Several program analysis tools - such as plagiarism detection and bug finding - rely on knowing a piece of code's relative semantic importance. For example, a plagiarism detector should not bother reporting two programs that have an identical simple loop counter test, but should report programs that share more distinctive code. Traditional program analysis techniques (e.g., finding data and control dependencies) are useful, but do not say how surprising or common a line of code is. Natural language processing researchers have encountered a similar problem and addressed it using an n-gram model of text frequency, derived from statistics computed over text corpora. We propose and compute an n-gram model for programming languages, computed over a corpus of 2.8 million JavaScript programs we downloaded from the Web. In contrast to previous techniques, we describe a code n-gram as a subgraph of the program dependence graph that contains all nodes and edges reachable in n steps from the statement. We can count n-grams in a program and count the frequency of n-grams in the corpus, enabling us to compute tf-idf-style measures that capture the differing importance of different lines of code. We demonstrate the power of this approach by implementing a plagiarism detector with accuracy that beats previous techniques, and a bug-finding tool that discovered over a dozen previously unknown bugs in a collection of real deployed programs.


Patients, physicians and the health care system are faced with the challenge of determining, and respecting, the medical wishes of an aging population. Patient autonomy and informed decision-making can only be maximised when the decision-making process is better understood. In 2008, Alberta Health Services initiated its "Advance Care Planning: Goals of Care Designation" (ACP:GCD) policy in the Calgary Zone. This policy encouraged discussions about goals of care (GOC) and used a tracking form to capture these conversations. Chart audits were performed at 3 time points: at baseline, at 6 months, and at 18 months post implementation. Recorded data included presence of an advance directive on the chart, indication of a personal representative/agent, and the number, participants and recorded key outcomes of documented ACP conversations. This study will perform a retrospective review of the results of those audits in both Long Term Care (LTC) and Designated Assisted Living sites (DAL). Specifically, we will address what elements of ACP were discussed including: prognosis and anticipated outcomes of treatment, patient's values and understanding/expectation of treatment options, life sustaining measures/degree of benefit, comfort measures, resources available and GOC. 166 charts had documented ACP discussions, representing 81% of LTC charts reviewed and 87% of those in DAL. The limitations of this study are those retrospective data and the reliance on accurate/thorough chart documentation. The study will identify current practice in the advance care planning process in LTC And DAL and potential gaps in that practice.


AFGHANISTAN Afghanistan and the Defence of Empire: Diplomacy and Strategy During the Great Game, by Christopher M. Wyatt. London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2011. 336 pages. $99. There is perhaps no more defining legend of Afghanistan's past than that of the "Great Game," the Anglo-Russian rivalry marking the latter half of the 19th century. Christopher Wyatt's new book, Afghanistan and the Defence of Empire, offers a serious examination of the Game and its peaceful ending. Though Wyatt's title leads one to suppose Afghanistan will occupy a central role in the book, the story he tells is a profoundly British one. The work focuses on the high politics of empire as practiced by ambassadors, viceroys, and foreign secretaries. The characters inhabiting its pages are familiar to anyone who has studied the Edwardian epoch of the British Empire - Curzon, Balfour, Morley, and Minto. Examining the middle years of the first decade of the 20th century, the book documents how British calculations about the defense of empire, and more specifically Afghanistan's role in those calculations, changed during this time. Within this short four-year period, the British imperial establishment moved from an attitude of marked antagonism towards the Tsarist Empire to a negotiated understanding which would serve as the basis of their 1907 entente. Wyatt's thesis is that during this crucial period, the British abandoned a defense of their Indian empire based on military calculation for one based on diplomatic nuance. Following a brief introduction with some basic background on Afghanistan and Russian expansion into Central Asia in the late 19th century, the book traces the evolution of British strategic thinking during this period by examining six different episodes in Anglo- Russian-Afghan relations. The chapters move chronologically, beginning with the Dobbs mission to Herat in 1903-1904 and finishing with the Anglo-Russian accord of 1907. The intervening chapters focus on internal British deliberations, including the Morley sub-committee regarding imperial defense. Throughout, Wyatt's critical gaze is solely fixed on the British and their own internal imperial concerns. Consequently, the reader is given a highly detailed rendering of the policy back and forth between London and Calcutta which marked the evolving strategies of imperial defense. Wyatt's volume is a valuable work which offers a well-researched telling of a relatively over-looked, but important chapter of the Great Game. …


This paper presents an operation strategy for a power system supplied from 100% renewable energy generation in Kitami City, a cold region in Japan. The main goal of this work is the complete elimination of the CO2 emissions of the city while keeping the power frequency within prescribed limits. Currently, the main energy related issue in Japan is the reduction of CO2 emissions without depending on nuclear generation. Also, there is a need for the adoption of distributed generation architecture in order to permit local autonomous operation of the system by the local generation of power. As a solution, this paper proposes a strategy to eliminate CO2 emissions that considers digital simulations using past hourly meteorological data and demand for one year. Results shows that Kitami City can be supplied entirely by renewable generation, reducing its CO2 emission to zero while keeping the quality of its power grid frequency within permitted limits.


Previous studies have shown that characteristics like gender and ethnicity can affect the possibility to be hired. Decisions in hiring may also be justified by weighting the importance of hiring criteria and can thus seem unbiased. In other areas, bias due to political affiliation have been noted to be even more pronounced than bias due to ethnicity. However, effects of candidates' political affiliation in hiring are not equally researched. This study aimed to fill this blank. Participants (N = 283) were randomized to a between-subjects design; A third read a resumé from a candidate affiliating with the The Left Party, a third read a resumé from a candidate affiliating with The Sweden Democrats, a party at the right end of the spectrum, and a third read a resumé from a candidate with no political affiliation. After reading the resumés, participants evaluated the hireability of their candidate. They also stated which hiring criteria, experience or education, was considered most important in this evaluation. Results showed that participants evaluated candidates with divergent political affiliation from the own as less hireable than candidates with unknown political affiliation, or a political affiliation more similar to the own. Cues of political affiliation may thus be a disadvantage for an individual, applying for a job. However, biased evaluations were not justified to seem unbiased by weighting criteria. It is suggested that social norms do not imply hiding political bias to the same degree as bias due to for example gender or ethnicity.


The English possessive construction (and its relatives in related languages), which is the focus of the present volume, has been of interest for some time – at least since the work of traditional grammarians like Jespersen (1942). Several distinct analyses have become more or less standard in different theoretical communities, with the logic of the differences among them not always made clear in theory-neutral terms. I will argue below for one of these, essentially the picture presented in Anderson (2005), but the issues involved are of wider interest than the specific study of this one construction. I believe that the correct analysis of the English possessive indicates something much more general about a range of grammatical categories.


This paper attempts to study service taxation in India from a macro-economic perspective, focusing on broad questions such as the level and composition of service tax revenue during the time-span of the "positive list approach" from 1994-95 to 2011-12. The income elasticity of service tax revenue collection is estimated for the Indian economy with the help of pooled FGLS, utilising data from Directorate of Service Tax and National Account Statistics. The importance of service tax as a consumption-based tax is also analysed descriptively. The study finds that the contribution of service tax towards the Centre's tax revenue is not commensurate with the high share of services in India's GDP. The study finds that "business services" and "real-estate and ownership of dwellings" have emerged as the major service tax revenue earners in recent years. The study finds income elasticity of service tax revenue collection to be less than 1, which when juxtaposed with India's low tax-GDP ratio, points to the existence of untapped revenue potential for service taxation in the country.


Despite Mexico"s progress in terms of democratization, the country"s Broadcasting Law and its practices of granting broadcasting licenses still have not adapted to the  principles of democratic citizenship. Community radios remain extra-legal operations: their legal status is not regulated and there is no transparent way to obtain licenses and resources. At the same time, prominent actors in the domains of politics and media support the criminalization of these alternative media. Nonetheless, community radios have organized and mobilized for legal recognition. As a result, 19 stations have obtained licenses and operate legally. The paper offers an assessment of the situation of Mexican community radio stations and traces the process of legalization of community radio from 2002 to 2010. It connects the question of media regulation with theoretical assumptions about the concept of defective democracies and the quality of democracy. A comparative perspective of other Latin American countries, which have largely modernized their regulation of community media, further complements the analysis of the Mexican situation. Keywords : Community Media, Media Policy, Democratization Submission date: 2010-12-29 Acceptance date: 2011-11-24


The recent revival of the theme of hospitality in the humanities and social sciences reflects a shared concern with issues of belonging, identity and placement that arises out of the experience of globalized social life. In this context, migration — or spatial dislocation and relocation — is often equated with demands for hospitality. There is a need to engage more carefully with the 'proximities' that prompt acts of hospitality and inhospitality; to attend more closely to their spatial and temporal dimensions. Is the stranger or the Other primarily one who is recognisably 'out of place'? Or is there more to being estranged than moving from one territory to another? This brings us to the question of human finitude, and to the possibility of encounters with others that do not simply only occur in time or space, but are themselves generative of new times and spaces.


