Mobile Ad Hoc networking has been considered as one of the most important technologies to support future Ubiquitous and Pervasive Computing Scenarios and internet connected MANETs will be an integral part of future wireless networks. For providing multimedia services and Voice over IP in such environment, support for Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is essential. A MANET is a decentralized collection of autonomous nodes but a SIP infrastructure requires centralized proxies and registrar servers. In this paper, we study the implications of using standard SIP architecture in internet connected MANETs. We analyze performance limitations of SIP service scalability when centralized proxies/registrars located in the access network are used by MANET nodes. We also present and compare an alternative approach to provide SIP services in internet connected MANETs in order to minimize the impact of such performance limitations. Index Terms — SIP, MANET, Internet Connectivity


We develop a simple yet comprehensive method to distinguish the underlying drivers of galaxy quenching, using the clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing of red and blue galaxies in SDSS. Building on the iHOD framework developed by Zu & Mandelbaum (2015a), we consider two quenching scenarios: 1) a "halo" quenching model in which halo mass is the sole driver for turning off star formation in both centrals and satellites; and 2) a "hybrid" quenching model in which the quenched fraction of galaxies depends on their stellar mass while the satellite quenching has an extra dependence on halo mass. The two best-fit models describe the red galaxy clustering and lensing equally well, but halo quenching provides significantly better fits to the blue galaxies above $10^{11} M_\odot/h^2$. The halo quenching model also correctly predicts the average halo mass of the red and blue centrals, showing excellent agreement with the direct weak lensing measurements of locally brightest galaxies. Models in which quenching is not tied to halo mass, including an age-matching model in which galaxy colour depends on halo age at fixed $M_*$, fail to reproduce the observed halo mass for massive blue centrals. We find similar critical halo masses responsible for the quenching of centrals and satellites (~$1.5\times10^{12} M\odot/h^2$), hinting at a uniform quenching mechanism for both, e.g., the virial shock-heating of infalling gas. The success of the iHOD halo quenching model provides strong evidence that the physical mechanism that quenches star formation in galaxies is tied principally to the masses of their dark matter halos rather than the properties of their stellar components.


A detailed report launched in Parliament House within hours of the ALP leadership ballot last Monday revealed that, whoever is Prime Minister, the Australian government needs to act decisively and urgently to rebuild our Indonesian skills. Such language skills are essential if we are to maximise our engagement with the burgeoning economies and nations of Asia.

The report, Indonesian language in Australian Universities: Strategies for a stronger future), found university Indonesian enrolments plunging 40% nationally between 2001 and 2010. The most dramatic decline of 71% was in New South Wales. Six universities closed their Indonesian programs between 2004 and 2009.

Although there are about 190,000 students studying Indonesian in schools, they are clustered at the lower levels. At Year 12 level, there were fewer students studying Indonesian in Australia in 2009 than there were in 1972.


Do teachers and the public disagree on education reform? We use data from a nationally representative survey conducted in 2011 to identify the extent of the differences between the opinion of teachers and the general public on a wide range of education policies. The overall cleavage between teachers and the general public is wider than the cleavages between other relevant groups, including that between Democrats and Republicans. At least with respect to patterns of opinion on education reform, school politics is largely a conflict between producers within the system and consumers outside it – a classic iron triangle theme.


This research examines asynchronous participatory examinations, a new technology-mediated assessment strategy especially suitable for online courses. The participatory exam innovation utilizes information technology to support engaging students in the entire examination lifecycle, including creating and solving problems, and grading solutions. These learning processes enable students to not only gain new knowledge but also to strengthen their assessment skills. A five-semester field study in the U.S., supplemented by a small scale replication in Austria, investigated how participatory exams can facilitate higher-order learning and what explains students' acceptance of the innovation. An extended version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), adapted to the educational context, predicts acceptance based on three key constructs: ―perceived enjoyment,‖ ―perceived learning,‖ and ―recommendation for use.‖ The study results support the premises that participants perceive learning from all stages of the cooperative exam process, and that the innovation acceptance is a function of both intrinsic motivations (e.g., enjoyment of the experience) and extrinsic motivations (e.g., perception that one has learned from the process).


Energy poverty (EP) is a problem that affects a large part of the world population, leaving those most vulnerable to suffer from unhealthy indoor conditions in their homes, being cold in winter months, struggling with their monetary situation, and even reducing social activities with relatives. In this context, it is important to assess EP situations and identify those factors that most affect each one. This paper, through the evaluation and adaptation of the Three-dimensional and Territorial Indicator of Energy Poverty (EPITT in Spanish), developed by the Energy Poverty Network in Chile (RedPE Chile), assesses the different EP situations in a social-housing case study located in south-central Chile. The results show different EP situations depending on the dimensions studied, e.g., 35% of households had food and hygiene issues, 27% had issues with lighting and electrical devices, 72% with climate control in the home, and 68% experienced equality in energy expenditure issues. It is possible to say that energy expenditure is the dimension that most influences the EP situation. Furthermore, the values in the different dimensions are below the national average, mainly because of the poor quality of housing, limitations in access to energy, and low income. In conclusion, the adaptation of EPTTI provides a better understanding of EP vulnerability at the local scale.


Public expenditures on non-contributory pensions are equivalent to at least 1 percent of GDP in several countries in Latin America and is expected to increase. We explore the effect of non-contributory pensions on the well-being of the beneficiary population by studying the Pension 65 program in Peru, which uses a poverty eligibility threshold. We find that the program reduced the average score of beneficiaries on the Geriatric Depression Scale by nine percent and reduced the proportion of older adults doing paid work by four percentage points. Moreover, households with a beneficiary increased their level of consumption by 40 percent. All these effects are consistent with the findings of Galiani, Gertler and Bando (2016) in their study on a non-contributory pension scheme in Mexico. Thus, we conclude that the effects of non-contributory pensions on well-being in rural Mexico can be largely generalized to Peru.


This study formulates general guidelines to extend an explicit code with a great variety of implicit and semi-implicit time integration schemes. The discussion is based on their specific implementation in the Versatile Advection Code, which is a general purpose software package for solving systems of non-linear hyperbolic (and/or parabolic) partial differential equations, using standard high resolution shock capturing schemes. For all combinations of explicit high resolution schemes with implicit and semi-implicit treatments, it is shown how second-order spatial and temporal accuracy for the smooth part of the solutions can be maintained. Strategies to obtain steady state and time accurate solutions implicitly are discussed. The implicit and semi-implicit schemes require the solution of large linear systems containing the Jacobian matrix. The Jacobian matrix itself is calculated numerically to ensure the generality of this implementation. Three options are discussed in terms of applicability, storage requirements and computational efficiency. One option is the easily implemented matrix-free approach, but the Jacobian matrix can also be calculated by using a general grid masking algorithm, or by an efficient implementation for a specific Lax-Friedrich-type total variation diminishing (TVD) spatial discretization. The choice of the linear solver depends on the dimensionality of the problem. In one dimension, a direct block tridiagonal solver can be applied, while in more than one spatial dimension, a conjugate gradient (CG)-type iterative solver is used. For advection-dominated problems, preconditioning is needed to accelerate the convergence of the iterative schemes. The modified block incomplete LU-preconditioner is implemented, which performs very well. Examples from two-dimensional hydrodynamic and magnetohydrodynamic computations are given. They model transonic stellar outflow and recover the complex magnetohydrodynamic bow shock flow in the switch-on regime found in De Sterck et al. [Phys. Plasmas, 5, 4015 (1998)). Copyright© 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


We present two independent measurements of the photon pairs production efficiency (PPPE) at 1572 nm, generated in a noncommercial periodically poled lithium-niobate waveguide fabricated in our laboratory. The first measurement, referred to as "direct" measurement, is performed at the photon-counting level (light power at the level of a few picowatts), exploiting a typical coincidence detection technique and a dedicated statistical model. In this case the measured PPPE is (4.1±1.1)1011 pairs/(s W). The same parameter was estimated independently by a well-established "indirect" measurement, based on a difference frequency generation experiment (typical light power level of a few microwatts). This other measurement yields (5.0±2.4)1011 pairs/(s W). Despite the large uncertainty of this second measurement, we observe that the two results are in good agreement even considering only the lower uncertainty value. To our knowledge, it is the first realization of a comparison between these two measurement techniques, working at so different light levels.


Stateless services are easy to scale in the cloud since new replicas of these services can be created at any time and they operate completely independently of other instances. In contrast, scaling stateful services, such as a database system, can take minutes or even hours due to the need to present a consistent view of the system for users of the service. Currently, this problem is addressed by resource over-provisioning in anticipation of demand spikes. FlurryDB uses virtual machine cloning to improve resource utilization by drastically reducing the latency required to add a new replica. We also show that FlurryDB is capable of handling updates to resources in a fashion that preserves consistency across the cloning boundary.


