The West African Ebola epidemic of 2013–2016 was by far the largest outbreak of the disease on record. Sierra Leone suffered nearly half of the 28,646 reported cases. This paper presents a set of culturally contextualized Ebola messages that are based on the findings of qualitative interviews and focus group discussions conducted in 'hotspot' areas of rural Bombali District and urban Freetown in Sierra Leone, between January and March 2015. An iterative approach was taken in the message development process, whereby (i) data from formative research was subjected to thematic analysis to identify areas of community concern about Ebola and the national response; (ii) draft messages to address these concerns were produced; (iii) the messages were field tested; (iv) the messages were refined; and (v) a final set of messages on 14 topics was disseminated to relevant national and international stakeholders. Each message included details of its rationale, audience, dissemination channels, messengers, and associated operational issues that need to be taken into account. While developing the 14 messages, a set of recommendations emerged that could be adopted in future public health emergencies. These included the importance of embedding systematic, iterative qualitative research fully into the message development process; communication of the subsequent messages through a two-way dialogue with communities, using trusted messengers, and not only through a one-way, top-down communication process; provision of good, parallel operational services; and engagement with senior policy makers and managers as well as people in key operational positions to ensure national ownership of the messages, and to maximize the chance of their being utilised. The methodological approach that we used to develop our messages along with our suggested recommendations constitute a set of tools that could be incorporated into international and national public health emergency preparedness and response plans.


This paper proposes a novel navigational system for handicap wheeled chair with mecanum wheels. The wheels provide a flexible mobility represented with its 3DOF (Three Degrees Of Freedom) ability of mobility. The chair provides assistance for the user according to his/her medical situation. The user can control the chair using joy stick or vocal command signals. The main contribution of this work is defined by the platform kinematics, dynamics modeling and its navigational control system. The mobile platform is kinematically and dynamically modeled and tested on the simulation level to illustrate its performance. The chair is able navigate in a smart environment, for example, in handicap house with a known map. The navigation system implemented on the chair will provide position, collision avoidance and local navigation behaviors. The environment is configured as nodes and the chair should follow series of nodes to reach the desired room. Firstly, a node generator will propose a sequence of nodes, which must be reached respectively. The node generator is created using neural networks algorithms. Secondly, the position control will drive from one node to another assuming reference trajectory of a straight line between each two nodes. Thirdly, the fusion between the position control and the collision avoidance will enable each behavior according to the situation. The navigational control system is implemented on a hardware prototype and the experimental results are illustrated to show the acceptable performance of the whole system. Copyright © 2014 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved.


The paper deals with the growing threat of erosion to the south Baltic coast, caused by the intensification of a wind-induced wave climate and sea level rise, which is expected to continue until 2100 as a result of climate change. In the analysis, a deep-water wave prognostic point is located about 13 km north-east of the Hel Peninsula, situated in the NW part of the Gulf of Gdansk. The study comprises the analyses of wind velocity, storm surge, wave height, wave set-up and wave run-up. A significant predicted increase in wave heights during extreme storms, compared with the wave climate reconstructed for 1958–2001, combined with anticipated higher storm surges, is expected to result in a lower resilience of the sea shore to erosion and flooding. Although nourishment operations conducted along the open sea shore of the Hel Peninsula have proved efficient and successful, nourishment needs will have to be adequately recalculated in future to ensure sufficient protection of this coastal segment.


The study of Cataclysmic Variables (CVs) is crucial to test our understanding of binary evolution and its application to many astrophysical phenomena, such as short gamma-ray bursts, X-ray transients and, more important, Supernovae Ia, our yardsticks for measuring distances. Yet, the predicted major component of the present-day CV population, the so-called "period bouncers" (CVs containing a white dwarf and a degenerate donor), has not been detected, highlighting a major discrepancy between theory and observations.
We present here CHiCaS, the Compact binary HIgh CAdence Survey, which will perform three hours of uninterrupted time series photometry over 136 square degrees of the sky with JAST/T80Cam. By the end of next year, this program will deliver one minute cadence lightcurves for $\simeq 2.5$ million objects as faint as $g \simeq 21.5$, along with full colour information. Via detection of their eclipses, CHiCaS will finally, and unambiguously identify the predicted large population of period bouncers. The identification of the missing population will provide an observational support for the current models for the mechanisms of angular momentum loss in compact binaries, which also describe the evolution of all kind of binaries.
CHiCaS will also offer a complete and unbiased view into the short term variability of thousands of binaries, eclipsing systems, pulsating stars and CVs in the period gap, which will allow to improve our knowledge of these objects and to carry out additional tests on CV evolution.


Arguably one of the most important political theorists of our time, Ernesto Laclau has produced an extremely influential theoretical corpus involving a multitude of methodological and political implications. His contribution is mainly focused on three fields; discourse, hegemony, and populism, all of them highly connected with communication and mediation processes.
 In particular, Ernesto Laclau has introduced, throughout his career, a complex conceptual apparatus (comprising concepts like articulation, the nodal point, dislocation, the empty signifier, etc.) as a result of the radicalization and re-elaboration of the Gramscian conceptualization of hegemony. According to this framework, elaborated for the first time in Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, co-authored with Chantal Mouffe (first published in 1985), discourse is a social practice that performatively shapes the social world. Human reality is thus articulated through discourse and obtains its meaning precisely through this discursive mediation. All social practices are therefore understood as discursive ones. To the extent, however, that processes of articulation are never taking place in a vacuum and are bound to involve different or antagonistic political orientations, the field of discursivity comes to be seen as a field marked throughout by the primacy of the political. As a result, any hegemony will be contingent, partial, and temporary.
 In addition, Laclau is one of the most well known analysts of populism, to which he has (partly) devoted two of his books, Politics and Ideology in Marxist Theory (1977) and On Populist Reason (2005). Populism, for Laclau, is designated, as expected, as discourse, as a specific way to articulate and communicate social demands as well as to form popular identities, to construct "the people." His elaborations of populism are surely critical for the analysis of a pervasive political phenomenon of our era. All in all, the thought of Ernesto Laclau remains influential in the sphere of theory and political practice, and his theoretical arsenal will be an extremely helpful tool for academics and researchers of discourse theory and political communication.


Recent corruption scandals have called attention to state-owned companies' involvement in corruption. The purpose of this study is to explore whether there are in fact differences between state-owned and private companies' exposure to corruption risk. The perceived level of corruption in a market can be viewed as an important determinant for participating in corruption (Rose-Ackerman, 1975; 1998). Similarly, a sound corporate culture can reduce companies' corruption risk, even for companies operating in high-risk markets (Keig et al., 2015). Although corporate culture is difficult to measure, increased disclosure of information can suggest companies' ethical behaviour. This thesis consists of a literature review and an empirical study on companies' exposure to corruption risk and transparency. We selected ten of the largest state-owned and private companies in Norway for a qualitative comparison. The twenty companies were selected based on four requirements; listed on Oslo Stock Exchange, headquartered in Norway, significant operations abroad, as well as not being categorised as a holding company. Because the companies operate under the same home-country legislation, we have no assumption about systematic differences between the companies' performance in the analysis. Our main findings, however, demonstrate that there are differences between the two groups related to both exposure to corruption risk, and transparency. In light of the literature review and the state ownership policy, we identified characteristics of the state as an owner that could influence corporate decision-making. By looking at exposure to corruption risk and transparency separately, we were able to determine how state ownership can explain some of the observed differences between the two groups. We document that the state-owned companies are more exposed to corruption risk. Nonetheless, they disclose more information on their anti-corruption initiatives and corporate governance. However, on the basis of these results, we are unable to conclude the firms' ethical behaviour.


Synthetic aperture imaging ladar (SAIL) technique belongs fully coherent processing in both the time domain and space domain and has a rather high implement difficulty. To solve this problem, the concept of circular incoherently SAIL is introduced. A speckle version image of a two-dimensional (2D) letter 'E' target is reconstructed from E-field projection data detected by a circular incoherently SAIL system. The experimental system is constructed by three subsystems using chirped-pulse laser as the light source and heterodyne detection to get the range information of the target. The reconstruction of the image and the noise effect are also discussed in detail.


Recently in the Peruvian Amazon, there has been increased concern regarding exposure to the neurotoxin methylmercury (MeHg) through fish consumption.Objective: To measure local Indigenous communities' methylmercury exposure secondary to consumption of the most commonly eaten fish species, and assess if weekly methylmercury exposure by women of reproductive age (15 – 49 years) surpassed established tolerable weekly intake values for this vulnerable population.
Methods: The team surveyed households, by means of a convenience sample, to establish the five most commonly consumed fish, the fishes' average household feeding capacity, as well as the average total fish length. We sampled fish in the region sourced from local fishermen, and analysed these tissue samples for methylmercury levels to calculate risk exposure. A limitation was using a convenience sample for the dietary survey, which could introduce the risk of low generalizability to the population. Such a risk is low in this situation, however, as household characteristics are homogenous.
Results: A total of 205 fish representing 19 different species were sampled. The median mercury concentration in the 9 most commonly–consumed fish species was < 0.073 mg/kg ww. The highly carnivorous chambira (H. scomberoides) was the only exception, with a median mercury concentration of 0.30 mg/kg ww. Total weekly methylmercury exposure weighted by species–specific consumption frequencies for local women of reproductive age (15 – 49 years) was 0.635 g/kg bw/week. This is less than the most conservative tolerable weekly intake value of 0.70 g/kg bw/week, as established by international health agencies.
Conclusions: Given low exposure to MeHg and the reliance of fish as a primary protein source, it was concluded that it is reasonably plausible the benefits of fish consumption at the observed rates outweigh the risks of methylmercury poisoning in this population. We do caution however, that young children and women of child–bearing age might benefit from choosing fish other than chambira wherever possible.


