This paper studies cultural representations which critically address the high level of environmental degradation ushered in by successive regimes of China's modernization. On the one hand, it will review a group of blog cartoons reacting to a recent environmental hazard, the Huangpu River floating pigs incident, which were published beginning from mid-March 2013. On the other hand, it looks at intellectual responses to a political economy of short-term profit extraction whose negative impact far exceeds the destruction of the nation's landscapes. Selective readings of lower rungs fiction (diceng wenxue), landscape poetry and multi-media art, and theoretical essays on questions of landscape aesthetics will discuss how these authors express their worries about the consequences of a narrowly functional approach towards natural resources. According to them, the foreclosing of traditional aesthetic principles that used to support sustainability in modern modes of governance has yielded an unprecedented moral decline of the community as well as an alarming depletion of the nation's non-human recreational powers. In conclusion, five kinds of environmental subjects will tentatively be identified together with their different patterns of agency.


Given the large sociocultural emphasis on appearance and the widespread incidence of a negative body image in current society, scientific understanding of its potential psychological and physical health consequences, including sexual problems, is now of particular importance. The value of understanding the way body image and sexual experiences are linked lies eventually in using that knowledge to improve mental health care in the context of sexual problems. The aim of this thesis was to answer the following questions: Which aspects of body image are most relevant in the context of sexual experiences? And what are important mechanisms or mediating variables by which body image affects sexual experiences? To answer these questions, a literature review was conducted first. The resultsindicated that women's body concerns are related to decreased sexual functioning and may interfere with sexual pleasure, sexual satisfaction, and sexual behavior.Negative cognitions about one's physical appearance and self-consciousness during sexual activity seem to be key factors in understanding the relationships between body image and sexual experiences. The existing research, however, turned out to be limited in terms of attention to positive aspects of body image and sexual experiences, distinguishing general body image (i.e., one's general feelings and evaluations about one's body without specifying a particular situational context)from body image in a sexual context, research in males, and incorporating partner-related cognitions and evaluations. These gaps in the existing literature were addressed in five online survey studies in samples of Dutch college students. The results indicated that a positive general body image may prevent exaggerated self-consciousness of one's body in a sexual context, which in turn facilitates positive sexual experiences. Furthermore, (positive) body image was found to be equally strongly associated with sexual experiences in men as in women. Lastly, romantic attachment and perceived relationship quality were found to be meaningfully related to positive body image and sexual experiences. With respect to the main questions of this thesis, it can be concluded that body-related cognitions and evaluations are the most relevant body features in the context of sexual experiences. Whereas negative body cognitions and evaluations are related to sexual problems and dissatisfying sexual experiences, positive body cognitions and evaluations are uniquely related to positive and satisfying sexual experiences. Cognitions and self-consciousness of one's body during sexual activity serve as an important mechanism by which body image affects sexual experiences. Negative body evaluations may result in exaggerated self-consciousness of one's body in a sexual context which may be distracting, thereby interfering with pleasure of the experience and sexual satisfaction. On the other hand, positive body evaluations may prevent distraction by negative appearance-related thoughts during sexual activity, which in turn facilitates focusing on sexual pleasure and positive sexual experiences. Besides, partner-related cognitions and evaluations, such as romantic attachment and perceived relationship quality, are meaningfully related to positive body image and sexual experiences. The findings of this thesis show the importance of specific attention for positive body image with potentially fruitful practical implications in the context of clinical treatment of sexual problems.


Vegetation changes reflected in fossil pollen spectra are a primary source ofinformation about climatic fluctuation in the past. Pollen data is widely used inpalaegeographical reconstructions. Still there is only a small number of dataincluding spore-pollen results to allow a general view on Holocenepalaeoclimatic events particularly within the Laptev Sea region. Really, up tonow there are only several publications devoted to pollen investigations of lake sediments of the region [Andreev et al., 2002, 2004; Pisaric et al., 2001;Schirrmeister et al., 2003]. Therefore, the similar studies were initiated in theframeworks of Russian-German collaborations in this region and the first results obtained are presented in this work.The sedimentary core 135 cm thickness was collected during the Lena-2009expedition from the Elgene-Kuele lake (PG1975: coordinates: N 71° 017 39,7,E 125° 33 01,7). The main goals of our study were to carry out pollen analyses of the sedimentary in order to obtain new data for reconstruction ofpalaeoclimatic history of the Laptev Sea region during the Holocene.Pollen data indicate that 4 main taxa Betula, Alnus fruticosa, Poaceae,Cyperaceae dominate from top to bottom of the section. Percentage content ofmain components of spore-pollen spectra varies insignificantly. Curve ofdistribution of content of Larix pollen allowed us to distinguish 4 zones along the sedimentary core.Zone 1 (135-71 cm): The portion of trees and shrubs pollen fluctuates between 60-70%. The zone is dominated by the pollen Betula and Alnus fruticosa, with Cyperaceae and Poaceae. Pollen of Salix and Larix are present. The spectra show relatively high percentages of Larix pollen (5%). This can indicate to larch forest tundra conditions. Zone 2 (71-23 cm): The percentage ration of tree and herb pollen is likelyprevious zone 1. But decrease in larch pollen suggests insignificant climatecooling relatively of zone 1. Zone 3 (23-7 cm): Low percentages of Larix (less 1%), and increase of herbs pollen (up to 55%) may reflect shrub tundra conditions. This change might be associated with climate deterioration during the Little Ice Age.Zones 4 (7-0 cm): The final zone marked by negligible increases in Larix (about 1%) and is dominated by Betula and Alnus fruticosa. This zone is interpreted as the establishment of the modern forest tundra with birch, alder and larch.Pollen data from the sedimentary core of the Elgene-Kyuele Lake (PG1975-1,lake 05) showed insignificant variability of spectra along the section.Nevertheless, the most favorable climatic conditions formed duringaccumulation of Zone 1 when the forest-tundra vegetation was expanded withdomination of birch, alder and larch. Spore-pollen spectra of Zone 2 reflectinsignificant cooling during which the forest-tundra vegetation becomes morethinned out. Lack of larch pollen in spore-pollen composition provides evidence of even greater deterioration of climatic conditions in Zone 3. Probably, this time can be belonged to the Little Ice Age. Domination of forest-tundra vegetation is fixed in Zone 4 and it reflect contemporary vegetation. Carrying out of radiocarbon dating of the sedimentary cores is required for recognition of sequence and duration of paleoclimatic events in time.Up to now we have not so much statistical data to make a completed (final)conclusions concerning the palaeoclimatic changes in Holocene within theLaptev Sea region. Hence, we are continuing our palaeoclimatic investigations including comprehensive spore-pollen and geochemical analyses of sedimentary cores from other lakes of the region.The work was carried out in frames of the OSL project № OSL-10-22.


The use of computational methods for the study of clay minerals has become an essential adjunct to experimental techniques for the analysis of these poorly ordered materials. Although information may be obtained through conventional methods of analysis regarding macroscopic properties of clay minerals, information about the spatial arrangement of molecules within the interlayers is hard to obtain without the aid of computer simulation. The interpretation of experimental data from techniques such as solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance or neutron diffraction studies is considerably assisted by the application of computer simulations. Using a series of case studies, we review the techniques, applications and insight gained from the use of molecular simulation applied to the study of clay systems (particularly for materials applications). The amount of information that can be gleaned from such simulations continues to grow, and is leading to ever larger-scale and hence more realistic classical and quantum mechanical studies which promise to reveal new and unexpected phenomena.


This thesis investigates the possibilities offered to a working landscape architect by an
increased and altered use of digital 3D environments. A basic assumption is that increased use
of digital three-dimensional environments promotes the creative processes and presentation
options of landscape architects.

The thesis is based on literature studies and communication with working landscape
architects, and includes an investigation of the visualization methods available in the Blender
3D modelling software. The thesis provides a thorough survey of what it means to model in
three dimensions, as well as of what modelling methods are feasible for a landscape architect
to use. As landscape architects, we work with human and unique processes, and thus it is
difficult to develop standardized and automatic software for our profession. One possible
solution is to turn to open source development, where software and models are shared and
anyone can contribute. Especially interesting is software supporting game engines, which may
be a suitable tool for modelling as well as for presentation.

The primary advantage of 3D modelling is the way it allows us to experience and investigate
such aspects as spatiality and proportionality in a dynamic setting. As landscape architects,
our creations are never static but always dynamic, and this should be conveyed to our
audiences and contractors. The primary disadvantages of 3D are that modelling is time
consuming and difficult, that digital imagery often comes across as impersonal and strict, and
that digital renditions tend to be interpreted as final suggestions, even at an early stage of
development.

3D models can be divided into three main categories according to intended use: twodimensional,
animated, and interactive. The subdivision is fluid, and a 3D model may evolve
from one category to another in the course of development. Models can also be used in
different phases: initially as an analysis tool, later as a sketching or working model, and
finally as a presentation model.

