Introduction: Nutrition is one of the important components of health promotion and disease prevention. However, nutrition literacy of medical students is unclear. This study aims to determine nutritional knowledge of medical students studying in clinical course of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences in 2012. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 114 medical students in clinical course of Shahid Sadoughi hospital were randomly selected. Nutritional knowledge questionnaire was completed. Each correct answer had one score and wrong answers had no score. Results: Of 114 students, 69 students (60.5%) were female and 45 students (39.5%) were male with the mean age of 24.1±1.5 year. The mean score of students in basic nutrition, nutrition in the life cycle and diet therapy was 4.6±2.2, 6.2±3.2 and 6.2±3.8, respectively. There was significant association between the score of nutrition course and nutritional knowledge score in all of the fields. Conclusion: The average of scores was low. Improving the nutrition courses, especially clinical aspects, during clinical education and presence of nutritionist in treatment teams will be helpful.


In depicting a comprehensive religious world view, Karl Ristikivi's series of historical novels is structured, like Dante's Divine Comedy , according to the philosophy of the gothic cathedral. With characters, events and themes corresponding with Dante's masterpiece, the novels form a tri-level structure based on Christian myths. The novels are delineated by associations with paradise ( The Burning Flag, The Bridal Veil, Noble Hearts ), purgatory ( The Last Citadel, The Song of Joy, Dragon's Teeth ) and hell ( The Riders of Death, A Sorcerer's Apprentice, Double Play ). Contrary to the philosophy of increasing light found in Divine Comedy , Ristikivi's historical series of novels portray the descent from light to darkness, from unity to fragmentation, from asceticism to sexuality, and from elevated language and style to comedy and grotesquery. In the first two trilogies, the characters' ethical bearing steadily deteriorates. As well as comparisons to paradise and its inhabitants, a key theme of the paradise novels is the kingdom of Christ. The virtuous heroes of The Burning Flag and The Bridal Veil , Konradin von Hohenstaufen and St. Catherine of Siena, symbolize two aspects of the kingdom of Christ: the empire and the church. Both characters are also associated with the image of a mountain where salvation is at the top. The model for this is the Mount of Purgatory in Divine Comedy , which has earthly paradise at the top. In the purgatory novels, the characters and motifs are associated, as in Dante's work, with the cultural sphere. These three novels are permeated with themes such as penitence, guilt and judgement. Brimming with inhumanity and discord, the hell novels feature themes related to the Tower of Babel and making a pact with the devil. Another of Ristikivi's novels, the metaphysical All Souls' Night also follows the structure of Divine Comedy and can therefore be regarded as part of the historical series. The world of All Souls' Night is labryinthian; hierarchies have crumbled in the contemporary atheistic world. The themes of Dante's masterpiece also appear in Island of Miracles , an interim story that parodies modern society. Similar to All Souls' Night , Island of Miracles blends paradise, hell and purgatory. The crumbling of hierarchies also appears in the third trilogy, which deals with the new age, symbolizing Ristikivi's scepticism about the secularised new and modern age. The works that feature chaotic hierarchies are in contrast to the series' orderly cathedral-like structure followed in the first and second trilogies that take place in the Middle Ages. Modeled after the structure of gothic cathedral and Divine Comedy , Ristikivi's historical series, with its repetitive and contrasting themes, forms a tightly linked whole. A vivid example of this structure is the motif of the heavenly carriage that reappears in Ristikivi's texts, inspired by Divine Comedy .


The relationship between the United States' real GDP and the overall stock market has been acknowledged by researchers and investors alike. This research paper will document a newly created composite index that will try to more accurately predict the overall U.S. economy through the proxy of GDP than the current S&P 500 index. Success will be determined if the composite index representing the addition of a service sector component to the S&P 500 is more correlated to U.S. real GDP than the S&P 500 alone. The results suggest that the service sector is not quite adequately in the S&P 500. A stronger service component in the S&P 500 would allow the index to be more statistically correlated to U.S. real GDP during the period of 19952009. The model will allow decision-makers to produce better choices based on a more accurate understanding of current economic conditions.


A fresh look at the meaning of Jesus' parables for Christian living today. The parables recorded in the Gospels are central for an understanding of Jesus and his ministry. Yet the parables are more than simple stories; they present a number of obstacles to contemporary readers hoping to fully grasp their meaning. In this volume, thirteen New Testament scholars provide the background necessary to understand the original context and meaning of Jesus' parables as well as their modern applications, all in a manner easily accessible to general readers. Contributors: Stephen C. Barton Craig A. Evans Richard T. France Donald A. Hagner Morna D. Hooker Sylvia C. Keesmaat Michael P. Knowles Walter L. Liefeld Richard N. Longenecker Allan W. Martens Klyne R. Snodgrass Robert H. Stein Stephen I. Wright


At the confluence of Gorner- and Grenzgletscher (Valais, Switzerland) a supraglaciallake forms every spring. The annual sudden drainage of this glacier-dammed lake isimportant with respect to flood events that occurred in the past. To understand the relatedprocesses, an extensive survey on ice-dynamical and hydrological properties ofthe Gornergletscher has been carried out over the last two years. To model dischargeand therefore predict melt and drainage, ice thickness and bedrock topography are importantparameters. Ice-penetrating radar at low-frequencies in the range of 1 to 5 MHzhas been used to measure the ice-thickness distribution. In addition, selected profileshave been measured with a high-frequency radar at 40 MHz. Comparison of migratedprofiles measured at both frequencies gives insights into the accuracy of the spatiallymore extensive, but naturally less accurate low-frequency data. The comparison showsgood agreement in general but the high-frequency data could only detect the bedrockin profile sections without overlying moraine debris. A terrace in the bedrock topography,probably related to two different ice flows in Grenzgletscher, has been resolvedby the low-frequency data. Further comparison with ice thicknesses from boreholedrillingmeasurements was applied to examine the accuracy of radar-mapping results.Relative deviations are on the order of 10 percent. The high-frequency radar data hasmade visible interesting internal structures of the glacier tongue: Differences in thebackscatter made it possible to identify a core of cold ice, advected from the accumulationregion of Grenzgletscher into the tongue of Gornergletscher. The core reachesa maximum thickness of 180 m and extends laterally about 300-400 m. The coldtemperatetransition surface can be found in a maximum depth of about 300 m.


To test the hypothesis that experiences of apparitional phenomena with accompanying fear can be simulated within the laboratory, a 45-yr.-old Journalist and professional musician who had experienced a classic haunt four years previously was exposed to 1 microTesla, complex, transcerebral magnetic fields. Within 10 min. after exposure to a frequency-modulated pattern applied over the right hemisphere, the man reported "rushes of fear" that culminated in the experience of an apparition. Concurrent electroencephalographic measurements showed conspicuous 1-sec-to-2-sec. paroxysmal complex spikes (15 Hz) that accompanied the reports of fear. A second magnetic field pattern, applied bilaterally through the brain, was associated with pleasant experiences. The subject concluded that the synthetic experience of the apparition was very similar to the one experienced in the natural setting. The results of this experiment suggest that controlled simulation of these pervasive phenomena within the laboratory is possible and that this experimental protocol may help discern the physical stimuli that evoke their occurrence in nature.


Whether you are a newly diagnosed uterine cancer patient, a survivor, or a friend or relative of either, this book offers help. 100 Questions and Answers About Uterine Cancer addresses the issues that are specific to the woman with uterine cancer. Written by two renowned gynecologic oncologists and including "insider" advice from an actual patient, this book gives you authoritative, practical answers to your questions about uterine cancer. It explains important facts about symptoms and the diagnosis process, treatment options, post-treatment quality of life, coping strategies, and sources of patient and family support. This book is an invaluable resource for anyone dealing with the physical and emotional turmoil of this frightening disease.


Colorado's procedures for handling misdemeanor prosecutions raise novel questions of Sixth Amendment law that have not been squarely addressed by state or federal courts. At the center of Colorado's counsel conundrum is a statute, Colorado Revised Statute § 16-7-301, which requires the prosecution to negotiate plea deals with a person charged with a misdemeanor before the defendant has an opportunity to meet with an attorney. Colorado's pre-counsel plea bargaining system presents a trio of difficult Sixth Amendment questions, namely: (1) At what point does the attachment of the right to counsel occur in Colorado (under Rothgery v. Gillespie County; (2) Does the negotiation and entry of an un-counseled misdemeanor plea constitute a critical stage for which appointment and presence of counsel is required (under, for example, United States v. Wade); and (3) Do sentences of time served or home arrest constitute "actual incarceration" (under the test announced in Scott v. Illinois)? Colorado's system for prosecuting misdemeanor offenses presents a constitutional conundrum that has important consequences for misdemeanor defendants, that is tantalizing for academics, and that is desperately in need of judicial review. This Article is designed for all three audiences. The direct constitutional analysis of Colorado's provisions is designed to serve as a guidepost for judges and litigators. Likewise, the thorough accounting of the gaps in the academy's collective knowledge about Sixth Amendment doctrine will hopefully spur additional empirical, historical, and doctrinal scholarship regarding the right to counsel in misdemeanor cases.