In 2001, the rst international research program focusing exclusively on harmful marine algae, GEOHAB (Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms), was established by the HAB research community, under the sponsorship of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO and the Scienti c Committee on Oceanic Research. Its mission was to foster international cooperation to advance understanding of HAB dynamics and to improve our ability to predict them. e main e orts were focused on (1) the physiological, behavioral, and genetic characteristics of harmful microalgal species, and (2) the interactions between physical and other environmental conditions that promote the success of one group of species over another. GEOHAB was designed to study HABs with a view to integrating global data from comparable ecosystems. With an international, multidisciplinary, and comparative approach, GEOHAB advanced our understanding of the mechanisms underlying population dynamics of HABs within an ecological and oceanographic context and from an ecosystem perspective at the regional scale. GEOHAB encouraged combined experimental, observational, and modeling tools, using both existing and innovative technologies in a multidisciplinary approach, consistent with the multiple scales and oceanographic complexity of HAB phenomena. GEOHAB established the basis for continued international e orts now and into the future in order to better understand and predict the global complex phenomena of harmful algal blooms. By Raphael M. Kudela, Elisa Berdalet, Henrik Enevoldsen, Grant Pitcher, Robin Raine, and Ed Urban Image credits: M. Chinain,


Introduction: Joint pain is one of the most common types of chronic pain. Osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are the two leading causes of joint pain and there are currently no prophylactic or curative treatments available. Oral collagen has been implicated in providing a potential means to treat arthritis. This review article aims to identify, evaluate and summarize the results of published animal and human clinical trials related to oral collagen in the treatment of joint pain caused by OA and RA.
Methodology: Articles were searched using EMBASE and Medline databases. Search terms for keywords and titles included: "osteoarthritis", "rheumatoid arthritis", "joint pain", "oral collagen". Articles containing the following are included in our search: randomized controlled trials, clinical evidence and animal models containing primary quantitative data, in vitro studies of oral collagen related with joint pain, joint disease, OA or RA.
Results: Numerous preclinical and clinical studies have been carried out to investigate the efficacy of oral collagen and both OA and RA. Oral collagen is administered either in an undenatured form or in a partially denatured form for patients with OA, and in general, has been found to be reasonably efficacious, although more trials will be required to confirm and consolidate these findings. In contrast, oral collagen has a more debatable response rate in patients with RA, especially when compared with methotrexate, an existing therapy.
Conclusion: There is some evidence that suggests oral collagen is effective for OA and has shown to be tolerable and safe for the patient. The clinical efficacy of oral collagen in RA remains controversial, particularly when compared with conventional therapies such as methotrexate.


Ice breakup (IBU) observations have been recorded for Aura River in Turku, southwest Finland, since the mid-18th century. The latest long-term investigation covered the period 1749–1906, but the series contains several biases. In this article, we present a fully revised and extended IBU series (1749–2018) of Aura River for climate research purposes. Instead of typical univariate IBU data (a single time series with one data point per year), this series includes three different types of IBU data. These are the initial observations of the ice starting to break up (IBU1), the river recorded as free from ice within city limits (IBU2) and, finally, the arrival of the ice from behind the Halinen dam, the so-called Halinen ice (IBU3). The IBU1 series shows negative, statistically significant long-term trends since 1749. While the other two phenological events also exhibit negative long-term trends, indicative of earlier and warmer springs towards the present day, their trends are not significant over multi-centurial scales. The IBU2 series is the only series covering the entire period, and it shows a significant negative trend towards earlier breakups (16 days) between 1919 and 2018. Consequently, breakups in March, which were extremely rare before the 1900s, have become common, while breakups in May (previously once per decade) have not occurred since 1881. These results are indicative of sub-seasonal trends in the breakups. Our results also confirm defects in the previous time series, which shows a bias of up to 16 days.


The Realize Community Potential (RCP) Program was developed to directly support parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) through: greater access to information, direct contact between parents and Autism Ontario chapters, improved access to experts in local communities, and increased community-based learning opportunities for children with ASD. Several tools were developed to track chapter activities and to evaluate the capacity of the program to meet stated objectives. There was a substantial increase in the number of chapter events offered since the inception of the RCP program. Event topics of most interest to families included: behaviour, followed by social skills development, and communication. The average number of calls to RCP chapters per month has greatly increased since the program started. The majority of families contacted the chapter via email, reflecting a change in the dynamics of how families are communicating with professionals. The most common reasons for contacting chapters were: knowledge of Autism Ontario activities and resources, school-related issues, and community services. This research is important in identifying the effective components of the RCP program to guide future program development and allocation of funding resources.


Aim: To explore the current literature on service user participation in mental health nursing care and the effectiveness of participation practices. Background: Service user involvement in mental health nursing is a requirement of current practice including research and education. A review of the literature was undertaken as part of a research study on involvement practices in mental health nursing. Method: Original research documents were explored that related to participation in mental health nursing practice. The review included mental health nursing research, education and practice in order to capture the extensive areas of practice. Findings: There are various levels of participation occurring within mental health nursing. The review identified that there is a need for training and knowledge development in order to become familiar with the different levels and develop participation in practice. Conclusion: Information and training in mental health nursing would develop knowledge of participation practices and empower service users to have more control.


Based on optical transformation theory, an anistropic but homogeneous shifting medium is proposed to make multiple objects with the same shape appear as only one. Potential applications, e.g., enhancing the signal strength of current plane antennas and antenna arrays, are discussed in detail. Illusion optics, e.g., turning a spoon into a cup with an isotropic and homogeneous antiobject and a dielectric cup, is investigated. Such a homogeneous shifting medium can be extended to design an antiobject-independent external cloak. Finite element simulations for two-dimensional cases have been performed to demonstrate these properties.


Modern intensive agricultural practices characteristic of Western Europe and North America, such as high usage of agro-chemicals, are cited as key drivers of biodiversity declines. Declines in biodiversity are likely to impact on a number of natural processes termed 'ecosystem services', which include pollination and pest control that play an important role in agricultural production. Because of the negative effects of intensive agricultural practices, there has been a search for alternative systems of production. One approach is ecological intensification, where ecosystem services are maximised in agriculture as a way to offset anthropogenic inputs that can damage the wider environment. Key to the success of ecological intensification is gaining a mechanistic understanding of how biodiversity supports the functioning of ecosystem services, so management can be targeted to maximise service delivery. In order to ensure that food production is sustainable in the face of constantly changing environments it is also important to understand how biodiversity responds to stressors, such as insecticide use. This thesis focuses on using invertebrate species morphological and behavioural characteristics—referred to collectively as traits—to gain a mechanistic understanding of how different components of biodiversity support the functioning and resilience of pollination and pest control ecosystem services. Results highlight that trait approaches provide higher accuracy in predicting the functioning and resilience of natural pest control and pollination, than measures such as species richness. I also highlight that common environmental stressors such as insecticides and extreme heat have the potential to limit pest control and pollination ecosystem services, respectively. My results broadly demonstrate that utilising invertebrate species behavioural and morphological traits are beneficial in understanding the mechanisms driving pollination and pest control ecosystem services.


Background: High-resolution images from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be used to describe the state of forests at regular time periods in a cost-effective manner. The purpose of this study was to assess the performance of a line template matching algorithm, the Hough transformation, for detecting fallen logs from UAV-based high-resolution RGB images. The suggested methodology does not aim to replace any known aerial method for log detection, rather it is more oriented to the detection of fallen logs in open forest stands with a high percentage of log visibility and straightness.
Methods: This study describes a line template matching algorithm that can be used for the detection of fallen logs in an automated process. The detection technique was based on object-based image analysis, using both pixel-based and shape descriptors. To determine the actual number of fallen logs, and to compare with the ones predicted by the algorithm, manual visual assessment was used based on six high-resolution orthorectified images. To evaluate if a line matched, we used a voting scheme. The total number of detected fallen logs compared with the actual number of fallen logs based on several accuracy metrics. To evaluate predictive models we tested the cross-validation mean error. Finally, to test how close our results were to chance, we used the Cohen`s Kappa coefficient.
Results: The detection algorithm found 136 linear objects, of which 92 of them were detected as fallen logs. From the 92 detected fallen logs, 86 were correctly predicted by the algorithm and 24 were falsely detected as fallen logs. The calculated amount of observed agreement was equal to 0.78, whereas the expected agreement by chance was 0.61. Finally, the kappa statistic was 0.44.
Conclusions: Our methodology had high reliability for detecting fallen logs based on total user's accuracy (94.9%), whereas a Kappa of 0.44 indicated there was good agreement between the observed and predicted values. Also, the cross-validation analysis denoted the efficiency of the proposed method with an average error of 16%.


This study aims to explore the perceptions of crimes committed by youths, specifically looking at the residents living in one of London's council estates, St. Raphael's, in Brent. Furthermore, this study aims to determine the possible reasons behind the crime and to gather opinions on ways of reducing and/or preventing it. The ages of the participants' will also be a factor that is to be measured to investigate whether the perception of crime differs dependant on the age of the participant. It is thought that a person's fear of crime will be much greater than the actual amount of crimes committed. Furthermore, it is expected that age will have an effect on the perception of crime in that the older a person is the greater fear they feel. It is proposed that children are affected by the amount of crimes committed in the area, subsequently having a noticeable effect on them aiding in their development of fear of crime thus effecting their education and abilities to perform well in school. The study consisted of a total of 70 randomly selected participants living on or around the London council estate St. Raphael's. Each participant was given a questionnaire to complete consisting of 14 various questions assessing several factors such as age, gender, fear of crime, feelings regarding societal help such as the Police as well as their feeling on what procedures could be put in place in order to prevent or reduce crime rates within the area. Age and gender were recorded to see whether the perception of crime as well as the fear of crime changes dependant on a person's age. The results showed that there was a clear relationship between the age of a participant and the perception of crime and the amount of fear the person felt. Furthermore, as expected, it was found that the perception of crime was greater than national crime rates indicated. Thirdly, it was evident that residents of the inner estate had a lower fear of crime than those residents who lived on the outskirts of the estate. Finally, the behaviours of young children are affected by crime but it does not seem to affect them when they are within school thus not having a substantial immediate effect on their education. To conclude, although this study, overall was one of a success and supported the views of literature previously published, in other areas, such as the perception of crime on children and how this affected them it was not a success and actually disproved the initial assumption.


