We previously identified impaired cutaneous vasodilation and sweating in grafted skin 5 to 9 months postsurgery. The aim of this investigation was to test the hypothesis that cutaneous vasodilation, but not sweating, is restored as the graft heals. Skin blood flow and sweat rate were assessed from grafted skin and adjacent noninjured skin in three groups of subjects: 5 to 9 months postsurgery (n = 13), 2 to 3 years postsurgery (n = 13), and 4 to 8 years postsurgery (n = 13) during three separate protocols: 1) whole-body heating and cooling, 2) local administration of vasoactive drugs, and 3) local heating and cooling. Cutaneous vasodilation and sweating during whole-body heating were significantly lower (P < .001) in grafted skin when compared with noninjured skin across all groups and demonstrated no improvements with recovery time postsurgery. Maximal endothelial-dependent (acetylcholine) and endothelial-independent (sodium nitroprusside) cutaneous vasodilation remained attenuated (P < .001) in grafted skin up to 4 to 8 years postsurgery, indicating postsynaptic impairments. In grafted skin, cutaneous vasoconstriction during whole-body and local cooling was preserved, whereas vasodilation to local heating was impaired, regardless of the duration postsurgery. Split-thickness skin grafts have impaired cutaneous vasodilation and sweating up to 4 to 8 years postsurgery, thereby limiting the capability of this skin's contribution to thermoregulation during a heats stress. In contrast, grafted skin has preserved vasoconstrictor capacity.


We propose a simple neural architecture for natural language inference. Our approach uses attention to decompose the problem into subproblems that can be solved separately, thus making it trivially parallelizable. On the Stanford Natural Language Inference (SNLI) dataset, we obtain state-of-the-art results with almost an order of magnitude fewer parameters than previous work and without relying on any word-order information. Adding intra-sentence attention that takes a minimum amount of order into account yields further improvements.


Cretaceous charophytes and Palaeocene larger foraminifera are facies-linked microfossils used to perform
biostratigraphic correlation between distant basins, in Eurasia (charophytes) or the whole Tethys (larger
foraminifera). The capability of these organisms for dispersal and colonization is analysed and appears to
be dependent both on palaeoecological and palaeobiological factors. During the Cretaceous of the Northern
hemisphere, Clavatoracean charophytes include five cosmopolitan or subcosmopolitan species. They display
a generalistic range of habitats (from fluvial siliciclastic to alkaline lacustrine and brackish) and conjoint
gametangia (monoecious) allowing them to colonize effectively new sites and disperse. Palaeocene Tethyan
larger foraminifera that show a large distribution live in the deeper parts of shallow platforms, a habitat
where the taxonomic diversity within the group is low. Significant for the long range geographic expansion
of larger foraminifera is the possibility to catch planktonic algae to establish the species-specific
endosymbiosis that characterize the group. In spite of being so different, both case-studies suggest that
there are common patterns of biogeographic behaviour of this kind of facies-linked microfossils, which
could lead to propose a model of biogeographic constraints in long distance biostratigraphic correlation.


Scholars frequently portray World War II as an epic morality play driven by a villain (Hitler) and a sinner (Chamberlain). This book offers a fresh approach, combining both the attributes of states and the structure of the international system to explain the origins and causes of World War II. Central to the analysis is the argument that the structure of the international system was tripolar - with Germany, the Soviet Union and the United States as the three central powers - and not multipolar and that this needs to be considered in any examination of the antecedent causes and crucial events of the war. Recognizing that both systems and human agents make history, the author presents an amended balance-of-power theory, a balance-of-interests theory - that distinguishes great powers by their relative material strength and the value they place on the status quo. This systems framework is used to examine and explain the dynamics of tripolar systems; how states respond to threats and opportunities; Hitler's strategy of global dominion; and the foreign policy strategies of the other major powers before and during the war.


Active learning (AL) is used in textual classification to alleviate the cost of labelling documents for training. An important issue in AL is the selection of a representative sample of documents to label for the initial training set that seeds the process, and clustering techniques have been successfully used in this regard. However, the clustering techniques used are nondeterministic which causes inconsistent behaviour in the AL process. In this paper we first illustrate the problems associated with using non-deterministic clustering for initial training set selection in AL. We then examine the performance of three deterministic clustering techniques for this task and show that performance comparable to the non-deterministic approaches can be achieved without variations in behaviour.


The essays in this thesis explore the effects of legislative leaders on the behaviour of parliamentarians in the European Parliament and the UK House of Commons, and the consequences of this relationship for parliamentary outcomes. The first paper argues that when party leaders are motivated to maintain the voting cohesion of their legislative contingents, and when disciplinary resources are in short supply, leaders may block policy proposals that threaten to divide their members. Accordingly, as the preferences of party members become more diffuse, agenda setting party leaders will be able to maintain cohesion but the actions they take to do so may contribute to the overall level of gridlock in the legislature. I introduce new data and methods to evaluate these relationships in the European Parliament, where agenda control and 'carrot and stick' disciplinary powers are held by different sets of parliamentary actors. The second paper argues that by making the status quo less attractive and by increasing legislators' tolerance to new policies, external crises empower leaders who have the ability to propose legislation. In the context of the European Union's response to the 2008 financial crisis, I combine topic modelling with a two-stage least squares procedure to show that voting coalitions in the European Parliament changed after the crisis in ways consistent with the theoretical model. The implication of the analysis is that prointegration agenda-setters were able to pass legislation in the post-crisis period that would have been impossible to pass in the absence of the crisis. In the third paper, I argue that when members of previously under-represented groups are appointed to positions of high office within the legislature, they can serve as role models to their fellow group members. Using a difference-in-differences design, I demonstrate that the appointment of a female cabinet minister in the UK House of Commons leads to an increase in the participation of other female members of parliament in legislative debates. Furthermore, I develop a novel approach for measuring the influence of legislators in debate, and use this to show that female members of parliament also become more influential following the appointment of a female minister. In exploring the mechanisms that underpin this role-model
effect, I introduce an additional quantitative measure which reveals that female ministers are more responsive to the speeches made by female legislators than are male ministers. Taken together, these papers provide important theoretical arguments and empirical evidence concerning the central role that leaders play in the legislative process.


CAD environments enable designers to construct, evaluate, and revise models of engineering systems. GAIA is a CAD-like environment for designing game-playing agents. Unlike engineering systems, intelligent agents may learn from experience. Thus, in GAIA, the human designer and the intelligent agent cooperate to redesign the agent. In this article, the authors describe three elements of this vision: the interactive environment GAIA, an agent modeling language called TMKL2, and a GAIA module called REM that performs meta-reasoning for self-adaptation in game-playing agents. They illustrate these concepts for designing software agents that play variants of Freeciv, a turn-based strategy game.


Buildings classification using satellite images is becoming more important for several applications such as damage assessment, resource allocation, and population estimation. We focus, in this work, on buildings damage assessment (BDA) and buildings type classification (BTC) of residential and non-residential buildings. We propose to rely solely on RGB satellite images and follow a 2-stage deep learning-based approach, where first, buildings' footprints are extracted using a semantic segmentation model, followed by classification of the cropped images. Due to the lack of an appropriate dataset for the residential/non-residential building classification, we introduce a new dataset of high-resolution satellite images. We conduct extensive experiments to select the best hyper-parameters, model architecture, and training paradigm, and we propose a new transfer learning-based approach that outperforms classical methods. Finally, we validate the proposed approach on two applications showing excellent accuracy and F1-score metrics.


Renowned scholar Stephen Skowronek's insights have fundamentally altered our understanding of the American presidency. His "political time" thesis has been particularly influential, revealing how presidents reckon with the work of their predecessors, situate their power within recent political events, and assert their authority in the service of change. In the original edition of this book, Skowronek revisited that thesis to make better sense of the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. In this new edition, he also addresses the first two years of Barack Obama's presidency. Already considered a classic and widely used in courses on the presidency, Skowronek's book has greatly expanded our understanding of and debates over the politics of leadership. It clarifies the typical political problems that presidents confront in political time, as well as the likely effects of their working through them, and considers contemporary innovations in our political system that bear on the leadership patterns from the more distant past. Drawing out parallels in the politics of leadership between Andrew Jackson and Franklin Roosevelt and between James Polk and John Kennedy, it develops a new and revealing perspective on the presidential leadership of Clinton, Bush, and now Obama. In this edition, Skowronek devotes an entirely new chapter to Obama's presidency and its prospects for becoming transformational-like the presidencies of Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, FDR, and Reagan, all of whom succeeded to varying degrees in reconstructing the playing field of national politics. Along the way, he wonders if this kind of leadership is still even possible, given the current divided state of the American polity. He also takes a fresh look at the impact of the twenty-four-hour news cycle, of a more disciplined and homogeneous Republican party, of conservative advocacy of the "unitary theory" of the executive, and of progressive disillusionment with the presidency as an institution. A provocative review of presidential history, Skowronek's book brims with fresh insights and opens a window on the institution of the executive office and the workings of the American political system as a whole. Intellectually satisfying for scholars, it also provides an accessible volume for students and general readers interested in the American presidency.