In society there is a discrepancy that has developed in what the public understands about what Ecstasy is, in relation to the term 'MDMA'. MDMA, the abbreviation for 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, is the chemical constituent that has most commonly been associated with the street drug known as Ecstasy. Though the use of Ecstasy was reportedly on the decrease, a new product has emerged known as crystal or MDMA powder. This is alongside new competing compounds entering the market, most notably Mephedrone.
The research examined explores the changing perception around what the terms Ecstasy and MDMA represent, comparing their popularity and prevalence with that of Mephedrone. This was investigated using an interdisciplinary approach, utilizing methods drawn from social sciences and analytical chemistry. Two online social research surveys were employed to establish what the public knew and understood about the terms, Ecstasy and MDMA and the drug Mephedrone. The surveys included both quantitative questions regarding specific drug knowledge and qualitative questions which asked participants about their reasons behind selecting to use a substance. The surveys provided a social context and highlighted specific perceptions that were held about these drugs. The results from the surveys were compared to seizure data collected from the Cambridgeshire Constabulary, which provided a timeline of the emergence and prevalence of the types of Ecstasy/MDMA and Mephedrone being seized. The perceptions were also compared to a qualitative chemical analysis of seized samples using Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS).
In the findings from this research there is a definite gap between what the public know and perceive about the terms Ecstasy, MDMA and Mephedrone. A key finding from this research is what is reportedly known about Ecstasy has not translated into what is known about MDMA. There is an observed disassociation between these two terms. Mephedrone, on the other hand appears to have fallen into obscurity post its media high of 2010. The responses to the social surveys indicate a clear preference for MDMA over 'Ecstasy' or Mephedrone, as the former is seen as being of better 'quality'. The user preference was supported by the findings from the seiuzers recorded in Cambridge, with the new crystal form being the most dominant type seized post 2012 and Mephedrone seizures declining after its control in 2010. In reporting the purity of street samples, the public perception was again supported as the crystal materials contained a higher percentage of the chemical MDMA. This is the first reported study of the relative purity of the alternate forms of MDMA.


NCPI has developed a computerized trench load design program which provides a broad and complete spectrum of design options which will enable engineers and contractors to safely design and install permanent clay pipe systems with the least cost. Based upon the Marston Equations and ASTM requirements, program 'EASE' has been developed with the user in mind. It is completely self contained and user friendly. 'EASE' provides three different design options depending on the needs of the user. Where applicable, live loads and impact factors are also included. This paper also summarizes the clay pipe industry's laboratory, field and university sponsored research which contributed to the development of 'EASE'.


Description Logics are commonly used for the development of ontologies. Yet they are well-known to present difficulties of comprehension, e.g. when confronted with the justification for a particular entailment during the debugging process. This paper describes a study into the problems experienced in understanding and reasoning with Description Logics. In particular the study looked at: functionality in object properties; negation, disjunction and conjunction in Propositional Logic; negation and quantification; and the combination of two quantifiers. The difficulties experienced are related to theories of reasoning developed by cognitive psychologists, specifically the mental model and relational complexity theories. The study confirmed that problems are experienced with functional object properties and investigated the extent to which these difficulties can be explained by relational complexity theory. Mental model theory was used to explain performance with negation and quantifiers. This suggests that Boolean logic is easier to assimilate in Disjunctive Normal Form than in other forms and that particular difficulties arise when it is necessary to backtrack to form a mental model. On the other hand in certain cases syntactic clues seemed to contribute to reasoning strategies.


A theoretical model is presented that selects among available short term tests of carcinogenicity and then classifies chemicals on the basis of the results. The model is simplified in ignoring the potency of various carcinogens but does take account of the social cost of falsely classifying a chemical as a carcinogen as well as the social cost of falsely classifying a chemical as a noncarcinogen. If some of the currently available short-term tests, separately or in sets, are capable of classifying chemicals with even moderate accuracy, this framework would serve to improve the regulation of suspect carcinogens.


This title was longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2016. Mirza Waheed's extraordinary new novel The Book of Gold Leaves is a heartbreaking love story set in war-torn Kashmir. In an ancient house in the city of Srinagar, Faiz paints exquisite Papier Mache pencil boxes for tourists. Evening is beginning to slip into night when he sets off for the shrine. There he finds the woman with the long black hair. Roohi is prostrate before her God. She begs for the boy of her dreams to come and take her away. Roohi wants a love story. An age-old tale of love, war, temptation, duty and choice, The Book of Gold Leaves is a heartbreaking tale of a what might have been, what could have been, if only. "I loved it. The voice is lyrical, to match the beauty of Kashmir, and yet it is tinged with melancholy and grief, as is the story it tells". (Nadeem Aslam (on The Collaborator)). "Waheed's prose burns with the fever of anger and despair; the scenes in the valley are exceptional, conveying, a hallucinatory living nightmare that has become an everyday reality for Kashmiris". (Metro (on The Collaborator)).


The data discussed herein demonstrate the great variation in target-tissue response that can occur after administration of steroid hormones. The female sex steroids can exert regulatory effects on the synthesis, activity, and possibly even the degradation of tissue enzymes and structural proteins. Each response, nevertheless, appears to be dependent on the synthesis of nuclear RNA. In many instances, the steroid actually promotes a qualitative change in the base composition and sequence of the RNA synthesized by the target cell, implying a specific effect on gene transcription. Most important is our direct quantitative evidence that sex steroids cause a net increase in the intracellular amounts of specific mRNA molecules in target tissues. It thus appears that we are discovering a pattern of steroid hormone action which includes (Fig. 1): (i) uptake of the hormone by the target cell and binding to a specific cytoplasmic receptor protein; (ii) transport of the steroid-receptor complex to the nucleus; (iii) binding of this "active" complex to specific "acceptor" sites on the genome (chromatin DNA and acidic protein); (iv) activation of the transcriptional apparatus resulting in the appearance of new RNA species which includes specific mRNA's; (v) transport of the hormone-induced RNA to the cytoplasm resulting in synthesis of new proteins on cytoplasmic ribosomes; and (vi) the occurrence of the specific steroid-mediated "functional response" characteristic of that particular target tissue. To elucidate fully the mechanism of steroid hormone action we must study the biochemistry of the process by which information held by the steroid hormone-receptor complex is transferred to the nuclear transcription apparatus. If our assumptions are correct, we should ultimately be able to discover how this hormone-receptor complex exerts a specific regulatory effect on nuclear RNA metabolism. Such regulation might be achieved (i) by direct effects on chromatin template leading to increased gene transcription and thus RNA synthesis; (ii) by activation of the polymerase complex itself; (iii) by inhibition of RNA breakdown; or (iv) by intranuclear processing of large precursor molecules so that smaller biologically active sequences are produced, and (v) by transport of RNA from the nucleus to the cytoplasmic sites of cellular protein synthesis.


INTRODUCTION Recently, corporate executives have begun to realize Facebook, MySpace, instant messaging, cellular telephones, chat rooms and other forms of electronic media have emerged as a new "marketing ecosystem" that is fundamentally transforming how corporations sell to young consumers (Chester & Montgomery, 2008). According to Wilson and Field (2007) "connectivity is a constant of the Gen Y lifestyle, reflected in the skyrocketing popularity of online social-networking sites; furthermore, "Savvy retailers, including American Apparel, Victoria's Secret and Reebok, are using these sites to market to consumers, but also to gain feedback and insight from an audience that is hard to reach through conventional methods." Edelson (2008) confirms this by saying "Victoria's Secret created the Pink brand to appeal to younger customers while protecting the sexy image of its core brand." It is no secret tweens, teens, and young adults are a major demographic for Victoria's Secret brands. Because typical consumption habits of young people can be described as characterized by "hedonism, visibility, and open-mindedness" these retailers attempt to match their messages with these characteristics, which has been successful for retailers like Victoria's Secret (Featherstone, 1991). The most competitive apparel retailers understand that selling handbags and accessories to young customers requires they be always electronically connected to them. Interactive technologies (IT) allow content to be shared and modified in real-time, and as such, facilitate advanced communication and customization (Fiore, Kim, & Lee, 2005). Young consumers are using a multiplicity of IT, apparently in evermore evolving forms, yet, much different than older people. Zaphiris and Sarwar (2006) compared a newsgroup of teens to a newsgroup of seniors and found teens were more highly connected, had more messages sent and received, and had a higher reciprocity. In contrast, the senior newsgroup had a handful of dominant people who managed to make others in the newsgroup dependent on them for communication. Logging onto a social networking site like Facebook or sending instant messages to friends via cell phone or mobile computer are quite commonplace to the millennial generation. Blais et al. (2008) found young people who used instant messaging were associated positively with qualities of most aspects of romantic relationship and best friendship. To the contrary, young people who frequently visited chat rooms were negatively related to best friendship quality. Young consumers use IT to exchange ideas, share information, and build romantic relationships and friendships (Blais, Craig, Pepler, & Connolly, 2008). These young consumers often profile the intimate details of their lives through some form of IT (Williams & Merten, 2008). Some are engaging in high risk-taking behaviors online and/or electronically, including having cybersex (Delmonico & Griffin, 2008). Much to the chagrin of their parents, some of these tweens, teens, and young adults are using various IT to engage in salacious conversations which can affect their purchasing behaviors--and Victoria's Secret is already benefitting based on these young consumers' values. Social structure and preferences, which include knowing how young people relate to IT products they use, are imperative to market researchers trying to sell products to them. It would be helpful to marketers to compare factors associated with young consumers' perceptions of their usage of the various IT associated with social and academic networks they maintain. LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES TESTING Arthur, Sherman, Appel, and Moore (2006) reported five key findings that contribute to the understanding of why young consumers adopt interactive technologies. These five findings are: 1) the opportunity to express their identities, 2) social interaction, 3) immediacy and constant entertainment, 4) discovery, and 5) the ability to create and record. …