The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name... We do it in the dark. Under the sheets. With a penlight. We wear sunglasses and a baseball hat at the bookstore. We have a "special place" where we store them. Let's face it: Not many folks are willing to publicly admit they love romance novels. Meanwhile, romance continues to be the bestselling fiction genre. Ever. So what's with all the shame? Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan the creators of the wildly popular blog Smart Bitches, Trashy Books have no shame! They look at the good, the bad, and the ugly in the world of romance novels and tackle the hard issues and questions: -The heroine's irresistible Magic Hoo Hoo and the hero's untamable Wang of Mighty Lovin' -Sexual trends. Simultaneous orgasms. Hymens. And is anal really the new oral? -Romance novel cover requirements: man titty, camel toe, flowers, long hair, animals, and the O-face -Are romance novels really candy-coated porn or vehicles by which we understand our sexual and gender politics? With insider advice for writing romances, fun games to discover your inner Viking warrior, and interviews with famous romance authors, "Beyond Heaving Bosoms" shows that while some romance novels are silly maybe even tawdry they can also be intelligent, savvy, feminist, and fabulous, just like their readers!"


The study focuses on metaphorical uses in a wide range of picturebooks for children younger than four and links them to scientific findings in cognitive psychology and language acquisition. Prototypical situations and familiar grounding make it possible for children to form (rough) concepts of abstract notions otherwise difficult to comprehend, e.g., IMAGINATION, ANGER, FRIENDSHIP, NATURE, DISCRIMINATION. Conceptual metaphor theory is useful for this multimodal approach and allows for the role of metaphors as vehicles for knowledge acquisition. The relationship between pictorial and textual metaphors and their interplay varies from close correspondence between pictures and words to a (much) greater weight in the pictures. These picturebooks introduce young children to non-literal language and will support the process of acquiring comparative structures.


The aim of the study is to assess the occurrence of fluoride in the drinking water sources of Langtang area. Out of the thirty seven water samples collected from drinking water sources (hand dug wells, boreholes, streams and a spring) and analysed. Results revealed that except for fluoride, all other parameters are within the World Health Organisation recommended limits for water consumption. Fluoride in the waters ranges from 0.12 - 10.30 mg/l with a mean of 2.42 mg/l. low levels of fluoride are recorded in the stream samples. However, no clear variations in fluoride content have been observed in both the borehole samples and those from the hand dug wells. Negative correlation exhibited between fluoride and sulphate, fluoride and Phosphate and the poor correlation between fluoride and nitrate, fluoride and chloride rules out the possibility of anthropogenic source of the fluoride in the waters. Positive correlation between lithium and magnesium, and poor but positive correlation between fluoride and lithium indicate that micas within the host rock and the pegmatite may be responsible for leaching fluoride into the waters. Two of the major water types; Ca + Mg-HCO3 and the Na + K-HCO3 water type obtain in the area have good association with fluoride content. Consumption of high fluoride waters clearly manifests in the inhabitant of the area in form of dental fluorosis and bowing of legs especially in children between the ages 7 - 11 years.


Employing live cells as therapeutics is a direction of future drug discovery. An easy and robust method to modify the surfaces of cells directly to incorporate novel functionalities is highly desirable. However, genetic methods for cell-surface engineering are laborious and limited by low efficiency for primary cell modification. Here we report a chemoenzymatic approach that exploits a fucosyltransferase to transfer bio-macromolecules, such as an IgG antibody (MW∼ 150 KD), to the glycocalyx on the surfaces of live cells when the antibody is conjugated to the enzyme's natural donor substrate GDP-Fucose. Requiring no genetic modification, this method is fast and biocompatible with little interference to cells' endogenous functions. We applied this method to construct two antibody–cell conjugates (ACCs) using both cell lines and primary cells, and the modified cells exhibited specific tumor targeting and resistance to inhibitory signals produced by tumor cells, respectively. Remarkably, Herceptin-NK-92MI conjugates, a natural killer cell line modified with Herceptin, exhibit enhanced activities to induce the lysis of HER2+ cancer cells both ex vivo and in a human tumor xenograft model. Given the unprecedented substrate tolerance of the fucosyltransferase, this chemoenzymatic method offers a general approach to engineer cells as research tools and for therapeutic applications.


Known for much of the nineteenth century as "the ever-faithful isle," Cuba did not earn its independence from Spain until 1898, long after most American colonies had achieved emancipation from European rule. In this groundbreaking history, David Sartorius explores the relationship between political allegiance and race in nineteenth-century Cuba. Challenging assumptions that loyalty to the Spanish empire was the exclusive province of the white Cuban elite, he examines the free and enslaved people of African descent who actively supported colonialism. By claiming loyalty, many black and mulatto Cubans attained some degree of social mobility, legal freedom, and political inclusion in a world where hierarchy and inequality were the fundamental lineaments of colonial subjectivity. Sartorius explores Cuba's battlefields, plantations, and meeting halls to consider the goals and limits of loyalty. In the process, he makes a bold call for fresh perspectives on imperial ideologies of race and on the rich political history of the African diaspora.


We analyze the performance of firms in the German business-related services sector. A quarterly business survey provides the panel data base of our study. Firm performance is measured by the survey respondents' ordinal indication of their changes in total sales. We use a firstorder Markov chain and a multinomial logit specification to model the transition probabilitites. Three variants of the model are estimated: a linear index model with and without unobserved firm heterogeneity and a semiparametric model. Main results are that firm size has a positive effect on firm performance, that young firms outperform older competitors, that a ank-relationship with a single creditor has a stabilizing effect and that the degree of diversification has a negative impact on firm performance. The legal status appears to have no significant effect.


A good matching between size and efficiency is a desirable design feature of cooling units for electronic systems, due to high capacity to size ratio and small weight. For this purpose, Embraco developed a new refrigerating system for small enclosures and telecommunication stations, which makes use of a new miniaturized linear microcompressor. The air-conditioning cooling unit consists of finned-tube heat exchangers and a direct current (DC) oil-free microcompressor that uses R-134a as the refrigerant. The paper presents a detailed description of the cooling unit and performance tests. A novel refrigerating cycle for thermal management of the microcompressor was created especially for high ambient temperatures. In order to run all experimental tests, a cooling unit calorimeter was assembled. In the experimental facility, the ambient temperature was varied (25, 35 and 55 °C) and the bulk temperature inside the enclosure was controlled via an electric heater. Commercially available thermoelectric systems used for electronics cooling were also compared with the vapor compression system. The results have shown that the microcompressor unit presented a coefficient of performance (COP) approximately two times larger than thermoelectric solutions.


Abstract. Ice geometry is a mandatory requirement for numerical modelling purposes. In this paper we present a consistent data set for the ice thickness, the bedrock topography and the ice surface topography of the King George Island ice cap (Arctowski icefield and the adjacent central part). The new data set is composed of ground based and airborne ground penetrating radar (GPR) and differential GPS (DGPS) measurements, obtained during several field campaigns. Blindow et al. (2010) already provided a comprehensive overview of the ground based measurements carried out in the safely accessible area of the ice cap. The updated data set incorporates airborne measurements in the heavily crevassed coastal areas. Therefore, in this paper special attention is paid to the airborne measurements by addressing the instrument used, survey procedure, and data processing in more detail. In particular, the inclusion of airborne GPR measurements with the 30 MHz BGR-P30-System developed at the Institute of Geophysics (University of Munster) completes the picture of the ice geometry substantially. The compiled digital elevation model of the bedrock shows a rough, highly variable topography with pronounced valleys, ridges, and troughs. Mean ice thickness is 240 p 6 m, with a maximum value of 422 p 10 m in the surveyed area. Noticeable are bounded areas in the bedrock topography below sea level where marine based ice exists. The provided data set is required as a basis for future monitoring attempts or as input for numerical modelling experiments. The data set is available from the PANGAEA database at http://dx.doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.770567 .


The objective of this thesis is to develop a model that will integrate multiple buoys to a power take-off hub. The model will be derived using a time domain analysis and will consider the hydraulic coupling of the buoys and the power take-off. The derived model is reproduced in MATLAB in order to run simulations. This will give possibility to conduct a parameter study and evaluate the performance of the system. The buoy simulation model is provided by Wave4Power (W4P). It consists of a floater that is rigidly connected to a fully submerged vertical (acceleration) tube open at both ends. The tube contains a piston whose motion relative to the floater-tube system drives a power take-off mechanism. The power take-off model is provided by Ocean Harvesting Technologies AB (OHT). It comprises a mechanical gearbox and a gravity accumulator. The system is utilized to transform the irregular wave energy into a smooth electrical power output. OHT's simulation model needs to be extended with a hydraulic motor at the input shaft. There are control features in both systems, that need to be connected and synchronized with each other. Another major goal within the thesis is to test different online control techniques. A simple control strategy to optimize power capture is called sea-state tuning and it can be achieved by using a mechanical gearbox with several discrete gear ratios or with a variable displacement pump. The gear ratio of the gear box can be regulated according to a 2D look up table based on the average wave amplitude and frequency over a defined time frame. The OHT power take-off utilizes a control strategy, called spill function, to limit the excess power capture and keep the weight accumulator within a span by disengaging the input shaft from the power take-off. This is to be modified to implement power limitation with regulation of the gear ratio of the gearbox.


Traditional wireless sensor networks are constrained by limited battery energy. Thus, finite network lifetime is widely regarded as a fundamental performance bottleneck. Recent breakthrough in the area of wireless energy transfer offers the potential of removing such performance bottleneck, i.e., allowing a sensor network remain operational forever. In this paper, we investigate the operation of a sensor network under this new enabling energy transfer technology. We consider the scenario of a mobile charging vehicle periodically traveling inside the sensor network and charging each sensor node's battery wirelessly. We introduce the concept of renewable energy cycle and offer both necessary and sufficient conditions. We study an optimization problem, with the objective of maximizing the ratio of the wireless charging vehicle (WCV)'s vacation time over the cycle time. For this problem, we prove that the optimal traveling path for the WCV is the shortest Hamiltonian cycle and provide a number of important properties. Subsequently, we develop a near-optimal solution and prove its performance guarantee.