Topiramate and Sodium Valproate as adjunctive therapy to lithium carbonate in treatment of bipolar disorder in adolescents: A randomized clinical trial. Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, 14, 122-130. Abstract Objectives: In this study the effect of topiramate as adjunctive therapy to lithium on mood disorder in adolescents is compared to that of sodium valproate. Method: In a randomized clinical trial, 30 adolescents with bipolar mood disorder in the manic or mixed phase were treated with either topiramate or sodium valproate. All participants had either not responded adequately to a 4 to 6 week period of treatment with lithium carbonate, or had relapsed after a period of remission and needed additional mood-stabilizing drug. Responses were evaluated using Young Mania Rating Scale, Clinical Global Impression Scale and Children Global Assessment Scale . Results: Many of the demographic properties of both groups were similar. In each group the mean of the decrease in symptoms and degree of remission were significant (p<0.001), but the comparison between the two groups did not yield a statistically significant difference. Conclusion: Both topiramate and sodium valproate can be effective in the treatment of adolescent bipolar mood disorder and there is probably no difference in their efficacy.


Phenomenology is not the simple description of a fact, but rather the description of an intentional immanent moment, and it presents itself as a science of essences, and not of matter of facts. The Leib, the lived body of the phenomenological tradition, is not a generic corporeal reality, but rather an intentional subject, a transcendental reference point, on the base of which the connections between physical body and psychic body should be grasped. So, the reduction of empathy to mirror neurons amounts to an "objectivisation", with the consequent absolutisation of a process that is a function of the Leib as intentional subject, not as a physical reality. The main task of the philosophical research, bracketed by the new "neuro" researches, thus emphasizing their theoretical limits as soon as they depart from experimental enquiries, is then to understand the conditions of possibility of cognitive procedures, that is to say, in other words, the genesis of consciousness, that in aesthetics becomes "the genesis of aesthetic consciousness". Interdisciplinarity is already an ancient and out of fashion word, now it is the time of "dialogue", being aware however that the "logoi" not always require synthesis, and that the unity of the corporeal reality implies, as Husserl emphasizes, very different descriptive behaviours.


Selected postings from the Microscopy Listserver from October 11, 2009 to November 30, 2009. Complete listings and subscription information can be obtained at http://www.microscopy.com. Postings may have been edited to conserve space or for clarity.


A 30-year-old Eritrean female presented with a 1 month history of nausea and vomiting, with 15 kg weight loss but no bowel disturbance. Past medical history included an open cholecystectomy. There was no family history of mineral or bone disorders. She denied any prescribed/over-counter medication and abstained from alcohol. Examination revealed marked cachexia (BMI 16.1 kg/m2). ECG revealed ST depression and T wave inversion. Investigations indicated profound mineral deficiency (Na 135 mmol/l, K 2.6 mmol/l, phosphate 0.35 mmol/l, corrected calcium 2.09 mmol/l, magnesium 0.66 mmol/l), severe vitamin D deficiency (<4.0 μg/l) with secondary hyperparathyroidism (PTH 112 ng/l, 10–70 ng/l). Liver, renal, thyroid function and vitamin A levels were normal. The presence of a metabolic acidosis (pH 7.28, bicarbonate 19 mmol/l) with a urinary pH of 6.0, suggested a diagnosis of Type 2 renal tubular acidosis due to profound vitamin D deficiency. Anti-tissue transglutaminase, faecal elastase and calprotectin levels were normal as was a porphyria screen. Liver ultrasound, abdominal CT, oesophogastroduodenoscopy and video capsule enteroscopy were all normal. Therefore no malabsorptive cause of vitamin D deficiency was found. She initially declined all forms of vitamin and mineral replacement. She subsequently developed acute confusion, visual disturbance with bilateral nystagmus and ataxia. Acute Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome was suspected. Symptoms resolved after treatment with i.v. thiamine, i.m. ergocalciferol, and calcium supplementation. Brain MRI demonstrated abnormal bilateral T2 hyperintensity of the mamillary bodies, periaqueductal gray matter, medial thalami and inferior cerebellar peduncle in keeping with Wernicke's encephalopathy. Psychiatric assessment did not detect a formal eating disorder but did reveal dietary restriction in the context of anxiety from refusal of asylum status. This unusual case of profound vitamin D and B1 deficiency illustrates the devastating effects of dietary restriction and malnutrition.


Across neuroscience research, clinical diagnostics, and engineering applications in pain evaluation and treatment, there is a need for an objective measure of pain experience and detection when it occurs. This detector should be reliable in real-world settings using easily accessible, non-invasive data sources. We present a simple yet robust paradigm for decoding pain using neural and physiological data including electroencephalography (EEG), pulse, and skin conductance (GSR) measurements. The present study uses multivariate classification to distinguish painful events from non-painful multimodal sensory stimuli. To classify the pain response and detect relevant data attributes, we employed a sparse logistic regression (SLR) machine learning protocol with automatic feature selection. EEG input consisted of time-frequency changes under trial conditions, and physiological data included fluctuations and spikes in pulse and skin conductance. Classification averaged 70% accuracy and selected between 5 and 15 features. In our experiment, pain was induced by cold stimulation which became noxious with prolonged exposure. Due to the long, ramp-and-hold nature of the stimulus, along with individual variability in sensitivity to pain, we did not observe specific rapid evoked responses or time-locked events common across participants. However, this format more closely resembles the experience of pain conditions requiring intervention which could be facilitated by a decoding system. The results illustrate the feasibility of developing a wireless pain detection system and give insight to important temporal, spectral, and spatial EEG events and physiological indicators of pain states. Success of the classifier protocol using these parameters could lead to the creation of a closed-loop system for decoding and intervention which can be applied in engineering and medical contexts.


The role of extensional tectonics in the generation of basaltic melt and eruption of continental flood basalts is controversial, and yet it remains crucial to understanding the origin and cause of these large-volume eruptions. Establishing the timing of lithospheric extension, continental rifting, and the onset of continental flood basalt volcanism is therefore of importance to petrogenetic models. Detailed mapping along the Mumbai coast, India, reveals three chemically distinct sets of dikes, which, together with high-precision 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating, demonstrate the temporal relationship between lithospheric extension and Deccan volcanism. The east-west extension evident along the west coast of India, which led to the separation of the Seychelles from the Indian plate, only began during the final phases of the basalt eruptions, and cannot have initiated the large-volume eruptions of the Deccan flood basalt province.


1. Recommender systems and recommendation methods Definitions of recommender systems can be found in different literature sources as follows: --Any system that produces individualized recommendations as output or has the effect of guiding the user in a personalized way to interesting or useful objects in a large space of possible options (Burke 2002). --Recommender system provides users with a ranked list of the recommended items (Herlocker et al. 2004). --[...] people provide recommendations as inputs, which the system then aggregates and directs to appropriate recipients (Resnick, Varian 1997). --Recommender systems form a specific type of information filtering (IF) technique that attempts to present information items that are likely of interest to the user. Typically, a recommender system compares the user's profile to some reference characteristics, and seeks to predict the 'rating' that a user would give to an item they had not yet considered. These characteristics may be from the information item (the content-based approach) or the user's social environment (Recommender systems 2011). Adomavicius and Tuzhilin (2005) present an overview of the field of recommender systems and describe the current generation of recommendation methods that are usually classified into the following three main categories: content-based, collaborative, and hybrid recommendation approaches. Adomavicius and Tuzhilin (2005) also describe various limitations of current recommendation methods and discuss possible extensions that can improve recommendation capabilities and make recommender systems applicable to an even broader range of applications. These extensions include, among others, an improvement of understanding of users and items, incorporation of the contextual information into the recommendation process, support for multi-criteria ratings, and a provision of more flexible and less intrusive types of recommendations. Recommender systems have been evaluated in many, often incomparable, ways. Herlocker et al. (2004) review the key decisions in evaluating collaborative filtering recommender systems: the user tasks being evaluated, the types of analysis and datasets being used, the ways in which prediction quality is measured, the evaluation of prediction attributes other than quality, and the user-based evaluation of the system as a whole. In addition to reviewing the evaluation strategies used by prior researchers, Herlocker et al. (2004) present empirical results from the analysis of various accuracy metrics on one content domain where all the tested metrics collapsed roughly into three equivalence classes. Metrics within each equivalency class were strongly correlated, while metrics from different equivalency classes were uncorrelated. Recommender systems represent user preferences for the purpose of suggesting items to purchase or examine. They have become fundamental applications in electronic commerce and information access, providing suggestions that effectively prune large information spaces so that users are directed toward those items that best meet their needs and preferences. A variety of techniques have been proposed for performing recommendation, including content-based, collaborative, knowledge-based and other techniques. To improve performance, these methods have sometimes been combined in hybrid recommenders (Burke 2002). Burke (2002) surveys the landscape of actual and possible hybrid recommenders, and introduces a novel hybrid, EntreeC, a system that combines knowledge-based recommendation and collaborative filtering to recommend restaurants. Burke (2002) shows that semantic ratings obtained from the knowledge-based part of the system enhance the effectiveness of collaborative filtering. Sarwar et al. (2000) investigate the use of dimensionality reduction to improve performance for a new class of data analysis software called "recommender systems". …


Nurturing Creativity in the Classroom is a groundbreaking collection of essays by leading scholars, who examine and respond to the tension that many educators face in valuing student creativity but believing that they cannot support it given the curricular constraints of the classroom. Is it possible for teachers to nurture creative development and expression without drifting into curricular chaos? Do curricular constraints necessarily lead to choosing conformity over creativity? This book combines the perspectives of top educators and psychologists to generate practical advice for considering and addressing the challenges of supporting creativity within the classroom. It is unique in its balance of practical recommendations for nurturing creativity and thoughtful appreciation of curricular constraints. This approach helps ensure that the insights and advice found in this collection will take root in educators' practice, rather than being construed as yet another demand placed on their overflowing plate of responsibilities.


