We present the design basics of the cognitive companion Dare2Del which supports humans to temporarily ignore or permanently forget digital objects. The system infers the irrelevancy of digital objects based on a symbolic knowledge representation and white box machine learning. The logic-like knowledge base of the system is split in facts that apply to individual digital objects (data) and general rules which hold for all objects in the domain (domain theory). The irrelevancy of digital objects is inferred using explicit rules, which are learned by an inductive logic programming approach. In this paper, we focus on the knowledge base and the inference for the permanent deletion of files. First, we present relations available for data and domain theory. Then, we evaluate whether the chosen relations are suitable for inferring the irrelevancy of files. We evaluate a handcrafted irrelevancy rule on an artificial file system with 500 files. For that, we developed a generator for knowledge bases of artificial file systems. We were able to classify 97.2% of the files correctly as irrelevant or relevant.


Building a model with three imperfect markets – goods, labor and credit – representing a product's life-cycle, we find that goods market frictions drastically change the qualitative and quantitative dynamics of labor market variables. The calibrated model leads to a significant reduction in the gap with the data, both in terms of persistence and volatility while search models of the labor market fail in one of the two dimensions. Two factors related to goods market frictions generate these results: i) the expected dynamics of consumers' search for goods, itself depending on the income redistributed by firms and the entry of new products; and ii) the expected dynamics of prices, which alter future profit flows.


U.v. and 1H n.m.r. spectroscopic studies in solution on the 1:1 complexes both [Paraquat][PF6]2 and [Diquat][PF6]2 form with the bismetaphenylene-32-crown-10 derivative (BMP32C10), supported by X-ray crystal structures on the free BMP32C10 and [Diquat·BMP32C10][PF6]2·Me2CO, provide further fundamental understanding of the electronic and steric nature of the intermolecular noncovalent interactions that are essential to the successful design and synthesis of a molecular receptor for optimal binding of the [Paraquat]2+ dication.


Two sealed sondes, using germanium gamma-ray detectors cooled by melting propane, have been field tested to depths of 79 m in waterfilled boreholes at the Pawnee Uranium Mine in Bee Co., Texas. When used as total-count devices, the sondes are comparable in logging speed and counting rate with conventional scintillation detectors for locating zones of high radioactivity. When used with a multichannel analyzer, the sondes are detectors with such high resolution that individual lines from the complex spectra of the uranium and thorium series can be distinguished. Gamma rays from each group of the uranium series can be measured in ore zones permitting determination of the state of equilibrium at each measurement point. Series of 10-mlnute spectra taken at 0.3to 0.6-m intervals in several holes showed zones where maxima from the uranium group and from the 222Rn group were displaced relative to each other. Apparent excesses of 230Th at some locations suggest that uranium-group concentrations at those locations were several fold greater some tens of kiloyears ago. At the current state of development a 10-minute count yields a sensitivity of about 80 ppm U308 . Data reduction could in practice be accomplished in about 5 minutes. The result is practically unaffected by disequilibrium or radon contamination. In comparison with core assay, high-resolution spectrometry samples a larger volume; avoids problems due to incomplete core recovery, loss of friable material to drilling fluids, and errors in depth and marking; and permits use of less expensive drilling methods. Because gamma rays from the radionuclides are accumulated simultaneously, it also avoids the problems inherent in trying to correlate logs made in separate runs with different equipment. Continuous-motion delayed-gamma activation by a 163-yg 252Cf neutron source attached to the sonde yielded poor sensitivity. A better neutron-activation method, in which the sonde is moved in steps so as to place the detector at the previous activation point, could not be evaluated because of equipment failure*


The United States has utilized an estate tax for over 90 years. In the early 1990s a sustained effort to repeal the tax at both the state and federal levels began. Previous inquiry into the estate tax repeal effort has focused upon the innovative political and communications strategies utilized by repeal advocates. While I believe that these strategies have played a significant role in the success of the repeal effort, I argue that the repeal effort's success is primarily due to significant changes within the U.S. economic, media and political landscapes that have created an environment ripe for the use of innovative political and communications strategies to create popular support for estate tax repeal. Growth in economic inequality, a decline in economic security, the rise of a counter-establishment of conservative academia and think tanks, and unprecedented changes in the nature of mass media have transformed the U.S. political landscape, allowing estate tax repeal effort to gain popular support.


Funded by the Subject Centre for Social Policy and Social Work (SWAP), this research project sought to identify student and academic staff perspectives as to what constitutes effective assessment feedback practice. It was, in part, a subject level exploration in response to the fact
that assessment feedback has consistently emerged as an area of concern to students completing National Student Satisfaction Surveys. Using mixed research methods, including drawing on data from the 2009 National Student Survey, the research was undertaken across SWAP constituency
subject-areas in three universities. Whilst supportive of previous research reports (for example, Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick 2004, McDowell 2008, McDowell and Sambell 1999, Crook et al 2006), findings from this project particularly highlight the central significance to students of the quality of their relationships with staff. Indeed, other generic factors that are often argued to impact on assessment feedback such as timeliness and consistency appear to be contingent on the quality of staff-student relationships within specific departmental context.


OBJECT
Various studies report outcomes of vestibular schwannoma (VS) surgery, but few studies have compared outcomes across the various approaches. The authors conducted a systematic review of the available data on VS surgery, comparing the different approaches and their associated complications.

METHODS
MEDLINE searches were conducted to collect studies that reported information on patients undergoing VS surgery. The authors set inclusion criteria for such studies, including the availability of follow-up data for at least 3 months, inclusion of preoperative and postoperative audiometric data, intraoperative monitoring, and reporting of results using established and standardized metrics. Data were collected on hearing loss, facial nerve dysfunction, persistent postoperative headache, CSF leak, operative mortality, residual tumor, tumor recurrence, cranial nerve (CN) dysfunction involving nerves other than CN VII or VIII, and other neurological complications. The authors reviewed data from 35 studies pertaining to 5064 patients who had undergone VS surgery.

RESULTS
The analyses for hearing loss and facial nerve dysfunction were stratified into the following tumor categories: intracanalicular (IC), size (extrameatal diameter) < 1.5 cm, size 1.5-3.0 cm, and size > 3.0 cm. The middle cranial fossa approach was found to be superior to the retrosigmoid approach for hearing preservation in patients with tumors < 1.5 cm (hearing loss in 43.6% vs 64.3%, p < 0.001). All other size categories showed no significant difference between middle cranial fossa and retrosigmoid approaches with respect to hearing loss. The retrosigmoid approach was associated with significantly less facial nerve dysfunction in patients with IC tumors than the middle cranial fossa method was; however, neither differed significantly from the translabyrinthine corridor (4%, 16.7%, 0%, respectively, p < 0.001). The middle cranial fossa approach differed significantly from the translabyrinthine approach for patients with tumors < 1.5 cm, whereas neither differed from the retrosigmoid approach (3.3%, 11.5%, and 7.2%, respectively, p = 0.001). The retrosigmoid approach involved less facial nerve dysfunction than the middle cranial fossa or translabyrinthine approaches for tumors 1.5-3.0 cm (6.1%, 17.3%, and 15.8%, respectively; p < 0.001). The retrosigmoid approach was also superior to the translabyrinthine approach for tumors > 3.0 cm (30.2% vs 42.5%, respectively, p < 0.001). Postoperative headache was significantly more likely after the retrosigmoid approach than after the translabyrinthine approach, but neither differed significantly from the middle cranial fossa approach (17.3%, 0%, and 8%, respectively; p < 0.001). The incidence of CSF leak was significantly greater after the retrosigmoid approach than after either the middle cranial fossa or translabyrinthine approaches (10.3%, 5.3%, 7.1%; p = 0.001). The incidences of residual tumor, mortality, major non-CN complications, residual tumor, tumor recurrence, and dysfunction of other cranial nerves were not significantly different across the approaches.

CONCLUSIONS
The middle cranial fossa approach seems safest for hearing preservation in patients with smaller tumors. Based on the data, the retrosigmoid approach seems to be the most versatile corridor for facial nerve preservation for most tumor sizes, but it is associated with a higher risk of postoperative pain and CSF fistula. The translabyrinthine approach is associated with complete hearing loss but may be useful for patients with large tumors and poor preoperative hearing.


A thermo-ecological performance analysis of an irreversible intercooled and regenerated closed Brayton heat engine exchanging heat with variable-temperature thermal reservoirs is presented. The effects of intercooling and regeneration are given special emphasis and investigated in detail. A comparative performance analysis considering the objective functions of an ecological coefficient of performance, an ecological function proposed by Angulo-Brown and power output is also carried out. The results indicate that the optimal total isentropic temperature ratio and intercooling isentropic temperature ratio at the maximum ecological coefficient of performance conditions (ECOPmax) are always less than those of at the maximum ecological function ( ) and the maximum power output conditions ( ) leading to a design that requires less investment cost. It is also concluded that a design at ECOPmax conditions has the advantage of higher thermal efficiency and a lesser entropy generation rate, but at the cost of a slight power loss.


