The paper reviews whether Indigenous Peoples' worldview has directly influenced or not the decisions made by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights related exclusively to their human and environmental rights. In the first section of the investigation, it is described the main aspects to take into consideration regarding Indigenous Peoples and international law; i.e. conceptualization of the term Indigenous Peoples, its evolution in international law, and their core rights. Then, the text will deal with the relationship between Human Rights Law and International Environmental Law, through the discussion of how human rights have been included in the context of international environmental law. Afterwards, the study will explore the close bond that exists between indigenous peoples and the environment, by relating to the different conceptions of its features according to them. Finally, the paper will analyse the decisions taken by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in cases related to indigenous peoples' environmental issues. The conclusion will lead to determine the contribution of human rights and international environmental law to solve indigenous peoples' controversies and vice versa.


Objective: To compare the efficacy and safety of two eccentric rehabilitation protocols for patients with symptomatic patellar tendinopathy. A new eccentric overload training device was compared with the present standard eccentric rehabilitation programme on a decline board. Design: Prospective, randomised clinical trial. Setting: Sports rehabilitation clinic, university sports laboratory, supplemented with home exercises. Patients: 20 competitive and recreational athletes, all with clinical diagnosis of patellar tendinopathy, verified by MRI or ultrasound imaging. Interventions: A 12-week rehabilitation period, either with bilateral eccentric overload strength training using the Bromsman device twice a week or with unilateral eccentric body load training using a decline board twice a week, supplemented with daily home exercises. Outcome measures: The primary outcome was pain and function, assessed by the Swedish Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment for Patella (VISA-P) score. Secondary outcome measures were isokinetic muscle torque, dynamic function and muscle flexibility, as well as pain level estimations using visual analogue scale (VAS). Side effects were registered. Results: Both treatment groups improved in the short term according to the VISA-P scores during the 12-week rehabilitation period. However, there were no significant differences between the groups in terms of pain and function. After a 3-month rehabilitation period, most patients could be regarded as improved enough to be able to return to training and sports. No serious side effects were detected in either group. Conclusion: In patients with patellar tendinopathy pain, two-legged eccentric overload training twice per week, using the new device (Bromsman), was as efficient and safe as the present standard daily eccentric one-legged rehabilitation-training regimen using a decline board.


Numerical methods such as boundary element and finite element methods are widely used for the stress analysis in solid mechanics. This study presents boundary element method based on the displacement discontinuity formulation to solve general problems of interaction between hydraulic fracturing and discontinuities. The crack tip element and a higher order boundary displacement collocation technique are used to study the hydraulic fracture propagation and its interaction with the pre-existing cracks and discontinuities in an elastic rock mass. The maximum tangential stress criterion (or -criterion) and the strain energy density criterion (SED) are used to obtain the fracture path and the results of both criteria are compared with each other. The comparison of numerical method with the results brought in the literature shows a good performance of the method in the case of interacting cracks.


Recent increases in foreclosure rates in New England and other parts of the United States are raising concerns. Distressful for individual borrowers and potentially destabilizing for their communities, the negative effects of foreclosures flow beyond the impact on housing markets and the financial consequences for creditors. Public officials, lenders, current and potential homeowners, community organizations, and other stakeholders are paying careful attention. ; In low- and moderate-income communities in New England, community leaders view current trends as especially worrisome. Among possible explanations, they stress the expansion of high-cost and subprime lending in these communities; and they cite aggressive or unscrupulous mortgage practices, and even mortgage fraud. Historically, however, other factors have been responsible for foreclosure activity. Regional job losses, rising interest rates, weak housing markets, and stretched borrowers facing negative life events are among the factors that usually push up foreclosure rates. And even critics of current mortgage lending practices acknowledge that homeownership is an effective asset-building strategy and that expanding the availability of credit to previously underserved population groups is a worthy goal. ; This paper describes recent trends in New England foreclosure rates, discusses possible causes, and looks at the prevalence of foreclosures in Massachusetts cities and towns with significant populations of low- and moderate-income households. It finds that the prevalence of higher cost lending is associated with higher foreclosure rates.


This book chapter describes application examples of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and pyrolysis – gas chromatography/mass spectrometry in failure analysis for the identification of chemical materials like mineral oils and nitrile rubber gaskets. Furthermore, failure cases demanding identification of polymers/copolymers in fouling on the compressor wall of a car air conditioner and identification of fouling on the surface of a bearing race from the automotive industry are demonstrated. The obtained analytical results were then used for troubleshooting and remedial action of the technological process.


Last Sunday's parliamentary elections resulted in a composition of the Verkhovna Rada – the Ukrainian parliament – which guarantees a solid majority to the President's party. The circumstances leading to the prematurely held elections, however, were more than doubtful from a constitutional law perspective. The Constitutional Court (CC) confirmed the dissolution of Ukraine's parliament as constitutional in a controversial decision which strengthens the position of the president and thereby ignores the intentions and objectives of the Maidan revolution of 2014.


The NAD-malic enzyme cDNA has been subcloned into the pQE expression vector, expressed with a six-His tag, and purified. The His-tagged enzyme is purified by a combination of Ni-NTA and orange A agarose column chromatography with a yield of 45% and an estimated purity of >90%. The tag and linker have no effect on the kinetic parameters of the enzyme compared to the wild-type enzyme. Alanine-scanning site-directed mutagenesis has been carried out on all of the conserved neutral acid residues of the NAD-malic enzyme from Ascaris suum. Data obtained confirm the predicted role of D178 and D295 in metal ion binding, the likely role of D294, D361, and E440 in the NAD binding site, and the role of E58 and D272 in malate binding. Decreases in V/E(t) by 10(4)-fold and in V/K(malate)E(t) by 10(7)-fold, when D295 is changed to alanine, suggest that it is a likely candidate for the general base that accepts a proton from the malate hydroxyl in the oxidation step.


This article elucidates a fundamental feature of transatlantic relations during the Cold War: the presence of more than 250,000 U.S. troops in Europe, mainly in West Germany, from 1952 through 1990. The article explains why this unprecedented commitment was extended for such a long time, despite intense domestic debates in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. Opposition to the troop commitment was particularly strong in Congress. The article shows that the long-term stationing of U.S. troops in Europe was more precarious than often assumed. The article also shows that the debates in the 1960s and 1970s were instrumental in establishing the acceptance of long-term military commitments abroad as a feature of U.S. global policy.


Purpose: The article discusses the economic prospects of innovative technologies for planting material of forest trees. The results of the development of an organizational model of business processes of growing forest seedlings are given and the stages of reproduction technology are described, its competitive advantages are revealed. Structure/Methodology/Approach: The use of innovative technologies in reforestation and afforestation in Russia remains insufficiently developed. Promising methods of reforestation is the use of seedlings grown by cloning. Findings: The duration and cost for each stage of the forest seedling technology were determined. The technology of clonal micropropagation includes a combination of techniques, the choice of a donor plant and the preparation of the source material of the species. Practical implications: It has been established that the development and introduction of technological innovations into practice requires financial support, due to the high cost of growing seedlings of woody plants. The developed organizational model of the process of clonal micropropagation can be used in organizing the production of seedlings of woody plants in forest seed breeding centers. Originality/Value: The development of clonal breeding technologies for modern breeding and seed centers is promising, however, there are a few difficulties that impede the successful development of production and reduce the economic efficiency of reforestation activities.


Children and adolescents living in the streets develop values and expectations that may or may not be coherent with their survival strategies. These strategies happen through social interactions, possibly requiring an elaborated repertoire of interpersonal skills. This paper investigated these aspects in a sample of twenty-eight boys living in the streets in an inner city of Sao Carlos (Sao Paulo - Brazil). Data were gathered by informal chats, structured interviews and the application of a social skills inventory which were subsequently (organized in both thematic categories of content and in frequency tables). The results showed that: a) the streets are used as place to work more than to live (as home); b) the activities performed by the children performed required interpersonal skills, being more frequent those related to rights defense, negotiation and refusal; c) the boys acknowledge socially accepted values and conducts, establishing their own ethics and presenting expectations of social ascension - mainly by school education - and of overcoming their living conditions. It is discussed the relations among these population's daily reality, their expectations, values and social skills required for coping with these conditions and the rights listed on the Child and Adolescent Brazilian Statute are discussed.


From the green chlorophyll in plants and algae that we depend upon to transform sunlight into useful energy, to the red heme that carries oxygen to the cells in our bodies, porphyrins are the colors of life. It is not surprising then, that porphyrins have been actively interrogated as tools for diverse applications to improve biotechnology and medicine. With the goal of improving cancer therapy and diagnosis in mind, this thesis examines new modular porphyrin architectures. These constructs have interesting properties that extend beyond their originally intended use as phototherapeutic agents. In Chapter 1, a comprehensive background on porphyrin-based activatable photosensitizers is presented. In Chapter 2, porphyrin singlet oxygen and fluorescence quenching is examined in a model system with respect to Förster theory. Chapter 3 examines a new DNA responsive molecular beacon that was quenched using multiple quenching moieties and its application for nanoparticle aggregation. Chapter 4 describes extremely self-quenched nanovesicles formed from porphyrin-lipid conjugates that displayed a number of desirable properties for nanomedicine applications. Chapter 5 presents a brief discussion and some potential future directions of the research. It is my hope that the data presented in this thesis set the stage for new porphyrin-based approaches to make a translational impact in the battle against cancer and other diseases.