With the use of digital 3D modelling, we can see, experience, understand and convey a site
before it has been built, as well as evaluate its design at an early stage. A two-dimensional
image always shows a portion of a whole, never the design in its entirety. Increased use of
moving images, multimedia and virtual realities adds qualities to the planning and projecting
processes and may also, through communication channels such as the Internet, improve
citizen dialogue concerning larger projects. This, in turn, may lead to a vitalized democracy
and an increased awareness of the landscape architectural profession. Extended use of 3D
technology may generate as yet unknown fields of application that may strengthen and extend
the role of landscape architects in society.


In this article, noise spectrum of marine propellers is investigated in uniform flow under non-cavitating and cavitating conditions. New results are presented for this research field. Hydrodynamic performance of both non-cavitating and cavitating marine propellers is first analyzed by viscous and potential based flow solvers. In viscous solver, sheet cavitation on propeller blades is simulated with Schnerr–Sauer cavitation model based on Rayleigh Plesset equation using volume of fluid approach. Numerical hydrodynamic results based on viscous solver is compared with potential solver and then validated with experimental data of benchmark David Taylor Model Basin 4119 model propeller. Later, noise spectrum of model propellers is predicted by a hybrid method which combines Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes and Ffowcs Williams Hawkings equations. Computed noise spectrum is compared with other numerical studies in the literature for the selected model propeller. In addition, hydrodynamic and hydroacoustic pressures are compared in near field to show reliability of numerical solution. Effects of blade number on hydrodynamic performance and noise spectrum are also investigated. Numerical results indicated that as blade number increases, propeller noise level decreases for different loading conditions due to decreased blade loading (circulation) per blade. However, propeller efficiency increases as blade number decreases.


Sports history is a growing field however the development of the design of sportswear has been overlooked. It is of central importance, not only to performance, but also to notions of personal, local and team identity and fundamentally to social attitudes. The joint symposium allowed a preliminary exploration of these themes and ideas. Funded by the Pasold Research Fund it brought together researchers who had worked on aspects of the design, production, advertising, retailing or performance of sportswear over the past 100 years.
Hosted jointly by the International Football Institute (IFI), University of Central Lancashire, the National Football Museum (NFM) and International Fashion Institute (IFI), University of Central Lancashire an emphasis was placed on encouraging academics, designers, archivists and curators to attend.


Mt. Vesuvius, located along the SW border of the Campania Plane graben, is one of the most studied volcanoes worldwide, from both the volcanological and the geophysical, geochemical and geodetic point of view. In order to better understand its dynamics, the deformation of the volcano has been already studied since the early '70s by setting up levelling lines and, since a few years later, through trilateration networks, whereas ground tilt monitoring started in 1993. Tilt variations were recorded by an automatic surface station set up at the Osservatorio Vesuviano (O.V.) bunker (OVO) and data recorded were transmitted to the O.V. Surveillance Centre in Naples. Afterwards, in 1996 two more identical stations were set up close to Torre del Greco (CMD), and close to Trecase (TRC). In 2002 the data acquisition system was replaced, while at the end of 2011 a Lily borehole sensor was set up at 26 m depth, replacing the old TRC tilt station. The paper describes in details the tilt network of Mt. Vesuvius, its development over time and the data processing procedure; moreover, the ground deformation pattern is discussed, as inferred from the study of 19 years of data and its change during the seismic crises of 1995-1996 and 1999-2000. From the information obtained from the tiltmetric monitoring, a complex deformation pattern can be deduced, strongly dependent on the position of the sites in which the sensors were set up with respect to the morphology of the volcanic edifice and its structural outlines. If we consider the signals as they were recorded, although previously corrected for the influences of the thermo-elastic strain on the sensors, the tilting occurs mainly in the SW direction with rates of about 11 µradians/year on both the western and eastern flanks and of about 13 µradians/year on the southern one. Because tilt vectors point in the long term outward from the summit and towards the subsiding area, this supports the hypothesis of a southern areas subsidence, according with a spreading effect of Vesuvius, taking into account geological, structural, geophysical and geodetical (optical levelling, InSAR) data. The SW tilting occurs therefore irregularly and shows some seasonalities, consistent with the solar thermal radiation whose removal by statistical procedure outlines a different but equally interesting deformation field as it shows interruptions with changes in both trend and amplitude during two periods of strong seismic activity that affected Mt. Vesuvius in the periods 1995-1996 and late 1999-2000, marked by an average rate of energy release of at least one order of magnitude greater than the previous and following periods. Another change in intensity and direction of the deformation detected by tiltmeters since 2000, connected with the variations of the phase shift between the tilt components and the temperature recorded, compared to previous years, occurs during a strong decrease of the energy released by Vesuvius earthquakes.


EFFECTS OF VIDEO MODELING ON SKILL ACQUISITION IN LEARNING THE GOLF SWING Joshua L. Smith Department of Exercise Sciences Master of Science The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of video modeling on skill acquisition in learning the golf swing. One-hundred-eight college students participated in this study. All participants were pre-tested via videotaping to determine initial skill level. The pre-test videotaping was analyzed using DartTrainer software. Each participant was randomly assigned to one of three groups (1) control (2) single-view or (3) multi-view. Participants in the control group viewed a compact disc (CD) with a putting demonstration repeated 40 times. The participants in the single-view group viewed a CD with a front view only demonstration repeated 40 times of the golf swing with a driver. Participants in the multi-view group viewed a CD with a multi-view (front, back, left, and right) demonstration of the golf swing using a driver. The demonstration was performed by a golf professional and each view was repeated 10 times for a total of 40 repetitions. After five weeks of CD viewing, practice, and class instruction, participants were videotaped to determine the level of improvement. Factorial ANOVA (3 groups x 2 trials) indicated significant within group pretest to posttest differences (F (1, 105) = 295.93, p<0.001). Between group differences were also noted (F, (2,105) = 18.33, p<0.001). Post hoc analysis indicated significantly fewer posttest deviations in the MV group than in the control group (p<0.001). The single-view group also had fewer posttest deviations than did the control group (p<0.001). There were no significant differences between the multi-view and single-view groups. The current study suggests that video modeling provided on a CD, which a learner can access on their own, may significantly increase skill acquisition rate and performance in learning the golf swing.


Many local and regional food consumers state their intention to support local communities as the motivation behind buying local or regional food. This chapter compares this view to an economic perspective of what creates value and prosperity in a community. The economic perspective is generally less optimistic of the benefits of local or small scale production. However, as seen towards the end of the chapter, local and regional food producers still have an important role to play on the food market by adopting suitable strategies.


Significant research is currently 'in progress' which is intended to develop modified or new design methodologies that will result in improved pavement performance. As a consequence of these research efforts, Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) and Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) pavements, and mixtures used for these pavements, that are constructed during the 21st Century will be significantly different from pavements/mixtures used today. Changes will be made in maximum particle size, percent minus 200, gradation, particle shape of coarse and fine aggregate, filler-to-binder ratio in HMA, and several other factors to improve mixture/pavement performance. Additives/modifiers will be utilized to greater degrees. This paper describes anticipated changes in (1) PCC and HMA pavement systems, (2) portland cement concrete mixtures, and (3) hot mix asphalt mixtures that will be utilized into the 21st Century. Most changes will be implemented in efforts to reduce mixture/ construction life cycle cost, improve mixture control, and improve mixture/pavement performance.


Public urban spaces vary widely in type, form and size, encompassing plazas, squares and streetscapes. They serve pedestrians and flaneurs, accommodate street life in all its vibrant variations and represent the cities and towns themselves. On the one hand they are transit spaces or crossroads, while on the other hand they provide opportunities to linger or stage events. This volume features recent projects from all continents, showing the different approaches and solutions to this sophisticated design task at the intersection of architecture, landscape design and urban planning. Hardly any other area of spatial design offers such functional and formal diversity as does the design of urban spaces.


As a result of the Process Analytical Technologies (PAT) initiative launched by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), analytical development is receiving more attention within the pharmaceutical industry. Illustrating the importance of analytical methodologies, Thermal Analysis of Pharmaceuticals presents reliable and versatile characterization tools for the successful development of pharmaceutical products. It draws attention to the most widely applicable methods and demonstrates how to interpret the associated data.The book opens with the first three chapters devoted to differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), the most commonly used thermal method. These chapters cover the principles, optimal use, and pharmaceutical applications of the method. Subsequent chapters explore modulated temperature DSC, thermogravimetric analysis, thermal microscopy, microcalorimetry, high sensitivity DSC, dynamic mechanical analysis, and thermally stimulated current, all of which have attracted great interest within the pharmaceutical field. The chapters include theoretical background, measurement optimization, and pharmaceutical applications of each technique.Exploring important techniques for characterizing the physical structure and properties of pharmaceutical materials, Thermal Analysis of Pharmaceuticals achieves an ideal balance in the depth, relevance, and accessibility of topics presented. The book provides an excellent overview of this key area in pharmaceutical development.


