In this article, Professor Daniel Solove deconstructs and critiques the privacy paradox and the arguments made about it. The "privacy paradox" is the phenomenon where people say that they value privacy highly, yet in their behavior relinquish their personal data for very little in exchange or fail to use measures to protect their privacy.

Commentators typically make one of two types of arguments about the privacy paradox. On one side, the "behavior valuation argument" contends behavior is the best metric to evaluate how people actually value privacy. Behavior reveals that people ascribe a low value to privacy or readily trade it away for goods or services. The argument often goes on to contend that privacy regulation should be reduced.

On the other side, the "behavior distortion argument" argues that people's behavior isn't an accurate metric of preferences because behavior is distorted by biases and heuristics, manipulation and skewing, and other factors.

In contrast to both of these camps, Professor Solove argues that the privacy paradox is a myth created by faulty logic. The behavior involved in privacy paradox studies involves people making decisions about risk in very specific contexts. In contrast, people's attitudes about their privacy concerns or how much they value privacy are much more general in nature. It is a leap in logic to generalize from people's risk decisions involving specific personal data in specific contexts to reach broader conclusions about how people value their own privacy.

The behavior in the privacy paradox studies doesn't lead to a conclusion for less regulation. On the other hand, minimizing behavioral distortion will not cure people's failure to protect their own privacy. It is perfectly rational for people — even without any undue influences on behavior — to fail to make good assessments of privacy risks and to fail to manage their privacy effectively. Managing one's privacy is a vast, complex, and never-ending project that does not scale; it becomes virtually impossible to do comprehensively. Privacy regulation often seeks to give people more privacy self-management, such as the recent California Consumer Privacy Act. Professor Solove argues that giving individuals more tasks for managing their privacy will not provide effective privacy protection. Instead, regulation should employ a different strategy — focus on regulating the architecture that structures the way information is used, maintained, and transferred.


ABSTRACT This revision paper represents the final report by the InterRad Mesozoic Working Group on the taxonomy and stratigraphy of Mesozoic radiolarians at generic level. The review reports 915 genera and encompasses the type species' illustration of all described nominal genera of Mesozoic radiolarians (superorder Polycystina) from 1867, when the first Mesozoic radiolarian was described, to 2008. This work is organized as an image catalogue of genera, where each type species is re-illustrated with a graphic scale bar indicating its magnification. Associated with each image is the most basic information that allows the reader quick location of the original publication where both genus and type species were described and/or illustrated. The review undergone here confirms the taxonomic validity of all genera according to the ICZN rules. Order and family assignment, synonymies and stratigraphic ranges are also fully analyzed. The review is divided in two parts: the Triassic and the Jurassic-Cretaceous. This division is justified by the low number of taxa crossing the Triassic-Jurassic boundary and by the significant change in morphologic patterns and faunal composition that occurred in the latest Triassic. A further reason justifying such division is the very low number of nomina dubia recorded in the Triassic, as opposed to the higher number in the Jurassic-Cretaceous interval. The main purpose of this catalogue is to enable radiolarian paleontologists to arrive to a satisfactory taxonomic system and establish the standards for future description of new radiolarian genera. The revision also includes a brief stratigraphic synthesis (generic range charts) which are only accessible in the electronic version of the journal.


Analytical descriptions of the statistics of wireless channel models are desirable tools for communication systems engineering. When multiple antennas are available at the transmit and/or the receive side (the Multiple‐Input Multiple‐Output, or MIMO, case), the statistics of the matrix H representing the gains between the antennas of a transmit and a receive antenna array, and in particular the correlation between its coefficients, are known to be of paramount importance for the design of such systems. However these characteristics depend on the operating environment, since the electromagnetic propagation paths are dictated by the surroundings of the antenna arrays, and little knowledge about these is available at the time of system design.An approach using the Maximum Entropy principle to derive probability density functions for the channel matrix, based on various degrees of knowledge about the environment, is presented. The general idea is to apply the maximum entropy principle to obtain the distribution of each parameter of interest (e.g. correlation), and then to marginalize them out to obtain the full channel distribution. It was shown in previous works, using sophisticated integrals from statistical physics, that by using the full spatial correlation matrix E{vec(H)vec(H)H} as the intermediate modeling parameter, this method can yield surprisingly concise channel descriptions. In this case, the joint probability density function is shown to be merely a function of the Frobenius norm of the channel matrix |H|F.In the present paper, we investigate the case where information about the average covariance matrix is available (e.g. through measurements). The maximum entropy distribution of the covariance is derived under this constraint. Furthermore, we consider also the doubly correlated case, where the intermediate modeling parameters are chosen as the transmit‐ and receive‐side channel covariance matrices (respectively E{HHH} and E{HHH}). We compare the maximum‐entropy result obtained in this case with the well‐known Kronecker model, and derive the channel probability distribution function in the case of single‐side correlation constraint.Analytical descriptions of the statistics of wireless channel models are desirable tools for communication systems engineering. When multiple antennas are available at the transmit and/or the receive side (the Multiple‐Input Multiple‐Output, or MIMO, case), the statistics of the matrix H representing the gains between the antennas of a transmit and a receive antenna array, and in particular the correlation between its coefficients, are known to be of paramount importance for the design of such systems. However these characteristics depend on the operating environment, since the electromagnetic propagation paths are dictated by the surroundings of the antenna arrays, and little knowledge about these is available at the time of system design.An approach using the Maximum Entropy principle to derive probability density functions for the channel matrix, based on various degrees of knowledge about the environment, is presented. The general idea is to apply the maximum entropy principle to obtain the distributi...


Traditional optical-electronic-optical (o-e-o) conversion in today's optical networks requires cascading separately packaged electronic and optoelectronic chips and propagating high-speed electrical signals through and between these discrete modules. This increases the packaging and component costs, size, power consumption, and heat dissipation. As a remedy, we introduce a novel, chip-scale photonic switching architecture that operates by confining high-speed electrical signals in a compact optoelectronic chip and provides multiple network functions on such a single chip. This new technology features low optical and electrical power consumption, small installation space, high-speed operation, two-dimensional scalability, and remote electrical configurability. We present both theoretical and experimental discussion of our monolithically integrated photonic switches that incorporate quantum-well waveguide modulators directly driven by on-chip surface-illuminated photodetectors. These switches can be conveniently arrayed two-dimensionally on a single chip to realize a number of network functions. Of those, we have experimentally demonstrated arbitrary wavelength conversion across 45 nm and dual-wavelength broadcasting over 20 nm, both spanning the telecommunication center band (1530-1565 nm) at switching speeds up to 2.5 Gb/s. Our theoretical calculations predict the capability of achieving optical switching at rates in excess of 10 Gb/s using milliwatt-level optical and electrical switching powers.


The application of lignin carbon fibers was hindered by their low quality and mechanical performance. We addressed this challenge by developing a new approach to fractionate and modify lignin to produce quality carbon fibers using an enzyme-mediator system, which derives lignin fractions with different molecular weights, functional groups, and interunitary linkages. The fractionated lignin in general improves the miscibility and spinnability of lignin. In particular, the insoluble lignin fraction renders carbon fibers with a significantly improved turbostratic carbon structure as revealed by XRD and Raman spectroscopy. The improvement in the carbon structure leads to the significantly improved elastic modulus. The results suggest that higher molecular weights, less –OH groups, and more linear structures may contribute to the improved crystallization and mechanical performance of lignin carbon fibers. The technical breakthrough produces lignin-based carbon fibers with a similar elastic modulus to commercial carbon fibers for the first time, and paves the path for replacing PAN with lignin for producing quality carbon fibers.


Dive deep into the architecture of Exchange Web Servicesand master the intricacies for accessing data with the new, unifying API. Exchange Web Services offers new functionality, replacing old, disparate APIs. This practical guide introduces developers to Exchange Web Services. It includes comprehensive, in-depth coverage of the architecture and key features, including messaging, folders, calendaring, tasks, notifications, searching, availability, and autodiscovery. Developers who are moving applications using previous APIs to Exchange Web Services will learn how to determine the correct web services constructsand the implications of those decisions. This book assumes only knowledge of how to write HTTP requests, but it provides proxy examples in Microsoft Visual C#.


Significant portions of QuakeCoRE research require large-scale computationally-intensive numerical ground motion (GM) simulations. The amount of data and complexity of computation make the large-scale simulation practically impossible to run on a researcher's workstation. QuakeCoRE started collaboration with New Zealand eScience Infrastructure(NeSI), the national high performance computing (HPC) provider to gain the necessary computational capacity and execution speed.


Emergent literacy research has demonstrated that literacy development begins early in literate environment of family settings. This qualitative case study explored how literacy development in early years was enhanced in a print-rich multilingual environment. It involved 3 children from 3 families in a multilingual context. Data collection focused on emergent literacy of children and how home environment and family practice supported their literacy development. Data were collected through methodological triangulation of interviews; on-site observation of authentic interactions and literate environment; as well as an audit of home literacy resources. The data were analyzed, within and across cases, before identifying discrepancies and commonalities among participants. Three prominent themes emerged from the general research questions: (1) Quality parent-child or adult-child interaction and exchanges; (2) Immersion in language and print-rich environment; and (3) Intentional explicit instruction. In conclusion, insights gained from children's early literacy challenges teachers and educators to think more broadly and inclusively about family literacy.