The development of process-oriented hydrological models, which are able to simulate hydrological processes distributed in space and time, is crucial for optimal management of water resources. The model TACD (tracer aided catchment model, distributed) was modified and applied to the mountainous Loehnersbach catchment (16 km2), Kitzbueheler Alps, Austria, with the aim of simulating the dominant hydrological processes in a distributed way. It can be seen as a further developed, fully distributed version of the HBV-model with a more process-based runoff generation routine, which uses a spatial delineation of hydrological response units (HRUs). Good overall runoff simulations could be obtained for the whole catchment. Additional data, i.e. discharge from sub-catchments, snow height measurements and dissolved silica concentrations, enabled to some extent the evalulation of the simulation of single processes. Certain periods, e.g. short-term runoff fluctuations during snow melt periods, could not be simulated well even when different model modifications were executed. This indicates model shortcomings because of incomplete process understanding and the necessity for further experimental research as well as for new concepts of model structure. In particular, the understanding and mathematical description of subsurface storm flows has to be improved. The impact of different HRU delineations on discharge simulations at the catchment outlet was relatively low, as long as the direct runoff producing units remained constant. However, the impact on runoff predictions at sub-catchment scale was significant. This indicates an 'averaging out' effect for peculiarities and errors of runoff predictions at larger scales.


Rules of Origin in ASEAN is the first in-depth exploration of the complex rules of origin in ASEAN's trade agreements. Written by two leading practitioners, it explains with clarity the existing ASEAN Rules of Origin (RoO) practices and their administration regimes in a comparative context and provide a recommendation for reform. The ASEAN RoOs can be simplified by imparting transparency and predictability to the legal drafting, focusing on a calculation method based on value of materials and lowering the regional value content required to qualify as ASEAN origin. The administration of ASEAN RoOs can be improved by expanding the use of self-certification, moving away from document-based verification to more modern post-entry audit and trade facilitation approaches. This is a timely and important topic which will be insightful to practitioners, policymakers and businesses in understanding how commerce and trade are conducted in Southeast Asia.


Eleanor Dark (1901-1985) is one of Australia's most celebrated writers of the inter-war years. Born with the twentieth century - a Federation baby - she published ten novels, amongst them one of the best loved Australian stories of all time, The Timeless Land. Her life spanned successive global crises - two world wars, the economic depression of the 1930s, the Cold War - each issuing its own challenges to the artist and the people's writer she thought herself to be. By far the most privileged writer of her generation, her ultimate challenge was a personal one: to unlock the gates of her world-proof life to a society and a world in crisis. The first cross-cultural biography of this famous Australian writer, Marivic Wyndham's rich and controversial portrait of Eleanor Dark is based on extensive research of the author's public and private lives.


THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTING AND CHILD TRAUMA: AN INTERGENERATIONAL INVESTIGATION by MIRIAM AVIVA DREYER Advisor: Denise Hien, Ph.D. This study examined the intergenerational transmission of trauma by investigating the relationship between parental trauma and child trauma exposure by considering parenting variables including emotion regulation, aggression, monitoring, and punitiveness as potential mechanisms of transmission. Though ample research exists which suggests that experiences of trauma are passed down from one generation to the next, this intergenerational transmission is not inevitable, and the mechanisms of transmission need to be better understood. Parenting is a crucial construct to examine given that it shapes interactions between two generations and represents a forum for intervention. The study was a secondary analysis of a selection of data from a cross-sectional, cross-generational study of the associations between maternal substance use, psychopathology, neuropsychological functioning, child rearing deficits and corresponding child outcomes, including aggressive behavior and substance use. The sample of the current study, 176 urban, low-income, predominantly African American mothers and their pre/early adolescent children (ages 9-15), represents an understudied and vulnerable population. The study proposed that maternal trauma, here measured by numbers of types of trauma mothers endorsed, would be associated with child exposure to trauma, and that relationship would be mediated by each of the parenting variables (aggression, monitoring, punitiveness, and emotion regulation). Given the salience of emotion regulation in disorders of traumatic stress, as well as in parenting, it was hypothesized that when all of the parenting variables were considered together, maternal emotion regulation would be a significant predictor of child trauma exposure even after controlling for maternal aggression, punitiveness, and monitoring. The study found a small but significant association between maternal trauma and child exposure to trauma, lending some support to the presence of intergenerational transmission of trauma. Also, the study found evidence that maternal trauma interferes with parenting, as a significant association between maternal trauma and increased aggression and punitiveness existed. Punitiveness was the only parenting variable that mediated the relationship between maternal trauma and child exposure to trauma. Counter to the proposed hypotheses, there were no significant findings related to maternal emotion regulation and its association with child exposure to trauma.


We investigated interactions between hypoxia and nutrient cycling in Chesapeake Bay using quantitative analysis of long‐term monitoring data covering the periods 1965‐1980 and 1985‐2007. The data included vertical water column profiles of temperature, salinity, NH+4, PO3‐4, and O2, as well as rates of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) loading to the bay from the Susquehanna River. We investigated the hypothesis that a doubling of the volume of hypoxic (O2 < 62.5 µmol L−1) water generated per unit TN load in the past 25 yr is related to enhanced water‐column and sediment recycling of NH+4 and PO3‐4 under low O2, and that this increased nutrient recycling creates a feedback that further generates hypoxia. We found that bottom water in the upper bay region, where seasonal hypoxia first develops, was enriched in NH+4 and PO3‐4 relative to other regions. Evidence of the positive feedback effect of low O2 on nutrient recycling was found in the fact that bottom‐water pools of NH+4 and PO3‐;4 per unit TN and TP loading, respectively, were significantly and positively related to hypoxic volume in upper bay regions during June. Similarly, NH+4 pools generated per unit TN load were significantly higher during 1985‐2007, when hypoxic volume had been approximately doubled, relative to 1965‐1980. This positive feedback effect on nutrient recycling may help to explain the persistence of extensive hypoxia in June, even during years of reduced N loading.


The morpho-agronomic characterization of gene banks is a key step in enabling breeding programs to efficiently exploit genetic resources. Several studies have evaluated the root system traits of the common bean to develop genotypes better adapted to drought. We examined the root systems of 1000 common bean accessions, from the Agronomic Institute of Campinas gene bank to: count the number of whorls and basal roots, estimate the divergence between accessions and evaluate the 47 most divergent genotypes under drought. The average numbers of whorl and basal roots for the 1,000 accessions were 2.07 and 8.09, respectively. Seven different clusters were identified using the Mahalanobis genetic divergence analysis and the Tocher optimization method, from which the 47 most divergent genotypes were selected. Both genotype and water treatments, in the pre-blooming period, significantly affected root length, root surface area, root volume, number of pods, seeds per plant and grain yield. However, only water treatment significantly affected stomatal conductance, with water treatment x genotype interaction only having a significant effect on this characteristic. Water deficit reduced the average grain yield by 52%; the most promising genotypes under water deficit considering both root growth and grain yield were: RAI 76, 56 Retinto Santa Rosa, SER 28, Bayo, IAC Una, IAC Bico de Ouro and 12-D.


It is widely recognised that the Internet and other networks will become central channels for the delivery of learning, leisure and business services. It is crucial that public libraries respond to the challenge that these changes introduce so that they can continue to provide services of relevance to their users' needs. These issues were recognised by the Public Library Review commissioned by the Department of National Heritage. The Library and Information Commission has been considering how it might advise Government in this area and is commissioning several studies. This report has been prepared by UKOLN at the request of the Library and Information Commission. It is based on a survey of UK public library authorities carried out in late November 1995. Every UK authority (167) responded so that it represents a complete picture of the UK situation. We are very pleased to be able to present what is the first in-depth account of public library use of the Internet. It is based on a deliberately quick and simple approach as speed of response was critical. The project has been managed by the British Library R&D Department. UKOLN is jointly funded by the BLRDD and the Joint Information Systems Committee of the Higher Education Funding Councils.


The important function of disclosure under federal securities laws and regulations, and the role of management in running the affairs of the corporation consistent with state fiduciary principles have a history of discord. The recent mandates of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act ("SOX Act" or "SOX"), and the Security and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") implementing regulations continue to increase the disclosure obligations of public companies. This article examines the implementation of code of ethics requirements under SOX. It examines the SEC's regulations, which implement SOX requirements on the disclosure of codes of ethics, and self-regulatory agency ("SRO" or "listing agency") rules on codes of ethics for public companies. This article argues that code of ethics rules encroach into state law in defining the fiduciary obligations of officers and directors. Specifically, this article argues that the SEC's approval of New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") and National Association of Securities Dealers ("NASD" or "Nasdaq") rules allow the SEC to do indirectly what it could not do directly. This article, therefore, calls for an amendment to the SEC's code of ethics implementing regulation to provide a safe-harbor for senior financial officers and principal executive officers.