While in the data wealth is concentrated in the hands of a small number of rich people and the saving rate of the rich is high, many models used for quantitative policy evaluation fail to match these facts. In addition, some of the models that succeed in matching these facts have radically different policy implications, depending on the nature and strength of the saving motives assumed. This paper surveys the savings mechanisms proposed so far (preference heterogeneity, transmission of bequests and human capital across generations, entrepreneurship, and high earnings risk for the top earners) and argues that more work is needed to understand wealth inequality and the saving motives behind it, and to evaluate policy more reliably.


Among the models that CBO uses to analyze the economic effects of changes in federal fiscal policy is a life-cycle growth model. That model requires an estimate of the responsiveness of the supply of labor to a one-time temporary change in after-tax compensation, which is described by the so-called Frisch elasticity. CBO incorporates into its analyses an estimate of the Frisch elasticity that ranges from 0.27 to 0.53, with a central estimate of 0.40. This paper describes how CBO derived that range from the research literature.


Over the past year, there has been a huge focus on legislation that was passed by the North Carolina General Assembly, particularly legislation that relates to education. Pay raises for teachers with Master's degrees was removed. Teachers who already had their master's still get their increased pay, but teachers in the future will not receive extra compensation for holding a master's degree. In the future, teachers will not be able to achieve tenure. Longevity pay was eliminated. Another issue facing teachers is the new salary schedule. Teachers within their first few years of teaching were given a seven percent raise. Teachers with more experience were given smaller raises. This has created an atmosphere of dissatisfaction for many teachers in North Carolina. According to a study by Richie Bernardo, North Carolina ranks 50 on a list of best and worst states for teachers. In 2006 US Census data, North Carolina ranked 26th in teacher pay. Statistics in 2013 rank North Carolina 46th in teacher pay. So what brought about this change in rankings? This paper examines the legislation passed by the General Assembly that brought about these changes, as well as how these changes have affected teacher attitudes. Through a survey of practicing teachers at my internship site, I determined that the legislation passed has a negative effect on teacher attitudes and has contributed to teacher attrition in North Carolina.


In order to investigate the scarring effect of early job insecurity on future employment chances we have implemented a factorial survey experiment with recruiters based on real vacancies in Bulgaria, Greece, Norway and Switzerland. We contribute to recruitment research at least in three ways: First, the multinational design allows us to run comparative analysis across countries, which are carried out along the national dimensions youth unemployment rate, employment protection regulation and type of educational system. Second, we differentiate between two different forms of early job insecurity – unemployment and work experience in deskilling jobs, and we demonstrate that the sole focus on unemployment, as it is the case in the prevalent labour market research, is not sufficient in order to fully understand labour market outcomes caused by different forms of job insecurities. Third, since our sample consists of real recruiters who were hiring for current jobs at the time when the study was carried out, we provide a unique cross-country data set of high external validity. Our findings suggest that scarring effects of early job insecurity vary across countries and across occupational fields, and while scarring caused by work experience in deskilling jobs seems to be enforced by strong employment protection regulations, unemployment scarring seems to stronger where national unemployment is low. Further, the differences in recruiter's evaluation across occupational fields indicate that signalling value of education may vary depending on specific sectors. Not at least, we contribute to debates around active labour market policies, arguing that measures aiming at quick labour market reintegration without consideration of job quality may not be the most sustainable solution, as work experience in a deskilling job does not lead to better recruiter's evaluation.


A wide variety of scholars acknowledge heritage planning as a widespread phenomenon. However, to what extent it is widespread is debatable. Also, if heritage planning is an acknowledged widespread phenomenon, what can be learned about it when looking at the rhetoric and the key concepts used in different contexts? This study aims at a cross-contextual investigation. The main aim is to interpret and to discuss rhetoric and underlying ideas used in heritage planning debates across contextual boundaries. The main aim is made workable through a number of methodological choices that curtail the scope of the study. The following main question is the result of these choices; what kinds of arguments, metaphors and figures of thought are similar (context-independent) versus different (context-dependent) in a selection of recent and on-going debates about heritage planning from Malmo and Rotterdam? As part of the methodology, figures of thought – that are expected to be relevant for understanding debates about heritage planning – are treated. This includes figures of thought such as the idea of an "original" and the idea of "progress". Cases from the cities of Malmo and Rotterdam are chosen to study what similarities and differences come to the fore in heritage planning debates running parallel in time but being situated in different contexts (respectively a Swedish and a Dutch). The debates chosen are about the Kockums Crane and the area of Varvsstaden in Malmo and about the Porters Lodge and the area of RDM in Rotterdam. The analysis shows that the arguments and premises raised, the metaphors used and the underlying figures of thought are to a great extent similar between the cases from Malmo and the cases from Rotterdam. However, the use of arguments, metaphors and figures of thought differs professional groups in-between ("monument curators" versus "planners") and between debates about single objects (the Kockums Crane and the Porters Lodge) and debates about the development of areas (Varvsstaden and the area of RDM). This study shows that arguments, metaphors and figures of thought effectively are exchanged across national boundaries through professions. More notable however, is that different "language-games" played or kinds of arguments used by monument curators and planners do not seem to conflict with each other at a discursive level. For example, the monument curator's story-telling metaphors are smoothly turned into the planner's commodification metaphors. However, at the level of figures of thought a potential conflict may arise between the preservationist idea of the moral duty of stewardship and the idea of commodifi cation of built heritage propagated by an alliance between bureaucracy and economy.


Travel-time is recognized as a critical ingredient in assessing the service factor of transportation. Two approaches to estimation of travel time using geographical information systems (GIS) - raster calculator (Euclidean distance algorithm or cost distance algorithm) and network analysis - are described. After analyzing the travel-time components and tendency of modem transport systems, it is suggested that travel time for a specific journey is uncertainly and transportation changes the relationship between space and time with the emergence of intermodal transport. Focusing on the estimation of travel time in the context of intermodal transport, a hybrid model combining raster calculator and network analysis is proposed in this paper for calculating the travel times between origin point and the whole space. In this proposed model, the travel-time components may include an initial walk time from origin point to public transport stop, transport time between the same or different transportation network modes, and a final walk time from public transport stop to destination point. The uncertainly part in travel-time components, such as the time of travel (whether of departure or arrival), transport congestion, and the time for transmodes can be solved by network setting. This paper integrates the model into a GIS environment for regional planning, which successfully copes with the complexity of the public transport of a large region. Finally, this paper explains the result of different method.


This paper is dedicated to the issue of structural performance of multi-agent platforms. Due to the wide range of all available architectures, we have concentrated only on Java RMI implementations. The main goal of this paper consists of two parts. The first one is to investigate and develop the performance metrics to enable evaluation of distributed systems without reorganization of the running system. The second part is the programming verification of two considered Java RMI multi-agent solutions: Aglets and Jade. We have examined the defined metrics in many experiments with different network and environment configurations to provide experimental evidence that these metrics are adequate in variety of conditions.


In this paper we investigate the restructuring process of the Italian fixed TLC industry, which the recent debate has deemed as far from being satisfactorily completed. We will focus on the feasibility and desirability of alternative vertical structures for the Italian fixed communication industry, considering in particular the structural separation – as opposed to integration – of the former monopolist. After a introductory discussion of the most critical characteristics of the sector and a brief portrait of the Italian industry for fixed telecommunication services, we focus on the regulatory framework currently in force. This body of regulation is inspired by facility-based competition, in line with EU directives, and characterised by vertical integration coupled with accounting separation between network and commercial costs: the analysis stresses both its (actual and potential) advantages as well as drawbacks from the point of view of regulatory as well as competition policies, finding substantial empirical evidence of anticompetitive behaviour. We will then consider an alternative industry design, implying structural separation of the network from incumbent's commercial divisions, as inspired by service-based competition. In the final section we conclude arguing in favour of ownership unbundling of the network.


This paper explores the direct effects and spillovers of unconventional monetary and exchange rate policies. We find that official purchases of foreign assets have a large positive effect on a country's current account that diminishes considerably as capital mobility rises. There is an important additional effect through the lagged stock of official assets. Official purchases of domestic assets, or quantitative easing (QE), appear to have no significant effect on a country's current account when capital mobility is high, but there is a modest positive impact when capital mobility is low. The effects of purchases of foreign assets spill over to other countries in proportion to their degree of international financial integration. We also find that increases in US bond yields are associated with increases in foreign bond yields and in stock prices, as well as with depreciations of foreign currencies, but that all of these effects are smaller on days of US unconventional monetary policy announcements. We develop a theoretical model that is broadly consistent with our empirical results and that highlights the potential usefulness of domestic unconventional policies as responses to the effects of foreign policies of a similar type.