The cofactor complexes such as ARC (activator-recruited cofactor) and CRSP (cofactor required for Sp1) share several common subunits and mediate interactions between activators and the basal transcription apparatus. Taatjes et al. (see the Perspective by Meisterernst), using biochemical assays and electron microscopy, found that the larger complex, ARC, is composed of two multisubunit complexes, ARC-L and CRSP, and that transcriptional activity is only observed with CRSP. Structural determinations indicate that distinct conformations are induced in the CRSP complex by various activators. Therefore, different activators may allow for different transcriptional readouts based on the specific conformations that form. D. J. Taatjes, A. M. Näär, F. Andel III, E. Nogales, R. Tjian, Structure, function, and activator-induced conformations of the CRSP coactivator. Science 295, 1058-1062 (2002). [Abstract] [Full Text] M. Meisterernst, Mediator meets Morpheus. Science 295, 984-985 (2002). [Full Text]


In recent years kernel principal component analysis (kernel PCA) has gained much attention because of its ability to capture nonlinear image features, which are particularly important for encoding image structure. Boosting has been established as a powerful learning algorithm that can be used for feature selection. In this paper we present a novel framework for object class detection that combines the feature reduction and feature selection abilities of kernel PCA and AdaBoost respectively. The classifier obtained in this way is able to handle change in object appearance, illumination conditions, and surrounding clutter. A nonlinear subspace is learned for positive and negative object classes using Kernel PCA. Features are derived by projecting example images onto the learned subspaces. Base learners are modeled using Bayes classifier. AdaBoost is then employed to discover the features that are most relevant for the object detection task at hand. The proposed method has been successfully tested on wide range of object classes (cars, air-planes, pedestrians, motorcycles, etc) using standard data sets and has shown remarkable performance. Using a small training set, a classifier learned in this way was able to generalize the intra-class variation while still maintaining high detection rate. In most object categories we achieved detection rates of above 95% with minimal false alarm rates. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in terms of absolute performance parameters and comparative performance against current state of the art approaches


Patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) infect 10-15 other persons per year, making diagnosing active TB essential to both curing the patient and preventing new infections. Furthermore, the emergence of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB) means that detection of drug resistance is necessary for stopping the spread of drug-resistant strains. The microscopic-observation drug-susceptibility (MODS) assay is a low-cost, low-tech tool for high-performance detection of TB and MDRTB. The MODS assay is based on three principles: 1) mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) grows faster in liquid media than on solid media 2) microscopic MTB growth can be detected earlier in liquid media than waiting for the macroscopic appearance of colonies on solid media, and that growth is characteristic of MTB, allowing it to be distinguished from atypical mycobacteria or fungal or bacterial contamination 3) the drugs isoniazid and rifampicin can be incorporated into the MODS assay to allow for simultaneous direct detection of MDRTB, obviating the need for subculture to perform an indirect drug susceptibility test. Competing current diagnostics are hampered by low sensitivity with sputum smear, long delays until diagnosis with solid media culture, prohibitively high cost with existing liquid media culture methods, and the need to do subculture for indirect drug susceptibility testing to detect MDRTB. In contrast, the non-proprietary MODS method has a high sensitivity for TB and MDRTB, is a relatively rapid culture method, provides simultaneous drug susceptibility testing for MDRTB, and is accessible to resource-limited settings at just under $3 for testing for TB and MDRTB.


Since coal and oil emit 70% and 30% more CO2 per unit of energy than natural gas (methane), fuel switching to natural gas is an obvious pathway to lower CO2 emissions and reduced theorized greenhouse warming. However, methane is, itself, a strong greenhouse gas so the CO2 advantages of natural gas may be offset by leaks in the natural gas recovery and supply system.

Simple models of atmospheric CO2 and methane are used to test this hypothesis for several natural gas-intensive energy scenarios, including the work of Ausubel et al. (1988). It is found that the methane leaks are significant and may increase the total "greenhouse effect" from natural gas-intensive energy scenarios by 10%. Furthermore, because methane is short-lived in the atmosphere, leaking methane from natural gas-intensive, high energy growth scenarios effectively recharges the concentration of atmospheric methane continuously. For such scenarios, the problem of methane leaks is even more serious.

A second objective is to explore some high demand scenarios that describe the role of methane leaks in the greenhouse tradeoff between gas and coal as energy sources. It is found that the uncertainty in the methane leaks from the natural gas system are large enough to consume the CO2 advantages from using natural gas instead of coal for 20% of the market share.


The main objective of the present work is the experimental and theoretical investigation of the mechanical properties of the zirconium alloys E110 and E635 in a wide range of strain rates (10÷3·10 с) and at different temperatures (20°С÷350°С). The strain rate and temperature dependencies of deformation diagrams and strength characteristics under tension and compression have been received using the experimental study. The investigated materials have shown sensitivity to strain rate and temperature. Experimental data have been used to identify some LS-DYNA's material models.


Synthesis procedures compile relational specifications into functions. In addition to bounded domains, synthesis procedures are applicable to domains such as mathematical integers, where the domain and range of relations and synthesized code is unbounded. Previous work presented synthesis procedures that generate self-contained code and do not require components as inputs. The advantage of this approach is that it requires only specifications as user input. On the other hand, in some cases it can be desirable to require that the synthesized system reuses existing components. This paper describes a technique to automatically synthesize systems from components. It is also applicable to repair scenarios where the desired sub-component of the system should be replaced to satisfy the overall specification. The technique is sound, and it is complete for constraints for which an interpolation procedure exists, which includes e.g. propositional logic, bitvectors, linear integer arithmetic, recursive structures, finite sets, and extensions of the theory of arrays.


This working paper introduces the National Adaptive Capacity (NAC) framework, a tool to assist governments in bringing institutional capacity development into their adaptation planning processes. The NAC framework enables its users to systematically assess institutional strengths and weaknesses that may help or hinder adaptation. National adaptation plans may then be better designed to make best use of strengths or remedy weaknesses. This working paper describes three pilot assessments conducted using the NAC framework in Bolivia, Ireland, and Nepal.


The communication network of the near future is going to be based on Asynchronous
Transfer Mode (ATM) which has widely been accepted by equipment vendors and
service providers. Statistical multiplexing technique, high transmission speed and
multimedia services render traditional approaches to network protocol and control
ineffective. The ATM technology is tailored to support data, voice and video traffic
using a common 53 byte fixed length cell based format with connection oriented
routing.
Traffic sources in A TM network such as coded video and bulk data
transfer are bursty. These sources generate cells at a near-peak rate during their active
period and generate few cells during relatively long inactive period. Severe network
congestion might occur as a consequence of this dynamic nature of bursty traffic.
Even though Call Admission Control (CAC) is appropriately carried out for deciding
acceptance of a new call, Quality of Service (QOS) may be beyond the requirement
limits as bursty traffic are piled up. So, priority control, in which traffic stream are
classified into several classes according to their QOS requirements and transferred
according to their priorities, becomes an important research issue in ATM network. There are basically two kinds of priority management schemes: time
priority scheme that gives higher priority to services requiring short delay time and
the space priority scheme that gives high priority cells requiring small cell loss ratio.
The possible drawbacks of these time and space priority schemes are the processing
overhead required for monitoring cells for priority change, especially in the case of
time priority schemes. Also, each arriving cell needs to be time stamped. The
drawback of the space priority scheme lies in the fact that buffer management
complexity increases when the buffer size becomes large because cell sequence
preservation requires a more complicated buffer management logic.
In this thesis, a Mixed Priority Queueing or MPQ scheme is proposed
which includes three distinct strategies for priority control method -- buffer
partitioning, allocation of cells into the buffer and service discipline. The MPQ
scheme is, by nature, a non-fixed priority method in which delay times and loss
probabilities of each service class are taken into account and both delay times and
loss probabilities can be controlled with less dependency compared with the fixed
priority method, where priority grant rule is fixed according to the service class, and
the priority is always given to the highest class cell among cells existing in the
buffer. The proposed priority control is executed independently at each switching
node as a local buffer management. Buffer partitioning is applied to overcome the
weakness of the single buffer.


This paper constructs several objective indicators of regulatory intensity in the context of the Spanish decentralization since 1978. Our aim is to develop a quantitative measure of the levels of regulatory intensity set by different regions in Spain. The dynamic nature of the decentralization process requires that we take into account the initial institutional framework for decentralization and the successive transfers of powers to the regions. As a result, we obtain a series of variables that measure regulatory intensity across Spanish regions in the period 1978-2009.


We propose in this article a two-step testing procedure of fractional cointegration in macroeconomic time series. It is based on Robinson's (1994) univariate tests and is similar in spirit to the one proposed by Engle and Granger (1987), testing initially the order of integration of the individual series and then, testing the degree of integration of the residuals from the cointegrating relationship. Finite-sample critical values of the new tests are computed and Monte Carlo experiments are conducted to examine the size and the power properties of the tests in finite samples. An empirical application, using the same datasets as in Engle and Granger (1987) is also carried out at the end of the article.