Abstract Electron microprobe analyses of prehnites from the Way Linggo low-sulphidation epithermal Au-Ag deposit of southern Sumatra, show that the mole fraction of octahedral Fe3+, expressed as Fe3+/ (Fe3++AlVI), ranges from 0.0 to ~0.6, the higher values being among the most iron-rich reported for prehnite in a hydrothermal environment. Prehnites from a diabase sill in the Heber geothermal field of California have mole fractions of octahedral Fe3+ ranging from 0.03 to 0.3. The Way Linggo prehnites formed below 220°C, some 20-30°C lower than those at the Heber field; the lower crystallization temperatures perhaps enhanced the opportunity for Fe3+ to substitute in octahedral sites. In both occurrences, prehnite predates late-stage calcite, consistent with the need for waters depositing prehnite to have aCO2 <0.01 moles. At higher CO2 activities the stability field of calcite would swamp the range of aCa2+/aH+ values appropriate for crystallizing prehnite. Consequently, the presence of prehnite in a hydrothermal environment primarily indicates that degassing of the hydrothermal fluid in CO2 occurred prior to deposition.


Aims. We use a new numerical hydrodynamic technique to simulate the evolution of the disk in 2D until the outburst is fully developed. The results are used to construct Doppler tomograms that closely agree with the time-resolved spectroscopic observations of U Geminorum during its 2000 March outburst when it showed two spiral arms. Methods. We use the Shakura-Sunyaev alpha viscosity prescription for the disk, where most of the angular momentum transport originates in internal stresses rather than in globally excited waves or shocks. Other effects, such as the Rossby-waves instability found in axisymmetric potentials, are often found discussed as a possible cause of angular momentum transport. These Rossby-waves also show a spiral pattern, but most of them may be damped out due to the viscous hydrodynamic assumption. Our simulations reproduce the spiral feature that was found in the observational data, which confirms the eligibility of the so-called α-disk model. Radiation transport in the vertical direction is taken into account by solving the energy equation, while the calculations consider dissipative heating and radiative cooling with adequate opacity laws. Results. We found that the outburst of U Geminorum can be described within the "disk-instability-model", as the viscous stress lets the disk expand out to regions where tidal disturbances induce a two armed spiral pattern. Initially these arms first become optically thick and then they get hot. A heating wave propagates until the whole disk is optically thick. In this state the two-armed spiral pattern still exists, and its spatial location is strongly correlated with the location of the two stars. This is in excellent agreement with those observations showing two transient spirals during outburst. A high resolution calculation of the region surrounding the hot spot is given in this paper. We examine whether the physical conditions near the hot spot – or near the inner boundary layer – are suitable for inducing thermal instability.


The Italian building heritage is composed mainly of masonry structures, which over the years have acquired historic significance and artistic values in the national culture. These buildings are particularly vulnerable to the seismic actions, because they were design for gravitational loads without considering seismic actions applied on them. Thus, the constructive details are not compliant with the present design code provisions (e.g. in plan or elevation structural regularity) and to avoid collapse or wide crack patterns, different strengthening interventions should be proposed or were done during the time (orthogonal wall connections, steel ties applications). In recent years, conservation and restoration of existing constructions assumed very important roles to reach an appropriate structural safety level, especially for artistic and monumental constructions, taking into account the benefit achieved by building restorations reducing the new constructions. The large number of destructive earthquakes occurred in Italy during the last century and the beginning of the new century has highlighted the need to redefine the design strategies and requirements especially in high seismic risk regions. Therefore, different seismic design provisions have occured during the time both in national and regional levels; the most recent is the Italian provisions (named, DM2008 [1]). The fundamental innovative aspect of the aforementioned DM2008 [1] is connected to the existing constructions and in particular it takes into account strategic buildings or structures playing very important rules for civil protection, introducing the research seismic engineering results into the professional world. The new seismic design provision introduced by the DM2008 [1] give more emphasis on the management and maintenance of structures, which are often a relevant fraction of the total cost of the rehabilitation work. The new seismic design code have been inspired by the following general principals: 1) avoid structural damage and minimize non-structural damages for moderate intensity seismic events and seismic action characterized by return period comparable with the building operating life. Moreover non-structural damages for seismic events characterized by return period less than the building life should be avoided. These criteria respect the damage limit state condition (DLS); 2) The construction elements must have structural characteristics such as ductility to dissipate the energy released by earthquakes during high intensity seismic events without reaching collapse mechanisms; the safety of the people is, thus, ensured in case of events characterized by a lower probability of occurrence (return period of 475 years) which, to be endured without plastic deformation, would require an uneconomical design of the structure. A structural element damage are accepted in order to make the dissipative mechanisms possible. These criteria respect the ultimate limit state condition (ULS). As stated in the seismic design code, "…the purpose is to ensure the human life protection in case of earthquakes, the damages should be limited and the important structures in terms of civil protection should be working…". Materials and strengthening techniques characterized by high performances and minimal impact on the structures play a crucial role on rehabilitation and restoration of existing buildings. The masonry structures, in a lot of cases having historic and architectural values, represent an important part of the Italian structural heritage. Many of the structural defects related to the masonry buildings are due to inadequate techniques and materials, earthquake and wind actions (horizontal loads), foundation settlements, atmospheric agents deterioration. In addition, higher loads acting on the structure due to different structural use and more stringent standards for seismic design provision lead to have need of appropriate strengthening interventions. The methods traditionally used for masonry structure rehabilitation are: - Fill cracks and voids with grout injections; - stitching large cracks or weak areas with metal parts or concrete elements; - reinforced perforations injected with mortar, in order to increase the masonry tensile strength; - jacketing on one or both masonry panel sides with reinforced concrete by using an electro welded steel grid. The use of fiber-reinforced composite materials represents an alternative to traditional intervention techniques: these materials, usually made of carbon fiber (CFRP), glass (GFRP) or aramid (AFRP) held together by a polymer matrix, provide unique combination of mechanical performances, including high strength and stiffness in fiber direction, corrosion resistance, light weight. They are available in form of sheets or rolls characterized by virtually unlimited length. All these properties allow to realize the structural seismic reinforcement without increasing the seismic mass. These types of composites are characterized by a high compatibility with the substrate in terms of geometric, chemical and mechanical properties. The research activities described in the following were partially carried out in Barcelona (Spain) and several ecclesiastic structures were selected in order to evaluate their seismic behavior applying European and Spanish design codes (EuroCode 8 [2] and NCSE-02 [3], respectively). For that reason the earthquake phenomena effects were studied on three Spanish gothic structures by using limit analysis criteria in order to compute their seismic performances in terms of safety level, according to the Italian guide line for evaluation and reduction of the seismic risk of the cultural heritage (2006) [4]. The structures were separated into macro-elements subjected to in-plane and out-of-plane actions, applying the Capacity Spectrum Method (CSM) and the safety levels were computed by means of seismic demand and structural capacity ratio. Then, the attention was focused on in-plane structural behavior and, using available data from experimental tests on masonry panels carried out by other authors, a numerical simulations were implemented by using the finite element software DIANA TNO rel.9.2 [5]. Three experimental program on panels made by different materials were examined in order to be sure that the results obtained using numerical simulations were not strongly connected to the relative substrate. Thus, the analyzed models were made by hollow bricks, solid bricks and tuff bricks respectively and different mortars for each masonry panel were also used. Two aspects, considered of primary importance for masonry structures were analyzed: - the global performances by changing mechanical properties of structural elements; - the global performances reached by using FRP strengthening system. With reference to the first point, the masonry panel behaviour was analyzed by changing the compression (Gfc) and tensile fracture energy (Gft) for both bricks and mortar. The knowledge of the previous mentioned physical parameters is very complex to establish with traditional laboratory tests, but it is important to have a reliable masonry panel numerical simulation. In particular a specific range of feasible values of the fracture energy was considered, calculating them by using formulas introduced in the literature. Within that range the two extreme values and the average value or, in alternative, the value calculated according to the material mechanical strength were selected; then three different analyses were performed for each masonry panel. The second point has been performed by means of two different panel strengthening systems using Carbon Fiber reinforced (CFRP): one by using diagonal stripes and the other composed by horizontal stripes (Grid layout). These numerical simulations, the global strengthened panel response was highlighted, changing several geometric characteristic of the strengthening system; width of the strip (for both diagonal and horizontal reinforcement) and the spacing between each strip (only for horizontal reinforcement) were modeled. The scope of the present research work was to compute the panel shear capacity and the initial stiffness of cracked panels subjected to in plane compression and shear loads by changing material mechanical properties, both for tuff and mortar, and considering different arrangement and amount of FRP reinforcement. Particular attention was also paid to the comparison between the "as built" panels and the strengthened ones by means of failure modes and crack patterns. Therefore, the present work was arranged in order to specify the structural typology where the introduced strengthening system could be applied, describing the different masonry structures and their main performances under seismic actions, such as shear capacity and failure mode. The work goes on describing the characterization of materials used in the simulation phase, the model by using DIANA software [5] considering both "as built" and strengthened masonry panels, the comparison between the numerical analyses results and experimental ones in order to validate the modelling and, at the end, to implement the parametric analysis by changing the geometrical and mechanical properties.