Assessing the trade impacts of domestic transport costs is data demanding and analyses that examine the effects of road quality, a critical aspect in regional and public policy, practically do not exist in the international trade literature. The few studies available rely mostly on distance-based measures as proxies of transport costs which impede analyzing the trade effects of transport-infrastructure improvements. In this paper, we combine highly disaggregated records of export flows with detailed geo-referenced information of the Colombian transport network, including its road quality, as well as real measures of transport costs of shipping goods within the country to measure the trade impacts of improving road quality. We find that the trade effects of improvements in road quality are relatively small on average; however, there is considerable heterogeneity in the magnitude of the effects. We show that longer routes have larger shares of their roads in poor conditions; accordingly, the trade impacts of shipments originated in remote regions are found to be quite substantial.


Drawing on the theory of conceptual metaphors and on its socially and discursively oriented developments, this paper investigates the conceptualisation of money (and related notions like income, repayments, fees, interest rates or profit) in Romanian banking discourse. By analysing corpora composed of 74 documents issued by the National Bank of Romania (BNR) and by three other commercial banks, before and during the recent financial crisis, it aims to show how apparently unrelated metaphoric expressions (with source domains such as medicine, army or water) are in fact connected, giving rise to three coherent scenarios: a caring scenario, a physical force scenario and a river scenario. The article also highlights the role of (money) metaphor in persuading customers, creating identities and transferring ideologies.


I estimate the higher education access gap among individuals who study in different type of upper secondary school. I use a non linear Binder-Oaxaca decomposition as de-pendent variable is a binary choice. The sample data is a household data that pull out from three waves of Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS). The results show that student from public school has higher chances to attend post secondary education as compared to private Islam and private secular group, whereas, private Christian is superior than pub-lic school. The evidence also indicates there are considerable differences between public school, private non-religious and Islamic school graduates in academic achievement and socio-economic characteristics. Parents' education and academic achievement provides important contribution to a low probability of entering higher education for private non religious school graduates. While father's education and family income contribute sub-stantially to a low probability of accessing higher education for the private non religious group.


In these three lectures I discuss the present status of high-energy astroparticle physics including Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR), high-energy gamma rays, and neutrinos. The first lecture is devoted to ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. After a brief introduction to UHECR I discuss the acceleration of charged particles to highest energies in the astrophysical objects, their propagation in the intergalactic space, recent observational results by the Auger and HiRes experiments, anisotropies of UHECR arrival directions, and secondary gamma rays produced by UHECR. In the second lecture I review recent results on TeV gamma rays. After a short introduction to detection techniques, I discuss recent exciting results of the H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and Milagro experiments on the point-like and diffuse sources of TeV gamma rays. A special section is devoted to the detection of extragalactic magnetic fields with TeV gamma-ray measurements. Finally, in the third lecture I discuss Ultra-High-Energy (UHE) neutrinos. I review three different UHE neutrino detection techniques and show the present status of searches for diffuse neutrino flux and point sources of neutrinos.


Amyloid is associated with debilitating human ailments including Alzheimer's and prion diseases. Biochemical, biophysical, and imaging analyses revealed that fibers produced by Escherichia coli called curli were amyloid. The CsgA curlin subunit, purified in the absence of the CsgB nucleator, adopted a soluble, unstructured form that upon prolonged incubation assembled into fibers that were indistinguishable from curli. In vivo, curli biogenesis was dependent on the nucleation-precipitation machinery requiring the CsgE and CsgF chaperone-like and nucleator proteins, respectively. Unlike eukaryotic amyloid formation, curli biogenesis is a productive pathway requiring a specific assembly machinery.


For students with significant speech and movement impairments, meaningful participation in educational planning activities is difficult. These students face barriers in communicating choices about daily activities and basic knowledge; therefore, student-initiated curriculum goals are not systematically included in IEP and transition planning processes. We present models for conceptualizing the 1) expression of choice in students with severe impairments in speech and movement, 2) inclusion of choice-making techniques and abilities into IEP documents, and 3) inclusion of choice-making in transition planning. Using these models, we argue that optimal student participation in educational planning requires clear identification of a student's current choice-making techniques; and, that advanced techniques and abilities in expressing choices are best developed through systematic consideration in educational planning. Using the Choice-making Skills of Students with Disabilities for Educational Planning


Winter cover crops are recognized as an important agricultural conservation practice for reducing nitrogen (N) losses to groundwater following the summer growing season. Accordingly, cost-share programs have been established to promote winter cover crops for water quality on farms throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed. However, current estimates of cover crop nutrient uptake are largely calculated from plot-scale studies extrapolated to watershed-scale based solely on enrollment acreage. Remote sensing provides a tool for rapid estimation of cover crop biomass production on working farms throughout the landscape. This project combined cost-share program enrollment data with satellite imagery and on-farm sampling to evaluate cover crop N uptake on 136 fields within the Choptank River watershed, on Maryland's eastern shore. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index was a successful predictor of aboveground biomass for fields with >210 kg ha−1 (>187 lb ac−1) of vegetation (corresponding to 4.2 kg ha−1 [3.7 lb ac−1] of plant N), below which the background reflectance of soils and crop residues obstructed the cover crop signal. Cover crops planted in the two weeks prior to the regional average first frost date (October 15) exhibited average fall aboveground N uptake rates of 18, 13, and 5 kg ha−1 (16, 12, 4 lb ac−1) for rye, barley, and wheat, respectively, corresponding to 1,260, 725, and 311 kg ha−1 (1,124, 647, 277 lb ac−1) of aboveground biomass, with associated cost-share implementation costs of $5.49, $7.60, and $19.77 kg−1 N ($2.50, $3.46, and $8.99 lb−1 N). Cover crops planted after October 15 exhibited significantly reduced biomass and nutrient uptake, with associated program costs of $15.44 to $20.59 kg−1 N ($7.02 to $9.36 lb−1 N). Agronomic factors influencing cover crop performance included species, planting date, planting method, and previous crop. Field sampling locations with >1,000 kg ha−1 (>890 lb ac−1) of springtime cover crop biomass exhibited greatly reduced soil nitrate (<3 mg kg−1 [<3 ppm]) in comparison to fields with low cover crop biomass (up to 14 mg kg−1 soil nitrate), indicating a target biomass threshold for maximum water quality impact. Additional sampling years will be necessary to account for cover crop response to climate variability. Combining remote sensing with farm program data can provide important information to scientists and regulators working to improve conservation programs. Results can be used to more effectively utilize scarce conservation resources and increase water quality protection.


Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a chronic disease characterized by ulcerating and disfiguring skin lesions. Infection with different species of Leishmania parasites is responsible for the initiation of this disease, yet most of the pathology observed is mediated by an unregulated immune response. The work presented in this thesis investigated the roles of IL-22 and the skin microbiota in regulating immune mediated pathology during cutaneous leishmaniasis. We found that IL-22, a cytokine important in wound repair in the skin, was required to limit pathology when mice were infected with L. major. In order to promote lesion resolution, IL-22 induced keratinocyte migration and decreased IL-1α and IL-1β production, both important stages in tissue repair. Interestingly, this protective role for IL-22 was only observed with a high dose of infection, suggesting a threshold of inflammation is required for IL-22 to limit pathology. We also found that the L. major infection in mice, as well as, L. braziliensis infection in humans caused a dysbiosis in the skin microbiota on lesional skin and nearby skin sites, characterized by a dominance of Staphylococcus spp. or Streptococcus spp. Interestingly, this dysbiotic microbiota was also transmissible to co-housed na�ve skin and exacerbated skin inflammation during L. major infection and during an acute contact hypersensitivity model. These data are the first to demonstrate that a dysbiotic skin microbiota can be transmitted to non-inflamed tissue and demonstrate how a naturally occurring dysbiosis can worsen disease during cutaneous leishmaniasis. Work presented in this thesis demonstrates that both IL-22 and the skin microbiota have distinct roles during cutaneous leishmaniasis. Future studies will be aimed at how these factors can be regulated to aid in the treatment of the disease. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Cell & Molecular Biology First Advisor Phillip Scott


Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can be defined as organisms in
which their genetic materials have been altered in the ways that does not
occur naturally by mating or natural combination. Polymerase chain reaction
(PCR) method is used to detect genetically modified events in foods. The
specific objectives of this study are to establish a sensitive, robust and rapid
method for the detection of genetically modified events by using PCR and to
conduct a preliminary survey for distribution of foods derived from
genetically modified events in Malaysia.
The two critical factors that were taken into account to achieve these objectives
are the applicability of different DNA extraction methods for each kind of
samples and PCR amplification conditions. Three different DNA extraction
methods have been tested on soy, corn, potato and tofu (as a processed food).The DNeasy method as in a widely used commercial kit, Wizard method
(Hemmer, 1997) and Cetyl-trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) method
(Jankiewicz et al., 1999) were evaluated in this study. The yield and purity of
DNA were examined and compared. Quantification was accomplished by
measuring UV absorbance at 260 nm and the suitability of DNA for PCR was
tested. The results showed that there are sigruficant differences between the
methods used. CTAB, Wizard and DNeasy methods produced DNA with
ratio of A260/A280 range from 1.2 to 1.6, 1.9 to 2.2 and 1.7 to 1.9, respectively.
However, the DNeasy method gave the optimum yield of DNA of high purity
and was less time consuming. The primer pairs used for confirmation of the
endogenous genes in the respective samples (Lectinl / Lectin6 for lectin gene in
soya, Zein n-3' / Zein n-5' for zein gene in maize and PssOl n5'/PssOl n-3' for
patatain gene in potato) produced the expected size of 318, 157 and 216 base
pair, respectively.
The results of this study showed that 18 out of 85 soy samples were
contaminated by at least one of three introduced genetic elements consisting
35s promoter, Nopaline Synthase terminator and the structural gene of 5-
enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phpsphate-synthas. Quantitative analysis of the 18
positive genetically modified soy samples showed that, seven samples
contains 0.1 - 0.5% Roundup Ready Soy, four samples contains 0.5 - 1.0%
Roundup Ready Soy and seven of them contains 1.0 - 2.0% Roundup Ready Soy.In contrast, none of the 52 was positive with these assays. Therefore they were
categorized as non-GM products.
These results revealed that PCR amplification method provides the key
advantages of high sensitivity, robust and rapid operation whilst providing
the requisites of careful experimental design that avoids both false-negative
and/or false-positive results. Seven primer pairs (LECl/LEC6; Zein n-
3'/ Zein n-5'; PssOl n-5'/ PssOl n-3'; P35S 1-5'/ P35S 2-3'; HA-NOSll8-F/ HANOSllaR,
Cryl(Al)/Cryl(M) and RRO1/ RRO4) chosen in this study
produced an expected size of 318, 157, 216,101, 118, 107 and 356 base pair,
respectively, fulfilling the product-size requirement and completed the whole
detection procedure of GM events in food samples.


For Religious Studies scholars and avid gamers, a call for papers on religion and video games seems like the best of both worlds. However, in sitting down to reflect upon just what we might write about, it struck us that we had no idea what it is we're supposed to be discussing. What are the methodological and theoretical issues in writing about these topics? It seems to us that there are in fact three related (but not identical) areas for analysis: the "religious" responses gamers have to their games; how religions in games comment on religions "out there"; and, disinterested observation of the religions of fictional game worlds. Pursuing a broadly phenomenological methodology, this article will explore these three options of studying religion in video games using examples from a number of recent popular games. In particular, by drawing upon Alfred Schutz's notion of provinces of meaning we wish to highlight that in certain respects the religions of video games can be no less "real" than the religions we find out here in the "meat-world".


Although there are numerous explanations of why users behave in specific ways toward information technologies, recent work in social psychology suggests that holistic traits such as awareness and openness are potentially important explanatory variables in technology behavior theories. In this paper, we examine the multi-dimensional construct of mindfulness and its applicability to the domain of IS research. We discuss the theory of mindfulness as developed in the social psychology literature. Specifically, we adapt the notion of mindfulness and its dimensions – alertness to distinction, openness to novelty, orientation in the present, and awareness of multiple perspectives – to the domain of information systems. In doing so, we place mindfulness within the broader nomological net related to individual level decisions about information technology. Also, we present preliminary explanations for how mindfulness converges with and discriminates from existing constructs in the innovation diffusion literature. Finally, we present an initial domain-specific measure of mindfulness and outline a study designed to assess the psychometric properties of the proposed measure. Using data collected from 238 subjects with Internet Applications as the target technology, preliminary analysis indicates that the operational measures have acceptable psychometric properties and confirmatory factor analysis supports the proposed multi-dimensional structure. Implications for practice and research are offered.


Existential rules, i.e. Datalog extended with existential quantifiers in rule heads, are currently studied under a variety of names such as Datalog+/-, ∀∃-rules, and tuple-generating dependencies. The renewed interest in this formalism is fuelled by a wealth of recently discovered language fragments for which query answering is decidable. This paper extends and consolidates two of the main approaches in this field - acyclicity and guardedness - by providing (1) complexity-preserving generalisations of weakly acyclic and weakly (frontier-) guarded rules, and (2) a novel formalism of glut-(frontier-) guarded rules that subsumes both. This builds on an insight that acyclicity can be used to extend any existential rule language while retaining decidability. Besides decidability, combined query complexities are established in all cases.


Commentators have observed that the ease of monitoring competitors on the Internet may allow Internet retailers to engage in non-competitive pricing. Using data on the daily prices of 399 books at 26 online bookstores between August 1999 and January 2000, we investigate firm pricing behavior in the online book market. Although sales in the Internet channel were growing very rapidly at the time, we find that relative prices differed across the three categories of bookstores (big three, active fringe, and inactive fringe), and these differences were remarkably stable over time. We present a simple model in which cross-channel competition and differentially informed consumers lead to the observed (static) pricing patterns. Although relative prices were stable, prices did change and were on average increasing over time. We document the dynamic strategic interaction across firm categories and across individual firms. Ten pairs of firms involving seven individual firms changed prices in the same direction on the same book within three days in an (one standard deviation) above average number of cases and respond more than 25 percent of the time to competitors' price changes. Given the behavior of these firms and the large market shares held by the top three firms, we formally test a number of oligopoly and non-oligopoly explanations for the observed price changes. We find that the observed patterns were not consistent with the predictions of oligopoly pricing in the Haltiwanger and Harrington (1991) model or with other explanations such as customer loyalty, inventory considerations or changes in elasticity of demand associated with holidays. We conjecture that the observed cases of parallel pricing were largely attributable to experimentation on the part of the initiator and learning or competitive response on the part of the responder.


I investigate the impact of mandatory reporting and auditing of firms' financial statements on industry-wide resource allocation. Using size-based reporting and auditing requirements for limited liability firms in 26 European countries, I document reporting regulation, mandating a greater share of firms in an industry to disclose a full set of financial statements, fosters a competitive and dispersed type of resource allocation in product and capital markets, but does not unambiguously improve the efficiency of resource allocation. By contrast, I find auditing regulation, mandating a greater share of firms to obtain a financial-statement audit, imposes a net fixed cost of operating on firms, deterring entry of smaller firms. I do not find any other effects of auditing regulation on industry-wide resource allocation in my setting. My findings suggest reporting regulation substitutes a transactional type of resource allocation based on public information for a relational one based on private information. This substitution, however, fails to spur economic growth. With respect to firms' auditing, my findings suggest it lacks significant industry-wide externalities compensating for firms' costs of mandatory auditing.


In the literacy classroom, students have few opportunities to use their literacy practices to contest narratives of race, class, gender and sexuality. Instead, extensive time is spent completing literacy activities associated with what "good" readers and writers do. Students' literacy practices are often formulaic, repetitive, and serve classroom management strategies producing a mythic narrative of good literacy teaching. This paper introduces a queer literacy curriculum that poses pedagogy as a series of questions: What does being taught, what does knowledge do to students? How does knowledge become understood in the relationship between teacher/text and student? (Lusted, 1986) It emphasizes developing critical analyses of heterosexism, heteronormativity and normativity with the goal of helping students understand binary categories are not givens, rather social constructions we are often forced to perform (Butler, 1990) through available discourses. The paper highlights an interruption into the literacy curriculum where, through collective memory work, students investigated, analysed and contested the usually-not-noticed ways a small understanding of heterosexuality has come to structure their lives.


And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you" (Mt. 5:1-12).


Summary 1. Attempts to control natural systems through management have often met with success but have also led to unexpected and often undesirable outcomes. Unfortunately, the ultimate result of such management programmes may not be apparent until long after the control efforts have begun. This is particularly true for forest-defoliating species that exhibit longperiod cycles such as the invasive gypsy moth Lymantria dispar, which causes widespread damage in some years but is rare in other years. 2. We studied the effects of two commonly employed biocontrol agents on gypsy moth dynamics using a series of field-tested and empirically parameterized mathematical models, which allowed us to examine various potential control strategies and assess long-term effects. 3. In a non-spatial model, addition of either a manufactured version of the same baculovirus involved in natural epizootics, or a general bioinsecticide Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Btk), which directly kills a fraction of the population, decreases the amplitude between boom and bust portions of the cycle. 4. However, ill-planned biocontrol applications can result in increased gypsy moth densities over the long term. Thus, control efforts may maintain pest populations at unexpectedly high numbers, which could result in constant forest defoliation. 5. In a spatial two-patch model, where one patch is sprayed and the other is left untreated, there is also considerable danger that migration between patches may drive the unsprayed population to levels that could result in constant forest defoliation. 6. Synthesis and applications: Perturbations to host–pathogen systems may have unexpected results, driving and maintaining populations at multiple levels including those far from desired management goals. It is often assumed that any control strategy that decreases pest populations in the short term is beneficial, but our results show that undesirable outcomes may often occur. The mechanisms we describe apply to many systems that undergo population cycles or outbreaks regulated by density-dependent processes, and in which disease or pesticide application is used for pest control. We suggest that successful management strategies should closely monitor population responses immediately following the control application to ensure that pest populations are not being maintained at artificially high levels compared with historic data.