This paper proposes a test for the null that, in a cointegrated panel, the long-run correlation between the regressors and the error term is different from zero. As is well known, in such case the OLS estimator is T-consistent, whereas it is math formula-consistent when there is no endogeneity. Other estimators can be employed, such as the FM-OLS, that are math formula-consistent irrespective of whether exogeneity is present or not. Using the difference between the former and the latter estimator, we construct a test statistic which diverges at a rate math formula under the null of endogeneity, whilst it is bounded under the alternative of exogeneity, and employ a randomization approach to carry out the test. Monte Carlo evidence shows that the test has the correct size and good power.


Consensus protocols have traditionally been studied in a setting where all participants are known to each other from the start of the protocol execution. In the parlance of the 'blockchain' literature, this is referred to as the permissioned setting. What differentiates Bitcoin from these previously studied protocols is that it operates in a permissionless setting, i.e. it is a protocol for establishing consensus over an unknown network of participants that anybody can join, with as many identities as they like in any role. The arrival of this new form of protocol brings with it many questions. Beyond Bitcoin, what can we prove about permissionless protocols in a general sense? How does recent work on permissionless protocols in the blockchain literature relate to the well-developed history of research on permissioned protocols in distributed computing? To answer these questions, we describe a formal framework for the analysis of both permissioned and permissionless systems. Our framework allows for"apples-to-apples"comparisons between different categories of protocols and, in turn, the development of theory to formally discuss their relative merits. A major benefit of the framework is that it facilitates the application of a rich history of proofs and techniques in distributed computing to problems in blockchain and the study of permissionless systems. Within our framework, we then address the questions above. We consider the Byzantine Generals Problem as a formalisation of the problem of reaching consensus, and address a programme of research that asks,"Under what adversarial conditions, and for what types of permissionless protocol, is consensus possible?"We prove a number of results for this programme, our main result being that deterministic consensus is not possible for decentralised permissionless protocols. To close, we give a list of eight open questions.


This article aims at discussing the relation between linguistic research and documentation projects based on a long term field experience among the Kuikuro, a Carib speaking people living in Southern Amazonia (Brazil). Kuikuro is an endangered language, spoken by about 600 individuals, who suffer the encroachment of Brazilian national society, whose dominant language is Portuguese. Whereas the linguistic documentation project started in 2000, with the additional proposal of recording ethnographic contexts of language use, the linguistic research began much earlier. The Kuikuro expectations and representations on research and documentation are described as well as their cultural presuppositions and consequences. Three moments characterize, along almost thirty years, the development of the relations between the researcher(s) and the native people: first, a suspicious reception; then, the domestication of the outsider; finally, the documentation project was assumed by the Kuikuro themselves, who never gave up their political and cultural agentivity. Keywords: Amazonian languages; Carib; Upper Xingu; Linguistic Documentation; Endangered Languages; DoBeS Program


Introduction : Social accounting in healthcare is a quantitative–qualitative accounting tool which marks the bond between the business and its social background. It displays healthcare business results and information to the stakeholder. Actually, its use is not widespread in Italy, but often published in United States and other Countries. Methods : This work is based upon an empirical research, studying social accounting from Local Health Units (LHU, Italian ASL) of Adria, Brindisi, Firenze and Umbria region published between 2006 and 2008. These documents have been analyzed, studying the business' structure, healthcare services, social and economical conditions, financial status, performance indexes and much more data about most company activities. Results : Accountability in Italy has been studied carefully through longitudinal and cross sectional analysis, observing models and contents, elaborating a concrete proposal for social accounting. Discussion : Social accounting in healthcare can guarantee important information for non-expert users and expert technicians, allowing the former to take more conscious decisions, and the latter to study its business aspects more deeply. This is made possible by the consideration of extended economical data available in other accountability forms (like annual financial statement), and other performance indexes which give valuable data about social impact, efficiency and effectiveness to the end user.


Abstract. Molecular data have revealed many morphologically cryptic species. More surprising than lack of difference, however, is that morphological variation and complex patterns of overlapping features can mask cryptic species. We employ geometric morphometric methods (GMM) to explore patterns of variation within four liverwort species, three of which were previously attributed to Lejeunea tumida Mitt. Each species exhibited considerable variation within, and overlap among, species in size and shape, independent of degree of relatedness. Most variation was expressed within individuals, suggesting that the observed breadth of variation was within the developmental capacity of single genotypes. Size and shape variation within, and consequently overlap among, individuals resulted primarily from variance in growth of shoots. Inter-specific differences were swamped by intra- and inter-individual variation. We coupled GMM with multivariate methods for outlier removal, and simple averaging of individuals to explore whether intra-individual variation could be reconciled to maximise the inter-species difference, facilitating resolution of cryptic species despite extensive morphological continuity and overlap. Unfortunately, outlier removal did not achieve separation among species, because removing extremes failed to eliminate overlap resulting from within-species variation. Individual averaging was partially successful in extracting L. tumida as a discrete entity but did not segregate the remaining three species. Although the challenges for morphology-based identification of cryptic species are significant, GMM provide one of the best sets of methods for identifying and communicating any subtle morphological differences that may exist.


Editor's Note of Appreciation In addition to acknowledging the guidance and assistance of the members of the Editorial Board, the editor would like to thank the following people who have offered their assistance in reviewing PG submissions over the past year (1 July 2007–30 June 2008). Their time and diligence in providing constructive comments on manuscripts have been of great service to the authors and the editor.


Revalidation will have two core components: relicensure and specialist recertification. All doctors wishing to practise in the UK will require a licence issued by the General Medical Council and those on the specialist register will also be required to demonstrate that they meet the standards that apply to their medical specialty. Eight methods of evaluating performance are considered in this paper--all provide opportunities to reflect on clinical practice and to raise standards. A blueprint might be used to ensure that relicensure and specialist recertification sample different domains of clinical practice during the five-year cycle, but time and money will be required to develop standards that are valid, reliable and assessable, as well as to pilot and implement the specialty-specific tools required for assessing such standards. The Royal College of Physicians and the medical specialties must engage with this process so that specialist recertification is acceptable and achievable.


IN HIS 1801 ESSAY THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FICHTE'S AND SCHELLING'S System of Philosophy, Hegel set out that difference in terms of a contrast between reflective and speculative philosophy. Dichotomy, rupture [Entzweiung], he argued, gives rise to the need for philosophy, a rupturing which reflective philosophy both seeks to resolve and exasperates. The understanding strives to enlarge itself to the absolute, but, in its finitude, it only reproduces itself endlessly, positing oppositions within itself and its products, and so mocks itself. (1) The being of nature, in particular, is either dissolved into abstractions or remains but a deadly darkness within intellect. Although Fichte was Hegel's prime target here, much of contemporary philosophy was included in his critique. Hegel argued that the identity philosophy of Schelling, however, in which reason raises itself to speculation and provides a positive account of being, overcomes such finitudes and ruptures. The Critical Journal of Philosophy that Schelling and Hegel launched from Jena in 1802, critical of the limitations of proliferating contemporary philosophical systems, sought to establish an objective philosophical criticism based upon such a speculative use of reason. (2) In Germany at the turn of the nineteenth century, all philosophy, and especially all philosophical criticism, began with reference to Kant's critical philosophy. In the "Preface" to his Difference essay, Hegel praised the spirit of Kantian philosophy, the speculative principle articulated in the transcendental deduction of the categories, but deprecated the "remainder"--the hypostatization of the thing-in-itself, the transformation of the categories into dead compartments of the understanding and their opposition to the empirical realm of sensation, the restriction of practical reason to what can be conceived by the understanding--all of which became fodder for reflective philosophy (Hegel, Differenz 5-6). Kant never had the opportunity to comment on the project of The Critical Journal of Philosophy, but his own critical project started from exposing the errors and contradictions of reason in its purely speculative use and arguing for its restriction to finite, empirical knowledge. Nevertheless, Kant's critical works were primarily preoccupied with the cognitive processes involved in the production of such knowledge, with the laws of reason that are the necessary conditions of possible experience, with interrogating how cognition in general is possible. Yet Kant left a problematic rupture in his critical examination of the conditions and sources of cognition, a rupture that he explicitly acknowledged and graphically represented in the "Introduction" to his 1790 Critique of Judgment as "an immense gulf [Kluft]" between the two domains of our cognitive powers, that in which understanding legislates through the concept of nature and that in which reason legislates through the concept of reason, the subjects of his first two critiques. (3) For Kant, this chasm leaves indeterminate not only how freedom was to be reconciled with the necessity of nature, but also how nature was to be comprehended as an organized system. We are left merely with reflective judgments of these relations, problematic acts of synthesis, rather than determinative judgments based upon the necessary laws of cognition. Kant also acknowledged a rupture in his attempt to determine the conditions and sources of cognition in his 1782 Critique of Pure Reason, when he referred the relation of sensory intuition and understanding to a "common," "unknown root [Wurzel]." (4) As Heidegger has argued, it is the transcendental imagination that acts as this "unknown root," unconsciously relating the concepts of understanding to the manifold of intuition in judgment. Indeed, it is the unconscious transcendental imagination that enacts the synthesis of the manifold of intuition, prior to apperception, to produce a unified representation of appearances for reflective consciousness in Kant's celebrated, if problematic, "Transcendental Deduction of the Pure Concepts of the Understanding. …


Behavioral economics presents a "paternalistic" rationale for intervention by a benevolent government. This paper studies the desirability of various forms of collective action when government decisions are determined via the political process in response to votes by time inconsistent voters. We consider an economy where the only "distortion" is the agents' time inconsistency. We first examine a fully decentralized economy where agents can make private "investments" in a commitment technology. We show that the demand for commitment is non monotone with the degree of time inconsistency, with agents with intermediate intensity of present bias exhibiting the highest value of commitment. We then study several forms of collective action. If only commitment decisions are centralized, commitment investment is often more moderate than if all decisions are centralized. Welfare consequences of full centralization (of both commitment and consumption decisions) are ambiguous and depend on the distribution of time inconstistency in the population.