Periurban agricultural territories have had to confront many pressures over the last 70 years, ranging from land development pressures emanating from nearby large cities and metropolis to technological change, to the draw of the urban labour market on farmers' families, to the consequences of climate change and variability. They are also increasingly expected to provide stable supplies of foodstuffs to the nearby urban markets as well as having the potential to respond to many other urban demands for other functions that these agricultural areas can support. Periurban agricultural areas can be considered as strategic components of urban and metropolitan regions. They have much more to offer to their regional economies and societies than simply food production because they are also support multiple functions, both market-based and non market function. Market-based functions include the production of foodstuffs for the urban market as well as functions related to both tourism and leisure activity. Non-market based functions include the conservation of landscape heritage, and water and biodiversity conservation; some of these can also be transformed into functions that generate supplementary income for the farming families. Some functions serve to strengthen the linkages between farming, farm families and nearby urban areas. For this strengthening to occur, it appears essential that: a) farmers and their families become involved in the development of their own multifunctional agriculture-based projects; and b) the significance of the non-agricultural functions must also be appropriated by non-agricultural actors, such as local government, nearby city governments, community and consumer organisations. These points are illustrated by examples drawn from several countries, including research-action projects involving the two authors neat MontrA©al. These latter projects, appropriated by the local farming communities, involve local development processes that can be modified to deal with periurban agricultural areas in any political and cultural context. These processes involve the development of new models of agricultural development and relatively new approaches to local and community development. These processes reinforce regional and national programs of agricultural land 'protection' which, it is argued, need such supportive local and community development processes in order to be effective.


The bipolar affective structures of brain emotional processes – namely negative and positive affects – provide ideal ways to make scientific progress on the "hard problem" of primal consciousness: wherever in subcortical brain regions one applies highly localized electrical deep brain stimulation, and obtains coherent emotional behaviors, animals treat these brain arousals as 'rewards' and 'punishments' using various simple learning tasks. Humans also consistently report experienced affective changes during such artificial brain arousals. Such evidence suggests the first glimmers of consciousness in BrainMind evolution arose in medial brainstem regions. These hedonic effects, of subcortical origin, are here deemed gold standards for the existence of evolved affective qualia in animal and human brains, perhaps the first evolutionary substrates of mind, critical for the emergence of cognitive consciousness.


Snake oil is dangerous only by way of the claims that are made about its healing powers. It is a speech problem, and its remedy involves speech restrictions. But First Amendment doctrine has struggled to find equilibrium in the balance between free speech and the reduction of junk science. Regulation requires the government to take an authoritative position about which factual claims are "true" and "false," which is anathema to open inquiry. As a result, free speech jurisprudence overprotects factual claims made in public discourse out of respect for any remote possibility that the scientific consensus might be wrong but has given wide latitude to state actors to regulate all but the most accepted and well supported claims in advertising. This Article shows that the interests in speech and safety alike would be better served by switching from the truth-oriented set of rules that apply today to a risk orientation. While risk and falsity are obviously related, they are not substitutes. The transition to a risk analysis would better match longstanding First Amendment traditions that permit state interests in avoiding harm to outweigh speech interests while maintaining epistemic modesty. The practical effect of this shift would be to permit more regulation in public discourse and less in commercial speech.


Complicity of tasks doctor meets in his everyday activities are very different: both most simple and highly sophisticated ones. However the legal regulation of doctor's responsibility neglects the degree of complicity of his task and addresses an abstract standard case that is free of any complicity. This paper addresses this problem and discusses its practical and legal implications. A sophisticated case is such one in which doctor meets especially high intellectual, physical, psychic, and etc. demands that reach or overpass the limits of his abilities and there are no clear ways to deal with these difficulties. The difficulties that doctor meets diagnosing arise from especially high demands to doctor's medical knowledge, which mostly exceeds his real abilities. This problem can in some degree can be solved by the modern "prompting" technologies (DiagnosisPRO6, Isabel, Dynamed, UpToDate, DXplain ir kt.). The legal situation in which correct diagnosis could be done using one of these technologies but was not done because they were not used is discussed. A sophisticated case demands the wide and very intensive cooperation with other specialists. The main problem met here is that the organization of an efficient cooperation demands doctor's knowledge that exceeds limits of his specialty. The most radical solution of the doctor's cooperation problem is Multi-Disciplinary Medical Team (MDMT). The sophisticated case is highly resource - demanding. It needs much more doctor's time and other medical resources that the regular one. The organization of the health care usually tends to ignore this demand or to vest responsibility for arranging additional time on doctor. The most efficient way to solve this problem is to recognize both the very existence of sophisticated cases and the high work load it demands. Large-scale privatization seems to be another prospective way to solve the problem. The need to reform doctor's liability system and obstacles for such reform are discussed.


✓ The authors report a series of 70 patients with 161 multiple intracranial aneurysms. There was no mortality in 23 patients in whom all aneurysms were treated intracranially. Unoperated aneurysms later caused morbidity or mortality in eight of 33 patients. The authors believe that patients who have had a subarachnoid hemorrhage should have four-vessel arteriography to identify all aneurysms, and that all surgically accessible aneurysms should be treated, preferably intracranially in good-risk patients who have no disabling neurological deficit.


Studies show that institutions play a role both in causing and in addressing problems arising from human-environment interactions. But the nature of this role is complex and not easily described. This book presents an overview of recent research on how institutions matter in efforts to tackle such environmental problems as the loss of biological diversity, the degradation of forests, and the overarching issue of climate change. Using the tools of the "new institutionalism" in the social sciences, the book treats institutions as sets of rights, rules, and decision-making procedures. Individual chapters present research findings and examine policy implications regarding questions of causality, performance, and institutional design as well as the themes of institutional fit (or misfit), interplay, and scale. Institutions and Environmental Change is the product of a decade-long international research project on the Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (IDGEC) carried out under the auspices of the International Human Dimensions Programme. The book's policy insights demonstrate that research on institutions can provide the basis for practical advice on effective ways to deal with the most pressing environmental problems of our times. Contributors: Frank Biermann, Carl Folke, Victor Galaz, Thomas Gehring, Joyeeta Gupta, Thomas Hahn, Leslie A. King, Ronald B. Mitchell, Sebastian Oberthur, Per Olsson, Heike Schroeder, Uno Svedin, Simon Tay, Arild Underdal, Oran R. Young


We study the magneto-optic (MO) Faraday rotation in a two-dimensional square-lattice photonic crystal with a central MO defect layer in the optical wavelength range. We show that when a TM plane wave is incident upon a photonic crystal, an enhancement of Faraday rotation takes place in a region where a resonance peak appears in the photonic bandgap. In this region the mode conversion is high.


We demonstrate the synthesis of two triptycene-based microporous poly(benzimidazole) networks through condensation of triptycene-hexone with dialdehyde in refluxing glacial acetic acid containing ammonium acetate. The benzimidazole-linkage in the resulting polymers is confirmed by Fourier transform infrared and solid-state 13C CP/MAS NMR spectroscopy. The spindle-shaped morphology of the obtained polymers was also observed through scanning electron microscopy. The materials, with Brunauer–Emmet–Teller (BET) specific surface area over 600 m2 g−1, possess a good hydrogen storage capacity (up to 1.57 wt% at 77 K and 1.0 bar) and a high carbon dioxide uptake (up to 14.0 wt% at 273 K and 1.0 bar). These excellent performances would probably make them promising candidates for gas-selective adsorption, heterogeneous catalysis, and proton-exchange membrane fuel cells.


The standard life-cycle model of consumption behavior predicts that a household's age will influence its saving behavior. Moreover, simple national accounting identities reveal that a country's current account balance reflects its savings-investment imbalance. Thus, differences in national age-profiles should affect the current account. To test this theory's plausibility and significance, I simulate a multi-region overlapping generations model that is calibrated to match the demographic differences among the major industrialized countries over the past 50 years. In the model, it is found that these differences can explain some of the observed long-term capital movements in the G-7. In particular, the model does a good job of predicting the size and timing of American current account deficits as well as Japanese current account surpluses.


