed, at the end of 2005. Since then I've had ample occasion to consider the importance – and the difficulty – of the practice of detachment, and also to worry about the moral some have drawn from Plotinian and similar philosophies, namely that the things of this world really do not matter much, and that we should withdraw ourselves from them. Maybe it is true, as Plotinus says, that 'some troubles are profitable to the sufferers themselves, poverty and sickness for example'. But this is not an altogether helpful message for those afflicted by the bundle of disorders that lead to anorexia. It's difficult not to suspect, for example, that Simone Weil would have lived longer but for her Neo-Platonism. It has also been made obvious to me that we are (or at any rate, I am) much less in control of our own mental and emotional states even than I had thought before. None of this, of course, should have been any surprise: I have frequently pointed out – to myself and others – the importance of distinguishing between one's self and the states one finds oneself in, and the extreme difficulty of controlling the thoughts we say are ours (but which, by that very fact, reveal themselves as very far from ours). Any delusion that my knowledge of these facts is of itself enough to render me immune to them has been – at least for the moment – thoroughly debunked – though the facts themselves are such that this disillusionment, so to call it, is probably both temporary and almost entirely insincere!


Introduction: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) as one of the important mental problems is valuable topic for proteomic research studies to better understand the underlying mechanisms of this disorder. Methods: In this paper, gel-based proteomic was used to investigate the proteome profile of 16 female patients with OCD, washing subtype before and after treatment with fluoxetine and comparing them with 20 healthy female controls. Results: One of the abnormally expressed protein spots in this study was introduced and examined for protein-protein interaction network analysis via Cytoscape and its plug-ins. Transthyretin (TTR) protein showed significant expression changes (fold change=1.7, P<0.05). While the expression level of TTR is significantly decreased in OCD patients before any treatments, the trend is partially normalized after treatment with fluoxetine in positive responders. Furthermore, TTR interaction profile shows that the proteins interacting with this protein may get affected as this protein expression trend changes in OCD patients. Conclusion: TTR can be considered for further studies to be validated as a potential biomarker for OCD.


BACKGROUND
The National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) demonstrated that low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening reduces lung cancer mortality in a high-risk U.S. population. A microsimulation model of LDCT screening was developed to estimate the impact of introducing population-based screening in Canada.

DATA AND METHODS
LDCT screening was simulated using the lung cancer module of the Cancer Risk Management Model (CRMM-LC), which generates large, representative samples of the Canadian population from which a cohort with characteristics similar to NLST participants was selected. Screening parameters were estimated for stage shift, LDCT sensitivity and specificity, lead time, and survival to fit to NLST incidence and mortality results. The estimation process was a step-wise directed search.

RESULTS
Simulated mortality reduction from LDCT screening was 23% in the CRMM-LC, compared with 20% in the NLST. The difference in the number of lung cancer cases over six years varied by, at most, 2.3% in the screen arm. The difference in cumulative incidence at six years was less than 2% in both screen and control arms. The estimated percentage over-diagnosed was 24.8%, which was 6% higher than NLST results.

INTERPRETATION
Simulated screening reproduces NLST results. The CRMM-LC can evaluate a variety of population-based screening strategies. Sensitivity analyses are recommended to provide a range of projections to reflect model uncertainty.


The International Group of Lean Construction (IGLC) Annual Conferences have become an important source of both theoretical developments and reports of practical applications concerned with the adaptation of lean production ideas into construction. This paper presents an analysis of the lean practices that have been discussed in IGLC conference papers. It used as a starting point an analysis and classification of 3,139 keywords from 685 papers published between 1993 and 2010. A set of practices were identified and classified in categories. More than 50% of the papers were focused on four categories: production planning and control (18.4%), product development (16.4%), logistics and supply chain management (9.7%), and human resources (9.1%). Moreover, the study pointed out that some important lean construction practices have not been emphasized in the papers, such as those related to quality control, standardization and pull production.


This paper examines what we can say about the extent and impact of corruption in infrastructure in developing countries using existing evidence. It looks at different approaches to estimating the extent of corruption and reports on the results of such studies. It suggests that there is considerable evidence that most existing perceptions measures appear to be very weak proxies for the actual extent of corruption in the infrastructure sector, largely (but inaccurately) measuring petty rather than grand corruption. Existing survey evidence is more reliable, but limited in extent and still subject to sufficient uncertainty that it should not be used as a tool for differentiating countries in terms of access to infrastructure finance or appropriate policy models. The paper discusses evidence for the relative costs of corruption impacts and suggests that a focus on bribe payments as the indicator of the costs of corruption in infrastructure may be misplaced. It draws some conclusions regarding priorities for infrastructure anti-corruption research and activities in projects, in particular regarding disaggregated and actionable indicators of weak governance and corruption.


The use and abuse of anachronism is often seen as the quintessence of the writing of history. Historians tend to conceive it as the hardcore of their m?tier to avoid anachronism. It designates a confusion in order of time, especially the mistake of placing an event, attitude, or circumstance too early. The awareness of historical anachronism is omnipresent in times of a radical rewriting of history, in particular as a result of political transformation. History reflects the needs and ambitions of a political context, and the sense of what is deemed historically significant does not remain unattached hereby. Chronology and anachronism are essential to particular conceptions of history, and if history is in a process of being rewritten, they are the first items to be addressed by the defenders of the old system and the advocates of a new discourse. In political debates on the use or abuse of history anachronism is often seen as ultimate proof of the (un-)reliability of new insights and conceptions. As anachronism is defined as a way of transferring contemporary sets of values, assumptions and interpretative categories, every political reorientation inevitably provokes a discussion on that level. If a ?new nation? is in search of a ?new past?, a new reflection on the basic categories of historical thinking becomes necessary. The changing discourses in South African historiography since the end of Apartheid serve here as an illuminative example.


Abstract Sex differences in seasonal timing include differences in hatch- or birth-date distribution and differences in the timing of migration or maturation such as protandrous arrival timing (PAT), which is early male arrival at breeding sites. I describe a novel form of protandrous arrival timing, as a sex difference in birth-date distribution in a live-bearing fish (Dwarf Perch, Micrometrus minimus). In this species, birth coincides with arrival at breeding sites because newborn males are sexually active. A series of samples of pregnant females and young of year was collected in Tomales Bay, CA. I analyzed the daily age record in otoliths to estimate the conception date of broods and the age that young-of-year individuals were born. Males were born at a younger age than females, as indicated by the daily age record and also by the predominance of females in broods from which some young had already been born, which was a common occurrence in pregnant females with older embryos. Sex ratio of broods varied with conception date such that early-season broods were predominantly male, possibly as a result of temperature-dependent sex determination. The combined effects of the sex difference in age at birth and seasonal shift in sex ratio were to shift the mean birth date of males relative to females by five days. The most likely ultimate explanation for PAT in the Dwarf Perch is that it arises from exploitation (scramble) competition for mating opportunities among recently-born young-of-year males.


The FINCODA project brought together universities and companies from Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK to cooperate on addressing the need to enhance innovation competencies and measure individuals' capacity for innovation. At the heart of the project was the creation of the FINCODA Innovation Barometer Assessment Tool. In addition to technical development underpinned by systematic analysis and validation, FINCODA included a workpackage entitled 'Innovators education and recruitment'. This was an important component of the project because it applied the Barometer in real life settings and facilitated learning across the partnership. It did this through a series of pilots involving company leaders, employees, university teachers and students. This document is the main output of 'Innovators, educators and recruitment.' It draws together experiences from the FINCODA pilots, with an emphasis on lessons learned and practical guidance.


This paper reports on the successful use of Graasp, a social media platform, by university students for their collaborative work. Graasp features a number of innovations, such as administrator-free creation of collaborative spaces, a context-aware recommendation and privacy management. In the context of a EU-funded project involving large test beds, we have been able to extend this platform with lightweight tools (widgets) aimed for learning and competence development and to validate its usefulness in a collaborative learning context.


It was recognised that, since 2004, a large number of Central and Eastern European
migrants had moved into Harlow and Broxbourne. To meet the challenge of providing
responsive services, the overall aim of this study was to enhance intelligence in
relation to CEE migrant communities, focusing specifically on housing needs and
experiences.
The study was commissioned by Harlow District and Broxbourne Borough Councils in
January 2010 through the Migration Impacts Fund. The study was conducted by Salford Housing & Urban Studies Unit (SHUSU) at the University of Salford. The study was greatly aided by research support from a number of community interviewers. The project was managed by a steering group composed of officers representing Harlow District and Broxbourne Borough Council. The study involved a survey of 370 CEE migrants and consultation with 7 key
stakeholders and service providers.


This paper presents an efficient eye detection approach for still, grey-level images with unconstrained background. The structure of the eye region is used as a robust cue to find eye pair candidates in the entire image. Eye pairs are located by a support vector machine-based eye verifier. The eye variance filter is then used to detect two eyes in the eye region which has been extracted in the eye pair location step. The proposed method is robust against clustered background, moderate rotations, glasses wearing, and partial face occlusions. The method is evaluated using the BioID face database. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented method.


