This paper presents evidence of the importance of electronics global value chains (GVCs) in the global economy, and discusses the effects of the recent economic crisis on the industry. The analysis focuses on how information is exchanged and introduces the concept of"value chain modularity."The authors identify three key firm level actors -- lead firms, contract manufacturers, and platform leaders -- and discuss their development, or"co-evolution"in the context of global integration. Company, cluster, and country case studies are then presented to illustrate how supplier capabilities in various places have developed in the context of electronics global value chains. The findings identify some of the persistent limits to upgrading experienced by even the most successful firms in the developing world. Four models used by developing country firms to overcome these limitations are presented: (1) global expansion though acquisition of declining brands (emerging multinationals); (2) separation of branded product divisions from contract manufacturing (original design manufacturing (ODM) spinoffs); (3) successful mixing of contract manufacturing and branded products (platform brands) for contractors with customers not in the electronic hardware business; and (4) the founding of factory-less product firms that rely on global value chains for a range of inputs, including production (emerging factory-less start-ups).


© 2011. The Authors. Licensee: OpenJournals Publishing. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. In the past few years, African medicinal plants have received considerable attention, and it has been lamented that the documentation of the continent's species that are used in traditional medicine lags behind China and India in terms of 'internationally recognised phytochemical standards'. This book not only redresses this issue, but is the first to include plants from the south, north, east and west of Africa. In South Africa alone, there are over 3000 species that are used for medicinal purposes, with over 70% of the Black African population relying on medicinal flora as part of their primary health care and 84% of clinic patients confirming their preference for wildcrafted raw herbal medicines in spite of having access to western health care.1 Both traditional and Western healing systems are used – many educated Black people retain traditional practices as they are regarded as an important cultural link to their predecessors. Throughout Africa, plants are viewed as contributors to health; they are also used in religious and cultural ceremonies. The African continent has a rich biodiversity and this is matched by a commensurate proliferation of medicinal plant use. So the trade of medicinal plants in Africa is substantial, but largely informal, and consists of plant collectors as well as traders at herbal markets.


The complexity of a common inflammatory disease is influenced by multiple genetic and environmental factors contributing to the susceptibility of disease. Studies have reported that these exogenous and endogenous components may perturb the balance of innate immune response by activating the NLRP3 inflammasome. The multimeric NLRP3 complex results in the caspase-1 activation and the release of potent inflammatory cytokines, like IL-1β. Several studies have been performed on the association of the genetic alterations in genes encoding NLRP3 and CARD8 with the complex diseases with inflammatory background, like inflammatory bowel disease, cardiovascular diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, and type 1 diabetes. The aim of the present review is therefore to summarize the literature regarding genetic alterations in these genes and their association with health and disease.


The thesis of this essay is that the most important legal effects of the Supreme Court's decision in NFIB v. Sebelius are likely to be indirect. Sebelius marks a possible shift in what we can call the "constitutional gestalt" regarding the meaning and implications of the so-called "New Deal Settlement." Before Sebelius, the consensus understanding was that New Deal and Warren Court cases had established a constitutional regime of plenary and virtually unlimited national legislative power under the Commerce Clause (which might be subject to narrow and limited carve outs protective of the core of state sovereignty).After Sebelius, the constitutional gestalt is unsettled. In Sebelius, five justices of the Supreme Court endorsed a view of the commerce clause that is inconsistent with the constitutional gestalt associated with the New Deal Settlement. A fissure has opened in constitutional politics, creating space for an alternative constitutional gestalt. The core idea of the alternative view is that the New Deal Settlement did not create plenary and virtually unlimited legislative power; instead, proponents of the New Federalism argue that New Deal and Warren Court cases establish only the constitutionality of particular federal programs and specific zones of federal power. The most important indirect effect of Sebelius is that it enables constitutional contestation over the content of the constitutional gestalt and the meaning of the New Deal Settlement.This is a revised draft and replaces the draft of October 16, 2012, which is now on file with the author.


The idea behind this paper was stimulated by known of the theory of automatic control definition concern potential pulse characteristics. It is used for increase of metrological accuracy of the distributed temperature sensor. All known works used averaging of the pulse response or its processing on certain algorithms for reduction of an error of transformation. It is bad idealization of used pulse signals for simplification of calculations. Thus it is supposed by default that risetime and decrease of pulse top do not influence to accuracy. The given approach does not consider an error due the transitive characteristic for any signal transferred through system with finite number of elements. It is shown that in actual life it mismatches the validity. A new distributed temperature sensor structure with the characteristics nearly to so-called potentially achievable is proposed. It is offered to use the mathematical theory of potentially achievable pulse characteristics for definition of limitations of accuracy of the pulse converter. Thus our approach is a refusal of signal idealization otherwise use the constructive methods of approximation. The new approach allows to consider transient parameters: the risetime duration, cut-off, deadtime, and peak overshoot. In turn, it minimized an error related with methods of temperature calculation. For modeling the reflected signal is presented in the form of Lanne polynomials. The second polynomial Remez algorithm has been used for finding of peak overshoot. Finally, in the paper the operation principle of distributed temperature sensor is resulted. The methods related decreasing of noise influence to measurement are designated. Some practical advice on increase accuracy of measurement by distributed temperature sensor is given.


Abstract Chronic venous insufficiency of the lower limbs is a disease which is caused by an increased blood pressure inside the veins of the leg and the resulting increase of the contained blood volume. This work focuses on developing a device which uses impedance plethysmography, also known as impedance phlebography, to obtain information about the blood volume in the lower leg and provides the possibility to measure the impedance semi contact-less, e.g. through compression stockings. Furthermore a real-time beat-to-beat interval detection algorithm was implemented. Finally, the function of the developed impedance measuring system and the whole system was verified by comparing it with a gold standard. In comparison to the conductive coupling, the system performed similarly. The analysis showed that the developed system is suitable for semi-capacitive IPG. The algorithm was implemented conservatively since it provided a good false-positive rate of 0 %, but only a moderate sensitivity of about 68 %. Reliable and continuous measurement of the pulse signal was only possible in periods of immobility.


For industry observers, it is evident that the postal industry has changed dramatically over this past decade and that it will continue to change over the next. It is also true that many operators have been successful in adapting their organisations to the new reality and in actively pursuing novel strategies for growth.
Despite the digital challenges, paper has an impact and is still a compelling medium. Most informed analyses now talk about integrating the digital and the physical, in order to maximise the benefits from each and the postal industry is certainly in a unique position to be at the heart of this integration. The contributions in this book, the second in The Future is in the Post series, outline the nature of the transformation in the postal industry, and emphasise the role of technology.
The Future is in the Post II is intended to provide managers, suppliers, customers, policy-makers and politicians, regulators, academics, and in fact anyone with an interest in the postal industry, with some insights into the challenges and opportunities it is facing, and how it is transforming itself through the strategic actions of its operators.
The main part of the book contains contributions from a diverse group of people (and organisations) involved with the postal industry worldwide. These very experienced industry professionals discuss specific issues relating to transformation, strategic developments and options for the postal industry. Their contributions offer valuable insights for all those interested in the future of the post.


This paper investigates how climate change can affect agricultural production and proposes some adaptation measures that could be undertaken to mitigate the negative effects of climate change while enhancing the positive ones. The paper stresses the importance of planned adaptation measures and highlights possible strategies for reducing risk and improving resilience. To quantify the possible effects of climate change and the effects of adaptation measures this study uses the International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT). The analysis first explores the potential effects of climate change on yields and prices. It then goes on to analyse the potential impacts of two distinctive sets of adaptation strategies on yields, prices, and food security, namely: i) research and development (to develop new crop varieties that are better suited to changed climate conditions) and ii) changes in irrigation technology. Last, the analysis in this paper estimates the public and private investment needs in research and development (R&D) for developing new crop varieties, and further develops estimates of the cost of improving irrigation technologies in OECD countries.


This case study describes the development of a climate change information system for New York State, one of the physically largest states in the United States. Agriculture (including dairy production and vineyards) and water-related tourism are large parts of the state economy, and both are expected to be affected dramatically by climate change. The highly politicized nature of the climate change debate in America makes the delivery of science-based information even more urgent and challenging. The United States does not have top-down science communication policies, as many countries do; this case will describe how diverse local and state agencies, corporations, NGOs, and other actors collaborated with university researchers to create a suite of products and online tools with stable, science-based information carefully crafted and targeted to avoid politicization and facilitate education and planning for community, agricultural and business planners and state policy makers who are making decisions now with 20 to 50 year time frames.