Cystic fibrosis (CF) infectious isolation guidelines and clinical recommendations exist in standards of CF care to reduce the risk of cross-infection between individuals with CF. Chronic infection is associated with deterioration in lung function and increased rates of morbidity and mortality, thus preventing and reducing cross-infection is a concern for individuals with CF. Understanding the bio-psychosocial implications of isolation is vital to developing and providing holistic approaches to CF care. This study aimed to make sense of how adolescents with CF understand and experience infectious isolation during their care. Qualitative, semistructured interviews were conducted with 9 adolescents, aged 12 to 19 years old, with a diagnosis of CF who had experienced isolation. Interviews were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Participants experienced difficulty adjusting to living with isolation and attempted to integrate their isolation experiences. Isolation highlighted a sense of threat posed by cross-infection, a threat which participants experienced as originating from others and from themselves to others. Participants described striving to protect themselves and others from this threat. Isolation also appeared to exacerbate differences participants noticed between themselves and others without CF. For adolescents with CF, isolation is not a neutral experience. Adolescents reported difficulty understanding isolation and challenges associated with this experience across settings. Given these difficulties, multidisciplinary teams should increase awareness, understanding and discussion about the psychosocial impact of isolation among those with CF, their families and wider systems, to promote optimal bio-psychosocial outcomes. Future research could explore experiences of isolation from children, family and staff perspectives.


This paper focuses on those ordinary women who responded to editions of Our Bodies, Ourselves in the 1970s and 1980s, illustrating how readers played a crucial role in the development and articulation of health feminism. By analyzing the exchange between writers and readers of the most popular and influential women's health text of this era, it reveals the process by which feminists translated and interpreted medical information about women's bodies. The personal stories of readers challenge us to consider the role of ordinary women in shaping the development of the women's health movement.


The subject of this article is Henry Dibble, a lawyer and politician who led an extraordinary career in two different states, California and Louisiana, in the years following the Civil War. He was a leader of the California legislature in the 1890's and was the author of California's first civil rights law, enacted in 1897. He was also one of the lawyers who regularly represented Chinese immigrants in their battles in the courts over the Chinese Exclusion laws. Before coming to California he had spent some twenty years in Louisiana, where he had been at the center of the tumultuous events that marked the history of Reconstruction in that state. While there, he served as confidant of the state's two Reconstruction governors, as judge of the state's most important trial court and as president of the New Orleans school board during the period when it oversaw the only serious experiment in school integration ever undertaken in the post-Civil War South. This article traces the arc of Dibble's career and seeks to situate him in the context of Reconstruction history and the early modern political history of California.


Spain has been a fruitful locus for the European imagination for centuries, and it has been most often perceived in black-and-white oppositions -- either as a tyrannical and fanatical force in the early modern period or as an imaginary geography of a 'Romantic' Spain in later centuries. However, the image of Spain, its culture and its inhabitants did not evolve inexorably from negative to positive. From the early modern period onwards, it responded to an ambiguous matrix of conflicting Hispanophobic and Hispanophilic representations. Just as in the nineteenth century latent negative stereotypes continued to resurface, even in the Romantic heyday, in the early modern period appreciation for Spain was equally undeniable. When Spain was a political and military superpower, it also enjoyed cultural hegemony with a literary Golden Age producing internationally hailed masterpieces. Literary Hispanophobia and Hispanophilia in Britain and the Low Countries (1550-1850) explores the protracted interest in Spain and its culture, and it exposes the co-existent ambiguity between scorn and fascination that characterizes Western historical perceptions, in particular in Britain and the Low Countries, two geographical spaces with a shared sense of historical connectedness and an overlapping, sometimes complicated, history with Spain.


The essay is concerned with the protection of investors against purchases of 'junk bonds'. As financial transactions are characterized by inherent risk, contractual unconscionability is not the relevant legal issue to be dealt with. The argument submitted by the author is therefore that protection of purchasers of financial products should focus of the nature and consequences deriving from liability triggered by reliance on negligent misstatements concerning economic information which induces investors to purchase 'junk bonds'. Moreover, as the complex process underlying the issue and placement of financial securities involves the contribution of different professionals, their different roles should be reflected in a gradated liability scale covering each player contributing to the provision of these financial products. The conclusion is that civil liability remedies do not necessarily provide the only possible answer for the protection of investors: in addition, alternative remedies subsequent to the occurrence of damages (i.e., stricter criminal penalties), or preventive measures (such as applicable rules of conduct), as well as collateral sanctions (reputational risks), or new powerful procedural tools (class actions) may be able to support and protect investors more effectively than simple civil liability rules.


Continuous Goal-Directed Actions (CGDA)is a robot imitation framework that encodes actions as the changes they produce on the environment. While it presents numerous advantages with respect to other robot imitation frameworks in terms of generalization and portability, final robot joint trajectories for the execution of actions are not necessarily encoded within the model. This is studied as an optimization problem, and the solution is computed through evolutionary algorithms in simulated environments. Evolutionary algorithms require a large number of evaluations, which had made the use of these algorithms in real world applications very challenging. This paper presents online evolutionary strategies, as a change of paradigm within CGDA execution. Online evolutionary strategies shift and merge motor execution into the planning loop. A concrete online evolutionary strategy, Online Evolved Trajectories (OET), is presented. OET drastically reduces computational times between motor executions, and enables working in real world dynamic environments and/or with human collaboration. Its performance has been measured against Full Trajectory Evolution (FTE)and Incrementally Evolved Trajectories (IET), obtaining the best overall results. Experimental evaluations are performed on the TEO full-sized humanoid robot with "paint" and "iron" actions that together involve vision, kinesthetic and force features.


In this paper, we show how to manipulate syntax with binding using a mixed representation of names for free variables (with respect to the task in hand) and de Bruijn indices [5] for bound variables. By doing so, we retain the advantages of both representations: naming supports easy, arithmetic-free manipulation of terms; de Bruijn indices eliminate the need for α-conversion. Further, we have ensured that not only the user but also the implementation need never deal with de Bruijn indices, except within key basic operations.Moreover, we give a hierarchical representation for names which naturally reflects the structure of the operations we implement. Name choice is safe and straightforward. Our technology combines easily with an approach to syntax manipulation inspired by Huet's 'zippers'[10].Without the ideas in this paper, we would have struggled to implement EPIGRAM [19]. Our example-constructing inductive elimination operators for datatype families-is but one of many where it proves invaluable.


Low-level speeding has been a focus of the Transport Accident Commissionrs (TAC) public education program since 2001, yet achieving full compliance with speed limits remains a challenge. Public perceptions of speeding behaviour have changed for the better over the ensuing years, and speed surveys and enforcement data demonstrate that behaviour has changed. In preparation for the creation of a new wave of public education material, the authors reviewed an extensive range of survey data and vehicle speed data collected from covert mobile cameras. The overwhelming majority of Victorians comply with speed limits and a clear majority support the speed enforcement regime and view low level speeding (i.e. 5 km/h over the speed limit) as socially unacceptable. Indeed, the majority of Victorians think people should get booked for exceeding the speed limit in a 60 zone by 4 km/h. Compared with non-Victorians, Victorians are less tolerant of speeding and more likely to report driving at lower speeds. Social norms are shifting in favour of complying with speed limits. Road safety practitioners and decision makers may be surprised at the level of support for speed enforcement, speed limit settings and public education. The community should be seen as an ally in efforts to reduce road trauma through speed management. Public education should therefore seek to build upon the existing momentum to further reduce tolerance of low level speeding. The development of future speed enforcement strategies can also be informed by this data.


Non-equilibrium plasma generated by nanosecond pulsed laser are characterized by solid state 4H-SiC interdigit Schottky diodes and by a large area ion collector detector, both connected in time-of-flight configuration. Plasma generated by irradiation of different metallic targets through a pulsed laser with a 1010 W/cm2 intensity and a 200 mJ energy, where monitored. In this paper we demonstrate that the interdigit 4H-SiC diode is able to detect ultraviolet radiation and soft X-rays, with energy of the order of 20 eV with very short rise time, of a few nanoseconds, and high efficiency, comparable with the performance of traditional large area ion collectors. Thanks to their millimetric size, solid state 4H-SiC detectors are good candidates for the fabrication of array systems for the spatial distribution measurement of plasma radiation. Moreover, owing to the their high efficiency and the interdigit geometry of front electrode, 4H-SiC diodes here proposed are suitable also for low energy ions detection.


Governments in all advanced industrial societies are involved in an endless struggle of how to 'square the welfare circle', as demand for public services rises due to demographic, social and labour market foctors. Government ability to finance this rising tide of public service demand is constrained by economic and, at times, ideological factors but failure to make welfare provision has adverse electoral consequeces. This is not an issue which is likely to go away. Social Policy Towards 2000 examines the issues and factors affecting the welfare state and by comparing the proposals of the three main UK political parties for the welfare system for the remaining part of the decade, offers a prospective analysis of the future of welfare.


OBJECTIVE: To compare patient perception of custom made mouthguards of ideal and less than ideal designs in terms of their comfort and "wearability". METHOD: A mouthguard of ideal design (A) and one incorporating common design faults of underextension and unadjusted occlusion (B) were provided for 22 active sportsmen and women. They were not informed of the details of the design or the status of the protector. Half the participants were asked to wear mouthguard A first and the other half wore B first, each worn for one hour on two consecutive nights. Questionnaires were used to evaluate and rate the comfort and wearability of each mouthguard. RESULTS: Eighteen people completed the study. The ideal appliance was rated as significantly more retentive and comfortable overall and specifically was more comfortable to lips, gums, and tongue. It was also recognised as being less bulky, less likely to keep the teeth apart, or to cause pain in the jaw muscles. CONCLUSIONS: Comfort is likely to be increased if mouthguards are extended labially to within 2 mm of the vestibular reflection, adjusted to allow even occlusal contact, rounded at the buccal peripheries, and tapered at the palatal edges.