We consider as given a discrete time financial market with a risky asset and options written on that asset and determine both the sub- and super-hedging prices of an American option in the model independent framework of ArXiv:1305.6008. We obtain the duality of results for the sub- and super-hedging prices. For the sub-hedging prices we discuss whether the sup and inf in the dual representation can be exchanged (a counter example shows that this is not true in general). For the super-hedging prices we discuss several alternative definitions and argue why our choice is more reasonable. Then assuming that the path space is compact, we construct a discretization of the path space and demonstrate the convergence of the hedging prices at the optimal rate. The latter result would be useful for numerical computation of the hedging prices. Our results generalize those of ArXiv:1304.3574 to the case when static positions in (finitely many) European options can be used in the hedging portfolio.


Mild mental retardation is children who have intellectual disability. Their intellectual disability demands the education provided for them to emphasize the development of their vocational skill potential to build their self-esteem. According to Gorvernor Regulation of DIY Number 47 Year 2010, one of the eight main duties and function of education states that organizing vocational training for special need children in preparing them to enter the workforce. Special school graduates are children who have skill and readiness to enter the workforce. Infact, they are still unemployed since they are not involved in the community. It happens since skill learning management model has not been applied optimally. Special school has not invited parents and businessman in planning, implementing, and evaluating skill learning and lacks work practice for students. To deal with those problems, SLB Negeri 1 Yogyakarta impelements management model through some following specifications; (1) classifying of study group based on skill; (2) providing vocational skill materials based on central curriculum analysis and it is tailor made to meet the input/need of DUDI practisioners; (3) providing functional thematic learning approach with skill themes; (4) organizing field practice and internship; (5) having cooperation with DUDI practitioners. There is a significant impact of the implementation of vocational learning management model. It can be seen from the children readiness and several children who can work increasing recently. In conclusion, vocational learning management model can be implemented in SLB Negeri 1 Yogyakarta and improve children readiness to enter the workforce. It is expected that this model is also applicable for other SLBs in Special Region of Yogyakarta. Keywords: mild mental retardation children, vocational skill, self-esteem


An isolated perfused canine lung preparation in which determinants of vascular caliber could be individually controlled was developed. The relation of pulmonary arterial (Pa), venous (Pv), and alveolar (PA) pressures was such that Pa > PA > Pv throughout the whole lung. The addition of isoprenaline to the perfusate abolished vascular reactivity. Once stability was reached, vascular cross-sectional area remained acceptably constant for 2.25 hours as judged by normalized conductance. The influence of perfusate hematocrit, blood gas tensions, and pH on pressure-flow relations was then studied in 15 isolated canine lungs. The hematocrit-vascular conductance relation was derived at constant perfusion pressure. Conductance varied linearly with hematocrit over a range of 16.5 to 89.5percent. Mean pulmonary arterial blood gas tensions were: Po2 = 121 mm Hg, Pco2 = 28 mm Hg, and pH = 7.46. Acute respiratory acidosis (Po2 = 30 mm Hg, Pco2 = 81 mm Hg, pH = 7.17) and lactic acidosis and hypoxemia (Po2 = 32 mm Hg, Pco2 = 21 mm Hg, pH = 6.96) did not significantly alter this relation. Transformation of the conductance-hematocrit data indicated that hematocrit was the most important determinant of relative apparent viscosity of the blood. Both acute respiratory and lactic acidosis failed to significantly increase relative viscosity within the range of hematocrit usually found in secondary polycythemia.


I. Introduction Since humans first appeared on the earth in large numbers, immigration (1) by them from one place to another place has occurred. (2) Biologists confirm that human beings emerged first in Africa and began to migrate from Africa about 60,000 years ago. (3) While Native Americans are referred to as the First Nation people in the United States, Native Americans were reported to have migrated to America from Asia, crossing a land bridge into Alaska and then down into America. (4) Historians have documented the lives and movement of persons during the First Millennium BC (5) and 2200 BC in Mesopotamia and Egypt. (6) As governments of countries grew and developed, they often passed laws and codes restricting entrance into their countries. Subsequent laws, such as the laws within the nascent America, were generally passed while immigration was being encouraged at one point. For instance, America invited immigrants in the 1700s, although it passed An Act to Establish a Uniform Rule of Naturalization in 1790 (7) and the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. (8) The U. S. Constitution, formulated in 1787, referenced immigration in Article 1, Section 9, (9) and forbade Congress from prohibiting immigration until 1808, (10) indicating that the United States wanted immigration for about 20 years. As a consequence, waves of immigrants from Ireland and Germany came to the United States in the 1800s. (11) The movement of groups of people into a new place often produced conflict, (12) and the intensity of this conflict often was determined by the race and ethnicity of newcomers. (13) For instance, several laws were passed in the 1800s in the United States to control the entrance of persons from China. Revealing differences in how race was viewed, a federal judge in 1882, who was deciding a case involving an Asian, commented on "our worthy resident aliens from Europe--gentlemen of Irish and German nativity." (14) This comment seemed to differentiate Asians from persons of Irish and German descent, implying that Asians were unworthy and the Irish and Germans were worthy. Barry W. Higman asserted that in the late 19th century, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, and Australia pursued immigration policies based centrally upon race. (15) The number of Germans, Irish, and Italians in the 1800s created concerns among some Americans, and Congress created the first immigration statute in 1875, barring the admission of convicts and prostitutes. (16) This same 1875 law, however, specifically targeted Chinese, and Congress passed more restrictive legislation, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act, in 1882. (17) The legal literature confirms that the principal targets were Asians, and the federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court, decided a number of cases involving immigration and persons of Asian descent. (18) During this period, there were little or no case laws pertaining to immigration and White Europeans like there were for Asians. However, in the 1920s, cases were decided on who was White and who was not White and their eligibility for naturalization. In the 21st century, immigration continues to be a highly sensitive topic in the United States, and the focus again is upon race and ethnicity. While the focus is primarily upon illegal immigrants as opposed to legal immigrants, the underlying issue is ethnicity. Legal residents are those persons who were granted lawful permanent residence, asylee status, refugees, and granted a temporary stay for work or school, whereas illegal or unauthorized residents are those persons who are foreign born, non citizen who entered the United States without inspection or were temporary admitted but stayed longer than granted by their visas. (19) Today, the illegal residents that cause the most concern are Latinos in the United States. (20) In 1979, John Tanton created an organization called the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which has its genesis in a race and eugenics ideology and stresses how immigration from Mexico and Latin America is going to destroy the United States. …


Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse and draw a correlation between service science theory and practice as it relates to the complexity of engendering a services orientated paradigm of management within a traditionally manufacturing enterprise. It is suggested that the traditional manufacturing paradigm is founded on scientific management principles whereas that of service science is far more multidisciplinary and complex in nature. It would seem that the service science paradigm is directed at co-creational value in contrast to a transactional paradigm of management that form the foundation of the manufacturing era. Problem investigated: With the emergence of an essentially services orientated global economy, manufacturing enterprises are increasing adding a range of services to the value offerings they make available to clients. The first part of this paper constitutes a literature study directed at gaining a theoretical understanding and insight into the underlying principles of management involved in moving from an essentially manufacturing management setting to one that incorporates services and in some instances where services assume the dominant paradigm of management. The second part of the paper attempts to correlate the theoretical insights gain from the literature study with relation to that of practice by means of a case study undertaken at a South African manufacturing enterprise that has implemented a servitization strategy. Methodology: A multidisciplinary literature review and analysis is undertaken to gain an insight of contemporary management theory and practice, as it relates to servitization or the transition from an essentially manufacturing to a services inclusive operational setting. With the insights gained from the literature research serving as a source of information and reference a case study was undertaken at a South African enterprise to determine if a correlation exists between theory as expressed in the literature and practice as reflected in the enterprise concerned. As only a single case study was undertaken it is acknowledged that the research concerned needs to be extended in scope to gain a far more representative insight into the validity of the correlating insights gained from this research study. South African research in relation to servitization would seem to be extremely limited in extent and this paper needs to be seen as an attempt to address the knowledge base, from a South African perspective, and not as providing a fully fledged servitization research study. Findings : Findings indicate that the incorporation of services necessitates fundamental changes to the enterprises' essentially manufacturing dominant business model and the socio-cultural context, often termed to be "the way things are done around here". This has very fundamental implications in terms of nuance differences in paradigms of management. Value of the research: Increasingly South African manufacturing enterprises are incorporating services into their value proposition offered to clients and the research findings could be used to mitigate some of the possible pitfalls in managing paradigmatic shifts involved in implementing a servitization strategy. Conclusion: A primary conclusion drawn from the study is that the implementation of a servitization strategy entails some very fundamental changes in manufacturing paradigms of management. The paradigms that underpin a service science based dominant logic of management have very fundament nuance differences, which if not addressed could derail the servitization strategy in implementation.