The alkenone organic paleotemperature proxy has been used with great success to generate sea-surface temperature (SST) records from diverse areas of the world ocean. To date, however, this methodology has been applied almost exclusively to unconsolidated marine sediments; the fidelity of alkenone preservation in lithified, uplifted marine sequences exposed on land has not been explicitly investigated. Such sedimentary sequences have been buried at depths of hundreds of meters to kilometers before uplift, and in addition have been exposed to oxic pore fluids and subaerial weathering upon ascent to the surface, any of which may cause alteration of biomarker compounds. In this study, we compare alkenone SST estimates from the Vrica land section in Crotone, Italy, with alkenone SST estimates derived from coeval marine sediments retrieved at Ocean Drilling Program Site 964, which is ~300 km offshore of the Vrica location. We find that SST records from the land and marine sections are well correlated, showing similar mean values, cyclicity, and amplitudes. Although results from different sedimentary sequences might depend on the lithologies, burial depths, and weathering histories of individual outcrops, this study suggests that it will be possible to reconstruct quantitative SST histories from marine strata exposed on land.


How DNA is organized in three dimensions inside the cell nucleus and how this affects the ways in which cells access, read and interpret genetic information are among the longest standing questions in cell biology. Thanks to the advent of the so-called Chromosome Conformation Capture (3C) derived experiments, we now know that the genome is hierarchically organized into chromosome territories, sub-chromosomal compartments, Topologically Associating Domains (TADs), and globules. Based on few comparative studies, this hierarchical organization is acceptably considered as conserved in mammals. However, a systematic analysis on the evolution of the structure of genomes is still lacking. We have generated new Hi-C interaction maps of 50 kb resolution for a panel of humans, primates (Gorilla, Chimpanzee, Orangutan, Gibbon, Macaque and Marmoset) and mouse. All Hi-C lymphoblast maps have been replicated using two biological samples per specie. Our results quantitatively relate genome divergence to the conservation of the four main levels structure organization of the genome (that is, chromosome territories, compartments, TAD borders and intra-TAD structure). First, the 3D genome organization seem to be maintained even after long distance chromosomal rearrangements. Second, the level of transcriptional activity (compartment type) is strongly conserved in syntenic regions. Third, TAD border conservation, although very strong, correlates linearly with sequence conservation. And fourth DNA sequence motifs recognized by the CTCF protein, a master regulators of the finer 3D organization of the genome (responsible of intra-TAD DNA loops), can be divided in categories depending on the presence of adjacent secondary motifs show different insulation powers. It also appears that the spread of these different categories of CTCF motifs is facilitated by different families of retrotransposons. Short bio Francois Serra is a post-doc in the Structural Genomics lab of Marc A. Marti-Renom at CNAG-CRG. He obtained his PhD in evolutionary genomics under the supervision of Hernán Dopazo in 2012 studying correlated evolutionary pressure in functionally related group of genes and neutral models to explain the spread of genetic elements (mainly transposable elements) in eukaryotic genomes. Francois is mainly interested in studying the effect of natural selection in new levels of genome organization. During his postdoc he first worked in the definition of a statistical and computational framework for the processing, analysis and comparison of structural genomics data. Work that resulted in TADbit framework for the treatment and analysis of Hi-C data. His main research is about comparative 3D genomics in primates, searching for common patterns and differences in the organization of our genomes.


Sometimes we desire change, a break from the same, or an opportunity to fulfill different aspects of our needs. Noting that consumers seek variety, several approaches have been developed to diversify items recommended by personalized recommender systems. However, current diversification strategies operate under a one-shot paradigm without considering the evolution of preferences resulting from recent consumption. Therefore, such methods often sacrifice accuracy. In the context of online media, we show that by recognizing that consumption in a session is the result of a sequence of utility-maximizing selections from various categories, one can increase recommendation accuracy by dynamically tailoring the diversity of suggested items to the diversity sought by the consumer. Our approach is based on a multicategory utility model that captures a consumer's preference for different categories of content, how quickly the consumer satiates with one category and wishes to substitute it with another, and how the consumer trades off costly search efforts with selecting from a recommended list to discover new content. Taken together, these three elements allow us to characterize how an individual selects a diverse set of items to consume over the course of a session and how likely the individual is to click on recommended content. We estimate the model using a clickstream data set from a large media outlet and apply it to determine the most relevant content to recommend at different stages of an online session. We find that our approach generates recommendations that are on average about 10% more accurate than optimized alternatives and about 25% more accurate than those diversified using existing diversification strategies. Moreover, the proposed method recommends content with diversity that more closely matches the diversity sought by readers, exhibiting lower concentration–diversification bias than other personalized recommender systems. Using a policy simulation, we estimate that recommending content using the proposed approach would result in visitors reading 23% additional articles at the studied website and deriving 35% higher utility. This could lead to immediate gains in revenue for the publisher and longer-term improvements in customer satisfaction and retention at the site. This paper was accepted by Chris Forman, information systems.


Approaches to avoid loss of life and limit disruption and damage from flooding have changed significantly in recent years. Worldwide, there has been a move from a strategy of flood defence to one of flood risk management. Flood risk management includes flood prevention using hard defences, where appropriate, but also requires that society learns to live with floods and that stakeholders living in flood prone areas develop coping strategies to increase their resilience to flood impacts when these occur. This change in approach represents a paradigm shift which stems from the realisation that continuing to strengthen and extend conventional flood defences is unsustainable economically, environmentally, and in terms of social equity. Flood risk management recognises that a sustainable approach must rest on integrated measures that reduce not only the probability of flooding, but also the consequences. This is essential as increases in the probability of inundation are inevitable in many areas of the world due to climate change, while socio–economic development will lead to spiralling increases in the consequences of flooding unless land use in floodplains is carefully planned. Flood Risk Science and Management provides an extensive and comprehensive synthesis of current research in flood management; providing a multi–disciplinary reference text covering a wide range of flood management topics. Its targeted readership is the international research community (from research students through to senior staff) and flood management professionals, such as engineers, planners, government officials and those with flood management responsibility in the public sector. By using the concept of case study chapters, international coverage is given to the topic, ensuring a world–wide relevance.


The fourth edition of Introduction to Optical Mineralogy has been thoroughly revised and updated to increase reading comprehension and improve the clarity of its illustrations. Author William D. Nesse continues his detailed discussions of the petrographic microscope, the nature and properties of light, and the behavior of light in isotropic and anisotropic minerals, with detailed coverage of uniaxial and biaxial optics. Ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in optical mineralogy, this accessible text is also an essential resource for petrology and petrography courses.


Software vulnerabilities and their associated exploits have been increasing over the last several years this research attempts to reverse that trend. Currently, security experts recommend that concerns for security start at the earliest stage possible, generally during the requirements engineering phase. Having a set of security requirements enables the production of a secure design, and product implementation. Approaches for creating security requirements exist, but all have a similar limitation a security expert is required. This research provides a set of software security requirements that mitigate the introduction of software vulnerabilities, and reduces the need for security expertise. The security requirements can be implemented by software engineers with limited security experience, and be used with any computer language or operating system. Additionally, a tree structure, called the software security requirements tree (SSRT), is provided to support security requirement selection, based on project characteristics. A graphical interface for the SSRT is provided through a prototype Java tool, to support the identification and selection of appropriate software security requirements. This research also provides a set of security artifacts to support a comprehensive verification, validation, and testing (VV&T) strategy. Those artifacts are generic, and represent design and implementation elements reflecting software security requirements. The security artifacts are used in verification strategies to confirm their necessity and existence in the actual design and implementation products.


Vision is the process of extracting behaviorally-relevant information from patterns of light that fall on retina as the eyes sample the outside world. Traditionally, non-human primates have been viewed by many as the animal model-of-choice for investigating the neuronal substrates of visual processing, not only because their visual systems closely mirror our own (e.g., Orban, 2008; Nassi and Callaway, 2009 for a review), but also because it is often assumed that "simpler" brains lack advanced visual processing machinery. However, this narrow view of visual neuroscience ignores the fact that vision is widely distributed throughout the animal kingdom, enabling a wide repertoire of complex behaviors in species from insects to birds, fish, and mammals.

Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in alternative animal models for vision research, such as rodents (see Huberman and Niell, 2011; Zoccolan, 2015 for a review). This resurgence is partly due to the availability of increasingly powerful experimental approaches (e.g., optogenetics and two-photon imaging) that are challenging to apply to their full potential in primates. Meanwhile, even more phylogenetically distant species such as birds, fish, and insects have long been workhorse animal models for gaining insight into the core computations underlying visual processing (see Baier, 2000; Bilotta and Saszik, 2001; Borst et al., 2010; Aptekar and Frye, 2013 for a review). In many cases, these animal models are valuable precisely because their visual systems are simpler than the primate visual system. Simpler systems are often easier to understand, and studying a diversity of neuronal systems that achieve similar functions can focus attention on those computational principles that are universal and essential.

This Research Topic provides a survey of the state of the art in the use of non-primate models of visual functions. It includes original research, methods articles, reviews, and opinions that exploit a variety of animal models (including rodents, birds, fishes and insects) to investigate visual function. The experimental approaches covered by these studies range from psychophysics and electrophysiology to histology and genetics, testifying to the richness and depth of visual neuroscience in non-primate species. Below, we briefly summarize the contributions to this Research Topic.


In this paper we show that motherhood triggers changes in the allocation of talent in the labor market besides the well-known effects on gender gaps in employment and earnings. We use an event study approach with retrospective data for 29 countries drawn from SHARE to assess the labor market responses to motherhood across groups with different educational attainment, math ability by the age of 10, and personality traits. We find that while even the most talented women— both in absolute terms and relative to their husbands—leave the labor market or uptake part-time jobs after the birth of the first child, all men, including the least talented, stay employed. We also find that motherhood induces a negative selection of talents into self-employment. Overall, our results suggest relevant changes in the allocation of talent caused by gender differences in nonmarket responsibilities that can have sizable impacts on aggregate market productivity. We also show that the size of labor market responses to motherhood are larger in societies with more conservative social-norms or with weaker policies regarding work-life balance.


Monte Carlo simulation is one of the commonly used methods for risk estimation on financial markets, especially for option portfolios, where any analytical approximation is usually too inaccurate. However, the usually high computational effort for complex portfolios with a large number of underlying assets motivates the application of variance reduction procedures. Variance reduction for estimating the probability of high portfolio losses has been extensively studied by Glasserman et al. A great variance reduction is achieved by applying an exponential twisting importance sampling algorithm together with stratification. The popular and much faster Delta-Gamma approximation replaces the portfolio loss function in order to guide the choice of the importance sampling density and it plays the role of the stratification variable. The main disadvantage of the proposed algorithm is that it is derived only in the case of Gaussian and some heavy-tailed changes in risk factors.

Hence, our main goal is to keep the main advantage of the Monte Carlo simulation, namely its ability to perform a simulation under alternative assumptions on the distribution of the changes in risk factors, also in the variance reduction algorithms. Step by step, we construct new variance reduction techniques for estimating the probability of high portfolio losses. They are based on the idea of the Cross-Entropy importance sampling procedure. More precisely, the importance sampling density is chosen as the closest one to the optimal importance sampling density (zero variance estimator) out of some parametric family of densities with respect to Kullback - Leibler cross-entropy. Our algorithms are based on the special choices of the parametric family and can now use any approximation of the portfolio loss function. A special stratification is developed, so that any approximation of the portfolio loss function under any assumption of the distribution of the risk factors can be used. The constructed algorithms can easily be applied for any distribution of risk factors, no matter if light- or heavy-tailed. The numerical study exhibits a greater variance reduction than of the algorithm from Glasserman et al. The use of a better approximation may improve the performance of our algorithms significantly, as it is shown in the numerical study.

The literature on the estimation of the popular market risk measures, namely VaR and CVaR, often refers to the algorithms for estimating the probability of high portfolio losses, describing the corresponding transition process only briefly. Hence, we give a consecutive discussion of this problem. Results necessary to construct confidence intervals for both measures under the mentioned variance reduction procedures are also given.


Partnerships are a recognized tool for addressing local level environmental problems. They involve knowledge-sharing and decision-making by both local authorities and communities. Two different partnerships developed in Durban ' s KwaMashu Township with a view to addressing environmental problems associated with a degraded small stream viz, the KwaMashu Development Association (KDA) and the KwaMashu Development Initiative (KDI) . This thesis describes a study carried out on these two partnerships, comparing their efficacy in resolving the problems and the factors that contributed to the pollution of the stream. Specific environmental circumstances conducive to the degradation of the stream, as well as measures put in place to address them, were identified during a field survey. Semi-structured questionnaires were then used to interview members of the two partnerships to obtain information on how they developed and functioned as a unit. Information was also obtained from respective individuals, regarding their perception of the factors that contributed to the stream degradation and the effectiveness of their rehabilitation efforts. Although the study found both partnerships to be of the leverage type, there were significant differences between the socio-economic profile and political affiliations of members. The KDA partnership received funding for the project whereas the KDI received no funding, but had a vision. The Keep Durban Beautiful Association created an awareness relating to waste and open space management which was imparted to the KDT members and this enabled them to achieve the goals of the project. These different baselines clearly contributed to the differences in the effectiveness of the partnerships.


Abstract In this paper, we present an analysis of how constituents procure services at the constituency office of a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom. This paper will investigate how several previously documented interactional practices (e.g. entitlement) combine at the constituency office in a way that secures service. From a corpus of 12.5 hours of interaction, and using conversation analysis, we examine constituents' telephone calls and meetings with constituency office staff and the MP, identifying practices constituents use. First, constituents opened encounters with bids to tell narratives. Second, constituents presented lengthy and detailed descriptions of their difficulties. These descriptions gave space to manage issues of legitimacy and entitlement, while simultaneously recruiting assistance. Third, we examine ways in which constituents display uncertainty about how the institution of the constituency office functions, and what services are available. The paper offers original insights into how constituency services are provided, and how constituency offices give access and support to ordinary citizens, while expanding the conversation analytic literature on institutional service provision.


Abstract. Due to the small-scale and non-stationary nature of the convective wind gusts usually associated with thunderstorms, there is a considerable lack of knowledge regarding their characteristics and statistics. In an effort to remedy this situation, we investigated in this study a set of 110 climate stations of the German Weather Service between 1992 and 2014 to analyze the temporal and spatial distribution, intensity, and occurrence probability of convective gusts. Similar to thunderstorm activity, the frequency of convective gusts decreases gradually from southern to northern Germany. No further spatial structures, such as a relation to orography or climate conditions, can be identified regarding their strength or likelihood. Rather, high wind speeds of above 30 m s−1 can be expected everywhere in Germany with almost similar occurrence probabilities. A comparison of the 20-year return values of convective gusts with those of turbulent gusts demonstrates that the latter have higher frequencies, especially in northern Germany. However, for higher return periods, this effect can be reversed at some stations. The values of the convective gust factors are mainly in a range between 1 and 4 but can even reach values up to 10. Besides the dependency from the averaging time period of the mean wind, the values of the gust factors additionally depend on the event duration and the storm type, respectively.


Sustainability is without doubt one of the most important challenges of our time. How can we develop prosperity, without compromising the life of future generations? Companies are integrating concepts of sustainability in their marketing, corporate communications, annual reports and in their actions. It is for that reason that sustainability is rapidly gaining importance as a criteria in the selection and execution of information and communication technology (ICT) projects. This paper explores the impact of the concepts of sustainability on ICT projects. Based on a literature review of the concepts of sustainability, and the role of ICT in sustainability, we will apply the concepts of sustainability to ICT projects and create a framework for developing sustainability indicators in ICT projects. We will conclude the paper by reporting a small scale expert research project that explored the application of sustainability in projects today. In this study we found that the concept of sustainability is not really recognized in projects and project management yet.


The central part of this thesis (chapter 3) consists of a classification of 9071 lexical items comprising the semantic field Good and Evil. This classified semantic field, with minor alterations, will form part of the Historical Thesaurus of English currently being compiled in the English Language Department of Glasgow University. Some significant features of the Good and Evil classification system, devised and explained in this thesis, have also been adopted by the Historical Thesaurus.

Chapter 1 places the thesis in a wider academic context. It explains briefly the Historical Thesaurus project, and describes how the classification of Good and Evil contributes to this. It also relates the thesis to linguistics, semantics, and especially to semantic theory, lexicography, and semantic classification.

Chapter 2 defines the semantic field Good and Evil and discusses how the field was assembled. It provides details of those areas which were either rejected or extended in order to form the semantic field. It then describes in some detail the classification system devised for Good and Evil. The structure of the classification is explained, the use of the parts of speech as a valuable classificatory device is justified, and the contribution of other classificatory work is acknowledged. The chapter also discusses some particular problems and features of the Old English corpus. It ends with lists of stylistic and other conventions.

Chapter 3 contains the Good and Evil classification, and chapter 4 consists of detailed notes on the classification. These notes discuss points relating to dating. Old English material, classificatory devices, closely connected categories, and some problems of dictionary definitions, among other things. Chapter 5 conducts a number of studies based on historical and etymological information drawn from the classification. The relative numbers of accessions and losses in different centuries in the categories are presented and discussed. The range of sources of origin of a limited number of categories arc detailed. The patterns of change, and the extent and rate of influence of different languages in different centuries, are then commented on and compared.