Sensor nodes constituting Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are often battery-operated and have limited resources. To save energy, nodes sleep most of the time, and wake up periodically to handle communication. Such radio duty cycling poses a basic trade-off between energy and latency. In previous work, we have shown that opportunistic routing is an efficient way to achieve low-latency yet energy efficient data collection in WSN. In this paper, we extend this approach to the context of low-power IP networks, where nodes need to be addressed individually and where traffic patterns are irregular. We present ORPL, an opportunistic extension of RPL, the standard, state-of-the-art routing protocol for low-power IP networks. We discuss our preliminary results obtained with Contiki in a 137-node testbed.


This paper investigates the possibility of applying hybrid push/pull production control strategies in a transmission overhaul shop. The shop currently uses MRP/push system. The high variability in process times and limited resources available make it difficult to deliver products on time. A simulation model of a horizontally integrated hybrid system which is "half push and half pull" representing the shop processes is developed and used to evaluate system performance. The system can be optimized by determining points of integration, optimal values of safety stock for the push part and number of Kanbans for the pull part. The proposed method employs genetic algorithm driving the parameterized simulation model. Two research questions are answered in this paper. First, what is the best way to find good solutions to this type of design problem? Second, what programming elements can be combined to create some kind of tunable simulation model of this class of complex system of mixed manufacturing philosophies. A new production control strategy that will reduce the inventory holding cost and cost due to missed due dates is recommended to this shop.


Among the wide variety of performance measures available for the assessment of skill of deterministic precipitation forecasts, the equitable threat score (ETS) might well be the one used most frequently. It is typically used in conjunction with the bias score. However, apart from its mathematical definition the meaning of the ETS is not clear. It has been pointed out (Mason, 1989; Hamill, 1999) that forecasts with a larger bias tend to have a higher ETS. Even so, the present author has not seen this having been accounted for in any of numerous papers that in recent years have used the ETS along with bias "as a measure of forecast accuracy". A method to adjust the threat score (TS) or the ETS so as to arrive at their values that correspond to unit bias in order to show the model's or forecaster's accuracy in placing precipitation has been proposed earlier by the present author (Mesinger and Brill, the so-called dH /dF method). A serious deficiency however has since been noted with the dH /dF method in that the hypothetical function that it arrives at to interpolate or extrapolate the observed value of hits to unit bias can have values of hits greater than forecast when the forecast area tends to zero. Another method is proposed here based on the assumption that the increase in hits per unit increase in false alarms is proportional to the yet unhit area. This new method removes the deficiency of the dH /dF method. Examples of its performance for 12 months of forecasts by three NCEP operational models are given.


The Notice is a good first step. It creates bright-line standards that are easy to apply and that will eliminate much of the gray area regarding permissible political activity. Clearer lines will reduce the discretion on the part of the IRS. By decreasing the IRS's discretion, the regulation will reduce the opportunity for the IRS to be used as a political tool in an Administration's tool box.However, the Notice does not go far enough. Congress has established a regulatory regime that has as its central purpose the disclosure of any significant campaign contributions by individuals or firms. In recent years many organizations have exploited the confidentiality rules of § 501(c)(4) to evade that regime, to the detriment not only of U.S. political discourse but also the non-profit sector. The Final Rule should ensure that groups with significant partisan political activity cannot obtain exemption under § 501(c)(4), or indeed under any parallel provision of § 501. We believe, however, that groups carrying out "substantial" electioneering activities should generally be eligible for exemption under § 527, and that the IRS should make that clear in the Final Rule. The main consequence of any ruling denying § 501(c)(4) status based on the political activity of the organization, therefore, would simply be to require the disclosure of an organization's donors, and to ensure that the organization's political expenditures are disclosed contemporaneously with the election they seek to influence. Accordingly, the Final Rule should be designed in a way that channels organizations with any substantial amount of undisclosed electioneering activity into § 527. For example, we propose a strong presumption that any group with candidate-related political activity of more than 10% of its budget, or of more than an overall cap of some amount, such as $1 million, whichever is lesser, should be recognized as a § 527 political organization and not as a § 501c(4) social welfare organization. The final rule should interpret "electioneering" broadly to include facially non-partisan activities that can be used to partisan advantage, including candidate-related advertising that falls outside the window immediately surrounding an election. Groups that voluntarily disclose their donors could retain c(4) status. Additionally, we suggest that the IRS seriously consider developing rules to limit the use of for-profit entities to evade § 527. We urge the IRS to take a clearer stand on its enforcement plans and legally dubious Forms 990. And we argue that nothing in the Notice, or in what we additionally suggest here, would raise serious First Amendment concerns.


It is the East, and Juliet is the sun! This is one of Shakespeare's most famous lines and one of the most well-known metaphors in literature. But metaphor is much more than a mere literary device employed by love-struck poets when they refer to their girlfriends as interstellar masses of incandescent gas. It is also intensely yet inconspicuously present in everything from ordinary conversation and commercial messaging to news reports and political speeches. Metaphor is at work in all fields of human endeavor, including economics, business, science, and psychology. In "I Is an Other", James Geary takes readers from Aristotle's investigation of metaphor right up to the latest neuroscientific insights into how metaphor works in the brain. Along the way, he demonstrates how metaphor affects financial decision making, how metaphor lurks behind effective advertisements, how metaphor inspires learning and discovery, and how metaphor can be used as a tool to achieve emotional insight and psychological change. Geary also explores how a life without metaphor, as experienced by some people with autism spectrum disorders, significantly changes the way a person interacts with the world. As Geary demonstrates, metaphor has leaped off the page and landed with a mighty splash right in the middle of our stream of consciousness. Witty, persuasive, and original, "I Is an Other" showcases how a simple way with words, which in the past was considered a tool only for poets, is really a driving force in our society. This book will open readers' eyes to the secret life of metaphor and its role in swinging elections, moving markets, and powerfully influencing daily life.


Wave propagation in a weak random medium has generally been understood to give rise to log-normal field statistics, and first Born approximation of log amplitude and phase. Yet no derivation of the field probability distribution seems to exist; only an inference. The moments of the field (not just the amplitude) are derived from moment equations, and from these it is shown that extra terms must be identified with phase and amplitude in the customary representation of the field.


This study investigates the time-course of information processing in both visual as well as in the auditory speech as used for word identification in face-to-face communication. It extends the limited previous research on this topic and provides a valuable database for future research in audiovisual speech perception. An evaluation of models of speech perception by ear and eye in their ability to account for the audiovisual gating data shows a superior role of the fuzzy logical model of perception (FLMP) [1] over additive models of perception. A new dynamic version of the FLMP seems to be a promising model to account for the complex interplay of perceptual and cognitive information in audiovisual spoken word recognition.


Abstract The c. 350 km2 Vega intrusive complex is part of the Bindal Batholith and was emplaced at c. 475 Ma into polydeformed supracrustal rocks of the Helgeland Nappe Complex. The intrusive complex is tilted towards the west, exposing asymmetrical zoning. From east to west, the complex is composed of biotite granite, garnet-biotite granite, garnet-bearing muscovite biotite granodiorite and sillimanite-bearing garnet cordierite muscovite biotite granodiorite. In addition, the complex contains small amounts of intrusive migmatite. Granodiorite and intrusive migmatite contain abundant metasedimentary, mafic and ultramafic enclaves. Granodiorite, granite and migmatite are generally peraluminous to strongly peraluminous, calcic to alkalic and magnesian, with initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios of 0.7096–0.7469 and ϵNd from −7.0 to −11.0. Emplacement of the Vega intrusive complex was coeval with the intrusion of metaluminous dioritic rocks. The intrusive mafic rocks and enclaves in the complex have MORB-like (mid-ocean ridge basalt-like) to calc-alkaline geochemical characteristics. The lack of an isotopic compositional trend between mafic and granitic rocks indicates that magmas did not mix. Instead granitic magmas formed by unmixing of residual phases from crustally derived magmas. Partial melting of supracrustal source rocks may have been related to intra- and underplating of MORB-like magmas into the lower crust during extension. Supplementary material: Detailed petrographic descriptions, photomicrographs, and field images of selected enclaves are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18653.


The quality of criminal defense counsel desperately needs improving. The strategy this article explores is not a change in the legal standard governing ineffective assistance of counsel claims, or a change in the Supreme Court's reasoning, but something far more fundamental: money. The article asks whether it is feasible to link the funding available for defense lawyers to the money that the government spends on prosecution lawyers - in other words, parity of resources. For reasons described in this article, resource parity will probably not come from the courts, at least not if they act alone. Major funding changes like this must come from the legislature, so the article reviews the prospects for resource parity in the state legislatures. The odds that legislators will vote for such a law are surprisingly good, given the willingness of Tennessee and other jurisdictions to experiment with the idea. The approach in this article is multi-disciplinary, using history, traditional case analysis, journalistic case studies, and a close review of public choice theory. The article explores more generally the applicability of a public choice theory to crime legislation, and classifies criminal justice laws based on their different implications for this theory. Public choice theory has led to overbroad claims that criminals always lose in the legislative process; there are predictable settings where criminal defendants can benefit incidentally from laws favored by well-organized and influential interests such as the organized bar and judges.