Relatively little is known about the youth labour market in general and about gender differences in Mongolia, one of the fifty poorest countries in the world. This paper addresses the issue by taking advantage of a School to Work Survey (SWTS) on young people aged 15-29 years carried out in 2006. On average, female wages are not lower than those of males. However, women have a much higher average educational level than men: in fact, although not statistically significant among teenagers (15-19), the conditional gender gap becomes significant and sizeable for the over-20. The Juhn, Murphy and Pierce (1993) decomposition confirms that, if wages were paid equally, women should have 11.7% more considering only their educational advantage and overall 22% more, a substantial gap for the low earnings of Mongolians.


A scheme for mitigating patterning effects in wavelength conversion by using a concatenated semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and electroabsorption modulator (EAM) is proposed. The optimization of the parameters of the semiconductor devices and receiver electronics is theoretically investigated. The bit error ratio (BER) of the output signals in both the co-propagating and the counter-propagating configurations is quantitatively evaluated. The simulation results indicate that the patterning effect in wavelength conversion due to the slow recovery of the carrier density in the SOA can be well compensated by a concatenated EAM. The simulation results are confirmed by preliminary pump-probe experiment using a 10Gb/s clock pulse train.


Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become increasingly more popular over the last few decades. Their fascinating capabilities and performance in accomplishing a specific task have made them indispensable for various civilian/commercial and military applications. The remarkable progress in advanced manufacturing techniques and electronic components have rendered development of small, intelligent and low-cost UAVs possible. Consequently, a significant amount of research effort has been devoted to design of UAVs with intelligent navigation and control systems. This thesis work focuses on nonlinear control of a quad tilt-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (SUAVI: Sabanci University Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). The aerial vehicle has the capability of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL), and flying horizontally due to its tilt-wing mechanism. Nonlinear dynamical models for various flight modes are obtained. A hierarchical control system that includes vertical, transition and horizontal modes flight controllers is developed. In order to design these controllers, the dynamics of the aerial vehicle is divided into position and attitude subsystems. Several nonlinear position control methods are developed for different flight modes. For the vertical flight mode, integral sliding mode and PID based position controllers via dynamic inversion method are designed. Feedback linearization and integral sliding mode attitude controllers are also proposed for the attitude stabilization of the aerial vehicle in vertical, transition and horizontal flight modes. Simulations and several real flight experiments demonstrate success of the developed flight controllers.


Glycine receptors (GlyRs) and their role in retinal circuitry were analyzed immunocytochemically in the rat retina. Specific antibodies against the alpha 1 subunit of the GlyR and against the GlyR-associated protein gephyrin, respectively, were used. In the inner plexiform layer (IPL), both antibodies produced a punctate label that was shown by electron microscopy to occur at synapses. Gephyrin-like immunoreactivity (-LI) was more widely distributed, indicating that gephyrin might also occur at nonglycinergic synapses. At the ultrastructural level, gephyrin-LI was found at the cytoplasmic face of postsynaptic membranes of amacrine and ganglion cells, but was never detected in bipolar cell axons. Immunoreactivity for the alpha 1 subunit was concentrated in the cleft of conventional synapses made by amacrine cell processes onto ganglion cell dendrites and cone bipolar axons. The latter synapses differ from other glycinergic synapses since they are not labeled by the antibody against gephyrin used in this study. In order to identify the type of bipolar cell involved in these synapses, the distribution of the alpha 1 subunit was compared with that of recoverin-immunoreactive cone bipolar cells and with that of parvalbumin-immunoreactive All-amacrine cells. Double-label immunofluorescence showed that, in the outer part of the IPL, 75% of the alpha 1-immunoreactive puncta were colocalized with recoverin- positive bipolar cell axons and 71% of the alpha 1-immunoreactive puncta were colocalized with parvalbumin-positive All-amacrine processes. Hence, the alpha 1 subunit of the GlyR is present at the chemical synapses established by All-amacrine cells with OFF-cone bipolar cells and OFF-ganglion cells. These synapses play a key role in the transmission of scotopic signals through the OFF-channel of the rod pathway.


All organizations have to be concerned with the issue o f making sure that the best and most effective people are employed by them. This is something that a lot of organizations struggle with and find challenging. In recent times, we have seen significant changes in both business and social environments, and these changes have caused organizations to re-consider the modus operandi of their human resource management policies and practices.

Moreover, labour shortages in specific labour markets throughout Europe have led to increased attention being focused on how best to attract prospective applicants. Selecting individuals that have good technical skills is no longer enough to ensure that there will be effective job performance.

This research examines the cost of making a "bad" recruitment decision and the impact it has on the organization. During the course of the project, the author looked at areas such as Recruitment, Learning and Development and also data taken from employees who were leaving the organization, who had completed exit questionnaires. This was done in order to get a clearer understanding of the reasons why people leave organizations and also, to ascertain whether or not the organization could have done anything to prevent them going.

The literature review provided the context of the study, where the author relied mainly on publications and papers produced in various journals, for the most up to date information on learnings and current schools of thought in relation to the Recruitment Challenge currently being experienced by many organizations.

The research methodology consisted of mixed methods. The data was collected by means of a questionnaire to employees who were leaving the organization, and also by conducting semi-structured interviews with key managers within the business. The conclusion and recommendations suggested that there is a huge cost associated with recruitment and selection, and also with employee development, and that organizations have to be very careful and aware when working through the recruitment process. The impact on the organization, of making a mistake in the recruiting process, will not only be felt financially, but also by the effects that it will have on the existing employees.


What are the roots of the Israel-Palestinian conflict and how has it been influenced by the United States? Why has the U.S.-brokered "peace process" repeatedly failed to deliver peace? What are the prospects for a just resolution? What interests underlie current U.S. strategic doctrines in the Middle East, especially in its redeclared "war on terrorism" after 9-11, and how do we look beyond them to find more peaceful and viable alternatives? These are among the current and long-standing questions Noam Chomsky takes up in his newest book. Middle East Illusions presents recent chapters written by the author about the myths behind the peace process, the second Palestinian Intifada (which began in September 2000 and continues today in defiance of Israeli repression), and the Bush administration's response to the September 11 attacks on the United States, including its drive toward another war with Iraq. Middle East Illusions also includes the full text of Chomsky's earlier book, Peace in the Middle East? Reflections on Justice and Nationhood, written during the crucial period spanning the Six-Day and 1973 wars, events that continue to define and deeply influence the world today. It therefore presents in-depth analysis covering several decades, making it one of the richest of any analysis published about the region's geopolitics. Noam Chomsky is recognized internationally for his critical analysis of the Middle East. His thoroughly documented research draws on an immense range of sources, including Hebrew texts rarely discussed in the United States, declassified government planning documents, and other sources all too often overlooked in discussions of the U.S. role in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.


Common-mode noise is a major concern within the area of capacitive fingerprint sensing. The measurements necessary for sensing the structure of a fingerprint are extremely small in magnitude and can thus easily be overshadowed by noise. Additionally, the sources of common-mode noise are many, ranging from power supplies to touchscreens. A common way to combat noise is to apply correlated double sampling, a specific application of it was utilized in this thesis. By applying eight sampling capacitors connected in two groups of four to separate leads of a differential ADC, correlated double sampling can be performed. If these capacitors are used properly for sampling the desired signal, it should be theoretically possible to filter out the common-mode noise. By utilizing signal generators, a multitude of different common-mode noise injections were emulated onto a fingerprint sensor. By applying different combinations of the sampling capacitors attempts to detect and suppress the emulated noise sources were made. As the produced noise sources were known, the detection methodologies could be evaluated easily. By comparing the standard deviation of the sensor output data to a noise-free case, the efficiency of the suppression methodologies could be evaluated as well. The methodologies were also applied to overlaid frequencies and actual charger noise. The detection methodologies proved able to detect high-frequency square-wave noise sources with good accuracy, it struggled with other kinds of noise however. The suppression methodologies were able to reduce the standard deviation of the sensor data significantly in all cases. However, while application of the methodologies for detection and suppression designed during the thesis work improved upon the current sensor setup, the solution is not complete. To assure the completeness of the solution it would have to be applied to a real-world system. Until such an application has been performed, all the results have only truly been theoretically verified.