Abstract Data that accurately capture the spatial structure of biodiversity are required for many paleobiological questions, from assessments of changing provinciality and the role of geographic ranges in extinction and originations, to estimates of global taxonomic or morphological diversity through time. Studies of temporal changes in diversity and global biogeographic patterns have attempted to overcome fossil sampling biases through sampling standardization protocols, but such approaches must ultimately be limited by available literature and museum collections. One approach to evaluating such limits is to compare results from the fossil record with models of past diversity patterns informed by modern relationships between diversity and climatic factors. Here we use present-day patterns for marine bivalves, combined with data on the geologic ages and distributions of extant taxa, to develop a model for Pliocene diversity patterns, which is then compared with diversity patterns retrieved from the literature as compiled by the Paleobiology Database (PaleoDB). The published Pliocene bivalve data (PaleoDB) lack the first-order spatial structure required to generate the modern biogeography within the time available (<3 Myr). Instead, the published data (raw and standardized) show global diversity maxima in the Tropical West Atlantic, followed closely by a peak in the cool-temperate East Atlantic. Either today's tropical West Pacific diversity peak, double that of any other tropical region, is a purely Pleistocene phenomenon—highly unlikely given the geologic ages of extant genera and the topology of molecular phylogenies—or the paleontological literature is such a distorted sample of tropical Pliocene diversity that current sampling standardization methods cannot compensate for existing biases. A rigorous understanding of large-scale spatial and temporal diversity patterns will require new approaches that can compensate for such strong bias, presumably by drawing more fully on our understanding of the factors that underlie the deployment of diversity today.


In Sweden the real-estate market for agricultural and forest land has been regulated by law since the beginning of the 1900's. The Land Acquisition Act from 1979 is the now current law. The purposes of the law is to promote occupation and residence in the more sparsely populated areas of Sweden, and to facilitate the work of making bigger and more rational properties. Also it aims to uphold and maintain a balance between private and corporate ownership of agricultural land.

The probation is done by the county board in Sweden. The Swedish National Board of Agriculture will be deciding in the matter if the buyer is a legal person and the purchase price exceeds 10 million SEK.

Private persons need to apply for permission to complete their acquisition of a forest or agricultural property in rural or re-parceling areas. They are however excluded from the obligation of permission if they have been living in the region for more than 12 months. Transferring's of property within the family is also exempted from the appliance obligation. Legal persons always have to get permission for buying forest and agrarian land.

During the three years of 2014, 2015 and 2016 there were about 6 000 probations considering private persons permissions for land acquisition in the whole country. Out of those 22 were declined permission for their purchase of real estate. This means about 0,4 % of the appliances from private persons were rejected by the land acquisition act within the years 2014-2016.

Considering differences between the numbers of declined permissions over the country, the impact on the agrarian and forestry competitiveness and the small number of dismissed permissions there are reasons to consider a reevaluation of the law. It can be questioned how big impact the law has on the rural development in Sweden.


Over the past several decades, the student population at law schools across the country has become more and more racially diverse. In 1987, for example, only about 1 in every 10 law students identified as a person of color; by 2019, that percentage shot up to almost 1 out of 3.

Yet take a look at virtually any collection of recommended manuals on writing. You are unlikely to find even one that is authored by a person of color. The composition of law schools may be dramatically changing, but the materials that students are given to help them figure out how to put together documents that are proper, persuasive, and professional are designed pretty much exclusively by white people. "To write right," we seem to be saying, "you need to write white."

This essay describes an in-class exercise that was used to highlight that bias. It also shares an out-of-class assignment that successfully pushed students to broaden their mental library of exemplars.


The consistency and reliability of the brain computer interface (BCI) system is often questioned to be safe for controlling a wheelchair as BCIs characteristically experience a low signal-to-noise ratio and low classification accuracy. Electroencephalogram (EEG) acquired non-invasively consists of multiple time-series which are highly correlated because of volume conduction and ambient noises, thus providing a rather blurred image of the brain activity. This low signal-to-noise ratio and low spatial resolution of the data can degrade the translational performance of the BCI. To overcome the low classification accuracy and the uncertainty in commands of the BCI systems, the user has to impart additional concentration and time to navigate the wheelchair to the desired location. This paper presents a brain-controlled wheelchair (BCW) control strategy that reduces the total time required to complete a task and the concentration effort imparted by the user. Two BCW approaches are investigated in this work; a synchronous BCW and a self-paced BCW. These methodologies involve a shared control methodology between the BCI/user component and the automated assistive control (AAC) component. The proposed BCW strategies are compared to state-of-the-art BCW control methodologies available in the literature. The results show that the proposed methods not only reduce the concentration time but also provide a safer and reliable control compared to other BCWs.


In the face of rapid environmental and cultural change, orthodox concepts in restoration ecology such as historical fidelity are being challenged. Here we re-examine the diverse roles played by historical knowledge in restoration, and argue that these roles remain vitally important. As such, historical knowledge will be critical in shaping restoration ecology in the future. Perhaps the most crucial role in shifting from the present version of restoration ecology ("v1.0") to a newer formulation ("v2.0") is the value of historical knowledge in guiding scientific interpretation, recognizing key ecological legacies, and influencing the choices available to practitioners of ecosystem intervention under conditions of open-ended and rapid change.


Over the last thirty years, municipalities across the country have embraced neighborhood conservation districts, regulations that impose design standards at the neighborhood level. Despite their adoption in thirty-five states, in municipalities from Boise to Cambridge, neighborhood conservation districts have evaded critical analysis by legal scholars. By regulating features such as architectural style, roof angle, and maximum eave overhang, conservation districts purport to protect "neighborhood character" or "cultural stability." Implicit in these regulations is the unsupported assumption that the essential feature of a neighborhood's character is its architectural design at a single point in time. The unfortunate result is zoning as taxidermy, rather than land-use planning that permits places to evolve to meet changing needs and preferences. Conservation districts freeze places in time, exclude would-be residents from desirable neighborhoods, and threaten to increase the cost of housing in those neighborhoods and the cities in which they are located.
Urban culture is defined by dynamism, vitality, and an ability to adapt to and accommodate population and market shifts. Conservation district regulations should be crafted in that same spirit, to preserve cities and suburbs as places amenable to change. They should not only permit but also promote investment and redevelopment, particularly redevelopment of neighborhoods that, because they are close to public amenities, are well suited to dense development. This Article urges state legislators to cabin local authority to enact conservation districts. Revisions to state zoning- enabling legislation can ensure that these regulations (i) are not exclusionary, (ii) are responsive to changing market dynamics and evolving consumer preferences, and (iii) do not artificially inflate housing prices.


OBJECTIVE
We designed this study to evaluate the simplicity of the user interface in modern-generation mechanical ventilators. We hypothesized that different designs in the user interface could result in different rates of operational failures.

SETTING
A laboratory in a tertiary teaching hospital.

DESIGN
Crossover design.

SUBJECTS
Twenty-one medical resident physicians who did not possess operating experience with any of the selected ventilators.

METHODS
Four modern mechanical ventilators were selected: Dräger Evita XL, Maquet Servo-i, Newport e500, and Puritan Bennett 840. Each subject was requested to perform 8 tasks on each ventilator. Two objective variables (the number of successfully completed tasks without operational failures and the operational time) and the overall subjective rating of the ease of use, measured with a 100-mm visual analog scale were recorded.

RESULTS
The total percentage of operational failures made for all subjects, for all tasks, was 23%. There were significant differences in the rates of operational failures and operational time among the 4 ventilators. Subjects made more operational failures in setting up the ventilators and in making ventilator-setting changes than in reacting to alarms. The subjective feeling of the ease of use was also significantly different among the ventilators.

CONCLUSION
The design of the user interface is relevant to the occurrence of operational failures. Our data indicate that ventilator designers could optimize the user-interface design to reduce the operational failures; therefore, basic user interface should be standardized among the clinically used mechanical ventilators.


Foraminifera are an important component of ben- thic communities in oxygen-depleted settings, where they potentially play a significant role in the processing of organic matter. We tracked the uptake of a 13 C-labelled algal food source into individual fatty acids in the benthic foraminiferal species Uvigerina ex. gr. semiornata from the Arabian Sea oxygen minimum zone (OMZ). The tracer experiments were conducted on the Pakistan margin during the late/post mon- soon period (August-October 2003). A monoculture of the diatom Thalassiosira weisflogii was 13 C-labelled and used to simulate a pulse of phytoplankton in two complementary ex- periments. A lander system was used for in situ incubations at 140 m water depth and for 2.5 days in duration. Shipboard laboratory incubations of cores collected at 140 m incorpo- rated an oxystat system to maintain ambient dissolved oxy- gen concentrations and were terminated after 5 days. Uptake of diatoms was rapid, with a high incorporation of diatom fatty acids into foraminifera after 2 days in both experi- ments. Ingestion of the diatom food source was indicated by the increase over time in the quantity of diatom biomarker fatty acids in the foraminifera and by the high percentage of 13 C in many of the fatty acids present at the endpoint of both in situ and laboratory-based experiments. These results indi- cate that U. ex. gr. semiornata rapidly ingested the diatom food source and that these foraminifera will play an impor- tant role in the short-term cycling of organic matter within this OMZ environment. The presence of 18:1(n-7) in the ex- perimental foraminifera suggested that U. ex. gr. semiornata also consumed non-labelled bacterial food items. In addition, levels of 20:4(n-6), a PUFA only present in low amounts in the diatom food, increased dramatically in the foraminifera during both the in situ and shipboard experiments, possi- bly because it was synthesised de novo. This "essential fatty acid" is often abundant in benthic fauna, yet its origins and


This study aims both to determine the attitude of undergraduates of geography studying in faculty of education in different universities towards the profession of teaching and to analyze how these attitudes are influenced by such factors as the school where they study, their gender, class in society, parental professions, economic situation and the city where they live. The study was carried out on 208 students in the 1 st and the 5th year of their study in Gazi University, Canakkale 18 Mart University, Dicle Universty and Dokuz Eylul University. Data in this study has been gathered via the Attitude Scale to the Profession of Teaching. As findings indicate, there are links between the attitudes of students towards the profession of teaching and the grade they study, the university they attend, parental professions, the size of the area where they lived before university, the economic situation of families.