In support of the efforts to document the architecture of the Royal Observatory at the Cape, historic material has been made available in digitized form by Auke Slotegraaf. I was working my way through some of this when I came across the following on page iii in Astronomical Observations made at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, in the year 1875, under the direction of Edward James Stone, "The "meridian mark" referred to in Table III, is on an undulation immediately to the east of the mountain called Blaauw Berg, and is situated some 13 miles north of the Observatory. It is a pillar built up to serve as a permanent meridian mark for the 10 feet Dolland's Transit..."


Purpose - The main aims of this paper are: first, to investigate how decisions are currently made within the Egyptian public sector environment; and, second, to determine whether the decision making can be significantly improved through the use of credit scoring models. A subsidiary aim is to analyze the impact of different proportions of sub-samples of accepted credit applicants on both efficient decision making and the optimal choice of credit scoring techniques. Design/methodology/approach - Following an investigative phase to identify relevant variables in the sector, the research proceeds to an evaluative phase, in which an analysis is undertaken of real data sets (comprising 1,262 applicants), provided by the commercial public sector banks in Egypt. Two types of neural nets are used, and correspondingly two types of conventional techniques are applied. The use of two evaluative measures/criteria: average correct classification (ACC) rate and estimated misclassification cost (EMC) under different misclassification cost (MC) ratios are investigated. Findings - The currently used approach is based on personal judgement. Statistical scoring techniques are shown to provide more efficient classification results than the currently used judgemental techniques. Furthermore, neural net models give better ACC rates, but the optimal choice of techniques depends on the MC ratio. The probabilistic neural net (PNN) is preferred for a lower cost ratio, whilst the multiple discriminant analysis (MDA) is the preferred choice for a higher ratio. Thus, there is a role for MDA as well as neural nets. There is evidence of statistically significant differences between advanced scoring models and conventional models. Research limitations/implications - Future research could investigate the use of further evaluative measures, such as the area under the ROC curve and GINI coefficient techniques and more statistical techniques, such as genetic and fuzzy programming. The plan is to enlarge the data set. Practical implications - There is a huge financial benefit from applying these scoring models to Egyptian public sector banks, for at present only judgemental techniques are being applied in credit evaluation processes. Hence, these techniques can be introduced to support the bank credit decision makers. Originality/value - Thie paper reveals a set of key variables culturally relevant to the Egyptian environment, and provides an evaluation of personal loans in the Egyptian public sector banking environment, in which (to the best of the author's knowledge) no other authors have studied the use of sophisticated statistical credit scoring techniques.


Digital games are hindered as an artform by significant technical barriers to entry, which exclude many would-be game developers from participating in this medium of expression. Casual creators for game design attempt to mitigate these barriers, but—like conventional game development tools—often require users to "work their way up" from low-level mechanics to high-level rhetorical or expressive goals, rather than allowing them to start with high-level rhetorical goals and "work their way down." The constraint-based game generator Gemini is well-suited to the generation of games that meet high-level expressive goals, but is difficult for casual users to work with. We present Germinate, a mixed-initiative casual creator for rhetorical games that extends Gemini with a more approachable graphical user interface. A preliminary expert evaluation revealed that Germinate affords a playful approach to rhetorical game design by generating games that successfully meet user intent in surprising and novel ways.


Background While our knowledge of the intestinal microbiota during disease is accumulating, basic information of the microbiota in healthy subjects is still scarce. The aim of this study was to characterize the intestinal microbiota of healthy adults and specifically address its temporal stability, core microbiota and relation with intestinal symptoms. We carried out a longitudinal study by following a set of 15 healthy Finnish subjects for seven weeks and regularly assessed their intestinal bacteria and archaea with the Human Intestinal Tract (HIT)Chip, a phylogenetic microarray, in conjunction with qPCR analyses. The health perception and occurrence of intestinal symptoms was recorded by questionnaire at each sampling point. Principal Findings A high overall temporal stability of the microbiota was observed. Five subjects showed transient microbiota destabilization, which correlated not only with the intake of antibiotics but also with overseas travelling and temporary illness, expanding the hitherto known factors affecting the intestinal microbiota. We identified significant correlations between the microbiota and common intestinal symptoms, including abdominal pain and bloating. The most striking finding was the inverse correlation between Bifidobacteria and abdominal pain: subjects who experienced pain had over five-fold less Bifidobacteria compared to those without pain. Finally, a novel computational approach was used to define the common core microbiota, highlighting the role of the analysis depth in finding the phylogenetic core and estimating its size. The in-depth analysis suggested that we share a substantial number of our intestinal phylotypes but as they represent highly variable proportions of the total community, many of them often remain undetected. Conclusions/Significance A global and high-resolution microbiota analysis was carried out to determine the temporal stability, the associations with intestinal symptoms, and the individual and common core microbiota in healthy adults. The findings provide new approaches to define intestinal health and to further characterize the microbial communities inhabiting the human gut.


INTRODUCTION Although there are some nuances between globalization and liberalization, for the purpose of this paper, they are regarded as synonymous. Neo-liberal globalization is basically an attempt for capitalist integration through the processes of marketization and trade openness. The contradictory dynamics of neo-liberal globalization are now becoming more and more obvious in various phenomena that it produces such as, economic integration and political disintegration, the movement towards free trade and yet protectionism, greater power of international institutions and multinational corporations (MNCs) and weakening power of nation states in the matter of independent policy formulations. The contradictions of globalization are nowhere found so obvious and clear than in the agricultural sector of less developed countries (LDCs). In many of these countries, agriculture remained outside, or shielded from the onslaught of globalization in the first phase of the process. Market access was often denied to the agricultural sector although it was liberally granted to the industrial sector of LDCs. However, ever since the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the MNCs and DCs (developed countries) are pushing for greater degree of liberalization of the agricultural sector primarily for their own benefits. But when recently market access has been accorded to the agricultural sector through the efforts of the WTO, it has been found that it produces many types of conflicts in the matter of formulations of agricultural policies, particularly food policies in LDCs. Policy contradictions of globalization are very pronounced for the agricultural sector of a country like India. In such a country, on the one hand, there is an attempt to integrate the sector with the international market so as to reap the economies of comparative advantages through increasing export to international markets, and on the other, there is often an explicit policy presumption to develop the domestic agricultural sector to provide subsistence and self-sufficiency in food production, often called food security. These two policies are now in conflict with each other, and a clear-cut policy announcement often becomes difficult for the government. The present paper is concerned with the analysis of such policy dilemmas of LDCs in general and of India in particular. The discussion of the paper is organized in the following way. Immediately after this introduction, section two will discuss the issue of globalization and agricultural trade in LDCs. Section three analyzes the food policy dilemmas in developing countries, and section four brings out the problem of globalization and commodification of agriculture, and the last section makes some concluding observations. GLOBALIZATION AND AGRICULTURAL TRADE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES In the first part of modem globalization in the 1980s, agricultural trade was not accorded any special consideration, and discriminations and unequal treatments among the participating countries were rampant. There were many disputes but they could not be solved on the basis of any rule of law. The roles of the regional trading organizations became over-riding. Thus, the European Union could restrict the Moroccan exports of tomatoes and other agricultural products, and the banana war between the U.S. and the EU became a nagging issue. However, with the establishment of the WTO, many countries, particularly the developing ones, anticipated the growth of their agricultural exports and the settlement of all trade disputes in a neutral manner without any favor or fear, as the organization openly depended on the rule-based system to settle disputes. The WTO promised to mitigate the protectionist trade practices and sought to eliminate many types of trade distortions and emasculate other forms of interventionist barriers to international trade. Agricultural trade was not made an exception in these regards. …


