New Zealand's youth justice system has been lauded internationally for its restorative and diversionary approach to youth justice. This article takes a fresh perspective to youth justice in New Zealand, namely that of children's rights. Using the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and associated international standards as benchmarks, this article argues that although the system has many positive aspects in its design, there are difficulties in implementation, especially in relation to checks on discretion. This article also queries whether the future direction of the New Zealand youth justice system, especially the increased emphasis on restorative justice, is positive for children.


Commodity prices have increased dramatically and persistently over the past several years, followed by a sharp reversal in recent months. These large and persistent movements in commodity prices raise questions about their implications for global inflation. The process of globalization has motivated much debate over whether global factors have become more important in driving the inflation process. Since commodity prices respond to global demand and supply conditions, they are a potential channel through which foreign shocks could influence domestic inflation. The author assesses whether commodity prices can be used as effective leading indicators of inflation by evaluating their predictive content in seven major industrialized economies. She finds that, since the mid-1990s in those economies, commodity prices have provided significant signals for inflation. While short-term increases in commodity prices can signal inflationary pressures as early as the following quarter, the size of this link is relatively small and declines over time. The results suggest that monetary policy has generally accommodated the direct effects of short-term commodity price movements on total inflation. While indirect effects of short-term commodity price movements on core inflation have remained relatively muted, more persistent movements appear to influence inflation expectations and signal changes in both total and core inflation at horizons relevant for monetary policy. The results also suggest that commodity price movements may provide larger signals for inflation in the commodity-exporting countries examined than in the commodity-importing economies.


Payday lenders and similar alternative financial services providers are primarily regulated at the state level, but local governments have increasingly begun to impose restrictions of their own on these fringe financial services providers. While some ordinances have focused on lending restrictions and other consumer protections, most municipal payday lender regulations are found in zoning and other land use laws.Zoning has long been used to restrict the siting of undesirable land uses – ranging from junkyards and landfills to tattoo shops and adult businesses – making it an ideal method for local governments to regulate payday lenders. Experience with other unwanted land uses has led to the development of various zoning techniques appropriate for controlling these businesses, such as separation and dispersal requirements, nonconforming use limitations, special permit procedures, and partial or total exclusions.This article provides an overview of these and other approaches that local governments have taken to regulate alternative financial services providers. After providing some background regarding the general functions and characteristics of these businesses in the first section, the second section discusses state-level financial regulations and preemption issues. The third section covers the different types of municipal controls that have been imposed on payday lenders and similar businesses, drawing on actual ordinances as well as on case law discussing their use and validity. Finally, the fourth section mentions several alternative, incentive-based non-zoning approaches that have been used to improve financial literacy and extend traditional banking services to a broader population. An appendix listing and briefly describing more than 60 payday lender ordinances is also included.


Abstract Okeanos is at once a mythological figure and a philosophical concept appearing in many ancient accounts of the world. A frequent object of allegoresis, his cosmological role and his name posed an enigma to Homer's readers, especially those with a rationalizing bent. This paper proposes that the paradoxical representation of Okeanos as a primordial generative power and a geographical limit may be explained by the influence of etymological speculation, which was a popular heuristic method used by Greek intellectuals from the archaic period throughout antiquity.


Background: Previous epidemiologic studies have revealed that cumulative body mass index (BMI) is allied with higher total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL). However, these scholarships were limited by the underrepresentation of obese subjects according to Shamai. Objective: To evaluate the association between body mass index (BMI) and total cholesterol among some Algerian women's. Methods: A case-control study was performed involving some worker's women and spinster in OPAPS laboratory for the academic years (2015-2016). All participants in this study accepted to venous blood withdrawal under fasting conditions and anthropometric measurement (body weight, body height and body mass index). The datum was performed by SPSS 22 using Levene's statistic, T-test independently and correlation of Pearson. Result: the samples included 36 females 18 spinsters and 18 married, their average age 22.75 ± 2.56 years. The homogeneity of the two groups was based on administrative workers with the same education and the social status. Founded on the statistical applied, we confirm that cholesterol level increased with increasing BMI case women married in the opposite of a spinster. Conclusion: Upper BMI was inversely associated with HDL and TG in the benefit of a spinster. Although the association between BMI and both HDL and TG may be explained by oral contraceptives causing a decrease in Apoprotein, cholesterol, HDL, triglycerides the case of married women. In contrast, our findings are in conformity with the similar studies which advised the positive relationship between BMI and triglycerides related to lower HDL cholesterol and its relationship to lipoprotein lipase activity.


Abstract Background: Given the high prevalence of HIV infection in this country today it is not difficult to observe the risk faced by victims of sexual assault. In addition, there is a lack of available data on the per-episode risk of HIV infection with specific sexual encounters,1 and in combination with poor follow-up of sexual assault victims,2–4 this has resulted in few studies assessing the risk of HIV infection after sexual assault. There is a paucity of research conducted in this field particularly at rape centres in the Cape Metropolitan area of the Western Cape. Methods: Aim: To obtain a profile of sexual assault victims and the treatment received at the Karl Bremer Hospital Rape Centre over a period of one year. Study design: Descriptive cross-sectional survey. Setting: The study was conducted at the rape centre at the Karl Bremer Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa. To describe the frequency of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in rape victims, all consecutive patients who presented to the rape centre over the one-year period from 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007 were included in the sample. A total of 820 patient records were evaluated. The researcher and research assistant examined the victims' folders at the rape centre for information covered in the objectives. A checklist was used as an instrument to obtain relevant information on pregnancy, STIs, pre- and post-test counselling, HIV status, tolerance to anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment post sexual assault and other information covered in the objectives. Informed consent was obtained from all participants. Results: The age of the victims ranged from six to 70 years (average age 23.3). Most of the victims (76.5%) were aged 10–29, 14.3% were aged 30–39, 2.1% were 50 or older and 0.2% were less than 10 years of age. About 5.5% had completed primary school, 26.8% had completed secondary school and only 1.8% had tertiary education. Most of the victims were not married (91.8%) and had experienced their first episode of sexual assault (88.4%). In addition, about 24.6% presented with STI and 12.1% were HIV positive at presentation. About two-thirds (67.2%) of the victims were offered post-coital contraception. It is, however, disturbing to note that only 6.2% had pre-test counselling and only 6.1% had post-test counselling. About two-thirds (66.83%) of the victims were offered ARV therapy. Of the 548 patients who received ARV therapy, 64.2% were placed on Combivir® and only 1.5% took zidovudine. There seems to be a positive association between STI and HIV infection at presentation (OR 2.96; 95% CI 1.96–4.56). There was no statistically significant difference between level of education, employment status or marital status and HIV status at presentation. In addition, there was no statistically significant difference between number of episodes of sexual assault and HIV status. Conclusion: The prevalence of STI in victims of sexual assault attending the Karl Bremer Hospital Rape Centre during the period 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007 is 24.6% and that of documented HIV infection, 12.1%. The results also seem to confirm a positive association between STI and HIV infection in this study population. Pre-test and post-test counselling occurred very infrequently and this needs to be addressed. Further, attention needs to be focused on proper training of professional staff members with regard to counselling skills to further enhance the quality of care of sexual assault victims at the Karl Bremer Hospital Rape Centre.


Annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (ADF-STEM) image simulations were performed for zone-axis-oriented light-element single crystals, using a multislice method adapted to include charge redistribution due to chemical bonding. Examination of these image simulations alongside calculations of the propagation of the focused electron probe reveal that the evolution of the probe intensity with thickness exhibits significant sensitivity to interatomic charge transfer, accounting for observed thickness-dependent bonding sensitivity of contrast in all ADF-STEM imaging conditions. Because changes in image contrast relative to conventional neutral atom simulations scale directly with the net interatomic charge transfer, the strongest effects are seen in crystals with highly polar bonding, while no effects are seen for nonpolar bonding. Although the bonding dependence of ADF-STEM image contrast varies with detector geometry, imaging parameters, and material temperature, these simulations pred...


DELCHEV, Gr. and A. STOYANOVA, 2015. Stability estimation of some mixtures between retardants and anticereal herbicides for grain yield of durum wheat. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 21: 358–362 The research was conducted during 2010-2012 on pellic vertisol soil type. Under investigation was Bulgarian durum wheat cultivar Progress, which belongs to Triticum durum var. leucurum. Factor A included the years of investigation. Factor B included no treated control and 3 retardants – Stabilan (chlormequat) – 2 l.ha –1 , Flordimex extra (ethephon) – 750 ml.ha –1 , Terpal (ethephon + mepiquat) – 3 l.ha –1 . Factor C included weeded no treated control and 3 anticereal herbicides – Scorpio super 100 EC (phenoxaprop-ethyl) – 700 ml.ha –1 , Grasp 25 SC (tralkoxidym) – 1.2 l.ha –1 , Topik 080 EC (clodinafop) – 450 ml.ha –1 . The weak adhesion of Grasp required its application with adjuvant Atplus – 1.2 l.ha –1 . Investigated herbicides have not antibroadleaved effect and control of broadleaved weeds in all variants was done with herbicide Secator OD in dose 100 ml.ha –1 . All of retardants, herbicides and their tank-mixtures were treated in tillering stage of the durum wheat. The most increase of grain yield is obtained by combined use of retardant Terpal with herbicide Grasp, of retardant Flordimex extra with herbicides Grasp and Scorpio super and of retardant Stabilan with herbicides Grasp and Topik. Tank mixtures of Scorpio super with Stabilan and Terpal and tank mixtures of Topik with Flordimex extra and Terpal are the most unstable for grain yield. Tank mixtures Terpal + Grasp, Flordimex extra + Scorpio super, Stabilan + Grasp, Flordimex extra + Grasp and Stabilan + Topik are technological the most valuable. They combine high grain yield with high stability with relation to different years. Application of retardants Stabilan, Flordimex extra and Terpal without herbicides have low estimate and could not be used in the durum wheat crops.