This article analyzes the continued popular support for Lula and Dilma in the face of multiple corruption allegations throughout their respective presidencies. What explains their ability to survive corruption? And what are the implications of this – at first sight – lack of electoral punishment for Brazilian democracy? In searching for answers to these questions, this article looks at four mechanisms that help explain the continued popularity of politicians amid allegations of corruption: the use of clientelism as payoffs, informational failures, the relevance of other issues, and rouba mas faz. By analyzing Lula's and Dilma's terms in office and their inopportune links to corruption, this article argues that the shifting strategies used to deal with corruption allegations effectively shifted the reputational costs of corruption away from individual political leaders and toward the Workers' Party and the political system as a whole. This finding emphasizes the mid- to long-term consequences of corruption scandals on political parties and democratic institutions, while also shedding light on the paradoxical relationship between corruption as a voting valence issue and continuing electoral support for politicians allegedly involved in corruption.


The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) efficiency score obtained for an individual firm is a point estimate without any confidence interval around it. In recent years, researchers have resorted to bootstrapping in order to generate empirical distributions of efficiency scores. This procedure assumes that all firms have the same probability of getting an efficiency score from any specified interval within the [0,1] range. We propose a bootstrap procedure that empirically generates the conditional distribution of efficiency for each individual firm given systematic factors that influence its efficiency. Instead of resampling directly from the pooled DEA scores, we first regress these scores on a set of explanatory variables not included at the DEA stage and bootstrap the residuals from this regression. These pseudo-efficiency scores incorporate the systematic effects of unit-specific factors along with the contribution of the randomly drawn residual. Data from the U.S. airline industry are utilized in an empirical application.


In online forums focused on health and wellbeing, individuals tend to seek and give the following social support: emotional and informational support. Understanding the expressions of these social supports in an online COVID- 19 forum is important for: (a) the forum and its members to provide the right type of support to individuals and (b) determining the long term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the well-being of the public, thereby informing interventions. In this work, we build four machine learning models to measure the extent of the following social supports expressed in each post in a COVID-19 online forum: (a) emotional support given (b) emotional support sought (c) informational support given, and (d) informational support sought. Using these models, we aim to: (i) determine if there is a correlation between the different social supports expressed in posts e.g. when members of the forum give emotional support in posts, do they also tend to give or seek informational support in the same post? (ii) determine how these social supports sought and given changes over time in published posts. We find that (i) there is a positive correlation between the informational support given in posts and the emotional support given and emotional support sought, respectively, in these posts and (ii) over time, users tended to seek more emotional support and give less emotional support.


Interurban-level focus during the last decade has shifted from the compact city towards a polycentric urban framework. The ability to define consistent urban structures and also link them with sustainability goals has been hindered by inconsistent evaluation methods for density and mixed functionality in a polycentric framework. The aim of this research is to test and combine various methods from these perspectives in order to define more reliable and consistent descriptions of urban structures. The methods used are spatial-density modelling using kernel convolution, a polycentric density estimation, and methods depicting mixed functionality and the association between density and mixed functionality. The empirical findings relate to planning goals at both national and international level. The study region is the municipality of Strängnäs, within the Stockholm City Region since 1997. Results from the analysis reveal urban development towards further segregated land use and sprawl, as well as a decreasing link with a polycentric urban scheme. The methods developed for depicting urban form could be useful tools in the planning process and may reinforce the possibility for analysing links between urban form and sustainability aspects. This improved knowledge in turn could contribute towards formulating future planning principles.


No society can escape population ageing. This demographic phenomenon has profound social consequences on the lifestyles of individuals and societies. In the light of the accelerated ageing of the Mediterranean area, the analyses which inform this work aim to understand how the age-related policies of Nation-States are partly responsible for the behaviours of the generations. They also highlight how the lifestyle changes are the result of trends which are common to these societies. The Mediterranean area constructed here by the researchers offers an in-depth reflection on the national cases presented, in terms of their specificities or societal singularities, as well as of their dynamics of convergence. Drawing on empirical research in sociology, demography, geography and economics, exploiting the most recent data available and setting the present in historical perspective, Ageing, Lifestyles and Economic Crises studies Mediterranean societies in relation to three major challenges which they now confront. These are: population ageing and its implications in terms of intergenerational family support relationships; increasingly insecure adult professional trajectories and their consequences for the evolution of social gender roles, in an economic context commonly referred to as a 'crisis'; and lastly the role of Nation-States' public policies in the social reproduction of these gender inequalities. These three issues are the keystone to understanding the ongoing transformations in the lifestyles and life cycles of Mediterranean societies. This volume marshals a wealth of recent data that will be useful not only to many academics and scientists but also to local and national policy-makers.


A colloidal suspension is a heterogeneous fluid containing solid microscopic particles. Colloids play an important role in our everyday life, from food and pharmaceutical industries to medicine and nanotechnology. It is useful to distinguish two major classes of colloidal suspensions: equilibrium and active, i.e., maintained out of thermodynamic equilibrium by external electric or magnetic fields, light, chemical reactions, or hydrodynamic shear flow. While the properties of equilibrium colloidal suspensions are fairly well understood, active colloids pose a formidable challenge, and the research is in its early exploratory stage. One of the most remarkable properties of active colloids is the possibility of dynamic self-assembly, a natural tendency of simple building blocks to organize into complex functional architectures. Examples range from tunable, self-healing colloidal crystals and membranes to self-assembled microswimmers and robots. Active colloidal suspensions may exhibit material properties not present in their equilibrium counterparts, e.g., reduced viscosity and enhanced self-diffusivity, etc. This study surveys the most recent developments in the physics of active colloids, both in synthetic and living systems, with the aim of elucidation of the fundamental physical mechanisms governing self-assembly and collective behavior.


The focus of this paper is on the generation of multimodal explanations for information fusion tasks performed on multimodal data. We propose that separating modal components in saliency map explanations provides users with a better understanding of how convolutional neural networks process multimodal data. We adapt established state-of-the-art explainability techniques to mid-level fusion networks in order to better understand (a) which modality of the input contributes most to a model's decision and (b) which parts of the input data are most relevant to that decision. Our method separates temporal from non-temporal information to allow a user to focus their attention on salient elements of the scene that are changing in multiple modalities. The work is experimentally tested on an activity recognition task using video and audio data. In view of the fact that explanations need to be tailored to the type of user in a User Fusion context, we focus on meeting explanation requirements for system creators and operators respectively.


We know about the cursus honorum of Br. Jerome of Ascoli as Nuncio to Constantinople (1272), Minister General (1274), Cardinal (1278), Pope (1288-1292). There are no references to his cultural formation. Of the works attributed to him, only the Postillae Domi-nicaks contained in the cod. Casanatense 1184, have come to light; these are 197 very brief schema o divisions of the Gospels and Epistles for Sunday with an expositio and collatio for every text; each piece is described by and incipit and explicit (a-it). An appendix of five mor noteworthy texts follows, a double redaction in n. 6, an expositio in n. 7.


Demersal fish stock biomass is usually estimated using commercial landings data, 'tuned' by various types of survey data, usually trawl. When collecting fish data by trawl it is only possible to take relatively small numbers of samples, but each component of the catch can be measured and resolved to species. Acoustic data, on the other hand, are easy to collect since continuous sampling can be maintained at speed (10 knots) but discerning species and size structure from data is difficult. Here we investigate whether these two different measurements of the same quantity (fish abundance/biomass) are actually related to each other. To do this, databases were built that consisted of simultaneous acoustic and catch data collected during a trawl haul. These are described as 'on station data'. Both trawl haul and acoustic data were found to have high variances and direct correlation between them tended to be weakly positive, although the spatial and temporal trajectories captured by both the trawl and acoustic data were similar. The reasons for this apparent inconsistency are explained. In many situations, however, direct positive correlation was found; relationships perhaps strong enough to be extended to acoustic data collected between trawl stations, ie. 'underway data'. Factors leading to such situations are also described. Given the number and characteristics of the favorable cases, we go on to comment whether such relationships can realistically be used in the construction of combined trawl and acoustic indices and under which conditions.


We present a method for picture detection in document page images, which can come from scanned or camera images, or rendered from electronic file formats. Our method uses OCR to separate out the text and applies the Normalized Cuts algorithm to cluster the non-text pixels into picture regions. A refinement step uses the captions found in the OCR text to deduce how many pictures are in a picture region, thereby correcting for under- and over-segmentation. A performance evaluation scheme is applied which takes into account the detection quality and fragmentation quality. We benchmark our method against the ABBYY application on page images from conference papers.