In this paper I explore embodiment and spatiality by discussing the example of a conflict between competing representations of landscapes and the female body in the two volumes of the comic books La Frontière Invisible. This piece of fiction deals specifically and explicitly with a reassessment of the gaze in the production of knowledge by examining maps as tools of power, control, and colonisation. However, despite an apparent desire to reject reactionary political approaches, the authors seem to associate the naturalised (female) body with (naturalised) geopolitical scenarios by fetishising the body through complex discursive transcodings between women and nature. In contrast to this, in this paper I suggest considering the body as a site and space of resistance to (political) imposition. Drawing on both feminist geography and critical geopolitics, I suggest an alternative way of considering the consequences of embodied geographies for cartography by examining the links between naturalised bodies and naturalised political boundaries. The main argument is that the body, by posing an uncontrollable, unpredictable threat to regular ways of producing cartographic knowledge, entails the possibility of a counterstrategic reinscription of spatial discourses and the creation of an alternative, more ethical cartography. This ethical cartography is rooted in embodied recalcitrance to imposed inscriptions associated with hegemonic positions.


Abstract The current focus on information literacy in undergraduate education has direct implications for teacher education. The National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) 2000 standards specify that candidates preparing to work in schools must be able to integrate information literacy into P-12 cumcula appropriately and effectively to support student learning. This study examines how a faculty member and librarian collaborate to help teacher candidates integrate information literacy into their practice. Introduction The current focus on information literacy represents an important shift in teacher education. The American Library Association (ALA) defines information literacy as the ability to recognize when information is needed and to identify, evaluate, and use information effectively (ALA 1989; 1998). New knowledge about teaching and learning supports the premise that even though basic skills are necessary, they are no longer sufficient for students today. Schools are now being asked to prepare students who can demonstrate understanding as well as knowledge and skill (Lieberman & Miller, 2000). Information literacy can be transferred across subject areas, improve research, writing, and critical thinking, and help students interpret and understand the world (Souchek & Meir, 1997). National education associations are recognizing the need to educate students for lifelong learning in a time of exponential growth of information. The Association of College and Research Libraries adopted information literacy standards for college libraries specifying that librarians collaborate frequently with classroom faculty to integrate information literacy into appropriate course work (Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, 2000). Regrettably, when reporting on the progress of modifying teacher education to include information literacy in March 1998, the ALA Presidential Committee on Information Literacy indicated that no progress had been made (Progress Report on Information Literacy, March 1998). Their recommendations included developing plans for working with teacher education programs and the NCATE "to infuse information literacy requirements into undergraduate and graduate programs of teacher education." Newly revised NCATE standards specify that candidates preparing to work in schools must be "able to appropriately and effectively integrate technology and information literacy in instruction to support student learning. ... "(NCATE 2000 Standards). According to Rader (1995), a major factor necessary for successful integration into the curriculum is faculty and librarians working together in curriculum development. The Study This study presents a method of introducing teacher candidates to a model of information literacy that engages them in problem solving directly related to course objectives. The study describes how an education resource librarian and a faculty member collaborate to provide information literacy instruction that goes beyond traditional bibliographic instruction in a lecture format to employ active learning methods and constructivist principles in a required course for upper level teacher candidates in the elementary education program. Theoretical Framework Constructivism is a philosophy of learning founded on the premise that by reflecting on our experiences, we construct our own understanding of the world in which we live. In constructivist learning environments, students are encouraged to refine or revise their understanding. According to Brooks & Brooks (1999), five overarching principles are evident in constructivist classrooms. (1) Teachers seek and value their students' point of view; (2) Classroom activities challenge students' suppositions; (3) Teachers pose problems of emerging relevance; (4) Teachers build lessons around primary concepts and `big' ideas (5) Teachers assess student learning in the context of daily teaching. …


This paper presents the Btree index, a general and compact structure which provides tight integration of item set extraction in a relational DBMS.The Data bases may be Transactional Data bases or Relational Data bases. Since no constraint is enforced during the index creation phase, Btree index provides a complete representation of the original database. The Btree Index creates prefix tree like structure and stores addresses of disk blocks where relational data base records are stored. Along with the disk blocks Btree index maintains pointers to disk blocks. Using these pointers it extracts required data base records from data base into main memory and finds corresponding item sets for association rule mining. To reduce the I/O cost,data accessed together during the same extraction phase are clustered on the same disk block. The Btree index structure can be efficiently exploited by different item set extraction algorithms. In particular, Btree index data access methods currently support the FP-growth, IBTree, FPMax and LCM v.2 algorithms, but they can straightforwardly support the enforcement of various constraint categories. The Btree index has been integrated into the SQL SERVER, PostgreSQL, Oracle DBMS and exploits its physical level access methods.Experiments, run for both sparse and dense data distributions, show the efficiency of the proposed index and its linear scalability also for large data sets. Item set mining supported by the Btree index shows performance always comparable with, and often (especially for low supports) better than, state-of-the-art algorithms accessing data on flat file..


Abstract This paper considers how the diffusion of oral contraception to young unmarried women affected the number and parental characteristics of children born to these women. In the short term, pill access caused declines in fertility and increases in both the share of children born with low birthweight and the share born to poor households. In the long term, access led to negligible changes in fertility while increasing the share of children with college-educated mothers and decreasing the share with divorced mothers. The short-term effects appear to be driven by upwardly mobile women opting out of early childbearing, while the long-term effects appear to be driven by a retiming of births to later ages. These effects differ from those of abortion legalization, although we find suggestive evidence that pill diffusion lowered abortions. Our results suggest that abortion and the pill are on average used for different purposes by different women, but on the margin, some women substitute from abortion toward the pill when both are available.


ABSTRACT: Fichte and Hegel elaborate a comparable account of contradiction that has to be distinguished from the Aristotelian tradition. Other than in traditional philosophy, contradictions are not in every case conceived as an indicator for erroneous reasoning. Moreover, contradicting assertions are essential to their philosophical method. In his Grundlage der gesamten Wissenschaftslehre , Fichte discusses the relation between absolute and finite subjectivity. In this context, his theory of synthesis and contradiction is worked out roughly. The unavoidable contradiction between the I and Not-I has to be resolved by introducing the term 'quantity'. In the Wissenschaft der Logik , Hegel gives a more detailed, but closely related account of contradiction. He demonstrates that oppositions as such contradict, because the opponents, the positive and the negative, are contradictory in themselves and have to be resolved into the ground. Thereby, contradictions become productive.


[1] Landslide-driven erosion is controlled by the scale and frequency of slope failures and by the consequent fluxes of debris off the hillslopes. In this paper, we tackle the magnitude-frequency part of the process and develop a theory of initial slope failure and debris mobilization that reproduces the heavy-tailed distributions (probability density function or PDFs) observed for landslide source areas and volumes. Landslide rupture propagation is treated as a quasi-static, noninertial process of simplified elastoplastic deformation with strain weakening; debris runout is not considered. The model tracks the stochastically evolving imbalance of frictional, cohesive, and body forces across a failing slope and uses safety factor concepts to convert the evolving imbalance into a series of incremental rupture growth or arrest probabilities. A single rupture is simulated with a sequence of weighted "coin tosses" with weights set by the growth probabilities. Slope failure treated in this stochastic way is a survival process that generates asymptotically power-law-tail PDFs of area and volume for rock and debris slides; predicted scaling exponents are consistent with analyses of landslide inventories. The primary control on the shape of the model PDFs is the relative importance of cohesion over friction in setting slope stability; the scaling of smaller, shallower failures, and the size of the most common landslide volumes, are the result of the low cohesion of soil and regolith, whereas the negative power-law-tail scaling for larger failures is tied to the greater cohesion of bedrock.


This report is a comparative analysis of nine regional case-studies selected in our project, based on original data collected through the PERCEIVE field survey that was conducted during the summer of 2017 and on the reports on regional case studies written by Perceive's partners. Each report was based on the analysis of the focus group's section that addresses the assessment of Cohesion Policy.
The general objective of this report is to synthesize the citizens' and practicioners' views on EU Cohesion Policy and to compare them in order to understand if there are different perceptions of this policy and its implementation. For each region included in the study, the identification of the relevant regional needs are considered, followed by an assessment of the EU policy effectiveness in responding to the revealed issues. Both have been pursued at the level of citizens and of Cohesion Policy practitioners, and are followed by a comparative analysis that helps to understand whether the EU Cohesion Policy is perceived and understood by citizens in the same way as it has been conceived by practitioners.
The comparative analysis helped shed light on the convergence and divergence points between citizens and experts with regard to the public intervention needs through Cohesion Policy and in the evaluation of the effectiveness of these interventions, thus contributing to a better understanding of the general perception of the EU by the large public.


The purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive description of what a peer helper programme is and to set guidelines for the design and implementation of a peer helping programme for university residence students. In order to achieve these objectives a literature study was firstly conducted to attain a good understanding of the problems that students of tertiary institutions are currently experiencing. The conclusion was made that students are today faced with a lot of frustrations, problems and challenges resulting in a need for care, support and effective help. Secondly the terms "peer helping", "peer helper" and "peer helper programmes" were defined and peer helping was consequently identified as an effective way of addressing the need for help in the student community. This was followed by a description of guidelines for the design and implementation of a peer helper programme for students in university residences. Plomp's general educational design model was used as a point of reference in the setting of these guidelines. An empirical study was done in the form of a case study as it was exercised only at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. The aims of the empirical research were to determine firstly if there was a real need for the implementation of a peer helper programme among students in university residences; secondly, to look into and examine the guidelines set for the design and implementation of a peer helpers' programme in university residences, and finally to evaluate the efficacy of the training of peer helpers for university residences. Questionnaires, observations and semistructured interviews were used in the empirical study in order to come to the following general conclusions: Students tend to confide in friends when they experience problems of a more serious nature. In other words they share their problems and concerns with people whom they are in a close relationship with. There is a definite need for a peer helpers' programme in university residence environments. Students are willing to take part and make use of such a programme and students want to take the lead in organising and managing such a programme. xii In order to design and implement a peer helpers' programme successfully in a university residence, the set guidelines for the effective designing and implementation of such a programme should be followed. Finally it is recommended that a peer helpers' programme should be implemented in every residence or on the campus of every university or tertiary institution in South Africa in order to address the growing need for help among students, effectively. Various recommendations for further research were made.


The Montana transform is here defined as the northern boundary of the Wyoming Laramide foreland. This sinistral-transpressional shear zone followed a crustal-scale structure that defined the southern margin of the Mesoproterozoic Belt basin of western Montana. The structural zone transferred clockwise tectonic rotation of the thick-skinned Wyoming foreland to clockwise rotation of thin-skinned thrust plates of the Montana thrust belt. Traction above the Farallon plate, which rotated northeastward beneath the Wyoming foreland, may have driven the rotation of the basement-involved Laramide ranges. The ancestral crustal structure that controlled the transform did not coincide exactly with a small circle of rotation about the Euler pole for the Wyoming foreland. Instead, the transform rotated eccentrically, like a cam surface, and generated sufficient sinistral transpression against the Belt Supergroup to thrust it out of its basin.


Abstract The linear characteristic (LC) method is extended to unstructured meshes of tetrahedral cells in three-dimensional Cartesian coordinates. For each ordinate in a discrete ordinates sweep, each cell is split into subcells along a line parallel to the ordinate. Direct affine transformations among appropriate oblique Cartesian coordinate systems for the faces and interior of each cell and subcell are used to simplify the characteristic transport through each subcell. This approach is straightforward and eliminates computationally expensive trigonometric functions. An efficient and well-conditioned technique for evaluating the required integral moments of exponential functions is presented. Various test problems are used to demonstrate (a) the approach to cubic convergence as the mesh is refined, (b) insensitivity to the details of irregular meshes, and (c) numerical robustness. These tests also show that meshes should represent volumes of regions with curved as well as planar boundaries exactly and that cells should have optical thicknesses throughout the mesh that are more or less equal. A hybrid Monte Carlo/discrete ordinates method, together with MCNP, is used to distinguish between error introduced by the angular and the spatial quadratures. We conclude that the LC method should be a practical and reliable scheme for these meshes, presuming that the cells are not optically too thick.


Ultrasound technology allows in vivo estimation of carcass composition. Successful genetic evaluation of ultrasonic measures depends upon technician certification guidelines and a viable common-endpoint adjustment strategy for field data. Four technicians and three image interpreters ultrasonically evaluated 172 lambs to determine accuracy and repeatability of loin eye area (LEA), backfat thickness (BF), and body wall thickness (BW) estimations. Correlations between ultrasonic and carcass measurements were 0.66, 0.78, and 0.73 for LEA, BF, and BW, respectively. Performance was similar among technicians and interpreters. Mean bias ranged from -1.30 to -2.66 cm, -0.12 to -0.17 cm, and 0.14 to -0.03 cm, for LEA, BF, and BW, respectively; prediction standard errors ranged from 1.86 to 2.22 cm, 0.12 to 0.14 cm, and 0.35 to 0.38 cm, respectively. Repeatability standard errors ranged from 1.61 to 2.45 cm, 0.07 to 0.11 cm, and 0.36 to 0.42 cm for LEA, BF, and BW, respectively. Changes in ultrasonic measurements were evaluated using seven serial scans on 24 growing Suffolk ram lambs. All equations had similar goodness of fit. Equations were tested on other populations, including similarly-managed rams across breeds and years and ewe lambs fed for slower gain. Correlations between predicted and actual measures ranged from 0.78 to 0.87 for BF and 0.66 to 0.93 for LEA in winter-born rams, were only slightly lower in fall-born rams, and ranged from 0.72 to 0.74 for BF and 0.54 to 0.76 for LEA in ewe lambs. Of the equations tested, linear and allometric forms appear best for


The failure modes of circuit breakers have a significant impact on individual load point reliability levels of industrial power systems. This paper presents and discusses the significant variations in the frequency and duration of load point interruptions in the IEEE Gold Book Standard Network Configuration due to changes in circuit breaker failure modes. The reliability analysis was based on the zonebranch reliability methodology [1,7]. Five case studies with different percentages of open and short-circuit failure modes of circuit breakers and fuses will be presented and discussed in detail.


Here, we report on the identification of Arabidopsis genes that are induced during compatible but not during incompatible interactions with the downy mildew pathogen Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis. This set of so-called compatible specific (CS) genes contrasts with the large group of defense-associated genes that is differentially expressed during both compatible and incompatible interactions. From the 17 identified CS genes, 6 belong to the ethylene response factor (ERF) family of transcription factor genes, suggesting that these ERF have a role during compatibility. The majority of CS genes are differentially regulated in response to various forms of abiotic stress. In silico analysis of the CS genes revealed an over-representation of dehydration-responsive element/C-repeat binding factor (DREB1A/CBF3) binding sites and EveningElement motifs in their promoter regions. The CS-ERF are closely related to the CBF transcription factors and could potentially bind the DREB1A/CBF3 promoter elements in the CS genes. Transcript levels of CS genes peak at 2 to 3 days postinoculation, when pathogen growth is highest, and decline at later stages of infection. The induction of several CS genes was found to be isolate specific. This suggests that the identified CS genes could be the direct or indirect targets of downy mildew effector proteins that promote disease susceptibility.


Governments all around the world have tried to address the problem of providing adequate and affordable housing to the nation over the last three decades. With no exemption, the Malaysian Government is committed to provide all Malaysians, particularly those in the low-income categories, access to adequate and affordable housing. Even with the numerous housing programmes implemented over the various five-year Malaysia Plans, there is still a shortage of affordable homes for the low-income people. The shortage of low-cost dwelling units, along with the high cost of limited land has resulted in rapid expansion of squatter settlements in urban areas.

Around the World there is a shift from public to private finance for the delivery of infrastructure projects or related services. However, it has not been
implemented to the same extent in affordable housing. This investigation examines not just the measurable deviation from the Malaysia Plan targets, but more importantly, determines an explanation for the deviation and develops a
new model of public private partnership for affordable housing. The aim of this research is "to develop a housing model for implementation in affordable housing schemes through the promotion of innovative partnerships between the
Government and Private Developers in Malaysia".

The research methodology was a combination of literature investigation andinductive reasoning in which a theoretical proposition was tested and developed during data collection and analysis. The data collection included literature
review, questionnaires, and follow up interviews with private developers in Malaysia. This research study identifies three models for partnerships between
the Government and private developers for affordable housing in Malaysia. An evaluation process was undertaken to assess the appropriateness of the proposed models. The three models will provide tangible benefits in the
provision of and access to affordable housing.


The renewal and availability functions for some common failure and repair underlying distributions are explored. Exact results for the renewal functions and availability of normal time to failure and time to repair, and gamma time to failure and exponential time to repair are provided. Because obtaining the n-fold convolutions of time between cycles for general classes of failure and repair distributions is intractable, we obtained the availability functions for some commonlyencountered failure distributions but at a constant repair-rate. A MATLAB program was devised to perform all calculations.


Resource abundance does not always bring sustained economic growth and development. Moreover, the mining sector generally provides little direct employment in the regions where extraction occurs. In an attempt to derive greater benefits from their resource endowments, and increase linkages with other parts of the economy, some minerals-rich countries have instituted local content and procurement policies (LCPs). The benefits sought include employment generation, supply chain development and technological and knowledge transfers. Measures that aim to increase local content and procurement in the extractive industries are common, including in many OECD countries.
This study examines local content policies in 10 minerals-rich countries and provides some observations about their efficacy and the desirability of their use. A wide range of measures are examined, from industry-wide, mandatory quantitative targets to voluntary initiatives undertaken at the firm level, encompassing diverse policy objectives and implementation strategies. The range of countries covered is broad including OECD countries, developing countries and least developed countries. The study does not recommend a "one size fits all" policy mix but guards against the distortions created by overly prescriptive, mandatory local content requirements.