Shear connectors are commonly used in steel bridges to join the concrete deck and steel superstructure, providing a mechanism for shear transfer across the steel-concrete interface. The most common shear connector is the headed shear stud. In the current AASHTO LRFD Bridge Specifications on composite design, shear stud fatigue often governs over static strength, and a large number of shear connectors often result. This dissertation investigates headed shear stud fatigue capacities and demands, and provides insight into conservancies in existing design specifications through examination of existing high-traffic bridge performance. To investigate stud capacity, a total of six high-cycle fatigue tests are conducted on stud pushout specimens at low stress ranges and combined with existing experimental data to develop probabilistic S-N fatigue capacity curves. Results from composite push-out specimens tested at stress ranges between 4.4 and 8.7 ksi suggest a fatigue limit of 6.5 ksi, which is near the existing limit of 7 ksi. Recommendations for modification of the existing AASHTO finite-life shear stud S-N fatigue capacity curve are proposed. In addition to experimental testing, a finite element parametric study considers the effects of stud pitch, girder depth, and girder span on shear flow demands. Results from the parametric study indicate that the shear forces within stud clusters are not captured by current AASHTO shear flow demand estimations. A new design method and updated formulation for predicting stud demands are presented. To examine high-traffic bridge performance, residual fatigue life is investigated by further fatigue testing, as well as magnetic particle inspection and dye penetrant testing on two existing bridges. The lack of discovered fatigue cracks within the studs of the bridges investigated suggests that the shear stress range estimation in AASHTO specification is higher than what is actually experienced. This discrepancy is likely due to shear transfer through adhesion and friction, which are not considered in AASHTO design calculations. Fatigue tests from sections of the decommissioned bridge exceeded the design life expectancy of approximately 850,000 cycles (at 11.6 ksi) by over 2,500,000 cycles. This evidence further indicates that stud fatigue is an unlikely failure mode during service loading.


International Journal of Exercise Science 12(5): 1179-1186, 2019. Approximately 51% of American adults do not meet weekly physical activity (PA) recommendations. Pokémon Go (PoGo) popularity and its required PA participation shows potential for improved daily PA. The primary aim of this study was to objectively measure daily energy expenditure (DEE) of PoGo players and identify whether DEE differs from non-players. A secondary aim was to assess potential motivational factors to play PoGo. Local Middle Tennessee participants (n = 25) were identified as "players" or "non-players" based on current PoGo usage from August till November 2016. Participants donned a SenseWear Armband (SWA) for 7 days. SWA data were included in the analysis if wear time was ≥ 4 days with each day having ≥ 12 hours of wear time. Mean DEE differences between players and non-players were examined using a one-way between groups ANCOVA. Body weight was included in the ANCOVA as a potential extraneous variable. Five participants were excluded from analysis due to < 4 days SWA wear time (players = 9, non-players = 11). We found DEE was not significantly different for players (2735 ± 666 kcal) versus non-players (2274 ± 474 kcal), when controlling for body weight [F (1, 20) = 2,195, η = 0.114, p = 0.157]. In conclusion, interactive mobile games (i.e. PoGo) may be an effective method to increase DEE in individuals interested in mobile gaming.


Abstract Introduction: This study compares self-reported Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) status among elderly survivors of the 2003 Bam Earthquake before, two months after, and five years after the event, and explores related determinants. Methods: A two-stage cluster survey was conducted on 210 elderly survivors in the earthquake-stricken area five years after the event. Results: Both ADL and IADL scores decreased two months after earthquake compared to prior status (p <0.001). No differences were observed between two months and five years after the event (p >0.05). Access to medical services were not related to level of ADL or IADL (p = 0.52 and p = 0.74, respectively). Elderly survivors with lower functional capability in terms of ADL experienced more problems in access to relief items (p = 0.04), but no similar association was found for IADL (p = 0.26). Conclusion: The Bam earthquake adversely affected functional capacity of the elderly. Disaster responders must take into account functional capacity of elders when planning for medical and relief operations.


The different steps in the development of the floodplain or overbank sediment sampling procedure for continental-scale geochemical mapping are described with examples from the Greek pilot project of the Western European Geological Surveys' Working Group on 'Regional Geochemical Mapping'. The Greek overbank and stream sediment results were compared statistically with those of the national regional stream sediment survey. The purpose was (1) to compare the geochemistry of overbank sediment, collected from a single site, with that of several tens or hundreds of regional stream sediment samples taken from the upstream drainage basin, and (2) to develop a cost-effective procedure to assess the geochemistry of a drainage basin. 'Composite' samples taken over the whole thickness of the overbank sediment sequence showed that element contents were close to the median, or within the interquartile range, of the same elements in the regional stream sediment samples. Overbank sediment samples collected from pre-defined intervals were not considered satisfactory, for they were taken across overbank sediment layers. Therefore, the method was subsequently refined by collecting samples from different overbank sediment layers, with the recommendation to collect samples at 25-cm intervals when thick layers of over 1 m were encountered. In selected river basins, surficial overbank and active stream sediments reflect contamination, whereas overbank sediment layers at depth show natural element contents, or pristine conditions. Such data are required for a realistic assessment of the degree of contamination of individual drainage basins. After considering results from Greece and other countries, it is recommended to sample both the surface overbank sediment (0–10 cm), and the deepest possible layer in order to measure pristine or pre-industrial conditions. The Greek results demonstrate that overbank sediments are useful for mapping natural geochemical conditions and baseline concentrations, as well as assessing anthropogenic contamination. The cost-effectiveness of overbank sediment sampling for the 'Global Geochemical Baselines' project of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) and International Association of GeoChemistry (IAGC) is verified.


Although the increase of solid waste generation is a big issue faced by the whole world, it is more severe in Asian countries owing to their rapid urbanization and industrialization over the past few decades, especially in large developing countries such as China and India. In order to solve the problems relating to the energy shortage and the rapid growth of resource consumption, and to address the environmental pollution caused by solid waste generation, more and more countries in Asia are focusing on energy and resource recovery from waste. This chapter introduces the current status of waste generation and recycling in selected Asian countries, and discusses the existing problems and challenges in waste management and recycling. It is found that increasing population and economic development not only contribute to the sharp rise in solid waste generation but also to its increasing complexity and hazardousness. In contrast to the selected developed and developing countries in Asia, the overall development of waste recycling is not balanced. Because of backward technologies, environmentally sound solid waste disposal levels and resource recovery rates of solid waste in Asia is very low. Nowadays, the awareness of the public and governments of solid waste management and recycling is rising; policies and regulation systems related to solid waste have been established; and new technologies (e.g. waste incineration power generation, biomass fuel, etc.) are being developed. The chapter concludes that energy and resource recovery in Asia has tremendous market potential in the future decades.


The active metabolite of vitamin A, retinoic acid, is a key mediator
of balanced immune responses. The major nuclear receptor of retinoic acid,
retinoic receptor alpha (RARα), functions as a transcriptional regulator, with
both active and repressive effects on transcription depending on interactions
with nuclear cofactors dictated by ligand-binding effects on protein
confirmation. While significant advances have been made in understanding the
combined effects of retinoic acid and RARα, the individual roles of each remain
incompletely identified.

 Epigenetic
effects of all-trans retinoic acid (At-RA) and RARα on the transcriptome of T
helper cells were assessed using a novel transgenic mouse strain designed to
overexpress RARα in T cells and a conditional knock out strain in which RARα was
specifically deleted from T cells. At-RA and RARα had divergent roles in
promoting Th17 and Treg differentiation, with RARα expression favoring Th17
differentiation over Treg differentiation, and At-RA promoting Treg
differentiation over Th17 differentiation. Transcriptome analysis identified
groups of At-RA and RARα differentially regulated genes (DEGs). Comparison of
these genes to the H3k27 acetylated and tri-methylated epigenetic modifications
demonstrated that RARα expression increased the overall level of these
epigenetic modifications in all DEG groups, with enhanced control of
transcriptional regulation mediated by higher RARα expression. Additionally, expression
of transcriptional repressors was
strongly regulated by At-RA in a RARα-dependent manner and had repressive
effects on the differentiation of T helper cells. Immunometabolism
was also enhanced by RARα expression, leading us to study potential non-genomic
roles of RARα on signaling pathways. The major TCR signaling pathways were
enhanced by RARα but suppressed by At-RA, suggesting a mechanism by which RARα
regulates cellular metabolism upon T cell activation. In summary,
we identified distinct epigenetic and non-genomic effects of RARα as novel
regulatory mechanisms by which vitamin A and retinoic acid influence immune
responses. Further research into these findings, notably RARα involvement in
signal transduction pathways of immune cells, will define how this research can
be translated into clinically-relevant applications.