PURPOSE Secondary health care services have been under considerable pressure in England as attendance rates increase, resulting in longer waiting times and greater demands on staff. This study's aim was to examine the association between continuity of care and risk of emergency hospital admission among older adults. METHODS We analyzed records from 10,000 patients aged 65 years and older in 2012 within 297 English general practices obtained from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink and linked with Hospital Episode Statistics. We used the Bice and Boxerman (BB) index and the appointed general practitioner index (last general practitioner consulted before hospitalization) to quantify patient-physician continuity. The BB index was used in a prospective cohort approach to assess impact of continuity on risk of admission. Both indices were used in a separate retrospective nested case-control approach to test the effect of changing physician on the odds of hospital admission in the following 30 days. RESULTS In the prospective cohort analysis, the BB index showed a graded, non-significant inverse relationship of continuity of care with risk of emergency hospital admission, although the hazard ratio for patients experiencing least continuity was 2.27 (95% CI, 1.37–3.76) compared with those having complete continuity. In the retrospective nested case-control analysis, we found a graded inverse relationship between continuity of care and emergency hospital admission for both BB and appointed general practitioner indices: for the latter, the odds ratio for those experiencing least continuity was 2.32 (95% CI, 1.48–3.63) relative to those experiencing most continuity. CONCLUSIONS Marked discontinuity of care might contribute to increased unplanned hospital admissions among patients aged 65 years and older. Schemes to enhance continuity of care have the potential to reduce hospital admissions.


Large-scale hydrology is often insufficiently represented by ground monitoring networks and land surface models. The launch of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission provides an independent source to quantify water cycle dynamics over large basins. The main objective of this PhD thesis is to improve our understanding of water resources in water-limited environments through the use of spatially-improved GRACE observations.

Firstly, the benefits and challenges from readily available GRACE global solutions at a 4° resolution were examined. GRACE global solutions from CSR and GRGS were applied to investigate the recent decadal groundwater depletion trend over the Hai River Basin in China. Results show an agreement between GRACE and in-situ groundwater observations: the Hai River Basin, especially the North China Plain, exhibited a constant declining trend in groundwater storage between 2003 and 2012. Continuous groundwater depletion is mainly attributed to anthropogenic over-extraction rather than climatic variability. This study highlights the value of using GRACE observations to provide rapid and independent estimates of regional groundwater storage change, which can supplement the scarcity of ground measurements. However, the coarse spatial resolution associated with GRACE global solutions prevents the analysis of spatial variability in groundwater depletions within the basin.

Secondly, the benefits of applying newly developed the regional GRACE solutions at a 2° resolution for the estimation of large-scale evapotranspiration (ET) in two semi-arid and arid Australian basins were assessed. The GRACE ET estimates from these regional solutions were compared with three continental ET products; one derived from a land surface model and two from energy-based satellite models. The results demonstrate that the satellite energy balance ET models poorly represent water availability at different temporal and spatial scales; ET was overestimated during water stressed conditions and underestimated when it was wet. Integrated with optical and thermal satellite retrievals, however, these energy-based models are capable of detecting ET heterogeneities over land surfaces. In comparison, water balance constrained GRACE (P-△S) estimates are able to capture dynamic ET variations over large spatial domains.

As a result of these findings, a wavelet fusion approach was proposed to further refine GRACE ET estimates, as well as to better constrain energy-based ET estimates. The improvements were achieved by combining GRACE (P-△S) and an ET product forced by optical and thermal remote sensing retrievals. A wavelet-based multi-scale fusion approach embodied with a flexible coefficient weighting scheme highlights the large-scale ET patterns from GRACE but also the small-scale ET features from the energy balance constrained model. Compared with original ET sources, our fused ET results display a significant improvement in spatial accuracy and a better sensibility to rainfall variability over temporal scales.

Overall, this research confirms GRACE's capability and potential contributions in understanding the hydrology of arid and semi-arid environments. In these regions, water fluxes are limited by water availability rather than energy, hence the water balance framework used in GRACE studies is ideal. A prospective analysis highlights that the GRACE fusion method developed in this thesis has potential applications for other components of the water cycle for the purpose of enhancing estimation accuracy in time and/or space.


Low‐frequency noise and rumble problems can occur in HVAC systems due to problems with the fan, the duct sytem, the fan/duct interface, and even the control system. This discussion deals with fan related problems only. Items that will be discussed include: the importance of fan‐type selection (centrifugal, axial, plenum, etc.), selecting the right fan size for the required duty, the importance of aerodynamic conditions at the fan inlet and outlet, and the problems associated with VAV control mechanisms. The discussion will also address the importance of proper vibration isolation and how to prevent common problems. Specific project examples will be included.


This study compares the average cost and affordability of personal passenger automobile insurance premiums in each of the 10 Canadian provinces from 2007 to 2009. Four provinces have government-owned monopolies that sell insurance coverage to drivers. The other six rely on a regulated competitive private sector to provide auto insurance.Comparisons across all 10 provinces in the years from 2007 to 2009 show that the average price for auto insurance premiums was highest in British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. Of those provinces, three have government-run auto insurance monopolies. The least expensive average premium in 2008 was in Prince Edward Island where auto insurance is delivered in a regulated, competitive, private-sector insurance market. The least expensive premium in 2007 and 2009 was in Quebec, which has a government-run auto insurance monopoly but only for bodily injury.The study examines why Ontario has relatively high average premiums and why Quebec's average premiums are relatively low. Ontario has relatively severe regulations, and is experiencing a significant problem with insurance fraud. Quebec has less onerous rate regulations and less generous prescribed benefits.The findings are generally consistent with previous editions of this study and other previous research comparing auto insurance in international jurisdictions including all 10 Canadian provinces. All studies show that auto insurance does not tend to be less costly in jurisdictions that have government auto insurance monopolies, despite claims to the contrary.


We use a large, nationally-representative sample of working-age adults to demonstrate that personality (as measured by the Big Five) is stable over a four-year period. Average personality changes are small and do not vary substantially across age groups. Intra-individual personality change is generally unrelated to experiencing adverse life events and is unlikely to be economically meaningful. Like other non-cognitive traits, personality can be modeled as a stable input into many economic decisions. JEL classi cation: J3, C18.


The response of transducers with arbitrary polarity sequences can be expressed simply, allowing for electrostatic neighbour effects, by using as an element factor the charge distribution obtained for excitation of one electrode. New calculations of this element factor are presented for a range of metallisation ratios. Treating interelectrode gaps as elementary sources gives an element factor which is less dependent on frequency.


Assuming no prior knowledge, books in the series offer an accessible overview of the subject, with activities, study questions, sample analyses, commentaries, and key readings – all in the same volume. The innovative and flexible 'two-dimensional' structure is built around four sections – introduction, development, exploration, and extension – which offer self-contained stages for study. Each topic can also be read across these sections, enabling the reader to build gradually on the knowledge gained. Global Englishes, Third Edition, previously published as World Englishes, has been comprehensively revised and updated and provides an introduction to the subject that is both accessible and comprehensive. Key features of this best-selling textbook include: coverage of the major historical, linguistic, and sociopolitical developments in the English language from the start of the seventeenth century to the present day exploration of the current debates in global Englishes, relating to its uses as mother tongue in the US, UK, Antipodes, and post-colonial language in Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and lingua franca across the rest of the globe, with a new and particularly strong emphasis on China a range of texts, data and examples draw from emails, tweets and newspapers such as The New York Times, China Daily and The Straits Times readings from key scholars including Alastair Pennycook, Henry G. Widdowson and Lesley Milroy activities that engage the reader by inviting them to draw on their own experience and consider their orientation to the particular topic in hand. Global Englishes, Third Edition provides a dynamic and engaging introduction to this fascinating topic and is essential reading for all students studying global Englishes, English as a lingua franca, and the spread of English in the world today.