Large amounts of data from multiple sources have led to the opportunity of deriving health benefits through using sophisticated technologies. Regardless of the frequently cited revolution of data-driven health care, promises remain to be fulfilled. The IMI2 BD4BO programme recognises this in representative disease areas, providing a framework to guide research and invite stakeholders to discuss the future of health systems shaped by big data. The projects will impact the research environment through shared definitions and methods to avoid duplication of work, while transforming health care systems in terms of clinical operations, research and development, evidence-based personalised medicine and public health.


Human–elephant conflict is increasing across many parts of Asia and Africa. Mitigating elephant crop raiding has become a major focus of conservation intervention, however, many existing methods for tackling this problem are expensive and difficult to execute. Thus, there is a need for more affordable, farm-based methods. Testing these methods is key to ensuring their effectiveness and feasibility. In this study, we tested a novel olfactory deterrent, the "smelly elephant repellent", a foul-smelling organic liquid, on 40 farms in Uganda and Kenya. Our results show that the repellent was effective at deterring elephants from crop raiding. Over the study period, 82% of 309 elephant crop raids were deterred in Uganda. In Kenya, the repellent deterred 63% of 24 crop raiding incidents, and there was a significant effect of the repellent on test sites compared with control sites. The smelly repellent could be a helpful crop raiding mitigation tool for farmers, as this study showed it to be effective, relatively cheap, quick to produce from locally available ingredients, and communities have a positive attitude towards using it. Ongoing work is exploring the potential for a market-based approach to take this to scale in a financially sustainable way.


The court conducted a lengthy trial of this case in May and June of 1987 and on August 27,1987, issued a 101 page opinion finding that the American Medical Association ("AMA") and its members participated in a conspiracy against chiropractors in violation of the nation's antitrust laws. Thereafter an opinion dated September 25, 1987 was substituted for the August 27,1987 opinion. The question now before the court is the form of injunctive relief that the court will order. See also p 83. As part of the injunctive relief to be ordered by the court against the AMA, the AMA shall be required to send a copy of this Permanent Injunction Order to each of its current members. The members of the AMA are bound by the terms of the Permanent Injunction Order if they act in concert with the AMA to violate the terms of the order. Accordingly, it is


The investigations of Cruikshank have brought to the attention of American scientists different methods of analyzing the optical image, methods which were also suggested by A. Kerber and the author. However, all these methods are, for the most part, restricted to the analysis of meridional rays.In previous papers the author has shown the importance of the analysis of the diapoint configuration for the optical image. He here gives a simple formula to show how the diapoint deviations can be considered as the sum of errors originating at the single surfaces. In this way, and with the help of a series of diagrams, the lens designer can obtain an accurate picture of the effect of the single surface on all the rays traversing the optical system. Diagrams for two photographic lenses are included.


What might have caused the post-2007 election violence in Kenya? Was it election irregularities as widely claimed or could it have been simmering ethnic-rivalries waiting to spill over? While not directly focusing on the post-election violence, we investigate a number of issues that divided Kenyans in the 2007 Presidential election. Following a rational choice framework and using survey data of voter opinions, we find that Kenyan voters are strategic, seeking to maximize their well-being and influenced by a number of factors that go beyond their ethnicity such as their absolute and relative living standards, access to public goods and also grievances arising from perceptions of discrimination. The evidence suggests that Kenyan voting behavior is economically motivated, with retrospective interests, thus contrasting other studies that consider Kenyans to be wholly identity voters. The study also reveals significant heterogeneity depending on the voters' primary loci of identification-- either in terms of their ethnicity, occupation or nationalistic terms (Kenyans). The apparent ethnic divisions have resulted in a polarized society with consequential weakening of the institutional base for economic development. The study points to the necessity of institutional reforms that can better harmonize ethnic claims and avert conflicts in the future.


Composite As2Se3/polyethersulfone fibers are fabricated that have As2Se3 core diameters between 0.5 and 3 microns surrounded by a PES cladding 50 to 150 microns in diameter. The small core areas along with the large nonlinear coefficients found for As2Se3 make these fibers excellent candidates for compact low-cost nonlinear devices.


In the late sixties, with the development of automated data banks and the growing use of computers in the private and public sector, privacy was conceptualized as having individuals "in control over their personal information" (Westin, 1967). The principles of Fair Information Practices were elaborated during this period and have been incorporated in data protection laws ("DPLs") adopted in various jurisdictions around the world ever since. These DPLs protect personal information, which is defined similarly in various DPLs (such as in Europe and Canada) as "information relating to an identifiable individual". In the U.S., information is accorded special recognition through a series of sectoral privacy statutes focused on protecting "personally identifiable information" (or PII), a notion close to personal information. Going back to the early seventies, we can note that identical or very similar definitions of personal information were already used in DPLs, illustrating that this definition of personal information dates back to this period.In recent days, with the Internet and the circulation of new types of information, the efficiency of this definition may be challenged. Recent technological developments are triggering the emergence of new identification tools allowing for easier identification of individuals. Data-mining techniques and capabilities are reaching new levels of sophistication. In the era of Big Data, because it is now possible to interpret almost any data as personal information (any data can in one way or another be related to some individual) the question arises as to how much and which data should be considered as personal information.In section 1, I elaborate on how a literal interpretation of the definition of personal information is no longer workable. In light of this, I present the proposed approach to interpreting the definition of personal information, under which the ultimate purpose behind DPLs should be taken into account. I then demonstrate that the ultimate purpose of DPLs was to protect individuals against a risk of harm triggered by organizations collecting, using and disclosing their information. In section 2, I demonstrate how this risk of harm can be subjective or objective, depending on the data handling activity at stake and I offer a way forward, proposing a decision-tree test useful when deciding whether certain information should qualify as personal information. The objective of my work is to come to a common understanding of the notion of personal information, the situations in which DPLs should be applied, and the way they should be applied. The approach is meant to provide for a useful framework under which DPLs remain efficient in light of modern Internet technologies.


Title of Dissertation: THE LAME DUCK CONGRESS: FAIR OR FOUL? Dror Itzhak Yuravlivker, Doctor of Philosophy 2013 Dissertation directed by: Professor Frances E. Lee, Department of Government and Politics This dissertation is an in-depth exploration of lame duck sessions of Congress. The old conventional wisdom, that lame duck sessions of Congress were insignificant periods where Congress conducted some housecleaning by passing minor bills left over from the regular session, ignores a key factor: elections. Elections do not just affect the composition of the next Congress; they also affect the legislative output of the current one. Specifically, when elections result in changes in partisan control, particularly from unified to divided government and vice versa, leaders and rank-and-file members of the political party on the way out have an incentive to pass more significant legislation before they relinquish the reins of power. My research provides the theoretical basis for this expectation, weighing the different electoral permutations and discussing issues of representation, electoral mandates, and ideological polarization. Building on previous work, I create a statistical model that incorporates electoral results with measures of legislative significance and party polarization. Although this model is based on data from 1877 to 1995, it predicts with some accuracy the legislative outputs of subsequent lame duck sessions of Congress. To provide a broader context, the dissertation includes a historical overview going back to the founding of the Republic, a review of relevant literature, and in-depth case studies of the three most recent lame duck sessions (2008, 2010, and 2012). The case studies go hand-in-hand with the statistical model, validating the conclusion that elections help determine the number and significance of laws enacted during subsequent lame duck sessions. Scrutiny of the output of lame duck sessions is a significant departure from the existing literature and is central to my contribution. Ultimately, this dissertation provides a theoretical and statistical basis for the hypothesis that changes in partisan control of one or more chambers of Congress – or the White House – affect the legislative outputs of lame duck sessions. THE LAME DUCK CONGRESS: FAIR OR FOUL?