Abstract. Semi-terrestrial soils such as floodplain soils are
considered potential hot spots of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. Microhabitats
in the soil – such as within and outside of aggregates, in the detritusphere, and/or in
the rhizosphere – are considered to promote and preserve specific redox conditions. Yet
our understanding of the relative effects of such microhabitats and their interactions on
N2O production and consumption in soils is still incomplete. Therefore, we
assessed the effect of aggregate size, buried leaf litter, and plant–soil interactions
on the occurrence of enhanced N2O emissions under simulated flooding/drying
conditions in a mesocosm experiment. We used two model soils with equivalent structure
and texture, comprising macroaggregates (4000–250 µm) or microaggregates
(<250 µm) from a N-rich floodplain soil. These model soils were planted with
basket willow (Salix viminalis L.), mixed with leaf litter or left unamended.
After 48 h of flooding, a period of enhanced N2O emissions occurred in all
treatments. The unamended model soils with macroaggregates emitted significantly more
N2O during this period than those with microaggregates. Litter addition
modulated the temporal pattern of the N2O emission, leading to short-term peaks
of high N2O fluxes at the beginning of the period of enhanced N2O
emission. The presence of S. viminalis strongly suppressed the N2O
emission from the macroaggregate model soil, masking any aggregate-size effect.
Integration of the flux data with data on soil bulk density, moisture, redox potential
and soil solution composition suggest that macroaggregates provided more favourable
conditions for spatially coupled nitrification–denitrification, which are particularly
conducive to net N2O production. The local increase in
organic carbon in the detritusphere appears to first stimulate N2O emissions;
but ultimately, respiration of the surplus organic matter shifts the system towards redox
conditions where N2O reduction to N2 dominates. Similarly, the low
emission rates in the planted soils can be best explained by root exudation of
low-molecular-weight organic substances supporting complete denitrification in the anoxic
zones, but also by the inhibition of denitrification in the zone, where rhizosphere
aeration takes place. Together, our experiments highlight the importance of microhabitat
formation in regulating oxygen (O2) content and the completeness of
denitrification in soils during drying after saturation. Moreover, they will help to
better predict the conditions under which hot spots, and "hot
moments", of enhanced
N2O emissions are most likely to occur in hydrologically dynamic soil systems
like floodplain soils.


ABSTRACT In this article, we analyse Syrian refugee-led organisations and initiatives in Berlin, Germany, including those led by individuals, small groups or as part of religious institutions, to understand their role in the integration process for Syrians. We draw on a framework of refugee integration to examine the role of bridging, bonding, and linking in fostering social connections. We argue that the types of social connections these organisations aim to foster impact the integration process for Syrian refugees, and indeed that the process of creating such initiatives is demonstrative of important components of integration into Germany. Notably, the existence of Syrian refugee-led organisations demonstrates a compelling interplay between Germany's enabling environment for civil society and refugees' engagement in it in ways that were largely suppressed in Syria. We posit that refugee-led organisations constitute an important conceptual site of examination relating to theories on refugee integration, and have the potential to be analysed as independent actors within such frameworks. Many organisations appear to be intermediaries or even suppliers of social services, suggesting they are integral yet overlooked actors within refugee assistance. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first mapping of Syrian refugee-led organisations and initiatives in Berlin.


Noblesse Oblige: Norway's Participation in Unesco's Educational Experimental Program 1953–1959. In 1953, Unesco initiated a teaching experiment project, "Co-ordinated Experimental Activities in Schools of Member States of UNESCO," with object to develop an effective and coherent, cross-national "education for peace." Norway was one of 15 countries that accepted the invitation, and put great effort into the project on a national level throughout the 1950's. Where earlier research has focused on the hands-on implementation of the experiments, this article targets the background and motivation for the Norwegian participation. By focusing on key participants and organizational structures framing the experiments, the article argues that the Norwegian efforts to a significant extent should be seen as part of a broader Norwegian policy towards building cultural relations with other countries. An overall ambition for this policy was to promote the Norwegian educational system as an expression of a particular Norwegian democratic and peace building tradition. This also reflected a self-image that resulted in much of a noblesse-oblige-approach towards Unesco, where Norway, together with its Nordic counterparts, felt obligated to offer their assistance.


Abstract We analysed the basic mechanisms of signal transmission in DNA and the origins of the allostery exhibited by systems such as the ternary complex BAMHI–DNA–GRDBD. We found that perturbation information generated by a primary protein binding event travels as a wave to distant regions of DNA following a hopping mechanism. However, such a structural perturbation is transient and does not lead to permanent changes in the DNA geometry and interaction properties at the secondary binding site. The BAMHI–DNA–GRDBD allosteric mechanism does not occur through any traditional models: direct (protein-protein), indirect (reorganization of the secondary site) readout or solvent-release. On the contrary, it is generated by a subtle and less common entropy-mediated mechanism, which might have an important role to explain other DNA-mediated cooperative effects.


The European Commission, through its framework programme aims to stimulate the development of sustained collaborative research networks across Europe. Social network analysis (SNA) has previously been used to evaluate collaboration between projects at a European level. In this study SNA was used to evaluate the nature of the relationship between researchers at network startup, roles subsequently allocated to them, and network configuration. A correlation was found between centrality at startup and subsequent role allocation. Indegree/outdegree analysis provided some indication of this but greater insight was found from examining network partitions and n-cliques.


Gambling and probably theory have a long intertwined history, with early publications dating to the 17th century. Fair games of chance, such as Blackjack or Baccarat, are exact: because the relevant elements of randomness within these games are known, probability theory can be applied to deduce outcomes, notably the house advantage. Application of probability theory can, however, prove unwieldy for computing the outcome of everyday gambling behaviours, such as using betting systems, like the Martingale, or enacting gambling biases such as the Gambler? Fallacy or its converse? Allow the Herd Mentality's Simulation is one proven way to assess possible outcomes in such situations. Within this presentation we share insights from two gaming simulations we have created. The first simulates the behaviour of Optimal blackjack players, all of whom intend to play approximately two hours, or one hundred hands. This simulation shows the effect of setting monetary loss/win limits.  As should be expected, regardless of the width of the limit or the limit's symmetry, the house advantage does not change; however, the length of play does, which in turn affects the cumulative losses and the handle, a relevant insight for gaming establishments.  Asymmetrical betting limits, such as? Leave if I lose $500, but stay until I win $1000 increases the number of players who finish with losses relative to players with symmetrical bet limits, which could affect player psychology. A second simulation explores the effect of the herd mentality when applied to Baccarat (i.e., contrary to the gambler? fallacy bets escalate on to the winning side of a streak).  The able differential is the difference between total banker bets to total player bets or vice versa, thereby limiting the casino's exposure to loss. Intuitively, as the differential increases, so does the collective player handle, hence house winnings, thus suggesting that high differentials are beneficial for the house? Regardless of differential, the house advantage does not change; but the greater the differential, the greater the number of shoes that end with players losing and the more extreme are the spikes in the positive domain for players (the house paying out for a hand of play). This simulation is therefore intended to help casino managers set betting limits that maximize total winnings while bearing in mind both the probability and magnitude of negative outcomes of increased differentials.


The book deals with The Social and Political Philosophy of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) who happened to be one of the great freedom fighters and made rare sacrifices for the cause of independence to India. Later, as the leader of the Congress party and the first Prime Minister of free India, he served the nation well and admirably developed India in a way that she occupies a distinguished place among the nations of the world.Today he is no more with us. But India is still following the path he had shown and the foundation he laid for her future progress. Whether the policies he followed in the areas of economic prosperity or industrial and technological progress of the nation, or for non-alignment and non-dependence on superpowers, India is still continuing to pursue the Nehru line.


Ectopic pregnancy, defined as the placement of an embryonic sac somewhere other than the uterine wall, is the most common life-threatening emergency seen during early pregnancy. Interstitial ectopic pregnancy is defined as the placement of an ectopic pregnancy to the uterine part of the fallopian tubes and makes up about 2-4% of all ectopic pregnancies. Compared to other tubal pregnancies, they rupture later during pregnancy and gross hemorrhage is seen as a result of this rupture. Maternal mortality risk is 2 to 5 times more in interstitial ruptured pregnancy in comparison with other tubal pregnancies. Early diagnosis and treatment of interstitial ectopic pregnancy is therefore very crucial, as they carry a very high risk of morbidity associated with the rupture. In this case report, we present a case presenting with severe abdominal pain and amenorrhea for 3 months to our clinic. After examination, the patient was diagnosed with a cornual ectopic pregnancy which was late for a case like this. We would like to discuss this case with a literature review on this subject.