There has been little exploration of how phages contribute to the diversity of the bacterial community associated with winemaking and may impact fermentations and product quality. Prophages of Oenococcus oeni, the most common species of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) associated with malolactic fermentation of wine, have been described, but no data is available regarding phages of O. oeni with true virulent lifestyles. The current study reports on the incidence and characterization of the first group of virulent oenophages named Vinitor, isolated from the enological environment. Vinitor phages are morphologically very similar to siphoviruses infecting other LAB. Although widespread during winemaking, they are more abundant in musts than temperate oenophages. We obtained the complete genomic sequences of phages Vinitor162 and Vinitor27, isolated from white and red wines, respectively. The assembled genomes shared 97.6% nucleotide identity and belong to the same species. Coupled with phylogenetic analysis, our study revealed that the genomes of Vinitor phages are architecturally mosaics and represent unique combinations of modules amongst LAB infecting-phages. Our data also provide some clues to possible evolutionary connections between Vinitor and (pro)phages associated to epiphytic and insect-related bacteria.


This paper uses real-time briefing forecasts prepared for the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to provide estimates of historical changes in the design of U.S. monetary policy and in the implied central-bank target for inflation. Empirical results support a description of policy with an effective inflation target of roughly 7 percent in the 1970s. Moreover, the evidence suggests that mismeasurement of the degree of economic slack was largely irrelevant for explaining the Great Inflation while favouring a passive-policy description of monetary policy. FOMC transcripts provide a neglected interpretation of the source of passive policy--intermediate targeting of monetary aggregates.


This study aims to represent an integrated approach of the historical process that took place in the Middle Guadalquivir lowlands (SW Spain) between the onset of agriculture in this area and the beginning of copper metallurgy. In particular, there is a focus on the IV millennium BC, period in which archaeological evidence suggests that the first agricultural occupation with remarkable density occurred by ca. 3500 BC in the lowlands of the Guadalquivir Basin. In this period, some visible changes arise in material culture, such as the emergence of carinated forms with low height and a large diameter (pottery), bifacial arrowheads and the development of standardized long flint blades (lithic), as well as the proliferation of archaeological sites with silo-shaped pits both in the vicinity of the floodplain, and especially in the east of Cordovan Campina."


The Miocene Morozaki Group spreads across the Chita Peninsula in Aichi prefecture, Central Honshu, Japan, and was deposited between 18 to 15 Ma. Using foraminiferal archives contained in samples from the Katana outcrop at the tip of the Chita Peninsula, we aimed to verify whether the Chita Peninsula used to be in the deep ocean. We used various techniques such as the planktonic / total ratio (P/T) method and faunal analysis. Faunal analysis on mollusks from the same outcrop was also undertaken in order to obtain better data. From these experiments, we estimate the paleodepth of the Morozaki Group to have been between 100 to 2000 meters below sea level, and that the Chita Peninsula sediments were deposited in the deep ocean.


Healthcare organizations are striving to meet legislated and public expectations to include patients as equal partners in their care, and research is needed to guide successful implementation and outcomes. The current research examined the meaning of customer service as related to the culture of care relationships within a Canadian hospital in southeastern Ontario. The goals were to better understand these expectations, develop shared meanings and influence cultural change from the perspective of the organization's employees about their interactions with patients, families and work colleagues, and to generate ideas and groundswell for change. An ethnographic approach within the critical research paradigm was used over the course of a three phase study, where direct care healthcare providers (Phase 1), mid-level leaders (Phase 2) and senior leaders (Phase 3) volunteered to explore their values, philosophies and suggestions for change in the organization's care relationships. This paper describes Phase 2 of the overall research project. A mixed methodology was used where mid-level leaders were individually surveyed and then participated in a focus group and/or interview to discuss these concepts. Mid-level leaders indicated that providing excellent customer service was important in their own work with many customers including staff, patients and their families, students, volunteers and outside agencies. They believed that this in turn led to improved partnerships for care, health service transitions and linkages, customer satisfaction and health outcomes. The majority stated that the organization's culture would support change related to customer service relationships and opportunities for this were explored. Keywords: Critical Ethnography, Customer Service, Heath Care Relationships, Hospital Culture, Mixed Methodology, Organizational Change, Patient and Family Centred Care, Relationship Centred Care, Shared Decision Making


ABSTRACT Which functions do social media fill for non-state armed groups in countries with internal armed conflict? Building on conflict data, interviews and media monitoring, we have reviewed the use of social media by Myanmar's nine most powerful armed groups. The first finding is that they act like states, using social media primarily to communicate with their constituents. Second, they also use social media as a tool of armed struggle, for command and control, intelligence, denunciation of traitors, and attacks against adversaries. Third, social media serves for national and international outreach. Like Myanmar's national army, the armed groups have combined prudent official pages with an underworld of more reckless profiles and closed groups that often breach Facebook's official community standards. In February 2019, when Facebook excluded four groups from its platform, they lost much of their ability to reach out and act like states. Yet they kept a capacity to communicate with their constituents through closed groups, individual profiles and sophisticated use of links and shares. Finally, the article affirms that the Facebook company, in the years 2018–2020,took upon itself a role as an arbiter within Myanmar's internal conflicts, deciding what information was allowed and disallowed.


The Pentateuch lies at the heart of the Western humanities. Yet despite nearly two centuries of scholarship, its historical origins and its literary history are still a subject of intense discussion. Critical scholarship has isolated multiple layers of tradition, inconsistent laws, and narratives that could only have originated from separate communities within ancient Israel, and were joined together at a relatively late stage by a process of splicing and editing.Recent developments in academic biblical studies, however, jeopardize the revolutionary progress that has been accomplished over the last two centuries. The past forty years of scholarship have witnessed not simply a proliferation of intellectual models, but the fragmentation of discourse within the three main research centers of Europe, Israel, and North America. Even when they employ the same terminology (redactor, author, source, exegesis), scholars often mean quite di􏰀erent things. Concepts taken for granted by one group of scholars (such as the existence of the Elohist source) are dismissed out of hand by other scholarly communities. In eff􏰀ect, independent and sometimes competing scholarly discourses have emerged in Europe, Israel, and North America. Each centers on the Pentateuch, each operates with its own set of working assumptions, and each is con􏰁dent of its own claims. This volume seeks to stimulate international discussion about the Pentateuch in order to help the discipline move toward a set of shared assumptions and a common discourse. With the wide range of perspectives examined, this publication is an invaluable resource for subsequent research.


We present a model for the disorder of the heterointerfaces in GaAs quantum wells including long-range components like monolayer island formation induced by the surface diffusion during the epitaxial growth process. Taking into account both interfaces, a disorder potential for the exciton motion in the quantum well plane is derived. The excitonic optical properties are calculated using either a time propagation of the excitonic polarization with a phenomenological dephasing, or a full exciton eigenstate model including microscopic radiative decay and phonon scattering rates. While the results of the two methods are generally similar, the eigenstate model does predict a distribution of dephasing rates and a somewhat modified spectral response. Comparing the results with measured absorption and resonant Rayleigh scattering in GaAs/AlAs quantum wells subjected to growth interrupts, their specific disorder parameters like correlation lengths and interface flatness are determined. We find that the long-range disorder in the two heterointerfaces is highly correlated, having rather similar average in-plane correlation lengths of about 60 and 90 nm. The distribution of dephasing rates observed in the experiment is in agreement with the results of the eigenstate model. Finally, we simulate highly spatially resolved optical experiments resolving individual exciton states in the deduced interface structure.