Widespread interest usually exists as to the effect of a college or university on the economy of a local area. The author shares this interest; thus, the primary goal of this thesis was to quantitatively determine the impact that Fort Hays Kansas State College has on the economy of Ellis County. Secondary goals were to discover the interdependence (or lack of interdependence) existing among the various processing sectors that make up the business spectrum of Ellis County. It was decided to utilize input-output analysis to accomplish this objective. A transactions matrix was constructed from secondary data and a limited amount of direct research. The transactions matrix was inverted in order to obtain business and income multipliers. The author's conclusions are as follows: 1. As was expected, the processing sectors in Ellis County exhibit a relative lack of interdependence, that is, both exports and imports are relatively high. 2. The Ellis County economy is relatively diversified, with several sectors being important contributors to income. 3. Educational services are by far the most important sector in Ellis County, and agriculture and mining are also quite important as contributors to personal income. 4. The increased enrollment and budget of Fort Hays Kansas State College will effect an approximate increase in personal income for the years 1967-1972 of $2,500,000. 5. The indicated increase in the three service sectors in Ellis County means that population and income should continue to grow at a steady pace. 6. An input-output study conducted by direct survey methods is necessary in order to predict expansions in specific sectors.


An inexpensive physical hydraulic model was used to investigate the geometry of two different open flume turbine intakes. One intake utilized an inverted, fabricated pump bell type of inlet elevated above the powerhouse intake floor. The other consisted of an annular concrete ogee curb resting on the floor. Both intakes were subject to approach flow related performance problems, including free-surface and submerged vortex formation and localized areas of non-radial inflow. These conditions might result in vibration, rough running, and reduced efficiency of the turbines. Corrective measures were developed on the model, including flow directing curtain walls and flow straightening grids. The resulting designs are presented in a generalized non-dimensional form so they may be applied to other similar facilities. A discussion of the limitations on their application is also included.


Inspired by "GoogleTM Sets" and Bayesian sets, we consider the problem of retrieving complex objects and relations among them, i.e., ground atoms from a logical concept, given a query consisting of a few atoms from that concept. We formulate this as a within-network relational learning problem using few labels only and describe an algorithm that ranks atoms using a score based on random walks with restart (RWR): the probability that a random surfer hits an atom starting from the query atoms. Specifically, we compute an initial ranking using personalized PageRank. Then, we find paths of atoms that are connected via their arguments, variablize the ground atoms in each path, in order to create features for the query. These features are used to re-personalize the original RWR and to finally compute the set completion, based on Label Propagation. Moreover, we exploit that RWR techniques can naturally be lifted and show that lifted inference for label propagation is possible. We evaluate our algorithm on a realworld relational dataset by finding completions of sets of objects describing the Roman city of Pompeii. We compare to Bayesian sets and show that our approach gives very reasonable set completions.


In recent years, Stackelberg Security Games have been successfully applied to solve resource allocation and scheduling problems in several security domains. However, previous work has mostly assumed that the targets are stationary relative to the defender and the attacker, leading to discrete game models with finite numbers of pure strategies. This paper in contrast focuses on protecting mobile targets that leads to a continuous set of strategies for the players. The problem is motivated by several real-world domains including protecting ferries with escort boats and protecting refugee supply lines. Our contributions include: (i) A new game model for multiple mobile defender resources and moving targets with a discretized strategy space for the defender and a continuous strategy space for the attacker. (ii) An efficient linear-programming-based solution that uses a compact representation for the defender's mixed strategy, while accurately modeling the attacker's continuous strategy using a novel sub-interval analysis method. (iii) Discussion and analysis of multiple heuristic methods for equilibrium refinement to improve robustness of defender's mixed strategy. (iv) Discussion of approaches to sample actual defender schedules from the defender's mixed strategy. (iv) Detailed experimental analysis of our algorithms in the ferry protection domain.


This forum article discusses environmental official development assistance (ODA), the official aid allocated for the purpose of making environmental improvements in recipient countries, focusing on the affinity between the changing ODA rules and the patterns of green aid activities at a global level. It explores the question of how far ODA rules and principles can consistently accommodate the interface between aid and the environment, through examining the changing ODA principles reflected in the outcome of the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4), held in Busan in 2011–2012. This article argues that the shifting emphasis and the subsequent laxness in ODA norms may increasingly facilitate donor-oriented green-labeled projects that, in turn, create and reinforce a negative synergy with an undesirable aid modality. If ODA in this field were better managed, it could serve as a significant tool for improving the quality of life through environmental protection in poorer countries.


This paper is the first of two companion pieces examining competition between payment systems. Here we develop a model of competing platforms which generalises that considered by Chakravorti and Roson (2006). In particular, our model allows for fully endogenous multi-homing on both the merchant and consumer sides of the market. We develop geometric frameworks for understanding the aggregate decisions of consumers to hold, and merchants to accept, different payment instruments, and how these decisions will be influenced by the pricing choices of the platforms. We also illustrate a new potential source of non-uniqueness in the aggregate behaviour of consumers and merchants which is distinct from the well-known 'chicken and egg' phenomenon – and indeed can only arise in the context of multiple competing platforms. Finally, we briefly discuss how this new source of non-uniqueness may nevertheless shed light on the 'chicken and egg' debate in relation to the development of new payment systems.


Disruption Tolerant Networks (DTNs) are mobile wireless networks that are designed to work in highly-challenged environments where the density of nodes is insufficient to support direct end-to-end communication. Recent efforts in DTNs have shown that mobility provides a powerful means for delivering messages in such highly-challenging environments. Unfortunately, many mobility scenarios depend on untethered devices with limited energy supplies. Without careful management, depleted energy supplies will degrade network connectivity and counteract the robustness gained by mobility. A primary concern is the energy consumed by wireless communications because the wireless interface is one of the largest energy consumers in mobile devices whether they are actively communicating or just listening. However, mobile devices exhibit a tension between saving energy and providing connectivity through opportunistic encounters. In order to pass messages, the device must discover communication opportunities with other nodes. At the same time, energy can be conserved by "sleeping," i.e., turning off or disabling the wireless interfaces. However, if the wireless interface is asleep, the node cannot discover other nodes for communication. Thus, power management in DTNs must balance the discovery of other nodes while aggressively sleeping the radio during the remaining periods.
In this thesis, we first develop a power management framework for a single radio architecture that allows a node to save energy while discovering communication opportunities. The framework is tailored to the available knowledge about network connectivity over time. Further, the framework supports explicit trade-offs between energy savings and connectivity, so network operators can choose, for example, to conserve energy at the cost of reduced message delivery performance. We next examine the possibility of using a hierarchical radio architecture in which nodes are equipped with two complementary radios: a long-range, high-power radio and a short-range, low-power radio. In this architecture, energy can be conserved by using the low-power radio to discover communication opportunities with other nodes and waking the high-power radio to undertake the data transmission. However, the short range of the low-power radio may result in missing communication opportunities. Thus, we develop a generalized power management framework in which both radios support the discovery. In addition, we incorporate the knowledge of traffic load and network dynamics and devise approximation algorithms to control the sleep/wake-up cycling of the radios to provide maximum energy conservation while discovering enough communication opportunities to handle the expected traffic load. Finally, we investigate the Message Ferrying (MF) routing paradigm as a means to save energy while trading off data delivery delay. In MF, special nodes called ferries move around the deployment area to deliver messages for nodes. While this routing paradigm has been developed mainly to deliver messages in partitioned networks, here we explore its use in a connected MANET. The reliance on the movement of the ferries to deliver messages increases the delivery delay if a network is not partitioned. However, delegating message delivery to the ferries provides the opportunity for nodes to save energy by aggressively putting their radios to sleep when ferries are far away. To exploit this feature, we present a power management framework, in which nodes switch their power management modes based on the knowledge of ferry location.


Regeneration of disused urban areas, such as industrial brownfields or abandoned infrastructural zones, has received considerable attention in the context of post‐industrial European cities. Due to the inherent complexity of these projects, a holistic integration of sustainability objectives is far from being an automatic process. It depends upon a proactive search for global quality, integrated in a participative way in the project dynamics and a structured and continuous assessment of environmental, economic and social dimensions of sustainability, tailored to the specificities of such projects. Specifically focusing on these challenges, the ongoing research presented in this paper aims at developing a monitoring tool entitled SIPRIUS+. This new generation tool is a hybrid between a sustainability indicator system adapted to the issues raised by the regeneration of disused urban areas and a user‐friendly, web‐based monitoring software. SIPRIUS+ is designed to provide a strong basis to key stakeholders involved in the management of these projects and facilitates communication and participation with various public or private actors. This paper gives an overview of these objectives and a description of the steps of the tool's design. Preliminary findings leading to future adaptations are presented through a case study: the Gare‐Lac neighborhood, a large disused urban area located in the city of Yverdon‐les‐Bains (Switzerland).


This study was carried out to identify fish composition, relative abundance and species diversity of Owabi Dam reservoir located near Kumasi, Ghana. The work was conducted between January-March, 2004. Simpson index was employed to estimate the fish abundance and diversity in the reservoir. Personal observations and interviews were also employed to assess fishery practices in the area. Findings from the studies showed that 19 fish species belonging to fifteen families were present in the reservoir. The family Cichlidae was the most abundant followed by the family Characidae. Other results obtained showed that the species, Hemichromis fasciatus was the most abundant followed by Sarotherodon galilaeaes and Hepsetus odoe in that order.