In this paper, we consider four-stage multicast switching networks with different types of nonblocking capability. The goal of the paper is multifold. First, we evaluate and summarize various nonblocking conditions of four-stage multicast switching networks in recent work [Y. Yang and J. Wang, "A New Design for Wide-Sense Nonblocking Multicast Switching Networks," IEEE Trans. Commun., vol. 53, no. 3, pp. 497-504, Mar. 2005, and F. Yan et al., "Nonblocking Four-Stage Multicast Network for Mulicast-Capable Optical Cross Connects," J. Lightw. Technol., vol. 27, no. 17, pp. 3923-2932, Sep. 2009], and then propose a locally-rearrangeable nonblocking (LRNB) multicast switching network as a trade-off for nonblocking capability and network hardware cost between wide-sense nonblocking (WSNB) networks and rearrangeable nonblocking (RNB) networks. We further derive optimized network parameters and present a comprehensive cost analysis for different types of four-stage nonblocking multicast switching networks. Using the terms defined in F. Yan et al., our results show that for an N × N network, a 4(2m)-stage WSNB network and a 4(2 m)-stage LRNB network have 16.114 N3/2 and 12.669 N3/2 crosspoints, respectively; 4(3 m)-stage WSNB and LRNB networks have the same number of crosspoints, 11.657 N3/2; and 4(2 m)-stage RNB network has 7.447 N3/2 crosspoints.


Abstract
Sexually transmitted infections are infections that can be spread through vaginal, anal or oral. Female sex workers particularly at risk for sexually transmitted infections. Preliminary studies in Cilacap district STI clinic in 2011 showed that the incidence of sexually transmitted infections is still quite high (60.81%). Complex causal factors cause the difficulty of breaking the chain of IMS. This study aims to analyze the relationship between demographic factors and high-risk sexual behavior of high risk on the incidence of sexually transmitted infections and the risk factors on the incidence of sexually transmitted infections in female sex workers. Analytic survey research through case-control study (case-control) with a total sampling on 70 female sex workers in brothels Slarang conducted during the month of November 2013. Questionnaire as a means of collecting research data. Univariate analysis to determine the frequency distribution of incidence of STIs. Bivariate analysis using contingency coefficient test. Multivariate analysis using logistic regression. The results showed that there is a significant association between the incidence of STIs in high- risk demographic factors with r value (0.239) and p-value (0.040), there is a significant association between the incidence of STIs in high- risk sexual behavior factors with values of r (0.307; 0.230) and the p-value ( 0.007; 0.048) respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that condom use is not routine is that most risk factors on the incidence of sexually transmitted infections in female sex workers with OR value 5.835. Conclusions of the study: female sex workers who do not regularly use condoms have 5.835 times greater risk for sexually transmitted infections. A total of 65% the proportion of female sex workers suffer preventable sexually transmitted infection, if condom use.
Keywords : female sex workers, demographic factors, sexual behavior factors, sexually transmitted infections


Data poisoning is an attack on machine learning models wherein the attacker adds examples to the training set to manipulate the behavior of the model at test time. This paper explores poisoning attacks on neural nets. The proposed attacks use "clean-labels"; they don't require the attacker to have any control over the labeling of training data. They are also targeted; they control the behavior of the classifier on a $\textit{specific}$ test instance without degrading overall classifier performance. For example, an attacker could add a seemingly innocuous image (that is properly labeled) to a training set for a face recognition engine, and control the identity of a chosen person at test time. Because the attacker does not need to control the labeling function, poisons could be entered into the training set simply by leaving them on the web and waiting for them to be scraped by a data collection bot.
We present an optimization-based method for crafting poisons, and show that just one single poison image can control classifier behavior when transfer learning is used. For full end-to-end training, we present a "watermarking" strategy that makes poisoning reliable using multiple ($\approx$50) poisoned training instances. We demonstrate our method by generating poisoned frog images from the CIFAR dataset and using them to manipulate image classifiers.


Production Planning and Control (PP&C) has been deeply analyzed in the literature, both in general terms and focusing on specific industries, such as the fashion one. The paper aims to add a contribution in this field presenting an optimization model for the Fashion Supply Chain (FSC), developed considering an interdependent environment composed by a group of focal companies that work with both exclusive and not-exclusive suppliers. The proposed framework will combine simulation and optimization models based on parameters, decision variables, constraints and Objective Functions (OFs) collected through a literature review. The framework has been developed in a parametrical way, in order to fit the peculiarities of the different actors operating along the FSC. The empirical implementation of the framework has been conducted using data coming from fashion companies belonged to the same network, considering rush orders as stochastics events for the scenario analysis and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) assessment.


Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs are a recent anti-poverty strategy in Latin America. CCT programs provide cash benefits to finance basic needs and foster investment in human capital to extremely poor households. These benefits are conditioned on certain behaviors, usually related to investments in nutrition, health, and education. In the literature, there is a recognizable lack of analyses from social science disciplines related to CCT program implications. This paper contributes in this arena by analyzing the particular role of social work in CCT anti-poverty programs. The educational element of these programs and its theoretical foundation based on the human capital model, the debate around issues of conditionality and targeting, the possible role of CCT programs in a broader reform of social protection systems, and professional practice implications using the Chilean CCT program as a model will be addressed.


We expect wireless body-area networks of pervasive wearable devices will enable in situ health monitoring, personal assistance, entertainment personalization, and home automation. As these devices become ubiquitous, we also expect them to interoperate. That is, instead of closed, end-to-end body-worn sensing systems, we envision standardized sensors that wirelessly communicate their data to a device many people already carry today, the smart phone. However, this ubiquity of wireless sensors combined with the characteristics they sense present many security and privacy problems.
In this thesis we describe solutions to two of these problems. First, we evaluate the use of bioimpedance for recognizing who is wearing these wireless sensors and show that bioimpedance is a feasible biometric. Second, we investigate the use of accelerometers for verifying whether two of these wireless sensors are on the same person and show that our method is successful as distinguishing between sensors on the same body and on different bodies. We stress that any solution to these problems must be usable, meaning the user should not have to do anything but attach the sensor to their body and have them just work.
These methods solve interesting problems in their own right, but it is the combination of these methods that shows their true power. Combined together they allow a network of wireless sensors to cooperate and determine whom they are sensing even though only one of the wireless sensors might be able to determine this fact. If all the wireless sensors know they are on the same body as each other and one of them knows which person it is on, then they can each exploit the transitive relationship to know that they must all be on that person's body. We show how these methods can work together in a prototype system. This ability to operate unobtrusively, collecting in situ data and labeling it properly without interrupting the wearer's activities of daily life, will be vital to the success of these wireless sensors.


A variety of models for parallel architectures, such as shared memory, message passing, and data flow, have converged in the recent past to a hybrid architecture form called distributed shared memory (DSM). Alewife, an early prototype of such DSM architectures, uses hybrid software and hardware mechanisms to support coherent shared memory, efficient user level messaging, fine grain synchronization, and latency tolerance. Alewife supports up to 512 processing nodes connected over a scalable and cost effective mesh network at a constant cost per node. Four mechanisms combine to achieve Alewife's goals of scalability and programmability: software extended coherent shared memory provides a global, linear address space; integrated message passing allows compiler and operating system designers to provide efficient communication and synchronization; support for fine grain computation allows many processors to cooperate on small problem sizes; and latency tolerance mechanisms-including block multithreading and prefetching-mask unavoidable delays due to communication. Extensive results from microbenchmarks, together with over a dozen complete applications running on a 32-node prototype, demonstrate that integrating message passing with shared memory enables a cost efficient solution to the cache coherence problem and provides a rich set of programming primitives. Our results further show that messaging and shared memory operations are both important because each helps the programmer to achieve the best performance for various machine configurations.


We develop a model to evaluate the profitability of controlling rodent damage by placing barn owl nesting boxes in agricultural areas. The model incorporates the spatial patterns of barn owl predation pressure on rodents, and the impact of this predation pressure on nesting choices and agricultural output. We apply the model to data collected in Israel and find the installation of nesting boxes profitable. While this finding indicates that economic policy instruments to enhance the adoption of this biological control method are redundant, it does support stricter regulations on rodent control using rodenticides.


Following an application from Raisio Nutrition Ltd, submitted pursuant to Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 via the Competent Authority of Finland, the Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies was asked to deliver an opinion on the scientific substantiation of a health claim related to 3 g/day plant stanols as plant stanol esters per day and lowering blood LDL-cholesterol by 12 % and reduced risk of (coronary) heart disease. The applicant has further requested that the minimum duration to obtain the effect be stated to be one to two weeks, and that the claims be authorised for an extended range of foods, including yellow fat spreads, dairy products, cheese, rye bread, oatmeal, fermented soy milk based products (drinkable and spoonable yoghurt-type products), and oat based milk drinks. The applicant provided an unpublished meta-analysis with 18 randomised, controlled human studies on the LDL-lowering efficacy of plant stanol esters at intakes between 2.7 to 3.3 g per day plant stanols. On the basis of the data presented, the Panel concludes that plant stanol esters at a daily intake of 3 g plant stanols (range 2.7 g to 3.3 g) in matrices approved by Regulation (EC) No 376/2010 (yellow fat spreads, dairy products, mayonnaise and salad dressings) lowers LDL-cholesterol by 11.4 % (95% CI: 9.8 – 13.0), that the minimum duration required to achieve the maximum effect of plant stanol esters on LDL-cholesterol lowering is two to three weeks, and that while plant stanol esters added to foods such as margarine-type spreads, mayonnaise, salad dressings, and dairy products such as milk, yoghurts including low-fat yoghurts, and cheese have been shown consistently to lower blood LDL-cholesterol levels, the size of the cholesterol-lowering effect of plant stanols added to other food formats is less well established.