Most empirical and numerical approaches to design in rock mechanics incorporate rock mass classification. Numerical design methods generally use classification values to calculate input parameters for stress-based failure criteria. Empirical methods use classification to allow comparisons between similar rock mass conditions, generally based on a graphical design technique that differentiates stable and failed opening geometries. Classification systems are the best tool available for assessing rock mass properties; however, there are problems with classification systems that should be highlighted. Rock mass performance can only be realistically estimated by coupling a unique description of the rock mass with known loading conditions. Current classification systems cannot provide a unique classification value. The weightings applied to quantify rock mass properties for classification can result in significantly different rock masses having the same classification values. These weightings have been proven effective for tunnel design and support, but classification systems are now used for many more applications. Rock classification systems evolved from a quick and easy field tool for estimating tunnel stability and support requirements. The need for a rapid field tool means that rock mass classification is relatively insensitive to improved methods of measuring rock mass properties. Problems with classification systems and their application are highlighted in this paper. These problems must be recognized and documented before improvements can be made. An understanding of the evolution of classification systems and their application for both numerical and empirical design approaches is invaluable in highlighting current shortcomings.


Silurian stromatoporoid-dominated reefs of Gotland, Sweden, are bioherms and biostromes formed during phases of reduced clastic supply. Well-exposed examples are in the early Wenlock Högklint Formation and middle Ludlow Hemse Group. Reef development culminated in shallow water biostromes, laterally expanded over a stabilized substrate and associated with frequent erosion surfaces. Högklint reefs began as bioherms, to be replaced by biostromal phases as water shallowed, with vertically zoned communities. Biostromal phases are considered equivalent to the whole of individual stromato-poroid biostromes (without biohermal phases) of the Hemse Group, which developed in shallow, low to moderate energy water, on stabilized substrate. Low clastic supply associated with these reefs reduced not only the clay input, which is otherwise common in most non-reef environments on Gotland, but also is interpreted to have lowered available nutrient levels. Modern reefs develop best in conditions of low nutrients and also show (a) suppressed bioerosion, and (b) increased symbiosis between corals and algae which conserves nutrients in the reef biota. Högklint reefs show reduced bioerosion while Hemse reefs show almost complete lack of bioerosion. Symbiosis between stromatoporoids and corals, interpreted as a response to the need for nutrient conservation, occurs in the reefs, but is much more common in Hemse reefs. Both Högklint and Hemse reefs are regarded as having grown in nutrient-deficient conditions in line with modern reefs although the effect on Hemse reefs is believed to have been greater because they appear to have grown in quieter conditions on a broad shelf and may have had reduced access to nutrients in a regressive regime throughout the Ludlow. Reduced clastic supply while the Gotland reefs grew could have been due to regional tectonism controlling local sea-level change. However, the Högklint Formation and Hemse Group reef phases coincide with times of proposed eustatic sea-level falls. Reef growth on Gotland could therefore relate to eustatic tectonism by subduction-related or plate flexure processes, or climatic control. An oceanographic model for the Silurian proposed alternating wet and dry episodes, interpreted as CO2-driven, and could have controlled clastic input, permitting the development of fossiliferous reefs and the carbonate platforms on which they formed. These interpretations provide a revised framework for examining the reef growth.


Using SVAR analysis, this paper finds what Sims calls a 'price puzzle', i.e. a case where CPI increases after a positive interest rate shock. The SVAR analysis controls for various monetary transmission mechanisms, including one based on the South African dominance hypothesis that links South African monetary policy to inflation in Botswana and Namibia. The paper follows Castelnuovo and Surico and interprets the price puzzle as a symptom of an indeterminate monetary policy. Subsequently the paper explores the finding of indeterminate monetary policy further by using an unstructured VAR to estimate the monetary reaction functions of Botswana and Namibia. These results also point to the presence of an indeterminate monetary policy. Lastly, both the SVAR and the unstructured VAR estimated for the monetary reaction function indicate the importance of the exchange rate, and not the interest rate, as a determinant of inflation in both Botswana and Namibia


ABSTRACT Precise patterning within the three-dimensional context of tissues, organs and embryos implies that cells can sense their relative position. During preimplantation development, outside and inside cells rely on apicobasal polarity and the Hippo pathway to choose their fate. Despite recent findings suggesting that mechanosensing might be central to this process, the relationship between blastomere geometry (i.e. shape and position) and the Hippo pathway effector YAP remains unknown. We used a highly quantitative approach to analyse information on the geometry and YAP localisation of individual blastomeres of mouse and human embryos. We identified the proportion of exposed cell surface area as most closely correlating with the nuclear localisation of YAP. To test this relationship, we developed several hydrogel-based approaches to alter blastomere geometry in cultured embryos. Unbiased clustering analyses of blastomeres from such embryos revealed that this relationship emerged during compaction. Our results therefore pinpoint the time during early embryogenesis when cells acquire the ability to sense changes in geometry and provide a new framework for how cells might integrate signals from different membrane domains to assess their relative position within the embryo. Highlighted Article: Localisation of YAP, a key factor during the first cell fate decision, is linked to individual blastomere geometry within the three-dimentional environment of the preimplantation embryo.


Poetry in America is flourishing in this new millennium and asking serious questions of itself: Is writing marked by gender and if so, how? What does it mean to be experimental? How can lyric forms be authentic? This volume builds on the energetic tensions inherent in these questions, focusing on ten major American women poets whose collective work shows an incredible range of poetic practice. Each section of the book is devoted to a single poet and contains new poems; a brief"statement of poetics" by the poet herself in which she explores the forces - personal, aesthetic, political - informing her creative work; a critical essay on the poet's work; a biographical statement; and a bibliography listing works by and about the poet. Underscoring the dynamic give and take between poets and the culture at large, this anthology is indispensable for anyone interested in poetry, gender and the creative process. CONTRIBUTORS: Rae Armantrout, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Lucie Brock Broido, Jorie Graham, Barbara Guest, Lyn Hejinian, Brenda Hillman, Susan Howe, Ann Lauterbach, Harryette Mullen.


We examine wage bargaining when employers and labor unions do not always take all general equilibrium effects into account but learn a steady state. If agents do hardly consider general equilibrium effects, low real wages and low unemployment results. With an intermediate view, when partial equilibrium effects are taken into account, high real wages and unemployment results, which may explain the persistence of high unemployment in Europe. If all general equilibrium effects are incorporated at once, again low real wages and low unemployment results. We thus obtain a hump-shaped relationship between the extend of feedback effects incorporated by the bargaining parties and real wages or unemployment.


This paper analyzes the choice of deductible in insurance contracts that insure against a risk that, as is common, might materialize more than once during the life of the policy. As was established by Arrow (1963), from the perspective of risk-bearing costs, the optimal contract is one that uses an aggregate deductible that applies to the aggregate losses incurred over the life of the policy. Aggregate deductibles, however, are uncommon in practice. This paper identifies two disadvantages that aggregate deductibles have. Aggregate deductibles are shown to produce higher expected verification costs and moral hazard costs than contracts that apply a per-loss deductible to each loss that occurs. I further show that each of these disadvantages can make an aggregate deductible contact inferior to a contract with per loss deductibles. The results of the analysis can help explain the rare use of aggregate deductibles and, in addition, might explain why umbrella policies that cover all types of losses are rarely used.


Truth is a complete defense to a defamation charge, but a defendant does not have to prove the literal truth of a defamatory statement to prevail. An effective defense can rely on the substantial truth doctrine. Under the substantial truth doctrine, a defamatory statement is First Amendment-protected if it is factually similar to the pleaded truth, and does not differ from the truth by more than immaterial details. This article presents and analyzes the theory, application, and constitutional foundations of the substantial truth doctrine. It concludes that the doctrine promotes the values of the First Amendment by reducing the risk of self-censorship, yet preserves defamation law's reputational protection and compensatory function.