IZA DP No. 14244 APRIL 2021 Gender Preferences in Central and Eastern Europe as Reflected in Partnership and Fertility Outcomes1 The decisions of parents following the birth of their first child concerning subsequent fertility, and the stability of their relationship can be used as a reflection of broader gender preferences. We study these decisions to identify gender preferences in six Central and Eastern European countries, which vary with respect to their current political and economic conditions, but share a common experience of past communist rule. Using subsamples of census data collected in the IPUMS-International inventory around 2000 and 2010, we examine the effect of the gender of the first-born child(ren) on the fertility and relationship stability of their parents. Only in the case of Romania do our results consistently point towards boy preferences, while in Russia boy preferences can be detected in families with two or more children. Importantly, in four out of six countries (Belarus, Poland, Russia and Ukraine) parents are more likely to have a second child if the first-born was a boy, indicating girl preferences. These preferences could be interpreted as a reflection of concern regarding future care support for parents. JEL Classification: J13, J16


During human pregnancy, the specialized epithelial cells of the placenta (cytotrophoblasts) come into direct contact with immune cells in several locations. In the fetal compartment of the placenta, cytotrophoblast stem cells lie adjacent to macrophages (Hofbauer cells) that reside within the chorionic villus stroma. At sites of placental attachment to the mother, invasive cytotrophoblasts encounter specialized maternal natural killer (NK) cells (CD56bright), macrophages, and T cells that accumulate within the uterine wall during pregnancy. Here we tested the hypothesis that fetal cytotrophoblasts can direct the migration of these maternal immune cells. First, we assayed the chemotactic activity of cytotrophoblast conditioned medium samples, using human peripheral blood mononuclear cells as targets. The placental samples preferentially attracted NK cells (both CD56dim and CD56bright), monocytes, and T cells, suggesting that our hypothesis was correct. A screen to identify chemokine activity through the induction of a Ca2+ flux in cells transfected with individual chemokine receptors suggested that cytotrophoblasts secreted monocyte inflammatory protein (MIP)-1α. This was confirmed by localizing the corresponding mRNA and protein, both in vitro and in vivo. MIP-1α protein in conditioned medium was further characterized by immunoblotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Immunodepletion of MIP-1α from cytotrophoblast conditioned medium showed that this chemokine was responsible for a significant portion of the induced monocyte and CD56bright NK cell chemotax-is. These data suggest the specific conclusion that cytotrophoblasts can attract monocytes and CD56bright NK cells by producing MIP-1α and the more general hypothesis that these cells may organize and act on leukocytes at the maternal–fetal interface.


Sage advice from a pediatrician mom of twin boys! Offers tips and strategies for surviving (and enjoying!) the first few years of twins' lives. Even with years working as a pediatrician, Shelly Vaziri Flais, MD, FAAP, was nervous about what lay ahead when she was told she was pregnant with twins. Now, several years into parenting her twin boys, Dr Flais is sharing her wisdom and experience as a mom and her expertise as a doctor to help other parents prepare for and raise multiples with confidence. With insightful stories from her own experiences coupled with important information only a pediatrician can offer, Raising Twins will help parents - Prepare for the arrival of their twins - Survive the first few days and weeks with advice on sleep schedules, feeding choices, and finding support - Develop strategies to help successfully manage (and enjoy!) the first year of their twins' lives - Negotiate the toddler years, including potty training, language development, big-kid beds, budgets, and discipline - Understand the world of their twins as they become preschoolers, including socialization inside and outside the family, encouraging individualism, discipline and sleep issues.


"Understanding Northwest Coast Art" is a handy, dictionary-style reference guide to identifying and understanding the symbols, crests, and beings depicted in Northwest Coast Native American works of art such as totem poles, masks, and prints.The first section of the book features an alphabetical list of words relating to Northwest Coast art, with definitions, descriptions, and explanations and synopses of the major myths associated with them. As an aid to identification and understanding, many of the crests, beings, and symbols are illustrated in 70 reproductions of contemporary artworks and archival photos. The entries cover a wide range: crests such as Eagle, Dogfish, or Dragonfly; ancestral beings such as Creek Woman or Thunderbird; mythic beings such as Raven, the Chief of the Undersea, or Cedar Man; and supernatural beings such as Death-Bringer. "Understanding Northwest Coast Art" also includes brief descriptions of the design conventions, design elements, and different art styles of Northwest Coast cultural groups, along with an overview of the interconnections between art, myth, and ceremony.Easy to use and easy to read, this volume is an essential source for understanding and visually identifying the underlying themes and subjects of Northwest Coast Native American art.


Landscape reflects and informs the history which shapes it, the society of which it forms a part, and the culture and identity of its inhabitants. An introduction provides a brief survey of contemporary pastoral poetry, identifying two main strands, the Romantic and the social-pastoral traditions. Further chapters discuss the relations between landscape, society, history and identity in the work of Sean O'Brien, Peter Didsbury and Michael Hofmann. Sean O'Brien's poetry depicts 'marginal' post-industrial locations both as the subjects of historical forces and as idyllic; interrogates received English idylls; and substitutes localised idylls based in childhood experiences. Peter Didsbury draws on similar landscapes and a similar sensibility, but shows a more oblique engagement with history and poetic tradition; his treatment of landscape and local identity is also notable for its religious and rhetorical elements; and his creation of pastoral idylls is located resolutely in the contemporary here-and-now. The tenor of Michael Hofmann's work is different: his landscapes are typically dystopian; rather than drawing on a local identity determined by landscape, childhood experience or local culture, his work shows a gap between the idylls and narratives of European high culture and the contemporary world as experienced locally; and his use of temporary homes as locations reflects his style's restless performance of temporary identity. The thesis is accompanied by a creative project consisting of two elements: a collection of shorter poems and an extended sequence. The former develops such themes as the identification of self and culture with a landscape, the religious treatment of place and provincial culture, and the outsider figure as an analogue of the marginal landscape; and such formal features as the Horatian ode, apostrophe, prosaic and metered lineation, and the collision of high rhetoric with prosaic contemporary subject matter. The latter develops various features of the pastoral through the narrative context of an inmate of a lunatic asylum in early twentieth-century Central Europe, drawing on the formal materials of outsider art as well as the content of the thesis.


Mobile operators nowadays tend to deploy dense heterogeneous layers of 3G and 4G networks in outdoor and indoor environments by adding more macrocells and smallcells (e.g. microcells, picocells and femtocells) in response to the increasing subscriber demand for coverage and capacity. The main driver and enabler behind this tendency is the phenomenon that around 80% of power consumption in mobile communication networks stems from the radio base stations. This situation makes mobile operators opt for the use low-power radio base stations to provide better coverage, capacity and a more environment-friendly operation. The use of low-power radio base stations leads to reduction of energy consumption in mobile communication networks power. The aim of this study is to conduct a comparative study between homogenous macrocell deployment and indoor smallcell deployments as alternative solutions for provision of the required indoor coverage and capacity. Moreover, the study highlights the importance of backhaul solutions being critical components in the smallcell network deployment. Furthermore, the scope of the study is extended to cover the investigation of the value of the heterogeneous (i.e. hybrid marcocell-femtocell) deployment scenario as a cost and power-efficient solution versus the homogenous marcocell deployment scenario in view of the variations in the mobile network traffic during the day. The main findings indicate that the CapEx and OpEx of the backhaul solution represent the major part of the total deployment cost in the indoor smallcell deployment scenario (i.e. femtocell case) compared to those of the macrocell deployment scenario. Nonetheless, the perceived saving in the total cost of ownership (TCO) resulting from the use of indoor smallcell (i.e. femtocell) remains a satisfactory and convenient motivation considering the traffic variation across the day, traffic distribution between indoor and outdoor locations and the keenness to use the spectrum resources more efficiently.


Conventional wisdom has it that government management of the economy is the means to transform a backward economy into a dynamic, modern one. Yet, after decades of international aid programs, development planning is today largely perceived as a failure paralyzed by its own bureaucracy and inefficiency. Despite billions of dollars of investment, development successes are few and far between and waste and mismanagement abounds. This book showcases a diverse range of development experiences in order to ascertain the reasons for this quagmire. Case studies of development planning in China, India, post-WWII Japan, South Korea, Africa, and Eastern Europe, and of foreign aid programs (including the Marshall Plan) illustrate the insights an Austrian approach provides toward an understanding of the failure of government development planning. While economists working within the Austrian tradition have previously addressed development issues, this volume represents the first full-length treatment of the subject from a modern market process perspective. Exploding the hegemony of the traditional development paradigm, The Collapse of Development Planning addresses one of the most pressing issues of international political economy. Contributing to the volume are: George Ayittey (American University), Wayne T. Brough (Citizens for a Sound Economy, Washington, DC), Young Back Choi (St. John's University), Steven Hanke (Johns Hopkins University), Steve Horwitz (St. Lawrence University), Shyam J. Kamath (California State University, Hayward), Shigeto Naka (Hiroshima City University), David Osterfeld (St. Joseph's College), Manisha Perera (University of Northern Colorado), Jan S. Prybyla (Pennsylvania State University), Ralph Raico (State University College, Buffalo), Parth Shah (University of Michigan, Dearborn), Kurt Schuller (Johns Hopkins University), Kiyokazu Tanaka (Sophia University, Tokyo), and Mark Thorton (Auburn University).


The two-dimensional (2D) delamination behavior of composite laminates under quasi-static out-of-plane opening loads has been experimentally investigated. A novel design and experimental set-up for fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) laminated plates with a circular embedded pre-crack was developed. Increasing load-displacement curves were obtained due to the increasing crack front length during propagation. Throughout the loading process, stiffening and softening mechanisms were activated. The stretching of delaminated part of the laminates constituted the main stiffening mechanism. Once the crack started growing, a corresponding softening due to crack propagation occurred together with a secondary stiffening mechanism, fiber-bridging. These stiffness-related mechanisms were reflected in the compliance.