The behaviour of wire ropes used in mine hoisting is not well understood. In an effort to improve this understanding, the structure of round-strand wire ropes was analysed. This report provides a generalised mathematical model that completely describes the geometry of the wires. It consists of two sets of vector equations and is valid for any round-strand wire rope. One set of equations is used to trace the paths of wires that have the form of a single helix. The other is used for the paths of double helical wires. The specific model for a 33-mm 6x19 Seale, IWRC, right regular lay wire rope was presented as an example. The paths and the geometric properties of the wires which include the path length per lay of strand, the curvature, and the torsion were determined from this model. In future work, the model could be used to conduct stress analysis for the wires in the deformed rope at a given rope strain and also to study the effect of wear and breaking of wires on strength loss for the various round-strand wire ropes used in mine hoisting.


Objective
To observe (1) the proportion and nature of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) in patients treated at a geriatric psychiatry ward in Germany over a time span of 1 year and (2) the use and effect of various pharmacologic interventions in managing BPSD in a real-world scenario.

Methods
This study was a naturalistic, retrospective analysis. Between May 2015 and May 2016, 437 patients aged 65 to 100 years with various psychiatric diseases (including dementia, schizophrenia, and depression) were admitted to a geriatric psychiatry unit in Germany. Their medical charts were reviewed to identify patients with dementia who presented with BPSD according to DSM-5 criteria. Since a decline in behavioral organization is a typical clinical manifestation of delirium, delirious patients with behavioral symptoms at admission were also included.

Results
Of 437 patients, 74 (16.9%) showed severe behavioral symptoms that were categorized into 6 groups: aggression, screaming, wandering, food refusal, self-harm, and a combination of both behavioral and psychological symptoms. Overall, 65 patients (87.5%) showed improvement in their behavior regardless of the pharmacotherapy they were receiving.

Conclusions
BPSD is one of the main reasons for admission to a geriatric psychiatry unit. Most of the patients with BPSD showed an improvement of behavioral symptoms with pharmacotherapy. Nonetheless, a clear correlation between a specific pharmacologic agent and behavioral improvement could not be established. A multimodal concept that involves both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic approaches in managing BPSD should be the focus of future research.


The Optical Vortex Metrology is based on the possibility of characterizing, through topological and morphological parameters, each one of the vortices existing in the phase of the optical field, or in a pseudo-phase obtained by means of the Hibert, Reisz or Laguerre-Gauss transforms. On this basis, it is possible tracking and pairing the homologous vortices. Then, the locations and relative displacements between the homologous vortices are determined with sub-pixel precision. Because of the statistical nature of the measurements, their quality is determined, among other factors, by the amount of available vortices per unit area. In this work, it is proposed to use the internal modulation of the speckles to generate a significant increase in the vortex density, which can be achieved by employing a double aperture pupil optical system. Simulations of the speckle distributions are presented to analyze the increase of the vortex density as a function of the distance between the apertures, and to evaluate the influence of the increment of this density in the quality of uniform in-plane displacements measurements. The results corresponding to modulated speckles are compared with those obtained with a single aperture.


Abstract:This paper revisits the relationship between capitalism and colonialism by examining the case of British India under East India Company rule (1757–1858). The Marxist-nationalist historiography claims that colonialism generated a steady drain of wealth and that this drain was responsible for Indian famines, poverty, inequality, and economic retardation. I use the East India Company budgets to measure the extent of the wealth that was drained through three direct channels: oppressive land taxes, unproductive expenditures on the imperial army and civil administration, and the unrequited export of commodities from India to Britain. I conclude that available figures lend empirical support to the Marxist interpretation. There was a drain of wealth and its effects on the underdevelopment of former European colonies deserve further research.


Deficiencies in social activities are hallmarks of numerous brain disorders. With respect to schizophrenia, social withdrawal belongs to the category of negative symptoms and is associated with deficits in the cognitive domain. Here, we used the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist dizocilpine (MK-801) for induction of social withdrawal in rats and assessed the efficacy of several atypical antipsychotics with different pharmacological profiles as putative treatment. In addition, we reasoned that the marijuana constituent cannabidiol (CBD) may provide benefit or could be proposed as an adjunct treatment in combination with antipsychotics. Hooded Lister rats were tested in the three-chamber version for social interaction, with an initial novelty phase, followed after 3 min by a short-term recognition memory phase. No drug treatment affected sociability. However, distinct effects on social recognition were revealed. MK-801 reduced social recognition memory at all doses (>0.03 mg/kg). Predosing with aripiprazole dose-dependently (2 or 10 mg/kg) prevented the memory decline, but doses of 0.1 mg/kg risperidone or 1 mg/kg olanzapine did not. Intriguingly, CBD impaired social recognition memory (12 and 30 mg/kg) but did not rescue the MK-801-induced deficits. When CBD was combined with protective doses of aripiprazole (CBD–aripiprazole at 12 : 1 or 5 : 2 mg/kg) the benefit of the antipsychotic was lost. At the same time, activity-related changes in behaviour were excluded as underlying reasons for these pharmacological effects. Collectively, the combined activity of aripiprazole on dopamine D2 and serotonin 5HT1A receptors appears to provide a significant advantage over risperidone and olanzapine with respect to the rescue of cognitive deficits reminiscent of schizophrenia. The differential pharmacological properties of CBD, which are seemingly beneficial in human patients, did not back-translate and rescue the MK-801-induced social memory deficit.


BACKGROUND
An increase in serum alpha-glutathione S-transferase concentration (GST) has been shown to be a more sensitive and specific marker of hepatocellular damage than equivalent increases in transaminase activities. A randomized clinical trial of 60 liver transplants in 49 patients was carried out to assess the clinical benefits of GST monitoring as a supplementary test to routine liver function tests during the first 3 postoperative months after liver transplantation.

METHODS
Mortality and morbidity were compared in graft recipients who had their GST reported daily to the ward (reporting group) and graft recipients who did not.

RESULTS
The 3-month survival rate was significantly greater in the reporting group (P=0.033) and the risk of graft loss was halved (relative hazard ratio=0.50; P=0.29). The reporting group also had significantly more patients who spent less than 3 weeks in the hospital throughout the follow-up period (P=0.036). In addition, the reporting group experienced a lower frequency of biopsies per graft (P=0.038), less severe rejection (P=0.015), and a lower incidence of infection episodes per graft (P=0.03). GST increased by >50% above the upper limit of the reference range at a median of 1 day before the equivalent change in alanine transaminase in association with allograft rejection in the combined groups (95% confidence interval=1 to 2 days) but was lower on the day of diagnosis of rejection in the reporting group (P=0.02). This is compatible with the earlier diagnosis of rejection in the reporting group.

CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that the monitoring of GST may improve patient care, reducing both mortality and morbidity.


INTRODUCTION
Despite the benefits of highly-active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) on morbidity and mortality, some seropositive patients refuse to accept this treatment. Prisons provide easier access to this population.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the psychosocial characteristics of prisoners who refuse HAART.

METHODS
We performed a cross-sectional study in 580 seropositive prisoners in 3 hospitals in Andalusia (Spain). The dependent variable was being under treatment or refusal to be so. The independent variables were sociodemographic and psychosocial factors related to the prison environment and clinical factors related to health status and drug addiction. A logistic regression analysis was performed to determine which factors were related with refusal to accept HAART.

RESULTS
HAART was recommended to 73.1% of seropositive prisoners. This treatment was refused by 23.1% of these prisoners and was accepted by 76.9%. The factors related to refusal to accept HAART were high viral load, worse self-perceived health status, a greater number of stays in prison, and being visited by persons other than relatives.

CONCLUSIONS
There is a group of prisoners with specific characteristics that refuse HAART. Specific interventions should be performed in these prisoners to make them aware of the effects of their decision on the course of their disease.


Many non-standard elements of 'netspeak' writing can be viewed as efforts to replicate the linguistic role played by nonverbal modalities in speech, conveying contextual information such as affect and interpersonal stance. Recently, a new non-standard communicative tool has emerged in online writing: emojis. These unicode characters contain a standardized set of pictographs, some of which are visually similar to well-known emoticons. Do emojis play the same linguistic role as emoticons and other ASCII-based writing innovations? If so, might the introduction of emojis eventually displace the earlier, user-created forms of contextual expression? Using a matching approach to causal statistical inference, we show that as social media users adopt emojis, they dramatically reduce their use of emoticons, suggesting that these linguistic resources compete for the same communicative function. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the adoption of emojis leads to a corresponding increase in the use of standard spellings, suggesting that all forms of non-standard writing are losing out in a competition with emojis. Finally, we identify specific textual features that make some emoticons especially likely to be replaced by emojis.