In [1,2] an error (by a factor of 1000) in the diffusion rate of monomer in a photopolymer material used by the
authors of [3], is presented. In [3] no errors are identified in our analysis and our physical evidence is not addressed.
It is implied that our model and our results are disproven by the results in the papers referenced in
[3]. In fact these papers do not provide any such quantitative evidence. The observations made regarding the significance
of the authors' contributions, in particular the validity of their model and the practical importance of
their material are also discussed. © 2012 Optical Society of America


During 2010, the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs (OMCYA) conducted a consultation process with children living in the care of the State. The project was called Listen to our voices! Hearing children and young people living in the care of the State. In the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (2009), Justice Ryan recommends that â?~children in care should be able to communicate without fearâ?T. The Governmentâ?Ts Implementation Plan, brought out in response to the recommendations in the Ryan Report, committed the OMCYA to conducting a consultation process with children in the care of the State and to publishing the findings. The objectives of the consultation process were to seek the views of children and young people in the care of the State, in detention and in residential services for children with a disability on the issues that matter to them, to explore existing mechanisms for children and young people to express their views and to make recommendations on future structures to be established for children and young peopleâ?Ts voices to be heard. Advised and assisted by an Oversight Committee that included the HSE and a number of organisations that work with children and young people living in the care of the State, the OMCYA also worked with a Youth Advisory Group to help establish and support the consultation process. The key questions posed to ascertain the views of young people in care were: â?¢ What are the most important issues for young people in care? â?¢ What services and supports are in place for young people in care and, of those, what works well and what does not work well? â?¢ What recommendations do young people have on the way the systems and supports should work and on ways that young people in care should have their voices heard? The aims and objectives of the consultations were: â?¢ to seek the views of children and young people in the care of the State on the issues that really matter to them and on which they would like to be heard; â?¢ to explore existing mechanisms for children and young people to express their views; â?¢ to make recommendations on future structures to be established for children and young people to express their views. A significant challenge in organising the consultations was accessing young people in care, especially in foster care. It must be noted that, despite a number of strong interventions by senior HSE personnel in support of the consultation process, a very disappointing number of children in foster care were informed about the consultations. Due to the absence of a comprehensive database of young people in care, the only mechanism for contacting such young people was via their social workers. Since not every young person is receptive to information coming from their social worker, alternative routes had to be found to contact young people directly and encourage them to participate. A number of non-statutory agencies, working with and advocating for young people in care, were enlisted and assisted in the promotion of the consultations and the recruitment of young people. Thus, following an arduous recruitment process, a total of 211 children and young people took part in the consultations between January and July 2010. Young participants included those in the care of the State living in foster care (some long-term) and residential centres, children and young people detained in St. Patrickâ?Ts Institution and in detention schools, and children and young people in residential units because of a disability. Young people who had recently left the care system also participated in the consultations. The difficulty in accessing children and young people in foster care resulted in a disproportionate number of young people in residential care and detention facilities taking part in the consultations. However, as this was a consultation process and not a research study, the views of all the children and young people who took part are valid and add strong value to the provision of a better understanding of the care experience for children and young people. Fifteen consultations were held in Cork, Dublin, Galway and Sligo. A separate parallel process for young people with moderate to severe disabilities was also conducted, with consultations taking place in Dublin, Meath and Galway. The consultations were run in an informal, open and safe manner. Creative methodologies were devised to cater for the diverse cohorts of participants so that they could be empowered to express their views, depending on their level of ability and interest. The participants were very open and articulate in expressing their views on a myriad of issues pertaining to care. Despite their diversity, there was a remarkable consistency in the common themes and issues identified during the consultations as important to the participants. Among these themes and issues were: â?¢ the complexity and importance of regular access to birth parents and siblings; â?¢ being treated as â?~one of the familyâ?T in foster care; â?¢ the importance of assessment and vetting of foster families, as well as their compulsory training; â?¢ the lack of information available to young people in care, particularly on aftercare services, which are not consistent in all locations; â?¢ the impact of disruption and multiplicity of placements experienced by young people; â?¢ the importance of having even one person or agency who will listen and â?~be thereâ?T to support a young person in care; â?¢ issues about confidentiality, privacy, constant record-keeping and the difficulties in gaining consent for relatively normal activities. The strongest criticisms coming from participants concerned social work services and care plan reviews. Having identified their key concerns and issues, the young participants made recommendations on how to improve the lives of children in the care of the State and how to ensure that their voices are heard. These included: â?¢ a review of social work services, which would ideally lead to social workers having more manageable caseloads and more time to better engage with the young people on that caseload; â?¢ a re-examination of care plan reviews, which would result in a system that would better allow young people to express themselves in a less intimidating environment and have an input on decisions impacting their lives in care; â?¢ improved assessment and vetting of foster families; â?¢ compulsory training for foster families; â?¢ increased information on a variety of issues, such as the care system itself, organisations that support young people in care and aftercare services; â?¢ availability of counselling. When asked about the mechanisms available to them to â?~express their viewsâ?T or what allowed them to â?~have their voice heardâ?T, it was apparent that this notion was alien to many participants. They reported that they are rarely asked for their views or feedback, and that the current mechanisms in place to seek those views are not working for them. This report recommends that the existing structures designed to ensure the voice of the child is heard are reviewed and that a culture of participation is developed in which young people are consulted on the key decisions that affect their lives on an ongoing basis. Despite struggling with the possibilities of what it might mean to â?~have your voice heardâ?T, the participants formulated a number of very practical key recommendations on future structures to better enable young people to express their views and have their voices heard. These recommendations included: â?¢ an official â?~forumâ?T made up of young people from a variety of care settings, which would work towards positive change for young people in care; â?¢ regular peer support meetings of young people in care at regional level; â?¢ a dedicated support telephone line; â?¢ a â?~mentorâ?T for each young person in care. The young people in detention schools and in St. Patrickâ?Ts Institution also identified a number of issues of importance to them. These included the significant role that alcohol and drugs play in their lives, as well as the lack of freedom, privacy, facilities and services available to them in detention settings. The lack of respect from staff was also of considerable concern to young people in detention. These participants also made recommendations for the future of young people in detention settings, almost all of which pertained to their practical needs, such as improved facilities, freedom and privacy. However, in relation to having their voices heard, they suggested: â?¢ being treated like human beings (St. Patrickâ?Ts Institution) and being respected by staff; â?¢ having a representative group to bring the views of young people to management; â?¢ having someone to talk to who does not work in the detention setting; â?¢ having a visit from the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to discuss relevant issues. The report concludes that the agencies responsible for children in the care of the State must listen to the voices of the consultation participants and, more importantly, heed their recommendations.


This report is based on a survey of power engineering education resources in the U.S. and Canada similar to 12 earlier such efforts. This survey is conducted to determine the electric power engineering education resources available in Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET)-accredited engineering programs in the U.S. and Canada for the 2005-2006 academic year. The report is limited to colleges and universities that replied to a questionnaire on a voluntary basis. For the 125 colleges and universities (115 U.S., 10 Canadian) that submitted data on their power programs, the report contains a list of faculty active during the 2005-2006 academic year with academic participation and professional experience, each school's research area and funding levels, Ph.D. and M.S. student enrollment by type of support and by domestic versus international, and each school's power course offerings with enrollments and other data.


In Finland, a standardized data structure for continuous health and care planning is implemented as a Health and Care Plan (HCP) module in all electronic health record systems (EHR). The structure was initially published in 2011 and gradually implemented in the various EHR systems. In this study, the focus is on comparing the specifications of the data structure and the responses to a spring 2016 survey. We analyse the HCP as a representation that is interpreted in different contexts and for different purposes by those involved. The interactionist theory by Strauss (1993) is used as the lens to discern dualistic dimensions of interpretations. We found these dimensions: consensus vs. dissent, old vs. new, single vs. multiple, clearly imagined vs. unclear, and unchanging vs. changing. The implications of these for HCP use and development are discussed.


A massive characterization in terms of respiration activity for the most common types of organic solid wastes is presented in this compilation. Respiration activity for a solid waste is a crucial parameter to understand the behaviour of the waste in the environment and for waste management aspects such as the definition of a suitable biological treatment and the determination of the potential rate of microbial self-heating if organic wastes are to be used as solid recovered fuels. The respiration data compiled in this work are the result of five years of research focused on the determination of the biological activity of organic wastes. A compilation of respiration data found in the literature is also presented. The main groups of organic wastes analyzed are: municipal solid wastes (including mixed wastes and source-selected organic fraction), wastewater sludge (including digested and nondigested sludge from primary and secondary operations in municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants), different types of manure (of different origin), other particular wastes (animal by-products, hair waste, fats, etc.) and some mixtures of different wastes. Results suggest that respiration activity can be used to classify the biodegradability of organic wastes into three main categories: i) highly biodegradable wastes (respiration activity higher than 5 mg O2 g Organic Matter−1 h−1), which includes source-selected organic fraction of municipal solid waste, nondigested municipal wastewater sludge and animal by-products; ii) moderately biodegradable wastes (respiration activity within 2 to 5 mg O2 g Organic Matter−1 h−1), including mixed municipal solid waste, digested municipal wastewater sludge and several types of manure; iii) wastes of low biodegradability (respiration activity lower than 2 mg O2 g Organic Matter−1 h−1), which includes few organic wastes such as some particular wastes from the food industry.