Oxidative stress (OS) plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis potentially through interaction with nitric oxide (NO) generated by the inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) pathway. Although considerable literature supports a pro-atherogenic role for iNOS-induced NO, recent evidence suggest an anti-atherogenic property for this enzyme where iNOS-induced NO attenuates atherosclerotic lesions after immune injury, enhancing endothelial integrity, survival, protecting against OS-induced apoptosis and necrosis. We therefore hypothesize that iNOS may have a cardio-protective role in the atherosclerotic vessel and that under conditions of OS, expression and function of this enzyme may be impaired, thus contributing to the deleterious consequences of OS. Experiments have therefore been conducted to establish whether pro-oxidants regulate iNOS expression/function in rat cultured aortic smooth muscle cells (RASMCs). These cells were induced for 24 hours with LPS and IFN-γ to mimic inflammatory conditions. Oxidative stress inducers may modulate iNOS-induced NO production through alteration of the expression and/or function of the inducible L-arginine-NO pathway. We examined the effects of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), antimycin A and diethyl maleate (DEM) on this pathway in vascular smooth muscle cells. H2O2 had little effect on NO production or L-arginine transport while antimycin A and DEM independently caused a concentration dependent inhibition of both processes. Only DEM induced hemeoxygenase-1 (HO-1) expression, monitored by western blotting as a marker of OS. The effects of statins on NO synthesis and L-arginine transport in the presence and absence of OS were also investigated. The benefits of statins therapy in cardiovascular medicine are ascribed in part to their lipid-lowering effect by inhibiting 3-hydroxy-3-methoxyglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, the rate limiting enzyme for cholesterol synthesis. However, statins may possess anti-inflammatory properties and are able to improve endothelial function, stabilize atherosclerotic plaque, and inhibit platelet aggregation, vascular smooth muscle cells proliferation and vessel wall inflammation. These effects may be exerted through novel actions of statins that include interaction with specific signalling pathways in cells which may be associated with the induction of iNOS and/or cationic amino acid transporters (CATs). Thus, we have extended our investigations to include an examination of the effects of statins on both iNOS and CAT function and expression under control conditions and following exposure of cells to OS. Atorvastatin caused a bell shaped response on NO production and iNOS expression and also enhanced L-arginine transport but in a non-concentration dependent manner. Simvastatin only affected NO synthesis without altering transporter activity. Pravastatin was without effect on either system. Further studies demonstrated that that atorvastatin was able to reverse the effects of antimycin A and DEM but only on NO production. These findings confirm that the inducible L-arginine-NO pathway can be downregulated by pro-oxidants. This mechanism may therefore contribute to the deleterious effects observed in disease states associated with OS. Moreover, statins (in particular atorvastatin) appear to be effective in reversing the inhibition of NO production caused by inducers of OS. This, together with the fact that atorvastatin and simvastatin can potentiate iNOS-induced NO production and indeed L-arginine transport (with atorvastatin), highlights a potential novel mechanism through which the cardio-protective actions of these compounds could be mediated.


Quantum theory predicts that a vast number of atoms can be entangled and intertwined by a very strong quantum relationship, even in a macroscopic structure. Until now, however, experimental evidence has been mostly lacking, although recent advances have shown the entanglement of 2,900 atoms. Scientists at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, recently reengineered their data processing, demonstrating that 16 million atoms were entangled in a one-centimetre crystal. They have published their results in Nature Communications.


The study of astronomy in ancient societies is becoming ever more popular among archaeologists as is reflected in this collection of twelve papers been taken from a session held at the European Association of Archaeologists Eighth Annual Meeting held in Thessaloniki in 2002. It becomes clear that astronomy is considered as an important motivation for the construction of many monuments across the ancient world. Divided into three sections, the contributions discuss archaeological, and astronomical, evidence from ancient Egypt, prehistoric and Hellenic Europe and, in one paper only, Mesoamerica. In addition to examining specific monuments, sites and buildings, the papers discuss what these reveal about the cosmology and technical ability of a range of cultures. Supported throughout by astronomical diagrams.


The founders of Modern architecture believed that they were creating a new tradition, instead of just another addition to the continuous flow of architectural history. This belief was largely based on their reaction toward the advent of industrial production, which seemed to demand a completely new conception of the role of the architect. This essay aims at discussing this new tradition through the analysis of the Bauhaus manifestos written by Walter Gropius in 1919 and 1926, highlighting, in both texts, the traces of what Brazilian philosopher Olavo de Carvalho calls "the revolutionary mentality." This mentality encompasses not only the conception of an ideal, utopian future but also the perception of the present and the evaluation of the past. The study of this mind-set, which forged Modern architecture, can help us reevaluate the role of Utopias in architectural theory and practice, going beyond the superficial stigmas of rigidity, "inhumane" rationalism, or even totalitarianism that usually guide the critique of Modern architectural Utopias.


Habitat degradation is occurring the world over, threatening species, population dynamics, ecosystem function and valuable ecosystem services. This degradation is in many cases linked to anthropogenic activities, which often reduce a habitat's resilience to other stressors. Coral reef decline, for example, has been linked to climate change, pollution, and overfishing. Few studies have focused on the localscale physical drivers of coral decline, such as anchoring. As global human population and the popularity of water-based recreation continue to rise, the potential for anchoring to contribute to coastal habitat degradation increases. We sought to determine the potential impact of anchoring to coral reefs by conducting a spatial survey of sites that represent a gradient of anchoring activity in the British Virgin Islands. We collected data on benthic community composition, coral colony size and density, species richness and abundance. We also evaluated reef rugosity and fish population densities. Cover of hard corals and sea fans were both reduced by ~7% at highly anchored sites. Hard corals were ~40% smaller in size and ~60% less dense at sites experiencing high anchoring frequency. In addition, highly anchored sites supported only ~60% of the species richness of little anchored sites. Finally, frequently anchored sites were ~60% as structurally complex and supported only 45% of the fish density as those rarely anchored, with some fish functional groups more affected than others. Anchoring is a major driver of reef community decline, but it is also a relatively tractable management issue. Knowing how local, physical anthropogenic stressors contribute to reef decline can inform management that will promote reef resilience, ecological function, and ecosystem services.


This paper investigates the effects of inequality in health on economic growth in low and middle income countries. The empirical part of the paper uses an original cross-national panel data set covering 62 low and middle income countries over the period 1985 to 2007. I find a substantial and relatively robust negative effect of health inequality on income levels and income growth controlling for life expectancy, country and time fixed-effects and a large number of other effects that have been shown to matter for growth. The effect also holds if health inequality is instrumented to circumvent a potential problem of reverse causality. Hence, reducing inequality in the access to health care and to health-related information can make a substantial contribution to economic growth.


Objective: To evaluate the effects of alendronate (AL), a bisphosphonate, on visual bone density by means of a radiographic analysis. Material and methods: Sixty-two Wistar rats were divided into four groups: Group AA (AL with autogenous graft); group AW (AL without autogenous graft) both receiving AL on alternate days for 4 weeks before surgery; control group CA (with autogenous graft); group CW (without autogenous graft) both receiving saline solution before surgery. Experimental periods of evaluation were 2 weeks and 4 weeks post-surgery. Conventional and digital radiographs were obtained, and a 5-point grading system (score) was used to assess visual radiographic bone density. Results: There were no statistical differences between CA and AA groups at 2 and 4 weeks. The AA group had a higher mean score of bone density than the CW and AW groups at 2 weeks (P < 0.05). The CA and AA groups had higher scores of bone density than the CW and AW groups at 4 weeks (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Treatment with AL did not affect radiographic bone density at 2 and 4 weeks after surgery. The presence of an autograft resulted in higher scores of bone density.


From the Publisher:
Go beyond the mechanics of CSS to how to think in the language of web design, and avoid the common pitfalls. Full of examples and deconstruction's to aid in understanding CSS and its application. The ability to use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is fast becoming a vital tool in the web professional's toolkit. But understanding how to use CSS is not intuitive—it requires a new way of thinking when it comes to building web pages. This book encourages web designers to look at the perceived limitations of the web as a new challenge to their design skills—without relying on HTML for presentation of pages. The overall theme is to instruct readers to build pages by using relative design techniques: understanding the relationship within the dynamic space of the web rather than the fixed-design "old-school" notions that have been in use for so long. The web site will include all of the files needed for the exercises and additional information of interest to web professionals including, but not limited to, recommended readings (suggested books, web sites and online articles), full-length interviews and a listing of CSS tools.


Early 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (VD3) therapy during the course of renal failure prevents the downregulation of VD3 receptor (VDR), calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) or p21, and the parathyroid (PT) growth. We hypothesized that VD3 could restore the decreased expressions of VDR and CaSR, and cause regression in enlarged PT glands. 5/6 nephrectomized rats fed high-phosphorus diet were killed at 1, 3, 5, or 7 days and at 2, 3, 4, 8, or 12 weeks. VD 3-treated rats were given VD3 intraperitoneally for 1, 2, 3, or 4 weeks, starting 8 weeks after 5/6 nephrectomy. PT glands were weighed and subjected to immunohistochemical analyses for VDR, CaSR, p21, Ki67, and Tdt-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) assay. The area per cell was measured as the parameter of cell size. The expression of VDR and p21 began to decrease at day 1, and Ki67 increased at day 3, but decreased thereafter. There was a significant increase in PT gland weight to week 12 with the increase of cell size. VD3 treatment significantly increased both VDR and CaSR expressions 2 weeks after the start of injection, and reduced the PT gland weight at week 3 with significant increase of TUNEL-positive cells and decrease of cell size. Our results suggest that PT growth in uremic rats involves both PT cell proliferation and hypertrophy, in association with the reduction of VDR, CaSR, and p21 expressions. In addition, VD3 treatment could reverse PT


Primary objective: Social cognition underlies social skills and can be disrupted in numerous developmental and acquired brain disorders during childhood and adolescence. Despite this, there are few tools to assess social cognition clinically in this age group. This study examined adolescent performance on The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), a valid measure of social cognition in adults. Design: Cross-sectional design examining performance on Parts 1, 2 and 3 of TASIT (and alternate forms) in Australian girls and boys with varying levels of English familiarity. Methods: 665 schoolchildren from private and government schools were administered TASIT subtests. Of these, 464 students aged 13–15 were selected to provide normative data. Scores from a further 97 provided information about the effects of lack of English familiarity. Results: The two Forms of TASIT were statistically equivalent for two of the three parts. Adolescents performed lower than adults, although the differences were not large. Some incremental effects were seen for chronological age. Gender effects were apparent on all subtests. Lack of English familiarity (i.e., English not spoken at home) reduced scores a further 6–13% relative to high English proficiency. Conclusions: TASIT appears to be suitable for adolescents. Norms are best aggregated across ages in adolescence and stratified according to gender.