When analyzing data from computationally expensive simulation codes, surrogate modeling methods are firmly established as facilitators for design space exploration, sensitivity analysis, visualization and optimization. Kriging is a popular surrogate modeling technique used for the Design and Analysis of Computer Experiments (DACE). Hence, the past decade Kriging has been the subject of extensive research and many extensions have been proposed, e.g., co-Kriging, stochastic Kriging, blind Kriging, etc. However, few Kriging implementations are publicly available and tailored towards scientists and engineers. Furthermore, no Kriging toolbox exists that unifies several Kriging flavors. This paper addresses this need by presenting an efficient object-oriented Kriging implementation and several Kriging extensions, providing a flexible and easily extendable framework to test and implement new Kriging flavors while reusing as much code as possible.


While the importance of effective interpreting service and its value in making public services accessible to migrants has been acknowledged in the literature, little attention has been given to the opportunities it provides to speakers of different languages to engage in multilingual talk. In this paper, we analyse interpreter-mediated interactions recorded in public healthcare settings and show that the interpreters' coordinating work can enhance an interest of the interlocutors in each other perspective and in each other language, which eventually leads to attempts to talk to each other through language switching and mixing. We suggest that besides solving the local problem of rendering communication between speakers of different languages possible, interpreter-mediated interaction creates opportunities of language learning and perspective-taking.


We visit the following fundamental problem: For a 'generic' model of consumer choice (namely, distributions over preference lists) and a limited amount of data on how consumers actually make decisions (such as marginal preference information), how may one predict revenues from offering a particular assortment of choices? This problem is central to areas within operations research, marketing and econometrics. We present a framework to answer such questions and design a number of tractable algorithms (from a data and computational standpoint) for the same.


Decisions to invest in large-scale transport projects typically extend beyond traditional costbenefit analysis. Multi-criteria analysis methods such as multi-actor multi-criteria analysis (MAMCA) have been proposed to assess wider economic effects and long-term environmental impacts from various stakeholder perspectives. However, there is no standard practice for appraising transport projects against sustainable development objectives. In order to give future generations a voice in decisions that will impact them, this paper extends the MAMCA methodology to make various actors and a "sustainability viewpoint" explicit. A dual-approach method for constructing sustainability viewpoints in transport appraisal is proposed. The method juxtaposes an expert-based approach with a principle-based approach. In the former, sustainability experts are asked to prioritise criteria for project assessment. In the latter, criteria weights are calculated based on sustainability theory ("strong" and "weak" sustainability). Together, these viewpoints are intended to inform decision-making. The appraisal of HS2 Phase I, a high-speed rail project in the UK, is used to demonstrate the proposed method. It is found that all three variants of the sustainability viewpoint result in project preferences that are similar to each other, but different from those of other transport professionals. The paper concludes by arguing for the explicit inclusion and triangulation of sustainability viewpoints in transport appraisal on a multi-actor basis. One practical recommendation from the MAMCA process is the need to hire more transport planners with sustainability experience into government planning agencies.


Encoding analog signal amplitudes into digitized form has become one of the fundamental operations in microelectronics integrated circuits. Hundreds of engineers and scientists have contributed to the development of this field. Recent surveys have studied the evolution of A/D chip performance over the past few years; these include a 2010 study by Jonsson [1] and Murmann's online spreadsheet covering the period 19972012 [2]. It is naive to think that one could do justice to such a history here in only a few pages. Moreover, many authorative publications have already treated the electronic and practical details as well as the historical background. Examples include fairly recent books by Walt Kester of Analog Devices [3] and Marcel Pelgrom of NXP, formerly Philips [4]; a 1978 tutorial article by Bernard Gordon [5]; and a textbook on pulse code modulation by K. W. Cattermole [6]. Gordon, who until recently was still active at Analogic Corp. and who in the 1950s pioneered analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) for avionics and missile telemetry, noted in his 1978 paper that the overall field of data conversion has sprung from two distinct fountainheads. [One was in the] late 1930s [with the invention of] coding and decoding for pulse c<?Pub Caret?>ode modulation, primarily for telephone communication. Not until the early 1950s [did the second arrive:] instrumentation-oriented data conversion. To a large extent the efforts from these two diverse sources have proceeded independently and with some resulting confusion in terminology [5].


Description: Addressing the needs of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and mitigating negative outcomes of the growing OVC population worldwide is a high priority for national governments and international stakeholders across the globe who recognize this as an issue with social, economic, and human rights dimensions. Assembling the relevant available data on OVC in one place, and acknowledging the gaps that still exist in our knowledge, will assist policy makers and program implementers to make evidence-based decisions about how best to direct funding and program activities and maximize positive outcomes for children and their caretakers. This Research Situation Analysis, Zambia Country Brief presents a programfocused summary of available information on:áThe number of orphans and vulnerable children in Zambia; Current policies, programs and interventions designed and implemented to assist them; Gaps in these policies, programs and interventions; OVC research conducted between 2004-2008; Gaps in the Zambian OVC evidence base. The Brief analyzes the available data for critical gaps in the national response and our understanding about whether current interventions are fulfilling the needs and improving the lives of vulnerable children. The report then recommends actions required to increase the knowledge base for improving the effectiveness and impact of OVC programs.


Abstract : Maintaining the Fleet Readiness Plan (FRP) construct of six aircraft carriers available within 30 days, plus two additional carriers available within 90 days is a difficult task. Maintenance requirements on carriers alone make satisfying the FRP a challenging scheduling problem. We develop a carrier maintenance scheduling model with a goal to meet, as best as possible, the FRP requirements over a ten-year period, while obeying simple maintenance facility constraints. This model allows us to anticipate gaps in coverage and also quantitatively assess the benefit, or burden, of resizing the fleet. We conclude that by increasing the average cycle time for a Carrier Strike Group (CSG) to 27 months we can meet the FRP requirements continuously after an initial maintenance adjustment period of 62 months.


Background: Charcot neuroarthropathy (CN) is a progressive, destructive disease of the bones and joints. Charcot ankle and hind foot deformities are challenging to treat, and arthrodesis is the method of choice in correcting these deformities. The aim of this study is to evaluate the results of ankle fusion by narrow DCP through anterior approach in cases with Charcot neuroarthropathy of the ankle.
Methods: A prospective study of 17 patients (12 men) at an average follow-up time of 41.18 (25-60) months. The indications for surgery were Charcot neuroarthropathy of the ankle with non-braceable deformity and instability with impending ulceration and/or arthritis. The mean age was 57.06 (46 years to 70 years) years, mean body mass index was 36.59 (range 26-47) and mean duration of diabetes mellitus was 20.12 (6 years to 46 years) years.
Results: The mean operative time was 56.18 (40 to 70) minutes. Bony fusion achieved radiologically in 10 feet (58.8%); with a mean time to union of 6.65 (4 to 10) months; the remaining patients had a stable painless fibrous union. The AOFAS- hind foot scale improved from average preoperative score of 53.3 ± 5.2 to average postoperative score of 77.5 ± 9.2. Complications include two minor infection, two deep infection and two proud screws.
Conclusions: Fusion of Charcot ankle with narrow DCP using a single anterior incision is a simple economic method, with less soft tissue disruption, ease of deformity correction, and high rate of patient satisfaction.


Resin bolt parameters, such as back pressure and gloving, and their effect on ground support system performance, remains one of the fundamental areas of rockbolt research. The majority of previous studies into resin bolting parameters have utilised various methodologies to investigate the effect of a singular parameter. Unfortunately, due to the variability in methodologies and the relatively narrow field of study of each research project, a holistic conclusion into the exact science behind various results is unable to be drawn. It is the focus of this research project to conduct a detailed and consistent testing program, which attempts to simulate real world conditions as closely as possible, in order to provide the industry with engineered roof bolting solutions to specific underground roof properties. Recently published studies have implemented steel piping as a simulated borehole and have reported relatively high back-pressure measurements. As part of this project, testing conducted both underground and in a cement block, have recorded back-pressures in the range of 4-10 MPa, which are substantially lower than previous tests conducted in steel piping. Rockbolts installed in an underground coal mine using a continuous miner have been over-cored, the core has been cut into 100 mm lengths and each sample has been push tested. After push testing, the samples from the top 300 mm of each bolt were inspected for gloving. Almost all of the recovered rockbolts experienced some degree of gloving within the top 300 mm of its length. The average severity of gloving within these specimens was found to be relatively minor. It was found that gloving can reduce load transfer by 4-6 kN per 10% of gloved surface area.


For many parasites, the full set of hosts that are susceptible to infection is not known, and this could lead to a bias in estimates of transmission. We used counts of individual adult parasites from historical parasitology studies in southern Africa to map a bipartite network of the nematode parasites of herbivore hosts that occur in Botswana. Bipartite networks are used in community ecology to represent interactions across trophic levels. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to predict the full set of host–parasite interactions from existing data on parasitic gastrointestinal nematodes of wild and domestic ungulates given assumptions about the distribution of parasite counts within hosts, while accounting for the relative uncertainty of less sampled species. We used network metrics to assess the difference between the observed and predicted networks, and to explore the connections between hosts via their shared parasites using a host–host unipartite network projected from the bipartite network. The model predicts a large number of missing links and identifies red hartebeest, giraffe and steenbok as the hosts that have the most uncertainty in parasite diversity. Further, the unipartite network reveals clusters of herbivores that have a high degree of parasite sharing, and these clusters correspond closely with phylogenetic distance rather than with the wild/domestic boundary. These results provide a basis for predicting the risk of cross-species transmission of nematode parasites in areas where livestock and wildlife share grazing land. This article is part of the themed issue 'Opening the black box: re-examining the ecology and evolution of parasite transmission'.