Galluzzo, N., 2012. analysis of Italian dairy export over 18 years in the European union market and in the world using the median approach. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 18: 410-417 The dairy Italian production is prevalently located in some regions of North Italy; where there are several dairy cooperatives specialized in cheese production or in other dairy activities. This analysis has valued, using some statistical time series over 18 years, the monthly and yearly effect of Italian milk exportations in the world and in the European union market in quantity and in monetary value. The monthly and yearly effects have been estimated throughout a quantitative approach based on the median, which has an important function in order to reduce some distorted effects due to outliners in statistical data. The monthly time series, both in terms of constant currency value and in quantity, in the world and in the European Union, have pointed out cyclical fluctuations due to seasonal effects in milk production. The yearly effect about the Italian milk exports in the European union market has underlined a constant growth. In general, the median approach was a good statistical tool to analyse commercial flows, emphasizing the effect of a structural break in Italian milk exportations after the adhesion to the World Trade organization (WT o) and due to structural changes in Italian dairy sector. For the next future, Italian dairy productions should be able, thank to a high diffusion and distribution of certified quality foods, to boost profits throughout promotional actions towards not consolidated markets of the European u nion.


A report by CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, has uncovered powerful and counterintuitive insights into the future supply and demand of critical metals needed to support the transition to a low-emissions future. Trajectories for metals used in electric vehicles (EVs) may be more complicated than what is currently accepted, according to one scenario modeled using the Physical Stocks and Flows Framework (PSFF) tool. The report, Known Unknowns: The Devil in the Details of Energy Metal Demand, uses the bespoke tool to look at three EV battery metals (cobalt, lithium, and nickel) under three different EV uptake scenarios. CSIRO's Critical Energy Metals Mission-in-development lead, Jerad Ford, said the PSFF tool uses factors not currently accounted for in traditional forecasts to test the demand and supply assumptions. "We know that demand for many metals will increase substantially as the world transitions to a low carbon economy," Ford said. "But unsophisticated models based on current supply levels and basic recycling rates lead to many mischaracterizations of the real opportunities in both metal mining and recycling." "They ignore the dynamics of materials flows on a global scale and the expected changes in underlying technologies." For instance, it is commonly assumed that demand for newly mined metals like cobalt and nickel will continue to increase for the foreseeable future, as they are essential for high-performance lithium-ion batteries used in EVs. But by accounting for additional factors such as changes in battery chemistry, quicker EV uptake, and higher levels of recycling, the PSFF tool suggests that, even within the same scenario, new cobalt demand may have an extremely short demand window before an extended glut, while nickel peaks early then falls back sharply, and lithium remains stronger for longer before also trailing off in the out years. "This challenges conventional wisdom that the demand for these battery metals will mirror each other," Ford said. The report also looks at the potential for retiring EV batteries to meet the electricity storage requirements of a renewables-based electricity grid. However, the PSFF is not intended to be used as a prediction tool. "Even a fully comprehensive PSFF cannot provide completely 'accurate' forecasts because there are so many unknowns, interactions, and complexities around the future demand for metals, like the prices of metals and substitution effects," Ford said. "A PSFF does, however, enable the development of internally consistent scenarios to explore how 'views' on major components of the energy transition will play out and interact with each other." The PSFF tool is not just limited to battery metals and could be used by leaders wherever major new technologies require new mixes of metals, to input their assumptions about the market to understand the implication for their business. "This tool allows us to take assumptions about a range of factors to test what supply and demand will look like for different metals under those conditions, empowering Australian businesses to manage risk and stay ahead of the market," Ford said. CSIRO senior experimental scientist Jim West built the model and coauthored the report. "We are currently in the early stages of engaging with external partners, and ready to partner with industry and government to develop bespoke scenarios that reflect partners' key interests," West said. "Our overarching aim is to better develop and share our capability, to help Australian industry make the smartest investments in the lead-up to a low carbon future." ⃞ SCIENCE POLICY NEWS & aNaLySIS


The Soviet campaign for the liberation of women in Uzbekistan consisted of two major components. The first was freeing women from Muslim social and religious strictures. The second was moving large numbers of women into the new agricultural and industrial workforce. This article focuses on the method and results of the first component. The Communist Party attempted to destroy by administrative fiat arranged marriage, bride-price, the marriage of young girls to adult men, the seclusion of women from public life, polygyny, and other customs. While the Soviets made significant changes in women's status, particularly among the educated classes, in the end they failed to stamp out any of the traditional practices they had campaigned against. The liberation effort, while claiming to help Uzbek women, instead bound them in a terrible dilemma. Women found themselves caught between obeying the government, remaining loyal to their families, communities, and customs, and trying to realize their own desires in a bewildering sea of new opportunities. Ultimately, thousands of women became victims of the very forces claiming to help them.


Objective. To evaluate the risk factors for surgical site infection (SSI) after gastric surgery in patients in Korea. Design. A nationwide prospective multicenter study. Setting. Twenty university-affiliated hospitals in Korea. Methods. The Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS), a Web-based system, was developed. Patients in 20 Korean hospitals from 2007 to 2009 were prospectively monitored for SSI for up to 30 days after gastric surgery. Demographic data, hospital characteristics, and potential perioperative risk factors were collected and analyzed, using multivariate logistic regression models. Results. Of the 4,238 case patients monitored, 64.9% (2,752) were male, and mean age (±SD) was 58.8 (±12.3) years. The SSI rates were 2.92, 6.45, and 10.87 per 100 operations for the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance system risk index categories of 0, 1, and 2 or 3, respectively. The majority (69.4%) of the SSIs observed were organ or space SSIs. The most frequently isolated microorganisms were Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Male sex (odds ratio [OR], 1.67 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.09–2.58]), increased operation time (1.20 [1.07–1.34] per 1-hour increase), reoperation (7.27 [3.68–14.38]), combined multiple procedures (1.79 [1.13–2.83]), prophylactic administration of the first antibiotic dose after skin incision (3.00 [1.09–8.23]), and prolonged duration (≥7 days) of surgical antibiotic prophylaxis (SAP; 2.70 [1.26–5.64]) were independently associated with increased risk of SSI. Conclusions. Male sex, inappropriate SAP, and operation-related variables are independent risk factors for SSI after gastric surgery.


> In management, the first concern of the company is the happiness of the people connected with it. If people do not feel happy and cannot be made happy, that company does not deserve to exist. (Kaoru Ishikawa1)

Today, Kaoru Ishikawa is best known for his diagram which looks like the bones of a fish. His diagram is a practical widely used tool for a group to organise its understanding of the causes of variation in the outcome of their work. He was an unassuming man who saw a link between workplace quality and prosperity. High-quality products would sell, and their makers would prosper. If work was thus made a joyful and human experience, such prosperity and joy would lead to world peace.

Some might find this vision grandiose, but Ishikawa was as responsible as anyone for transforming Japanese industry after the Second World War to focus on high-quality products. This lead to a prosperous, peaceful Japan. The Japanese quality revolution woke up the rest of the industrial world.

Ishikawa believed that quality began with the interaction of people. Top-down (goals) and bottom-up (means) involvement by all members of an organisation is required to optimise quality. Pulling out employee potential is a key leadership skill. Enhancing the quality of life of people enhances the quality of outcomes and productivity of their services. Happy people are more productive and have more pride and responsibility for their work. Ishikawa was one of the first people to emphasise the "internal customer."

Kaoru Ishikawa was born in Tokyo, Japan, the eldest of eight brothers. His father invited Deming to Japan. In 1939, he was granted a doctorate of philosophy in chemical engineering by the University of Tokyo. He worked as a naval technical officer from 1939 to 1941, then at the Nissan Liquid …


Abstract According to attachment theory, being securely attached to one's primary caregiver early in life should be related to personality adulthood. However, no studies to date have investigated this key premise using prospective data. To address this gap, we discuss evolutionary-based models of attachment and use them to examine how secure versus insecure children might score differently on Big 5 traits that underlie the meta-trait stability. We modeled data from Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation (N = 170), which has followed participants across 30 years. Participant's early attachment status was assessed in Ainsworth's Strange at 12 and 18 months and personality was assessed on Big 5 measures at age 32. Being securely attached early in childhood predicted three of the Big 5 traits known to tap the meta-trait stability. Specifically, participants rated as secure early in life scored higher on agreeableness and conscientiousness and lower on neuroticism in adulthood, whereas those rated as insecure scored lower on agreeableness and conscientiousness and higher on neuroticism. Exploratory mediation analyses revealed that neither adult attachment representations nor internalizing/externalizing symptoms mediated the association between early security and stability. The implications of these findings for understanding the origins of personality variation are discussed.


background: Tumors of the small intestine represent a small fraction of gastrointestinal tract neoplasms and might be missed if the referring physician and radiologist are not actively looking for a tumor. The choice of an optimal imaging protocol for detecting tumors in the jejunum and ileum is crucial. The differential diagnosis should include both benign (GIST, lipoma, hemangioma, neural tumors) and malignant (adenocarcinoma, carcinoid, lymphoma and metastases) tumors. Angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma (AFH) is a rare soft tissue tumor, and is never on the initial differential diagnosis of a small intestine tumor. In this article we present a case of jejunal AFH and a literature review of radiological findings in malignant and non-malignant tumors of the small intestine. clinical case: A 68-year-old male presented with a 1 month history of weight loss, lack of appetite, and pain in the right iliac and lumbar regions. Past medical history was significant for an adrenal tumor of unspecified origin and adrenalectomy in 2005. CT showed a non-homogenous infiltration located posterior to the ligament of Treitz and a polypoid exophytic mass. A biopsy was obtained during enteroscopy. Histological and immunohistochemical analysis confirmed an AFH. The adrenal tumor specimens were retrospectively re-analyzed and showed similar morphology and immunohistochemistry, therefore it was concluded that the neoplasm arose in the adrenal gland and metastasized to the jejunum. conclusions: In this report we presented to our knowledge the first case of an AFH of the adrenal gland which later metastasized to the jejunum. AFH has several characteristic findings on MR imaging: a double-rim sign, fluid-fluid levels, and marginal infiltrating strings of tumor tissue. To distinguish between benign and malignant tumors of the small intestine it is crucial to evaluate the number, location, vascularity, calcifications, growth and enhancement patterns, mesenteric and extra-intestinal involvement of the tumors.