Social media is the fastest growing communication medium in history. Integrating it into a company's marketing plan is becoming a necessity, regardless of the size of the company, for marketers to engage populations and promote their brands. This report is a comprehensive look into the implications of using these newer forms of communication for small businesses and organizations. In addition, there is an emphasis on using Facebook as a marketing tool because of its popularity and the capabilities it provides. First, the author will define the parameters of social media and take a brief look at the various platforms that exist. The report will then cover a more extensive overview of digital channels of communication as compared to traditional outlets as well as types of online marketing and advertising. Next the author will write about what all these new channels of communication can do and how small businesses and organizations can properly execute their own social media plans successfully as a way to interact with current and prospective customers. We will look at several examples of how the digital space has been used by other businesses and organizations including The University of Texas' Advertising Department. The report will conclude with a look at criticisms, growing trends and the future of social media.


The depth to carbonate nodular (Bk) horizon in soils ( D in cm) is correlated with mean annual precipitation ( P in mm), so that Bk horizons are deep in subhumid regions, but shallow in semiarid regions. Previous quantifications of this relationship are unchanged by this new compilation of 807 soils: P = 137.24 + 6.45 D + 0.013 D 2 , where R 2 = 0.52, and standard error (S.E.) = ±147 mm. In most North American postglacial soils, the Bk horizon is thin and well defined, whereas in monsoonal tropical soils of Pakistan and Kenya, the Bk horizon is thick and diffuse. Data from 675 modern soils define the relationship between the thickness of soil with nodules ( T in cm) and mean annual range of precipitation ( M in mm difference between monthly means of wettest and driest months): M = 0.79 T + 13.71, where R 2 = 0.58, and S.E. = ±22 mm). The relationship between carbonate nodule size ( S in cm) and soil age ( A in ka) is quantified by 9 radiocarbon-dated soils from Las Cruces, New Mexico: A = 3.92 S 0.34 , where R 2 = 0.57, and S.E. = 1.8 k.y. These transfer functions are applied to reconstructing paleoclimatic change from Paleocene–Eocene paleosols of the North Horn Formation and Flagstaff Limestone of Axhandle Canyon, Utah. The terminal Paleocene spike of warmth recorded by fossil plants in nearby Wyoming was coincident with a brief peak in both mean annual precipitation and mean annual range of precipitation in Utah.


New institutionalism has had considerable success during the last decade in shepherding the debate on sustained economic development. If the sociopolitical, legal and economic transformations in the Anglo-Saxon world in the last three decades prove anything, however, it is that the late Mancur Olson deserves some long overdue credit. For the relevant question now is why have some constitutional democracies deteriorated to the point of chronic dysfunction with their checks and balances failing. New institutionalists then ought to come to terms with the fact that, in the interest of credible empirical identification, they too narrowly defined what Northian institutions entail. As a matter of fact, political, legal and economic institutions are highly malleable even in advanced economies, while sustained economic growth could well be deep rooted in individual beliefs, social norms and informal cultural organizations.


ABSTRACT This systematic review assesses the impact of mental health problems upon attitudes, intentions and behaviours in the context of radicalisation and terrorism. We identified 25 studies that measured rates of mental health problems across 28 samples. The prevalence rates are heterogenous and range from 0% to 57%. If we pool the results of those samples (n = 19) purely focused upon confirmed diagnoses where sample sizes are known (n = 1705 subjects), the results suggest arate of 14.4% with aconfirmed diagnosis. Where studies relied upon wholly, or in some form, upon privileged access to police or judicial data, diagnoses occurred 16.96% of the time (n = 283 subjects). Where studies were purely focused upon open sources (n = 1089 subjects), diagnoses were present 9.82% of the time. We then explore (a) the types and rates of mental health disorders identified (b) comparison/control group studies (c) studies that explore causal roles of mental health problems and (d) other complex needs.


The economic crisis of 2008, starting from the US banking crisis, affected economic and political development in varied ways around the world. This edited volume examines the impact of the crisis on Eastern Europe and Russia, and the resulting policy responses. Taken as a whole, the economies of the former state socialist countries – frequently still referred to as transition economies – were hit hard by the crisis, suffering falls in GDP in 2009 that were deeper than the average around the world. However, there was considerable variety in the effects on individual countries, whilst some continuing to grow, others suffered quite exceptional falls in output. Policy responses were also quite diverse and do not obviously fit with the nature and severity of economic factors. The more general impacts on political life were also varied. In many cases very much the same governments continued in power, while in others there were significant changes and signs of a growing instability in party and political structures. The articles in this book explore these differences between countries and set them in a wider international context.


Generating natural language descriptions for videos, i.e., video captioning, essentially requires step-by-step reasoning along the generation process. For example, to generate the sentence "a man is shooting a basketball", we need to first locate and describe the subject "man", next reason out the man is "shooting", then describe the object "basketball" of shooting. However, existing visual reasoning methods designed for visual question answering are not appropriate to video captioning, for it requires more complex visual reasoning on videos over both space and time, and dynamic module composition along the generation process. In this paper, we propose a novel visual reasoning approach for video captioning, named Reasoning Module Networks (RMN), to equip the existing encoder-decoder framework with the above reasoning capacity. Specifically, our RMN employs 1) three sophisticated spatio-temporal reasoning modules, and 2) a dynamic and discrete module selector trained by a linguistic loss with a Gumbel approximation. Extensive experiments on MSVD and MSR-VTT datasets demonstrate the proposed RMN outperforms the state-of-the-art methods while providing an explicit and explainable generation process. Our code is available at https://github.com/tgc1997/RMN.


Concern over the ever more rapid and widespread losses of biodiversity has instigated various remedial actions: whether in situ conservation, such as the establishment of protected areas, or ex situ, such as the conservation of germplasm in gene banks. In the past, such activities were funded and managed by the public sector; however, in recent years, public support has declined and this has spawned a growing interest in conservation opportunities that might arise from 'free–market' approaches to sustainable land use and management. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is the key framework for articulating policies and actions on biodiversity; however, progress in developing suitable economic and market incentives for biodiversity conservation and its sustainable use has been slow, with activities such as bioprospecting and ecotourism making some, albeit limited, headway. Given the United Nations Framework for Climate Change or United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's (UNFCCC's) high profile within the public and private sectors, there is some potential for using it to help advance CBD objectives and provide the much–needed economic incentives for conservation, through some of the market–based mechanisms presented under the Kyoto Protocol. Significant potential lies in the fact that many 'natural' forests and certain other ecosystems are both major stores of carbon and areas of valuable biodiversity. Thus, any attempt at conserving these areas has the potential to yield both carbon and biodiversity benefits. So far, however, the conservation of natural forests is not included in the Kyoto Protocol's definition of sinks. Instead the creation of sinks—through the establishment of fast–growing monocultures—may well lead to biodiversity losses, especially if partly degraded lands are cleared for this purpose. If real progress is to be made, our understanding of the relationship between land use and biodiversity benefits needs to be improved, and more appropriate proxies for biodiversity need to be developed. At the same time, we need to have a clear understanding of the precise nature of the potential synergies and be more able to identify possible jointaction opportunities that exist between the UNFCCC, the CBD and the Convention on Combating Desertification and other international trade and economic agreements.