The plane-wave method is modified for tunneling evanescent solutions of Maxwell's equations with complex k vectors (tunneling modes). In our formulation the imaginary part of the k vectors is not necessarily parallel to the real part of the k vectors. We present computed complex photonic band structures of the simple-cubic (sc) and face-centered-cubic (fcc) lattice structures at the symmetric points, such as X, M, and R for the sc and X, L, W, U, and K for the fcc with various directions of imaginary k vectors. In addition, relations between imaginary k vectors and tunneling modes are examined at points X, M, R, and K. Tunneling electromagnetic modes can mathematically exist in the photonic band gaps among propagating eigenmodes even in an infinite photonic crystal. With the concept of electromagnetic tunnelings in photonic crystals, we explain classically various kinds of important phenomena such as inhibition of the spontaneous emission and localized defect modes. The method developed here for solutions with complex eigenfrequencies and k vectors can be readily extended to media with loss or gain by adoption of complex dielectric constants.


At the dawn of the 1930s a new empowered and liberated image of the female was taking root in popular culture in the West. This 'modern woman' archetype was also penetrating into Eastern cultures, however, challenging the Chinese and Japanese historical norm of the woman as homemaker, servant or geisha. Through a focus on the writings of the Western women who engaged with the Far East, and the Eastern writers and personalities who reacted to this new global gender communication by forming their own separate identities, Katrina Gulliver reveals the complex redefining of the self taking place in a crucial time of political and economic upheaval. Including an analysis of the work of Nobel Prize laureate Pearl S. Buck, The Modern Woman in China and Japan is an important contribution to gender studies and will appeal to historians and scholars of China and East Asia as well as to those studying Asian and American literature.


Retail goods are an important component of the consumption basket and changes in their prices have had a significant influence on CPI inflation over the past decade, particularly following movements in the exchange rate. To help understand the drivers of inflation for retail goods, this article sets out the major costs and margins involved in supplying retail goods to consumers. Notwithstanding dispersion across different types of goods, on average, around half of the final price of retail items can be attributed to the cost of the goods themselves, with the remaining half covering the gross margins of wholesale and retail firms in the distribution supply chain. The costs incurred by distributors are broadly split between labour and other input costs, with distributors' profit margins accounting for a little under 10 per cent of the final sale price. These shares have remained relatively stable for at least the past decade.


On April 6, 2020, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights published a long-delayed report entitled Examining the Race Effects of Stand Your Ground Laws and Related Issues. This Statement is a part of that report.

The report is unusual in the sense that (apart from individual Commissioner Statements) it consists solely of a five year-old briefing transcript. It contains no original analysis, findings or recommendations.

It was not supposed to be that way. When the Commission undertook this project, the plan was for the Commission to conduct empirical research on "Stand Your Ground" laws and to produce a report containing both that research and a discussion of "Stand Your Ground" laws based in part on the testimony produced at the briefing but also on the Commission staff's independent research. Alas, when the empirical research did not support the preconceived view of the Commission's majority that "Stand Your Ground" laws harm African Americans, the project was shelved. Years later—at a time the Commission was interested in getting out as many reports as possible—it decided to publish a transcript of the briefing along with Commissioner Statements. After almost two further years of delay, the report was finally published.

This individual Statement details how the Commission did not understand long history of "Stand Your Ground" laws and misconceived their racial impact.


Clostridium difficile is a Gram-positive, anaerobic bacterium that is the most frequent
cause of antibiotic-associated colitis and healthcare-acquired diarrhoea worldwide. In
many Gram-positive bacteria, a membrane bound sortase enzyme covalently anchors
surface proteins to the cell wall, a process that is essential for virulence. Sortase protein
anchoring is mediated by a conserved cell wall sorting signal on the anchored protein,
containing the "LPXTG-like" motif. Sequence analysis confirmed that C. difficile strain 630
encodes a single sortase, CD2718, but little is known about its function. In this study, we
identify seven predicted cell wall proteins with the (S/P)PXTG sorting motif, four of which
are conserved across all five C. difficile lineages and include potential adhesins and cell
wall hydrolases. A FRET-based assay was developed to confirm that recombinant CD2718
catalyses the cleavage of fluorescently labelled peptides containing (S/P)PXTG motifs in
vitro. Mass spectrometry reveals the cleavage site to be between the threonine and
glycine residues of the (S/P)PXTG peptide. Replacement of the predicted catalytic cysteine
residue at position 209 with alanine abolishes CD2718 activity, as does addition of the
cysteine protease inhibitor MTSET to the reaction. The activity of CD2718 can also be
inhibited by several small-molecule inhibitors identified through an in silico screen.
CD2718-mediated cleavage of a recombinant fusion protein containing the full length
predicted sortase substrate CD0183 was also observed. These results demonstrate for the
first time that C. difficile encodes a single sortase enzyme that recognises (S/P)PXTG
sequences. The activity of CD2718 can be inhibited by rationally designed small-molecule
inhibitors, and may be an appropriate target for downstream anti-infective therapies
against C. difficile infection.


This evaluation (RE-364) focuses on the functionality of processes utilized by the Bank to manage all of its non-reimbursable technical cooperation activities, funded by sources other than the administrative budget of the Bank - activities that are hereafter referred to as TC. This focus on the means, or processes utilized, rather than on the results is somewhat atypical of evaluations conducted by OVE. Yet, OVE's prior findings assessing specific groups TC point to a strong correlation between TC results and the capabilities of the process utilized to manage them. OVE formulates fiver recommendations. Recommendations 1 & 2 are aimed at strengthening TC quality and refocusing incentives. Recommendations 3, 4 & 5 seek to facilitate these improvements by redefining 31 organizational accountability for TC; as well as the management of TC financial and non-financial resource


Many rural communities suffer from the poor management of natural resources they depend on. Natural resources such as land, water and forests are the source of their daily needs. It is well known that the sustainable use of natural resources is important, however, in the process of natural resource management some people are excluded from the decision-making process, especially rural women. This study examines the efficiency and equity consequences of natural resources and land management institutional practices in land reform projects in rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) in relation to gender issues. Case studies of two land reform projects in KZN, Platt Estate (restitution) and Ekuthuleni (redistribution) are used. Both quantitative (questionnaire surveys) and qualitative (focus group discussions, venn diagrams, mental mapping and ranking exercises) methods were used. The study examines the main links between women's needs and concerns as well as their participation in decision-making over land use and management of resources. Another noteworthy aspect that is examined is the way in which changing and differentiated patterns of control, access and use of land resources at household and community levels affect the ways in which resources are exploited and managed, especially in relation to women. Generally, the research findings illustrate that sustainable land use and natural resource management at the community and household levels in rural areas cannot be neglected or ignored in areas where high levels of poverty persist and where the re-invention and re-assertion of tradition is prevalent, especially traditional governance structures and patriarchy. In all two communities, structures pertaining to land management exist but the functionality, sustainability and viability of these structures and their ability to address development and environmental needs that impact on the social, economic, political and environmental quality of life are major concerns. Furthermore, women's participation in these structures is limited and several problems are experienced.


High quality speech-to-lips conversion, investigated in t his work, renders realistic lips movement (video) consistent with input sp eech (audio) without knowing its linguistic content. Instead of memoryless framebased conversion, we adopt maximum likelihood estimation of the visual parameter trajectories using an audio-visual joint Gau ssian Mixture Model (GMM). We propose a minimum converted trajectory error approach (MCTE) to further refine the converted visual paramete rs. First, we reduce the conversion error by training the joint audio-visual GMM with weighted audio and visual likelihood. Then MCTE uses the generalized probabilistic descent algorithm to minimize a conversion error of the visual parameter trajectories defined on the optimal Gau ssian kernel sequence according to the input speech. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods using the LIPS 2009 Visual Speech Synthesis Challenge dataset, without knowing the linguistic (phonetic) content of the input speech. Index Terms: visual speech synthesis, speech-to-lips conversion, mini mum conversion error, minimum generation error


Recordings are now the primary way we hear classical music, especially the more abstract styles of 'absolute' instrumental music. In this original, provocative book, Arved Ashby argues that recording technology has transformed our understanding of art music. Contesting the laments of nostalgic critics, Ashby sees recordings as socially progressive and instruments of a musical vernacular, but also finds that recording and absolute music actually involve similar notions of removing sound from context. He takes stock of technology's impact on classical music, addressing the questions at the heart of the issue. This erudite yet concise study reveals how mechanical reproduction has transformed classical musical culture and the very act of listening, breaking down aesthetic and generational barriers and mixing classical music into the soundtrack of everyday life.


Recently there has been a significant interest in learning disentangled representations, as they promise increased interpretability, generalization to unseen scenarios and faster learning on downstream tasks. In this paper, we investigate the usefulness of different notions of disentanglement for improving the fairness of downstream prediction tasks based on representations. We consider the setting where the goal is to predict a target variable based on the learned representation of high-dimensional observations (such as images) that depend on both the target variable and an \emph{unobserved} sensitive variable. We show that in this setting both the optimal and empirical predictions can be unfair, even if the target variable and the sensitive variable are independent. Analyzing the representations of more than \num{12600} trained state-of-the-art disentangled models, we observe that several disentanglement scores are consistently correlated with increased fairness, suggesting that disentanglement may be a useful property to encourage fairness when sensitive variables are not observed.