In recent years, a growing body of evidence has confirmed what personal experience and intuition have long suggested: the quality of a child's teacher has a profound and lasting impact on the child's academic achievement. According to one expert, replacing just the least effective five percent of America's teaching force with average teachers could catapult our nation's K-12 education system from its current place among the worst performing in the developed world to among the top. Yet for complex reasons related to school culture, administrative inertia, and the time and cost associated with dismissing a teacher for poor performance, schools across the country continue to subject students to chronically ineffective teachers in considerable numbers. In this Article we revive the argument, first raised in courts in the 1970s and 80s, that children assigned to ineffective teachers should be able to sue school districts under elementary principles of tort law, seeking relief in the form of reassignment to an adequate teacher and remedial education services. Courts initially rejected this "educational malpractice" theory of litigation due to the plaintiffs' inability to establish basic elements of the negligence tort, pointing in particular to the lack of a workable standard of reasonable care (since little consensus existed regarding appropriate pedagogical methods) and problems showing proximate cause (since the effects of teacher quality on student learning were so difficult to prove). The common law of torts, however, is designed to be judicially responsive to changing times and public policy considerations. And times have certainly changed: School officials today operate with access to unprecedented amounts of data concerning teacher effectiveness and teacher impacts on student learning that was wholly absent decades ago. These modern advances demand re-examination of the old reasons that courts provided for rejecting educational malpractice claims. To date, however, the academy has failed to undertake any such analysis.This Article seeks to fill that gap. We argue that the recent advances in educational data substantially undermine the basic rationales offered by courts for dismissing the original educational malpractice lawsuits. In particular, unlike the initial era of educational negligence claims that proceeded principally under the theory that a school district should be liable for the negligent teaching practices of its teachers, we argue that a plaintiff student may state a claim against a school district for its negligence one step earlier: in its decision to assign the student to a classroom taught by a teacher whom school officials know to be chronically ineffective based on extensive statistical data concerning the teacher's performance. For instance, schools now know with some degree of certainty, over a period of years, whether a particular teacher typically improves her students' academic ability by more or less than a full grade level's worth of gains. The worst teachers, it turns out, tend to produce paltry gains year-after-year. This data offers both an eminently workable standard of care for determining whether a school has been negligent in subjecting students to an incompetent teacher (indeed, some states such as New York require schools to classify teachers as "ineffective" on the basis of the student learning data), and also an evidentiary link establishing that the teacher is a proximate cause of the child's lack of attainment. In addition to setting the groundwork for this new educational malpractice claim, the Article also explores potential policy responses on the part of school districts who may seek to head off costly litigation brought by plaintiff students who have been assigned to inadequate teachers. We suggest that some schools may respond proactively in precisely the fashion that the plaintiffs and school reformers have long desired, by voluntarily dismissing and replacing their least effective teachers. Others may attempt to evade liability without acting to remove ineffective teachers, for example by foreclosing public access to teacher effectiveness data or reducing their own reliance on such data in the first moment. In all events, however, we think this much is for certain: a new era of educational malpractice litigation may well be on the horizon.


There was a time when angel investors committed funds for market research and later, when the Internet boom hit, entire deals with entrepreneurs were sketched out on cocktail napkins. This relationship started to fall apart with down-rounds, dilution, changes to board representation, a general lack of appreciation regarding the early-risk assumption, and a number of other factors. However, over time, they both realized they needed each other, and what the angels developed was a greater understanding of the investment process. Angel investors, becoming more sophisticated, began to adopt some of the strategies and valuation methodologies employed by the venture capital community. Though varied, these methodologies often serve as the framework for the pre-money valuation negotiations for a pre-revenue venture. Research suggests that today's angel is focused on return on investment, investment timelines, dilution, and other assessment factors that were historically reserved for the venture capital community.


This thesis investigates how to train the increasingly large cast of characters in modern commercial computer games. Modern computer games can contain hundreds or sometimes thousands of non-player characters that each should act coherently in complex dynamic worlds, and engage appropriately with other non-player characters and human players. Too often, it is obvious that computer controlled characters are brainless zombies portraying the same repetitive hand-coded behaviour. Commercial computer games would seem a natural domain for reinforcement learning and, as the trend for selling games based on better graphics is peaking with the saturation of game shelves with excellent graphics, it seems that better artificial intelligence is the next big thing. The main contribution of this thesis is a novel style of utility function, group utility functions, for reinforcement learning that could provide automated behaviour specification for large numbers of computer game characters. Group utility functions allow arbitrary functions of the characters' performance to represent relationships between characters and groups of characters. These qualitative relationships are learned alongside the main quantitative goal of the characters. Group utility functions can be considered a multi-agent extension of the existing programming by reward method and, an extension of the team utility function to be more generic by replacing the sum function with potentially any other function. Hierarchical group utility functions, which are group utility functions arranged in a tree structure, allow character group relationships to be learned. For illustration, the empirical work shown uses the negative standard deviation function to create balanced (or equal performance) behaviours. This balanced behaviour can be learned between characters, groups and also, between groups and single characters. Empirical experiments show that a balancing group utility function can be used to engender an equal performance between characters, groups, and groups and single characters. It is shown that it is possible to trade some amount of quantitatively measured performance for some qualitative behaviour using group utility functions. Further experiments show how the results degrade as expected when the number of characters and groups is increased. Further experimentation shows that using function approximation to approximate the learners' value functions is one possible way to overcome the issues of scale. All the experiments are undertaken in a commercially available computer game engine. In summary, this thesis contributes a novel type of utility function potentially suitable for training many computer game characters and, empirical work on reinforcement learning used in a modern computer game engine.


Yield and quality reductions in watermelon infected with Didymella bryoniae may be attributed to reduced number or weight of fruit, sunburned fruit, fruit rot, or low sugar content due to gummy stem blight on foliage and black rot on fruit. Number, weight, soluble solids content, and external appearance of fruit were determined in four experiments conducted in fall 1996 and 1997 and spring 1997 and 1998. Severity of gummy stem blight was varied by applying no fungicide, mancozeb, or chlorothalonil according to different schedules. In the fall, when disease severity was high, total fruit weight, percent marketable fruit, and soluble solids content were lower and percent fruit with black rot was higher in nonsprayed than in sprayed treatments. Fungicide applications did not affect total fruit weight, soluble solids content, or black rot in the spring, when disease severity was moderate to low. Percent sunburned fruit was greater in treatments sprayed every 14 days than in those sprayed weekly. In fall experiments, the number of healthy, unblemished fruit increased linearly as the number of fungicide applications was increased from zero to nine per season. Yield losses in watermelon to gummy stem blight and black rot resulted primarily from a reduction in total fruit weight and an increase in number of diseased and sunburned fruit.


This article outlines the creative and ethical process of staging a site-specific oral history community theatre project in the housing estate where I grew up in Omagh, Northern Ireland. Shandon Park -the name of the place and the performance- comprised of residents telling their own life stories in their homes in an investigation of memory, identity and place. The performance of memory articulated by people who were active agents in how they were presented investigated how the ownership of lived experience could exist within an effective dramatic structure. This article describes how the aesthetic qualities of performance within the reality of place were affected throughout the work by participants who continued to make changes to the piece. I describe how my dual role as past resident and present artist placed me at the intersection between ethics and aesthetics in the work and how my duty to members of my own community and my responsibility as an artist/researcher was in constant negotiation. In a consideration of Michael Frisch's concept of 'shared authority' (1990), I will discuss how my own remembrance of Shandon Park was balanced with the needs of the participants and the requirements of the project to ensure that the work was both meaningful to an audience and indeed to my own theoretical enquiry.


Methane was first observed in the atmosphere of Mars in 2003. This organic molecule has an expected atmospheric lifetime of less than 600 years, which points to a current or recent source of the gas. Several localised methane sources have been postulated, the most likely of which being either the hydration and serpentization of ultramafic silicate minerals, or the existence of methanogenic life in the planetary subsurface. Release of the gas by clathrate hydrates has also been suggested; however these are not a source in of themselves, but rather a mechanism of sequestration and release. If clathrates were shown to be linked to the episodic release of methane, the point of genesis would remain elusive.
Our work is designed to assess the habitability potential of the martian subsurface for methanogenic life by investigating the viability of methane-producing archaea living on, and interacting with, rocks and minerals analogous to those found on Mars. We quantify this relationship using the archaea strains Methanosarcina barkeri and Methanobacterium formicicum as models of putative martian life, and here present some initial findings in our study: strains growing under an atmosphere of H 2 /CO 2 and on reduced media containing several rock/mineral types including basalt, montmorillonite and olivine.


All lineages of Tibetan Buddhism today claim allegiance to the philosophy of the Middle Way, the exposition of emptiness propounded by the second-century Indian master Nagarjuna. But not everyone interprets it the same way. A major faultline runs through Tibetan Buddhism around the interpretation of what are called the two truths—the deceptive truth of conventional appearances and the ultimate truth of emptiness. An understanding of this faultline illuminates the beliefs that separate the Gelug descendents of Tsongkhapa from contemporary Dzogchen and Mahamudra adherents. The Two Truths Debate digs into the debate of how the two truths are defined and how they are related by looking at two figures, one on either side of the faultline, and shows how their philosophical positions have dramatic implications for how one approaches Buddhist practice and how one understands enlightenment itself.