I have been reluctant to provide estimates of soybean acres damaged from dicamba applied to Xtend soybean due to the difficulty in developing a realistic number of affected acres. While there has been a significant number of acres damaged by dicamba, I am sure it is less than five percent of Iowa's nearly 10 million soybean acres. Due to this relatively small number of acres affected (in relation to total soybean acres), dicamba injury will not significantly impact Iowa's productivity in 2018. However, if you are a farmer whose crop has been damaged by dicamba, the fact that the majority of soybean in the state were not affected is of little consolation. Disciplines Agricultural Science | Agriculture This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cropnews/2507 2/28/2019 Dicamba 2018 The Iowa Experience | Integrated Crop Management https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2018/08/dicamba-2018-iowa-experience 1/3 Integrated Crop Management Dicamba 2018 The Iowa Experience August 15, 2018 I have been reluctant to provide estimates of soybean acres damaged from dicamba applied to Xtend soybean due to the difficulty in developing a realistic number of affected acres. While there has been a significant number of acres damaged by dicamba, I am sure it is less than five percent of Iowa's nearly 10 million soybean acres. Due to this relatively small number of acres affected (in relation to total soybean acres), dicamba injury will not significantly impact Iowa's productivity in 2018. However, if you are a farmer whose crop has been damaged by dicamba, the fact that the majority of soybean in the state were not affected is of little consolation. To get a better handle on the extent of dicamba injury across the state, I asked ISU Extension and Outreach field agronomists to complete a brief on-line survey. Half of the 2/28/2019 Dicamba 2018 The Iowa Experience | Integrated Crop Management https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2018/08/dicamba-2018-iowa-experience 2/3 agronomists stated the number of soybean acres damaged by dicamba was similar to 2017, whereas the remainder were split between fewer acres and more acres damaged in 2018 than 2017. When I've asked commercial agronomists the same question, the range of responses was similar to those of my extension colleagues. More than 75% of ISU Extension and Outreach agronomists felt volatility was involved in at least 25% of the drift cases they investigated, while 25% thought movement following application played a role in over 50% of the incidences they investigated. Complaints to state regulatory agencies is one measure that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will consider in their upcoming decision regarding future use of dicamba on Xtend soybean. We know the reported incidences represent a very small fraction of total drift cases as farmers are reluctant to involve regulatory agencies. The majority of ISU Extension and Outreach agronomists reported that Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) was contacted in less than 25% of the dicamba cases, and nobody reported IDALS was contacted in the majority of cases. The majority of growers using the Xtend system are happy with the increased performance in weed control obtained with dicamba compared to alternatives. However, one ISU Extension and Outreach agronomist stated that farmers planting non-dicamba resistant soybean "are really upset with the continued off-target movement of dicamba". It is my opinion that the new label restrictions placed following the 2017 growing season, and the training required for applicators of the new dicamba products, has failed to reduce offtarget problems to an acceptable level. The EPA recently held two teleconferences with academic weed scientists from states where the new dicamba products are registered. There was near unanimous agreement that the level of off-target injury observed in 2018 is unacceptable. The EPA asked for suggestions on label modifications that could reduce problems in the future. Following are ideas that were put forward: All products containing dicamba should be Restricted Use Products Volatility is viewed as a contributing factor to off-target damage, thus some sort of temperature restriction should be implemented Date restrictions are viewed as more 'workable' than the current growth stage restriction, but they would need to be state specific There needs to be better clarification of sensitive/susceptible crops Buffers need to be 360 degrees rather than downwind The EPA stated they plan to announce their decision in the near future so that people will know the status of the technology before making 2019 seed purchases. Off-target 2/28/2019 Dicamba 2018 The Iowa Experience | Integrated Crop Management https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2018/08/dicamba-2018-iowa-experience 3/3 movement of dicamba is complex, there is no simple solution, and whatever action the EPA takes will not make everyone happy. Links to this article are strongly encouraged, and this article may be republished without further permission if published as written and if credit is given to the author, Integrated Crop Management News, and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. If this article is to be used in any other manner, permission from the author is required. This article was originally published on August 15, 2018. The information contained within may not be the most current and accurate depending on when it is accessed. Category: Weeds Crop: Soybean Tags: dicamba drift volatility Author: Bob Hartzler Professor of Agronomy Dr. Bob Hartzler is a professor of agronomy and an extension weed specialist. He conducts research on weed biology and how it impacts the efficacy of weed management programs in corn and soybean. Dr. Hartzler also teaches undergraduate classes in weed science and weed identificatio...


A wide range of critical theorists is used in the study of international politics, and until now there has been no text that gives concise and accessible introductions to these figures. Critical Theorists and International Relations provides a wide-ranging introduction to thirty-two important theorists whose work has been influential in thinking about global politics. Each chapter is written by an expert with a detailed knowledge of the theorist concerned, representing a range of approaches under the rubric 'critical', including Marxism and post-Marxism, the Frankfurt School, hermeneutics, phenomenology, postcolonialism, feminism, queer theory, poststructuralism, pragmatism, scientific realism, deconstruction and psychoanalysis. Key features of each chapter include: a clear and concise biography of the relevant thinker an introduction to their key writings and ideas a summary of the ways in which these ideas have influenced and are being used in international relations scholarship a list of suggestions for further reading. Written in engaging and accessible prose, Critical Theorists and International Relations is a unique and invaluable resource for undergraduates, postgraduates and scholars of international relations.


A local linear theory is proposed for a perpendicularly propagating drift instability driven by relative drifts between electrons and ions. The theory takes into account local cross-field current, pressure gradients and modest collisions as in the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) [10]. The unstable waves have very small group velocities in the direction of the pressure gradient, but have a large phase velocity near the relative drift velocity between electrons and ions in the direction of cross-field current. By taking into account the electron-ion collisions and applying the theory in the Harris sheet, we establish that this instability could be excited near the center of the Harris sheet and have enough efoldings to grow to large amplitude before it propagates out of the unstable region. Comparing with the other magnetic reconnection related instabilities (LHDI, MTSI et.) studied previously, we believe the instability we find is a favorable candidate to produce anomalous resistivity because of its unique wave characteristics, such as electromagnetic component, large phase velocity, and small group velocity in the cross current layer direction.


A near-infrared-emitting microlaser has been demonstrated, which is based on a semiconducting non-conjugated polymer. A luminescent polymer layer is formed on a silica optical fiber 125 μm in diameter by self-assembly with poly(9-vinylcarbazole) containing an electron-transport material, 2-(4-Biphenylyl)-5-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole, and a near-infrared-emitting compound, 2-(6-(p-dimethylaminophenyl)-2,4-neopentylene-1,3,5-hexatrienyl)-3-ethylbenzothiazolium perchlorate. The cylindrical polymer microcavity shows laser emission at 825 nm when it is transversally photopumped at 532 nm with a nanosecond Nd:yttrium aluminum garnet laser. The resonance of the microcavity is characterized by a cavity quality factor Q=(2.7±0.1)×103, which is determined from the laser spectral width. Furthermore, a threshold analysis is carried out by taking into account the effects of the ground-state absorption of the chromophore and Rayleigh scattering of the gain medium. The analysis shows that the minimum threshold lies in the vicinity of 824 nm, which is consistent with the experimentally observed laser emission line at 825 nm.


Ireland's agricultural land area comprises of 91% grassland, which predominantly consists of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). Owing to the predicted climate change, grasslands in the east of Ireland will be severely affected over the next hundred years. Due to this prediction, strategies to circumvent this problem need to be addressed. The present study is focused on RNA editing (post-transcriptional nucleotide modifications resulting in altered transcripts) within plastidial transcripts of the NDH complex (NADH dehydrogenase complex) in relation to the drought response of several accessions of perennial ryegrass. Previous studies have shown that the NDH complex is involved with countering oxidative stress during environmental stresses like drought. Due to the nature of RNA editing within this complex, the RNA editing machinery could potentially play a role in regulating the activity of the NDH complex. In this study a difference was observed in editing behaviour between accessions of Lolium perenne L., however a direct relationship between editing behaviour and drought response could not be confirmed. Despite the lack of correlation, a possible role of RNA editing in regulation of the NDH complex cannot be completely disregarded. To expand the investigation concerning the role of RNA editing, plastid transformation can be utilised. Due to the absence of a protocol for plastid transformation of perennial ryegrass, a study was dedicated to design such a protocol. However despite extensive evaluation of all the involved factors in the transformation process, a working protocol was not established. Nevertheless small adjustments to this protocol in the future could potentially lead to an extension of the plastid transformation technology to this species.


Submodular functions are discrete analogs of convex functions, which have applications in various fields, including machine learning and computer vision. However, in large-scale applications, solving Submodular Function Minimization (SFM) problems remains challenging. In this paper, we make the first attempt to extend the emerging technique named screening in large-scale sparse learning to SFM for accelerating its optimization process. We first conduct a careful studying of the relationships between SFM and the corresponding convex proximal problems, as well as the accurate primal optimum estimation of the proximal problems. Relying on this study, we subsequently propose a novel safe screening method to quickly identify the elements guaranteed to be included (we refer to them as active) or excluded (inactive) in the final optimal solution of SFM during the optimization process. By removing the inactive elements and fixing the active ones, the problem size can be dramatically reduced, leading to great savings in the computational cost without sacrificing any accuracy. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed method is the first screening method in the fields of SFM and even combinatorial optimization, thus pointing out a new direction for accelerating SFM algorithms. Experiment results on both synthetic and real datasets demonstrate the significant speedups gained by our approach.