Tight oil reservoirs are characterized by the ultra low porosity and permeability, making it a great challenge to enhance oil production. Owing to the fast development in hydraulic fracturing technology of horizontal wells, tight oil has been widely explored in North America. Individual wells have a long term of low production after a rapid production decline. This causes low cumulative production in tight oil reservoirs. A rate decline curve is the most common method to forecast their production rates. The forecast can provide useful information during decision making on future development of production wells. In this paper, a relationship is developed between the parameters of a hyperbolic decline curve and the reservoir/fracture properties when a reservoir simulation model is used based on the data from a real field. Understanding of this relationship improves the application of the hyperbolic decline curve and provides a useful reference to forecast production performance in a more convenient and efficient way. Cited as : Yu, Y., Chen, Z., Xu, J. A simulation-based method to determine the coefficient of hyperbolic decline curve for tight oil production. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2019, 3(4): 375-380, doi: 10.26804/ager.2019.04.04.


In linear stochastic bandits, it is commonly assumed that payoffs are with sub-Gaussian noises. In this paper, under a weaker assumption on noises, we study the problem of \underline{lin}ear stochastic {\underline b}andits with h{\underline e}avy-{\underline t}ailed payoffs (LinBET), where the distributions have finite moments of order $1+\epsilon$, for some $\epsilon\in (0,1]$. We rigorously analyze the regret lower bound of LinBET as $\Omega(T^{\frac{1}{1+\epsilon}})$, implying that finite moments of order 2 (i.e., finite variances) yield the bound of $\Omega(\sqrt{T})$, with $T$ being the total number of rounds to play bandits. The provided lower bound also indicates that the state-of-the-art algorithms for LinBET are far from optimal. By adopting median of means with a well-designed allocation of decisions and truncation based on historical information, we develop two novel bandit algorithms, where the regret upper bounds match the lower bound up to polylogarithmic factors. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to solve LinBET optimally in the sense of the polynomial order on $T$. Our proposed algorithms are evaluated based on synthetic datasets, and outperform the state-of-the-art results.


In this thesis we study models Beyond the Standard Model including Left-Right Supersymmetric Model and Warped Extra Dimensional Models with a Fourth Generation.

First, we revisit the Higgs sector of Left-Right Supersymmetric Model by studying the scalar potential in a version of the model in which the minimum is the charge and R-parity conserving vacuum state, and there are no additional non-renormalizable terms in the Lagrangian. We try to find a parameter space predicting at least one light doubly-charged Higgs boson, light neutral avor-conserving Higgs bosons. The Flavor-violating ones are heavy, and within the limits from Delta F = 1,2 mixings. The parameter space for such Higgs masses and mixings is very restrictive, thus making the model more predictive.

Subsequently, we study warped extra-dimensional scenarios in the presence of a fourth family of fermions and with the fermion fields lying in the bulk. We concentrate on the flavor structure of the Higgs couplings with fermions in the flavor anarchy ansatz. The occupancy of the fourth family in the model typically enhances the misalignment effects and we show that one should expect them to be highly nonsymmetrical in the (34) inter-generational mixing. The radiative corrections from the new fermions and their flavor violating couplings to the Higgs affect negligibly known experimental precision measurements such as the oblique parameters and Z -> b \bar{b}or Z -> mu^ +mu^-. On the other hand, Delta F = 1, 2 processes, mediated by tree-level Higgs exchange, as well as radiative corrections to b -> s gamma and mu to e gamma put some pressure on the allowed size of the flavor violating couplings. These couplings produce distinguishable signals in high energy colliders as they alter the Higgs decay patterns as well as those of the new fermions. These signals might become very important indirect signals for these type of models as they would be present even when the Kaluza-Klein mass scale is high and no heavy Kaluza-Klein particle is discovered.

Afterwards, we focus on the radion phenomenology in the same scenario with and without an additional fourth family of fermions. The radion couplings with the fermions are also generically misaligned with respect to the Standard Model fermion mass matrices as in the Higgs case, therefore producing some amount of flavor violating couplings and potentially influencing production and decay rates of the radion. We present simple analytic expressions for the radion-fermion couplings with three or four families. We also update and analyze the current experimental limits on radion couplings and on the model parameters. The modified decay branching ratios of the radion with an emphasis on the new channels involving flavor diagonal and flavor violating decays into fourth generation quarks and leptons are provided.

Finally, we study the Higgs-radion mixing in a warped extra dimensional model in the same scenario. The fourth generation Higgs is now severely constrained by Large Hadron Collider data due to the large enhancement in the Higgs production cross-section in the absence of Higgs-radion mixing. We analyze the production and decay rates of the two physical states emerging from the mixing and confront them with present Large Hadron Collider data. We show that the current signals observed can be compatible with the presence of one, or both, of these Higgs-radion mixed states, although with a severely restricted parameter space. We also present the modified decay branching ratios of the mixed Higgs-radion states, including flavor violating decays into fourth generation quarks and leptons. The windows of allowed parameter space obtained are very sensitive to the increased precision of upcoming Large Hadron Collider data. During the present year, a clear picture of this scenario will emerge, either confirming or further severely constraining this scenario.


The purpose of this paper is to assess the efficiency of teaching departments in Panjab University, Chandighar. The Data envelopment analysis and Tobit analysis is used to assess the teaching and research efficiency of a set of departments. Six models are proposed based on different parameters to cover various drivers of efficiency. We used both Charnes-Cooper-Rhodes (CCR) and Banker, Charnes and Cooper (BCC) output oriented model with three inputs and three outputs. Next, we present some important differences in efficiency of these departments. We also define benchmarks for inefficient departments and quantify the gaps to be fulfilled by them in order to become efficient. Further the robustness of DEA results was tested with help of Sensitivity analysis. The paper provides evidence that among teaching performance, the majority of teaching efficient departments were from the Social Sciences group and over the years, the teaching efficiency of Sciences departments improved and that of the Languages departments decreased. It is further observed that the majority of research efficient departments were from Sciences group, indicating that these departments are good performers for research activities like publications, research projects and paper presented.


Abstract : This case study shows how an analytical architecture fault-modeling approach can be combined with confidence arguments to diagnose a time-sensitive design error in a control system and to provide evidence that proposed changes to the system address the problem. The analytical approach, based on the SAE Architecture Analysis and Design Language for its well-defined timing and fault behavior semantics, demonstrates that such hard-to-test errors can be discovered and corrected early in the lifecycle, thereby reducing rework cost. The case study shows that by combining the analytical approach with confidence maps, we can present a structured argument that system requirements have been met and problems in the design have been addressed adequately--increasing our confidence in the system quality. The case study analyzes an aircraft engine control system that manages fuel flow with a stepper motor. The original design was developed and verified in a commercial model-based development environment without discovering the potential for missed step commanding. During system tests, actual fuel flow did not correspond to the desired fuel flow under certain circumstances. The problem was traced to missed execution of commanded steps due to variation in execution time.


The finite rate of innovation (FRI) principle is developed for sampling a class of non-bandlimited signals that have a finite number of degrees of freedom per unit of time, i.e., signals with FRI. This sampling scheme is later extended to three classes of sampling kernels with compact support and applied to the step edge reconstruction problem by treating the image row by row. In this paper, we regard step edges as 2D FRI signals and reconstruct them block by block. The step edge parameters are obtained from the 2D moments of a given image block. Experimentally, our technique can reconstruct the edge more precisely and track the Cramér-Rao bounds (CRBs) closely with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) larger than 4 dB on synthetic step edge images. Experiments on real images show that our proposed method can reconstruct the step edges under practical conditions, i.e., in the presence of various types of noise and using a real sampling kernel. The results on locating the corners of data matrix barcodes using our method also outperform some state-of-the-art barcode decoders.


Prior to the Global Financial Crisis, financial innovation was driven by so many factors, but the Global Financial Crisis changed the regulatory pendulum, which has swung to deeper regulation and also changed the way we thinking about financial innovation. The financial innovation – with its bright and destructive outcomes – is an integral part of the competition in the financial market. But the race is such that the regulatory authorities are in a rather disadvantaged position if we just thinking of the old fashion regulatory paradigm. In this context, the question is what – new – legal institutions – such as regulatory sandbox – could provide financial stability and a proper legal regulation to unregulated financial products and services.


Despite the press for instructional coaching as a form of effective teacher professional development (TPD), there is still a need to understand what instructional coaching is and how its operations look like. Meanwhile, the coaching literature provides scant guidance particularly about the coaching implementation in the Malaysian context. For the purpose of this study, we explored the processes of instructional coaching in Sarawak, particularly focusing on conceptualising the coaching processes to fine-tune teaching practice. Employing a qualitative case study design, we conducted non-participant observations on coaching conferences of four coach-teacher pairs on a one-to-one basis. We analysed the data obtained using Braun and Clarke's (2006) six-phase thematic analysis. The findings suggested that the coaching cycle consisted of three stages: pre-observation conference, classroom observation and post-observation conference. An additional stage of intervention was identified in the coaching cycle. Coaching support to the teachers was provided on an average of one session per month. Structuring coaching conversations was a key aspect in conducting coaching support for the teachers. For future research, we offer recommendations of larger-scale studies to discover the impact of instructional coaches that include the intervention component as a part of the coaching cycle to enhance teacher instruction and student achievement. We would also suggest studies based on comprehensive theories and empirical evidences into the development of fully articulated models of instructional coaching related to the Malaysian context.


Polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs) have been identified as potential next generation membrane materials for the separation of gas mixtures of industrial and environmental relevance. Based on the exceptionally rigid methanopentacene (MP) structural unit, a Polymer of Intrinsic Microporosity (PIM-MP-TB) was designed to demonstrate high selectivity for gas separations. PIM-MP-TB was prepared using a polymerisation reaction involving the formation of Troger's base linking groups and demonstrated an apparent BET surface area of 743 m2 g−1 as a powder. The microporosity of PIM-MP-TB was also characterized by chain packing simulations. PIM-MP-TB proved soluble in chlorinated solvents and was cast as a robust, free-standing film suitable for gas permeation measurements. Despite lower gas permeability as compared to previously reported PIMs, high selectivities for industrially relevant gas pairs were obtained, surpassing the 2008 Robeson upper bound for H2/CH4 and O2/N2, (e.g., PO2 = 999 Barrer; αO2/N2 = 5.0) and demonstrating a clear link between polymer rigidity and selectivity. Upon aging, the permeability data move parallel to the Robeson upper bounds with a decrease of permeability, compensated by a related increase in selectivity. Mixed gas permeation measurement for CO2/CH4 and CO2/N2 mixtures confirmed the excellent selectivity of PIM-MP-TB for potentially relevant separations such as biogas upgrading and CO2 capture from flue gas. Importantly, unlike other high performing PIMs, PIM-MP-TB is prepared in four simple steps from a cheap starting material.


The book includes detailed instructions for each of the processes it describes: downloading and installing the application, configuring and using modules, and much more. It provides a step-by-step tutorial to replace your existing web server with Nginx. With commented configuration sections and in-depth module descriptions, you will be able to make the most of the performance potential offered by Nginx. By covering both early setup stages and advanced topics, this book will suit web administrators interested in solutions to optimize their infrastructure, whether they are looking into replacing existing web server software or integrating a new tool cooperating with applications already up and running. If you, your visitors, and your operating system have been disappointed by Apache, this book is exactly what you need.


This sweeping new history recognizes that the Civil War was not just a military conflict but also a moment of profound transformation in Americans' relationship to the natural world. To be sure, environmental factors such as topography and weather powerfully shaped the outcomes of battles and campaigns, and the war could not have been fought without the horses, cattle, and other animals that were essential to both armies. But here Judkin Browning and Timothy Silver weave a far richer story, combining military and environmental history to forge a comprehensive new narrative of the war's significance and impact. As they reveal, the conflict created a new disease environment by fostering the spread of microbes among vulnerable soldiers, civilians, and animals; led to large-scale modifications of the landscape across several states; sparked new thinking about the human relationship to the natural world; and demanded a reckoning with disability and death on an ecological scale. And as the guns fell silent, the change continued; Browning and Silver show how the war influenced the future of weather forecasting, veterinary medicine, the birth of the conservation movement, and the establishment of the first national parks.
In considering human efforts to find military and political advantage by reshaping the natural world, Browning and Silver show not only that the environment influenced the Civil War's outcome but also that the war was a watershed event in the history of the environment itself.


Objective To identify the relative importance of factors influencing hospital use at the end of life. Design Retrospective cohort study of person and health system effects on hospital use in the past 12 months modelling differences in admissions, bed days and whether a person died in hospital. Setting Residents in England for the period 2009/2010 to 2011/2012 using Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) data from all acute care hospitals in England funded by the National Health Service (NHS). Participants 1 223 859 people registered with a GP in England who died (decedents) in England (April 2009–March 2012) with a record of NHS hospital care. Main outcome measures Hospital admissions, and hospital bed days and place of death (in or out of hospital) in the past 12 months of life. Results The mean number of admissions in the past 12 months of life averaged 2.28 occupying 30.05 bed days—excluding 9.8% of patients with no hospital history. A total of 50.8% of people died in hospital. Difference in hospital use was associated with a range of patient descriptors (age, gender and ethnicity). The variables with the greatest 'explanatory power' were those that described the diagnoses and causes of death. So, for example, 65% of the variability in the model of hospital admissions was explained by diagnoses. Only moderate levels of variation were explained by the hospital provider variables for admissions and deaths in hospital, though the impacts on total bed days was large. Conclusions Comparative analyses of hospital utilisation should standardise for a range of patient specific variables. Though the models indicated some degree of variability associated with individual providers, the scale of this was not great for admissions and death in hospital but the variability associated with length of stay differences suggests that attempts to optimise hospital use should look at differences in lengths of stay and bed use. This study adds important new information about variability in admissions by diagnostic group, and variability in bed days by diagnostic group and eventual cause of death.


Methods for spectrally based mapping of river bathymetry have been developed and tested in clear‐flowing, gravel‐bed channels, with limited application to turbid, sand‐bed rivers. This study used hyperspectral images and field surveys from the dynamic, sandy Niobrara River to evaluate three depth retrieval methods. The first regression‐based approach, optimal band ratio analysis (OBRA), paired in situ depth measurements with image pixel values to estimate depth. The second approach used ground‐based field spectra to calibrate an OBRA relationship. The third technique, image‐to‐depth quantile transformation (IDQT), estimated depth by linking the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of depth to the CDF of an image‐derived variable. OBRA yielded the lowest depth retrieval mean error (0.005 m) and highest observed versus predicted R2 (0.817). Although misalignment between field and image data did not compromise the performance of OBRA in this study, poor georeferencing could limit regression‐based approaches such as OBRA in dynamic, sand‐bedded rivers. Field spectroscopy‐based depth maps exhibited a mean error with a slight shallow bias (0.068 m) but provided reliable estimates for most of the study reach. IDQT had a strong deep bias but provided informative relative depth maps. Overprediction of depth by IDQT highlights the need for an unbiased sampling strategy to define the depth CDF. Although each of the techniques we tested demonstrated potential to provide accurate depth estimates in sand‐bed rivers, each method also was subject to certain constraints and limitations.


Nowadays, people use online social networks almost every day. They activate either due to their interests, or to search or catch their desirable information. Users of online social networks generate structural and contextual traces that can be analyzed by, i.e., network science researchers. Researchers can describe networks fabricated out of online traces from different perspectives that one of them is communities. Overlapping communities are overlapped structures, in which nodes have denser connections with each other than the rest of the network. Different approaches have addressed this problem; however, few analyses and methods have focused on contextual traces generated by users. As such, in this paper, we propose an algorithm that uses actual content produced by users. This algorithm uses term frequency of words generated by users and combines them by an extended clustering technique. Our evaluation results compare the proposed content-based community detection with structural-based methods. We also reveal community properties as well as its relation to contextual information. Administrators can use these algorithms in question & answer forums where the explicit links among users are missing.


The pollination of two oil palm species, Elaeis guineensis Jacquin and Elaeis oleifera Cortés (Arecales: Arecaceae), depends on a mutualistic relation with insects, which use male inflorescences as a brood site, and visits female inflorescences lured by the emitted odor, which is similar to that of males. Although the activity of visiting the inflorescences by these insects is critical for the adequate natural pollination of the host plant, their activity is poorly documented. In the present study, we determine the diel activity of two specialized pollinator weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) on inflorescences of their respective host-palm: Elaeidobius kamerunicus Faust specialized on E. guineensis, and Grasidius hybridus O'Brien and Beserra specialized on E. oleifera. The average timing of activity was studied by using passive interception traps. Then the pattern and the duration were refined by using aspiration trapping within the active period for each insect species at the male and female inflorescences. All the experiments were conducted in an Ecuadorian oil palm plantation, located close to Amazonian forest. El. kamerunicus and G. hybridus were found to be the pollinators of E. guineensis and E. oleifera, respectively. The two species differed in their diel pattern of activity: E. kamerunicus was active in the morning and G. hybridus during a short period at dusk. For both palm species, insect visits were synchronous on both male and female inflorescences. The synchronicity is discussed as a strategy to maintain the relation mutualistic between partners. These findings increase our understanding of the oil palm pollination system.


Seventy-three patients were admitted to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (Pa) between January 1979 and June 1989 with a diagnosis of mandibular fracture. Data were obtained through a retrospective review of these cases. The cases were divided into three age groups that reflected the developing structure of the mandible and the maturation of the dentition. A trend toward a greater number of fractures and a predominance of males is shown with increasing age. Child abuse is a relatively frequent cause of fractures throughout all groups. Associated injuries are more common in young children, except in cases where abuse has been documented. The high osteogenic potential of the pediatric mandible allowed conservative management to be successful in 25% of younger patients and was responsible for a low complication rate overall.