Discussions in Congress about what is generally known as Climate Change have morphed into a "third rail" of politics--where engaging such a topic can seem like an admission that massive inter-governmental cooperation and drastic cutbacks in energy usage are necessary. Unfortunately, that fear has stifled the conversation about creative solutions--because without a problem, who needs a solution? This Comment posits a novel, congressional response to Climate Change with three particular aims: political feasibility, administrative feasibility, and conformity with international law. More specifically, this proposal uniquely operates by taxing producers of "carbon-intensive goods," including importers, through two newly-created entities and procedures: the Climate Change Reduction Committee ("CCRC") sets the requisite percentage cutbacks for the relevant categories of producers and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ("IPCC") exacts penalties on imported goods that fail to comport with the CCRC's mandates. Notably, the nine-member IPCC would reserve five seats for randomly chosen WTO Members while retaining four seats for United States officials. And, voila! The United States has a partial solution to its looming national deficit through a significant new revenue source. Why not cap and trade? This Comment concludes that the governmental revenue lost, the utter dearth of any persuasive political arguments surrounding it, the additional, inherent regulatory complexities, the high probability of "cap busting," and the likely failure to comport with international law makes a cap and trade regime an inferior alternative. I. INTRODUCTION A. The Proposal B. Why not Cap and Trade? II. THIS GHG TAX CONFORMS TO INTERNATIONAL LAW A. GATT Article I B. GATT Article II C. GATT Article III D. GATT Article XI E. GATT Article XX 1. GATT Article XX Paragraph (g) Analysis 2. GATT Article XX Chapeau 3. GATT Article XX Paragraph (b) Analysis F. Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM) G. Technical Barriers on Trade ("TBT") III. Critiques A. The Political Feasibility of a GHG Tax B. Administrative Feasibility of a GHG Tax C. Cap and Trade: A Flawed Alternative to a GHG Tax IV. Conclusion I. INTRODUCTION Most political campaign advertisements featuring guns refer to a candidate's position regarding the Second Amendment. Governor Joe Manchin, the freshman senator from West Virginia, found another creative and jarring use for a weapon: literally shooting through the likeness of the "Democrats' now defunct cap-and-trade bill." (1) More significantly, his use of that ad--and more specifically, his opposition to a cap and trade bill--is widely credited with helping him win as a democratic candidate in a year when Democrats lost big nationwide. (2) Most relevantly for the response to climate change, the sentiment encapsulated by that television commercial demonstrated a strong aversion to an energy policy resulting in raised prices--or a hidden tax. Thus the challenge: construct legislation that necessarily raises energy prices, in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while also convincing the democratic polity that higher prices--and the resulting lower taxes through increased government revenues!--are a good thing. While political feasibility dominates the discourse surrounding U.S. climate change legislation, upholding international treaty obligations does not receive a level of attention corresponding to its importance for resolving global climate change. This Comment will focus primarily on the latter issue precisely because achieving a significant net reduction in greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions cannot occur without international support. Acting in spite of international treaties, such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ("GATT"), ignores potential consequences such as World Trade Organization ("WTO") sanctioned trade retaliation and foments an international reluctance to craft a future multi-national agreement. …


This is an immersive journey through different water management concepts. The conceptual attractiveness of concepts is not enough; they must be applicable in the real and fast-changing world. Thus, beyond the concepts, our long-standing challenge remains increasing water security. This is about stewardship of water resources for the greatest good of societies and the environment. It is a public responsibility requiring dynamic, adaptable, participatory, and balanced planning. It is all about coordination and sharing. Multi-sectoral approaches are needed to adequately address the threats and opportunities relating to water resources management in the context of climate change, rapid urbanization, and growing disparities. The processes involved are many and need consistency and long-term commitment to succeed.
 Climate change is closely related to the problems of water security, food security, energy security and environment sustainability. These interconnections are often ignored when policy-makers devise partial responses to individual problems. They call for broader public policy planning tools with the capacity to encourage legitimate public/collective clarification of the trade-offs and the assessment of the potential of multiple uses of water to facilitate development and growth. We need to avoid mental silos and to overcome the current piecemeal approach to solving the water problems. This requires a major shift in practice for organizations (governmental as well as donor organizations) accustomed to segregating water problems by subsectors. Our experience with integration tells us that (1) we need to invest in understanding the political economy of different sectors; (2) we need new institutional arrangements that function within increasing complexity, cutting across sectoral silos and sovereign boundaries; (3) top down approaches for resources management will not succeed without bottom-up efforts to help people improve their livelihoods and their capacity to adapt to increasing resource scarcity as well as to reduce unsustainable modes of production.
 Political will, as well as political skill, need visionary and strong leadership to bring opposing interests into balance to inform policy- making with scientific understanding, and to negotiate decisions that are socially accepted. Managing water effectively across a vast set of concerns requires equally vast coordination. Strong partnerships and knowledge creation and sharing are essential.
 Human civilization – we know- is a response to challenge. Certainly, water scarcity can be a source of conflict among competing users, particularly when combined with other factors of political or cultural tension. But it can also be an inducement to cooperation even in high tension areas. We believe that human civilization can find itself the resources to respond successfully to the many water challenges, and in the process make water a learning ground for building the expanded sense of community and sharing necessary to an increasingly interconnected world.


Coexisting microbial cells of the same species often exhibit genetic differences that can affect phenotypes ranging from nutrient preference to pathogenicity. Here we present inStrain, a program that utilizes metagenomic paired reads to profile intra-population genetic diversity (microdiversity) across whole genomes and compare populations in a microdiversity-aware manner, dramatically increasing genomic comparison accuracy when benchmarked against existing methods. We use inStrain to profile >1,000 fecal metagenomes from newborn premature infants and find that siblings share significantly more strains than unrelated infants, although identical twins share no more strains than fraternal siblings. Infants born via cesarean section harbored Klebsiella with significantly higher nucleotide diversity than infants delivered vaginally, potentially reflecting acquisition from hospital versus maternal microbiomes. Genomic loci showing diversity within an infant included variants found in other infants, possibly reflecting inoculation from diverse hospital-associated sources. InStrain can be applied to any metagenomic dataset for microdiversity analysis and rigorous strain comparison.


A new simultaneous three-dimensional (3D) displacement measurement technique based on the combination of digital holography (DH) and digital imaging correlation (DIC) is proposed. The current DH-based 3D displacement measurement technique needs three sets of DH setups, and only the phase images are utilized in measurements, with all the intensity images discarded. In contrast, the proposed new technique only adopts a single off-axis DH setup. In the proposed technique, the phase images are used to extract out-of-plane displacements, but the intensity images (instead of being discarded) are processed by an intensity correlation algorithm to retrieve in-plane displacement components. Because the proposed technique fully takes advantage of all the information obtained by an off-axis DH without additional optical arrangements, it is simpler and more practical than the existing DH-based 3D displacement measurement technique. Experiments performed on a United States Air Force (USAF) target demonstrate that both the in-plane and out-of-plane displacements can be accurately determined by the proposed technique.


Access to clinical supervision is an enduring enigma to many nurses and other healthcare professionals. The aim of this action research study was to bring about the potential for a change in the practice of clinical supervision (CS) by developing a solution to the problem of access. This was achieved in collaboration with community nurses and a range of other staff from one NHS Primary Care Trust. The solution proposed was the development of a new mode of delivery: online clinical supervision. Holter and Schwartz-Barcott's (1993) Technical Collaborative Approach was used to identify potential user (Supervisee, Supervisors and Management) requirements for an online environment for CS. The research was conducted in three stages. The first stage 'Conceptualisation' involved the identification and exploration of the problem as well as the initial steps in discovering how the problem could be addressed. Central to this was the engagement with the stakeholders. The second stage 'Designing the Solution' was a synthesis of activities undertaken by focus groups in order to determine what a potential online environment might look and feel like, as well as how it might function. Analysis was through a continuous, iterative, cyclical process of member checking. Schach's (1999) Life Cycle Model (adapted) and Lengel's (2001) Website Design Principles were used as a theoretical frame to guide the solicitation of the required design and build criteria. The final stage was 'Evaluation', participants evaluated the design and build criteria they had developed using a SWOT analysis, and finally the experience of undertaking action research was captured through a self completion questionnaire. In conclusion, this research has identified what an online environment for CS could look like, as well as how it might function, thus opening up the possibility of improving access to CS. The research also highlighted a potential tension between the users' desire for privacy and the employers' desire for access to information. Future negotiations are required to determine how this tension could be managed. The likely impact of this development, if implemented, will be more community nurses and others undertaking CS at a time and place that is convenient to them, potentially making CS available (via a user-centred design) 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week a reality.


IMPORTANCE Vascular events play a big part in the development of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL), but only those associated with sickle-cell anemia have been previously associated with SSNHL. This study demonstrates an association between SSNHL and prior iron-deficiency anemia (IDA).OBJECTIVE To evaluate the association between IDA and SSNHL using a nationwide population-based database.DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In this case-control study in Taiwan, participants with SSNHL (n = 4004) were identified, and controls (n = 12 012) were randomly selected.MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Conditional logistic regression was used to calculate the ORs (95%CIs) for IDA in participants with SSNHL vs controls.RESULTS Of the 16 016 sampled participants, 533 (3.3%) had previously been diagnosed with IDA, including 172 (4.3%) participants with SSNHL and 361 (3.0%) controls. The χ2 test revealed a significant difference (P < .001) in the prevalence of prior IDA between participants with SSNHL and controls. By conditional logistic regression, we found that the OR for previous IDA among the participants with SSNHL was 1.34 (95%CI, 1.11-1.61) (P < .01)after adjusting for monthly income, geographic region, urbanization level, and comorbidities(ie, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, renal disease, and coronary heart disease). The significant relationship between SSNHL and prior IDA was most pronounced among those 44 years or younger (adjusted OR, 1.91; 95%CI, 1.35-2.72) (P < .001) for the participants with SSNHL compared with controls, and the strength of this relationship decreased with age.CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE There is an association between SSNHL and prior IDA.Patients with IDA, especially those younger than 60 years, should be more aggressively surveyed and managed to reduce hearing-related morbidities.