Introduction: Dental caries is the most prevalent disease of oral health in school-aged children around the world. Although different caries detection/diagnosis criteria are available, none of them includes the total spectrum of dental caries (which ranges from a sound tooth to tooth loss due to caries) other than caries assessment spectrum and treatment (CAST) Index. CAST index covers the total dental caries spectrum from no carious lesion through caries protection (sealant) and caries cure (restoration) to carious lesions in enamel and dentin, and the advanced stages of carious lesion progression in pulp and tooth surrounding tissue. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among children of age 5–10 years to detect the prevalence of dental caries using CAST index in Panchayat Union Primary School in Sundharipalayam and Koot-road (east), Villupuram. A total of 100 samples were selected based on inclusion criteria. Results: Only 33% had sound dentition, 0% had sealant and restoration, presence of caries in enamel and/or dentine ranged from 9% to 33%. Pulpal involvement was observed in 13% and abscess/fistula was present in 7% of participants in at least one tooth. 5% had lost at least one tooth due to caries. Conclusion: CAST index has been found useful in epidemiological surveys, especially in recording early carious lesions. Developers of the CAST index should throw more light on the treatment needs part of the index as well as how each code of this index can be utilized in controlling dental caries in a community.


The evaluation of several tasks in lexical semantics is often limited by the lack of large amounts of manual annotations, not only for training purposes, but also for testing purposes. Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD) is a case in point, as hand-labeled datasets are particularly hard and time-consuming to create. Consequently, evaluations tend to be performed on a small scale, which does not allow for in-depth analysis of the factors that determine a systems' performance.In this paper we address this issue by means of a realistic simulation of large-scale evaluation for the WSD task. We do this by providing two main contributions: First, we put forward two novel approaches to the wide-coverage generation of semantically aware pseudowords (i.e., artificial words capable of modeling real polysemous words); second, we leverage the most suitable type of pseudoword to create large pseudosense-annotated corpora, which enable a large-scale experimental framework for the comparison of state-of-the-art supervised and knowledge-based algorithms. Using this framework, we study the impact of supervision and knowledge on the two major disambiguation paradigms and perform an in-depth analysis of the factors which affect their performance.


This article is relevant to all jurisdictions that use electronic records as evidence. Electronic records are now produced by most human interactions. But the legal infrastructure of guidelines and case law that controls the use of electronic records as evidence in Canada is very inadequate because it ignores these facts and concepts: (1) electronic records technology, and pre-electronic paper records technology are different technologies — each technology needs its own legal infrastructure, otherwise it will cause injury and inadequate "justice"; (2) the large number of serious defects that are very frequently found in electronic records management systems (ERMS's), and in the software by which they operate; (3) the "system integrity concept" — records integrity requires proof records system integrity, which concept is the basis of all work done by experts in ERMS's; (4) the electronic records provisions of the Evidence Acts require proof of ERMS "system integrity" for electronic records to be admissible evidence; (5) the National Standards of Canada and international standards for electronic records management, which provide the principles, and guidelines by which the existence and quality of the "system integrity" of an ERMS can be determined; (6) the need for a different procedure that can solve the high cost of the "review" stage of electronic discovery proceedings; and, (7) because it contains these defects, the text, Sedona Canada Principles — Addressing Electronic Discovery, which dominates the guidelines that control electronic discovery proceedings in Canada, provides inadequate procedures for those proceedings, and their impact upon admissibility of evidence proceedings. ERMS technology and its uses are too sophisticated and complex for the Sedona Canada text. Electronic records are the most frequently used kind of evidence. "Records management law" is a needed specialty, and the "records management lawyer" a needed specialist. The several innovations, concepts, and arguments developed in this article have been made possible by what I have learned from working with experts in electronic records management for many years. They are needed to make litigation available at reasonable cost.Compare: if the burden of proof, "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" were replaced with a lesser burden of proof, the resulting conviction may nevertheless appear to be accurate on the facts as presented, but it isn't "justice." Now, the way electronic discovery and admissibility proceedings concerning electronic records are conducted, they too appear to produce sufficiently accurate results on the facts as presented, nevertheless, because the integrity of the electronic record systems in which such records are stored is not being investigated and challenged, those proceedings have an unacceptably high probability of not doing "justice." To answer, "well, we've had no trouble before," is to ignore the fact that the present strategy and procedure upon which litigation proceedings concerning the use of electronic records are based, has never been adequately challenged or justified before. As a result, the required efficiency of the law overrides the quality of its results.


Individual placement and support (IPS) has been found to be an effective intervention for rehabilitation to work in the field of mental health. Being as the principles used in IPS reflect core values in the concept of personal recovery, several other outcomes than just the percentage of clients gaining employment are of interest. The purpose of the study was to describe a number of unique processes and analyze these with a special concern for circumstances perceived as important for the individual IPS process. A collective instrumental case-study design was used and five cases were included. Data from three different sources were collected, both quantitative and qualitative. The findings illustrate how a relationship characterized by curiosity, interest and engagement in the individual client, positive risk-taking and time for reflected experiences resulted in processes of change. It was concluded that providing IPS is a type of specialized relationship-based work that includes advanced problem solving.


17 Can We Predict Hemoglobin Noninvasively in Obstetric Patients During Delivery and Postpartum Hemorrhage? Abstract Type: Original Research Lorraine Chow, M.D.; Laura Yonkyung Chang, M.D.; Michaela Kristina Farber, M.D.; Bhavani Shankar Kodali, M.D. Brigham and Women's HospitalType: Original Research Lorraine Chow, M.D.; Laura Yonkyung Chang, M.D.; Michaela Kristina Farber, M.D.; Bhavani Shankar Kodali, M.D. Brigham and Women's Hospital Obstetric patients are at high risk for anemia during pregnancy, and delivery. Peripartum hemorrhage can occur unexpectedly and rapidly. Early detection of anemia is critical to the management of obstetric hemorrhage. Clinical signs of hemorrhage can be delayed in pregnant patients, and early detection of ongoing hemorrhage generally depends on invasive blood testing. It would be remarkable if there was a way to predict hemoglobin noninvasively. No study has evaluated this approach in pregnant patients. The purpose of this study is to assess the utility and accuracy of a new technology which uses multiple wavelengths of light to measure total hemoglobin (Masimo SpHbTM) for the detection of progressive changes in total hemoglobin in patients during vaginal or caesarean delivery, and postpartum hemorrhage.(1) Methods: Parturients aged 18 years or older and at term gestation scheduled for elective cesarean or vaginal delivery were recruited. A Masimo Rainbow SET® Radical-7TM pulse oximeter probe was placed on the third or fourth finger for noninvasive measurement of hemoglobin (SpHb). Stable SpHb values were obtained prior to, after and 24 hours following delivery. Venous blood was obtained at these points to determine concurrent blood hemoglobin (Hb) in the hematology laboratory (Advia 2120). In the event of hemorrhage, SpHb was monitored continuously and additional clinically indicated blood Hb values were obtained. Data from the two Methodologies were analyzed with paired t-test, correlation and Bland-Altman tests. Results: 74 data sets have been obtained from 38 parturients. Mean(±SD) SpHb, and Hb values were 12±1.6, and 11.2±1.6. SpHb exceed Hb by 0.8±1.6 g/dL (95% CI 1.4 to -0.6, P< 0.0001). Figure shows correlation scatter between the two measurements (r=0.5, P<0.001). Bland-Altman plot reveals that 41% of the SpHb values are within 1gm and 67% within 2gms on either side of Hb values. During hemorrhage in 2 patients (1 and 5L), the difference between the two variables (13 sets) is 0.8 g/dL (SpHb=10.8±0.9 > Hb=10±0.9). Conclusion: The Results of our study demonstrate some correlation between the noninvasive SpHb readings and conventional laboratory serum Hb measurements. A difference < 1gm between the two measurements may not be clinically significant during delivery, or postpartum hemorrhage. Further ongoing recruitment and analysis will determine the utility of this device when Hb is low. Reference: 1.Anesthesiology 107:A1545


The reef coral Mussismilia braziliensis Verril, 1968 is endemic to the eastern Brazilian coast, representing a major reef-building species in the region. This coral is threatened by extinction due to the recent proliferation of a white-plague like (WPL) disease. Despite its severe impacts, the environmental factors leading to outbreaks of WPL disease are still poorly understood. This study describes the seasonal prevalence of WPL disease on M. braziliensis in the Abrolhos Bank, on the southern coast of Bahia Brazil. In situ estimates showed that WPL disease was about 4.5 times more prevalent in summer (January 2007, mean sea surface temperature 27.4°C) than in winter (July 2007, 25.0°C). This result suggests that the prevalence of WPL disease in M. braziliensis is temperature-dependent, supporting the hypothesis that warmer oceans are facilitating the proliferation of coral diseases worldwide.