This Chapter addresses three questions: What is good quality university teaching? How can it be achieved? How can it be assessed? To address these questions we start by making a case for a multi-dimensional, rich conceptualisation of teaching, drawing on a substantial body of higher education research that investigates what supports meaningful learning and on Lee Shulman's notion of 'pedagogical content knowledge' to argue for a principled approach to the design of learning, teaching and the curriculum, which brings groups of students into productive relations with bodies of knowledge. Having established an evidence-based conceptualisation of good quality teaching, we turn to contemporary policy efforts to assess the quality of university undergraduate teaching, arguing that globally the current landscape and languages of higher education are shaped by neoliberal discourses that position learning, teaching and curriculum as a technical-rational matter. In this context, measuring quality by way of 'metrics' requires the use of proxies for good teaching, which runs the risk of offering an impoverished definition of the quality of teaching in higher education that also privileges certain social groups. We argue that new languages are needed for the academic community to discuss learning, teaching and the curriculum and that, if we want genuinely to enhance the quality of university education, then metrics must be augmented with peer review, case studies and high quality education and training for teaching. The argument that unfolds is underpinned by the assumption that providing all students, whatever institution they attend, with an equally good university education is essential to social justice.


The scarcity of the organ available for donation and transplant remains a problematic issue in all countries including Malaysia. There have been reported that the awareness among the citizens in Malaysia is still in the lower rate compared to other developed countries. There are about 15,420 Malaysian were waiting for organ transplant and surprisingly the waiting list for organ donation remain grow longer each days. The reason of refusal of public to donate their organ is related to public attitudes, lack of knowledge, mindset, prejudices and misconception towards organ donation upon death. Even all religion has encouraged for organ donation and many campaigns have been conducted but it stills not enough to meet demand of patient for organ transplant. This situation has leads to the shortage of organ supplying due to low public awareness to pledges for organ donation. Based on these issues, this study was conducted to determine the public awareness towards organ donation in International College of Yayasan Melaka by specifically focused on the students in the institutions. A sample of 291 students was involved in this study, however, there only 147 questionnaires were received. The main objective of this study is to determine the contributing factor that lead towards public awareness on organ donation whether it influenced by public attitudes, mass media and religion. The statistic techniques used in this study are Descriptive Statistics, Regression Analysis, Spearmen Correlation and Intelligence Measurement. This study revealed that the most contributing factor that leads to public awareness towards organ donation is religion. Moreover, there only moderate relationship public attitudes, religion and mass media. The main barriers factor that has been identifying that cause public to refuse to donate their organ is due to fear and lack of knowledge. Parental consent also the constraint that cause public not to donate their organ. Therefore we can see that public have a right attitude and aware that religion, mass media have encourage them to donate their organ but it's depend on the public itself to have courage and knowledge to realize the important of saving other people life through organ donation.


Africa has the dubious distinction of being the continent most likely to experience the worst climate change has to offer while having the population most vulnerable to its effects. Many of the continent's sub regions and countries also have recent histories of violence or are currently mired in conflict. Africa's proneness to conflict and its vulnerability to climate change provide the best model for showing how climate change, by the way it interacts with other, better understood drivers of conflict, will likely become an important source of conflict within the region and around the world over the rest of this century. This paper's aim was to identify some possible causal pathways by which the effects of climate change might be linked to the outbreak of conflict. To achieve this, this paper sought to answer five main questions: 1) why do conflicts occur when and where they do? 2) How might climate change impact human societies in Africa? 3) Can those impacts lead directly to conflict occurrence, or 4) might they instead act indirectly, through other, more central drivers of conflict? 5) Should there be a climate-conflict relationship, can we build a model to identify potential future conflict 'hotspots' in Africa or around the world? By providing some answers to these questions, we were able to identify several possible climate-conflict pathways. We found that the economic impacts iii of climate change, particularly on a country's agricultural sector and economy through direct disaster related damage do provide a realistic pathway to conflict in vulnerable countries as peoples' livelihoods are negatively impacted, the impacts are not equally shared among all ethnic groups, and the state itself may not be able to correct such imbalances. The economic impact of climate change coupled with its negative impact on food and water security may also drive increased levels of migration, and with the movement of large numbers of people comes a greater probability of conflict. The impacts of climate change may also weaken states to the point that they can no longer provide basic services demanding by its population, leading to a loss of legitimacy and potentially the rise of rebellion. The pace of climate change can also affect the likelihood of conflict occurrence with more rapid pace developments and disasters being more likely to cause conflict due to less possibility of successful adaptation. In each pathway, climate change acts as a threat multiplier, acting through other sociopolitical, economic, democratic, security and systemic drivers to increase the likelihood of conflict, rather than driving conflict outright.


DOMESTIC PIETY IN THE MINISTRY OF JOHN ANGELL JAMES Jeffery Steven Wright, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2013 Chair: Dr. Timothy Paul Jones Chapter 1 introduces John Angell James as a person worthy of recognition and research. James's godly character, pastoral leadership and worldwide influence, unheard of to most except the astute historian, presents the foundation for the significance of the study. Additionally, a definition of terms is given in order to help the reader contextualize James's rhetoric. Chapter 2 gives an introduction into the childhood and ministry call of John Angell James. Understanding the historical background in which James formulated his conviction toward domestic piety is paramount. Thorough consideration is given in this chapter to major societal movements and historical issues that made the world in which James lived. Chapter 3 examines James's ministry at Carrs Lane, his personal suffering, his passion for writing and work at shaping congregationalism. James was not only being challenged and shaped by external world events, but every day he was influenced by his church ministry and his times of great suffering. It was not long before his passion for the family and its immortal purpose would become the focal point of many of his writings. Chapter 4 examines James's exhortations regarding domestic piety through his writings and sermons. James had much to say throughout his life directed to fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters. This chapter also demonstrates through James's preaching and writings how his familial focus developed a thorough understanding and ministry practice for parents. Chapter 5 carefully analyzes James's integration of domestic piety and evangelism. James unapologetically admonished domestic piety and his ministry bore the fruit of this emphasis. Chapter 6 offers practical implications that will aid pastors and church leaders in their local church ministries. James's life and ministry in many ways serves as an exemplary model for pastors to follow. There are principles that James embraced that are transferrable to today's pastors who find themselves in similar situations.


In a large body of case law, constitutional courts from the EU Member States have reviewed European law on their compatibility with national constitutional law. These EU-related judgments deal with issues of major constitutional importance such as the EU's democratic legitimacy, the protection of persons' fundamental rights and freedoms, and the division of competences between the EU and its Member States. Yet are constitutional courts the institutions that should decide such issues of major constitutional importance for the EU? Or is it more democratic to leave these matters to political institutions that represent Europe's citizens and that are supposedly politically accountable to them? In the current literature, the national constitutional courts' EU-related case law is often evaluated in a positive light: it can help ensure respect for the Member States' constitutional identities, function as a check on the EU's powers, open up a space for contestation and dialogue, or serve as a justified response to a perceived EU democratic deficit. By contrast this book argues that the courts impose constitutional limits on the EU in a way that is often difficult to justify democratically. The book builds on political philosophy and constitutional theory to better understand the democratic legitimacy of the constitutional courts' role in the EU. Through in-depth case studies of the German Constitutional Court and its political impact, as well as a comparison with the Netherlands where such review is absent, the book details how the German Court risks debilitating political debate on the future of Europe.


Abstract The aim of this study was to explore the psychometric properties of the Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form 3 (YSQ-SF3) among Turkish adolescents. A total of 356 high school students (198 females and 158 males) whose ages ranged between 15 and 18 participated in the study, and were administered the YSQ-SF3, the Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T), the Trait Anger Inventory (ANGT), and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Higher-order factor analysis run using the original 18 Early maladaptive Schemas (EMSs) revealed three internally consistent higher-order factors (i.e., schema domains) which were named Impaired Limits-Exaggerated Standards, Disconnection-Rejection, and Impaired Autonomy-Other Directedness. Concurrent validity analyses indicated that even after controlling for the effects of positive and negative affect, the Impaired Limits-Exaggerated Standards schema domain was significantly associated with anger, while Disconnection-Rejection and Impaired Autonomy-Other Directedness schema domains were significantly associated with anxiety. Findings are discussed in line with the literature. Keywords: Early maladaptive schemas, Adolescent, Young Schema Questionnaire (YSQ) Introduction It has been proposed that early childhood experiences with significant others lead to organized thoughts and feelings about self, others and the world, which shape the way individuals perceive and respond to new experiences (Segal, 1988). These organized thoughts, feelings and behaviors were named schemas. According to Young (1999, p. 9), Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMSs) are "extremely stable and enduring themes that develop during childhood, elaborated throughout an individual's lifetime, and dysfunctional to a significant degree". Moreover, the tendency to overvalue the information consistent with the schemas or to neglect the one inconsistent with the schemas strengthens them, and thus leads to the maintenance of EMSs. Young (1999) proposed that there were 18 different schemas within five main domains. Young, Klosko and Weishaar (2003) called the first schema domain "Disconnection and Rejection" which refers to the unsatisfied needs of acceptance, security, safety, stability, and nurturing. These needs are not provided by parents in a predictable way. Generally, the family environment is cold, rejecting, abusive, unpredictable, and explosive. This schema domain includes schemas of abandonment / instability, mistrust / abuse, emotional deprivation, defectiveness, and social isolation. The second domain has been called the "Impaired Autonomy and Performance" domain which refers to unsatisfied needs of separating and functioning independently. This schema domain involves schemas of dependency, vulnerability to harm or illness, enmeshment / undeveloped self, and failure. The third domain has been named "Impaired Limits" and refers to the characteristics of people who have trouble fulfilling responsibilities towards others and in respecting the rights of others since internal limits concerning reciprocity and self-discipline have not developed. Parents of these people tend to be generally overindulgent and permissive, and also they tend to give no direction, limits and discipline to their children. This schema domain comprises schemas of entitlement / grandiosity and insufficient self-control. The fourth domain has been termed the "Other Directedness" domain which refers to the characteristics of people giving top priority to meet the needs of others at the expense of sacrificing their own needs. They give high importance to gaining approval, maintaining emotional connection or avoiding discrimination. In the families of these people, love tends to be expressed conditionally, in that children must suppress their own needs and feelings in order to gain acceptance from parents. This schema domain consists of schemas of subjugation, self-sacrifice, and approval seeking. The fifth and last domain is "Over-vigilance and Inhibition" which refers to the characteristics of people who suppress their spontaneous feelings and impulses, and rather follow strict and internalized rigid rules and expectations at the expense of happiness, self-expression and relaxed and close relationships. …