I. INTRODUCTION II. THE BOOKS A. Government Failure B. Creating Competitive Markets III. AN ASSESSMENT A. Perils B. Promise IV. CONCLUSION I. INTRODUCTION For a quarter of a century, debates over telecommunications policy have been dominated by deregulatory ideals. The growing force of deregulatory arguments reflects a confluence of multiple factors. Technological change has devastated old assumptions regarding the extent to which the industry is afflicted by natural-monopoly characteristics. At the same time, commentators in the academy, the industry, the think-tank community and the bar have developed a powerful critique of expansive government involvement in regulated industries. This critique is itself multifaceted, stressing both the ways in which markets often correct disturbances on their own and the ways in which well-intentioned policies can or do create more harm than good. Finally, these factors have coincided (whether or not coincidentally) with the ascendancy of a deregulatory politics, with Republicans holding the White House for all but eight of the past 25 years, and the one Democratic President, Bill Clinton, joining in praise for deregulatory reform. (1) Given this potent array of promarket forces, one would expect telecommunications policy to have followed a firmly deregulatory path. Indeed, many see that expectation realized in the current policy framework. These observers point to consolidated ownership of key infrastructure assets, the eradication of once-central line-of-business and structural-separation requirements, a shift from rate-of-return rate regulation toward incentive regulation in the form of "price caps," and the elimination of many network-sharing requirements as applied to next-generation facilities. Reactions to these developments, of course, are mixed. Proponents of deregulation cite the tremendous growth in broadband deployment, the dramatic expansion of wireless service and the advent of the Internet and related applications (including but not limited to voice over Internet protocol ("VoIP"), file-sharing and streaming media), and attribute these developments to the government's light regulatory touch. Critics gaze on the past twenty-five years and perceive a steady march toward reassembly of the monopoly-era Bell System, with Regional Bell Operating Companies ("RBOCs") merging and acquiring their long-distance competitors. (2) These critics are unimpressed with the competitive pressures exerted by new wireless and data offerings, which, they worry, are or soon will be controlled mostly by those who, in their view, already exert oligopolistic power over the traditional telephone network. But what if all these observers--proponents and critics alike--are simply wrong about the state of regulation? For all the talk about a move to liberalized markets, (3) and all the growing strength of market ideals, various critical indicia suggest that the government's presence in the telecommunications market is at least as pervasive today as it was twenty-five years ago. The Code of Federal Regulations contained about 600 more pages worth of communications regulation in 2007 than in 1983. Expressed in 2008 dollars, political contributions from telecommunications service and equipment providers rose from about $1.4 million in the 1989-90 period ($859,337 in 1990 dollars) to over $4.3 million in the 2007-08 period. And membership in the Federal Communications Bar Association more than doubled between 1983 and 2008, from 1,190 members to 2,462 members. Each of these figures suggests that whether or not policy has moved in a market-oriented direction since 1983, government involvement still permeates the industry, and regulated entities are investing in lobbying efforts accordingly. Two recent books shed light on the apparent tension between the ascendance of deregulatory talk, on the one hand, and the tenacity of regulation itself, on the other. …


OBJECTIVES: Interpersonal communication about alcohol influences alcohol consumption, yet evidence is scarce about the content and valence of alcohol-related conversations and how these concepts predict alcohol consumption. METHODS: By employing a correlational design among Dutch undergraduate students (N = 133), this study measured alcohol consumption predictors and conversational valence and occurrence regarding three topics (personal alcohol-related experiences; alcohol-related experiences of others; and alcohol-related media messages). RESULTS: Results showed that people talk more often and more positively about (personal) alcohol-related experiences than about alcohol-related media messages. In contrast to media messages, whether and how positively people talk about alcohol-related experiences was related to several alcohol consumption determinants. CONCLUSIONS: Health promotion attempts should elicit negative conversations about alcohol-related experiences, thereby resulting in more healthy alcohol consumption predictors. Language: en


The opioid agonists [leucine]enkephalin, [D-Ala2,D-Leu5]enkephalin and dynorphin-(1-13)-peptide, but not morphine, stimulated the conversion of [2-14C]pyruvate into glucose and glycogenolysis when added directly to isolated hepatocytes. Naloxone produced a small but significant inhibition of both the basal and stimulated rate of incorporation of label into glucose but had no effect on the total glucose output by the cells. The effects of the opioid peptides were mediated by a cyclic AMP-independent mechanism.


Given its contribution to congestion, pollution, and energy consumption and the complex and changing characteristics of delivery routes, the modeling of urban freight transport is a difficult, highly data-demanding and often unreliable task. Extending other previous works that focused only on the morning peak hour, the authors have developed a trip generation model by using the available data to their maximum extent and adding other parameters that can be found through simple surveys. This trip generation model is then included as part of a four-stage process, with the trip distribution solved through entropy maximization and resulting in the estimation of an origin-destination matrix for freight transport in a city. The application to a case study in the city of Seville and the validation with on-street vehicle counts shows reasonably robust results and provides a simple and effective tool to analyze urban freight deliveries from a macroscopic point of view.


Observers have traditionally viewed Kosovo as a frontier society where two Balkan nations, Albanian and Serb, as well as two religions, Islam and Christianity, clash over conflicts of national and religious identity. While this rift is usually perceived as hard and fast, Duijzings shows that the area also has a history of coexistence through cultural contact, religious exchange, and conversion. His new perspective challenges the notion that Balkan conflicts have evolved around clear-cut and fixed ethno-religious groups, and instead discusses evidence that Balkan identities are full of ambiguities caused by processes that are important survival strategies in conditions of violence and insecurity. This tension between conflict and symbiosis is at the core of his perspective, which contains compelling case studies of various ethnic groups and examines how religion shapes their efforts to construct or reconstruct their identities. Though focusing on Kosovo, the scope of these chapters is much wider, covering developments in Croatia, Bosnia, Albania, Macedonia, and Serbia. Religion and the Politics of Identity in Kosovo is a fascinating and timely study of the interaction of religious identity with the politics of nationalism.


Purpose : E-Government, as a new bond linking the government and the public, has gradually become the focus of innovation in government services. The paper focuses on the e-Government service quality issues from the perspective of users. Design/methodology/approach : From the aspects of online service quality perception and offline service quality perception, based on IS Success model and SERQUAL model, e-Government Services Quality model has been set up with information quality, system quality and service quality as key factors. Then, the survey method was applied to collect data and then to test the model. Findings : It was found that users' perception of offline service quality has a significant effect on improving their perception of online service quality, and online service quality perception has a significant effect on public satisfaction of e-Government services; information clarity, system security and stability, interactive services and "one-stop" services all have a significant effect on public satisfaction of e-Government services. However, offline service quality perception has certain positive effect on public satisfaction of e-Government services but not dramatically. Research limitations/implications : Mobile e-Government as an important direction of the development of e-Government, in the future, we will study more about mobile e-Government services channels. Originality/value: This study further develops the theory of information system service quality, and also provides a theoretical reference for government departments. On the one hand, based on the characteristics of e-government system, information quality, system quality and service quality in the previous system service model are further discussed; on the other hand, both online and offline services are taken into consideration in the information system service model, thus establishing the e-government services quality model and making an in-depth study of the integration effect of online and offline services. Its conclusions can be references for the application of traditional information system service model in the field of e-government.


An assessment of the economic benefits of using fuel cells is presented. A calculation of the cost of electricity generated from a fuel-cell installation, and a determination of the amount of profit that might result from an installation is given. A break even and sensitivity analysis is also conducted to determine what goals need to be achieved to make fuel cells competitive with conventional power generation sources. The study was performed using a graphical user interface programmed in MATLAB.


It is often argued that price indexes do not fully capture the quality improvements of new goods in the market. Because of this shortcoming, price indexes are perceived to overestimate the actual price increases that occur. In this paper, I argue that the quality bias in price indexes is just as likely to be upward as it is to be downward. I show how both the sign and the magnitude of the quality bias in the most commonly applied price index methods are determined by the cross-sectional variation of prices per quality unit across the product models sold in the market. ; I do so by simulating a model of a market that includes monopolistically competing suppliers of the various product models and a representative consumer with CES (constant elasticity of substitution) preferences. I illustrate the bias in the commonly applied price index methods by comparing their estimates of inflation with the theoretical inflation rate implied by the data-generating process.


In this paper we develop an index to monitor the intensity of financial stress in the UK over a period of 45 years. By aggregating various market-based indicators of financial stress from six major markets, we allow each indicator to be assessed in terms of its systemic importance. This enables the index to capture the interconnectedness of financial markets. The index successfully captures three episodes of heightened stress in UK financial history. We also attempt to determine how much a financial shock to the UK economy is amplified in a period of stress vis-a-vis a tranquil period. It involves exploring the dynamic relationship of the index with the UK real economy by two specifications of threshold vector auto-regression models. We find empirical evidence for the existence of feedback loops in the shock propagation between the real and the financial sector in the United Kingdom.


The function to obtain associated surfaces on coordinate measuring machines (CMM's) is based on the minimization of the distance between measured points and the ideal surface. This function is non-linear for usual surfaces. In many works, to accelerate iterative calculations, the problem is linearized. The aim of this work is to reduce scraps using a transcription optimization of the fitting functionality of mechanical parts in maximum state of matter. An adaptive verification method is suggested. It takes account of the interface properties. A control by a virtual gauge and verification a process is developed to validate the tolerancing according to the previously suggested methodology.