An advancing front technique for filling space with arbitrary, separated objects has been developed. The input required consists of the specification of the desired object type, the mean object size, the distance between objects in space, as well as an initial triangulation of the surface. The objects are assumed to be described by a coarse mesh of tetrahedra. One face at a time is removed from the active front, and, if possible, surrounded by admissible new objects. This operation is repeated until no active faces are left. Two techniques to obtain maximum packing are discussed: closest object placement (during generation) and move/enlarge (after generation). Several examples are included that demonstrate the capabilities of the technique. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Blood exchange as a method for treating of abnormal increase of bilirubin in the first week of life, has always been faced with serious potential side effects. Therefore prevention and early detection of these complications is important. Given the higher prevalence of jaundice in preterm neonates, this study was done to compare the complications of transfusion in term and preterm neonates with jaundice.. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was done on 50 neonates with hyperbilirubinemia and treated with blood transfusions using available sampling method. Samples were investigated for several variables such as platelets, calcium, glucose, potassium, sodium, bicarbonate and clinical signs during transfusion, and up to 24 hours after it. FINDINGS: From total of 50 neonates in this study, 22 neonates were preterm (44%) and 28 neonates were term (56 percent). The most common complication of blood transfusions in all neonatal was thrombocytopenia (48%). The most common complication in term neonates was reported thrombocytopenia (85.67%) and metabolic acidosis (2.57%) in preterm neonates, respectively (p<0.05). The complications of hyperglycemia (5 term neonates and 3 preterm neonates), hypoglycemia (only 2 preterm neonates), hyponatremia (only in 4 preterm neonates), and a serious complication of hyperkalemia (only in one neonate) were observed. This difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The results showed that thrombocytopenia (in term neonates) and metabolic acidosis (in preterm neonates) are the most frequent complications of blood transfusion.


The authors develop indexes of leading economic indicators for New York State and New Jersey over the 1972-99 period. They find that the leading indexes convey useful information about the future course of economic activity in both states. The authors then construct separate indexes to forecast recessions and expansions in each state. The movements of the recession and expansion indexes are found to display a close relationship with the behavior of the leading indexes. Accordingly, the recession and expansion indexes allow the authors to extend the informational content of the leading indexes by estimating the probability of an upcoming cyclical change in state economic activity within the next nine months.


Abstract
The explicit assumption in most literature on educational and skill mismatches is that these mismatches are inherently costly for workers. However, the results in the literature on the effects of underqualification or underskilling on wages and job satisfaction only partly support this hypothesis. Rather than assuming that both skill surpluses and skill deficits are inherently costly for workers, we interpret these mixed findings by taking a learning perspective on skill mismatches. Following the theory of Vygotski on the so-called "zone of proximal development," we expect that workers who start their job with a small skill deficit, show more skill growth than workers who start in a matching job or workers with a more severe skill deficit. We test this hypothesis using the Cedefop European skills and jobs survey (ESJS) and the results confirm these expectations. Workers learn more from job tasks that are more demanding than if they would work in a job that perfectly matches their initial skill level and this skill growth is largest for those who start with a small skill deficit. The learning opportunities are worst when workers start in a job for which they have a skill surplus. This is reflected in the type of learning activities that workers take up. Workers with a small skill deficit are more often engaged in informal learning activities. Finally, workers who started with a small skill deficit are no less satisfied with their job than workers who started in a well-matched job. We conclude that a skill match is good for workers, but a small skill deficit is even better. This puts some responsibility on employers to keep job tasks and responsibilities at a challenging level for their employees.


This article examines the factors that influence the formation and development of fertility plans over a lifetime. In particular, the hypothesis is made that the desired number of children a person states reflects their experience of family life. On the basis of data from the Intentions de fecondite survey carried out by INED and INSEE in France in 1998, and qualitative interviews with young parents, it is observed that people who have not yet had a child form their plans in terms of the only family references they have, namely their own childhood and notably their own sibship size (the more brothers and sisters they had, the more children they want, on average), but this effect is not found among the parents of one or two children. The experience of having a first child brings home the practical implications of parenthood (increasing difficulties in reconciling family and job, for example), and so the desired number of children corresponds to a different way of thinking. However, the results of the EHF family history study (INSEE 1999) show that own sibship size does ultimately have an effect on completed fertility, which casts some doubt on the validity of questions about intentions.


PISA for Development (PISA-D) aims to make the assessment more accessible and relevant to low- and middle-income countries. This report summarises findings from the out-of-school assessment results for PISA-D. By combining the out-of-school assessment with the in-school assessment, PISA-D has been able to achieve a unique perspective on the current skills level and on the challenges that the entire population of 14-16 year-olds face. Seven countries participated in the school-based implementation of PISA-D: Cambodia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay, Senegal and Zambia.1 Four of them, namely Guatemala, Paraguay, Honduras and Senegal, also participated in the PISA-D out-of-school assessment. Panama took part in the main PISA assessment in 2018 and the PISA-D out-of-school assessment. This report provides an overview of the main results of the out-of-school assessment for the five participating countries, comparing them, where relevant, with those for the in-school students discussed in PISA in Focus #91.


In the last decade Bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) was listed by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) as a notifiable disease, due to the fact that it causes significant production losses in cattle industry worldwide. The production losses include reduced milk production, reduced conception rate, abortions, growth retardation, early culling, increased mortality and an increased occurrence of other diseases. This paper presents a possible approach to how an economic analysis of BVD virus, could be conducted at the herd level. For this purpose a spreadsheet model in MS Excel has been developed utilizing Monte Carlo Simulations (MCS). Simulation results show that economic losses at the heard level could exceed 18,000 €. Obtained results suggest that this could be promising approach for analysis BVD effect at herd or animal level.


The Markov chain nest productivity model (MCnest) was developed for quantifying the effects of specific pesticide‐use scenarios on the annual reproductive success of simulated populations of birds. Each nesting attempt is divided into a series of discrete phases (e.g., egg laying, incubation, nestling rearing), and results from avian toxicity tests are used to represent the types of effects possible in the field during each breeding phase. The expected exposure dose each day throughout the breeding season can be compared to the toxicity thresholds assigned to each breeding phase to determine whether the nest attempt is at risk. The primary output of the model is an estimate of the number of successful nest attempts per female per year, which is multiplied by the number of fledglings per successful nest to estimate the number of fledglings per female per breeding season (i.e., annual reproductive success). In this article, we present a series of MCnest simulations to demonstrate the extent to which the magnitude of change in annual reproductive success can be affected by considering life history attributes and the timing of pesticide applications relative to a species' typical breeding phenology. For a given pesticide‐use scenario, MCnest can identify which species are at greatest risk. By allowing multiple species to be run under a single scenario, it can also help to identify the life‐history traits that contribute to a species' vulnerability to a given pesticide‐use scenario. It also can determine which application dates have the greatest impact and demonstrate the extent to which pesticide characteristics (e.g., residue half‐life, mode of action) affect productivity. MCnest goes beyond the current qualitative screening‐level assessments of risks to avian reproduction to provide an approach for quantifying the reduction in annual reproductive success by integrating species life history and timing of pesticide exposures, despite limitations in existing information on species life history and toxicity responses from existing laboratory tests. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2013;9:590–599. © 2013 SETAC


Video games have not only become an integral part of most transmedial entertainment franchises but also influenced the narrative and aesthetic conventions of other media, especially film. One consequence of this is the growing prominence of ›game-like‹ narratives (and storyworlds) that subordinate characters and storytelling to more abstract principles of narrative organization. In this article, it is argued that this ›game logic‹ leads to some transmedial storyworlds being especially well-suited for an adaptation as a video game, and that the novel-based transmedial world of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire is such a world. Drawing on transmedial narratology, film studies, and game studies, the relationship between transmedial worlds and games will be discussed with reference to three different Game of Thrones video games: the action role-playing game Game of Thrones (2012), the browser game Game of Thrones Ascent (2013), and the real-time strategy game A Game of Thrones. Genesis (2011). As will be shown, all three games follow very different strategies in identifying and implementing the core elements of the respective storyworld, mainly informed by generic conventions and (assumed) player preferences. Thus, the comparison also casts a light on medium-specific strengths and weaknesses regarding video games' contribution to a broader transmedia storytelling context. Felix Schröter: The Game of Game of Thrones IMAGE | Issue 22 | Special Issue Media Convergence and Transmedial Worlds (Part 3) | 07/2015 66


Globally, there is growing awareness of the need to prioritise mental health as a development issue, with a historic step achieved by the inclusion of mental health in the Sustainable Development Goals. Less understood is the impact that providing care for people who are struggling with mental illness has on those who provide it. Drawing from the experiences of an organisation who works with mental health carers, this briefing highlights the importance of widening the global mental health agenda to include local carers' voices, greater government investment in mental health with social protection schemes for carers, flexible paid employment arrangements, and innovative mental health care actions. The Global Importance of Including Mental Health Carers in Policy