Size-dependent stability and intracluster reactions have been investigated by photoionization mass spectrometry for alkali metal (M ) Li, Na, and K)-methacrylate (CH2dC(CH3)CO2R; RdCH3 and C2H5) clusters. The following two features are commonly observed in the mass spectra of M(CH2dC(CH3)CO2R)n clusters; (1) enhanced ion signal (magic number) at n ) 3, and (2) fragment ions with a loss of ROH only for n ) 3 and 2. In addition, the magic number behavior at n ) 6 is also observed in K system. These features are explained by an intracluster oligomerization and following dissociation reactions. The magic number trimer has a cyclohexane structure as a result of oligomerization, and the two dissociative products also have cyclic structures. The loss of ROH from n ) 3 and n ) 2 cluster can be attributed to Dieckmann cyclization and lactonization reaction, respectively. From the size-dependent additivity of H2O to M(methacrylate)n clusters, the numbers of methacrylate molecules filling the first solvation shell for Li, Na, and K systems are estimated to be 4, 5, and 6, respectively. From the consideration of the intracluster oligomerization, it is suggested that one and two methacrylate molecules directly bind to the metal atom in Li and Na systems, respectively, in addition to one cyclohexane derivatives. In the K system, two cyclohexanes are suggested to bind directly to the K atom, which is consistent with the observation of the n ) 6 magic number.


This study quantifies the population history of Iron Age nomads of southern Siberia by analyzing craniofacial diversity among contemporaneous Bronze and Iron Age (7th–2nd centuries BC) groups and compares them to a larger geographic sample of modern Siberian and Central Asian populations. In our analyses, we focus on peoples of the Tagar and Pazyryk cultures, and Iron Age peoples of the Tuva region. Twentysix cranial landmarks of the vault and facial skeleton were analyzed on a total of 461 ancient and modern individuals using geometric morphometric techniques. Male and female crania were separated to assess potential sexbiased migration patterns. We explore southern Siberian population history by including Turkicspeaking peoples, a Xiongnu Iron Age sample from Mongolia, and a Bronze Age sample from Xinjiang. Results show that male Pazyryk cluster closer to Iron Age Tuvans, while Pazyryk females are more isolated. Conversely, Tagar males seem more isolated, while Tagar females cluster amongst an Early Iron Age southern Siberian sample. When additional modern Siberian samples are included, Tagar and Pazyryk males cluster more closely with each other than females, suggesting possible sexbiased migration amongst different Siberian groups. This is evident in modern female Tuva, who cluster with modern female Kalmyk, while modern Tuvan males do not. Male and female Iron Age Tuvans are not closely related to modern Tuvan peoples living in the region today, resulting from the influx of the Xiongnu beginning in the Late Iron Age. Both male and female Pazyryk and Tagar crania appear more similar to Central Asia groups, especially the Kazakh and Uzbek samples. However, there is evidence that Tagar females have a common origin with the Yakut, a modern nomadic population that resides in northeastern Siberia. These results would suggest variable genetic contributions for both sexes from Central and East Asia.


Dynamic epistemic logic (DEL) provides a very expressive framework for multi-agent planning that can deal with nondeterminism, partial observability, sensing actions, and arbitrary nesting of beliefs about other agents' beliefs. However, as we show in this paper, this expressiveness comes at a price. The planning framework is undecidable, even if we allow only purely epistemic actions (actions that change only beliefs, not ontic facts). Undecidability holds already in the S5 setting with at least 2 agents, and even with 1 agent in S4. It shows that multi-agent planning is robustly undecidable if we assume that agents can reason with an arbitrary nesting of beliefs about beliefs. We also prove a corollary showing undecidability of the DEL model checking problem with the star operator on actions (iteration).


There are many mathematics textbooks on real analysis, but they focus on topics not readily helpful for studying economic theory or they are inaccessible to most graduate students of economics. Real Analysis with Economic Applications aims to fill this gap by providing an ideal textbook and reference on real analysis tailored specifically to the concerns of such students. The emphasis throughout is on topics directly relevant to economic theory. In addition to addressing the usual topics of real analysis, this book discusses the elements of order theory, convex analysis, optimization, correspondences, linear and nonlinear functional analysis, fixed-point theory, dynamic programming, and calculus of variations. Efe Ok complements the mathematical development with applications that provide concise introductions to various topics from economic theory, including individual decision theory and games, welfare economics, information theory, general equilibrium and finance, and intertemporal economics. Moreover, apart from direct applications to economic theory, his book includes numerous fixed point theorems and applications to functional equations and optimization theory. The book is rigorous, but accessible to those who are relatively new to the ways of real analysis. The formal exposition is accompanied by discussions that describe the basic ideas in relatively heuristic terms, and by more than 1,000 exercises of varying difficulty. This book will be an indispensable resource in courses on mathematics for economists and as a reference for graduate students working on economic theory.


Best life times of top athletes, Olympic records, world records, and any doping information were collected from the IOC, IAAF, WADA and national anti-doping associations. About 1560 records of male and female athletes in 22 disciplines of summer and 4 winter sports were collected. Data were analysed for long-term effects of doping using non-linear regression techniques. Comparisons were made of pre-1932 records (when steroids became available) and post. Analyses were repeated using 1967, when widespread use of doping was formally acknowledged. After these dates records in a number of disciplines did not improve as predicted by extrapolation of pre-doping years results. Averaged best life records for 'doped' top athletes did not differ significantly from those considered 'non-doped'. Even assuming that not all cases of doping were discovered, the practice did not alter sporting records as commonly believed, Doping may be damaging image of sports without benefitting results.


Conducted in the northeast Atlantic Ocean (15°20′–21°20′W, 38°N–45°N), the Programme Ocean Multidisciplinaire Meso Echelle (POMME) is a research project aimed at a better understanding of the biological production and the carbon budget of the region in relation to the formation mechanisms of the 11°–12°C mode water of the northeast Atlantic. With the help of two research vessels, several tens of floats and drifters, and nine moorings, the field experiment was carried out between autumn 2000 and autumn 2001, with a more intensive phase in the winter and early spring of 2001. The field experiment resolved small (several kilometers) to regional (several hundred kilometers) scales and daily to seasonal variability. A first analysis of the rich data set focused on the large-scale and the mesoscale variability. It shows that the distribution of water mass characteristics and biological activity is strongly influenced by the mesoscales in this supposedly quiet transition zone between the subtropical and subpolar gyres. The seasonal variability, however, presents an imprint of the large-scale structures with a clear north-south gradient in properties and budgets. This region is found on an annual average to be a sink of atmospheric CO2. Smaller scales, associated with fronts and filaments, were clearly observed in many fields (temperature, but also chlorophyll, oxygen, biogenic particles, etc.), with modeling studies suggesting that they play a significant role in subduction, ventilation, and transport of biogeochemical tracers in the POMME region.


The subject of this book is the relationship Henry James alludes to when he celebrates the novel's "large, free character of immense and exquisite correspondence with life." Featuring the interplay of fictions and "the real world," its twelve essays explore and expand ideas of what fiction and reality might be. They ask such questions as: How does fiction communicate truth about the world? What is the connection between perceived historical reality and the linguistic form of narration? How does writing formulate or mediate the tensions between public and private life? What exactly do people at a given time want and get from a particular novel? How does a novelist's life give form to a novel? How are reality, the novel knowledge, and the practice and form of fiction known as realism related and what might realism mean as today's critics reconstruct it? In the wake of Ian Watt's pioneering work, we tend to think of such questions as questions about the novel, and with the exception of the two framing pieces, these essays concern that genre. Tzvetan Todorov opens the volume by examining wildly imaginative accounts written about early global exploration. The next three essays focus on works by Charles Dickens - Michael H. Levenson on David Copperfield, Robert M. Polhemus on The Old Curiosity Shop, and Roger B. Henkle on Dombey and Son. They emphasize the role of cultural psychology in the writing and reception of this most popular of nineteenth-century novelists and stress the novel's historical function in mediating between "inner" and "outer" life. Next come three studies of realism: by John Bender on the political and epistemological implications of power and violence inherent in realist prose fiction - specifically, in Godwin's Caleb Williams, by George Dekker on the dialectical interplay of conceptions of fiction and realism by Henry James and Robert Louis Stevenson; and by William M. Chace on Joyce's realism in Ulysses. Joseph Frank and Thomas C. Moser follow with studies of Dostoevsky and Faulkner that relate key biographical experiences to Crime and Punishment and The Sound and the Fury. Next, Juliet McMaster uses Jane Austen's The Watsons to illustrate how criticism can reconstruct an unfinished work, and John Henry Raleigh shows how the reality of a fictional text (Frederic Manning's Her Privates We) can come to have striking evidential power and effect. The final piece by Edward V. Said, returning us to ideas of travel and representation of life on the margin, shows the continual intertwining and merging of theory and fiction.