Peripheral nerve lesions can result in exaggerated pain responses to low intensity mechanical stimuli (tactile allodynia). In the present work, the pharmacology of voltage-dependent calcium channels (VDCCs) involved in the transmission of neuropathic pain was characterized by examining the effects of antagonists specific to the N-, L- and P-type VDCCs, as well as an antagonist at a non-L-, non-N-type site. Drugs were administered via chronic lumbar intrathecal, i.v. or regional nerve block catheters implanted in rats with tactile allodynia induced by tight ligation of the left fifth and sixth lumbar spinal nerves. Intrathecally delivered N-type VDCC (omega-conopeptides SNX239, SNX159 and SNX111) produced dose-dependent blockade of tactile allodynia. Intrathecal L-type (diltiazem, verapamil and nimodipine), non-N-, non-L-type (omega-conopeptide SNX230) and P-type (omega-agatoxin IVA) VDCC antagonists had no effect on pain behavior at the highest doses examined. No VDCC antagonist suppressed paw withdrawal when administered i.v. SNX239, although effective when administered intrathecally, was without effect when applied regionally to the injured portion of the nerve. These results emphasize the importance of N-type, but not L- or P- type, VDCCs in the spinal cord on systems mediating persistent tactile allodynia after nerve injury.


Whilst many studies have examined social media use from a consumer perspective, relatively few have examined its use by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), a group for whom it is becoming increasingly important. This study aims to provide a deeper understanding of an under-researched area, the experience of SMEs during the process of adopting social media, by identifying the factors that influence SMEs to either adopt social media or not and, if they adopt it, how they use it and evaluate its usefulness. The study involves analysis of in-depth interviews with 42 Australian businesses. Roger's innovation decision process is used in an innovative manner to classify SMEs into five key stages of adoption of social media and identify the factors that influence the progression of SMEs across the various stages of adoption. The results show that the story of social media use is richer than just whether SMEs adopt it or not. Most participants used Facebook, suggesting it has become the de facto platform of choice to engage with social media. However, opinions of its perceived usefulness for SMEs varied widely across users. There was confusion surrounding the role of Twitter, its value, and concern about the amount of time needed to use it. YouTube was used by some SMEs to showcase their products or services. The study contributes to the literature by identifying key facilitators which appear critical to the decision by SMEs to continue use of social media – namely increased sales; brand development and a feeling of pressure that they 'have to be there'. It also identifies some inhibitors to sustained use by SMEs, typically a lack of compatibility to industry sector; insufficient followership; and limited return on investment compared to effort required. Finally, the study shows how SMEs differentiate between social media platforms.


Since the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, increased emphasis has been placed on the involvement of children in matters concerning them. In social research this has been reflected in increased participation of children in research. Children's increased participation, particularly disabled children's participation, has in part been encouraged by innovations, adoptions and applications in research methods. This has led to a growing number of new, 'non-traditional' research methods being added to the social researcher's methodological repertoire. However, the appropriateness of different research methods remains unknown and this research aims to fill this void. By using autistic children as a case in example, the primary aim of this research is to explain why some methods are more appropriate than others to be used when researching the social worlds of autistic children. The secondary aim is to explore the experiences of autistic children. This research therefore has a dual focus in that it is concerned with research methodology and the experiences of autistic children. The research aims were explored through an ethnographic approach to research, where six methods were used to explore the experiences of eleven autistic children aged between eleven and fifteen years. The two 'traditional' methods used were 1) observations of children in their school environment and 2) interviews with their parents and teachers. The four 'non-traditional' methods that required participation from the children required them to 1) write an essay about their imagined futures 2) take photographs of people, places and objects considered significant to them 3) reflect themselves through art and 4) to produce a documentary about their lives. The research found a number of factors to affect the appropriateness of methods. It was also found that while some methods were more appropriate than others, an understanding of the children's experiences was best achieved through a mixed-method, multi-dimensional approach.


[1] Scrub oak and pine flatwoods are two contrasting ecosystems common to the humid subtropical climate of Florida. Scrub oak forests are short in stature (<2 m) and occur on well-drained sandy soils, and pine flatwoods are much taller and occur in areas with poorly drained soils. Eddy covariance measurements were made from January 2001 to February 2003 over a scrub oak forest and from January 2002 to February 2003 over an adjacent pine flatwoods located on in central Florida, USA, and exposed to similar atmospheric conditions to evaluate how the dynamics of latent heat (λE) and sensible heat (H) exchanges are affected by environmental and biological variables. Annual evapotranspiration (Et) for the scrub oak was 737 and 713 mm in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Et was comparatively higher, 812 mm, in 2002 at the pine flatwoods due to higher soil moisture and leaf area. In both ecosystems, springtime increases in λE coincided with increasing leaf area and evaporative demand. However, H was the main energy-dissipating component in the spring due to the seasonal decrease in soil water content in the upper soil profile. In the spring, mean weekly Bowen ratio (β, i.e. H/λE) values reached 1.6 and 1.2 in the scrub oak and pine flatwoods, respectively. With the onset of the summertime rainy season, λE became the dominant energy flux and β fells to < 0.4. In both ecosystems, β was strongly controlled by the interaction between leaf area and soil moisture. The lowest values of the decoupling coefficient (Ω, 0.2 and 0.25 scrub oak and pine flatwoods, respectively) also occurred during the dry springtime period indicating that surface conductance (gs) was the mechanism controlling energy partitioning causing high β in both ecosystems. Et increases in the spring, when water in the upper soil profile was scarce and strongly retained by soil particles, indicated that plants in both ecosystems obtained water from deeper sources. The results from this research elucidate how energy partitioning differs and is regulated in contrasting ecosystems within the Florida landscape, which is important for refining regional hydrological and climate models.


A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of degree of Master of
Education in the school of education of Kenyatta University, July 2015


Semi-supervised learning algorithms have been successfully applied in many applications with scarce labeled data, by utilizing the unlabeled data. One important category is graph based semi-supervised learning algorithms, for which the performance depends considerably on the quality of the graph, or its hyperparameters. In this paper, we deal with the less explored problem of learning the graphs. We propose a graph learning method for the harmonic energy minimization method; this is done by minimizing the leave-one-out prediction error on labeled data points. We use a gradient based method and designed an efficient algorithm which significantly accelerates the calculation of the gradient by applying the matrix inversion lemma and using careful pre-computation. Experimental results show that the graph learning method is effective in improving the performance of the classification algorithm.


This article describes the academic debate about the usefulness of the capital asset pricing model (the CAPM) developed by Sharpe and Lintner. First the article describes the data the model is meant to explain?the historical average returns for various types of assets over long time periods. Then the article develops a version of the CAPM and describes how it measures the risk of investing in particular assets. Finally the article describes the results of competing studies of the model's validity. Included are studies that support the CAPM (Black; Black, Jensen, and Scholes; Fama and MacBeth), studies that challenge it (Banz; Fama and French), and studies that challenge those challenges (Amihud, Christensen, and Mendelson; Black; Breen and Korajczyk; Jagannathan and Wang; Kothari, Shanken, and Sloan). The article concludes by suggesting that, while academic debate continues, the CAPM may still be useful for those interested in the long run.


In Truth Matters: Theory and Practice in Psychoanalysis , Shlomit Yadlin-Gadot draws philosophical investigations of truth into psychoanalysis with wide ranging implications for both theory and clinical practice. Her 'truth axes' offer a powerful tool for understanding the mental world as well as for improving psychotherapy.


Objective To scope the relationships between rugby union, and health and well-being. Design Scoping review. Data sources Published and unpublished reports of any age, identified by searching electronic databases, platforms and reference lists. Methods A three-step search strategy identified relevant published primary, secondary studies and grey literature, which were screened using a priori inclusion criteria. Data were extracted using a standardised tool, to form (1) a numerical analysis and (2) a thematic summary. Results and discussion 6658 records were identified, and 198 studies met the inclusion criteria. All forms of rugby union can provide health-enhancing physical activity (PA). 'Non-contact' and wheelchair rugby in particular provide a wide range of physical and mental health and well-being benefits. The evidence is either mixed or unclear in relation to 'contact' rugby union and its effects on a range of physical health domains. Injury and concussion incidence rates are high for contact rugby union relative to other sports. Conclusions A wide range of stakeholders as well as existing and potential participants can use this information to make a more informed decision about participating in and promoting rugby union as a health-enhancing activity. Industry and policy-makers can use this review to inform policies and strategies that look to increase participation rates and use rugby union as a vehicle to contribute positively to population health. Further research understanding rugby union's contribution to PA as well as to muscle-strengthening and balance is indicated, as well as research examining more health and well-being outcomes across more diverse cohorts.