Insider Secrets from Hollywood's Top WritersThis book not only shows how to be a screenwriter, but what it's actually like to be one. An inspiration to all would-be screenwriters, this book is about living the screenwriter's life -- the habits, writing environments, creative processes, daily passions, and obsessions. In The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters, author Karl Iglesias has interviewed 14 top contemporary Hollywood screenwriters who offer their experience, insight, and advice to aspiring screenwriters everywhere.


Since the 1960s hydrocarbons like crude oil and natural gas have been the most important energy source to fuel the world economy. Despite high recent growth rates for renewable energies, hydro- carbons are expected to be a dominant source of energy for several decades to come. In the last 20 years not only fundamental trends, but also singular events such as the financial crisis have shaped the development of crude oil and natural gas markets as well as the corresponding academic debate. On a historic scale these last two decades have seen changes in oil and gas markets that - in terms of price and regional production changes - are only matched by the turmoils of the oil crisis of the 1970s. Hence, the objective of this thesis is to improve the understanding of some of the dynamics and trends underlying these developments.
Around the turn of the millenium the growth of wealth and resource consumption in emerging economies and the fear of shrinking oil and gas production in industrialized countries refueled the time-honored debate about the point of time when the supply of fossil energy resources will reach its historic all time high. Labeled as the "peak oil hypothesis" the discussion gained most momentum for the case of crude oil, but similar worries were also expressed for natural gas. These solicitudes were also reflected and amplified by prolonged and steep increases in global oil and gas prices which in turn raises the question of how strong hydrocarbon supply will react to these price shocks. Accordingly, Chapter 2 of this thesis addresses oil and gas supply response to oil and gas price changes in the US. More specifically, because oil and gas supply can only be kept constant or increased by drilling additional wells, the essay focuses on the response of oil and gas drilling activity to changes in oil and gas prices as well as drilling costs.
In the late year 2008 the oil and gas price boom came to a sudden end in a stark collapse during the turbulences of the financial crisis and its macroeconomic aftermath. Both oil and gas prices stopped plummeting only in spring 2009. Whereas global oil prices quickly recovered to pre-crisis levels, the US price of natural gas stayed at low levels and even started to trend slightly downward. Given the growing gas prices in Europe this led several market stakeholders to announce a disintegration of the Atlantic gas market into an US market and an European market. However, given quickly expanding transport capacities and trade volumes for liquified natural gas (LNG) other industry participants hesitate to consent with the market decoupling hypothesis. Accordingly, Chapter 3 empirically investigates the integration of Atlantic gas markets before and after the financial crisis.
Price spikes are a frequent phenomenon in natural gas and other commodity markets. This can result in a low power of empirical market integration tests that are based on threshold autoregressive models. Similarly, threshold autoregressive (TAR) model based estimates of the transaction costs of arbitrage can be subject to large small sample biases when extreme price movements are present. To address this Chapter 4 investigates the small sample properties of TAR estimators and TAR based market (co-)integration tests. To remedy the poor small sample properties of the usual OLS based TAR estimation we propose two robust estimators. Accordingly, Chapter 4 methodologically advances the econometric approaches used in Chapter 3.
In North America, the major driver underlying this putative gas market decoupling was the so called shale revolution - a term that describes a steep and unforeseen increase in hydrocarbon supply from unconventional shale formations in the US. The shale revolution started off in gas markets where the novel combination of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling in formerly unfamiliar shale geology enabled sweeping production gains. However, oil drilling also quickly adopted the new approach. By tapping shale oil resources with cost-efficient technologies and pulled by high oil prices US crude oil production is now close to surpassing its historic all time high of November 1970. Hence, for the moment the advent of the US shale revolution has refuted most arguments for an impending now and forever peak in US oil or gas production. As shale resources are available in many countries around the globe, the success of the US shale revolution stimulates the desire to replicate the shale revolution in other countries. A large part of the technical side of the replication debate is about updating the technology of rig fleets such that they are capable of performing hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. However, in the US industry participants also highlight the importance of accumulated experience in using these technologies in a given region. Against this background, Chapter 5 investigates the role of drilling technology and local drilling experience as drivers of the oil and gas production growth during the US shale revolution. When the accumulation of local experience plays a crucial role for shale oil and gas production, it might be difficult to replicate the shale revolution in other countries by merely updating the technology level of the old rig fleet.


This research is aims to determine the  leadership competencies for organization development intervention; it is a case study on educational quality assessment (QA) agency in Thailand. The objectives consisted of first, to identify and compare the current and expected perception toward leadership competencies of employees and management, and second, to identify the most important leadership competency.  The nature of this research work is research and development while employing the mixed method for data collection, analysis and interpretation. The eighty-one employees completed the questionnaires and ten of them were interviewed. The content validity on the instruments were reviewed by three experts prior to the realiability, Cronbach's Alpha was tested. The result of reliability Cronbach indicated 0.968 on all questions in the questionniare. Key findings based on the survey showed that leaders "sometimes" demonstrated leading behaviors. Top three leadership competencies that are frequently perceived comprised professional knowledge, decision-making/problem-solving, and development of others. Statistically, there was significant difference between current and expected perception in every leadership competency component with the P value of 0.01. When comparing the perception between management and employee, it was found to have significant difference in driving result, strategic thinking and communication. When ranking all components of leadership competencies to determine the most important factors, the most important leadership competencies were professional knowledge, following with driving results, and strategic thinking. Qualitatively based on the interviews, employees recognized the needs for leadership competency to be develop with the emphasis on development of others, building a team, and supporting work performance. In conclusion, based on mixed methods data, the recommendations for leadership competency of the participating organization were that first, a roadmap to leadership competency development is essential, and second, customization on leadership competency in practices is to be done appropriately to minimize leadership competency gap among the management level.


Abstract:Activists, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the international media have repeatedly singled out the Mekong region as a hotspot for 'sex trafficking'. Yet, in recent years anti-trafficking campaigns that focus on prostitution have lost momentum, witnessed by a decline in project activity and media attention. This article suggests that a moral panic relating to prostitution has partly been overshadowed by a broader focus on the Thai labour sector, particularly the fishing industry. At the same time, this shift coincides with a discursive reorientation away from 'trafficking' towards 'modern slavery'. This article explores the gendered dimensions of this shifting regime of migration governance which in effect replaces women and girls with men and boys as the central locus for action. Although this change must be understood in light of structural changes within the Thai economy and a broader compassion and programme fatigue, this article points to the similar moral registers that both 'sex trafficking' and 'slavery at sea' invoke. Neoliberal modes of activism coupled with emergent social media help explain why anti-trafficking and modern slavery discourses have gradually redirected attention away from sex to fish.


This study focuses on substantial changes that characterize the shift of Vietnam's macroeconomic structures and evolution of micro-structural interaction over an important period of 1991-2008. The results show that these events are completely distinct in terms of (i) Economic nature; (ii) Scale and depth of changes; (iii) Start and end results; and, (iv) Requirement for macroeconomic decisions. The study rejected a suspicion of similarity between the contagion of financial crisis in 1997-98 and economic chaos in the first half of 2008 (starting late 2007). The depth, economic settings of, and interconnection between macro choices and micro decisions have all grown up significantly, partly due to a deeper level of integration of Vietnam into the world's economy. On the one hand, this phenomenon gives rise to efficiency of macro level policies because the consideration of micro-structural factors within the framework has definitely become increasingly critical. On the other hand, this is a unique opportunity for the macroeconomic mechanism of Vietnam to improve vastly, given the context in which the national economy entered an ever-changing period under pressures of globalization and re-integration. The authors hope to also open up paths for further empirical verifications and to stress on the fact that macro policies will have, from now on, to be decided in line with changing micro-settings, which specify a market economy and decide the degree of success of any macroeconomic choices.


Abstract This study explored the data-based decision making of 12 teachers in grades 6–8 who were asked about their perceptions and use of three required interim measures of reading performance: oral reading fluency (ORF), retell, and a benchmark comprised of released state test items. Focus group participants reported they did not believe the benchmark or ORF tests accurately reflected students' comprehension abilities. Teachers held more favorable opinions of retell but admitted improvising their use of the measure rather than following mandated implementation procedures. Participants reported that only summative state assessment scores were used to plan appropriate instruction and only for large groups. Results suggest the need for improved support for data-based decision making and the development of technically adequate interim measures with relevance to the teachers expected to use them.