R. v. Oakes is widely regarded as one of the most important judgments interpreting Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In addition to laying down its famous proportionality test to assess the reasonableness of limits on Charter rights, it clarified the Supreme Court of Canada's Court's interpretive methodology for Charter cases, perhaps most centrally that rights are of presumptive importance, and limitations the exception that are only acceptable if governments meet a demanding test of justification. The citation of Oakes by courts in Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Fiji, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Namibia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Vanuatu and Zimbabwe has made Oakes one of the central models for rights-based constitutional adjudication. So the almost immediate retreat from Oakes is of broader constitutional significance, both domestically and abroad. If Oakes was a model for how to interpret the Canadian Charter, and how rights-protecting documents in other jurisdictions should be construed, the question is what kind of model it remains two decades on. There is a dominant narrative on what the true legacy of Oakes and the retreat from Oakes are. The argument is that Oakes set out a uniform approach for assessing justifiable limitations on Charter rights irrespective of differences in context, but that in the decade following Oakes, the Court searched for criteria of deference, to reliably and predictably categorize cases where deference was warranted and those where it was not. These categories were not applied consistently by the Court, and, indeed, produced disagreement within the Court over how they should be applied in specific cases. Underlying both trends were concerns regarding the cogency of the distinctions employed by the Court to delineate the boundaries of these categories. The broader lesson of Oakes is the need to tailor judicial review to the unique context of each case. Although the dominant narrative captures much of Oakes' legacy, it misses much of what is at stake in many recent s. 1 cases, and by implication, what the true legacy of Oakes and the retreat from Oakes are. In my view, Oakes created an enormous institutional dilemma for the Court, by setting up a conflict between the demand for definitive proof to support each stage of proportionality analysis, and the reality of policy making under conditions of factual uncertainty. And so the legacy of Oakes is that the central question of s. 1 is how the Court should allocate the risk of factual uncertainty when governments legislate under conditions of imperfect information. If Oakes is a comparative model for proportionality analysis under other rights-protecting constitutions, then these kinds of problems are not particular to Canada. More generally, what is striking about the comparative reception of Oakes is that neither the narrative nor counter-narrative of the legacy of the judgment appears to have traveled outside of Canada. Foreign courts would be wise to grapple with these difficulties with the benefit of two decades of reflection by Canadian courts instead of simply applying the Oakes test in its original and undeveloped form.


Drawing from the fields of positive psychology, positive organizational scholarship and educational administration, this case study reports on the process used in a large K-12 school to implement the strategic goal of fostering student wellbeing. This case study outlines the three strategic phases used to build wellbeing over a two-and-a-half-year time period: 1) development; 2) implementation; and 3) monitoring. The school aligned its change process to the goal of achieving wellbeing by adopting appreciative inquiry as the overarching change approach. Appreciative inquiry is a systematic, holistic, and collaborative methodology that follows a strengths-based model of change. Through the use of appreciative inquiry, 15 bottom-up (instigated by students and staff) and top-down (instigated by leadership) initiatives were generated over a two-and-a-half-year period. This paper provides an applied example of how AI can be woven into a strategic change process to support the wellbeing of students. The paper aims to contribute to the rapidly developing field of positive education.


This paper proposes an approach to detect emotion from human speech employing majority voting technique over several machine learning techniques. The contribution of this work is in two folds: firstly it selects those features of speech which is most promising for classification and secondly it uses the majority voting technique that selects the exact class of emotion. Here, majority voting technique has been applied over Neural Network (NN), Decision Tree (DT), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN). Input vector of NN, DT, SVM and KNN consists of various acoustic and prosodic features like Pitch, Mel-Frequency Cepstral coefficients etc. From speech signal many feature have been extracted and only promising features have been selected. To consider a feature as promising, Fast Correlation based feature selection (FCBF) and Fisher score algorithms have been used and only those features are selected which are highly ranked by both of them. The proposed approach has been tested on Berlin dataset of emotional speech [3] and Electromagnetic Articulography (EMA) dataset [4]. The experimental result shows that majority voting technique attains better accuracy over individual machine learning techniques. The employment of the proposed approach can effectively recognize the emotion of human beings in case of social robot, intelligent chat client, call-center of a company etc.


Abstract The sound speed in a Be grain is markedly different in orthogonal directions due to an anisotropic Young's modulus. The impact of this fact on ICF capsules machined from multi-crystalline Be is not clear, but is of concern if the shock velocity is likewise grain orientation dependent. In this paper the expected inner wall break out profile due to grain affected shock velocity variations is calculated for a Be capsule, as a function of the grain size and effective shock velocity anisotropy factor factor p = v‖ / v‖, where v‖ and v‖ are the effective maximum and minimum orthogonal shock speeds in a grain. In this simple model it is assumed that grain boundaries have no effect other than to mark the location where the shock speed changes as it moves from one grain to another. The grain structure of bulk beryllium is modeled by randomly placing N points in a volume V to define Wigner-Seitz cells (grains) of average volume V/N. Each grain is given a random orientation. The spherical shell wall is modeled by a 150 µm thick planar slab of this multi-crystalline material, 2πR in length where R is the capsule radius, taken to be 1000 pm. The slab is sampled at 3600 points along its 2πR length, at each point the average shock velocity through the sample is determined based on the model slab grain structure at that point. This data is used to create the expected spatial breakout profile, which is then Fourier transformed to give a power spectral representation that is compared to the current outside surface design specification. In order to match the design specification, grain diameters less than 10 pm and an effective shock velocity anisotropy, p, of less than 1.001 are necessary.


This book investigates the ways in which these systems can promote public value by encouraging the disclosure and reuse of privately-held data in ways that support collective values such as environmental sustainability. Supported by funding from the National Science Foundation, the authors' research team has been working on one such system, designed to enhance consumers ability to access information about the sustainability of the products that they buy and the supply chains that produce them. Pulled by rapidly developing technology and pushed by budget cuts, politicians and public managers are attempting to find ways to increase the public value of their actions. Policymakers are increasingly acknowledging the potential that lies in publicly disclosing more of the data that they hold, as well as incentivizing individuals and organizations to access, use, and combine it in new ways. Due to technological advances which include smarter phones, better ways to track objects and people as they travel, and more efficient data processing, it is now possible to build systems which use shared, transparent data in creative ways. The bookadds to the current conversation among academics and practitioners about how to promote public value through data disclosure, focusing particularly on the roles that governments, businesses and non-profit actors can play in this process, making it of interest to both scholars and policy-makers.


Sustainable remediation is the elimination and/or control of unacceptable risks in a safe and timely manner while optimizing the environmental, social, and economic value of the work. Forthcoming International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Standard on Sustainable remediation will allow countries without the capacity to develop their own guidance to benefit from work done over the past decade by various groups around the world. The ISO standard has progressed through the committee draft (ISO/CD 18504) and draft international standard (ISO/DIS 18504) stages. The risk-based approach to managing the legacy of historically contaminated soil and groundwater has been incorporated into policy, legislation, and practice around the world. It helps determine the need for remediation and the end point of such remediation. Remediation begins with an options appraisal that short lists strategies that could deliver the required reduction in risk. A remediation strategy comprises one or more remediation technologies that will deliver the safe and timely elimination and/or control of unacceptable risks. The ISO standard will help assessors identify the most sustainable among the shortlisted, valid alternative remediation strategies. Practitioners presenting case studies claiming to constitute sustainable remediation should now report how they have aligned their work with the new standard. Indicators are used to compare alternative remediation strategies. The simplest metric that allows a characteristic to act as an indicator should be chosen. Weightings indicators can become a contested exercise and should only be undertaken where there is a clear desire for it by stakeholders and a clear need for it in identifying a preferred strategy. The simplest means of ranking alternative remediation strategies should be adopted.