The hippocampal formation is an important structure in learning and memory that is required for the transfer of sensory information into long-term storage. This long-term storage is believed to occur in the neocortex and the physiological mechanism underpinning this transfer of information is believed to be long-term changes in synaptic plasticity, namely long-term potentiation (LTP) and depression (LTD). The aim of this thesis is to characterise synaptic plasticity in a particular hippocampal-neocortical projection. The CA1 to perirhinal cortex projection has been previously shown to sustain LTP; by stimulating the area CA1 and recording in the perirhinal cortex, we show that it can sustain short- and long-term changes in synaptic plasticity. Additionally we demonstrate that multiple frequencies of high-frequency stimulation can induce LTP in this projection and that LTP-induction may require AMPA/kainate receptor activation but not NMDA receptor activation; indicating that glutamatergic signalling underlies synaptic plasticity in this projection. We also determine the role of the CA1 to perirhinal cortex projection in a model of electrophysiologically excitatory and inhibitory hippocampal projections to the parahippocampal region of the neocortex. We propose that this projection forms part of an electrophysiologically excitatory circuit from the distal CA1 and proximal subiculum along with the lateral entorhinal cortex. Moreover, we investigate the roles of the hippocampus and perirhinal cortex in recognition and spatial memory. Utilising an object recognition task (a recognition memory task) and an object displacement task (a spatial memory task), we show that there are increased levels of hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) following the spatial task. Furthermore, we demonstrate that AMPA/kainate glutamate receptors are necessary for performance in the object recognition task whereas both NMDA and AMPA/kainate receptors are required for the object displacement task. These findings suggest that glutamatergic signalling not only underlies synaptic plasticity in the CA1 to perirhinal cortex projection but that it is also required for learning and memory in recognition and spatial tasks.


Abstract. A comprehensive analysis was conducted using long-term continuous measurements of gaseous elemental mercury (Hg0), reactive gaseous mercury (RGM), and particulate phase mercury (HgP) at coastal (Thompson Farm, denoted as TF), marine (Appledore Island, denoted as AI), and elevated inland (Pac Monadnock, denoted as PM) sites from the AIRMAP Observatories in southern New Hampshire, USA. Decreasing trends in background Hg0 were identified in the 7.5- and 5.5-yr records at TF and PM with decline rates of 3.3 parts per quadrillion by volume (ppqv) yr−1 and 6.3 ppqv yr−1, respectively. Common characteristics at these sites were the reproducible annual cycle of Hg0 with its maximum in winter-spring and minimum in fall, comprised of a positive trend in the warm season (spring – early fall) and a negative one in the cool season (late fall – winter). Year-to-year variability was observed in the warm season decline in Hg0 at TF varying from a minimum total (complete) seasonal loss of 43 ppqv in 2009 to a maximum of 92 ppqv in 2005, whereas variability remained small at AI and PM. The coastal site TF differed from the other two sites with its exceptionally low levels (as low as below 50 ppqv) in the nocturnal inversion layer possibly due to dissolution in dew water. Measurements of Hg0 at PM exhibited the smallest diurnal to annual variability among the three environments, where peak levels rarely exceeded 250 ppqv and the minimum was typically 100 ppqv. It should be noted that summertime diurnal patterns at TF and AI were opposite in phase indicating strong sink(s) for Hg0 during the day in the marine boundary layer, which was consistent with the hypothesis of Hg0 oxidation by halogen radicals there. Mixing ratios of RGM in the coastal and marine boundary layers reached annual maxima in spring and minima in fall, whereas at PM levels were generally below the limit of detection (LOD) except in spring. RGM levels at AI were higher than at TF and PM indicating a stronger source strength in the marine environment. Mixing ratios of HgP at AI and TF were close in magnitude to RGM levels and were mostly below 1 ppqv. Diurnal variation in HgP was barely discernible at TF and AI in spring and summer. Higher levels of HgP were observed during the day, while values that were smaller, but above the LOD, occurred at night.


UMBCTAC is one of the top ranking agents in the 3rd International Trading Agent Competition (TAC). A TAC game has multiple auctions running on different but interrelated resources simultaneously, and 8 trading agents will compete with each other for optimal result – making maximum profit. The spirit of simplicity and balance is used as a guideline to solve the dynamical optimization problem in TAC game. The hotel/airline auctions and the entertainment ticket auctions are handled separately by applying early bird heuristic. A gain-risk model is used to select a good, safe resource allocation for the clients in hotel/airline auctions. A fast and simple probabilistic approach is used to handle entertainment ticket auctions.


This article reviews four bodies of research that shed light on how to promote active care for the environment in children and youth: research on sources of proenvironmental behavior, socialization for democratic skills and values, the development of a personal sense of competence, and the development of collective competence. The article begins with an overview of studies of formative childhood experiences reported by environmental activists and educators, followed by correlational and experimental studies with young people regarding factors associated with their taking action for the environment. Because behaviors with the largest potential benefits for the environment require political engagement, the article also reviews experiences associated with young people's interest and engagement in public issues. Action for the environment in the home or in public arena like schools and communities requires a personal sense of competence and a sense of collective competence, or confidence in one's ability to achieve goals by working with a group. Therefore experiences that promote the development of these assets are summarized as well. The conclusion compares major findings in these different fields and discusses implications for environmental educators.


This study presents an overview of the health care systems in postcommunist countries with its resources and operations, in addition to proposing steps that should be taken in order to overcome the health crisis associated with transition and increase the effectiveness and efficiency of health care systems. At the beginning of the 90's, the crisis of transition had a significant impact on the low level of funding in health care, declining in proportion to the fall of GDP or even faster. The continued crisis and slow recovery also affect the low political preference for funding the health care sector during the GDP allocation process. There is excessive competition from other important socio-economic goals and health care frequently loses the battle.


Keeping the Earth system in a stable and resilient state, to safeguard Earth's life support systems while ensuring that Earth's benefits, risks, and related responsibilities are equitably shared, constitutes the grand challenge for human development in the Anthropocene. Here, we describe a framework that the recently formed Earth Commission will use to define and quantify target ranges for a "safe and just corridor" that meets these goals. Although "safe" and "just" Earth system targets are interrelated, we see safe as primarily referring to a stable Earth system and just targets as being associated with meeting human needs and reducing exposure to risks. To align safe and just dimensions, we propose to address the equity dimensions of each safe target for Earth system regulating systems and processes. The more stringent of the safe or just target ranges then defines the corridor. Identifying levers of social transformation aimed at meeting the safe and just targets and challenges associated with translating the corridor to actors at multiple scales present scope for future work.


After 568 AD the nomadic Avars settled in the Carpathian Basin and founded their empire, which was an important force in Central Europe until the beginning of the 9 century AD. The Avar elite was probably of Inner Asian origin; its identification with the Rourans (who ruled the region of today's Mongolia and North China in the 4-6 centuries AD) is widely accepted in the historical research. Here, we study the whole mitochondrial genomes of twenty-three 7 century and two 8 century AD individuals from a well-characterised Avar elite group of burials excavated in Hungary. Most of them were buried with high value prestige artefacts and their skulls showed Mongoloid morphological traits. The majority (64%) of the studied samples' mitochondrial DNA variability belongs to Asian haplogroups (C, D, F, M, R, Y and Z). This Avar elite group shows affinities to several ancient and modern Inner Asian populations. The genetic results verify the historical thesis on the Inner Asian origin of the Avar elite, as not only a military retinue consisting of armed men, but an endogamous group of families migrated. This correlates well with records on historical nomadic societies where maternal lineages were as important as paternal descent.


Radar systems designed to detect avian activity at airfi elds are useful in understanding factors that infl uence the risk of bird and aircraft collisions (bird strikes). We used an avian radar system to measure avian activity at Beale Air Force Base, California, USA, during 2008 and 2009. We conducted a 2-part analysis to examine relationships among avian activity, bird strikes, and meteorological and time-dependent factors. We found that avian activity around the airfi eld was greater at times when bird strikes occurred than on average using a permutation resampling technique. Second, we developed generalized linear mixed models of an avian activity index (AAI). Variation in AAI was fi rst explained by seasons that were based on average migration dates of birds at the study area. We then modeled AAI by those seasons to further explain variation by meteorological factors and daily light levels within a 24- hour period. In general, avian activity increased with decreased temperature, wind, visibility, precipitation, and increased humidity and cloud cover. These effects differed by season. For example, during the spring bird migration period, most avian activity occurred before sunrise at twilight hours on clear days with low winds, whereas during fall migration, substantial activity occurred after sunrise, and birds generally were more active at lower temperatures. We report parameter estimates (i.e., constants and coeffi cients) averaged across models and a relatively simple calculation for safety offi cers and wildlife managers to predict AAI and the relative risk of bird strike based on time, date, and meteorological values. We validated model predictability and assessed model fi t. These analyses will be useful for general inference of avian activity and risk assessment efforts. Further investigation and ongoing data collection will refi ne these inference models and improve our understanding of factors that infl uence avian activity, which is necessary to inform management decisions aimed at reducing risk of bird strikes.


Wind turbine generators are spreading around the world due to its advantages over fossil fuels. Structural monitoring of them is important to increase operation and reduce maintenance times. Visual inspection is highly influenced by the human factor due to the working conditions. Image processing supported by vision systems offers high advantages reducing times, being the software and processing algorithms, which generates added value. In this paper, a novel method for wind turbines blades damages analysis is presented using image processing and a classifier based on dimensional features. The image acquisition is performed using a reflex camera with a telephoto and geo-location enabled. The faults analyzed include cracks, edge erosion, and electric discharge.