This paper sets out an agenda for a post-normal sociology that revolves around acknowledging complexity, accommodating paradoxicality as a standpoint and engaging paradox. Four major interpretations of complexity are reviewed and it is argued that complexity invokes paradoxicality for sociologists that needs to be accommodated, but in a manner that facilitates engaging paradox. Paradoxicality is developed from Bateson's model of communication and illustrated by showing how paradox occurs 1) in everyday life; 2) as a matter for investigation in sociology; and how it has affected the 3) construction and 4) justification of knowledge—the latter leading to a reflexive accommodation to paradoxicality. Drawing on the work of the critical realists and Maruyama, the paper then proposes ontological, epistemological and methodological elements for a strategy appropriate to complex systems based on a technique involving positive and negative feedback loops.


Abstract New Zealand is the world's largest exporter of dairy products, supplying about one‐third of global trade. The dairy sector strives to maintain international competitiveness by continued increases in productivity and intensification in the use of inputs. Increasing intensity of dairy farming and unsustainable agricultural activities contribute to degradation of several ecosystem services such as clean air and water. The New Zealand dairy industry receives widespread public criticism of its environmental impacts. This paper provides a case study of the intensification of dairy farming in New Zealand and its detrimental environmental impacts such as nitrate leaching to streams and rivers, methane gas emissions, demands for surface and groundwater for irrigation and reduced variety in pastoral landscapes. To design efficient policies that will induce farmers to adopt more environmentally friendly practices, resource managers and decision makers need information on the relative values attached by the public to these detrimental environmental impacts. The study uses choice modelling method, in particular a mixed logit model, to evaluate these relative values (willingness to pay), incorporating sources of preference heterogeneity (both observed and unobserved heterogeneity) within a sampled population. The research provides information for policy makers that will be useful in designing policy instruments to encourage farmers to reduce the principal harmful effects of dairy farming on the environment.


This research studies the historical process known as Romanisation. It aims to contribute information about changes that took place in the management and exploitation of animals in the communities established in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula as a consequence of Roman advances. Analyses of changes in animal husbandry strategies practised in the Iberian Peninsula have been rather neglected and this book fills this information gap by offering a view of this historical process through archaeozoological studies. The analysis of animal husbandry is essential to reach deeper into topics such as the models and systems of territorial and habitat exploitation, providing new evidence and allowing a new, more complete and accurate view of the implantation, evolution and transformation of Roman power.


The purpose of this paper is to explore the question of small and incremental reform in Turkish minority policies over the last two decades, contrasting with the dramatic economic, social, and political changes that the country has experienced over the same period. The main focus will be on two partly overlapping groups living in Turkey (Alevis and Kurds); comparison with other Southern European countries will be made as background reference. The reason for this focus is analytical: these two groups are structurally different from minorities found in Italy or Greece in that they are both large enough to carry great electoral weight and politically salient enough to affect Turkey's EU accession prospects. Minority policy is an often overlooked realm of public policy, either because it is considered too sensitive or too case-specific, as opposed to fiscal, labor, family, and immigration policy, which, at least in the European context, are now typically examined and compared by scholars on a more transnational framework. However, minority policy broadly defined (as the recognition and treatment of sections of the population identified as belonging to a special cultural heritage) touches upon a number of diverse policy areas including civil rights, education, regional development, relations between religion and state, language, culture, and national security. In Turkey minority policy in official discourse has historically been linked to the non-Muslim minorities protected by the Treaty of Lausanne, whereas Alevis and Kurds were traditionally accorded no special recognition under the Kemalist Republic. The first part of the paper attempts to theoretically situate minority policy in the context of competitive party politics. What is puzzling about Turkey is why given a climate of increased democratization and confidence after the suppression of the PKK insurgency, the Turkish party system has not been more responsive to the long-standing grievances of Kurds and Alevis. Partly based on existing literature, the author posits that a constellation of factors is necessary for policy reform on minority issues to proceed in a democratic system: the mobilization of the minority group(s) in question and either high external pressure on the state to satisfy minority demands or significant electoral competition for the minority's votes or participation in government of a party that monopolizes the minority vote and is ideologically committed to its agenda. The second part of the paper briefly discusses the history of state attitudes towards Kurds and Alevis in Turkey, as well as more recent developments including the reforms on Kurdish language rights, the abortive Camuroglu recommendations regarding Alevi pious foundations, DTP's entry in parliament, and the constitutional amendment process launched by AKP. The third and final part of the paper explains why Turkey's party system for a long time lacked the necessary preconditions for more groundbreaking policy changes, underlining the importance of external pressure from the EU as an engine for reform.


The article deals with a progressive approach in gait sensing. It is incorporated by IMU (Inertia Measurement Unit) complex sensors whose field of acting is mainly the motion sensing in medicine, automotive and other industry, self-balancing systems, etc. They allow acquiring the position and orientation of an object in 3D space. Using several IMU units the sensing array for gait dynamics was made. Based on human gait analysis the 7-sensor array was designed to build a gait motion dynamics sensing system with the possibility of graphical interpretation of data from the sensing modules in real-time graphical application interface under the LabVIEW platform. The results of analyses can serve as the information for medical diagnostic purposes. The main control part of the system is microcontroller, whose function is to control the data collection and flow, provide the communication and power management.


Although influenza vaccine shortage is often attributed to low supply, it has been observed that even with abundant supply, a major shortage can still occur because of late delivery. In this paper, motivated by the influenza vaccine industry, we study a supply chain contracting problem in the presence of uncertainties surrounding design, delivery, and demand of the influenza vaccine. In this supply chain, a manufacturer has insufficient incentive to initiate at-risk early production prior to the design freeze because it is a retailer who reaps the most benefits from selling more vaccines delivered on time. Anticipating that late delivery will lead to potential loss in demand, the retailer tends to reduce the order size, which further discourages the manufacturer from making an effort to improve its delivery performance. To break this negative feedback loop, a supply contract needs to achieve two objectives: incentivize at-risk early production and eliminate double marginalization. We find that two commonly observed supply contracts in practice, the delivery-time-dependent quantity flexibility (D-QF) contract and the late-rebate (LR) contract, may fail to coordinate the supply chain because of the tension between these two objectives. To resolve such a tension, we construct a buyback-and-late-rebate (BLR) contract and show that a properly designed BLR contract can not only coordinate the supply chain but also can provide full flexibility of profit division between members of the supply chain. Numerical experiments further demonstrate that the BLR contract significantly improves supply chain efficiency compared to the contracts used in the industry.


The integral nonlinearity (INL) modeling of pipeline analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) is investigated in this paper. The INL is divided into two distinct entities: a low code frequency (LCF) component and a high code frequency (HCF) component. Two static models are developed to represent the INL data. In both models, the LCF component is represented by a low-order polynomial. The HCF modeling is performed using two different basis functions: sinc and Gaussian. The structure of both HCF models is motivated by the pipeline architecture of the ADC under investigation. The model coefficients are estimated by applying the least-squares method to the measured INL data from two samples of a commercial pipeline ADC. The estimated HCF models are compared to each other and to previous models presented in the existing literature. In addition, the modeling methods are applied to synthetic HCF data generated by a pipeline ADC simulation model constructed in MATLAB. The INL models are then used to calibrate the synthetic ADCs, and the improvements in spurious free dynamic range are compared to those obtained when the ADCs are compensated by the INL data. Furthermore, the capability of the HCF modeling to calibrate a given ADC is tested by using the HCF model to compensate a synthetically generated ADC output in which only the measured HCF sequence and noise are added to the quantization process. The results show that the developed HCF models can achieve virtually complete calibration of the considered ADC.


Do communications over social networking sites such as Facebook merit Fourth Amendment protection? The Supreme Court has not directly answered this question and lower courts are not in agreement. The hurdle is the Third Party Doctrine, which states that a person does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in any communication voluntarily disclosed to a person or entity. All Internet communications are stored on third party servers or Internet service providers, and thus would seemingly lose Fourth Amendment protection. Numerous scholars have weighed in on the issue — analyzing the nature of the communication or the entity to which the information is disclosed — in an effort to show that these communications continue to merit Fourth Amendment protection. These scholars, however, have largely ignored the overall effect of communications over social networking sites such as Facebook. This Article steps outside traditional Fourth Amendment scholarship and relies on the concept of interpersonal privacy rights as a way to protect communications over social networking platforms. Because social scientists have recognized that these relationships share the same qualitative structure and can be just as "real" as their face-to-face counterparts, this Article makes the argument that the concept of interpersonal privacy should apply to social networking relationships over the Internet. This analysis provides a new way to apply the reasonable expectation of privacy test under the Fourth Amendment — one that avoids the common pitfalls associated with the Third Party Doctrine.