Chapter 6 selects one area of vocabulary from Good and Evil - animal names used as names for people - and subjects this area to a detailed examination. The variety of animal names, and the range of people to whom

they arc applied, arc discussed, and various statistics and comparisons arc drawn up. Also considered is the time gap between the first literal use of an animal name and the first figurative or metaphorical application of the same term to a person. In the process some interesting and, on occasion, unproven points about animal metaphor are brought to light. The thesis ends with three appendices. The first contains extra Good and Evil material not in the main classification, the second details 19th century obsolescences, and the third gives a numerical distribution of items in each category by part of speech


As Winston Churchill said in 1939 the action of Russia "is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma" which is what one can say about Russia's current involvement in South East Europe. There are many guesses but no one can claim with certainty what Russia's intentions are and whether there is a grand strategy in the region. Opinions are divided between those who support the "geopolitics of fear" versus the "geopolitics of indifference" theses.


Objective. Bulb suction drains have long been used in vari- ous surgical procedures. The purpose of this study was to evaluate 4 commonly used bulb suction devices in vitro to explore the nonlinear changes in draining ability and efficiency along with the conformation changes of the device throughout the draining processes. Methods. Under a designed simulated scenario using pure water as the desired draining substance, the relative function of the J-VAC 100 cc (JV100) (Ethicon, Inc, Somerville, USA); the EVACUATOR 125cc (EP125) (Pa- cific Hospital Supply, Taiwan); the Bulb Reservoir 150 cc (BH150) (Hosmed, Inc, Miami, FL); and the HemoVac 400 cc (HV400) (Zim- mer, Inc, Warsaw, IN) drains were compared. The maximum collection capacities and the dead space at maximum compression of each bulb drain were recorded and compared. The collected fluid weight was re- corded along with time, and collection speeds were calculated and compared. Results. The maximum collected weight of the 4 drains were 110.07 ± 0.54 g (JV100), 122.7 ± 06.51 g (EP125), 140.8 ± 03.78 g (BH150), and 335.07 ± 04.24 g (HV400). The dead spaces under maximum compression were 15.63 ± 01.32 ml, 19.80 ± 03.37 ml, 34.23 ± 06.77 ml, and 82.83 ± 05.51 ml, respectively. The col- lecting speed-volume curves were generated from the authors' tested devices. Although slightly different individually, typical characteristics, such as tendency to reach maximum collection speed at the very be- ginning of the collection phase; rapid decline to about 65% of peak collection speed when approximately 30% of the total collection vol- ume had been achieved; and inefficient collection speed in the later collection phase were noted. Conclusions. Among all the bulb drains tested in this study, all of them performed well in vitro. Although using bulb drains continues to be an effective and economic draining method after operation, clinicians should be aware of the nonlinear features of suction efficiency during the drainage process to avoid unexpected function deterioration.


Atomic layer deposition (ALD), a gas-phase thin film deposition technique based on repeated, self-terminating gas-solid reactions, has become the method of choice in semiconductor manufacturing and many other technological areas for depositing thin conformal inorganic material layers for various applications. ALD has been discovered and developed independently, at least twice, under different names: atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) and molecular layering. ALE, dating back to 1974 in Finland, has been commonly known as the origin of ALD, while work done since the 1960s in the Soviet Union under the name "molecular layering" (and sometimes other names) has remained much less known. The virtual project on the history of ALD (VPHA) is a volunteer-based effort with open participation, set up to make the early days of ALD more transparent. In VPHA, started in July 2013, the target is to list, read and comment on all early ALD academic and patent literature up to 1986. VPHA has resulted in two essays and several presentations at international conferences. This paper, based on a poster presentation at the 16th International Conference on Atomic Layer Deposition in Dublin, Ireland, 2016, presents a recommended reading list of early ALD publications, created collectively by the VPHA participants through voting. The list contains 22 publications from Finland, Japan, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and United States. Up to now, a balanced overview regarding the early history of ALD has been missing; the current list is an attempt to remedy this deficiency.


Distributed generation (DG) is expected to improve the system reliability as its backup generation. However, DG contribution in fault current may cause the loss of the existing protection coordination, e.g. recloser-fuse coordination and breaker-breaker coordination. This problem can drastically deteriorate the system reliability, and it is more serious and complicated when there are several DG sources in the system. Hence, the above conflict in reliability aspect unavoidably needs a detailed investigation before the installation or enhancement of DG is done. The model of composite DG fault current is proposed to find the threshold that existing protection coordination is lost. Cases of protection miscoordination are described, together with their consequences. In addition, the issues of on-site DG and tie line are studied. Reliability indices are evaluated and compared in the distribution reliability test system RBTS Bus 2


Aims. We aim to construct a general relativistic radiative transfer formulation, applicable to particles with or without mass in astrophysical settings, wherein ray-tracing calculations can be performed for arbitrary geodesics for a given space-time geometry. Methods. The relativistic radiative transfer formulation is derived from first principles: conserving particle number and phase-space density. The formulation is covariant, and transfer calculations are conducted along particle geodesics connecting the emitters and the observer. The geodesics are determined through the space-time metric, which is specified beforehand. Absorption and emission in the radiative transfer calculations are treated explicitly. The particle-medium interaction is evaluated in the local inertial frame, comoving with the medium. Relativistic, geometrical and optical depth effects are treated self-consistently within an integral covariant framework. Results. We present a self-consistent general relativistic radiative transfer formulation with explicit treatment of emission and absorption. The formulation is general and is applicable to both particles with mass and without mass. The presence of particles has two major effects: firstly the particle bundle ray is no longer along the null geodesic, and secondly the intensity variation along the particle bundle ray is reduced by an aberration factor. The radiative transfer formulation can handle 3D geometrical settings and structured objects with variations and gradients in the optical depths across the objects and along the line-of-sight. Such scenarios are applicable in calculations of photon emission from complex structured accretion flows around black holes and neutrino emission from remnant neutron tori in neutron-star mergers. We apply the formulation and demonstrate radiation transfer calculations for emission from accretion tori around rotating black holes. We consider two cases: idealised optically thick tori that have a sharply defined emission boundary surface, and structured tori that allow variations in the absorption coefficient and emissivity within the tori. We show intensity images and emission spectra of the tori obtained in our calculations. Our findings in the radiative transfer calculations are summarised as follows. (i) Geometrical effects, such as lensing-induced self-occulation and multiple-image contribution are much more significant in accretion tori than geometrically thin accretion disks. (ii) Optically thin accretion tori show emission line profiles distinguishable from the profiles of lines from optically thick accretion tori and lines from optically thick geometrically thin accretion disks. (iii) The line profiles of the optically thin accretion tori have a weaker dependence on the viewing inclination angle than those of the optically thick accretion tori or accretion disks, especially at high viewing inclination angles. (iv) Limb effects are present in accretion tori with finite optical depths, due to density and temperature stratification within the tori. We note that in accretion flows onto relativistic compact objects, gravitationally induced line resonance can occur. This resonance occurs easily in 3D flows, but not in 2D flows, such as a thin accretion disk around a black hole.


—Proteogenomics is an emerging field of systems biology research at the intersection of proteomics and genomics. Two high-throughput technologies, Mass Spectrometry (MS) for proteomics and Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) machines for genomics are required to conduct proteogenomics studies. Independently both MS and NGS technologies are inflicted with data deluge which creates problems of storage, transfer, analysis and visualization. Integrating these big data sets (NGS+MS) for proteogenomics studies compounds all of the associated computational problems. Existing sequential algorithms for these proteogenomics datasets analysis are inadequate for big data and high performance computing (HPC) solutions are almost non-existent. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the big data problem of proteogenomics and the associated challenges in analyzing, storing and transferring these data sets. Further, op- portunities for high performance computing research community are identified and possible future directions are discussed.


This thesis contributes to a relatively small but burgeoning body of feminist and critical discourse analytic research into the social construction of gender and gender inequality conducted within critical social psychology. It begins by critically discussing the various theories of gender within the discipline. The thesis is an explicitly political endeavour. As is discussed, all work is political even if it fails to acknowledge this. This research aims to be openly reflexive about its ideological underpinnings and the historical and cultural climate in which the work emerges. Feminist theories of gender are also critically discussed. Having explored the various theories of gender and their relative de/merits, the adopted feminist social constructionist approach is explicated. Such an approach addresses the main failings of other approaches which are variously centred around, for example, inattention to power, language, multiplicity of identities and genders, essentialism, self-contained individualism and the historical, cultural and contextual relativity of meaning. These issues are explicitly attended to through the chosen methodology of critical discourse analysis.Three studies were carried out. All utilise the same analytical methodology but vary in terms of context, focus and data collection method. The first study analyses the interview talk of male psychology undergraduates at a northern English university. The men were found to present themselves, and men generally, as Victims'. The second study aims to address a wide-scale problem in social constructionist work on gender which also afflicts the first study presented here. Whilst theory has shifted away from essentialism, both theoretical and empirical work continues to promote an implicit essentialism by assuming that the biological sex of participants should correspond to the gender of interest (e.g. studying 'men and masculinity'). The second study includes both male and female volunteer interviewees from a similar sample population as the first study. Both sexes were found to be bolstering inequality by constructing a picture of equality between the sexes. This was achieved through three repertoires. One overtly constructed 'equality as imminent/achieved'. Another, the 'women as oppressors/men as victims' repertoire, presents instances of women's capability of inverting men's general power. The third, 'women as manipulators', was only utilised by the women and suggests women have a more covert power which counterbalances men's overt power.This greater focus on discourses and shift away from essentialism, evidenced in the diminished interest given to embodiment and identity, is more fully embraced in the third study which concentrates on an internet discussion board. In this context, embodiment and identity cannot be known with confidence. The discussion board contributors construct men and women as internally homogeneous and oppositional groups. Two repertoires are discussed: 'communication difficulties' and 'the spokesperson'. Men and women are said to find communication between them incredibly difficult. Contradictorily, men and women are solicited for, or take it upon themselves to offer, 'insider' views on their particular sex group. Taken together, the three studies therefore represent quite different contexts, samples, and methodological approaches to the problem of the net inequality between the sexes, and contribute to a growing body of research on how inequality is maintained through linguistic practice in particular contexts.