Coincidently with the increase of lipid concentration in the culture medium, there was increase of lipid peroxide (LPO) and decrease of membrane fluidity (MF) in the smooth muscle cell (SMC). Animal experiment also showed that hyperlipidemia might damage SMC of the arterial wall and produce a similar result as described. Actually, there was a significant negative correlation between high LPO content and low MF. EM examination of SMC revealed a defeatured surface with many micropinocytic vesicles and fat droplets in the cytoplasm, and additionally atherosclerosis (AS) of various degree was observed at the aortic intima. The results indicated that LPO damage plays an important role in the atherogenesis process which is considered probably through the lowering down of MF of the SMC. Chinese herb drug Rhaponticum uniflorum exhibited an anti-oxidation effect, which inhibits LPO production and improves MF of the cells, so that it makes the AS lesions less severe. It suggests that in addition to reducing serum lipid level, drugs with anti-oxidation action will be beneficial to AS.


This study highlights three main concerns in relation to history teaching in Turkish secondary schools. The first one investigates student and practising history teachers' and history teacher educators' views on the existing Turkish secondary school history curriculum and its implementation. The second concern is to explore the perspectives of the same population about Europe and the European dimension in history teaching. The last one deals with their suggestions on the improvement of the history curriculum with the potential inclusion of the European dimension. These issues are considered important, because the recent political developments accelerating the process of Turkey's integration into Europe indicated the necessity for preparing the Turkish public for this purpose. History teaching in schools is one of the channels to prepare Turkish youth to take a part in Europe through developing their perspectives and abilities.
The methodological design of the study embraces both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Questionnaires were completed by student teachers, practising teachers and teacher educators from various secondary schools and three universities in Turkey. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with a small number of participants selected from the above three groups. The data are analysed to find out the participants' general views about the issues mentioned above as well as the similarities and differences amongst the views of the three participating groups and between student teacher and teacher educator participants from the three universities.
The results of the study show that most of the participants are critical of the existing curriculum and the current practice of history teaching. Their criticism focuses on the presentation of the aims and objectives of the curriculum, the selection of curriculum content and pedagogical problems. According to the research findings, the presentation of Europe and European history in the current curriculum is inadequate. Furthermore, the participants' disclosed varying views about European matters, but their positive views about Europe related issues and a potential inclusion of the ED in history teaching observed were encouraging.
Based on the suggestions of the participants, it is argued that the Turkish secondary school history curriculum needs to be improved by including a European dimension. Specifically, the aims and objectives of history teaching, the criteria for the selection of curriculum content, pedagogy and history teacher education programmes should be shifted from the existing traditional approach to the new critical and skill-based approaches. In other words, this study argues that the purpose of history teaching is not to develop a particular identity or citizenship consciousness through the transmission of predetermined content knowledge. Instead, it suggests that history should be taught to enable learners to develop historical and critical thinking skills through exercising and utilising the methodology of history, which help them orientate themselves in local, national, European and global contexts.


Four-Winged Birds? Recently, nonavialan dinosaurs with feathers on their fore- and hindlimbs have been described. Zheng et al. (p. 1309) describe eleven basal avialan fossils with clear evidence of feathered hindlimbs. Together these fossils show that early avialans possessed four wings, rather than two. A gradual reduction in hindlimb feathering eventually yielded the two-wing condition in today's birds. Such a transition may have accompanied a locomotory decoupling of the fore- and hindlimbs, which facilitated the development of the forelimbs into flight-capable wings. Fossils of basal birds have feathers on all four limbs, suggesting that the present two-winged condition is a derived state. Recent discoveries of large leg feathers in some theropods have implications for our understanding of the evolution of integumentary features on the avialan leg, and particularly of their relevance for the origin of avialan flight. Here we report 11 basal avialan specimens that will greatly improve our knowledge of leg integumentary features among early birds. In particular, they provide solid evidence for the existence of enlarged leg feathers on a variety of basal birds, suggest that extensively scaled feet might have appeared secondarily at an early stage in ornithuromorph evolution, and demonstrate a distal-to-proximal reduction pattern for leg feathers in avialan evolution.


The observer ought to be an amorist. --Kierkegaard (47) From the opening of Donald Barthelme's Snow White, the reader is confronted with the question of the aesthetic and its seemingly ironic relation to gender. The text begins: SHE is a tall dark beauty containing a great many beauty spots: one above the breast, one above the belly, one above the knee, one above the ankle, one above the buttock, one on the back of the neck. All of these are on the left side, more or less in a row, as you go up and down: [dot] [dot] [dot] [dot] [dot] [dot] (3) Certainly it makes all the sense in the fairy-tale world that a "beauty" like Snow White should have "beauty spots," but within this seemingly self-evident opening passage we are confronted with a series of difficult aesthetic, linguistic, and ideological questions. First, we note a grammatical slippage in the word beauty--initially used as a noun, then as an adjective. However, this slippage, easy enough to deal with and explain linguistically, leads directly to higher-order questions. Is Snow White beautiful because of the spots--do the spots make her beautiful? Or are the spots seen as beautiful because they are attached to such a "beauty"--does she make them beautiful? Is the word spots even right here, or should it give way to the more postmodern marks? Or, conversely, is the whole question of beauty here a merely tautological one--if she's a "beauty" (whatever that may mean), then she's ipso facto got "beauty spots." If we do have a tautology, is it an enclosure out of which the novel cannot lift itself? Can aesthetics progress from this linguistic question? Can Barthelme's version of Snow White properly begin? Perhaps as compensation for the problems inherent in the word beauty, the reader is next invited to picture Snow White's beauty through the beauty marks that rest not so coincidentally near her fetishized erogenous zones: breast, belly, knee, ankle, buttock, neck. To assist the reader in attempting to conjure up an aesthetic image of Snow White's beauty marks, there's a helpful representation provided in the text. However, this series of bullets on the left side of the page manages only to disrupt or frustrate the reader's representational desire and, in the process, links this frustrated desire to the failure of the word or category beauty--to the tautology that, let us say, opens the text or, perhaps, (fore)closes it as it attempts to begin. Unable to climb toward the light of the signified, we remain exposed to the uncertainty of the signifier. This problem concerning meaning, which dogs all of Barthelme's Snow White, seems to rob textual or aesthetic production of its traditional privilege and put it on the same level as other cultural productions. This postmodern situation, in turn, troubles traditional aesthetic thinking on at least three registers: first, it robs aesthetics of its role as arbiter of taste and value; second, it collapses the aesthetic distance that is absolutely essential for a traditional notion of aesthetic judgment; (1) finally, and perhaps most cripplingly, such a leveling gesture robs aesthetics of its proper object--after Warhol, how to tell the difference between a disposable commodity and enduring art? But as Dan the dwarf puts it in Snow White's most famous passage, there may be a way for aesthetics to continue from the point where its founding distinctions are irremediably blurred, from the point where art cannot separate itself from trash: at such a point, you will agree, the question turns from a question of disposing of this "trash" to a question of appreciating its qualities.... And there can no longer be any question of "disposing" of it, because it's all there is, and we will simply have to learn how to "dig" it--that's slang, but particularly appropriate here. (97) Here we have all the ingredients for a familiar reading of aesthetics in Snow White and Barthelme's project on the whole: Barthelme, it seems, asks us to consider an ironic aesthetic stance as compensation for the absence of a transcendental signified; whatever we may think of trash, "we will simply have to learn how to 'dig' it. …


One of the biggest difficulties for founders of new ventures is to raise capital for their entrepreneurial endeavors. Based on a discussion of several models of firm development, this paper analyses the financing requirements of young growth companies and describes which sources of financing are available to these firms at different stages of their development. Special emphasis is put on venture capital financing, as this form of financing is particularly suited for young firms with a high potential for growth and value generation. A discussion of the challenges which these firms face when they want to control their financial development concludes this paper.


In Rickey & Robinson, legendary sportswriter Roger Kahn at last reveals the true, unsanitized account of the integration of baseball, a story that for decades has relied on inaccurate, second-hand reports. This story contains exclusive reporting and personal reminiscences that no other writer can produce, including revelatory material he'd buried in his notebooks in the 40s and 50s, back when sportswriters were still known to "protect" players and baseball executives. That starts, first and foremost, with an in-depth examination of the two men chiefly responsible for making integration happen: Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson. Considering Robinson's exalted place in American culture (as evidenced by the remarkable success of the recent biopic), the book's eye-opening revelations are sure to generate controversy as well as conversation. No other sportswriter working today carries Kahn's authority when writing about this period in baseball history, and the publication of this book, Kahn's last, is a true literary event. In Rickey & Robinson, Kahn separates fact from myth to present a truthful portrait of baseball and its participants at a critical juncture in American history.