The Malaysian livestock industry is an important component of the agricultural
sector providing gainful employment and producing useful animal protein food
to the population. Cattle, buffalo, goat, sheep and swine are the popular
livestock in Malaysia. However, in recent years deer farming for meat, fur and
velvet has become popular as well. Most of the farmed deer are of various
species imported from different sources, such as Australia, New Zealand,
Mauritius, Indonesia, New Caledonia, etc. The genetic background of these
species and populations from different sources are unknown. This study was
conducted to characterize two popular deer species in Malaysia, namely the
rusa deer (Cervus timorensis) and the sika deer (Cervus nippon), using DNA
microsatellite markers.
The use of amelogenin gene primers for sexing of the rusa deer was also
investigated. Random samples of 38 rusa deer from the Deer Breeding Unit of the University Research Park, Universiti Putra Malaysia, and 34 sika deer from
Pusat Ternakan Haiwan, Batu Arang, were used in the study to determine and
compare the genetic structures of the two deer species.
One hundred and twenty five sets of microsatellite primer pairs, which had
been reported to have successfully detected variation in deer, cattle or sheep,
were used in the initial screening. Thirty nine primer pairs produced clear and
reproducible amplification products for rusa and 41 primer pairs for sika.
Twenty one primer pairs were polymorphic for the pooled data. However, only
nine microsatellite loci (23.08%) were polymorphic for rusa and 17 loci
(41.46%) were polymorphic for sika. Of these, only five were common to both
deer species (BMS789, BM888, BL4, BM3628 and NVHRT16). Of the
monomorphic loci, 17 were common to both species. Among the 11 reindeer
microsatellite loci screened, nine loci (81%) were amplified for the pooled
data, but only four loci were common to both species. The two white-tailed
deer microsatellite loci (L35582 and L35583) produced amplification in sika
but only L35583 was amplified in rusa. The 17 common monomorphic loci and
the nine polymorphic loci generated in total 53 and 40 microsatellite markers in
the rusa and sika, respectively. Locus BM2113 was amplified exclusively in
rusa (126 bp), and locus NVHRT34 was amplified only in sika (134 bp).
These loci may be used as unique markers to distinguish the two deer species.
The numbers of observed and effective alleles per polymorphic loci were 2 - 13
and 1.05 - 8.91 for rusa, and 2 - 8 and 1.16 - 5.98 alleles per locus for sika,
respectively. The allele frequencies ranged from 0.01 to 0.97 for rusa, and 0.02 to 0.92 for sika. The sizes of the alleles at the polymorphic loci ranged from
116 to 389 bp in rusa, and 88 to 364 bp in sika. The mean numbers of effective
alleles were 3.08±2.40 and 2.87±1.65 in rusa and sika, respectively. Six loci in
rusa and three loci in sika exhibited rare alleles. The mean observed
heterozygosity in the rusa and sika populations were 0.48 ± 0.35 and 0.51 ±
0.30, respectively. Seven polymorphic loci in rusa and 14 polymorphic loci in
sika exhibited significant (P<0.01) deviations from Hardy-Weinberg
equilibrium. The Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium may be due to overlapping of
generations and founder effect, especially in the sika deer population. The
combined discrimination power (cDP) of the nine polymorphic loci in rusa was
0.99 and of the seventeen polymorphic loci in sika was 0.99, thus allowing
individual identification. The inbreeding coefficient (FIS) was very low for the
rusa population (0.06), but for the sika population it was 0.26. The mean value
of FST was 0.67 for rusa and 0.47 for sika. The bottleneck analysis suggested
that the rusa population did not experience any recent bottleneck, whereas the
sika population had encountered a genetic bottleneck in the recent past.
Evaluation of intra-interchromosomal linkage disequilibrium between the
alleles suggested significant (P<0.05) linkage between 10 pairs of alleles in
rusa and 12 pairs of alleles in sika. However, none of the allelic pairs were the
same for the two species. The genetic distance within the rusa population was
lower than that within the sika population (0.088 ± 0.001 vs. 0.184 ± 0.001).
The genetic distance between rusa and sika was 0.35. No distinct clustering
was observed for the rusa population. The sika population displayed two major
clusters of 11 and 23 individuals. The larger cluster in turn had two subclusters. The above results show the rusa and sika populations to be genetically different
from each other. High genetic variation exists in both the populations. This
could be due to low inbreeding and no directional selection in these
populations.
Four amelogenin gene primer pairs were used to identify the sexes of the rusa
deer. Three primer pairs, AMEL2, AMGX/Y and AMGX/Y2, exhibited similar
banding patterns for the males and females. The primer pair SE47/48 generated
one band for the females (269 bp) but three bands (223, 269 and 305 bp) for the
males. Therefore, this primer pair is a reliable tool for the identification of the
sexes in the rusa deer.


Studying pyramids and deciphering cryptic writing systems have helped archaeologists piece together the political, cultural, and religious characteristics of many Mesoamerican civilizations. But ceremonial architecture and official records may not reveal how societies actually work. Mapping lost neighborhoods can help archaeologists see an ancient city through the eyes of its residents, rather than through its leaders.


Dynamically generated web pages are ubiquitous today but their high demand for resources creates a huge scalability problem at the servers. Traditional web caching is not able to solve this problem since it cannot provide any guarantees as to the freshness of the cached data. A robust solution to the problem is web materialization, where pages are cached at the web server and constantly updated in the background, resulting in fresh data accesses on cache hits. In this work, we define Quality of Data metrics to evaluate how fresh the data served to the users is. We then focus on the update scheduling problem: given a set of views that are materialized, find the best order to refresh them, in the presence of continuous updates, so that the overall Quality of Data (QoD) is maximized. We present a QoD-aware Update Scheduling algorithm that is adaptive and tolerant to surges in the incoming update stream. We performed extensive experiments using real traces and synthetic ones, which show that our algorithm consistently outperforms FIFO scheduling by up to two orders of magnitude.


The "National Report: Czech Republic" systematically and comprehensively addresses the main features of the enforcement of monetary claims in the German legal system, focusing in particular on the analysis of legal remedies in the enforcement procedure. Said issues are approached from both national and cross-border perspectives. The issues discussed are profoundlytopical in light of the recent coming into effect of the Brussels IA Regulation (Recast) and its more or less successful implementation in the national systems of the Member States, which has raised a number of issues. The report critically reflects some of the controversial solutions covered by the Recast Regulation regarding the effectiveness and appropriateness of the Regulation's application in the legal system in question and related problems. It also deals with national specificities in the enforcement procedure, which still constitute an obstacle to cross-border procedures. The report was created as part of a study conducted under the auspices of the EU project BIARE ("Remedies on the Enforcement of Foreign Judgments according to Brussels I Recast") under the coordination of the Faculty of Law University of Maribor.


This Article addresses a disturbing statutory phenomenon of enormous importance to any artist, composer, writer, scholar, scientist or innovator. The phenomenon, which I have termed "estate-bumping," has driven an unintended wedge between copyright law and estates law by effectively preventing authors of copyrights from disposing of their copyright interests through common estate planning mechanisms. Current copyright law imposes a unique restraint on the testamentary freedom of copyright authors, a restraint not imposed on any other type of property owner. In effect, this restraint enables unintended beneficiaries to rewrite, or "bump", an author's estate plan. Thus, it is copyright law – rather than the authors – that determines who ultimately has the right to profit from the author's works. Based on a historic, philosophical and doctrinal examination of estates law and copyright law, this Article demonstrates that the phenomenon of estate-bumping remains a pressing problem. To cure this problem, the Article suggests two simple yet significant changes to reconcile the presently disconnected regimes of estates law and copyright law. Without these changes, however, the era of estate-bumping and the potential, unintentional transfers of massive amounts of wealth will begin.


: The aim of this study was to determine the peculiarities of femoral bone osteogenesis in human fetuses in the areas with different levels of environmental pollution with fluoride compounds (the city of Irkutsk and the town of Shelekhov). The histological structure of femoral bones was studied in 70 fetuses aged 15-16, 19-20, 22-25 and 27-29 gestational weeks. Morphometric methods were used to evaluate the number of blood vessels per total area of epiphysis, the length of endochondral trabeculae, the thickness of hypertrophic and columnar cartilage zones, diaphysis wall and its trabeculae thickness, the thickness of endochondral trabeculae merging with the diaphysis wall, and of the bone growing on the epiphysis. It was found that in the city of Irkutzk, relatively remote from the pollution source, the processes of osteogenesis and osteoresorption are balanced and are characterized by the prevalence of osteoblastic activity over osteoclastic activity, ensuring the active bone growth. During weeks 15-22, the bones are actively growing in length, while during weeks 22-29 they grow mainly in width. In the town of Shelekhov, located closely to the pollution source, the growth of bones in both length and width, is delayed. The bone growth was active till week 16, however, during weeks 18-29, osteoresorption prevailed over the osteosynthesis, the bone thickness decreased, while the activity of their growth in length remained reduced.


Abstract Plant microfossils from New Zealand provide direct evidence of prehistoric Polynesian cultivation and gathering of a variety of plants in different depositional settings. The microfossils include pollen, phytoliths, and starch residues of introduced Lagenaria siceraria (bottle gourd), Broussonetia papyrifera (paper mulberry), Ipomoea batatas (sweet potato, kumara), and Colocasia esculenta (taro). The settings span 600 km and include sediment cores, archaeological structures, and coprolites. In addition, the presence of wetland microfossils (e.g., diatoms and algal spores) in dryland deposits suggests other agricultural practices such as irrigation, and putative truffle (hypogeous Ascomycotina) spores in coprolites suggest foraging for wild plants. Variable production and preservation of different types of plant microremains suggest the value for analysis of pollen, biogenic silica, and starch residues as a combined method for identifying prehistoric plant subsistence at archaeological sites.