Background: Massive weight loss following bariatric surgery causes unwanted excess skin and subcutaneous tissue. Intraoperative abdominal wall exposure during abdominal contouring surgery provides the possibility for concurrent ventral, umbilical, or inguinal hernia repair. The authors evaluated the incidence of postoperative complications following abdominal contouring surgery with or without concurrent hernia repair and the impact of surgical specialty. Methods: Analysis of patients undergoing abdominal contouring surgery with or without concurrent hernia repair was performed using the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program from 2005 to 2011. The incidence of postoperative complications was determined. Logistic regression assessed influence of demographics and comorbidities on postoperative outcomes. Control group (body mass index > 27.5) and high-risk group (body mass index > 40) undergoing a hernia repair were also included for comparison. Results: Among 4925 patients, 63.7 percent underwent abdominoplasty and/or panniculectomy only; 36.3 percent underwent a simultaneous hernia repair. The abdominal contouring surgery with simultaneous hernia repair group had a higher complication rate than the abdominal contouring surgery group (18.3 percent versus 9.8 percent, p < 0.001). Body mass index was associated with increased wound complications and major complications in both groups. Diabetes, smoking, chronic steroid use, and hypertension increased wound complications in the abdominal contouring surgery/hernia repair group. Conclusions: Patients undergoing hernia repair with abdominal contouring surgery may have higher postoperative complication rates than after abdominal contouring surgery alone. Hypertension, smoking, and chronic steroid use were predictors for negative outcomes. Furthermore, surgical specialty is associated with significantly different complication rates. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, III.


Permo-Triassic rift basins offer important hydrocarbon targets along the Atlantic margins. Their fill is dominated by continental red beds, comprising braided fluvial, alluvial fan, aeolian, floodplain and lacustrine facies. These relatively lightly explored basins span both the Atlantic and Tethyan domains and developed above a complex basement with inherited structural fabrics. Sparse data in offshore regions constrain understanding of depositional geometries and sedimentary architecture, further impeded by their deep burial beneath younger strata, combined with the effects of later deformation during continental breakup. This paper provides results from a multidisciplinary analysis of basins along the Atlantic margin. Regional seismic and well data, combined with geochemical provenance analysis from the European North Atlantic margins, are integrated with detailed outcrop studies in Morocco and Nova Scotia. The research provides new insights into regional basin tectonostratigraphic evolution, sediment fill, and reservoir distribution, architecture and quality at a range of scales. Regional seismic profiles, supported by key well data, indicate the presence of post-orogenic collapse basins, focused narrow rifts and low-magnitude multiple extensional depocentres. Significantly, Permo-Triassic basin geometries are different and more varied than the overlying Jurassic and younger basins. Provenance analysis using Pb isotopic composition of detrital K-feldspar yields new and robust controls on the sediment dispersal patterns of Triassic sandstones in the NE Atlantic margin. The evolving sedimentary architecture is characterized by detailed sedimentological studies of key outcrops of age equivalent Permian-Triassic rifts in Morocco and Nova Scotia. The interplay of tectonics and climate is observed to influence sedimentation, which has significant implications for reservoir distribution in analogue basins. New digital outcrop techniques are providing improved reservoir models, and identification of key marker horizons and sequence boundaries offers a potential subsurface correlation tool. Future work will address source and seal distribution within the potentially petroliferous basins.


This study concerns the expression of African cultural practices in the population of enslaved persons interred in the African Burial Ground in New York City during the periods of Dutch and British colonial rule. The African Burial Ground was in use from approximately the midseventeenth century to the end of the eighteenth century and extended over five to six acres containing between 10,000 and 20,000 graves. A small portion of the burial ground was unearthed in 1991, revealing 418 human remains. I undertake an examination of the grave goods and evidence of the burial positions associated with the individuals recovered from the burial ground during the 1991 excavations, with a specific emphasis on the cosmologies and mortuary practices of the Dutch, British, Akan, Igbo, Yoruba and Fon/Ewe cultures from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. By examining these cultural practices in comparison with the findings in the African Burial Ground in New York City, as evident in Perry et. al. (2006) and Medford (2004), this study explores the extent to which members of the enslaved community undertook expressions of particular African cultural practices. The conclusion of this study supports Herskovits' observations concerning the continuing development of African cultures in America and that enslaved Africans were not stripped of their cultures during the Middle Passage of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. I also contend that new cultural beliefs and practices developed and were expressed at the New York African Burial Ground which included elements of both African and Anglo-European cosmologies and traditions.


Open source software (OSS) repositories, like GitHub, conjointly build numerous big data projects. GitHub developers and/or its responders extend/enhance a project's software capabilities. Over time, GitHub's repositories are mined for new knowledge and capabilities. This study's values-deliverance staging system data mines, isolates, collates and incorporates relevant GitHub text into values deliverance model constructs. This suggests differential construct effects influence a project's activities levels. The study suggests OSS big data platforms can be software data mined to isolate and assess the values embedded. This also elucidates pathways where behavioral values deliverance improvements to GitHub can likely be most beneficial.


Despite evidence of damaging human impacts, cave paintings may again be threatened if visitors are allowed access. In the last decade, considerable attention has been paid to the deterioration of the caves that house the world's most prominent Paleolithic rock art. This is exemplified by the caves of Lascaux (Dordogne, France) (1) and Altamira (Cantabria, Spain), both declared World Heritage Sites. The Altamira Cave has been closed to visitors since 2002. Since 2010, reopening the Altamira Cave has been under consideration. We argue that research indicates the need to preserve the cave by keeping it closed in the near future.


Purpose : Birdshot chorioretinopathy (BCR) is a chronic inflammatory disease which follows a variable course. Disease activity can be difficult to assess objectively. The implicit time of the 30 Hz photopic flicker electroretinogram (ERG) has been shown to be a sensitive parameter in these patients. Electroretinography is not universally available, limiting its utility in guiding treatment decisions in many settings. A portable device allowing rapid measurements in clinic could be transformational in this regard, but such devices require validation. Methods : A hand-held device with skin electrodes (RETeval, LKC Technologies, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD, USA) and a more conventional full-field device with a conductive fibre recording electrode (Diagnosys ColorDome, Diagnosys, Lowell, MA, USA) were used to record photopic flicker ERGs in Birdshot patients attending a single eye service. For portable recordings, pupils were undilated (stimuli aimed to deliver similar retinal illuminances to international standard stimuli); pupils were dilated for conventional recordings. Implicit times were compared. Also, recordings made from over 300 healthy subjects provided control data. Results : Recordings were made from 11 patients (21 eyes). Mean (SD) age was 60.9 (7.5) years. Implicit times ranged from 24.4 to 35.2 ms and from 24.5 to 37 ms for portable and conventional devices respectively. Mean (SD) implicit times were 29.1 (3.7) ms and 30.3 (4.2) ms respectively. Implicit times were slightly but significantly shorter with the hand-held device (p =0.0003). The correlation coefficient between the devices was 0.96 overall (0.98 and 0.96 for right and left eye recordings). Using the control data from healthy subjects, upper cut-off values (mean plus 2SD) of 28.6 ms and 29.1 ms were set for the two devices for designating times as "prolonged". Agreement was quantified with a kappa of 0.81 (95% CI, 0.56 to 1.0) Conclusions : Although implicit times differ between the two systems, highlighting the importance of control data, the correlation is extremely high, with very strong agreement. The portable device holds promise in providing reliable flicker time measurements, undilated, within minutes potentially at every clinic visit. This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016. ; ; ; ; ;


Firms may face sunk costs when entering an export market. Previous studies have focused on global or country-specific sunk export costs. This study analyses the importance of market-specific sunk export costs (defining 'market' as a product–country combination). We also study how market-specific export costs can be affected by various kinds of learning and spillover effects. We use firm-level panel data for Norwegian seafood exports distributed on products and countries. The results lend support to the hypothesis of market-specific sunk costs. We also find evidence of learning and spillover effects, particularly within the same product group.