The ethos of science in that affectively toned complex of values and norms which is held to be binding on the man of science. The norms are expressed in the form of prescriptions, proscriptions, preferences, and permissions. They are legitimized in terms of institutional values.... Four sets of institutional imperatives--universalism, communism, disinterestedness, organized skepticism--are taken to comprise the ethos of modern science. (1) Robert K. Merton, Science and Technology in a Democratic Order (1942) hot tub n A large round bathtub filled with hot water for one or more people to relax, bathe, or socialize in; Jacuzzi trademark. ENCARTA WORLD ENGLISH DICTIONARY (2008) I INTRODUCTION This article explores the continuing influence of scientific conventions on legal practice and law reform. Focused on the introduction of "concurrent evidence," it describes how changes to Australian civil procedure, motivated by judicial concerns about the prevalence of partisanship among expert witnesses, may have been enfeebled because they were based upon enduring scientific conventions such as the "ethos of science." (2) Historically, adversarial legal systems have left the selection and refinement of evidence to the parties. This devolution, sometimes referred to as "free proof," applies to all kinds of evidence, including expert evidence. (3) Recently in Australia, common-law judges began to modify the way expert evidence is prepared and presented. Judges from a range of civil jurisdictions have conscientiously sought to reduce expert partisanship and the extent of expert disagreement in an attempt to enhance procedural efficiency and improve access to justice. One of these reforms, concurrent evidence, enables expert witnesses to participate in a joint session with considerable testimonial latitude. This represents a shift away from an adversarial approach and a conscientious attempt to foster scientific values and norms. This article describes the environment out of which concurrent evidence emerged as well as the operation of concurrent evidence and related pretrial activities. It then reproduces the primary justifications for concurrent evidence before undertaking a more critical review based on observations, interviews, and engagement with specialist literatures. II PROBLEMS WITH EXPERT EVIDENCE: ADVERSARIAL BIAS, COST, AND DELAY It is not only U.S. litigants and commentators who have attributed serious socio-legal problems to expert evidence. (4) Over the last decade, English and Australian judges have become increasingly anxious about the quality of expert evidence appearing in courts, particularly in their civil-justice systems. An influential survey of judges and magistrates undertaken at the turn of the millennium identified bias and partisanship as the most pressing problems with expert evidence in Australia. (5) According to its authors, judges "identified partisanship or bias on the part of expert witnesses as an issue about which they were concerned and in respect of which they thought that there needed to be change." (6) In response, Australian judges and law-reform agencies have focused their attention on "adversarial bias," the partisanship associated with the alignment or identification of an expert with a party and its interests. (7) Concerns about adversarial bias have led senior judges to change the rules of civil procedure in an attempt to discipline expert witnesses. In order to understand the Australian legal context in which these developments occurred, it is useful to describe developments in England and to distinguish them from those in the United States. Like the United States, Australia is a federation composed of states and adversarial jurisdictions. Since European settlement, Australians have, with a few exceptions, looked to England for legal authority and law-reform initiatives. …


Background: In chronic pancreatitis, obstruction of the main pancreatic duct (MPD) may contribute to the pathogenesis of pain. Pilot studies suggest that extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) alone relieves pain in calcified chronic pancreatitis. Aim: To compare ESWL alone with ESWL and endoscopic drainage of the MPD for treatment of pain in chronic pancreatitis. Subjects: Patients with uncomplicated painful chronic pancreatitis and calcifications obstructing the MPD. Methods: 55 patients were randomised to ESWL alone (n = 26) or ESWL combined with endoscopy (n = 29). Results: 2 years after trial intervention, 10 (38%) and 13 (45%) patients of the ESWL alone and ESWL combined with endoscopy group, respectively, had presented pain relapse (primary outcome) (OR 0.77; 95% CI 0.23 to 2.57). In both groups, a similar decrease was seen after treatment in the MPD diameter (mean decrease 1.7 mm; 95% CI 0.9 to 2.6; p<0.001), and in the number of pain episodes/year (mean decrease, 3.7; 95% CI 2.6 to 4.9; p<0.001). Treatment costs per patient were three times higher in the ESWL combined with endoscopy group compared with the ESWL alone group (p = 0.001). The median delay between the onset of chronic pancreatitis and persistent pain relief for both groups was 1.1 year (95% CI 0.7 to 1.6), as compared with 4 years (95% CI 3 to 4) for the natural history of chronic pancreatitis in a reference cohort (p<0.001). Conclusions: ESWL is a safe and effective preferred treatment for selected patients with painful calcified chronic pancreatitis. Combining systematic endoscopy with ESWL adds to the cost of patient care, without improving the outcome of pancreatic pain.


Recent research has suggested that people make physical predictions based on extrapolation from a noisy representation of the world, which gives rise to a probabilistic distribution over possible future worlds. But can people use the uncertainty of their predictions to inform their decisions, or can people access only a single possible future? Here we demonstrate that confidence-sensitive decisions about the future track the amount of uncertainty expected from probabilistic forward extrapolations. Participants were asked to make predictions about where a ball would go and indicate an expected range around that prediction. This range was well correlated with two measures of uncertainty: variability in predictions across participants and the amount of uncertainty expected by a model of physical prediction. This suggests that people form a probabilistic distribution over possible futures in the course of physical prediction and base their decisions about the future on this range.


Recent studies have shown that a high dietary intake of cured meat increases the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) development. However, its potential effects on COPD evolution have not been tested. We aimed to assess the association between dietary intake of cured meat and risk of COPD readmission in COPD patients. 274 COPD patients were recruited during their first COPD admission between 2004 and 2006, provided information on dietary intake of cured meat during the previous 2 yrs, and were followed until December 31, 2007 (median follow-up 2.6 yrs). Associations between cured meat intake and COPD admissions were assessed using parametric regression survival–time models. Mean±sd age was 68±8 yrs, 93% of patients were male, 42% were current smokers, mean post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) was 53±16% predicted, and median cured meat intake was 23 g·day−1. After adjusting for age, FEV1, and total caloric intake, high cured meat intake (more than median value) increased the risk of COPD readmission (adjusted HR 2.02, 95% CI 1.31–3.12; p=0.001). High cured meat consumption increases the risk of COPD readmission in COPD patients. The assessment of the effectiveness of healthy diet advice should be considered in the future.


John Updike was a master storyteller, and this collection, from his final years, reveals that up to the end he remained the finest short-story writer of his generation. 'Magnificent, exhilarating, crisply evocative, rippling with irony. Updike's genius can be seen on peak form. With this book, a talent that burnt brightly goes out in a blaze of brilliance' - "Sunday Times". 'A haunting valedictory alive with characteristic preoccupations: small-town life; 'domestic duplicity'; travel; aging rituals; and, the transience of existence. This is a collection filled with nuanced observations, descriptive flair and sentences that stop you in your tracks' - "Metro".


Performing Brecht is an unprecedented history of the productions of Brecht's plays in Britain over forty years. Margaret Eddershaw surveys all aspects of Brecht in performance, from his methodologies to his place in postmodernist theatre and beyond. She focuses on key productions by directors including George Devine, Sam Wanamaker, William Gaskill, Howard Davies, John Dexter and Richard Eyre. Eddershaw also provides three in-depth case studies of productions in the 1990s, incorporating her own exclusive access to the rehearsals and in-depth interviews with directors and performers. The case studies are: * The Good Person of Sechuan, directed by Deborah Warner and starring Fiona Shaw; * Mother Courage, directed by Philip Prowse and starring Glenda Jackson; * The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui, directed by Di Trevis and starring Antony Sher


Abstract. This paper presents two new modeling components based on the object modeling system v3 (OMS3) for the calculation of the shortwave incident radiation (Rsw↓) on complex topography settings, and the implementation of several ancillary tools. The first component, NewAGE-SwRB, accounts for elevation slope, aspect, shadow of the sites, and uses suitable parameterization for obtaining the cloudless irradiance. A second component, NewAGE-DEC-MOD's is implemented to estimate the irradiance reduction due to the presence of clouds according to three parameterizations. To obtain a working modeling composition that is comparable with ground data at measurement stations the two components are connected to a kriging component. With the help of an additional component, NewAGE-V (verification package), the performance of modeled (Rsw↓) is quantitatively evaluated. The two components (and the various parameterizations they contain) are tested using the data from three basins, and some simple verification tests were carried out to assess the goodness of the methods used. Moreover, a raster mode test is performed in order to show the capability of the system in providing solar radiation raster maps. The components are part of a larger system, JGrass-NewAGE, their input and outputs are geometrical objects immediately displayed in a geographical information system (GIS). They can be used seamlessly with the various modeling solutions available in JGrass-NewAGE for the estimation of long wave radiation, evapotranspiration, and snow melting, as well as standalone components to just estimate shortwave radiation for various uses. The modularity of the approach leads to more accurate physical-statistical studies aimed to assess in depth the components' performances and extends their results spatially, without the necessity of recoding any part of the component.


Objective: To provide further empirical evaluation of the effectiveness of animal-assisted therapy in nursing home residents with dementia. Methods: Participants were 56 residents of 2 suburban Maryland nursing homes and had a diagnosis. Activities of daily living performance was assessed via the minimum data set and cognitive functioning assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination. Engagement with dog-related stimuli was systematically assessed via the observational measurement of engagement. Results: Mean engagement duration was significantly lower for the small dog. Highest mean engagement duration was found for the puppy video, followed by the real dog and lowest was for the dog-coloring activity. Positive attitudes were found toward the real dogs, robotic dog, the puppy video, and the plush dog. No significant differences were found in engagement duration among our dog-related stimuli. Conclusions: Nursing homes should consider animal-assisted therapy and dog-related stimuli, as they successfully engage residents with dementia.