This work presents an algorithmic scheme for solving the infinite-time constrained linear quadratic regulation problem. We employ an accelerated version of a popular proximal gradient scheme, commonly known as the Forward-Backward Splitting (FBS), and prove its convergence to the optimal solution in our infinite-dimensional setting. Each iteration of the algorithm requires only finite memory, is computationally cheap, and makes no use of terminal invariant sets; hence, the algorithm can be applied to systems of very large dimensions. The acceleration brings in "optimal" convergence rates <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$O(1/k^{2})$</tex-math></inline-formula> for function values and <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$O(1/k)$</tex-math></inline-formula> for primal iterates and renders the proposed method a practical alternative to model predictive control schemes for setpoint tracking. In addition, for the case when the true system is subject to disturbances or modelling errors, we propose an efficient warm-starting procedure, which significantly reduces the number of iterations when the algorithm is applied in closed-loop. Numerical examples demonstrate the approach.


It is currently unclear how the process of fat digestion occurs in the mouth of humans. This pilot study therefore aimed to quantify the levels of lipolytic activity at different sites of the mouth and in whole saliva. Samples of whole saliva and from 4 discrete sites in the oral cavity were collected from 42 healthy adult participants. All samples were analyzed for lipolytic activity using two different substrates (olive oil and the synthetic 1,2-o-dilauryl-rac-glycero-3-glutaric acid-(6'-methylresorufin) ester (DGGR)). Bland–Altman analyses suggested that the two assays gave divergent results, with 91% and 23% of site-specific and 40% and 26% of whole-saliva samples testing positive for lipolytic activity, respectively. Non-parametric multiple comparisons tests highlighted that median (IQR) of lipolytic activity (tested using the olive oil assay) of the samples from the parotid 20.7 (11.7–31.0) and sublingual 18.4 (10.6–47.2) sites were significantly higher than that of whole saliva 0.0 (0.0–35.7). In conclusion, lipolysis appears to occur in the oral cavity of a proportion of individuals. These findings give a preliminary indication that lipolytic agent activity in the oral cavity may be substrate-specific but do not discount that the enzyme is from sources other than oral secretions (e.g., microbes, gastric reflux).


This interdisciplinary volume brings together sixteen original papers on the development of tourism in Ireland, and especially its cultural and environmental implications, since the 1970s. Contributions discussing the wider context of Irish tourism development are complemented by regional and local level case studies, and by a number of essays discussing policy options for the future. Proceeding from a critique of current policy and practice, the contributions emphasise the concept of sustainable tourism', especially in the context of economically and geographically peripheral regions.


The human species has been altering the environment over large geographic areas since the domestication of fire, plants, and animals. The progression from hunter to farmer to technologist has increased the variety and pace more than the geographic extent of human impact on the environment. A number of regions of the earth have experienced significant climatic changes closely related in time to anthropogenic environmental changes. Plausible physical models suggest a causal connection. The magnitudes of probable anthropogenic global albedo changes over the past millennia (and particularly over the past 25 years) are estimated. The results suggest that humans have made substantial contributions to global climate changes during the past several millennia, and perhaps over the past million years; further such changes are now under way.


Contradiction forms the basis of all social phenomena. Anyone who has read Georg Simmel will perceive his fascination with the essential complexity that characterizes human interaction. Look for contradiction, he seems to say, and you will find something of vital importance. Ann-Mari Sellerberg applies central themes from Simmel--trust, subordination under principle, adventure, and the position of the poor--and applies them to contemporary phenomena. In so doing, she both illuminates Simmel and reveals how empirical analysis can be extended with insights from his work. Sellerberg describes how Simmel breaks down social phenomena into isolated categories, and within these discerns pairs, or opposites, that work to both hinder and inhibit as well as reinforce and strengthen each other. She describes Simmers method as "methodological interactionism," or a kind of dialectical order, and illustrates how his opposed forces, or pairs, affect each other in three ways. First, she examines how conflicts characterize social phenomena, dealing with such matters as modem motherhood, women in typical women's occupations, trust, and how geriatric patients express their individualism in patient groups. Second, she shows how opposing tendencies become an impetus to continuous change. And third, she shows how it is that interactions of forces in contradiction tend to the ironic and paradoxical. Simmel has been criticized for over-attention to small-scale social phenomena. As Sellerberg shows, these phenomena may seem insignificant, but they have to do with interactions common to virtually all human beings--among them trust, intimacy, and marginality--that have enormous consequence in human life and society. Simmel reminds us that analysis can and should always be taken one step further. Written in nontechnical language, this book will be of interest to scholars and professionals in a broad range of behavioral sciences. The examples that illustrate it will make the book of particular interest to those concerned with health care, marketing, and consumer behavior, as well as those working in the caring professions.


Abstract. Black carbon (BC) mass emission factors (EFBC; g BC (kg fuel)−1) from a variety of ocean-going vessels have been determined from measurements of BC and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in ship plumes intercepted by the R/V Atlantis during the 2010 California Nexus (CalNex) campaign. The ships encountered were all operating within 24 nautical miles of the California coast and were utilizing relatively low sulphur fuels (average fuel sulphur content of 0.4%, 0.09% and 0.03% for vessels operating slow-speed, medium-speed and high-speed diesel engines, respectively). Black carbon concentrations within the plumes, from which EFBC values are determined, were measured using four independent instruments: a photoacoustic spectrometer and a particle soot absorption photometer, which measure light absorption, and a single particle soot photometer and soot particle aerosol mass spectrometer, which measure the mass concentration of refractory BC directly. These measurements have been used to assess the level of agreement between these different techniques for the determination of BC emission factors from ship plumes. Also, these measurements greatly expand upon the number of individual ships for which BC emission factors have been determined during real-world operation. The measured EFBC's have been divided into vessel type categories and engine type categories, from which averages have been determined. The geometric average EFBC (excluding outliers) determined from over 71 vessels and 135 plumes encountered was 0.31 p 0.31 g BC (kg fuel)−1, where the standard deviation represents the variability between individual vessels. The most frequent engine type encountered was the slow-speed diesel (SSD), and the most frequent SSD vessel type was the cargo ship sub-category. Average and median EFBC values from the SSD category are compared with previous observations from the Texas Air Quality Study (TexAQS) in 2006, during which the ships encountered were predominately operating on high-sulphur fuels (average fuel sulphur content of 1.6%). There is a statistically significant difference between the EFBC values from CalNex and TexAQS for SSD vessels and for the cargo and tanker ship types within this engine category. The CalNex EFBC values are lower than those from TexAQS, suggesting that operation on lower sulphur fuels is associated with smaller EFBC values.


Integral imaging display (IID) is a promising technology to provide realistic 3D image without glasses. To achieve a large screen IID with a reasonable fabrication cost, a potential solution is a tiled-lens-array IID (TLA-IID). However, TLA-IIDs are subject to 3D image artifacts when there are even slight misalignments between the lens arrays. This work aims at compensating these artifacts by calibrating the lens array poses with a camera and including them in a ray model used for rendering the 3D image. Since the lens arrays are transparent, this task is challenging for traditional calibration methods. In this paper, we propose a novel calibration method based on defining a set of principle observation rays that pass lens centers of the TLA and the camera's optical center. The method is able to determine the lens array poses with only one camera at an arbitrary unknown position without using any additional markers. The principle observation rays are automatically extracted using a structured light based method from a dense correspondence map between the displayed and captured pixels. Experiments show that lens array misalignments can be estimated with a standard deviation smaller than 0.4 pixels. Based on this, 3D image artifacts are shown to be effectively removed in a test TLA-IID with challenging misalignments.


1. In Macroscelides (Elephantulus?) rozeti Duv., a North-African form, the pregnant uterus shows 3 swellings (sometimes this number is reduced to 1 or 2). The South-African form Elephantulus myurus Jamesoni, examined by prof. VAN DER HORST (Johannesburg) always shows two swellings, one in each half of the uterus horns. 2. The tuba is connected with a periovarial sac. 3. The eggs in the ampulla are naked and not surrounded by the zona pellucida. This causes sometimes the segmented cells to be set free. 4. The four-celled stage shows a tetrahedral arrangement. 5. In the uterus horn the unilaminar blastula is formed by the absorption of water. 6. In a stage of 120 cells the blastula-wall separates amoeboid cells into the interior forming a loose reticulum. Afterwards these cells concentrate at one side of the germinal vesicle and form the embryonic knot. 7. This organ separates an entodermal cell-layer at its base. 8. At the mesometrical side the germinal vesicle adheres to the uterine wall which is syncytial at this spot. 9. After the adhering of the germinal vesicle the mucosa uteri becomes very thick and the muscularis very thin. The small number of blood vessels in the mucosa is very remarkable. 10. There is a marked increase of the number and extent of the uterine glands. The image resembles that of the secretory phase in man. 11. In the following stage (N. 45) the trophoblast has become very thick and has penetrated into the mucosa uteri. The embryonic knot shows a large archamniotic cavity. 12. In N. 6 the embryonic region shows 7 a 8 somites. A distinct pharynx is present. In the mid- and hindgut a large connection of enteron and yolk sac is present. Cloaca with allantoic evagination, a large, mesodermal, allantoic rudiment is present. The yolk sac forms about two thirds of the blastocyst, the remaining third part is formed by the exocoel and the amniotic cavity. A proamnion is present. Enlarged uterine glands surround the whole uterine cavity. A large ectoplacenta shows a toadstool-form and penetrates into the uterine wall forming a disc of foeto-maternal symplasma. Heart rudiment rather well developed. 13. N. 8. The embryo shows ± 25 somites. Allantois well developed, adhering to the ectoplacenta. The greater part of the blastocyst is formed by the exocoel. Three visceral pouches are present, the mouth plate is lacerated. The neural tube is completely closed. 14. In N. 1 30-35 somites and 12 nephric tubules are present. Rudiment of anterior extremity, 3-4 aortic arches. 15. In N. 3 the yolk sac is much smaller and its walls are shriveled. A yolk stalk may be seen but the connection between the lumina of gut and yolk sac has disappeared. The allantois surrounds the amniotic cavity and fills up the main part of the blastocyst. It shows four lobes. The ectoplacenta shows a thick layer of labyrinthic tissue at the embryonic side. The embryo is strongly coiled and possesses a distinct torsion. The kidney is well developed (with Malpighian corpuscula). Posterior extremities are present. In the anterior ones the rudiment of the skeleton may be noticed. 16. In the stages N. 45 and N. 1 a distinct mesoplacentarium consisting of numerous lamellae with bloodvessels is present at the mesometrical side of the uterine wall. As in the aguti (BECHER) this phenomenon may be in relation with the jumping propulsion.