A better understanding of the factors that influence mixing between CO2 and CH4 in natural
gas reservoirs can provide an avenue to minimise the gas dispersion during Enhanced Gas
Recovery (EGR). This highlights EGR's field scale adoption as a potential method for
simultaneously reducing CO2 emissions through sequestration and enhancing natural gas
recovery and, thus, showcases it economic viability. An important aspect of the reservoir is
connate water. So, what is the role of its connate water salinity on mixing during EGR? In this investigation, three (3) different sandstone core samples (Grey Berea, Buff Berea, and
Bandera Grey) with different petrophysical properties were used in this research. Phase I of
this study entailed the cleaning and the characterisation of the core samples using
experimental core analyses to determine the petrophysical properties. A novel practical
approach to grain diameter determination of the core samples using image analysis was
developed. The measurement showed that Buff Berea had the largest average grain size of
165.70 μm amongst the core samples used, followed by Grey Berea with 94.66 μm, and lastly
Bandera Grey with 57.15 μm. This facilitated the determination the Peclet number during the
displacement which helped develop a robust injection strategy for displacement of the CH4
with minimum contamination by providing an optimum injection rate ranges for this
application. Phase II involved core flooding process to simulate the displacement of CH4 by CO2 that was
carried out at 1300 psig and 50oC with varying injection rates of 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 ml/min.
This was performed on dry core samples at different injection orientations –horizontal and
vertical - to ascertain the effects of these variations on the displacement efficiency. The
optimum injection rate was determined based on the dispersion coefficient and the CH4
recovery efficiency obtained from testing individual core samples. Grey Berea at 0.3 ml/min
in the vertical orientation gave the best results based on the criteria adopted and provided the
benchmark for subsequent sensitivity analyses. The Phase III of the study focused on the impact of connate water salinity of the mixing and
dispersion of CO2 into CH4 during the displacement at the simulated reservoir conditions
during EGR with different brine salinities (0, 5, 10 wt% NaCl) using the optimum conditions
determined in Phase II for consistent results. The results from the core flooding process
indicated that the dispersion coefficient decreases with increasing salinity, hence the higher
the density of the immobile phase (connate water) the lower the dispersion of CO2 into CH4.
This is the first investigation into the relationship between the connate water salinity and the
dispersion coefficient in EGR. Consequently, feasibility of the solubility trapping as a
secondary mechanism for CO2 storage during EGR was experimentally investigated through
core flooding process. Solubility trapping was found to increase the CO2 storage capacity of
natural gas reservoir by about 60% during EGR and the higher the connate water salinity the
higher the sequestration potential of CO2 but lower the CH4 recovery was realised. With this new information, the effect of connate water salinity on EGR is substantial and its
inclusion in simulations studies will be helpful for field scale applications of EGR technique.


It is very common to study the patient's data hospitalization to get useful information to improve the health care system. According to the American Hospital Association, in 2006, over $30 billion was spent on unnecessary hospital admissions. If patients that are likely to be hospitalized can be identified, the admission will be avoided as they will get the necessary treatments earlier. In this context, in 2013, the Heritage Provider Network (HPN) launched the $3 million Heritage Health Prize in order to develop a system that uses the available patient data (health records and claims)to predict and avoid unnecessary hospitalizations. In this work we take this competition data, and we try to predict the patient's hospitalization number. The data encompasses more than 2,000,000 of patient admission records over three years. The aim is to use the data of the ?rst and second year to predict the number of hospitalization of the third year. In this context, a set of operations mainly: data transformation, outlier detection, clustering, and regression algorithms are applied. Data transformation operations are mainly: (1) As the data is big enough to be processed, dividing the data into chunks is mandatory. (2) Missing values are either replaced or removed. (3) As the data is raw and cannot be labeled, different operations of aggregation are applied. After transforming the data, outlier detection, clustering, and regression algorithms are applied in order to predict the third year hospitalization number for each patient. Results show, by applying directly regression algorithms, the relative error is only 79%. However, by applying the DBSCAN clustering algorithm followed by the regression algorithm, the relative error decreased to be 67%. This is because the attribute that has been generated by the pre-processing clustering step helped the regression algorithm to predict more accurately the number of hospitalization; and this is why the relative error has dropped. The relative error can be decreased more if we apply the clustering pre-processing step twice. That means, the clusters generated in the first clustering step are re-clustered to generated sub-clusters. Then, the regression algorithm is applied to these sub-clusters. The relative error dropped significantly from 67% to 32%. Patients share common hospitalization history are grouped into clusters. This clustering information is used to enhance the regression results.


A comprehensive reference grammar specially developed for advanced students and teachers of English. Using information from the COBUILD database, the editors have selected what they consider to be the most important examples of spoken and written modern English.


Background: Breast cancer is one of the most common tumors in the world and is associated with high psychological distress such as depression, anxiety, and stress. Meditation is efficacious to reduce psychological distress, but there are no studies which have evaluated a specific type of Tibetan medicine meditation in patients with breast cancer. The present research aimed to understand the effect a specific type of Tibetan medicine meditation on psychological distress in a sample of women with breast cancer. Methods: Sixty-two women with breast cancer were enrolled. We instructed the patients in Tibetan medicine meditation (five sessions). We administered the Profile of Mood States at baseline and follow-up, after five sessions of Tibetan medicine meditation. Results: The mean age of the sample was 51.08 years (SD = 11.74). There was a significant decrease in scores between baseline and follow-up in anxiety-tension (F = 23.188, p < 0.001), depression-dejection (F = 19.082, p < 0.001), anger-hostility (F = 18.732, p < 0.001), fatigue (F = 17.883, p < 0.001), and confusion (F = 15.479, p < 0.001), and there was an increase in the vigor subscale, but it was not statistically significant (F = 1.422, p = 0.234). Conclusions: This study shows for the first time that a specific form of Tibetan medicine meditation is efficacious in decreasing the psychological distress in women with breast cancer and can be an important complementary therapy to oncological care.


In regions with a drying climate, as waterbodies dry out more frequently or for longer, species traits interact with aquatic habitat influencing assemblage composition in wetlands. This thesis aimed to identify potential refuges from increased temperatures and altered water regimes for wetland invertebrates that resist drying using resting stages in the sediment. Using the literature on desiccation-responses by freshwater invertebrates, I reviewed relationships between life histories and the degree of desiccation to which individuals are exposed. Sediment microhabitats that retain moisture were sampled, showing that they could provide microrefuges for invertebrates during seasonal drying. Dry sediment was sampled from two habitats (open water (OW) and fringing trees (FT)) in eight wetlands, sediment properties were measured, and invertebrate emergence from inundated damp and artificially dried sediment were observed. FT sediment was cooler, had higher organic matter content, water saturation potential and different invertebrate assemblage composition. For most species the effect of drying depended on habitat; effects included mortality, reduced abundance and increased abundance. False starts occur when dry wetlands receive brief, unseasonable periods of inundation that trigger invertebrate hatching, but then dry out causing abortive hatching. OW and FT sediments were exposed to false starts in the laboratory. In OW, abortive hatching occurred and new assemblages emerged from egg banks during the next inundation. In FT, invertebrates emerged rapidly and survived drying, continuing to develop into assemblages that did not differ from permanently inundated controls. Overall, this research showed that shallow seasonal wetlands contain refuges from higher temperatures and prolonged drying, explaining the resistance of their fauna to drought. To sustain wetland biodiversity, FT vegetation should be protected and replanted (where necessary) and wetland sediment should be protected from degrading processes such as sedimentation and eutrophication, so that it retains microrefuges.


A question that is central to current debates about the Europeanisation of private law is that of how to conceptualise the relationship between European law and national private law. And a key aspect of that question is the impact on national private law and institutions of the growing corpus of EU regulation of important service sectors of the economy. In that context, are national regulatory authorities, now increasingly networked in EU regulatory networks, an interface between the European and the local, or are they co-opted as arms of European regulatory law? In that context, are their growing interventions in private law relationships a further distancing of law from the control of domestic democratic institutions? In this paper, I begin with the observation that the sidelining of traditional private law together with adjudication and courts, as its principal institutions, has been a longer-term process, resulting from transformations of society and its knowledge base and the inability of traditional institutions to cope with those transformations. In the post-industrial society of networks, some prominent commentators have foreseen a role for the re-emergence of private law as the institution that mediates or translates various fragmented social rationalities. In this paper, I argue that private law has not risen to this task of orchestrating various stakeholders because, even if such a task of translation were possible, private law institutions are not well-adapted to perform it with traditional tools. By reference to examples from the regulated network sectors, I argue that conceptions of European law as hierarchical "intrusions" into national space may be oversimplified. At the EU level we witness attempts to overcome the limitations of standard interventions through proceduralized mechanisms for joint learning: both between administrators at different levels and between administrators and private actors (both regulated entities and other social stakeholders). The advantage of EU-level interventions is that they are not as steeped in tradition and habitual patterns as national private or public law institutions, so they are more open to experimentation with heterodox approaches. The disadvantage is that EU interventions can self-consciously define their mandate as narrow or their objectives as limited. In such cases, those whose perspectives are excluded by the narrow mandate may, in the absence of other ways of redefining that mandate, seek redress through the national courts. The local and generalist nature of national courts can be their advantage in providing a venue that amplifies the voice of smallscale communities and their apparently small-scale problems.