Layer-by-layer (LbL) thin film assembly behaviors of the polymethylene-type polyelectrolytes poly(fumaric acid) andpoly(methyleneamine) were comprehensively studiedas afunctionofthedipping solution pH values. Since polymethylene-type polyelectrolytes can possess double the density of side-chain charges of conventional vinyl (or polyethylene-type) polyelectrolytes, they exhibited stronger intramolecular side-chain interactions, which were revealed by potentiometric titrations and their sequential adsorption behaviors. Thicknesses of the LbL thin films obtained decreased with the degree of ionization of both polyelectrolytes. The pH-dependent variation in film thickness was subtle and continuous when compared with the vinyl polyelectrolytes, probably because of the large variation in pKa of the polymethylene-type polyelectrolytes in the multilayer thin films. Refractive indices of the thin films were not positively correlated with their thicknesses, but the pH matrix displayed maximum values for the combination of almost fully charged polycation and polyanion. The main chains of highly charged polyelectrolytes are apparently substantially extended, resulting in the optimal packing of polycations and polyanions, in terms of the electrostatic attractions, to form high-density polymer films. AFM measurements revealed that the high-density thin films are composed of densely assembled almost monodispersed polymer nanoparticles with an average diameter of 17 nm. In contrast, flexible polymers with fewer side-chain charges are loosely assembled, giving thicker films of relatively low density. Thus, the pH matrix of the refractive indices is inversely correlated with that of the roughness parameters determined by AFM measurements. Finally, FT-IR-RAS spectra revealed the presence of charged species in all the LbL thin films, suggesting a significantly decreased pKa for poly(fumaric acid). These results illustrate some of the most fundamental and unexplored aspects of LbL film assemblies based on the simplest of chemical structures.


According to the National Institute of Mental Health, every fourth American adult and every tenth child suffers from a diagnosable mental illness, yet fewer than ten percent seek therapy or treatment. (1) Lack of health insurance coverage aside, consumer activist groups such as the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) report that cultural stigma inhibits members who fear receiving the indelible labels of "crazy," "wacko," "psycho," or "nuts." As Otto Wahl has documented in his Media Madness: Public Images of Mental Illness (1995), much of this prejudice and negative stereotyping can be directly traced to media, toys, bumper stickers, and even T-shirts--in other words, the entire image-producing apparatus of modern mass media. As Wahl argues, the media continues to circulate stock figures such as the deranged serial killer, psycho-rapist, child molester, homicidal maniac, loony artist, demented scientist, unstable roommate, rampaging escaped mental patient, insanely jealous lover, sociopathic murderer, and weird psychiatrist or psychotherapist. Such themes have haunted the fine art tradition as well, especially in the anti-rationalist work of Goya, Edvard Munch, and surrealist photographers such as Dora Maar and Man Ray. This stigmatization persists despite a growing scientific appreciation of mental illnesses as a combination of environmental stressors and neurochemical events. Criminal justice statistics also demonstrate that the most common illnesses--depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia--actually render their sufferers far more prone to becoming victims of violence and theft than of becoming offenders themselves. Moreover, even educated members of the public commonly confuse schizophrenia with multiple personality disorder, depression with grief and sadness, bipolar highs with artistic inspiration, or mental illness with retardation (itself a stigmatizing label). When mental illness is linked with substance abuse, often due to attempts at self-medication, such misconceptions can sway legislators to withhold funding for research and facilities, judges and juries to disregard so-called insanity defenses, employers to not hire those with emotional disabilities, or citizens to petition against the placement of recovery facilities and halfway houses in their own neighborhoods. A case in point, recent electoral history has shown that no candidate can run for national office having had documented experience with mental illness of any sort. Yet while popular culture and mainstream media have largely contributed to the prejudices against the mentally ill, people living with these disorders have persistently sought out venues for protest and change. NAMI, for example, has worked with broadcasters in the production of public service announcements often funded by government agencies including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). NAMI even conducts its own "StigmaBusting" and media watch activities. The anti-psychiatry movement, populated by those who have suffered abuse at the hands of mental health professionals, systematically use print, radio, and electronic publication with high levels of planning and sophistication, as per organizations such as MindFreedom International. Mental health advocates are now paying increasing attention to the growing number of Web-based video-sharing sites including blip.tv, Google Video, Metacafe, Veoh, and MySpace. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The experimentally growing number of shared video sites varies in terms of technical specification such as file size, downloading software, editorial control over content, fidelity to copyright restrictions, advertising and access costs, and longevity. Some sites act as clearinghouses for several others, digesting and selecting as per the consumer's preferences. Like so much of the Internet, "there is no there there" that allows for definitive analysis, although (again, like much of the Internet) the most frequently visited site is PornoTube. …


Abstract If client values are not fully understood in a construction project it is likely to result in either low fulfilment of client expectations or multiple design alterations during the project process which lead to additional costs and frustration among the project participants. However, it is not a straightforward management task to operationalize client value in construction. Within this context, the client group comprises multiple stakeholders, which often have conflicting goals and values that may not be fully realized by the stakeholders themselves. The management challenge is further complicated by the fact that the delivery team, which is responsible for understanding and delivering client value, is made up of even more different parties. The article reports the initial outcome of a joint research project between academics and practitioners, which aims to develop a practical workshop model that incorporates client values into the conceptual design of construction projects. The workshop model draws on value management and lean thinking as underlying principles in an attempt to address the ambiguous concept of 'value'.


This paper offers a descriptive empirical analysis of the geographic pattern of income inequality within a sample of 359 US metropolitan areas between 1980 and 2000. Specifically, we decompose the variance of metropolitan area-level household income into two parts: one associated with the degree of variation among household incomes within neighborhoods defined by block groups and tracts and the other associated with the extent of variation among households in different neighborhoods. Consistent with previous work, the results reveal that the vast majority of a city's overall income inequality at least three quarters is driven by within-neighborhood variation rather than between-neighborhood variation, although we find that the latter rose significantly during the 1980s, especially between block groups. We then identify a number of metropolitan area-level characteristics that are associated with both levels of and changes in the degree of each type of residential income inequality. JEL Classification: D31, R23, J10


Assembler Encoding represents Artificial Neural Network in a form of a simple program called Assembler Encoding Program. The task of the program is to create the so-called Network Definition Matrix which maintains all the information necessary to construct a neural network. To generate Assembler Encoding Programs and in consequence neural networks evolutionary techniques are used. The paper addresses the problem of creating modular neural networks in Assembler Encoding. The paper discusses different methods used in Assembler Encoding for this purpose. The methods are described and analyzed in terms of their effectiveness and frequency of use in Assembler Encoding Programs.


"This paper seeks to contribute to the literature on village governance and local public goods provision. Using data from 144 village-level governments in India's Tamil Nadu state, we examine whether the gender and caste of village government leaders influence village public goods provision. In particular, we examine: 1) whether public goods are provided in accordance with gender or caste preferences; and 2) whether public goods provision differs based on the knowledge level of the village government leader. We find evidence of different preferences for public goods between men and women, and between Scheduled Caste (SC) and non-SC persons. Additionally, a test of knowledge regarding the village government reveals that female and SC presidents receive lower scores relative to male and non-SC presidents, with women scoring lowest overall. We find that preferences and knowledge have little effect on public goods provision by female presidents, and hypothesize that this may be due to the influence of their male spouses. In the context of SC presidents, we find evidence that SC presidents provide more drinking water access—a location-specific public good—to SC-inhabited village areas." from authors' abstract


Soy peroxidase enzyme obtained from isoelectic precipitation procedures was added to all-purpose flour (APF) to assess its effects on the rheological properties and consumer acceptability of yeast bread. A pH 4.8 isoelectrically precipitated fraction from soybeans was used because it produced the most precipitate and had about the same peroxidase activity as the other fractions. Gluten strength was determined using a farinograph for seven treatment groups: control (all-purpose flour), bread flour, all-purpose flour + soy flour, bread flour + soy flour, all purpose flour + pH 4.8 precipitate, all-purpose flour + 15 mg soybean peroxidase, and all-purpose flour + 25 mg soybean peroxidase. Four types of yeast bread were baked for loaf volume determination, texture analysis, and consumer acceptability: a control loaf using only all-purpose flour, a reference loaf using all bread flour, a loaf with all purpose flour + whole soy flour, and a loaf with all-purpose flour + pH 4.8 soy precipitate. The APF+soy flour, bread flour, bread flour + soy flour, and the APF + pH 4.8 precipitate produced an improvement in the gluten strength and mixing tolerance compared to the control (p<0.05). However, the improvement by the addition of the pH 4.8 precipitate cannot be attributed to the peroxidase enzyme because peroxidase needs hydrogen peroxide as a substrate and no hydrogen peroxidase could be added to the farinogragh; therefore, it was concluded that the increase in gluten strength produced by the pH 4.8 soy precipitate was due to an unknown component present in the pH 4.8 fraction. No significant differences (p<0.05) were found in crumb or crust texture for any of the treatment groups. The addition of pH 4.8 precipitate to APF significantly decreased (p<0.05) loaf volume compared to bread made from bread flour. The results from sensory analysis showed there was no difference in preference for any of the breads. This study showed no conclusive evidence that peroxidase enzyme improved gluten strength or loaf volume of yeast bread, but further research is warranted.


In Strand, travel writer and amateur naturalist Bonnie Henderson traces the stories of wrack washed up on the mile-long stretch of Oregon beach she has walked regularly for more than a decade. Henderson's writing conveys both a keen attention to the specifics of place and an expansive field of vision. The burned hull of a long-abandoned fishing boat, a glass fishing float, the egg case of a skate, a beached minke whale, an unusual number of dead murres, and an athletic shoe are the starting points for essays that reach across the globe. Henderson takes readers from Coos Bay, Oregon, to Vancouver, B.C.; from the currents circulating through the North Pacific to the Eastern Garbage Patch? between Hawaii and California; from China's Shenzhen Special Economic Zone to fishing villages on the coast of Hokkaido, Japan.As Henderson uncovers these odysseys, she meditates on current issues, events, and phenomenaoil spills, the proliferation of ocean debris, international trade, the evolution of sharks, and the survival prospects of whales. The characters that emerge range from the world's leading minke whale researchers to the crew of a Coast Guard airbase to a small-town salvager of wrecked fishing boats, glued to the radio and praying for disaster. Strand offers a thoughtful look at the surprisingly far-ranging journeys of what washes up on our Pacific shores.