Tan spot of wheat, caused by the fungus 'Pyrenophora tritici-repentis ' (Died.) Dreches., has become a major component of the leaf spot disease complex in the prairie region in recent years. On susceptible host cultivars 'P. tritici-repentis' induces two distinct symptoms, tan necrosis and extensive chlorosis. To date, five races of 'P. tritici-repentis ' have been identified based on their reaction on a set of wheat differential cultivars. The major objective of this study was to investigate the genetics of resistance to tan spot in several diverse hexaploid wheat cultivars to races 1, 2, and 3, and to the culture filtrate of 'P. tritici-repentis ', race 2. The F1 and F2 generations and F 2:3 and F2:8 families of crosses between the seven selected genotypes were tested with each race in growth room experiments. Two independently inherited genes controlled resistance to tan spot of wheat. A single dominant gene controls resistance to chlorosis induced by races 1 and 3, while a single recessive gene controlsresistance to necrosis induced by races 1 and 2. The same recessive gene controls resistance to necrosis induced by spore-inoculation or culture filtrate infiltration of 'P. tritici-repentis', race 2. This indicated that infiltration with the culture filtrate could replace spore-inoculation when testing for resistance to the necrosis component of tan spot. No segregation was observed in crosses among the resistant cultivars for both the necrosis and the chlorosis components, indicating that the resistant cultivars carried the same resistant genes. The second objective of this study was to assess the genetic similarity among different isolates of 'P. tritici-repentis' and to determine if this similarity is related to race classification or geographic origin of the isolates. Thirty-eight different isolates including other ' Pyrenophora' species were studied with 30 RAPD primers. Cluster analysis and AMOVA indicated that high genetic variability existed among the isolates of 'P. tritici-repentis', but this variability was independent of race classification or geographic origin of the isolates. The last objective of this study was to identify molecular markers linked to the resistance gene controlling the necrosis component of tan spot. No RAPD marker linked to gene controlling resistance to the necrosis component was identified.


Women and girls had a specific and gendered experience of the civil war in Sierra Leone. They filled the role of combatants, 'bush wives', child soldiers, and sexual slaves. As a result of these roles, women are often described as having dual identities of both perpetrators and victims of violence. This duality resulted in the complex question of how to help these women both reintegrate into society and also address the crimes which they are alleged to have committed during the war. In this paper, I argue that these women and girls should be treated as victims due to the fact that their crimes were committed under coercion. I investigate the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) process, performing a critique of its gendered assumptions and its inability to provide adequate assistance to females coerced into combat. I perform a critical analysis of the formation and efficacy of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). I investigate the Special Court's treatment of the women and girls who were victims coerced into war and potentially held responsible as if they were perpetrators. In doing so, critical deconstruction of the treatment of these women highlights both the hybrid court's successes and failures in advocating for these women. Throughout the paper, I explore the question of how the post-conflict reconstruction process should treat women and girls, who are victims but who have discursively been positioned also as perpetrators.


In dense Radio Frequency Identification environments, several readers are placed in the same area to scan a large number of tags covering a wide distance range. The placement of the RFID elements may result in several types of collisions. This paper proposes a new distributed multi-channel algorithm to solve the reader collision problems in dense RFID environments. The proposed algorithm aims at minimizing the identification delay, collision probabilities, and network overheads. We have evaluated the performance of the proposed approach and compared it to several reader collision solutions found in the literature such as NFRA, Dica and McMac. The results show that the proposed approach reduces reader collisions while minimizing the total interrogation time and the network overheads.


This paper investigates assignment strategies (load balancing algorithms) for process farms which solve the problem of online placement of a constant number of independent tasks with given, but unknown, time complexities onto a homogeneous network of processors with a given latency. Results for the chunking and factoring assignment strategies are summarised for a probabilistic model which models tasks' time complexities as realisations of a random variable with known mean and variance. Then a deterministic model is presented which requires the knowledge of the minimal and maximal tasks' complexities. While the goal in the probabilistic model is the minimisation of the expected makespan, the goal in the deterministic model is the minimisation of the worstcase makespan. We give a novel analysis of chunking and factoring for the deterministic model. In the context of demand-driven parallel ray tracing, tasks' time complexities are unfortunately unknown until the actual computation finishes. Therefore we propose automatic self-tuning procedures which estimate the missing information in run-time. We experimentally demonstrate for an "everyday ray tracing setting" that chunking does not perform much worse than factoring on up to 128 processors, if the parameters of these strategies are properly tuned. This may seem surprising. However, the experimentally measured efficiencies agree with our theoretical predictions.


The Oakland Athletics medical and training staff, preparing for spring training prior to the 2004 baseball season, considered the options for obtaining and reviewing radiographic studies. In past seasons, players went by van, five or so at a time, to local imaging facilities and offices in Phoenix and then returned to training. The process was repeated daily until examinations for the 80 or so players were completed. The films were interpreted, filed, or retained at the spring training site for later review by the orthopedists and medical staff and then traveled with the A's to California for the start of the season.


Countless time and money is spent preparing for the ITIL Foundation exam. So why aren't students laser-focused on taking practice exams before attempting the real thing?Based on the latest ITIL Foundation syllabus (ITIL 2011) and the ITIL core volumes, the practice exams in this book are designed to help students adjust to the pace, subject matter, and difficulty of the real ITIL Foundation exam. Geared towards anyone preparing for the exam, all tests include clear solutions to help you understand the core concepts.If you plan on passing the ITIL Foundation exam, it's time to test your knowledge. It's time for ITIL Exam Prep - Questions, Answers, and Explanations.Now packed with Over 800+ ITIL Foundation sample questions to help you pass the exam on your FIRST try.In this book: 800+ detailed ITIL Foundation exam practice questions including 11 condensed ITIL Foundation mock exams that can be completed in one hour; 16 Targeted ITIL Knowledge Area tests, and detailed solution sets for all ITIL questions which include clear explanations and wording, ITIL Core Volume references, and reasoning based on the ITIL Core Volumes and ITIL Foundation syllabus (ITIL 2011).Reviewed, Licensed, and Endorsed by ITIL's Official Accreditation Body (APMG)This book has been formally reviewed via ITIL's accreditation body, and is officially licensed and endorsed on behalf of the UK Office of Government Commerce (OGC).Edition UpdatesThe latest Edition of ITIL Exam Prep Questions, Answers, & Explanations includes content improvements and edits which further assist students in preparing for their ITIL Foundation exam. Improvements include:100 additional ITIL Foundation practice exam questionsSpecific questions updated for improved readability and applicability to examExplanations updated to further reinforce ITIL Foundation conceptsLiteral references updated to resolve minor issue with quotation marksSpecific responses edited to reflect minor labeling corrections[ITIL is a Registered Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countries.]Student Testimonials"I found this to be the most complete, thorough and reliable source of questions. For the convenience alone it is well worth the money. I passed the first time and have no doubt that this book was a major factor in achieving such an excellent score." Ian Stockbridge, ITIL - Welshpool, Wales"I found the sample tests in this book to be extremely valuable for my preparation of the ITIL Foundation Exam. I passed and thought I had scored 100%. I felt well-prepared going in, and that confidence makes it much easier to take the exam." Vince Pulice, ITIL - Principle System Engineer - SuperValue"I found these practice tests to be very useful in preparing for the Certification exam. In fact, once I tried one of the exams, I recommended it to three of my associates. All of us passed the exam and became certified. " Jim Sanford, ITIL - Sr. Support Availability Manager - CA, Inc."I used this ITIL exam prep to prepare for my examination in ITIL Foundation and I got approved so I'm happy and very satisfied with your book." Dan Rasmusson, ITIL - Malm, Sweden"The topics covered and the exam questions were ideal as they helped to improve my understanding of the various ITIL areas. This was not just a matter of memorizing a bunch of questions and answers; it went far deeper." Jean-Ann Dill, ITIL - Service Desk Manager, IT Services - Keytech LTD, Bermuda"I used your exams to prep for my ITIL v3 Foundation Certificate and scored 92% on the exam. I would highly recommend your book to anyone!" Sarah Winiger, ITIL - Basel, Switzerland


In high-precision complexes on aircraft or on transport, it is necessary to measure the current distance to the surface of land, water, or another object, to record given distances from 1 to 200 m, or to detect objects with a radius of 1–50 m when aerosol noise, atmospheric formations, or partial smokiness is present. In order to create compact, noise-suppressing, rapid-acting optoelectronic systems for short-distance ranging, it is best to use a pulsed method to measure short distances from the delay of the received pulse relative to the emitted pulse. Results are given that show that it is possible to create standardized on-board optoelectronic pulsed systems.