Objective To determine symptom reporting differences for children completing the adult and child version of the Post-Concussion Symptom Scale (PCSS) on the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 3 (SCAT3). Design Cross-Sectional study. Setting Community ice hockey teams, Alberta, Canada. Participants Youth hockey players (n=891; 91.58% male, 10–14 years) who completed the PCSS on the Adult and Child version of the SCAT3 during a preseason baseline assessment. Assessment of risk factors Adult versus child PCSS stratified by categorical age (10–12, 13–14). Outcome measures Total number of symptoms, symptoms reported, and proportion equally reporting symptoms (0, ≥1) on both PCSS scales. Main results Participants reported a median of 2 symptoms [Interquartile Range (IQR):0–21] on the adult scale (/22) and 5 (IQR:0-20) on the child scale (/20). There was no evidence of a difference in the proportion of participants reporting symptoms (0, ≥1) on both scales between age groups 10–12 (525/729, 72.02%) and 13–14 (121/160, 75.63%) (difference: −3.61% (95% confidence interval (−11.40%, 4.18%)). The most frequent symptoms reported on the adult PCSS by participants with no symptoms on the child PCSS were nervousness (11.27%) and neck pain (10.56%). Participants with no symptoms on the adult PCSS most commonly reported being easily distracted (45.29%) and forgetful (39.49%) on the Child PCSS. Conclusions A greater number of symptoms were endorsed for all 10-14 year old subjects when using the Child SCAT3 PCSS. Neck pain was a commonly reported symptom for all age groups on the Adult SCAT3 PCSS, but this symptom is absent from the Child SCAT3. Competing interests None.


Abstract Based on three case studies of community sharing in different sectors of society, we address how and under what conditions community sharing can contribute to sustainability transformation. Considering modes of exchange an leverage points, we analyze how community sharing can add to transformation when sharing systems are designed to intervene at both shallow and deep leverage points. Our case studies indicate that sustainability transformations are dynamic processes in which even shallow levels of leverage can affect change. We show that community sharing can be upscaled through restructuring institutions via redistributive exchange systems, while initiatives supported by strong and lasting institutions are in the best position to contribute to change. Furthermore, our results suggest that sharing practices may strengthen ties and trust in an enterprise or local community. Finally, community-sharing systems that build on existing values in line with sustainability transformation may be in the best position to contribute to deeper levers of change.


This volume, dealing with Nucleation, Aggregation and Crystallization, consists of a compilation of lectures offered at the international course held at Karolinska Institute and at the scientific meetings of the MARIE Network.The word "nucleation," derived from "nuclear family," refers to the concept of the progenitor, or the mother and the father of any family. Only in the last few centuries have physicists "borrowed" the word, and more recently, biologists for Theodor Schwann's cell theory. Most recently, the term has come into use in atomic theory, spectroscopy, and radioactivity, as well as in the fields of atomic bombs, fission, and fusion. Nucleation as a physicochemical process is followed by two poorly understood phenomena — aggregation and crystallization - which underlie disorders like Alzheimer's and "mad-cow" disease (aggregation of amyloid plaque), cardiovascular diseases (deposition in coronary vessels of cholesterol and lipids), and the appearance of crystals under physiological conditions (gout, silicoses, and liver or kidney stones).Written by leading scientists in the field, including one Nobel Laureate, this book provides a unique perspective between the physical and chemical sciences on the one hand, and the biological and medical sciences on the other, and should be of considerable value to scientists, physicians, students, and the interested lay public.


At the outset of the twenty-first century and despite the challenges presented by the global networks and communities, conceptions of culture, religion and rights in the West remain firmly situated within the moral frameworks of western universalism and cultural relativism. Indeed it seems that the uncertainties of local and global conditions have only served to entrench cultural and religious diversity as fixed, bounded and uncontested. A striking feature of this development in the West has been the rigid adoption of liberal multiculturalism to accommodate the emergence and settlement of diasporic minority ethnic communities into mainstream society. More recently, the specific cultural practices that can lead to intra-family inequalities for women from minority ethnic communities as generated much discussion in political and social theory. While much of this literature has contributed to our understanding on the relationship between gender equality, justice and the limits of liberal multiculturalism, it also seems that the fluid and contradictory understanding of identities has been lost and replaced by the acceptance of culture as essentialized and homogeneous. In this context we have also witnessed the emergence of a 'culture of rights' and the 'politics of recognition' under the framework of human rights. Yet in the process the contestation over 'meanings' and the intermeshing and complexity of cultural and religious practices have in essence been lost, only to be replaced by static and fixed definitions of culture, religion, identity and community.
It is within this context of liberal multiculturalism that we have seen the emergence and development of unofficial non-statutory bodies identified as Shariah Councils in Britain. Framed as sites upon which family law matters are resolved according to Muslim family law they have developed frameworks that are characterized by specific cultural and religious norms and values. This mobilisation of communities challenges the hegemonic power of state law and unsettles the multicultural project in its attempt to reconfigure social and legal discourse in matters of Family Law. Most interestingly, for the socio-legal scholar this process opens up the conceptual space in which to see in evidence the multiple legal and social realities in operation, within the larger context of state law, liberal multiculturalism and the rights discourse.
This thesis explores the ways in which these bodies constitute as unofficial dispute resolution mechanisms between and within the context of local 'community' and the overarching determinancy of state law. Of particular concern is how gender is transformed through the position and participation of women in this process of 'privatized dispute resolution'. The discourses produced by the participants in such processes constitute and transform understandings of British Pakistani Muslim women that are significant to their position and autonomy in the family, home and community. Drawing upon fieldwork data and interview material the study explores the socio-legal reality of these women's lives in relation to the complexities of attachment, belongingness and identity that multicultural society introduces.


One of the most important new features in HLA Evolved is the ability to provide the Federation Object Model (FOM) in the form of several modules. While the standard provides a complete and stringent specification of these concepts, the purpose of this paper is to provide a user-friendly introduction as well as some guidelines for their practical use. A small example FOM is used in the paper to illustrate the principles. First of all it is important to understand where FOM modules fit into the FEDEP process and how it further enhances the process of building interoperable and reusable systems. Some general comments about bestpractice for FOM modeling are also given. The following aspects are then covered Understanding the predefined HLAstandardMIM module Use of standalone versus dependent modules Describing different aspects of a domain in different FOM modules Developing more general modules that can be reused across federations Handling of commonly used data types Extending existing modules with subclasses, including guidelines for using "scaffolding" classes Strategies for the required Switches table with suggested default values Providing FOM modules at Create versus Join time Finally a list of additional ideas and aspects, that are not covered in the paper, is given for the reader to investigate on his own. exact specification can be found in the HLA Evolved standard.


Traditional industry is experiencing a worldwide evolution with Industry 4.0. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have a main role in this evolution as an essential part of data acquisition. The way in which WSNs are powered is one of the main challenges to face if industry wants to achieve the digital transformation. Energy harvesting technologies are one of the possible solutions to this challenge. The main purpose of this paper is to present a novel method to taxonomize knowledge in the field of mechanical energy harvesting to enhance the use of energy harvesting technologies in industrial applications. The methodology is based on the analysis of key parameters and performance metrics for existing technologies. The taxonomy is applied to rail axles in order to select the energy harvesting technology that is more appropriate for this specific location, demonstrating the potential of mechanical energy harvesting technologies (MEHTs) for the railway industry, as a use case of industrial environment. In addition, the taxonomy allows to identify the upcoming challenges for research purposes while analyzing the compatibility among mechanical energy harvesting technologies in order to create hybrid harvesters.


In 1894, Ida Platt became the first African-American woman lawyer in Illinois. She was one of only five black women lawyers in the country and the only one able to maintain a law practice. Throughout her thirty-three year career, Platt served as head of her household, providing for her mother and sisters, without marrying or having children. She accomplished these feats by employing a fluid racial identity, passing as white in her professional life, and by avoiding the dominant gender roles that excluded women from the masculine legal profession. In 1927, at the age of sixty-four, Ida Platt retired, married Walter Burke, a white man, and moved to England. Twelve years later, Ida Burke died. As is the practice in England, there was no race designation on her death certificate.
Platt's choice to employ a fluid racial identity allowed her to pursue her career as a lawyer amidst a racist and sexist society that particularly discriminated against black women. She entered the law when Jim Crow was taking root, race lines were hardening, and elite, white, male lawyers were intensifying their opposition to women's rise within the profession. Platt's life and career offer insights into how law and the legal profession responded to the complexities of race and tender a new story of the lived experience of race as it intersects with gender. It suggests that Platt's pragmatic strategy of changing her racial identity both contested and shaped the ways in which race, gender, and identity were constructed and represented in American society, as it exposed both the rigidity and permeability of these constructions.