The number and distribution of acetylcholine (ACh) receptors on muscle cells was studied during development of normal, paralysed and aneural embryonic rat diaphragm muscles. (i) ACh receptors initially are dispersed over the surface of rat embryo myotubes. At day 15 1/2 of gestation junctional receptor clusters (\`J-clusters') form in a well ordered band across the midline of the diaphragm muscle; these also form in denervated and paralysed muscles. At about day 18 of gestation additional \`EJ-clusters' develop to either side of the midpoint of treated muscles. (ii) If a nerve terminal is present, J-clusters increase in length with time. The time course of generation of new endplates calculated from frequency distributions of J-cluster lengths accurately predicts the muscle growth curve established from muscle fibre counts. (iii) The mean length of J-clusters in paralysed muscles was greater than in controls, due to small new-formed clusters failing to appear. In muscles allowed to recover from paralysis the mean length was less, due to a preponderance of small, new-formed clusters. These observations show that development of new endplates, which is thought to reflect the development of new muscle cells, is halted in paralysed muscles, and recovery from paralysis is associated with the generation of many new endplates. (iv) J-clusters appeared, but failed to grow, in aneural muscles. In muscles denervated during the later stages of gestation, analysis of the distribution of J-cluster lengths shows that new clusters failed to appear, and existing clusters showed little or no increase in length after the time of removal of the nerve. (v) EJ-clusters form by aggregation of dispersed receptors, and their mean length increases with time. They do not appear to be stable entities, and are removed within 2 d of recovery from paralysis. In paralysed muscles, with both J-clusters and EJ-clusters present, only J-clusters attract nerve sprouts or become innervated. (vi) A curve is derived showing development of the total number of synaptic terminals in a muscle. This number increases during days 13-18 of gestation, reaching a peak of about 170% of the adult value during d18 and d19 of gestation. There are two episodes of terminal elimination, one during days 19-21 of gestation, and another about 2 weeks postnatally. During the first postnatal week the number of terminals remains constant at about 140% of the adult number, while the average number of inputs per fibre goes down and the number of muscle fibres increases. (vii) Innervation is essential for muscle development. Motoneurons cannot regulate the number of muscle fibres by requiring a simple one-to-one relation between nerve terminal and muscle fibre, and if their role is regulatory as well as supportive of muscle development then some more complex relationship between nerve terminals and developing myotubes must be postulated.


This study draws on insights from both sociology and history in order to locate domestic workers. It draws insight from historical processes, in the wider social structure and in home, in both the political and domestic economy. This constitutes the landscape in which domestic workers are placed. But it would be a bleak painting if we confirm the study on only these aspects. The most important aspect of this picture lies in the human figures it depicts. Whatever colour and richness the study has comes largely from the thoughts and experiences of individual domestic workers. Their definitions of the situation, their perception of themselves and their employers, their relationship with their employers and the way in which these are negotiated, their hopes and fears, constitute a moving record of human suffering, endurance and denial.


Abstract Although many measures have been taken by the majority of Arab countries to enhance women's representation in decision-making positions, women's participation in public life and positions of power have not been achieved the desired level. The Arab region ranks the lowest in the world in terms of women's participation in parliaments. The objective of this paper is to examine the Political participation of women in the Arab countries and identify different challenges that impede Arab women participation in politics and decision making. Challenges include: cultural factors, the stereotyped image of women, women's low self-confidence, lack of coordination among women's organizations, effectiveness/efficiency of women empowerment programs, shortcomings in the institutional and legal frameworks, practices of political parties and election process, skepticism about the Agenda for Women empowerment, the process of development of Women empowerment strategies. Thus, challenges facing women in politics are immense. They require the consolidation of all efforts with great belief in women's capabilities as human beings who are able to lead and shoulder the responsibility in the building of their nations. Keywords: Arab women in politics, Arab women and equality, Arab women in development Setting the Scene at the Global Level: During the last decades, the world has witnessed special International attention to women's issues, and devoted 1975 as the International Year for Women. The year of 1975 laid the groundwork for the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) during the first International conference on women held in Mexico in 1979 (2). The Mexico conference was followed by other main significant international conferences on women held in Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985) (3). The pace of the attention to women's issues has accelerated in the beginning of the nineties, with the growing international concern about the persistence of discrimination against women and the marginalization of their role, the consequent waste of energy, and the disruption of the fundamental forces in the overall development process. The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in 1994 had the major impact on the emerging concern of gender issues. This was followed by the Beijing conference in 1995, which paved the way to strengthen women's participation in decision-making process and higher positions and endorsed the cumulative effect of the previous efforts of all conferences emphasizing on the states' accountability and commitment to adopt concrete plans of action that respond to Beijing's Platform for Action (BPFA) (4). In further pursuit of women's rights, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG's) in 2000 clearly specified the importance of women development in its Goal 3; "to promote gender equality and empowerment of women." Other MDG's have not explicitly stated gender as a target; however, women's issues are addressed implicitly in many areas of the MDG's such as poverty, education, and health (5). The Arab region was not in isolation from the global debate on women and human rights, where the political will has played a major role in enhancing Arab women development. Arab countries have witnessed major shifts over the past decade in political, economic, and social development. The Arab region, comprises 22 states that are members of the Arab League, is defined by a complex set of issues, including the Arab-Israeli conflict and its repercussions, unstable economic conditions and trends, population-resource imbalances and environmental stress. The Arab Islamic cultural heritage and common Arabic language have preserved a unique character for the region and its peoples. Democratization in the Arab region remains a slow process which faces various setbacks including regional instability and conflict, economic imbalances, and the lack of freedom to engage in a meaningful democratic process. …


Abstract I discuss the econometrics and the economics of past research on the effects of minimum wages on employment in the United States. My intent is to try to identify key questions raised in the recent literature, and some from the earlier literature, which I think hold the most promise for understanding the conflicting evidence and arriving at a more definitive answer about the employment effects of minimum wages. My secondary goal is to discuss how we can narrow the range of uncertainty about the likely effects of the large minimum wage increases becoming more prevalent in the United States. I discuss some insights from both theory and past evidence that may be informative about the effects of high minimum wages, and try to emphasize what research can be done now and in the near future to provide useful evidence to policymakers on the results of the coming high minimum wage experiment, whether in the United States or in other countries.


: Selected strains of rhizosphere bacteria have been shown to reduce disease by activating a resistance mechanism in the plant called rhizobacteria-mediated induced systemic resistance (ISR). ISR resembles pathogen-induced systemic acquired resistance (SAR), in that both types of induced resistance render uninfected plant parts more resistant towards a broad spectrum of pathogens. The spectrum of effectiveness of ISR and SAR largely overlaps but is also partly divergent. In contrast to SAR, ISR induced by Pseudomonas fluorescens WCS417r is independent of salicylic acid (SA) and PR gene activation. Instead, ISR follows a signaling pathway in which components from the jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene (ET) response are successively engaged to trigger a defense reaction that, like SAR, is controlled by the regulatory factor NPRI. To investigate the role of JA and ET in ISR, their production was monitored in ISR-expressing plants. Neither JA nor ET production changed upon induction of ISR. From this we postulate that ISR is mediated via an increase in the plants sensitivity to JA and ET. This is supported by the potentiated expression of the JA-inducible gene AtVSP observed in challenged, ISR-expressing plants. Moreover, preliminary results indicate that the ACC oxidase activity is enhanced in ISR-expressing plants, providing a greater potential to produce ET upon challenge. In our search for ISR-related genes we identified two genes that show altered expression upon induction of ISR: the JA-inducible gene AtVSP, which shows an enhanced level of expression in challenged, ISR-expressing plants, and a root-specific, ET-inducible thaumatin-like gene, which is activated upon colonization of the roots with ISR-inducing rhizobacteria. Moreover, we identified a locus (ISR I) on chromosome 3 that controls the expression of ISR. Arabidopsis genotypes that are affected in this locus are also less sensitive to ET. Together, these data confirm the important role of JA and ET in ISR signaling. Cross-talk between SA- and JA-dependent pathways can result in inhibition of JA-mediated defense responses. For instance, chemical agents that activate the SAR pathway, e.g. SA and benzothiadiazole (BTH), can affect the JA-dependent wound response, which plays a role in defense against insects. We investigated possible antagonistic interactions between the SAR pathway and the ISR pathway. Simultaneous activation of SAR and ISR in Arabidopsis resulted in an additive effect on the level of induced protection against Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato. In Arabidopsis genotypes that are blocked in either SAR or ISR, this additive effect was not evident. Moreover, induction of ISR did not affect the expression of the SAR marker gene PR-I in plants expressing SAR. Together, these observations demonstrate that the SAR and the ISR pathway are compatible and that there is no significant cross-talk between these pathways. Therefore, combining SAR and ISR provides an attractive tool for the improvement of disease control. etr1-1 npr1-1 jar1-1


Life Technologies has developed a 14-gene molecular assay that provides information about the risk of death in early stage non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer patients after surgery. The assay can be used to identify patients at highest risk of mortality, informing subsequent treatments. The objective of this study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of this novel assay. Patients and Methods. We developed a Markov model to estimate life expectancy, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and costs for testing versus standard care. Risk-group classification was based on assay-validation studies, and chemotherapy uptake was based on pre- and post-testing recommendations from a study of 58 physicians. We evaluated three chemotherapy-benefit scenarios: moderately predictive (base case), nonpredictive (i.e., the same benefit for each risk group), and strongly predictive. We calculated the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) and performed one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses. Results. In the base case, testing and standard-care strategies resulted in 6.81 and 6.66 life years, 3.76 and 3.68 QALYs, and $122,400 and $118,800 in costs, respectively. The ICER was $23,200 per QALY (stage I: $29,200 per QALY; stage II: $12,200 per QALY). The ICER ranged from "dominant" to $92,100 per QALY in the strongly predictive and nonpredictive scenarios. The model was most sensitive to the proportion of high-risk patients receiving chemotherapy and the high-risk hazard ratio. The 14-gene risk score assay strategy was cost-effective in 68% of simulations. Conclusion. Our results suggest that the 14-gene risk score assay may be a cost-effective alternative to standard guideline-based adjuvant chemotherapy decision making in early stage non-small cell lung cancer.