The civic education is one of the biggest challenges of every nation, but in Poland – as a post-communist country – the upbringing of young generation to life in a democratic and modern world, is essential. Education, and so education for democratic citizenship, is very important, even decisive force of development of societies – it can flourish or decline the development. The purpose of this paper is to identify and explain development and evolution of civic education in Poland at different phases of the systemic transition. Additionally, the authors point out the barriers of civic culture's development and abilities of institutions, which enable civic education in Poland. Thus, the paper analyses constellations of actors concerning on the one hand factors eroding education for democratic citizenship from schools and on the other hand those which unevenly and constantly building, grass-rooting and enhancing civic education at all levels of educational process.


Abstract Establishment of national DNA databases in Australia and overseas has increased the number of criminal convictions, yet a high volume of serious crime cases remain with no suspect profile nor any DNA database matches. In these circumstances prediction of biogeographical ancestry (BGA) and externally visible characteristics can assist by providing forensic intelligence in conjunction with, or in place of, eyewitness testimonies. To predict the BGA of an individual requires: genetic markers selected for their ability to differentiate between BGAs; representative BGA reference populations; and a prediction algorithm ('classifier') that predicts the BGA of an unknown individual based on genetic markers in the reference populations. The human genome contains autosomal ancestry informative markers that are easily harvested from publicly accessible collections of genotypes with associated ancestry information. A number of classification methods are available including Bayesian approaches and distance-based algorithms. BGA is likely to be continuous rather than discrete and some methods are inappropriate for the prediction of admixed BGA. As predictive services become available to the public and private sectors, there is a risk of results being misinterpreted if an inappropriate tool is applied. Understanding the underlying marker sets, reference populations and classification algorithms is required to prevent ill-informed predictions.


The Islamic law prohibits charging and paying of interest but allows
earning profits on the basis of participation in the market. This legal injunction
has motivated the establishment and successful operation of a number of
Islamic financial institutions. The emergence and rise of these institutions is
an important academic and practical development of our time. The theory of
Islamic finance evolved on the basis of profit and loss sharing (PLS) principle
underlying participatory Islamic financial contracts. However, the practice of
Islamic finance does not conform to the theory and overwhelmingly relies on
the mark-up principle which underlies deferred trade. The PLS is in striking
contrast to the interest mechanism, but the mark-up is not.
The present research inquires the causes underlying the negligence of
the mark-up mechanism at the time when the theory was developing. Looking
at the preferences of users and suppliers of funds, the causes of the
overwhelming use of mark-up in the practices of Islamic finance are also
analyzed. Pakistan has remained at the forefront of financial Islamization. The
research also draws on this practical experience with a view to explore how
the market rewards risk. The study also analyzes the prospects of financial
Islamization in a real world scenario in which most Muslim countries rely
substantially on foreign financial resources.
Thq central conclusion of the study is that the mark-up and PLS
mechanisms have their own merits and weaknesses. The merit of the markup
is that it facilitates the acquisition of assets. The merit of the PLS is that it
links financiers' interests with the outcome of projects. The study
concentrates on the analysis of the inherent characteristics of the PLS and
mark-up as parent principles of Islamic finance rather than the institutional
environment in which these are practiced. It implies that given the market
environment, the strength of Islamic finance lies in the integration of the
prime merits of mark-up and PLS and in developing a comprehensive set of
Islamic financial instruments.


This thesis is focused on a simulation modelling approach to address the
inventory inaccuracy problems in a warehouse operation. The main motivation which
led to this research was a desire to investigate the inventory inaccuracy issues that
have been highlighted by a logistics company. Previous and current research into
inventory inaccuracy issues is largely related to the development of RFID technology
as a possible solution to inventory problems. Since the inventory inaccuracy related to
RFID technology is focused on the overall measurement of inventory management and
retail business, there are differences between this existing research and the research
presented in this thesis which is focused on issues of inventory inaccuracy in a
warehouse operation.
In this thesis, warehouse operation is studied as a detailed sequence of
processes that are involved in the flow of items physically in parallel with related
information being stored in the computer system. In these processes there are many
places where errors can occur in counting or recording details of inventory, or in
physically moving, storing or picking items incorrectly. These details of a warehouse
operation are used to develop a conceptual model of inventory inaccuracy in
warehouse operations. The study also found that typically a product needs to be
considered differently at different stages of its progress through a warehouse (and
therefore within different sections of the conceptual model). This is because initially
batches of a product are likely to be delivered from a supplier, therefore if errors occur
soon after the product is delivered to the warehouse, the error might involve the whole
batch (for example the batch may be misplaced and put in an incorrect storage
location), or the error might involve just part of the batch (for example poor
transportation by forklift truck may damage the packaging carton and some of the
items within the carton). When the product is stored ready for meeting customer
orders, it needs to be considered as individual items (and errors can occur in counting
of individual items or individual items may be misplaced or stolen). Finally, when a
customer order is received, the product will be picked and grouped to meet the
requirements of the order (for example, one order may require 10 of the product whilst
another order may require 20 of the product). Errors might again occur to the whole
group or to just part of the group. (Continued ...)


Recent concern for more sustainable and participatory approaches to development has encouraged a renewed focus on community resource management. This article outlines a framework and research agenda for broadening investigation of community management of land, forest, water, and other resources on which people depend for their livelihoods in rural Southeast Asia. The main task addressed is the linking of local parameters of culture and ecology to wider determinants, opportunities, and constraints set by political-economic structures. The importance of linking local and wider processes is twofold. First, it is clear that with regional integration of rural economies at a number of scales, it is unrealistic to limit our consideration of community resource management to local parameters. Second, having acknowledged the need to account for broader political-economic influences, we need to address the contexts of political-economic restructuring occurring throughout the region. In doing so we will better be able to understand - and perhaps develop a basis for acting upon - the multiple conflicts evident in resource and environment issues in Southeast Asia today. The discussion begins by considering the background to community resource management in the region. The principal contexts of political-economic restructuring are discussed with reference to mainland Southeast Asia.(2) Case study material from recently initiated research in Laos illustrates the key themes, and some parallel research in Vietnam and Thailand is also presented in summary. A case is made for investigating community resource management as part of a wider project that considers processes operating at a number of scales. Finally, strategic responses are considered in light of this framework. Community Resource Management Background and Scope In rural Southeast Asia, land, water, and forest resources held and managed both collectively and individually are of critical importance to local livelihoods and the maintenance of environmental quality. Community resource management is concerned with local common property resources (in particular, forests, grazing and fallow land, fishing rights, and water) and with the rules regarding allocation and use of individually managed resources that are not held as permanent, fully transferable private property.(3) Community resource management is crucial in developing strategies toward sustainable development in Southeast Asia.(4) Concern over top-down, technocratic approaches to development has encouraged interest in, and study of, local cultural and ecological parameters that help determine the use and management of land, water, and forest resources in different local settings.(5) Many aid and other development projects now include community forestry and other components addressing community resource management potentials. Sensitive and participatory intervention in community resource management clearly needs to build on pre-existing mechanisms, both those influenced by local culture and ecology and those that have arisen as a result of various development paths. Contingent Influences Locally and historically specific manifestations of community resource management can be understood with reference to local ecology and settlement history, but also to wider determinants. Broadly there are three intersecting historical influences on community resource management in rural Southeast Asia that help determine structures and processes of collective and individual control and use of resources [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED!. Traditional arrangements, locally sanctioned and often but not exclusively subsistence-oriented, include common grazing land, irrigation associations, and village forests, as well as socially determined patterns of individual inheritance and usufruct. The subak irrigation societies of Bali are well known,(6) and similar arrangements can be found in the muang-fai systems of northern Thailand and Laos. …


When employees sign employment agreements, they are most likely not concerned about a mandatory arbitration provision forbidding them from engaging in class or collective actions. The United States Supreme Court has shown a strong preference for enforcing arbitration agreements, even when they foreclose rights to collective action. The National Labor Relations Board, however, has found that individual employment agreements may not prevent employees from engaging in protected concerted activity in both union and nonunion environments. The Board ruled in D.R. Horton that individual, as opposed to collectively bargained, arbitration agreements that are a condition of employment, may not bar collective action through both arbitral and judicial forums. The Board reasons that Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act mandates the preservation of rights to collective activity, and that the Supreme Court's strong preference for individual arbitration must accommodate the text and legislative history of the Act. Despite the Board's decision, most federal courts have declined to strike down mandatory arbitration agreements that foreclose collective action, even when it means undermining rights under federal wage and hour statutes as well as employees' NLRA rights. The authors support the NLRB's interpretation as the correct and preferred framework for analysis of NLRA challenges to forced individual arbitration. The authors maintain that the courts should recognize that the Board's decision is consistent with Supreme Court precedent and adopt the reasoning of the NLRB to preserve substantive federal statutory rights of private sector employees.


This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the theoretical and empirical literature on the regulation of natural monopolies. It covers alternative definitions of natural monopoly, regulatory goals, alternative regulatory institutions, price regulation with full information, regulation with imperfect and asymmetric information, and topics on the measurement of the effects of price and entry regulation in practice. The chapter also discusses the literature on network access and pricing to support the introduction of competition into previously regulated monopoly industries.