A study on house flies was carried out to establish whether house flies can transmit the H1N1 virus mechanically due to their abundance, ability to transport pathogens and their behavioral traits of regurgitation and defecation. The objectives of this study were to examine the efficiency of house fly legs in picking up the influenza H1N1 virus particles, persistency of the virus particles on the legs at different time interval, viability of the virus dislodged from the legs and the presence of the virus in vomitus and fecal discharge of the house flies. The findings indicated that the persistency of H1N1 virus on fly legs could be detected up to 24 h in chilled and actively flying flies. Furthermore, the viability of virus was evidenced from immobilized flies exposed for 30 s. However, H1N1 virus was not detected in the vomitus and feces. Further, epidemiological studies are needed before the significance of house flies as transmitter of influenza virus can be determined.

 Key words: H1N1 virus, epidemiological studies, house flies, influenza, transmit


To understand how spherical geometry influences the dynamics of gravity-driven subduction of oceanic lithosphere on Earth, we study a simple model of a thin and dense axisymmetric shell of thickness h and viscosity η1 sinking in a spherical body of fluid with radius R0 and a lower viscosity η0. Using scaling analysis based on thin viscous shell theory, we identify a fundamental length scale, the 'bending length' lb, and two key dimensionless parameters that control the dynamics: the 'flexural stiffness' St = (η1/η0)(h/lb) 3 and the 'sphericity number' Σ = (lb/R0) cot θt, where θt is the angular radius of the subduction trench. To validate the scaling analysis, we obtain a suite of instantaneous numerical solutions using a boundary-element method based on new analytical point-force Green functions that satisfy free-slip boundary conditions on the sphere's surface. To isolate the effect of sphericity, we calculate the radial sinking speed V and the hoop stress resultant T2 at the leading end of the subducted part of the shell, both normalised by their 'flat-Earth' values (i.e., for Σ = 0). For reasonable terrestrial values of η1/η0 (≈ several hundred), sphericity has a modest effect on V , which is reduced by < 7% for large plates such as the Pacific plate and by up to 34% for smaller plates such as the Cocos and Philippine Sea plates. However, sphericity has a much greater effect on T2, increasing it by up to 64% for large plates and 240% for small plates. This result has important implications for the growth of longitudinal buckling instabilities in subducting spherical shells.


SUMMARY Introduction: Keloids are a challenging problem related to the wound healing process. The treatment can be difficult and includes a variety of therapeutical possibilities that sometimes show frustrating outcomes. Considering that information, the present study aimed to analyze the features that could be correlated to the recurrence of treated keloids. Methods: Forty eight lesions were analyzed retrospectively in a period of five years, with a follow-up of at least 18 months. The therapeutical response was correlated with other keloids variables. It was considered for analysis the complete regression and the treatment without favorable response. Results: Considering 48 analyzed keloids (45% male and 55% female). The average age was 24 year-old (8-69 year-old). The complete regression obtained with diverse treatments was 64.5%. The keloid size was statistically significant (t-Student; p 40 mm and for cure in lesions < 20 mm. Keloids bigger than 20 mm reached statistically significant favorable outcomes with excision and superficial radiation than those treated with excision and steroid injections (chi-square; p < 0.04). Conclusions: The excision associated to the betatherapy is significantly better than the excision with steroid injections in lesions bigger than 20 mm. The size of the keloid was the main prognostic factor for cure. Descriptors: Keloid. Triamcinolone/therapeutic use. Radiotherapy, adjuvant. Treatment outcome.


MOTIVATION
In the maximum parsimony (MP) method, the tree requiring the minimum number of changes (discrepancy) to explain the given set of DNA or amino acid sequences is chosen to represent their evolutionary relationships. To find the MP tree, the branch-and-bound algorithm is normally used. For a partial phylogenetic-tree (one that has a subset of the organisms) the traditional algorithm assigns a cost equal to the discrepancy of the partial phylogenetic-tree. We propose a single column discrepancy heuristic which increases this cost by predicting a minimum additional discrepancy needed to attach the sequences yet to be added to the partial phylogenetic-tree. A dynamic Max-mini order of sequence addition is also proposed to quickly terminate branch-and-bound search paths that are guaranteed to lead to suboptimal solutions.

RESULTS
We studied the running time of 47 problems generated from 17 data sets. The use of single column discrepancy heuristic speeded up the computation to 2.4-fold for static and 18.2-fold for dynamic search order. The improvement appeared to increase exponentially with the number of sequences. The proposed strategies are also likely to be useful in speeding up the MP tree search using heuristic searches that are based on branch-and-bound-like algorithms.

CONTACT
email@example.com


As technology advances in all areas of society and industry, the technology used to produce one of life's essentials—food—is also improving. The majority of agriculture production in developed countries has gone from family farms to industrial operations. With the advent of large-scale farming, the automation of basic farming operations has increasingly made practical and economic sense. Broccoli, which is still harvested by hand, is one of the most expensive crops to produce. Investing in sensing technology that can provide detailed information about the location, maturity and viability of broccoli heads has the potential to produce great commercial benefits. This technology is also a prerequisite for developing an autonomous harvester that could select and harvest mature heads of broccoli. This thesis details the work done to develop a computer vision algorithm that has the ability to locate the broccoli head within an image of an entire broccoli plant and to distinguish between mature and immature broccoli heads. Locating the head involves the use of a Hough transform to find the leaf stems and, once the stems are found, the location and extent of the broccoli head can be ascertained with the use of contrast texture analysis at the intersection of the stems. A co-occurrence matrix is then produced of the head and statistical texture analysis is performed to determine the maturity of the broccoli head. The conceptual design of a selective autonomous broccoli harvester, as well as suggestions for further research, is also presented.


The relationship between theory and practice has been discussed in the social sciences for generations. Academics from management and organization studies regularly lament the divide between theory and practice. They regret the insufficient academic knowledge of managerial problems and their solutions, and criticize the scholarly production of theories that are not relevant for organizational practice (Hambrick 1994). Despite the prevalence of this topic in academic discourse, we do not know much about what kind of academic knowledge would be useful to practice, how it would be produced and how the transfer of knowledge between theory and practice actually works. In short, we do not know how we can make academic work more relevant for practice or even whether this would be desirable. In this introduction to the Special Issue, we apply philosophical, theoretical and empirical perspectives to examine the challenges of studying the generation and use of academic knowledge. We then briefly describe the contribution of the seven papers that were selected for this Special Issue. Finally, we discuss issues that still need to be addressed, and make some proposals for future avenues of research.


A massive gap exists between current quantum computing (QC) prototypes, and the size and scale required for many proposed QC algorithms. Current QC implementations are prone to noise and variability which affect their reliability, and yet with less than 80 quantum bits (qubits) total, they are too resource-constrained to implement error correction. The term Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) refers to these current and near-term systems of 1000 qubits or less. Given NISQ's severe resource constraints, low reliability, and high variability in physical characteristics such as coherence time or error rates, it is of pressing importance to map computations onto them in ways that use resources efficiently and maximize the likelihood of successful runs. This paper proposes and evaluates backend compiler approaches to map and optimize high-level QC programs to execute with high reliability on NISQ systems with diverse hardware characteristics. Our techniques all start from an LLVM intermediate representation of the quantum program (such as would be generated from high-level QC languages like Scaffold) and generate QC executables runnable on the IBM Q public QC machine. We then use this framework to implement and evaluate several optimal and heuristic mapping methods. These methods vary in how they account for the availability of dynamic machine calibration data, the relative importance of various noise parameters, the different possible routing strategies, and the relative importance of compile-time scalability versus runtime success. Using real-system measurements, we show that fine grained spatial and temporal variations in hardware parameters can be exploited to obtain an average 2.9x (and up to 18x) improvement in program success rate over the industry standard IBM Qiskit compiler. Despite small qubit counts, NISQ systems will soon be large enough to demonstrate "quantum supremacy", i.e., an advantage over classical computing. Tools like ours provide significant improvements in program reliability and execution time, and offer high leverage in accelerating progress towards quantum supremacy.


Mineral dust analysed in ice cores from Antarctica provides unique information about climate variability in the past more than 800 000 years. Higher dust load of the atmosphere during glacial times is attributed to higher aridity in the source and higher storminess during colder climate. For the interpretation of dust ice core records it is of importance to know the provenance of the dust. A new method is presented using Rare Earth Element (REE) fingerprints analysed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) to define dust provenances in ice cores. This method needs less than 10 ml of ice sample volume.Within the European Project for ice coring in Antarctica (EPICA) two deep ice cores were drilled, one of them in Dronning Maud Land (DML), an area of relatively high accumulation (recent accumulation rate: 64 kg/(m²year)). A quasi - continuous REE record is presented from the EPICA-DML ice core, from the Atlantic sector of the East Antarctic Plateau. The record covers the last Glacial and the following deglaciation (500 1100 m depth). A comparison with REE fingerprints in the potential source areas reveals South America as the source for glacial dust. During warmer climate other sources become more important.