This fish and benthic composition database is the result of a multifaceted effort described below. The intent of this work is five fold: 1) To spatially characterize and monitor the distribution, abundance, and size of both reef fishes and macro-invertebrates (conch, lobster, Diadema); 2) To relate this information to in-situ data collected on associated benthic composition parameters; 3) To use this information to establish the knowledge base necessary for enacting management decisions in a spatial setting; 4) To establish the efficacy of those management decisions; and 5) To work with the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program to develop data collection standards and easily implemented methodologies for transference to other agencies and to work toward standardizing data collection throughout the US states and territories. Toward this end, the Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment's Biogeography Branch (BB) has been conducting research in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands since 2000 and 2001, respectively. It is critical, with recent changes in management at both locations (e.g. implementation of MPAs) as well as proposed changes (e.g. zoning to manage multiple human uses) that action is taken now to accurately describe and characterize the fish/macro-invertebrate populations in these areas. It is also important that BB work closely with the individuals responsible for recommending and implementing these management strategies. Recognizing this, BB has been collaborating with partners at the University of Puerto Rico, National Park Service, US Geological Survey and the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources. To quantify patterns of spatial distribution and make meaningful interpretations, we must first have knowledge of the underlying variables determining species distribution. The basis for this work therefore, is the nearshore benthic habitats maps (less than 100 ft depth) created by NOAA's Biogeography Program in 2001 and NOS' bathymetry models. Using ArcView GIS software, the digitized habitat maps are stratified to select sampling stations. Sites are randomly selected within these strata to ensure coverage of the entire study region and not just a particular reef or seagrass area. At each site, fish, macro-invertebrates, and benthic composition information is then quantified following standardized protocols. By relating the data collected in the field back to the habitat maps and bathymetric models, BB is able to model and map species level and community level information. These protocols are standardized throughout the US Caribbean to enable quantification and comparison of reef fish abundance and distribution trends between locations. Armed with the knowledge of where "hot spots" of species richness and diversity are likely to occur in the seascape, the BB is in a unique position to answer questions about the efficacy of marine zoning strategies (e.g. placement of no fishing, anchoring, or snorkeling locations), and what locations are most suitable for establishing MPAs. Knowledge of the current status of fish/macro-invertebrate communities coupled with longer term monitoring will enable evaluation of management efficacy, thus it is essential to future management actions. Starting in 2010, the regular La Parguera survey area was extended eastward to encompass the Guanica Bay region. The purpose of this modification was to conduct a baseline assessment of fish, macro-invertebrates (conch, lobster, Diadema) and benthic communities in support of Guanica Bay watershed restoration, and then to monitor changes over time. A watershed management plan was developed in 2008 by the Center for Watershed Protection, in cooperation with various Divisions of Puerto Rico DNER and NOAA, to identify priority management recommendations and implementation strategies for the Guanica watershed based on input from local experts, observations from on-the-ground assessments, and a comprehensive review of existing studies and applicable local rules and regulations. The Guanica watershed was selected for the watershed planning project because it is a priority of the Commonwealth for conservation of the near shore coral reef habitat, which has been steadily declining in condition during the past several decades. Information collected during this survey will provide critical baseline information for the watershed and adjacent coral reefs which will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the restoration project implemented. More information on the Guanica Bay project can be found at: http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/ecosystems/coralreef/guanica.aspx.


The purpose of this paper is to address two basic performance questions for market advisory services: 1) Do market advisory services, on average, outperform an appropriate market benchmark? and 2) Do market advisory services exhibit persistence in their performance from year-to-year? Data on corn and soybean net price received for advisory services, as reported by the AgMAS Project, are available for the 1995, 1996 and 1997 marketing years. Performance test results suggest that, on average, market advisory services exhibit a small ability to "beat the market" for the 1995 through 1997 corn and soybean crops. This conclusion is somewhat sensitive to the type of performance test and market benchmark considered. The predictability results provide little evidence that future advisory service pricing performance can be predicted from past performance. When services are grouped by performance quantile, some evidence of predictability is found for the poorest performing services, but not for top performing services.


This article argues that the failure to address and ameliorate systemic poverty is a major cause of recessions. Recessions occur (and sub-optimal employment and growth persist) when a critical mass of market participants come to believe that the distribution of future earning capacity is not sufficient to purchase what can be produced despite the physical and technological capacity to employ available labor and capital to produce more over the same period even at lower unit cost. The essence of systemic poverty is widespread inadequate earning capacity. In recessionary periods, with rising unemployment, the problem of inadequate earning capacity (which perennially plagues poor people even in good economic times) rises up through the middle class like rising flood waters. The mainstream approach to end recessions and to ameliorate poverty is to promote (1) capital acquisition mostly with the earnings of capital and primarily for well-capitalized people largely in proportion to their existing wealth and (2) primarily jobs and welfare for the rest of the population. This article argues that, poverty can be systemically reduced and recessions avoided if the same government-aided system of corporate finance that facilitates capital acquisition with the earnings of capital primarily in proportion to existing wealth is opened competitively to all people.


The Bureau of Mines report presents a procedure for the design of an arch canopy for use in rehabilitating a high-roof-fall area. Only dynamic line loading of an unbackfilled arch canopy at its crown is considered, and the procedure does not account for an asymmetrical loading condition. The evaluation of whether an arch canopy is suitable for a particular installation depends on many variables, including in-mine conditions and the engineering properties of the structure. However, a general evaluation can be based on a comparison of the arch's maximum crown deflection and a prescribed allowable crown deflection. The design procedure is based on the concept that when an arch canopy is subjected to impact loading at its crown and deflects from its unloaded state to maximum crown deflection, the structure absorbs strain energy, both elastic and plastic. As a result, this strain energy can be calculated from a static load-displacement diagram for the structure. The significance of this design procedure is that it gives mine personnel an analytical tool to select an arch canopy to meet the dimensional and functional requirements of a mine entry and a prescribed allowable crown deflection.


The cyclical nature of numbers and prices of sheep and lambs was examined from 1924 through 1993. Tests for structural change also were conducted utilizing the minimization of Akaike's information criterion (MAIC). Results indicate that cyclical length in both stock sheep numbers and lamb prices has decreased over time, with a current 10- and 27-year cycle in stock sheep numbers and nine- and 27-year cycle lamb prices. Structural changes occurred in 1951 and 1968 for stock sheep number and in 1952 and 1972 for lamb prices.


Secondary surface layers form by replacement of almandine garnet during chemical weathering. This study tested the hypothesis that the kinetic role of almandine's weathering products, and the consequent relationships of primary-mineral surface texture and specific assemblages of secondary minerals, both vary with the solid-solution-controlled variations in Fe and Al contents of the specific almandine experiencing weathering.Surface layers are protective (PSL) when the volume of the products formed by replacement is greater than or equal to the volume of the reactants replaced. Under such circumstances, reaction kinetics at the interface between the garnet and the replacing mineral are transport controlled and either transport of solvents or other reactants to, or products from, the dissolving mineral is rate limiting. Beneath PSLs, almandine garnet surfaces are smooth, rounded, and featureless. Surface layers are unprotective (USL) when the volume of the products formed by replacement is less than the volume of the reactants replaced. Under such circumstances, reaction kinetics at the interface between the garnet and the replacing mineral are interface controlled and the detachment of ions or molecules from the mineral surface is rate limiting. Almandine garnet surfaces beneath USLs exhibit crystallographically oriented etch pits. However, contrary to expectations, etch pits occur on almandine garnet grains beneath some layers consisting of mineral assemblages consistent with PSLs.Based on the Pilling-Bedworth criterion, surface layers are more likely to be protective over a broad range of reactant-mineral compositions when they contain goethite, kaolinite, and pyrolusite. However, this combination requires specific ranges of Fe and Al content of the natural reacting almandine garnet. To form a PSL of goethite and kaolinite, an almandine garnet must have a minimum Al stoichiometric coefficient of ~3.75 a.p.f.u., and a minimum Fe stoichiometric coefficient of ~2.7 a.p.f.u.Product minerals also influence the mobility of the least-mobile major rock-forming elements. A PSL consisting of goethite, gibbsite, and kaolinite yields excess Al for export during almandine garnet weathering. As the quantity of kaolinite present in the PSL decreases, the amounts of Al available for export increases.


José Guadalupe Posada (b. Aguascalientes, February 2, 1852; d. Mexico City, January 20, 1913) was a prolific printmaker of exceptional technique, range, and originality. By the time of his death, his images had become a staple of Mexico City popular culture, appearing regularly in theatrical posters, advertisements, book illustrations, broadsides, and the penny press. Despite his popularity with impresarios, advertisers, publishers, editors, and readers, Posada received scant formal recognition during his lifetime. That changed in the 1920s with his "discovery" by prominent artists and art critics including internationally renowned muralists Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. By the 1940s, exhibitions of his work had begun to appear in major galleries and museums in the United States and Europe, promoted as evidence of a unique visual aesthetic rooted in traditional Mexican culture and committed to exposing the long-standing oppression of the Mexican people at the hands of corrupt politicians, greedy bourgeoisie, cruel caciques (local party bosses), and foreign interlopers. Although scholars have disputed the genealogy and political nature of Posada's vision, the revolutionary nationalist interpretation of Rivera, Orozco, and others has provided inspiration and a sense of cultural legitimacy for succeeding generations of artists in Mexico and throughout the Mexican diaspora. Posada is best known for his striking calaveras, notably Calavera Catrina, a fashionable female skull with bows and a fancy hat; and La Calavera Oaxaqueña, a machete-wielding male skeleton dressed in a charro outfit. Published in conjunction with the annual celebrations for Day of the Dead (October 31–November 2) and accompanied by satiric verses, Posada's calaveras poke fun at the pretentions of the living in the face of their inevitable mortality.


This research explores the value for students in learning practical technical skills by the direct observation of an expert making in a professional workshop. Curriculum design for teaching and learning of practical skills in practice-based courses in art and design have traditionally followed the 'technical demonstration' mode of delivery. This normally involves students observing demonstrations of specific techniques given by academic or technical staff sited in University workshops.

Our research project Learning and Teaching Through Practice (Boyes, Cousens and Stuart 2008) found value in live performance in respect of virtual representation, and the richness of non-verbal communication but raised questions about the limitations of demonstrating a specific technique out of context of the whole creative process. Particularly the difficulty of reflecting the true time span of processes and the rhythm of making.

This research will address these issues by learning techniques as part of the entire process of the production of an artifact within a professional context and looks at how curriculum design could be developed to incorporate this method of learning in addition to traditional demonstrations. Through using the method of student learning through observation it may connect more directly with the tacit knowledge essential in practical disciplines. It brings 'real life' experience and links work-related learning with student learning experience in the acquisition of technical skills and processes.