Maps get used for decision making about the world's most pressing problems (e g , climate change, refugee crises, biodiversity loss, rising inequality, pandemic disease) Although maps have historically been a trusted source of information, changes in society (e g , lower levels of trust in decision makers) and in mapmaking technologies and practices (e g , anyone can now make their own maps) mean that we need to spend some time thinking about how, when, and why people trust maps and mapmaking processes This is critically important if we want stakeholders to engage constructively with the information we present in maps, because they are unlikely to do so if they do not trust what they see Here I outline three questions about trust and maps that I think need research attention First, how can we focus map readers' attention on the trustworthiness of mapped data, especially if trustworthiness changes as in the case of real-time data sources? Second, does presenting uncertainty information on maps affect the level of trust map readers have in the map, and if so, does trust vary depending on how the uncertainty information is presented? Finally, how does virality affect trust? Are viral maps less trusted? The time and resources required to develop a better understanding of how trust in maps might be changing will be repaid The world needs good information to guide policy- and decision-making Well designed maps can help stakeholders to work together to solve problems, but only if they are trusted


BACKGROUND
The Jahnigen Career Development Awards program was launched in 2002 with private funding and transformed into the Grants for Early Medical/Surgical Specialists' Transition to Aging Research (GEMSSTAR) program in 2011 through support from the National Institute on Aging and medical specialty professional societies. The Jahnigen/GEMSSTAR program has provided grants to early career physician-scientists from 10 surgical and related medical specialties to initiate and sustain research careers in the geriatric aspect of their discipline. From 2002 to 2016, there were 20 Jahnigen/GEMSSTAR recipients in emergency medicine (EM). The goal of this investigation was to examine the impact of Jahnigen/GEMSSTAR awards on careers of EM recipients and on development of academic geriatric EM.

METHODS
We conducted an online survey of the 20 EM recipients from 2002 to 2016 and analyzed their academic productivity, research impact, career trajectory, and contributions to geriatric EM since receiving the award.

RESULTS
All 20 Jahnigen/GEMSSTAR scholars completed the survey. Scholars have published a median of 33 peer-reviewed articles (interquartile range [IQR] = 10-97) since the award, with median annual publication rates of 4.5 (IQR = 1.6-7.0). All scholars had h-indices of 6 or more, with a median of 18 (IQR = 9-28). Jahnigen/GEMSSTAR scholars have served as principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on 126 grants since their award, with 90% having served as PI on at least one additional grant and 30% having received National Institutes of Health Career Development Awards. All scholars reported believing that the Jahnigen/GEMSSTAR was very helpful or helpful for career progress. Most (85%) reported ongoing contributions to geriatric EM in research, education, or administration.

CONCLUSIONS
After the Jahnigen/GEMSSTAR award, EM scholars have been highly academically productive and successful, and the award has been instrumental in their career development. Awardees have been critical to the development of geriatric EM.


We present a GPU-based streaming algorithm to perform high-resolution and accurate cloth simulation. We map all the components of cloth simulation pipeline, including time integration, collision detection, collision response, and velocity updating to GPU-based kernels and data structures. Our algorithm perform intra-object and inter-object collisions, handles contacts and friction, and is able to accurately simulate folds and wrinkles. We describe the streaming pipeline and address many issues in terms of obtaining high throughput on many-core GPUs. In practice, our algorithm can perform high-fidelity simulation on a cloth mesh with 2M triangles using 3GB of GPU memory. We highlight the parallel performance of our algorithm on three different generations of GPUs. On a high-end NVIDIA Tesla K20c, we observe up to two orders of magnitude performance improvement as compared to a single-threaded CPU-based algorithm, and about one order of magnitude improvement over a 16-core CPU-based parallel implementation.


We propose an ultrafast Kerr-lens saturable absorber, which is suitable for incorporating monolithically into semiconductor waveguides. We propose suitable materials and geometries for device fabrication. We study the saturable absorption using numerical methods and consider the effect of such a hard Kerr-lens configuration on a monolithic passively mode-locked semiconductor diode device and the possibility of producing pulses of the order of hundreds of femtoseconds.


A recently-developed large-eddy simulation (LES) framework is validated and used to investigate the effects of wind direction and wind farm layout on the turbine wakes and power losses in wind farms. The subgrid-scale (SGS) turbulent stress is parameterized using a tuning-free Lagrangian scale-dependent dynamic SGS model. The turbine-induced forces are computed using a dynamic actuator-disk model with rotation (ADM-R), which couples blade-element theory with a turbine-specific relation between the blade angular velocity and the shaft torque to compute simultaneously turbine angular velocity and power output. Here, we choose the Horns Rev offshore wind farm as a case study for model validation. A series of simulations are performed for a wide range of wind direction angles. Results from the simulations are in good agreement with observed power data from the Horns Rev wind farm, and show a strong impact of wind direction on the farm power production and the spatial distribution of turbine-wake characteristics (e.g., velocity deficit and turbulence intensity). This can be explained by the fact that changing the wind angle can be viewed as changing the wind farm layout relative to the incoming wind, while keeping the same wind turbine density. To further investigate the effect of wind farm layout on the flow and the power extracted by the farm, simulations of wind farms with different circular and elliptic layouts are performed to compare with the results of the Horns Rev wind farm simulations. The results show that the proposed layouts not only provide more stable power output with different wind directions, but also enhance the performance of the total farm power production.


The following paper summarizes the three hundred hour fieldwork experience at Berkeley Youth Alternatives (BYA), a non-profit community-based organization located in Southwest Berkeley that is committed to combating the social determinants that contribute to the prevalent health disparities within their community. The fieldwork internship is a major requirement in completing the Master's of Public Health (MPH) program at the University of San Francisco (USF), and allows the education and experience gained over the duration of the program to be applied in a real public health setting. The overall goal of the internship experience was to assess the social determinants of health, and how they affect the well-being of youth in the East Bay. The fieldwork activities centered around grant writing, research, and program planning in order to develop programs on nutrition and physical activity, as well as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. Background information, the implementation process, and potential results for each project and topic are discussed. The public health significance of the proposed projects are also included, as well as the application and relevance of USF MPH competencies and coursework relative to the fieldwork internship. The paper concludes with a description of the overall experience.


This paper presents a single reduced-form inflation equation that can explain both the variance and acceleration of inflation during the 1970s.Inflation is explained by four sets of factors. Aggregate demand enters through the lagged output ratio and the growth rate of nominal GNP. The adjustment of inflation to changes in aggregate demand is limited by the role of inertia in the inflation process, expressed as the dependence of the rate of change of prices on its own past values. Two types of supply-side elements enter. Government intervention directly altered the price level during the Nixon control era, and in addition the government has aggravated the inflation problem by what have been called "self-inflicted wounds," including increases in the effective social security tax rate and effective minimum wage. Also there have been external supply shocks that are outside of the immediate control of the government, including changes in the relative prices of food and energy, changes in the growth rate of productivity, and changes in the foreign exchange value of the dollar. Considerable attention is given to alternative methods of estimating the impact of direct episodes of government intervention In the price-setting process, particularly during the Nixon controls. We find that such episodes have been futile. Because of their futility, these intervention episodes can be regarded as "self-inflicted wounds," like the payroll tax and minimum wage changes that normally are described by this term.


The global nylon market is a multi-billion-dollar industry that has been thriving in recent years due to advances in the process technology and its flexibility as a material. Nylon 6,6 is a versatile material with uses in many industries because of its ability manipulated into many forms. It is commonly used in applications that require heat resistance, chemical resistance, and high mechanical strength. It is commonly used in luggage, car parts, carpets, and many other plastic products that require the properties that nylon 6,6 exhibits. The versatility and demand for nylon 6,6 make it an attractive process for many potential chemical companies. This report contains a proposal for a nylon 6,6 manufacturing plant that includes a proposed location of Calvert City, KY, a proposed process, a grass roots economic analysis of the plant, and a HAZOP analysis of the process to help mitigate possible risks. The process starts by having the feed chemicals mixed, then pressurized and heated. The heated and pressurized feed is then split in half and sent through two identical varying diameter plug flow reactors. Once the nylon salt is formed, the mixture is then flashed twice at different temperatures to remove the excess water and unreacted chemicals. After the water is removed and the nylon salt has been polymerized, the molten nylon is sent through a granulator and formed into pellets for packaging and transport. The process was found to be profitable at current market prices of reactants and products with an IRR of ~21% which exceeds the assumed IRR of 20% to make the process profitable.