Interpreters of bilingual/bicultural interactions assume several overlapping communicative and social roles. Formal verbal exchanges in legal and healthcare settings are characterized by question-and-answer scripts. The meaning of these mediated messages, as relayed by the interpreter, reflects linguistic, cultural, contextual and institutional considerations. Adapting Wadensjo's model of dialog interpreting to U.S. practices, the interpreter operates both as a transmitter of messages and as a communications coordinator. The former role treats utterances as parallel texts to be translated, while the latter considers the dialogue as a mediated interpersonal transaction. These concepts are applied to authentic samples of interpreted discourse and offer an overview of the legal, ethical and professional constraints to which interpreters are subject.


In May 2006 the U.S. and European endocrinological societies published a consensus statement announcing a significant change in nomenclature. No longer would nineteenth-century variations on the term hermaphrodite, or the more newly introduced term intersex, be used in a medical context to describe "congenital conditions in which development of chromosomal, gonadal, or anatomical sex is atypical"; instead the preferred term henceforth would be disorders of sex development (DSDs). The announcement met with significant controversy, which I here examine in terms of the historical convergence of the treatment of homosexuality and intersex. The contemporary association of homosexuality with intersex risks obscuring genuine medical concerns unique to the treatment of intersex conditions and the consequences for affected individuals. At the same time, we must reckon with the ways that the complex and persistent identification of homosexuality with intersex has shaped the motivations both for the prevailing standard of care that has been so harmful and for the organized resistance to these practices in the intersex movement. Michel Foucault's understanding of the power of "normalization" can help us make sense of the history of medicalization and its pernicious effects, but in addition can allow those with intersex conditions and their allies to understand the positive possibilities that the change from intersex to DSDs can bring.


The New Trial is Peter Weiss's final drama, completed only months before his death in 1982 and never before published in English.One of Europe's most important twentieth century playwrights—often considered as influential as Brecht and Beckett—Weiss is best known to American audiences as the author of the Broadway play Marat/Sade and the three-volume novel The Aesthetics of Resistance, which has elicited comparison with Joyce's Ulysses and Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. Initially influenced by Franz Kafka and later by the American Henry Miller, Weiss worked to expose the hypocrisy, the deception, and the nature of aggression in the contemporary world.

A transformative "updating" of Kafka's novel The Trial, The New Trial presents a surreal, hallucinatory look at the life of "Josef K.," chief attorney in an enormous multinational firm that exploits both his idealism and his self-doubt in order to present to the world a public face that will mask its own dark and fascistic intentions. Fusing Marxist and capitalist perspectives in a manner that anticipates aspects of the current global market expansion, Weiss evokes a world in which nothing is private and everything is for sale.

This edition of The New Trial is designed to facilitate theatrical teaching and stage production of the play. An extensive introduction by James Rolleston and Kai Evers situates the work in the full context of Weiss's life, including his Swedish exile during the regime of the Third Reich. In addition, the play's text is followed by interviews with Weiss and his original codirector (and wife) Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss, as well as an account of the challenges of the first English staging by director Jody McAuliffe.


Abstract The New Zealand fish fauna contains species that are affected not only by river system connectivity, but also by catchment and local-scale changes in landcover, water quality and habitat quality. Consequently, native fish have potential as multi-scale bioindicators of human pressure on stream ecosystems, yet no standardised, repeatable and scientifically defensible methods currently exist for effectively quantifying their abundance or diversity in New Zealand stream reaches. Here we report on the testing of a back-pack electrofishing method, modified from that used by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, on a wide variety of wadeable stream reaches throughout New Zealand. Seventy-three first- to third-order stream reaches were fished with a single pass over 150–345 m length. Time taken to sample a reach using single-pass electrofishing ranged from 1–8 h. Species accumulation curves indicated that, irrespective of location, continuous sampling of 150 stream metres is required to accurately describe reach-scale fish species richness using this approach. Additional species detection beyond 150 m was rare (<10%) with a single additional species detected at only two out of the 17 reaches sampled beyond this distance. A positive relationship was also evident between species detection and area fished, although stream length rather than area appeared to be the better predictor. The method tested provides a standardised and repeatable approach for regional and/or national reporting on the state of New Zealand's freshwater fish communities and trends in richness and abundance over time.


ABSTRACT Using matched employer–employee data on roughly 429,000 workers made redundant from large plant closures or major downsizing in Sweden between 1990 and 2005, this paper analyses the role of the regional industry mix (specialization, related and unrelated variety) in the likelihood of returning to work. The results show that a high presence of same or related industries speeds up the re-employment process, while high concentrations of unrelated activities do not. The role of related activities is particularly evident in the short run and in regions with high unemployment. Consequently, the prospect of successful diversification is enhanced in regions with related industries.


The massacre of the protesters and the police during the "Euromaidan" mass protests on February 18-20, 2014 in Ukraine contributed to the overthrow of the Ukrainian government and ultimately to a start of the civil war in Donbas, Russian military interventions in Crimea and Donbas, the annexation of Crimea and an international conflict between the West and Russia. However, in spite of its importance to the politics of Ukraine and global politics this mass killing have been central subject of only a couple of studies. These studies concluded that the Maidan massacre of the protesters was a false flag operation and that far right organizations were involved in the mass killing of both police and the protesters. However, the dominant narrative promoted by the governments and the media in Ukraine and the West attributed the Maidan massacre of the protesters to the government forces and mostly ignored killings of the police. The official investigation by the Prosecutor General Office of Ukraine charged Berkut special police commanders and members with the massacre of the Madian protesters on Viktor Yanukovych orders and publicly stated that Berkut policemen and Internal Troops servicemen were killed by unknown persons of unknown allegiance.
The research question is as follows: What does a large volume of various evidence made public for the first time by the Maidan massacre trials and government investigations reveal about which of the political forces were involved in this politically crucial case of mass killing? This paper analyzes more than 350 hours of video recordings of the Maidan massacre trials and information concerning investigations of this massacre in over 2,000 official court decisions in Ukraine, media interviews of prosecutors, Maidan and Berkut lawyers, and Ukrainian media reports about these trials and investigations. It examines court testimonies of wounded protesters and relatives of the killed protesters, results of forensic ballistic and medical examinations and investigative experiments, and videos and photos of the Maidan massacre shown during the trials. A video appendix includes brief relevant videos of the Maidan massacre and information from the recordings of the Maidan massacre trial. The 55 minute long online video appendix with added English-language subtitles is compiled from brief synchronized segments of on-site reports by American, Belgian, Belarusian, British, Finish, French, Dutch, German, Polish, Russian, Spanish, and Ukrainian TV correspondents and social media videos by various Maidan protesters who filmed this massacre on February 20, 2014.
The study finds that the Maidan massacre investigations and trials revealed a variety of evidence, such as results of forensic examinations and testimonies of many wounded protesters, which shows that at least the absolute majority of the protesters were killed and wounded from Maidan-controlled locations and that the investigation and trials were for this reason stonewalled. The analysis shows patterns of ineffective and delayed Maidan massacre trials and the GPU investigations, trumped-up charges, and ignoring, reversing, and covering-up of the evidence, which was revealed by the GPU own investigation and which pointed to the massacre of the protesters and the police by "snipers" in the Maidan-controlled buildings and not by the Berkut police. The paper discusses implications of this study for understanding the Maidan massacre and the conflict in Ukraine and the international conflict over Ukraine.


Substance abuse and dependence causes many problems in our society. Attachment style may be useful in the etiology of this problem. Using archival data, this study hypothesizes men in a court-ordered facility will be more likely to have an insecure attachment style. The participants were 73 males ages 18-49. The Adult Attachment Scale (AAS) was used to measure adult romantic attachment style. Through cluster analysis and conversion of the subscales of the AAS, four attachment styles were measured. Men were more likely to have an insecure attachment style especially a Fearful style. The study concludes with limitations of the results and a discussion about possible interventions based on attachment style.


Being a volunteer is an important way for individual community members to be active and vital contributors within the community, to feel connected, and to he viewed as an asset to one's community. With over 56% of Americans volunteering (Independent Sector, 1999), it is evident that many of our citizens have realized the dual nature of volunteerism—while helping others and giving of oneself to meet the needs of fellow community members, one can also reap significant personal benefits. Research has indicated that volunteers benefit psychosocially in such ways as increased self-esteem, attitudinal changes, a sense of accomplishment, improved self-concept, reduced alienation, increased feelings of helpfulness, and a greater sense of social responsibility (Finn & Checkoway, 1998; Hamilton & Fenzel, 1988; Johnson, Beebe, Mortimer, & Snyder, 1998; Moore & Allen, 1996; Omoto & Snyder, 1990; Omoto, Snyder, & Berghuis, 1992).