The research has been undertaken and data collected from students within a multidisciplinary course and findings will have relevance to learning in many practice-based subjects within art and design as well as others outside such as nursing, midwifery, culinary arts and sciences.

research methods
The project is essentially a case study of level 2, 3 and 4 3D Materials Practice students at the University of Brighton. There were 2 studio visits to internationally acclaimed professional makers in ceramics and metals. This research project is predominantly qualitative using semi structured interviews and student journals and some quantitative data produced through self-completing questionnaires. We also collected data by unobtrusive observation and video-audio recording of the visits.

findings
The main findings to be explored in this work-in-progress session at the conference are:

• the value of non-verbal communication
• the holistic view of a technical skill or process within the entire creative process
• setting a technique or process within a professional context
• insight into speed and activity of making
• understanding of the rhythm of creating through the materials and processes
• the learning of skills through international experts of the highest level

This research has been funded by the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning through Design, at the University of Brighton, which focuses on themes of practice-based learning and object scholarship.


A heated debate surrounds the significance of reproducibility as an indicator for research quality and reliability, with many commentators linking a "crisis of reproducibility" to the rise of fraudulent, careless and unreliable practices of knowledge production. Through the analysis of discourse and practices across research fields, I point out that reproducibility is not only interpreted in different ways, but also serves a variety of epistemic functions depending on the research at hand. Given such variation, I argue that the uncritical pursuit of reproducibility as an overarching epistemic value is misleading and potentially damaging to scientific advancement. Requirements for reproducibility, however they are interpreted, are one of many available means to secure reliable research outcomes. Furthermore, there are cases where the focus on enhancing reproducibility turns out not to foster high-quality research. Scientific communities and Open Science advocates should learn from inferential reasoning from irreproducible data, and promote incentives for all researchers to explicitly and publicly discuss (1) their methodological commitments, (2) the ways in which they learn from mistakes and problems in everyday practice, and (3) the strategies they use to choose which research component of any project needs to be preserved in the long term, and how.


A technique is developed for measuring the thermal desorption of one or more gases using the time-of-flight mass spectrometer. With this method the adsorbed population, gas-solid bond energy, and preexponential kinetic factor can be determined for each adsorbed gas. The thermal desorption of nitric oxide from plutonium dioxide was measured over the temperature range 100°–900°C and typical spectra are presented. The activation energy of desorption was found to be 19.4 kcal/mole. The probable mechanism for adsorption is also discussed.


A property-based desirability scoring scheme has been developed for kinase-focused library design and ligand-based pre-screening of large compound sets. The property distributions of known kinase inhibitors from the ChEMBL Kinase Sarfari database were investigated and used for a desirability function-based score. The scoring scheme is easily interpretable as it accounts for six molecular properties: topological polar surface area and the number of rotatable bonds, hydrogen bond donors, aromatic rings, nitrogen atoms and oxygen atoms. The performance of the Kinase Desirability Score (KiDS) is evaluated on both public and proprietary experimental screening data.


BACKGROUND: This study was motivated by the growth in the number of elderly with dementia and consequent need to help family caregivers who face the daily stress for long periods of time. The aim was to describe the frequency of some common psychosomatic symptoms in self-assessed health status and to determine whether there are gender dif- ferences in these symptoms and the perception of ones own health in family caregivers. METHODS: The first results of cross-sectional survey design as the first phase of a longitu- dinal cohort study are presented. The participants in this investigation (n=73) were family caregivers of outpatients suffering from moderate (59 cases = 80.8%) or mild (14 cases = 19.2%) stage of Alzheimers disease (AD). RESULTS: The group of caregivers consisting of 61 (83.6%) women and 12 men (16.4%). Participants of this study were recruited from the Department of Psychiatry, Prague, Czech Republic. Data from caregivers were collected by using a self-administered questionnaire containing various items to measure self- perceived health including some common psychosomatic symptoms in relationship with their caregiving role. CONCLUSIONS: The following symptoms appeared the most frequent among family caregivers: chronic fatigue and sleeping disturbances. Most caregivers of patients with moderate stage of AD evaluated their own health as poor and experienced more symptoms in comparison with caregivers of patients with mild stage of Alzheimers disease, who scored their own health as good or very good. A follow-up of the survey population seems to be necessary.


ON THE N -BODY PROBLEM Zhifu Xie Department of Mathematics Doctor of Philosophy In this thesis, central configurations, regularization of simultaneous binary collision, linear stability of Kepler orbits, and index theory for symplectic path are studied. The history of their study is summarized in section 1. Section 2 deals with the following problem: given a collinear configuration of 4 bodies, under what conditions is it possible to choose positive masses which make it central. It is always possible to choose three positive masses such that the given three positions with the masses form a central configuration. However, for an arbitrary configuration of 4 bodies, it is not always possible to find positive masses forming a central configuration. An expression of four masses is established depending on the position x and the center of mass u, which gives a central configuration in the collinear four body problem. Specifically it is proved that there is a compact region in which no central configuration is possible for positive masses. Conversely, for any configuration in the complement of the compact region, it is always possible to choose positive masses to make the configuration central. The singularities of simultaneous binary collisions in collinear four-body problem is regularized by explicitly constructing new coordinates and time transformation in section 3. The motion in the new coordinates and time scale across simultaneous binary collision is at least C. Furthermore, the behavior of the motion closing, across and after the simultaneous binary collision, is also studied. Many different types of periodic solutions involving single binary collisions and simultaneous binary collisions are constructed. In section 4, the linear stability is studied for the Kepler orbits of the rhombus four-body problem. We show that, for given four proper masses, there exists a family of periodic solutions for which each body with the proper mass is at the vertex of a rhombus and travels along an elliptic Kepler orbit. Instead of studying the 8 degrees of freedom Hamilton system for planar four-body problem, we reduce this number by means of some symmetry to derive a two degrees of freedom system which then can be used to determine the linear instability of the periodic solutions. After making a clever change of coordinates, a two dimensional ordinary differential equation system is obtained, which governs the linear instability of the periodic solutions. The system is surprisingly simple and depends only on the length of the sides of the rhombus and the eccentricity e of the Kepler orbit. In section 5, index theory for symplectic paths introduced by Y. Long is applied to study the stability of a periodic solution x for a Hamiltonian system. We establish a necessary and sufficient condition for stability of the periodic solution x in two and four dimension.


The design of the built environment (such as housing developments, street networks) can increase the opportunity for crime and disorder to occur. For example, a housing development with poor surveillance can provide an opportunity for offenders to commit residential burglary and avoid detection. Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) aims to reduce crime and disorder through the design and manipulation of the built environment. The police typically play an important role in the delivery and application of CPTED by assessing planning applications, identifying design features that may provide an opportunity for crime and offering remedial advice. In England and Wales, it is common practice for police specialists – Designing out Crime Officers (DOCOs) – to review architectural site plans during the planning process. However, owing to significant cuts to policing budgets, the number of DOCOs in post is reducing whilst the demand for new housing is on the increase. In this novel work, it is demonstrated that key knowledge about the opportunities for crime and disorder within the built environment can be elicited from a purposive sample of 28 experienced DOCOs, encoded in a domain model and utilised by Automated Planning techniques to automatically assess architectural site plans for future crime risk.


The performance of bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) with (or without) iterative decoding (ID) is significantly influenced by the mapping of bits to the symbol constellation. Our main objective in this paper is to develop a systematic design approach for BICM-ID schemes, ensuring the best possible performance with iterative decoding. Although useful mappings for BICM-ID have been found based on various search strategies, no attempt has been made to systematically enumerate and classify all unique mappers for a given constellation. As the basis for a systematic enumeration and classification, we define the average bit-wise distance spectrum for a mapping from bits to symbols. Different bit-wise distance spectra are derived assuming no prior information or full prior information, respectively. The bit-wise distance spectra determine corresponding bit-wise error probability and bit-wise mutual information. The latter allows us to use the classification of mappings with unique bit-wise distance spectra to also classify mappings with unique extremal points in the corresponding extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) curves. As an example of our approach, we classify 8PSK mappings into 86 classes of unique mappings according to bit-wise distance spectra. The classification can be used to significantly reduce the complexity of the search for suitable mappers for BICM-ID. For 8PSK and a given encoder, only 86 different mappings need to be investigated. As examples of the systematic design approach, the best 8PSK mappings for minimizing the convergence threshold are found for concatenation with the rate 1/2 (5,7)8 and (133,171)8 convolutional codes, and the rate 1/2 UMTS turbo code with identical constituent convolutional codes (15/13)8.


A sudden widespread decline of sugarberry trees (Celtis laevigata) was observed in southern Louisiana during the period between the early fall of 1988 and spring of 1990. Approximately 3 million acres or 5,000 square miles of forested lands were affected by the decline. In addition, sporadic reports of sugarberry decline also were reported at numerous locations in Mississippi. Investigations into the long list of potential causal agents led to the conclusion that the most probable causes of the damage were due to an opportunistic exotic insect pest, Tetragonocephalaflava, a psyllid that caused defoliation and twig dieback, followed by a hard freeze which killed new regrowth following the insect damage. The psyllid has a very narrow host range attacking only Celtis species. Many sugarberry trees that survived the decline event now appear to be slowly recovering.