The recent Meltdown and Spectre attacks highlight the importance of automated verification techniques for identifying hardware security vulnerabilities. We have developed a tool for synthesizing microarchitecture-specific programs capable of producing any user-specified hardware execution pattern of interest. Our tool takes two inputs: a formal description of (i) a microarchitecture in a domain-specific language, and (ii) a microarchitectural execution pattern of interest, e.g. a threat pattern. All programs synthesized by our tool are capable of producing the specified execution pattern on the supplied microarchitecture.
We used our tool to specify a hardware execution pattern common to Flush+Reload attacks and automatically synthesized security litmus tests representative of those that have been publicly disclosed for conducting Meltdown and Spectre attacks. We also formulated a Prime+Probe threat pattern, enabling our tool to synthesize a new variant of each---MeltdownPrime and SpectrePrime. Both of these new exploits use Prime+Probe approaches to conduct the timing attack. They are both also novel in that they are 2-core attacks which leverage the cache line invalidation mechanism in modern cache coherence protocols. These are the first proposed Prime+Probe variants of Meltdown and Spectre. But more importantly, both Prime attacks exploit invalidation-based coherence protocols to achieve the same level of precision as a Flush+Reload attack. While mitigation techniques in software (e.g., barriers that prevent speculation) will likely be the same for our Prime variants as for original Spectre and Meltdown, we believe that hardware protection against them will be distinct. As a proof of concept, we implemented SpectrePrime as a C program and ran it on an Intel x86 processor, averaging about the same accuracy as Spectre over 100 runs---97.9% for Spectre and 99.95% for SpectrePrime.


The blood-testis barrier (BTB) in the testis is an important ultrastructure to support spermatogenesis. This blood-tissue barrier undergoes remodeling at late stage VII-early stage IX of the epithelial cycle to support the transport of preleptotene spermatocytes across the BTB to prepare for meiosis I/II at the apical compartment through a mechanism that remains to be delineated.. Studies have shown that NC1-peptide derived collagen α3 (IV) chain in the basement membrane, is a bioactive peptide that induces BTB remodeling. It also promotes the release of fully developed spermatids into the tubule lumen. Thus, this endogenously produced peptide coordinates these two cellular events across the epithelium. Using an NC1-peptide cDNA construct to transfect adult rat testes for its overexpression, NC1-peptide was found to effectively induce germ cell exfoliation, which was associated with a surge and activation of p-rpS6, the downstream signaling protein of mTORC1, and a concomitant down-regulation of p-FAK-Y407 in the testis. In order to define the functional relationship between p-rpS6 and p-FAK-Y407 signaling to confer NC1-peptide the ability to regulate testis function, a phosphomimetic (and thus constitutively active) mutant of p-FAK-Y407, p-FAK-Y407E-MT, was used for its co-transfection with NC1-peptide using Sertoli cells cultured in vitro that mimicked the BTB in vivo. Overexpression of p-FAK-Y407E-MT blocked the effects of NC1-peptide to perturb Sertoli cell BTB function by promoting F-actin and microtubule cytoskeleton function, and downregulated the NC1-peptide mediated induction of p-rpS6 activation. In brief, NC1-peptide is an important endogenously produced biomolecule to regulate BTB dynamics.


This volume collects together Sir Alec Cairncross' most important contributions to the economic history of the post-1939 period. They address such major issues as the role of economists in the 2nd World War, the significance of the Marshall plan and Britain's relative economic decline. Together they demonstrate a keen insight into the changing role of the economist in government and the gradual transformation of the economic landscape.


Key pre-distribution has been claimed to be the only viable approach for establishing shared keys between neighboring sensors after deployment for a typical sensor network. However, none of the proposed key pre-distribution schemes simultaneously achieves good performance in terms of scalability in network size, key-sharing probability between neighboring sensors, memory overhead for keying information storage, and resilience against node capture attacks. In this paper, we propose SBK, an in-situ self-configuring framework to bootstrap keys in large-scale sensor networks. SBK is fundamentally different compared to all key pre-distribution schemes. It requires no keying information pre-deployment. In SBK, sensors differentiate their roles as either service nodes or worker nodes after deployment. Service sensors construct key spaces, and distribute keying information in order for worker sensors to bootstrap pairwise keys. An improved scheme, iSBK, is also proposed to speed up the bootstrapping procedure. We conduct both theoretical analysis and simulation study to evaluate the performances of SBK and iSBK. To the best of our knowledge, SBK and iSBK are the only key establishment protocols that simultaneously achieve good performance in scalability, key-sharing probability, storage overhead, and resilience against node capture attacks.


Unattended Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) operated in hostile environments face a risk on data security due to the absence of real-time communication between sensors and sinks, which imposes sensors to accumulate data till the next visit of a mobile sink to off-load the data. Thus, how to ensure forward secrecy, backward secrecy and reliability of the accumulated data is a great challenge. For example, if a sensor is compromised, pre-compromise data accumulated in the sensor is exposed to access. In addition, by holding key secrecy of the compromised sensor, attackers also can learn post-compromise data in the sensor. Furthermore, in practical UWSNs, once sensors stop working for accidents due to node crash or battery depletion, all the data accumulated will be lost. To address the challenges, we propose a secure and reliable data distribution scheme in this paper. Detailed analysis shows that our scheme can provide forward secrecy, probabilistic backward secrecy and data reliability. To further improve probabilistic backward secrecy and data reliability, a constrained optimization data distribution scheme is proposed. Detailed analysis and simulation results show the superiority of the proposed scheme in comparison with several previous approaches developed for UWSNs.


Abstract We examine the effect of labor mobility on venture capital (VC) investment. Following the staggered adoption of the inevitable disclosure doctrine that restricts labor mobility, VCs are less likely to invest in affected states. This effect is more pronounced when human capital is more important to startups, when VC investment is more uncertain, and when VCs' monitoring costs are higher. The reduced innovation productivity of employees is a plausible underlying mechanism. To mitigate this adverse effect, VCs stage finance startups more and syndicate more with other VCs. Our paper sheds new light on the real effects of labor market frictions.


Applications (apps) that conceal their activities are fundamentally deceptive; app marketplaces and end-users should treat such apps as suspicious. However, due to its nature and intent, activity concealing is not disclosed up-front, which puts users at risk. In this paper, we focus on characterization and detection of such techniques, e.g., hiding the app or removing traces, which we call "self hiding behavior" (SHB). SHB has not been studied per se – rather it has been reported on only as a byproduct of malware investigations. We address this gap via a study and suite of static analyses targeted at SH in Android apps. Specifically, we present (1) a detailed characterization of SHB, (2) a suite of static analyses to detect such behavior, and (3) a set of detectors that employ SHB to distinguish between benign and malicious apps. We show that SHB ranges from hiding the app's presence or activity to covering an app's traces, e.g., by blocking phone calls/text messages or removing calls and messages from logs. Using our static analysis tools on a large dataset of 9,452 Android apps (benign as well as malicious) we expose the frequency of 12 such SH behaviors. Our approach is effective: it has revealed that malicious apps employ 1.5 SHBs per app on average. Surprisingly, SH behavior is also employed by legitimate ("benign") apps, which can affect users negatively in multiple ways. When using our approach for separating malicious from benign apps, our approach has high precision and recall (combined F-measure = 87.19%). Our approach is also efficient, with analysis typically taking just 37 seconds per app. We believe that our findings and analysis tool are beneficial to both app marketplaces and end-users.


In this paper, we present the MegaM@Rt2 ECSEL project and discuss in details our approach for fostering collaboration in this project. We choose to use an internal hackathon approach that focuses on technical collaboration between case study owners and tool/method providers. The novelty of the approach is that we organize the technical workshop at our regular project progress meetings as a challenge-based contest involving all partners in the project. Case study partners submit their challenges related to the project goals and their use cases in advance. These challenges are concise enough to be experimented within approximately 4 hours. Teams are then formed to address those challenges. The teams include tool/method providers, case study owners and researchers/developers from other consortium members. On the hackathon day, partners work together to come with results addressing the challenges that are both interesting to encourage collaboration and convincing to continue further deeper investigations. Obtained results demonstrate that the hackathon approach stimulated knowledge exchanges among project partners and triggered new collaborations, notably between tool providers and use case owners.