We have developed a model for diffusion zoning development in garnet employing a numerical modeling system, Elle [Jessell et al. 2001]. The Elle system simulates textural development at thin section scale with an assumption that long term textural changes can be achieved by adding incremental processes. Many numerical models have been developed for the diffusion zoning pattern of garnet, but these models considered only lattice diffusion without allowing grain boundary diffusion. However, our model simulates the diffusion zoning in garnets by considering not only lattice diffusion but also grain boundary/lattice reaction and grain boundary diffusion. Sub-processes for our garnet-biotite system include (1) lattice diffusion, (2) grain-boundary diffusion, and (3) grain boundary/lattice reaction. The finite difference explicit method was used for the numerical calculation of lattice and boundary diffusion. For diffusion calculation, chemical concentrations of individual nodal points are used to calculate the amount of transported cations with diffusion coefficients determined from experiments. For lattice/boundary reaction, the lowest energy compositions of garnet and biotite were calculated using the distribution coefficient. Experimental runs were performed to test the consistency and reproducibility of the results. The results demonstrate the consistency and reproducibility, but show somewhat different zoning from that of Spear (1991), due to reduced dimension (3D in nature vs 2D in our model) and the arbitrarily chosen reaction constant. In spite of these limitations, we feel that the model presented here is at least a good starting point for diffusive mass transfer in a material with grain boundary structure. Journal of the Virtual Explorer, 2004 Volume 15 Paper 6 http://virtualexplorer.com.au/ An Elle-based 2-D model for cation exchange reaction between garnet and biotite Page 2 Journal of the Virtual Explorer, 2004 Volume 15 Paper 6 http://virtualexplorer.com.au/ An Elle-based 2-D model for cation exchange reaction between garnet and biotite Page 3


J. D. Fage and William Todoroff. A History of Africa. 4th Edition. London/New York: Routledge, 2002. xi + 653 pp. Illustrations. Tables. Maps. Bibliography. Index. $28.95. Paper. Christopher Ehret. The Civilizations of Africa: A History to 1800. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2002. 480 pp. Illustrations. Maps. Tables. Recommended readings. Index. $50.00. Cloth. $22.50. Paper. The writing of an African history textbook is certainly a challenge even for the most accomplished historian. A good textbook should be able to convey in a clear and synthetic manner historical knowledge, which is by nature complex and problematic. It needs to recognize the gaps in our existing knowledge but also to be authoritative in presenting possible interpretations. In other words, it needs to be simple without being simplistic; it needs to be clear without being patronizing. The two texts reviewed here fulfill these requirements and will be useful for both teachers and students. They are well-written works of reference that offer helpful introductions to the history of the continent and valuable orientation about where to go next. Texts, however, are also important for the overall interpretations they provide, and it is in this area that the books reviewed here are quite different from each other. Like its predecessors, this fourth edition of A History of Africa by J. D. Fage and William Todoroff is an accomplished historical narrative: accurate, well informed, and clearly written. While the bulk of the text remains unchanged from the third edition (1995), Todoroff has contributed significant revisions to chapter 18 and added a nineteenth chapter that takes the history of Africa from 1990 to the present. The bibliography also has been revised and updated. These additions make A History of Africa one of the most up-to-date texts available, something that will be welcome to students given the constant changes experienced by the continent. The overall interpretation presented in the text, however, follows Page's original framework and does not reflect recent changes in the field of African history. The text is narrowly focused on the political history of Africa. It includes some aspects of social and economic history, but these are not given enough weight. The examination of culture is for the most part neglected. Textbooks have to be selective and choices have to be made. Still, one wishes that more attention had been paid to some of the fascinating research on cultures and identities that has appeared in recent years. Another problem is that the space allotted to different regions of Africa does not seem to be well balanced, particularly in the pre-1800 period. West Africa dominates. Given the political focus of the book, it is understandable that the author treats the savannah empires (e.g., Ghana, Mali) in detail and uses these examples to explain the processes of state formation in what he generally calls "Bantu Africa." Although this comparative approach may be useful for the sake of clarity, it obscures elements of local development in East, Central, and South Africa that are important in order to understand the political and social history of these regions. A common complaint against African history textbooks is the inadequate treatment of the pre-1800 period. This has usually been justified by the wealth of information available on later periods in comparison with earlier times. Unfortunately this imbalance does little to encourage the study of formative processes of African societies and cultures, and prevents students from understanding the ways in which social, cultural, and political strategies emerged among many African peoples. …


In this paper we examine the information content of business survey information, focusing in particular on some of the characteristics of the net balance statistic. A number of Australian business surveys are appraised. Four aspects are examined: the extent to which surveys are correlated with economic variables that they are designed to track; advantages in terms of timeliness; the degree to which surveys are forward or backward-looking; and the ability of business surveys to pick turning points. In summary, the business conditions (including sales/output), employment and selling prices components of the business surveys seem to provide the most information, and to a lesser extent the component relating to corporate profitability. Taken together, the surveys can provide useful coincident information on the economy with some advantage in terms of timeliness. The recommended approach to the use of business surveys is to extract common themes and not place too much weight on a single result.


The concept of agriculture intensification, in traditional terms, is understood as a process of increasing inputs of work units and/or industrial means of production in order to increase production per unit of agricultural land or animal. Having regard to the greater human pressure to natural environment, there is the need of sustainable intensification implementation. Sustainable intensification concerns agricultural productivity increase, simultaneously reducing agriculture negative impact on ecosystem. Sustainable intensification can be understood in two different ways. The first one refers to inputs minimization, mainly industrial inputs, although such practices may result in reduction of economic outcomes. The second approach is based on the use of agrobiological processes in factor productivity improvement. In this case, of particular importance is the farmer`s extensive knowledge, which translates to the quality of agri-environmental practices, as well as the use of environmentally friendly traditional and modern production technologies. The purpose of the article is economic assessment of farms in Poland, diversified in the scope of sustainable intensification process. This process was evaluated on the basis of soil fertility data, namely balance of soil organic matter. Farm Accountancy Data Network was used (2004, 2015).  Keywords: sustainable intensification, soil fertility, soil organic matter balance, economic outcomes, farms sustainability, Farm Accountancy Data Network, Poland


Heterogeneity is ubiquitous in firm-level and sectoral data. Equilibrium models, however, typically assume a representative firm, as in Andrew B. Abel and Olivier J. Blanchard (1983). The representative firm paradigm leaves no role for the distribution of capital. We model capital reallocation in a general equilibrium model with two sectors. Capital adjustment costs capture illiquidity in our model, similar to Hirofumi Uzawa's (1969) capital installation technology. We follow Fumio Hayashi (1982) in assuming that the production technology is linearly homogeneous, which allows us to focus on the sectoral distribution of capital, separately from the level of total capital. The two sectors may have different levels of productivity, and we show that the distribution of capital between the two sectors is the single state variable governing investment, growth, and valuation in the economy.We analytically characterize prices and quantities, including investment, growth, the interest rate, and the price of capital (Tobin's q) at both aggregate and sectoral levels, along with the effects of sectoral heterogeneity and reallocation in the economy. Without adjustment costs, capital is immediately reallocated to the more productive sector. With adjustment costs, the central planner optimally trades off growth against the cost of reallocating capital. Hence, reallocation to the high productivity sector is not immediate, and reallocation itself expends resources. When the more productive sector is initially small, investment exceeds output in the high productivity sector, so output from the less productive sector finances growth in the more productive sector. Nonetheless, investment and growth optimally continue in the initially larger, low productivity sector. This occurs because, while the sector is relatively less productive, its output can be reinvested in the other, more productive, sector. This is more efficient than directly uninstalling capital from the less productive sector and reinstalling it in the more productive sector because of adjustment costs. The capital stock in the less productive sector dwindles over time as its growth rate shrinks, and eventually the economy specializes in the more productive technology. As the economy moves toward specialization, the growth rate is nonmonotonic. At first, the aggregate growth rate falls, because more resources are expended on reallocation, but eventually the growth rate rises as the economy specializes in the high productivity sector. The interest rate follows this same nonmonotonic pattern, first falling and then rising along with the aggregate growth rate because the equilibrium interest rate must rise with the growth rate of aggregate consumption to clear the market.


This thesis examines the growing trend of cinematisation in computer and console games, where both visual styles and industrial practices are concerned. The ever-increasing runtime of cinematic cutscenes in games, and the stylization of game graphics in accordance with established film genres are of primary focus regarding the gaming industry's absorption and interpretation of cinematic visuals. Comparisons of film-game convergence are based on the proliferation of non-gameplay promotional trailers and their role in hype-generation; as well as game producer strategies of franchising, cross-promotion, and initial-sales business model. Comparison is thus accomplished with regards to a number of fundamental similarities in both industries' business and commercial tactics, as stemming from the risk and reward-based investment financing system prevalent in both industries. Finally, a selection of user and industry professional video responses to the aforementioned trends are examined, both for their value in counter-balancing the assumptions of success which often follow staggeringly high initial sales figures; and for their value in layering the depth of film-game convergence even further, as they respond to the recent, filmic trends in games using the very language of film.