The relationship between human health and well-being, energy use and carbon emissions is a foremost concern in sustainable development. If past advances in well-being have been accomplished only through increases in energy use, there may be significant trade-offs between achieving universal human development and mitigating climate change. We test the explanatory power of economic, dietary and modern energy factors in accounting for past improvements in life expectancy, using a simple novel method, functional dynamic decomposition. We elucidate the paradox that a strong correlation between emissions and human development at one point in time does not imply that their dynamics are coupled in the long term. Increases in primary energy and carbon emissions can account for only a quarter of improvements in life expectancy, but are closely tied to growth in income. Facing this carbon-development paradox requires prioritizing human well-being over economic growth.


Tolerance analysis is indispensable in modern manufacturing processes. Thus, practitioners have many methods and tools at their disposal. Unfortunately, differences in methods often result in different outputs – depending on the problem, some of the methods may be more convenient than the others. A case study has been performed, aiming to compare the performances of four different tolerance analysis methods. Two assemblies were used to compare the tolerance chart analysis, Monte Carlo simulation, vector loop, and unified Jacobian-torsor method. Each method was explained in detail, and the steps needed to carry it out were shown. The results have shown that unified Jacobian – torsor method is the most comprehensive, but also has the most complex procedure. Monte Carlo simulation is suitable for analysis of parts produced in large series, mostly due to its statistical approach. Lastly, vector loop and tolerance chart analysis displayed similar results, with the former being suitable for solving 2D and 3D problems.


David K. Lewis published his brilliant PhD dissertation in 1969,  Convention; A Philosophical Study . With a lag, scholarship on David Hume has come to elaborate the similitude between Lewis and Hume on convention. Reading Hume along the lines of Lewis gives us a vocabulary with which we can better appreciate and articulate the innovativeness of Hume's theory of convention. This study contributes to that appreciation and to rearticulates Hume's innovative analytical framework for thinking about the unformalized duties and obligations—sometimes glossed as institutions or culture —underlying social interaction and economic behavior. After summarizing Lewis, we treat Hume's account of the emergence of the conventions of language, justice, and political authority in broadly Lewisian terms. Another purpose is to draw on Hume to develop a concept of "natural convention." A natural convention is a social practice whose concrete form in time and place is conventional in a Lewisian sense, but whose generalized form is necessary, and hence natural, for more advanced social organization. In the final section of the paper, we consider the semantic originality of Hume's convention talk. Drawing from a largescale textual search, we find scant evidence that the English word "convention" was used in a Lewisian sense—that is, in a sense that did not entail a literal convening—prior to Hume.


In December 2008 some 350 Chinese intellectuals published a manifesto calling for reform of the Chinese constitution and an end to one-party rule. Known as "Charter 08", the manifesto has since been signed by more than 10,000 people. One of its authors, Liu Xiaobo, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 but has remained in prison since 2009 for subversive crimes. This collection - the first of its kind in English - examines the trial of Liu Xiaobo, the significance and impact of Charter 08, and the prospects for reform in China. The collection includes contributions from legal and political experts from around the world, a detailed account of Liu's trial by his defence lawyers, and a passionate - and ultimately optimistic - account of resistance, repression and political change by the human rights lawyer Teng Biao.


With specific reference to five discrete projects, this supporting text sets out to explain the methodologies, dynamics and rationale behind the installation-based and collaborative art practice of Snaebjornsdottir/Wilson, in relation to contemporary art methodologies and the chronologically parallel and equally emergent academic fields of Artistic Research and Animal Studies. The projects are represented by four monographs and one book chapter, each of which has its basis in a substantial art project involving a sustained period of interdisciplinary research and practice and involving one or multiple exhibitions. A series of research questions pertinent to the cross-disciplinary nature of my practice has been tested in respect of each project within the context of an overarching set of meta-questions pertinent to the practice as a whole. As my practice seeks to challenge assumptions, regarding for instance knowledge systems and representation it is the function of this text to present the projects in relation to knowledge production more widely, its currency, value and the basis upon which its value is estimated. I demonstrate how the dynamic of collaboration is integral to the principles of relationality embedded in the work and how those principles reverberate through our methodology and through the participation of the professionals, amateurs, and academics who contribute variously to the projects. Although working counter to subject-specificity as a matter of strategy, I discuss how certain subject-specific models (for example anthropological interview techniques and surveys, museum display, hunting etc.) are nonetheless appropriated and deployed in order to ground and inform critique. The latter and significant proportion of the text is devoted to providing a conceptually and materially descriptive summary of each project, clarifying project-specific research questions and propositions and detailing the relationship of each publication here included, to the research field(s) and the associated artworks.


Read the Bldg Blog interview with Mary Beard about the Wonders of the World series (Part I and Part II) Mycenae, the fabled city of Homer's King Agamemnon, still stands in a remote corner of mainland Greece. Revered in antiquity as the pagan world's most tangible connection to the heroes of the Trojan War, Mycenae leapt into the headlines in the late nineteenth century when Heinrich Schliemann announced that he had opened the Tomb of Agamemnon and found the body of the hero smothered in gold treasure. Now Mycenae is one of the most haunting and impressive archaeological sites in Europe, visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. From Homer to Himmler, from Thucydides to Freud, Mycenae has occupied a singular place in the western imagination. As the backdrop to one of the most famous military campaigns of all time, Agamemnon's city has served for generation after generation as a symbol of the human appetite for war. As an archaeological site, it has given its name to the splendors of one of Europe's earliest civilizations: the Mycenaean Age. In this book, historian of science Cathy Gere tells the story of these extraordinary ruins--from the Cult of the Hero that sprung up in the shadow of the great burned walls in the eighth century bc, to the time after Schliemann's excavations when the Homeric warriors were resurrected to play their part in the political tragedies of the twentieth century.


The Internet, mobile phones, and other forms of "liberation technology" enable citizens to express opinions, mobilize protests, and expand the horizons of freedom. Autocratic governments are also learning to master these technologies, however. Ultimately, the contest between democrats and autocrats will depend not just on technology, but on political organization and strategy.


Background: Diabetes is a global health problem in the world. Probiotic food has anti-diabetic property. The aim of this trial was to determine the effect of probiotic fermented milk (kefir) on glucose and lipid profile control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods: This randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted on 60 diabetic patients aged 35 to 65 years.Patients were randomly and equally (n=30) assigned to consume either probiotic fermented milk (kefir) or conventional fermented milk (dough) for 8 weeks. Probiotic group consumed 600 ml/day probiotic fermented milk containing Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacteria and control group consumed 600 ml/day conventional fermented milk.Blood samples tested for fasting blood glucose, HbA1C, triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol, HDL-C and LDL-C at the baseline and end of the study. Results: The comparison of fasting blood glucose between two groups after intervention was statistically significant (P=0.01). After intervention, reduced HbA1C compared with the baseline value in probiotic fermented milk group was statistically significant (P=0.001), also the HbA1C level significantly decreased in probiotic group in comparison with control group (P=0.02) adjusting for serum levels of glucose, baseline values of HbA1c and energy intake according to ANCOVA model. Serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and HDL- cholesterol levels were not shown significant differences between and within the groups after intervention. Conclusion: Probiotic fermented milk can be useful as a complementary or adjuvant therapy in the treatment of diabetes.


We have fabricated a series of thin (~50 nm) erbium-doped (by ion implantation) silicon-rich oxide films in the configuration that mitigates previously proposed mechanisms for loss of light emission capability of erbium ions. By combining the methods of optical, structural and electrical analysis, we identify the erbium ion clustering as a driving mechanism to low optical performance of this material. Experimental findings in this work clearly evidence inadequacy of the commonly employed optimization procedure when optical amplification is considered. We reveal that the significantly lower erbium ion concentrations are to be used in order to fully exploit the potential of this approach and achieve net optical gain.


AIM The aim of this study was to assess the degree and consequences of chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopaenia in patients on doxorubicin  and cyclophosphamide  (AC); and cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone (CHOP) in the sub-Saharan Africa setting. METHODS Breast cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) patients placed on AC and CHOP respectively, were followed up at Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya. Exclusion criteria included  HIV positivity and baseline bone marrow involvement. Full blood counts and assessment for haemorrhage were done on at least day one, between days 10-14 and on day 21 of the first two  cycles. The primary endpoint for the study was nadir platelet counts. Secondary endpoints were factors associated with the depth of nadir platelet counts and haemorrhage. RESULTS The median platelet count dropped by 58·7% (167·5 x10 9 /L) to a nadir of 169 (104-453) x10 9 /L and by 60·6% (174 x10 9 /L) to a nadir of 113 (20-360) x10 9 /L in cycles one and two respectively.  Low nadir counts were associated with old age and low baseline platelet counts in both cycles as well as low baseline total lymphocyte counts in cycle one. Higher platelet count drops were associated with higher baseline platelet counts in both cycles and with AC for breast carcinoma in cycle two. Severe thrombocytopaenia occurred only in the second cycle and only in three (3·8%) patients.  Only one patient had a minor bleeding episode not attributable to thrombocytopaenia. CONCLUSION This study suggests that even in the sub-Saharan Africa setting, chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopaenia is insignificant in patients receiving AC and CHOP.