This thesis deals with intrasite spatial analysis: the analysis of spatial patterns on site level. My main concern has been to develop a simple method for analysing Stone Age sites of a special type: those characterised by the presence of a hearth closely associated in space with an artefact scatter. Though this type of site is quite common, especially in the Upper Palaeolithic, other types do exist. The method introduced in this thesis, the ring and sector method, will generally be inappropriate in cases where the global "spatial organisation" of a site is not defined by a central hearth (however, see Ch. V for an application to another situation). Being feature-oriented, the ring and sector method is restricted in its range of applications ... Zie: Introduction


The Blackwell Companion to Sociology of Families is an authoritative volume of original essays by expert contributors. It tackles a range of issues relevant to family life today, such as social inequality, parenting practices, children's work, the changing patterns of citizenship, and challenges confronting multi-cultural families.Each essay examines the changing family forms and relationships as well as the changing social context (by way of globalization, technological innovation, state policy, religion, employment and community) that shapes modern family life. From an explicitly comparative perspective, the authors provide a selective overview of empirical research and address emerging issues. Families in Europe and North America are given special attention, with discussion of previously neglected groups including immigrant families and gays and lesbians.The Companion shows how revolutionary changes in aging, longevity, and sexual behavior have radically affected the experience of children and parents over the life course, and shifted the ties that bind different generations. This exceptional volume shows why the study of social change in families is a necessary key for understanding the transformations in individual and social life, across the globe.


In the statistical learning framework, the use of appropriate kernels may be the key for substantial improvement in solving a given problem. In essence, a kernel is a similarity measure between input points satisfying some mathematical requirements and possibly capturing the domain knowledge. We focus on kernels for images: we represent the image information content with binary strings and discuss various bitwise manipulations obtained using logical operators and convolution with nonbinary stencils. In the theoretical contribution of our work, we show that histogram intersection is a Mercer's kernel and we determine the modifications under which a similarity measure based on the notion of Hausdorff distance is also a Mercer's kernel. In both cases, we determine explicitly the mapping from input to feature space. The presented experimental results support the relevance of our analysis for developing effective trainable systems.


Impacts of climate change on the choice of transport mode for local trips are estimated from data for the city of Bergen in Norway. By means of a climate scenario for other main cities, the impacts for Norway are assessed under the assumption that people in these cities respond similarly to the people of Bergen. The scenario leads to an increase in public transport and in walking and bicycling, while the use of private transport decreases. The total impacts are small, but may be of significance in certain places. The study also shows that national consequences of climate change cannot be properly estimated by aggregating local-level impacts.


This research was applied high-resolution Sentinel-2A imagery which aims to monitor a suitability of MultiSpectral Imager (MSI) at higher resolution (10 m) for mapping of Total Suspended Solids (TSS) ) in the upper reaches of the Mekong Delta – An Giang province. The field survey is carried out to collect TSS at random distribution sites outside full-dyke protection. A remote sensing algorithm with a regression function method is developed to estimate TSS concentration automatically to select between the most sensitive TSS and water reflectance relationship. The regression analytical algorithm is predicted the output values based on normalized suspended material index (NSMI) (r2 = 0.92), showing the MSI sensor's great potential to estimate TSS. The results confirm that suspended materials in the surface water reached the minimum of 10.36 mg/l and the maximum of 328.56 mg/l in An Giang province, the suspended materials distributional tendency with high content was mainly in flooded fields near the upstream of the basin of Hau river, especially in areas without the dike enclosure and the content was low in the areas within the dike enclosure. These findings promote further research in water quality studies relying on both operational Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B imageries with great implications to improve the understanding of turbid coastal and inland water environments.


It has been known that the electrical breakdown of insulating materials is strongly affected by the formation of space charge in the bulk of the materials. Many researchers have attempted to study the relationship between the space charge and the breakdown; however, it has not been clarified yet. Although the pulsed electroacoustic (PEA) method has been widely used to observe space charge profiles, previous works have not shown clear evidence of the influence of the space charge on the breakdown. Therefore, we have developed a new PEA system with an interval of 0.5 ms to observe the space charge distribution continuously under the ultra-high electric field. Using this system, we observed the space charge dynamics in the low-density polyethylene (LDPE) at and around the breakdown. We also investigated the dependence of the applied electric field on space charge behavior. From the results, it is found that the injected charge packet moved faster and deeper under a relatively lower electric field rather than that under a higher electric field. Furthermore, we found that the maximum electric field in each specimen was almost the same when the breakdown happened in a specimen.


Unsupervised domain adaptive video action recognition aims to recognize actions of a target domain using a model trained with only out-of-domain (source) annotations. The inherent complexity of videos makes this task challenging but also provides ground for leveraging multi-modal inputs (e.g., RGB, Flow, Audio). Most previous works utilize the multi-modal information by either aligning each modality individually or learning representation via cross-modal self-supervision. Different from previous works, we find that the cross-domain alignment can be more effectively done by using cross-modal interaction first. Cross-modal knowledge interaction allows other modalities to supplement missing transferable information because of the cross-modal complementarity. Also, the most transferable aspects of data can be highlighted using cross-modal consensus. In this work, we present a novel model that jointly considers these two characteristics for domain adaptive action recognition. We achieve this by implementing two modules, where the first module exchanges complementary transferable information across modalities through the semantic space, and the second module finds the most transferable spatial region based on the consensus of all modalities. Extensive experiments validate that our proposed method can significantly outperform state-of-the-art methods on multiple benchmark datasets, including the complex fine-grained dataset EPIC-Kitchens-100.


In this paper, we propose to apply sparse canonical correlation analysis (sparse CCA) to an important genome-wide association study problem, eQTL mapping. Existing sparse CCA models do not incorporate structural information among variables such as pathways of genes. This work extends the sparse CCA so that it could exploit either the pre-given or unknown group structure via the structured-sparsity-inducing penalty. Such structured penalty poses new challenge on optimization techniques. To address this challenge, by specializing the excessive gap framework, we develop a scalable primal-dual optimization algorithm with a fast rate of convergence. Empirical results show that the proposed optimization algorithm is more efficient than existing state-of-the-art methods. We also demonstrate the effectiveness of the structured sparse CCA on both simulated and genetic datasets.


Using state-level data for the period 1990 through 2007, we estimate the effect of legalizing medical marijuana on suicide rates. Our results suggest that the passage of a medical marijuana law is associated with an almost 5 percent reduction in the total suicide rate, an 11 percent reduction in the suicide rate of 20- through 29-year-old males, and a 9 percent reduction in the suicide rate of 30- through 39-year-old males. Estimates of the relationship between legalization and female suicides are less precise and are sensitive to functional form.


The modern class action, the modern feminist movement, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 were all products of the creativity and turmoil of the 1960s. As late as 1961 — one year after Justice Felix Frankfurter rejected new law school graduate Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a law clerk because she was a woman — the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the constitutionality of a Florida statute that required men, but not women, to serve on juries, on the ground that women's primary role was in the home. As Betty Friedan put it in 1963's The Feminine Mystique, "In almost every professional field, in business and in the arts and sciences, women are still treated as second-class citizens." But change was imminent. The Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the founding of the ACLU Women's Rights Project, and a rising social and intellectual feminist movement brought women's equality into the national conversation. Simultaneously — at least in part in response to the civil rights movement and the Civil Rights Act — an (all-male) Judicial Conference and Supreme Court in 1966 ushered in the modern era of collective litigation by promulgating Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, and more specifically, Rule 23(b)(2), which provided a formal structure for civil rights plaintiffs to seek aggregate relief for violations of federal and state anti-discrimination laws. Together, these phenomena gave impetus to communities of women to combat legal and cultural injustices through the courts. The result has been widespread improvement in the lives of working women — and men — across many industries.
In this Article, we examine the interplay of Rule 23(b)(2) class actions, feminism, and Title VII sex discrimination doctrine over the past fifty years to show that the theoretical concept of commonality — cohesion, unity — in the women's movement has had a significant impact on the ability of women to seek collective redress for workplace discrimination through class actions. We describe how the four "waves" of feminism since the 1960s find corresponding analogues in the development of Title VII class action law.
This is not an empirical study, nor is it comprehensive. Rather, our aim is to generate thought as to ways in which class action doctrine simultaneously reflects and reinforces evolving views of feminism and gender equality. We acknowledge that class actions are not the sole standard bearers for impact litigation, and that individual suits — whether brought by individuals of any gender or by physicians — have been vital to the establishment of anti-discrimination legal norms in the area of gender equality. Even so, we argue that Rule 23(b)(2) suits continue to serve a vital function by allowing women to enforce those established norms, overcoming classic barriers to judicial justice such as lack of resources, lack of access to lawyers, and retaliation by employers against individuals who file suit. As Anita Hill recently argued in a critique of the technology sector, "Class action lawsuits can force industry-wide change, even in the most entrenched, male-dominated industries."