There are many plants used by the public in the treatment of various diseases in Turkey.The folk remedies prepared with these plants from which treatment and how they used have been reached to day-to-day by transferring the generations. Ethnobotanic researches and traditional treatment methods are recorded and it is aimed to contribute to drug development studies.In this study, which was prepared by screening of ethnobotanical researches, 221 taxa which used in traditional treatment against stomachache in Turkey are reached and the scientific , local names, families, used parts of these taxa and the forms used in stomachache were compiled. According to the research done, families that are commonly used for stomachache are Lamiaceae (59 taxa), Asteraceae (28 taxa), Rosaceae (14 taxa), Apiaceae (12 taxa), Hypericaceae (8 taxa) and Fabaceae (7 taxa). The main reason why these family plants are used against stomach ache is that they contain essential oils with stomach related effect. The most commonly used parts of the plants for treatment are herba, leaf, flower, fruit, root and seed. The parts used may be prepared as decoction or infusion in the form of tea, eaten fresh or after being cooked, or by mixing with honey; the herba of some plants is made into mush then put on the stomach is used externally in the treatment of stomachache.


The financial markets turmoil of 2007-09 impacted on the overnight segment, which is the first step of monetary policy implementation. We model the volatility of the EONIA spread as an EGARCH. However, the nature of the EGARCH considered will be different in the period before the fixed rate full allotment policy of the ECB (2004 - 2008) where we follow the approach of Hamilton (1996) and in the period afterwards (2008 - 2009) where a conventional EGARCH seems sufficient to capture the behaviour of volatility. The results suggest a greater difficulty during the turmoil for the ECB to steer the level of the EONIA spread relative to the main reference rate. The liquidity effect has been reduced since 2007 and in particular since the full allotment policy at the refinancing operations. On the other hand, the liquidity policy and especially the provision of long-term liquidity followed was effective in reducing market volatility. Liquidity provision conditions were also found to have influenced the EONIA spread only since the financial market turmoil. Fine-tuning operations contributed to stabilize money market conditions, especially during the turmoil. The EGARCH parameter estimates also suggest a structural change in the behaviour of the EONIA spread in reaction to shocks.


The Meiotic Recombination 11 protein (MRE11) plays a key role in DNA damage response and maintenance of genome stability. However, little is known about its function during development of the malaria parasite Plasmodium. Here, we present a functional, ultrastructural and transcriptomic analysis of Plasmodium MRE11 during its life-cycle in both mammalian and mosquito vector hosts. Genetic disruption of Plasmodium berghei mre11 (PbMRE11) results in significant retardation of oocyst development in the mosquito midgut associated with cytoplasmic and nuclear degeneration, along with concomitant ablation of sporogony and subsequent parasite transmission. Further, absence of PbMRE11 results in significant transcriptional downregulation of genes involved in key interconnected biological processes that are fundamental to all eukaryotic life including ribonucleoprotein biogenesis, spliceosome function and iron-sulphur cluster assembly. Overall, our study provides a comprehensive functional analysis of MRE11's role in Plasmodium development during the mosquito stages and offers a potential target for therapeutic intervention during malaria parasite transmission.


Brands are typically associated with products and businesses, but David McNally and Karl Speak suggest the same concept can be applied to individuals and relationships, with powerful results. Be Your Own Brand shows how personal branding, like product branding, creates a special type of relationship fueled by a strong belief system and tied to an emotional connection. The authors help readers understand the importance of relationships as the currency for success in their personal and business lives. They present specific tools for success that include simple principles that define the characteristics of a branded relationship; a clear model that defines one's unique personal brand; and a way to distill the essence of that brand into a meaningful and actionable "brand promise." This blueprint for "personal branding" will help all readers achieve maximum career success - quickly and permanently - without personal compromise or selling out.


With the clinical impact of CTLA-4 and PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint therapies, widespread interest in cancer immunotherapy has been ignited. However, the rate and extent of clinical responses to approved therapies are limited and often nonexistent in many solid tumors. This is partially because immune checkpoint therapies are most effective against T-cell–inflamed tumors, and non–T-cell–inflamed or T-cell–excluded tumors remain a significant barrier. New strategies are needed to overcome immune resistance mechanisms that arise during tumor development, which result in T-cell exclusion. Approaches may need to be combined with conventional therapies such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and molecularly targeted therapy, and many clinical trials are ongoing. This review discusses the challenge of T-cell exclusion and innate oncologic pathways that contribute to this problem, including β-catenin, STAT3, NF-κB, PTEN, and AXL tyrosine kinase. The GAS6/AXL pathway is of interest immunologically, as its targeting can lead to greater antitumor immune responses after radiotherapy. In addition, several targeted therapies that are selective and nonselective for AXL are in preclinical and clinical development in acute myelogenous leukemia and renal cell cancer. There remains much to learn, but the future is bright for anti-AXL therapies, though effective combinations and their impact may not be realized for years to come. Clin Cancer Res; 23(12); 2928–33. ©2017 AACR.


We investigate one of the classical problems of the theory ofterm rewriting, namely termination. We present an ordering for compar-ing higher-order terms that can be utilized for testing termination anddecreasingness of higher-order conditional term rewriting systems. Theordering relies on a first-order interpretation of higher-order terms anda suitable extension of the RPO.


Sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) can be implemented with low complexity based on the approximate message passing (AMP) algorithm. However, it is vulnerable to 'difficult' measurement matrices as AMP can easily diverge. Damped AMP has been used to alleviate the problem at the cost of slowing the convergence speed. In this work, we propose an SBL algorithm based on the AMP with unitary transformation (UTAMP). It is shown that, compared to the state-of-the-art AMP based SBL algorithm, the proposed UTAMP-SBL is much more robust and much faster, leading to remarkably better performance. It is shown that in many cases, UTAMP-SBL can approach the support-oracle bound closely.


The terms of the debate over the estate tax have been framed largely by abolitionists who have propounded an antitax message that portrays the estate tax as unambiguously harmful and threatening to ordinary families and small businesses. The attack on the estate tax is linked to a larger agenda of eliminating taxes on capital and capital income and dismantling the progressive elements of the federal tax system. The slogan of estate tax repeal, while effective in mobilizing antitax sentiment, makes no sense as a matter of tax policy because it downplays revenue costs, distributional effects, administrative concerns, and consequences for the rest of the tax system. The 2001 Act illustrates the gap between the abolitionists' simplistic antitax agenda and the complex reality of tradeoffs among competing tax and spending priorities. The estate tax cuts enacted in 2001 imply large revenue losses as well as a shift in tax burdens from the very rich to the middle class and from current taxpayers to future taxpayers. This appears to be a step in precisely the wrong direction, given growing inequalities of income and wealth and a looming fiscal gap.


The paper utilizes household panel data to investigate whether the land rental market can facilitate improved access to land for land-poor tenant households over time and thereby facilitate expansion of their farming activity. The paper utilizes data 8-17 years after land certification to assess the long-term effect of land certification on the allocative efficiency in the land rental market in areas where land certification stimulated land renting in the early years after certification. The paper uses three rounds of balanced panel data collected from 320 smallholder farmers in 2006, 2010 & 2015 from rural Tigrai, northern Ethiopia. Random effects dynamic probit and Tobit models were used to assess factors that may explain access, participation, and intensity of participation on the tenant side of the tenancy market. Tenants' access to land was found to be severely constrained. Previous access and participation had strong positive effect on access and participation and intensity of participation in later periods. Non-convex transaction costs and entry barriers, therefore, appear as severe constraints towards the land rental market facilitating smallholder commercialization through tenancy access to land. More active land rental market coordination interventions are needed to boost the land rental market as a vehicle for facilitation of smallholder commercialization.


In this study, 13 pre-service teachers who were enrolled on a teacher education program wrote weekly journals in response to issues discussed in class over two semesters that lasted 20 weeks. They submitted the response journals three times in the first semester and two times in the second semester, and the instructor read and provided feedback on the journal entries each time they were collected. At the end of the academic year, the pre-service teachers completed a questionnaire and were interviewed individually to seek their views of journal writing. They were also asked to reflect on the journal writing experience in the last journal entry. The three sources of data together show that journal writing was seen as a beneficial experience, fostering reflective thinking and helping the pre-service teachers develop better understanding of teaching and learning issues discussed on the teacher education program.