On January 23, 2012, Resolution No. 3 enacted the National Immigration Strategy for the island nation of Cabo Verde, the first of its kind in the country. As a buffer nation to Western Europe with a rapidly developing economy and good governance indicators, Cabo Verde is transitioning from a sending and transit country to a receiving nation for African mainlanders, especially from Guinea-Bissau. How effective are these immigration policies at managing these changing mobility patterns? Are immigrants successfully integrating into host communities? How might integration be handled more effectively? This policy briefing reports integration successes and failures from ethnographic research and considers the effectiveness of Cabo Verde's National Immigration Strategy based on these findings. Cabo Verde's immigration policy targets structural reforms such as education, healthcare, and housing, while additional socio-cultural strategies encourage coexistence among neighbours. Three years out, our study observed positive effects, while also suggesting additional reforms.


Teleconsultation is the application of the telemedicine. Health experts can solve problems by using the electronic and communication technologies without distance limitation. This study intends to develop a school-based intervention program for high-risk school-age children in one of the earthquake-struck areas. In addition, we try to develop the teleconsultation and telemedicine system between earthquake local site and consulting experts site. The preliminary result of this study is that the teleconsultation and telemedicine system is more effective than traditional consultation and supervision. Moreover, we can apply this system in training local volunteers, educators, and welfare workers. Meanwhile, we can save lots of cost and time since we don't need to travel between the local site and the expert site.


The model in this study measures the effects of selection process and interpersonal communication on many important factors in work environment including supervisor trust, intrinsic motivation and organizational commitment. In literature, SMEs tend to have less formalized selection procedures. The study will expand on past research by investigating the reactions of employees to selection procedures as well as communication satisfaction, important areas of growing interest in recent years. Therefore, levels of formality in selection procedures is expected to positively related to levels of supervisor trust, intrinsic motivation of employees and organizational commitment which involves in employees' attachment and their intention to stay at the firm.
In addition, interpersonal communication which is based on corporate communication and personal feedback is recently one of the most important factors in SMEs. Consequently, it is expected that high amount of interpersonal communication will lead to a higher level of trust in supervisor, intrinsic motivation and organizational commitment.
Finally, the study makes a contribution by collecting data in a new country, Vietnam. Using data from small and medium firms in Vietnam, the paper reviews the recruitment and selection practices as well as employees' attitudes in these firms. It incorporated findings from a survey of employees to understand to role of the level of formality of selection procedures and communication satisfaction in SMEs' work environment and their influence on employees' attitudes in their jobs.
The sample included 20 Vietnamese SMEs. The actual sample included 188 participants who come from these companies and have full-time job. These SMEs are usually family businesses located in an industrial zone in a Southern province of Vietnam. They are small manufacturers which are in different industries.
The results supported the hypotheses that the use of selection tests is positively related to supervisor trust, intrinsic motivation and organizational commitment. Besides, the formality of interview process is positively related to supervisor trust. This study also found that interpersonal communication is positively related to supervisor trust, and organizational commitment; and personal feedback is positively related to intrinsic motivation. The findings of this study imply that SMEs, especially in Vietnam, need to pay more attention to the formality of selection procedures so that they can successfully run the business.


BACKGROUND: We hypothesized that mixed venous hemoglobin oxygen saturation (SvO2) can be estimated by calculation from CO2 production, cardiac output, and arterial oxygen saturation measured using a noninvasive cardiac output (NICO) monitor (Novametrix-Respironics, Wallingford, CT). METHODS: Twenty-three patients undergoing aortic aneurysm repair underwent SvO2 monitoring using a pulmonary artery catheter and cardiac output monitoring using a NICO monitor. The estimated SvO2 value calculated from NICO monitor-derived values was compared with the SvO2 value measured using a pulmonary artery catheter. The accuracy of this estimation was analyzed with Bland-Altman method. The ability of this estimation to track the change of SvO2 was also evaluated using correlation analysis to compare the changes of estimated SvO2 and measured SvO2. RESULTS: The bias ± limits of agreement of the estimated SvO2 against measured SvO2 was −2.1% ± 11.2%. The change of estimated SvO2 was modestly correlated with the change of measured SvO2. CONCLUSIONS: SvO2 derived from the values measured by the NICO monitor cannot be used interchangeably with the values measured spectrophotometrically using the pulmonary artery catheter. More refinement is required to obtain more reliable estimate of SvO2 less invasively. However, large changes of SvO2 may be detected with this method and can be used as a precautionary sign when the balance between oxygen supply and demand is compromised without inserting a central venous catheter.


Ependymomas are glial tumors, usually seen as intra-axial lesions in MRI. Here we report a case of an extra-axial lesion, resected as a meningioma; but pathology report was a Myxopapillary Ependymoma. Further evaluation detected another lesion in distal part of spinal canal too. So it seems logic that extra-axial tumors be managed with more caution.


Two strategies are clinically available to induce selective hypertrophy of the liver: portal vein embolization (PVE) and portal vein ligation (PVL). The aim of this study was to compare the impact of PVE and PVL on liver regeneration. Rats were subjected to 70% PVL, 70% PVE, 70% partial hepatectomy (PH) (positive control), or sham operation (negative control). PVL and PVE of liver segments were validated by portography and histology, demonstrating obstruction of the involved portal branches. Liver weight and markers of regeneration were assessed at 24, 48, and 72 hours, and 7 days after surgery (n = 5). Sinusoidal perfusion was examined by intravital microscopy. The weight of the regenerating liver segments increased continuously in all groups, with the highest weight gain after PH, which also disclosed the strongest proliferative activity. In Ki‐67 and PCNA stainings, hepatocyte proliferation after PVL was more pronounced than after PVE (P = 0.01). Volumetric blood flow and functional sinusoidal density were lower after PVE than after PVL (P = 0.006, P = 0.02, respectively). The accumulation of Kupffer cells 24 hours after the intervention was highest after PH. Transcript levels of cytokines (interleukin‐1β, tumor necrosis factor‐α, interleukin‐6) peaked at 24 hours and were highest after PH. The embolized part of the liver after PVE showed prominent foreign body reaction in the portal triad with accumulation of macrophages. Conclusion: PVL is superior to PVE in inducing a regenerative response of the remnant liver. The impairment of liver regeneration after PVE may be a consequence of macrophage trapping in the occluded segment due to a foreign body reaction. Lower blood flow and lower accumulation of macrophages, particularly Kupffer cells, in the regenerating part of the liver likewise causes impaired liver regeneration after PVE. (HEPATOLOGY 2008.)


MapReduce is a programming paradigm for parallel processing that is increasingly being used for data-intensive applications in cloud computing environments. An understanding of the characteristics of workloads running in MapReduce environments benefits both the service providers in the cloud and users: the service provider can use this knowledge to make better scheduling decisions, while the user can learn what aspects of their jobs impact performance. This paper analyzes 10-months of MapReduce logs from the M45 supercomputing cluster which Yahoo! made freely available to select universities for academic research. We characterize resource utilization patterns, job patterns, and sources of failures. We use an instance-based learning technique that exploits temporal locality to predict job completion times from historical data and identify potential performance problems in our dataset.


Transport is life. It nurtures life and keeps life going. Generally, Transport is an industry connected web of system meeting particular needs of the people through the inter-related activities and efficient running of modern societies. Transportation industry is the ubiquitous wheel that keeps all other elements as well as the entire system of a country in constant motion. There is no doubt that transport plays an important role in the socioeconomic and political development of any continent. Africa is no exemption. Given the development attention granted the transport sector over the years in Africa, it is highly surprising and embarrassing that the transport sector remains unenviable and retrogressive in all ramifications. The transport sector as it is today in Africa, can therefore be described as a sector that is sick and requires cure, redemption and resuscitation. If it must cope with physical distribution, contemporary travel, logistic, international and local business needs throughout the length and breadth of the continent and with committee of Nations. It is the need to find an enduring solution to the dilemma of transport development and management in Africa that has brought about the research focus of this paper. It is against this background that an attempt is made in this research work to sensitize policy makers, policy advisers as well as all relevant stakeholders on the challenges in the nation's transport industry. The research work gives synopsis of the present state of transport in Nigeria as an example of an Africa country. The use of questionnaires, seminars and Financial budgetary allocations to transport sector in some Africa nations mostly Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, and Egypt and types of respondents would be surveyed, for national transport development plan, while the finding would be used in trying to solve problems and concluding part of the research work contains possible solutions of actions for meeting the identified challenges.