Double-strand DNA breaks occur upon exposure of cells to agents such as ionizing radiation and ultraviolet light or indirectly through replication fork collapse at DNA damage sites. If left unrepaired double-strand breaks can cause genome instability and cell death. In response to DNA damage, proteins involved in double-strand break repair by homologous recombination re-localize into discrete nuclear foci. We identified 29 proteins that co-localize with the recombination repair protein Rad52 in response to DNA damage. Of particular interest, Ygr042w/Mte1, a protein of unknown function, showed robust colocalization with Rad52. Mte1 foci fail to form when the DNA helicase Mph1 is absent. Mte1 and Mph1 form a complex, and are recruited to double-strand breaks in vivo in a mutually dependent manner. Mte1 is important for resolution of Rad52 foci during double-strand break repair, and for suppressing break-induced replication. Together our data indicate that Mte1 functions with Mph1 in double-strand break repair.


Background: Elective surgery in diverticular disease (DD) consists classically in performing an open sigmoidectomy. Laparoscopic surgery of the colon can have results that are comparable to those of open surgery. Aim: To compare the results of laparoscopic and conventional surgery for DD. Materials and Methods: Retrospective review of preoperative, operative and postoperative variables of patients operated by laparoscopic surgery between the years 2000 and 2002. These results were compared with those of patients treated with conventional surgery in the same period. Results: Thirty nine patients, mean age 59 years old, were operated via laparotomy and 18 patients, mean age 47 years old, were treated with laparoscopic surgery. Both groups were comparable in gender, amount of previous laparotomies, type of surgery performed and American Society of Anestesiologists classification. The operative time was significantly higher in the laparoscopic surgery group (230 v/s 130 min), but the opioid requirements, stay in an intensive surgical care ward, postoperative ileus and hospital stay were significantly shorter in the laparoscopic group. Eleven percent of the patients included in the laparoscopic group and 31% of the patients treated with operative surgery had complications (p=0.07). The length of the excised colon, the degree of inflammation and treatment costs were comparable. Conclusions: Laparoscopic surgery in DD is feasible, safe, requires less analgesia and allows a faster recovery of post-operative ileus and a lower hospital stay (Rev Med Chile 2003; 131: 719-26)


Polarized Light Microscopy is a powerful technique for the identification of powdered explosives. The authors apply the technique here to the characterization in bulk of composite, plastic-bonded explosives, typically consisting of 95 w/o explosive particulate and 5 w/o polymeric binder. Mounting and polishing techniques are described, along with attendant issues of mount dyeing and some complications of cleaning very soft samples. The microstructures of PBX 9501 (based on cyclotetramethylene tetranitramine, or HMX), PBX 9502 (based on triaminotrinitrobenzene or TATB), and X-0535 (based on diaminotetrazine dioxide, or TZX) are compared and contrasted. Selected case studies are presented in which development of prominent structural characteristics, such as particle size and crack density, are tracked from the starting powders through formulation and pressing to serviceable, formed articles.


Australia is leading the way in promoting the use of the Internet as a means of strengthening local communities. The Australian Domain Name Authority (auDA) has announced the release of Community Geographic Domain Names (CGDN), to be solely used by not-for-profit, self-funded local community groups. As Australian communities attempt to establish a management group and develop a website under this concept, they are faced with a range of issues. Longitudinal case study research has been conducted on three communities involved in a trial of the CGDN model, in the first research of this type. Based on data collected from the case studies and the CGDN model, a mapping of sustainability issues and a model of community website sustainability will be presented. There is limited published research into sustainability issues for community websites, with no models of community website sustainability currently available.


We present a chronological evolution for naval telecommunication networks. We distinguish periods: with or without multiplexers, with switch systems, with federative systems, with medium switching, and with medium switching with wireless networks. This highlights the introduction of new layers and technology in the architecture. These architectures are presented using layer models of transmission, in a unified way, which enables us to integrate pre-existing models. A ship of a naval fleet has internal communications (i.e. applications' networks of the edge) and external communications (i.e. the use of the means of transmission between edges). We propose architectures, deduced from the layer model, which are the point of convergence between the networks on board and the HF, UHF radio, and satellite resources. This modelling allows to consider end-to-end naval communications, and in a more global way, that is from the user on board towards the user on shore, including transmission and networks on the shore side. The new architectures need take care of quality of services for end-to-end communications, the more remote control develops a lot and will do so in the future. Naval telecommunications will be more and more complex and will use more and more advanced technologies, it will thus be necessary to establish clear global communication schemes to grant consistency of the architectures. Our latest model has been implemented in a military naval situation, and serves as the basic architecture for the RIFAN2 network. Keywords—Equilibrium beach profile, eastern tombolo of Giens, potential function, erosion.


This Article investigates research issues related to the right to water, attempts to define and narrow the scope of the human right to water, and suggests research methodologies. Specifically, this Article provides a definition of the human right to water and identifies the difficulties of researching the human right to water. Next, it delineates international principles and other mechanisms that can be useful in protecting individuals and people affected by water issues, including quantity, quality, and access. Then, it selectively reviews current literature and domestic laws that provides some useful starting points for contemporary legal research on the human right to water. This Article concludes by offering recommendations for researchers and practitioners.


In this work, effective, cheap and scalable methodology is introduced to treat oily wastewater. The water produced from car-wash processes was utilized as a model because it has various pollutants – oil, lubricants, detergents, solid particles, etc. The results showed that the turbidity and chemical oxygen demand (COD) values dramatically decrease by using the proposed treatment process, which consists of coagulation, flocculation, sand filtration, and oxidation followed by sand as well as activated carbon filtration. Moreover, the operating conditions were optimized. Without adjustment of the pH value of car-wash wastewater, it was found that 200 ppm of ferric chloride, as a coagulant, and 1 ppm of potassium permanganate, as an oxidant, are the optimum doses. The COD and turbidity values of the final treated wastewater were reduced by almost 88 and 100%, respectively. A prototype with 15 L capacity was designed and fabricated to investigate the scaling up and continuity of the proposed treatment strategy. The results were very promising and indicated that the introduced methodology can be industrially applied.


African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song (LOA #333)-Kevin Young 2020-10-20 A literary landmark: the biggest, most ambitious anthology of Black poetry ever published, gathering 250 poets from the colonial period to the present Across a turbulent history, from such vital centers as Harlem, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and the Bay Area, Black poets created a rich and multifaceted tradition that has been both a reckoning with American realities and an imaginative response to them. Capturing the power and beauty of this diverse tradition in a single indispensable volume, African American Poetry reveals as never before its centrality and its challenge to American poetry and culture. One of the great American art forms, African American poetry encompasses many kinds of verse: formal, experimental, vernacular, lyric, and protest. The anthology opens with moving testaments to the power of poetry as a means of self-assertion, as enslaved people like Phillis Wheatley and George Moses Horton and activist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper voice their passionate resistance to slavery. Young's fresh, revelatory presentation of the Harlem Renaissance reexamines the achievements of Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen alongside works by lesser-known poets such as Gwendolyn B. Bennett and Mae V. Cowdery. The later flowering of the still influential Black Arts Movement is represented here with breadth and originality, including many long out-of-print or hard-to-find poems. Here are all the significant movements and currents: the nineteenth-century Francophone poets known as Les Cenelles, the Chicago Renaissance that flourished around Gwendolyn Brooks, the early 1960s Umbra group, and the more recent work of writers affiliated with Cave Canem and the Dark Room Collective. Here too are poems of singular, hard-to-classify figures: the enslaved potter David Drake, the allusive modernist Melvin B. Tolson, the Cleveland-based experimentalist Russell Atkins. This Library of America volume also features biographies of each poet and notes that illuminate cultural references and allusions to historical events.


STUDY QUESTION
Does conventional blastocyst morphological evaluation correlate with euploidy (as assessed by comprehensive chromosome screening (CCS) of trophectoderm (TE) biopsies) and implantation potential?

SUMMARY ANSWER
A moderate relation between blastocyst morphology and CCS data was observed but the ability to implant seems to be mainly determined by the chromosomal complement of preimplantation embryos rather than developmental and morphological parameters conventionally used for blastocyst evaluation.

WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY
Combined with improving methods for cryopreservation and blastocyst culture, TE biopsy and CCS is considered to be a promising approach to select euploid embryos for transfer. Understanding the role of morphology in blastocyst stage preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) cycles may help in further optimizing the cycle management and clinical outcomes.

STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION
This is a multicenter retrospective observational study performed between January 2009 and August 2013. The study includes the data analysis of 956 blastocysts with conclusive CCS results obtained from 213 patients following 223 PGS cycles. Single frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles of 215 euploid blastocysts were performed where it was possible to track the implantation outcome of each embryo transferred.

PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS
PGS was offered to infertile patients of advanced maternal age (>35 years) and/or with a history of unsuccessful IVF treatments (more than two failed IVF cycles) and/or previous spontaneous abortion (more than two spontaneous miscarriages). Prior to TE biopsy for CCS, blastocyst morphology was assessed and categorized in four groups (excellent, good, average and poor quality). The developmental rate of each embryo reaching the expanded blastocyst stage was defined according to the day of biopsy post-fertilization. Day 5 and Day 6 biopsied blastocysts were defined as faster and slower growing embryos, respectively. A novel blastocyst biopsy method, not requiring the opening of the zona pellucida at the cleavage stage of embryo development, was used. Linear regression models were used to test the relationship between blastocyst morphology and developmental rate CCS data and FET cycle outcomes of euploid blastocysts.

MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE
Among the embryological variables assessed (morphology and developmental rate), only blastocyst morphology was predictive of the CCS data. The euploidy rate was 56.4, 39.1, 42.8 and 25.5% in the excellent, good, average and poor blastocyst morphology groups, respectively. A diagnosis of complex aneuploidy was also associated with blastocyst morphology (P < 0.01) with 6.8, 15.2, 17.4 and 27.5% of excellent, good, average and poor quality embryos, respectively, showing multiple chromosome errors. Faster and slower growing embryos showed a similar aneuploidy rate. Regression logistic analysis showed that none of the parameters used for conventional blastocyst evaluation (morphology and developmental rate) was predictive of the implantation potential of euploid embryos. The implantation potential of euploid embryos was the same, despite different morphologies and developmental rates.

LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION
The study is limited by its retrospective nature. A higher sample size or a prospective randomized design could be used in future studies to corroborate the current findings.

WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS
This study provides knowledge for a better laboratory and clinical management of blastocyst stage PGS cycles suggesting that the commonly used parameters of blastocyst evaluation are not good enough indicators to improve the selection among euploid embryos. Accordingly, all poor morphology and slower growing expanded blastocysts should be biopsied and similarly considered for FET cycles. This knowledge will be of critical importance to achieve similar cumulative live birth rates in PGS programs compared with conventional IVF, avoiding the potential for exclusion of low quality but viable embryos from the biopsy and transfer procedures. Future research to identify non-invasive biomarkers of reproductive potential may further enhance selection among euploid blastocysts.

STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S)
No funding was obtained for the study. All authors have no conflicts to declare.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER
None.


The notion of material culture used in various historical and anthropological disciplines was principally introduced into France in several articles written by Jean-Marie Pesez in the late 1970s, to be applied in the field of medieval archaeology. These works reviewed the origins and the circumstances surrounding the emergence of this field of reflection and research, and established an initial framework for putting into practice, in archaeology, the use of material data as a source in the historical approach. A re-examination of these propositions and of the context of their application can be useful in order to investigate the current meaning of the concept, its heuristic potential (which still appears to be too limited), and the role it can play in the convergence of several social sciences.


In Tower and Office, Spanish architects Inaki Abalos and Juan Herreros look at the role and impact of advanced building technologies in American architecture since World War II. The war, they claim, marked the end of the first cycle of modernism, challenging the belief that technological progress alone could produce a perpetually better future. At the same time, the war was the source of powerful new structural models and construction methods. The authors examine the ways these technologies have been inflected over the last half century by more subjective and integrated processes of spatial organization.In the first part of the book, Abalos and Herreros focus on the work of Le Corbusier, revealing the degree of complexity achieved in his interpretation of the modern skyscraper. In the second part, they look at the intersection of technical and cultural determinants in the design of high-rise structures since World War II. Among the issues they consider are the evolution of the load-bearing frame, the impact of high-tech systems on tall buildings, and the transparent building skin. In the third part, they address developments in office design and planning, tracing an evolution from the repetitive and homogeneous office skyscraper to the present-day mixed-use structure. Overall they demonstrate how the objective technical analysis associated with modernist architectural theory has given way in recent building practice to a variety of flexible, pragmatic, and environmental approaches. These, they suggest, have opened the way to new urban and architectural forms.


The relationship between organisational culture and financial control systems (FCSs) is one of increasing interest (Dent 1987, Bourn and Ezzamel 1987, Ferguson and Lapsley 1988, Birnberg and Snodgrass 1988, Broadbent 1992, Harrison 1992). Many of these studies have looked at the interaction between culture and FCSs, in public sector organisations. They have used a variety of definitions of culture, though all refer to values and/or beliefs as central to the concept. It seems reasonable to hypothesise that the core beliefs of an organisation will be reflected in the design and operation of the FCS. In testing this broad hypothesis previous research has been informed by either the interpretive paradigm or the functional paradigm. This paper is an attempt to explore the possibilities of working within the functional paradigm and particularly to explore the use of contingency theory in understanding the relationship between organisational culture and financial control. Further, the research uses canonical correlation analysis to investigate the complex contingent relationship as suggested by Williams, McIntosh and Moore (1990).


Background: Many SNPs influence prostate cancer risk. To what extent genetic risk can be reduced by environmental factors is unknown. Methods: We evaluated effect modification by environmental factors of the association between susceptibility SNPs and prostate cancer in 1,230 incident prostate cancer cases and 1,361 controls, all white and similar ages, nested in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Trial. Genetic risk scores were calculated as number of risk alleles for 20 validated SNPs. We estimated the association between higher genetic risk (≥12 SNPs) and prostate cancer within environmental factor strata and tested for interaction. Results: Men with ≥12 risk alleles had 1.98, 2.04, and 1.91 times the odds of total, advanced, and nonadvanced prostate cancer, respectively. These associations were attenuated with the use of selenium supplements, aspirin, ibuprofen, and higher vegetable intake. For selenium, the attenuation was most striking for advanced prostate cancer: compared with <12 alleles and no selenium, the OR for ≥12 alleles was 2.06 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.67–2.55] in nonusers and 0.99 (0.38–2.58) in users (Pinteraction = 0.031). Aspirin had the most marked attenuation for nonadvanced prostate cancer: compared with <12 alleles and nonusers, the OR for ≥12 alleles was 2.25 (1.69–3.00) in nonusers and 1.70 (1.25–2.32) in users (Pinteraction = 0.009). This pattern was similar for ibuprofen (Pinteraction = 0.023) and vegetables (Pinteraction = 0.010). Conclusions: This study suggests that selenium supplements may reduce genetic risk of advanced prostate cancer, whereas aspirin, ibuprofen, and vegetables may reduce genetic risk of nonadvanced prostate cancer. Impact: The effect of genetic factors on prostate cancer risk may vary by lifestyle interventions. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 24(1); 213–20. ©2014 AACR.


This study reports on the utilisation of the Manchester Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ), Driver Attitude Questionnaire (DAQ) and Safety Climate Questionnaire (SCQ) to examine the self-reported crash involvement of a sample of Australian fleet drivers. Questionnaires were distributed through the company's internal mail system to participants. Univariate analyses identified that drivers were more likely to report engaging in speeding behaviours and believed speeding was more acceptable compared to drink driving, following too closely or engaging in risky overtaking manoeuvres. However, multivariate analyses implemented to determine factors associated with crash involvement revealed that increased work pressure as well as driving mistakes (i.e., errors) were predictive of crashes, even after controlling for exposure to the road (i.e., kilometres driven per year). This paper will further highlight the major findings of the study as well as possible implications regarding the predictive utility of self-report questionnaires to investigate driving behaviours. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E215375.


This study was undertaken to explore curriculum change from the General Certificate in Education (GCE) Ordinary Level (O-Level) to the International General Certificate in Secondary Education (lGCSE) with regard to English language teaching in four high schools in the Manzini region of Swaziland. The study investigated teachers' perceptions of the curriculum change and how they implemented it. The impact of the training teachers received in preparation for the introduction of the IGCSE English curriculum was also explored. An interpretive research paradigm using qualitative methodology was chosen for the study and was driven by the following critical research questions: 1. How do teachers experience curriculum change from GCE O-Level to IGCSE with regard to English language teaching? 2. How was this change implemented in the Form 4 English language classrooms? Qualitative methods comprising semi-structured interviews and non-participant classroom observations were used for collecting data. Data from interviews with teachers were analysed thematically through the use of the constant comparison method, while classroom observations data were qualitatively analysed by using themes that emerged from the . observation schedule designed for the study. The data from classroom observations were triangulated with data from interviews with teachers to ensure validity of the study. The study used the body of literature that relates to second language acquisition (SLA) and learning, with specific reference to social constructivism, bilingualism, communicative language teaching and task-based language teaching approaches, literacy and the genre approach as the theoretical framework. The theoretical framework facilitated an understanding that knowledge or meaningful learning is constructed by the learners as they interact using the target language. The results revealed that the teachers i) used a constructivist approach towards teaching which comprised the communicative language teaching and task-based language teaching and learning approaches. The IGCSE curriculum emphasizes the use of these approaches. The findings also indicated that teachers were inadequately prepared for teaching the IGCSE English curriculum as some of the workshop facilitators were less informed than some of the participants; and that they were only given guidance for conducting assessment in the oral skill without training them how to teach it. Also, the language aspects such as grammar, writing and reading were left out when the curriculum was reviewed, as a result teachers reverted to using the structural approach when teaching grammar, as opposed to the constructivist approach. Findings showed that as much as the IGCSE English curriculum was said to be good, the reading skill was inefficiently taught. IGCSE does not give learners quality education since the tasks learners did were cognitively unchallenging. In view of the theoretical framework of the study, the IGCSE English curriculum produces skills-based, vocationally inclined learners who are not geared towards pursuing academic university education. Listening comprehension was found to be the most problematic language aspect since the learners could not understand the English native speakers' accent when they listened to passages from tapes and CD's during examinations. Using the genre approach to essay writing findings showed that teaching essay writing was not well grounded. The study recommended that the curriculum be reviewed and teachers be taught more effective approaches to teaching essay writing as well as reading comprehension. It was also recommended that the Ministry of Education should assist teachers with additional resources and multimedia for teaching listening skills including CDs and listening to talk shows and in teaching essay writing. The study further recommended that localisation of the curriculum to SIGCSE should be postponed until a suitable curriculum is identified and that further research be conducted which would include a larger study that would be a true representation of all high schools in the four regions of the country.