This paper presents a methodology to analyze the risers interference connected to an FPSO, which is using turret moored system in shallow water.It is not feasible in shallow water to use riser free hanging catenary configurations, since there is not enough length in order to dissipate FPSO dynamic response due to wave action, which can cause riser damage at TDP. Furthermore, FPSO static offset is very large, around 30% of water depth, when it is compared with deep water, around 11–12% of water depth.In order to become feasible a large number of risers connected to a FPSO using a turret moored system in shallow water are needed to use compliant configurations, such as: lazy wave, pliant wave and Lazy S.As mentioned above risers compliant configurations are capable to avoid riser damage at TDP, but they present a large lateral motion. Thus, riser interference becomes a critical issue to be overcome.As the applicable standards and rules are not entirely prescriptive about this issue, the riser analyst usually have to adopt independent criteria, such as load cases, internal fluid density, hydrodynamic coefficient considering or not wake effect and clashing criteria (allowable, partially allowable or not). Therefore, the proposed methodology is very robust and was used at FEED studies for FPSO OSX-2/3, both belong to OGX, which are planning to install them at the ending of 2013 in Campos Basin, offshore Brazil.© 2013 ASME


The radical psychiatrist R.D. Laing (1927-1989) was an accomplished author with an extensive philosophical knowledge that informed his ideas on reading, writing, and interpretation. Laing argues that psychiatry should be modeled on skilful textual exegesis rather than scientific explanation. The exegesis of a psychotic's words and actions is difficult, he infers, because the impoverishment of our experience cuts us off from the sense that lies within seeming madness. Like philosophers such as Edmund Husserl, Laing therefore criticizes the way in which the natural sciences have invalidated subjective experience. He consequently employs a rhetoric designed to disclose with renewed vigor its complexity, variety and reality. Laing fails, however, to find an alternative to scientific reason: "experience", in his weakest work, is an irrational realm of mystical and self-validating certainty that closely parallels Heidegger's later accounts of "Being". keywords: R.D. Laing, Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, rhetoric, experience, phenomenology, understanding url: http://www.clas.ufl.edu/ipsa/journal/2006_miller01.shtml Despite a revival in psychiatric studies of his writings, the literary importance of the radical Scottish psychiatrist R.D. Laing has been underestimated in the years since his death in 1989. Yet Laing was immensely influential not only upon psychiatric practice, but also upon the arts. He influenced the novelists Doris Lessing and Alasdair Gray, the screenwriters David Mercer and Clancy Sigal, the playwrights David Edgar and Peter Shaffer, and poets such as Allen Ginsberg and Tom Leonard (for further details, see Showalter 220-47; Mullan Creative Destroyer 26-29, 89-91, 214-16, 304-6; Miller 53-85). Laing's influence upon the creative professions is not accidental: in many ways, his psychiatric writings were consciously literary productions. Indeed, his earliest ambition was to be a writer. While a high school student in 1940s Scotland, he worked his way through the local public library: "I wanted to be a writer. [. . .] I gave myself the age of thirty as an absolute deadline for the publication of my first book" (Laing Wisdom, Madness, Folly 68-76). This literary aspiration does not mean, however, that Laing's eventual psychiatric writings were merely works of fiction. Psychiatry, as Laing saw it, needed what writing could give it: a sensitivity to obscure and recondite meanings, a revalidation of immediate experience, and a renewed "disclosure" of the world. But to value writing in this way brings potential risks: Laing's appreciation of the "world-disclosing" properties of poetic language becomes, in his worst work, an infatuation with a realm of mystical, self-validating certainties. Previous discussion of Laing's literary status has been marred by the mythology that surrounds the man. Even as perspicacious a critic as Elaine Showalter, who has praised Laing's literary talents, makes some notable blunders. She claims that "Laing was born in 1927 in the Gorbals, the roughest, darkest, and most depressed district of Glasgow" (Showalter 224). The date is right, but the place is wrong: Laing was born in Govanhill, a middle-class district, and there he lived with his lower middle-class family (see Burston 9). The point of such mislocation is readily apparent: the imagery of roughness and darkness, of male brutality, assists Showalter in her claim that Laing's psychiatry was masculinist-"a male adventure of exploration and conquest" that "drew upon his own heroic fantasies" (Showalter 236). A parallel rhetoric is offered by Clancy Sigal's Zone of the Interior (1976), a novel to which Showalter refers, and which seems to have informed her depiction of Laing as an intellectual pugilist. Sigal's roman a clef remained unpublished in the UK for almost thirty years because of fears of libel. It features Laing as "Willie Last", an LSD-guzzling psychiatric guru sitting at the center of a network of folly and messianic rhetoric. …


The Mask family of multiple ankyrin repeat and KH domain proteins were discovered in Drosophila to promote the activity of the transcriptional coactivator Yorkie (Yki), the sole fly homolog of mammalian YAP (YAP1) and TAZ (WWTR1). The molecular function of Mask, or its mammalian homologs Mask1 (ANKHD1) and Mask2 (ANKRD17), remains unclear. Mask family proteins contain two Ankyrin repeat domains that bind Yki/YAP as well as a conserved nuclear localisation sequence (NLS) and nuclear export sequence (NES), suggesting a role in nucleo-cytoplasmic transport. Here we show that Mask acts to promote nuclear import of Yki, and that addition of an ectopic NLS to Yki is sufficient to bypass the requirement for Mask in Yki-driven tissue growth. Mammalian Mask1/2 proteins also promote nuclear import of YAP, as well as stabilising YAP and driving colloidal phase separation into large liquid droplets. Mask1/2 and YAP normally colocalise in a granular fashion in both nucleus and cytoplasm, and are co-regulated during mechanotransduction. Our results suggest that Mask family proteins promote YAP nuclear import and phase separation to regulate YAP stability and transcriptional activity.


From a complexity perspective, interaction in workgroups is interesting because people create relations when interacting, and these relations create social systems which are emergent, complex and sensitive to initial conditions. This paper focuses communication in workgroups and the application of a previously developed model for observing and analyzing the performance of business teams made by Losada & Heaphy (2004). The aim with this paper is to bring further understanding of how and if this model can be used to understand verbal communication in teams. The model (ibid) stresses that three bipolar dimensions, advocacy /inquiry, self /other, and most important, positive /negative statements in communication, can be seen as attractors for communication, showing effectiveness in teams. Communication in 28 workgroup meetings in 13 different organisations have been filmed, observed and analysed. The method and analysis was inspired by the model (ibid). The results show that there were small differences between the teams regarding the dimensions of advocacy /inquiry and self /other, but larger differences concerning positive /negative statements. The results raise some problems and questions. The characterisation of statements is problematic using the definitions given (ibid). The kind of meeting observed and the behaviour of the leader seem to affect the results. The predicted proportion between the different dimensions in the model (ibid), isn't reflected in the results. How could these results be understood? Are the identified attractors really the ones predicting effectiveness? Is communication perhaps more complex than predicted by the model?


Today, nanoscience and emerging technologies weave ever more tightly into the social fabric. Scientific and technological innovations at the infinitesimal depths of matter now entail cultural, political, and philosophical ramifications of extraordinary scope, extending from the molecular scale to the global scale, from the physical entanglements of subatomic particles to the fiscal entanglements of transnational markets. The need to engage these technical developments and their social aspects with fine-grained precision becomes increasingly evident.

This volume addresses the question of engagement by working from the bottom up: grappling with the particular, discrete operations of nanoscience and related fields in order to assess how these operations shape, and are shaped by, practices of participatory culture and civil society. It opens outward from minimal and local interactions with the molecular sciences – attending to the necessity of quantum engagements – and expands across the dimensions of history, public discourse, ecology, and political economy. Refracting the social complexities of our high-tech world, the essays in this collections participate in the project of articulating new modes of technoscientific governance.

Bringing together contributions and perspectives from experts in the social sciences, the humanities, and the natural sciences, Quantum Engagements showcases ongoing research activities of the vibrant, multidisciplinary community of S.NET, the Society for the Study of Nanoscience and Emerging Technologies.


Plasmid exchange between different strains of bacteria of the same species or different strains of different species is a recognized source for the rapid spread of antimicrobial resistance. In this study, 89 human isolates of Escherichia coli from five major geopolitical zones of Nigeriawere isolated and tested against 14 antibiotics by the disk diffusion method. Resistance plasmids were extracted and separated by agarose gel electrophoresis for profiling. In all, 42 different antibiotics resistance pattern was observed, with all the isolates showing resistance to at least four or more drugs tested. Plasmid profiling revealed that the isolates contained various size of R-plasmids. A total of 146 plasmids were detected with molecular sizes ranging from 1 to 120 KB. Of all the plasmids detected, the 120 KB plasmid occurred most frequently in all the geopolitical zones. Although some strains exhibited different antibiotic resistance patterns, some of their plasmids had similar migration patterns on agarose gel electrophoresis. Multiple resistances were conferred by R-plasmids of different sizes. The high prevalence of antibiotic resistance conferring plasmids observed in this study may be due to the increasing widespread use of antibiotics.

 Key words: Plasmid profile, Escherichia coli, antibiotic resistance, Nigeria


Veto player theory argues that a higher number of veto players lowers the likelihood of change; in turn, policies that do not change help to sustain commitments but may prevent adaptation to changing circumstances. This paper challenges that claim of veto player theory by arguing that policy stability does not necessarily mean lower policy adaptability. If policymaking takes place over time with actors interacting repeatedly, more cooperative polities might be able to achieve both objectives at once, and a higher number of veto players might even favor intertemporal cooperation. The paper presents a simple formalization of the argument and some supportive cross-national empirical evidence.


The use of information and communication technologies (ICT/IT), especially the Internet, has boomed spectacularly over the last decade. ICT thereby have a strong impact on the German economy as a whole but also on the economic conditions of firms and on the private life of individuals. However, large disparities exist between different population groups with regard to their use of new technologies. Individual characteristics, such as education, age, and income can generate large access barriers. Recent data shows that individuals who are less educated, older, and economically inactive have lower levels of computer and Internet skills. Regional characteristics, such as the existing ICT infrastructure and the price structure of ICT goods, can additionally influence the individual access probability. In Germany, regional differences in the rates of Internet use exist between East and West Germany, between federal states, and between rural and urban areas. The mentioned differences in using new technologies are facets of the so-called digital divide. Since the Internet facilitates the availability of information and services as well as the exchange of knowledge, people who are not involved in ICT use can easily fall behind in social and economic participation. Employees and firms that use ICT are likely to gain exceedingly from increases in efficiency. Closing the digital divide is therefore one of the current political challenges and it is crucial to identify the dimensions and origins of the disparity in ICT use. This dissertation focuses on two main facets of the digital divide: age-specific and regional aspects. Firstly, I analyze how the computer use of older workers and their attendance at firm-provided IT training activities are related to their employment chances. Secondly, I study regional differences in the use of ICT in Germany by examining the individual probability of becoming an Internet user, while taking individual and regional factors into account. In chapter 2 of my dissertation, I study empirically the relationship between the computer use of workers with an age between 50 and 60 years and their employment status. The results of the multivariate estimation approach show that older workers are less likely to use a computer on the job compared with younger workers, thereby confirming the findings of earlier research studies. However, taking into account a possible endogeneity bias, further results do not provide clear evidence that computer use on the job induces older workers to delay retirement. In chapter 3 of this dissertation, I focus on the relationship between firm-provided IT training for workers aged 50 or above and their proportion in the firm. I thereby turn to the labor demand side and use firm data to further analyze age-specific aspects of the digital divide in Germany. As the original education is less recent for older workers and they tend to participate less in training activities due to impending retirement, the firms' adoption of new technologies can lead to a decreasing demand for older workers. Technological change is then supposed to be age-biased. My analyses of chapter 3 confirm a negative relationship between the firms' intensity of using information technologies and their proportion of older workers. The extent of IT use within a firm is measured by an indicator of a firm's IT intensity. This indicator is developed by combining various IT items, such as several IT applications executed by the firm, its proportion of computer users, and its IT costs. Providing older workers with IT training could be an appropriate means to reduce the negative impact of a high IT intensity, because older workers can get to know how to use these new technologies and can become more productive and valuable to their employer. The results of my multivariate analyses show that a higher participation rate of older workers in IT training provided by a firm is positively correlated with the proportion of older workers within the firm. While chapter 2 and 3 concentrate on age-specific aspects of the digital divide and their impact on the labor market participation of older workers, the focus of chapter 4 is on regional differences in ICT use at home. In particular for people living in rural areas, the Internet provides many advantages as it can neutralize two major barriers to rural economic growth: large distances and the lack of economies of scale due to smaller market size. However, investments in Internet infrastructure and services are lower in rural areas. Due to the resulting lack in the supply of fast, efficient, and inexpensive Internet infrastructure, the possibilities of accessing and using the Internet for inhabitants of remote areas are limited and they often cannot benefit from the possibilities the Internet offers. In chapter 4, I study the determinants of home Internet use in Germany on the level of counties as well as on the level of individuals. My estimation results confirm the findings of previous studies: the individual probability of becoming an Internet user is influenced by individual characteristics such as age, education, and income. In addition, strong and positive network effects are observable, particularly in the western part of Germany. Moreover, even after taking network effects into account, living in a rural region remains important, in particular in East Germany. In the course of the broadening use of ICT and the ever-growing digital content, applications, and communication opportunities, further considerable efforts need to be made to overcome the digital divide and provide all population groups equal chances to participate in the information society. The main contribution of this dissertation is to draw the reader's attention to age-specific and regional aspects of the digital divide in Germany and to identify requirements for policy actions with regard to closing the digital gap.


It was, arguably, the most famous restaurant in the world and perhaps one of the most significant and influential ever: the legendary 'el Bulli' in Catalonia, which closed in 2011, attained a near-mythic reputation for culinary wizardry. But what actually went on behind the scenes? What was the daily reality of life in the world's greatest kitchen? The Sorcerer's Apprenticestells first-hand the story of a young chef enrolled in the restaurant's legendary training course. It shows her struggle to adapt, how she and the other apprentices learned to push themselves and the limits of their abilities, how they adjusted to a style of cooking that was creative in the extreme and how they dealt with the pressures of performing at the highest level night after night. In past years stagiares have clashed with the severe demeanour of Oriol Castro, the restaurant's chef de cuisine; others have gone on to work at the restaurant. One was sent home each year, unable to fit into the high-wire act that is the el Bulli kitchen. Complicating things even more, the stagiares lived together in shared apartments, so the events and emotions of their personal lives bled more than usual into the professional. The Sorcerer's Apprenticestells these smaller, more human stories as well. At its heart, The Sorcerer's Apprenticesis a quest: it tells the tale of a handful of aspiring young people who submitted themselves to a grueling challenge in order to be made better by it. It also offers an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at the most famous restaurant in the world, through the lens of those who, ultimately, made it work.


In 2013, the UK Government announced a major £3.8 billion healthcare initiative, the Better Care Fund. This funding was intended to be used within local health and care systems to drive closer integration, create new service efficiencies, support technological innovation and most importantly, improve outcomes for patients and people with care and support needs. The research described in this paper uses the lens of systems integration to investigate how health and social care delivery, through the Better Care initiative, is currently being transformed in a major UK city. An action research approach is being used to determine the key issues and challenges that need to be addressed if new models of integrated health and social care are to be successful. Early findings indicate that an integration approach, informed by systems integration models and theory, can facilitate a better understanding of the potential challenges for integrating health and social care information systems.


In this paper we introduce SVDFeature, a machine learning toolkit for feature-based collaborative filtering. SVDFeature is designed to efficiently solve the feature-based matrix factorization. The feature-based setting allows us to build factorization models incorporating side information such as temporal dynamics, neighborhood relationship, and hierarchical information. The toolkit is capable of both rate prediction and collaborative ranking, and is carefully designed for efficient training on large-scale data set. Using this toolkit, we built solutions to win KDD Cup for two consecutive years.


Eukaryotic genomes can vary at least 200,000-fold in size, although the number of genes probably differs by only little over a factor of 10. The extreme variation in genome size is mostly due to varying amounts of repetitive DNA. Most repetitive DNA is comprised of transposable elements (TEs), small genetic units with the ability to move and replicate in the genome. Because the wheat genome (and that of its close relatives such as barley) consists of at least 80% of TE sequences, I devoted much of my early research to classification and characterisation of TE sequences. When I started my research on genomics 10 years ago, very little was known about the molecular mechanisms that shape plant genomes. Data had just started to emerge that some plant genomes have expanded massively by the amplification of LTR retrotransposons. Our early studies showed that this was indeed a predominant mechanism in the wheat genome, providing an explanation for the very large size of the genomes of wheat and its close relatives. However, we and other research groups could show that this TE-driven genome expansion is permanently counteracted by the deletion of DNA through unequal crossing-over and illegitimate recombination. These two forces, expansion and contraction, lead to a constant genomic turnover of sequences that are not under selection pressure (i.e. TEs), making intergenic regions in plant genomes evolve very rapidly and dynamically. The increase/decrease model of genome size evolution is based on these observations and describes genome size as a result of the rate of DNA production through TEs and duplications and its removal through deletions. When whole genome sequences of grasses like sorghum and Brachypodium became available, my co-workers and I were intimately involved in the analysis and annotation of TEs in these genomes. We performed genome-wide comparisons of gene order in grass genomes, specifically focusing on regions with low numbers of colinear genes 3 and synteny breaks. This lead to the discovery that the different chromosome numbers in grasses can be explained by "nested" fusions where entire chromosomes insert into the centromeres of other chromosomes. Additionally, we found that in all grass genomes sequenced so far, one syntenic chromosome arm is extremely rich in repetitive DNA. This finding could not be explained with current models that predict that intergenic (i.e. repetitive) regions evolve rapidly and should therefore not be conserved between species. Our recent research was focused on specific contributions of TE sequences to genome evolution. When TEs insert into or excise from the genome, they can induce double- strand breaks (DSBs) which have to be repaired by the cell. This repair can lead to extensive deletions or the insertion of "filler" DNA. We could show that such DSB repair is a major mechanism responsible for gene movement and the erosion of gene colinearity that goes with it. Our future research will focus on genome-wide comparative analyses, search for additional mechanisms of genome evolution and the contribution of TEs to genome evolution. We are involved in the wheat and barley genome projects and have recently started an effort to completely sequence the genome of the wheat parasite powdery mildew. By expanding our range to larger and/or more diverse genomes, we hope to continue to identify fundamental principles that drive the evolution of eukaryotic genomes.


Optical artificial neural networks (ONNs) — analog computing hardware tailored for machine learning [1, 2] — have significant potential for ultra-high computing speed and energy efficiency [3]. We propose a new approach to architectures for ONNs based on integrated Kerr micro-comb sources [4] that is programmable, highly scalable and capable of reaching ultra-high speeds. We experimentally demonstrate the building block of the ONN — a single neuron perceptron — by mapping synapses onto 49 wavelengths of a micro-comb to achieve a high single-unit throughput of 11.9 Giga-FLOPS at 8 bits per FLOP, corresponding to 95.2 Gbps. We test the perceptron on simple standard benchmark datasets — handwritten-digit recognition and cancer-cell detection — achieving over 90% and 85% accuracy, respectively. This performance is a direct result of the record small wavelength spacing (49GHz) for a coherent integrated microcomb source, which results in an unprecedented number of wavelengths for neuromorphic optics. Finally, we propose an approach to scaling the perceptron to a deep learning network using the same single micro-comb device and standard off-the-shelf telecommunications technology, for high-throughput operation involving full matrix multiplication for applications such as real-time massive data processing for unmanned vehicle and aircraft tracking.