The introduction of concurrent engineering has led to a need to perform product development tasks with reduced information detail. Decisions taken during the early design stages will have the greatest influence on the cost of manufacture. The manufacturing requirements for alternative design options should therefore be considered at this time. Existing tools for product manufacture assessment are either too detailed, requiring the results of detailed design information, or too abstract, unable to consider small changes in design configuration. There is a need for an intermediate level of assessment which will make use of additional design detail where available, whilst allowing assessment of early designs. This thesis develops the concept of aggregate process planning as a methodology for supporting concurrent engineering. A methodology for performing aggregate process planning of early product designs is presented. Process and resources alternatives are identified for each feature of the component and production plans are generated from these options. Alternative production plans are assessed in terms of cost, quality and production time. A computer based system (CESS, Concurrent Engineering Support System) has been developed to implement the proposed methodology. The system employs object oriented modelling techniques to represent designs, manufacturing resources and process planning knowledge. A product model suitable for the representation of component designs at varying levels of detail is presented. An aggregate process planning functionality has been developed to allow the generation of sets of alternative plans for a component in a given factory. Manufacturing cost is calculated from the cost of processing, set-ups, transport, material and quality. Processing times are calculated using process specific methods which are based on standard cutting data. Process quality cost is estimated from a statistical analysis of historical SPC data stored for similar operations performed in the factory, where available. The aggregate process planning functionality has been tested with example component designs drawn from industry.


This paper examines the role of gender in the formation of research collaboration networks, by investigating the composition of networks through connections to diverse professional communities. Drawing on an ego network approach, we examine gender differences among researchers' networks in terms of partner diversity, openness and brokerage roles. We use data from 897 valid responses to a questionnaire administered to biomedical scientists in Spain, which enquired into multiple aspects of personal research networks. Our findings show that women form more diverse networks and brokerage triads than men. This result is reinforced if we consider the most heterogeneous brokerage triads in terms of professional differences among network partners (i.e., consultant and liaison). Our results suggest that women are more likely to access non-redundant knowledge and richer research perspectives via their knowledge-flow intermediary roles. This research suggests the need for analyses of gender and networks that go beyond a gender-to-gender approach.


To quantify the climate change impacts of forestry and forest management options, we must consider the entire forestry system: the carbon dynamics of the forest, the life cycle of harvested wood products, and the substitution benefit of using biomass and wood products compared to more greenhouse gas intensive options. This paper presents modelled estimates of the greenhouse gas balance of two key native forest areas managed for production in New South Wales for a period of 200 years, and compares it to the option of managing for conservation only. These two case studies show that forests managed for production provide the greatest ongoing greenhouse gas benefits, with long-term carbon storage in products, and product substitution benefits critical to the outcome. Thus native forests could play a significant part in climate change mitigation, particularly when sustainably managed for production of wood and non-wood products including biomass for bioenergy. The potential role of production forestry in mitigating climate change, though substantial, has been largely overlooked in recent Australian climate change policy.


The awareness of the historical nature of our human existence had a profound influence on Old Testament scholarship. The historical nature of the Hebrew Bible was also realised and historical criticism was the result, but in the 20th century there was resistance against this method. This article is an attempt to emphasise the importance of historical understanding as a means of reliving the experiences of others in the present. To illustrate this we focus on the work of Eckart Otto and his exposition of the golden calf narrative in Deuteronomy 9:9–21; 10:1–5*. The importance of his work for us lies in his blending of synchrony and diachrony in the study of the book of Deuteronomy.


Understanding current neoliberalism in Brazil requires an analysis of the piracy that has been going on there since at least the 1970s. Early phases of neoliberalism shrank the state, liberalized markets, and privatized resources. Current forms of neoliberal practice are characterized by large informal economies, intellectual property (IP), circulatory "legitimacy," individualized consumption, and the reproductive fidelities of digital technology. This current combination places the unauthorized production, sale, and use of goods (often referred to as "piracy") at the center of the forms of exchange on which the modern Brazilian economy relies. Purchases may be viewed as degraded or redemptive by having been mediated through "piracy," and most consumers of public culture are referred to at some point by the culture industry as "pirates." The anxious subjectivities that result from piracy's emerging centrality are here analyzed at two contrasting Brazilian sites. The first is an NGO that polices violations of IP. The second is an informal marketplace in the state of Sao Paulo where workers strive for "competitive pricing." In both of these sites, piracy simultaneously elucidates international discourses while it inscribes local approaches to mixture and boundary violation. At some moments, piracy appears as a distinctly Brazilian "embarrassment." In others, it is a typically creative Brazilian solution to the problem of unfair international markets. [piracy, neoliberalism, intellectual property, informal economies, camelo, Brazil]


The objective of this study was to determine the effects of calcium salts on growth of Botryosphaeria dothidea and incidence of white rot. The relative virulence of five B. dothidea isolates was determined using the apple cultivars Fuji, Gala, Golden Delicious, Liberty, and York. Cultivar and isolate differences in lesion diameter were significant. Cultivar differences occurred between Fuji, which was most susceptible, and Gala, which was least susceptible. Isolates PA-1 and PA-2 were most virulent. Isolate PA-4 was used at conidia concentrations of 1 × 104, 1 × 105, 1 × 106, and 1 × 107 conidia per ml on Golden Delicious fruit to test the effects of four inoculum concentrations on fruit infection by B. dothidea. Incidence of infection on detached, nonwounded fruit increased as inoculum concentration increased. The effects of four calcium salts on infection of wounded fruit by conidia were examined in field and laboratory experiments. In the field experiments, lesion size was slightly reduced on fruit treated with either calcium hydroxide or calcium silicate after wounding and prior to inoculation with conidia of B. dothidea, whereas lesions that developed at wounds treated with calcium chloride or calcium propionate were similar to those of the control. In the laboratory experiments, in several instances supplementation with calcium salts resulted in increased lesion diameter relative to the control. Two of five isolates tested showed increased percent germination with all four calcium salts, and one isolate showed increased germination in the presence of two of the four calcium salts. Germ tube elongation was not affected by calcium salts for four out of five isolates tested. There was significant variation among isolates and calcium salts on the growth of B. dothidea in liquid culture. Calcium chloride and calcium hydroxide enhanced the growth of three isolates and had no effect on the other three isolates. Calcium propionate inhibited the growth of four isolates and had no effect on the other two isolates. Calcium silicate inhibited the growth of one isolate and had no effect on the other five isolates.


Purpose of this article is to disclose the effectiveness of family friendly policy implementation based on the attitudes of the parents with juvenile children, attitudes of experts in family friendly policy. The research goals are the following: 1) to describe the concepts family and family friendly policy; 2) to characterize support for family in the context of the welfare states regimes; 3) to analyse family social support system in Lithuania; 4) to prepare qualitative research methodology; 5) to carry interviews with parents with young children and experts on family friendly policy; 6) to present conclusions and recommendations for the improvement family and working life reconciliation. The research results revealed that there are no considerable differences in both parents and expert's attitudes towards family friendly policy in Lithuania. Both tend to criticize Lithuanian family friendly policy and indicate more disadvantages than advantages. The results indicated, that due to attitudes expressed by the informants, State should ensure adequate benefits and other social assistance means for families with young children; improve existing maternity, paternity and parental leave schemes, the legal basis; to increase public attention and subsidies to young families by helping to purchase real property; to establish more free future parents education centres.


This study explores the use of African traditional healers by people using Antiretroviral (ARV) treatment in South Africa. It focuses on the insights and opinions of two different populations: HIV positive patients attending ARV services and lay healthcare workers (patient advocates and ARV counsellors) providing counselling services parallel to ARV treatment A semi-structured questionnaire was used to explore the attitudes of patients to African traditional healers and their practices. This was complemented by in depth interviews with patients who reported use of traditional healing systems in the past year. The responses show that the majority of respondents had never accessed a traditional healing service. Only two patients were found to be actively crossing between ARV treatment facilities and traditional healing services at the time of their interview. The study also included two focus group discussions with lay health workers (i.e. ARV counsellors and patient advocates) at two ARV sites. On the whole it showed that lay health workers support an ARV roll out process that effectively underplays the role of traditional healers and therefore actively discourages their patients from using traditional healing services while taking ARV treatment.


This article traces the classical roots of natural law and human rights. Although in antiquity there was no concept of human rights, among poets, philosophers and jurists there was an idea of justice that no government could overrule. Although the idea of rights was absent from these constructs, they form the basis of modern legal ideas. We find the first exposition of basic rights in the work of Hesiod, which, after the fifth-century crisis in the Greek concept of the world, led to a new idea of natural justice that was developed by Aristotle.