With the continuing high levels of Indigenous youth unemployment and low levels of school attendance among Indigenous youth, Indigenous communities and education systems are seeking new approaches to increase Indigenous youth participation in education, training and employment. This priority among Indigenous and government stakeholders is not restricted to Australia but also applies internationally among many Indigenous peoples. One potential source of employment is the natural resources sector. This paper reviews the wide range of strategies currently being used to encourage Indigenous youth engagement in natural resource management as a way of achieving better educational outcomes and improving employment opportunities. Examples from Australia and North America are presented. These examples highlight the importance of both Indigenous knowledge and western science when developing suitable educational programs, and the role such programs can play in the intergenerational transmission of Indigenous knowledge. The review draws attention to the complexity involved in establishing clearly articulated pathways for Indigenous youth to enter and then retain employment in the natural resources sector and its management.


Transition metals are known to stabilize high-energy species and to activate otherwise unreactive ones. The zirconocene unit stabilizes highly strained alkynes and alkenes, allowing their use in selective carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions. This unit also increases the reactivity of unactivated molecules, enabling them to participate in nontraditional transformations. A general route has been developed that allows a wider variety of unsaturated fragments to participate in these reactions. The use of these zirconocene complexes in organic synthesis has led to the development of novel routes to a number of polyfunctionalized organic molecules.


In 2015 the United Nations General Assembly will adopt a new set of global development objectives to succeed the Millennium Development Goals, which expire at the end of the year. A General Assembly working group has proposed 17 "Sustainable Development Goals" with 169 associated "targets," including one committing all UN member states to "ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements." The UN Secretary-General and his many prominent "post-2015" advisors also advocate guarantees for freedom of information in the new global goals. The inclusion of a clear commitment to access to information in the SDGs – including factual "indicators" to monitor compliance – could have a profound impact on freedom of expression and media globally, advocates contend. Yet it remains uncertain whether any provision on access to information will survive the remaining months of negotiations before the final set of SDGs is agreed at the UN's Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015. Some developing countries oppose an access to information target, along with other proposed commitments to human rights and democratic governance in the SDGs. But others are strongly supportive, and UN debates on the new goals are likely to continue until the September deadline.


As part of the research project "Data Protection by Design in Smart Cities", this Discussion Paper consists of a legal-scientific Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) discusses, on the basis of a technological Smart City project in Berlin (at Ernst-Reuter-Platz), how to build large data-driven innovation projects using a data protection by design strategy. The aim of this evaluation is to demonstrate how a DPIA can help to define a data protection by design strategy ensuring that the project meets the legal and societal expectations. The study illustrates that the EU General Data Protection Regulation does not forbid data-driven innovation projects per se, but rather forces the stakeholders involved to coordinate in due time how to process personal data to avoid unnecessary risks to individuals and the society as a whole. By means of certification schemes and codes of conduct, private companies can use such a data protection by design strategy as a competitive advantage and at least as a business opportunity. However, the study also points out some to-do's for the regulator: First, this study provides some conceptual clarifications on the methodology of the risk assessment, which are addressed to the Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertes (CNIL) and the Technology Working Group ("AK Technik") of the Conference of the German Data Protection Authorities. Second, the regulator should follow its instruction from Art. 40 and 42 GDPR to support micro, small and medium-sized companies to set up certification schemes and codes of conduct for their processing activities. Third, national legislators should use the flexibility clauses in the GDPR to increase legal certainty for data-driven innovation projects, especially in the public interest, by applying a data protection by design strategy as presented. Finally, the EU legislator should reconsider its envisaged approach for the ePrivacy Regulation: instead of focusing on the consent of data subjects as the main legal basis for data processing, the legislator should establish a "legitimate interests"-clause with an obligation to adhere to an appropriate code of conduct or certificate for the processing activity in question.


Deafness and Ethnicity: Services, Policy and Politics By Waqar Ahmad, Aliya Darr, Lesley Jones, and Gohar Nisa The Policy Press, University of Bristol, 1998. ISBN 1-86134-088-5. 142 pages, (12.99 UK Pounds Sterling. Obtainable at www.forestbooks.com) Deafness and Ethnicity: Services, Policy and Politics, captures the essence of making services accessible in full awareness of the cultural, social and religious backgrounds of minority ethnic deaf people. The authors used first hand qualitative data to shed light on the issues affecting minority ethnic deaf people in accessing various services in England. Their numerous implicit solutions to the problems of providing accessible services to minority ethnic deaf people is what makes this book a necessary tool for service provision agencies and professionals aiming at meeting the needs of minority ethnic deaf people in the provision of services. The 9 chapters are comprehensive and easy to read, and for most part, structured to reflect sequential steps in transition from one chapter to the next. The references provided (11 pages) will be a useful resource to workers interested in current research and practice in the provision of accessible services to minority ethnic deaf people. In Chapter 1, the authors observed that minority ethnic people in general are disadvantaged in accessing various services. However, research into the experiences of deaf people from minority groups and their families in accessing health, educational, social and other services is scanty. Consequently, this book attempts to fill an important gap and to provide information on how services are responding or not responding to the needs of ethnic minority deaf people. Much of the evidence presented in this book was the outgrowth of the authors' research into initiatives for minority ethnic deaf people across Britain. A major problem discussed in Chapter 2, indeed the recurring theme throughout this book, is the language and communication barriers encountered by minority ethnic deaf people in attempting to access services. Compared to the general population, increasing immigrant minority ethnic deaf people of Asian, African, and the Caribbean origins whose first language is not English or (British) sign language are found to be less well informed about their entitlements to a range of services and social welfare packages. Reliance on relatives and friends for information and interpretation remains unsatisfactory in that only a limited range of services could be accessible. It is further considered in Chapter 3 that racist stereotypes held by service providers and institutional racism restrict access to a range of services by minority ethnic people. The "medicalization" of service provision, "pathologizing" the behavior of deaf people, the language and politics of defining, describing and measuring deafness and the ways deafness is represented in the media constitute additional constraints to accessing services by minority ethnic deaf people. This is because these constructs have strong influence on the public and policy-makers' perceptions of deafness. These stereotypical views need to be changed and the diversity among deaf people needs to be recognized if services are to be made accessible and meaningful for them. The authors argue that if all relevant services are to be accessible to minority ethnic deaf people, it is imperative to understand the nature and politics of racism, culture and identity. Such an understanding could result to changes in legal and institutional structures and practices which in turn could ensure accessibility of services by these people. There are some initiatives that could be considered "examples of good practice" discussed in Chapter 4 focusing on educational, social, cultural and religious activities across Britain aimed at providing accessible services to minority ethnic deaf people by some local authorities and minority ethnic groups. …


Antiferromagnetic spintronics is an emerging research field in the area of information technology that exploits the unique combination of properties of antiferromagnets. It is their high excitation frequency, robustness against external fields, zero net magnetization and possibility of generating large magneto-transport effects that makes them so interesting. Spin transfer, spin-orbit coupling and spin caloritronics constitute the phenomena that have shaped much of the recent research and development towards pure antiferromagnetic spintronics. Here we investigate spin transfer torque and spin pumping in both metallic and insulating antiferromagnets by means of ferromagnetic resonance technique, in ferromagnetic spin injector – NiFe, CoFeB / (spin conductor – Cu) / antiferromagnetic spin sink – IrMn, NiFeOx, NiO trilayers. Temperature dependence measurements of the ferromagnetic relaxation revealed a novel spin pumping effect associated to the linear fluctuations at the magnetic phase transition of the antiferromagnet, regardless its electronic state and the nature of the spin transport. This opens new ways towards more efficient spin pumping, while providing at the same time a versatile method to probe the critical temperature of ultrathin films with zero net magnetization. Next, in an effort to probe linear as well as non-linear fluctuations in the antiferromagnet we conducted electrical measurements in spin Hall geometry. A novel non-monotonous temperature dependence of transverse dc voltage was sometimes observed, mostly associated to the properties of a specific ferromagnet: Permalloy, unrelated to spin rectification effects. These findings add to a growing body of literature on spin current absorption, highlighting the ability of ferromagnets to act as spin current detectors, in phenomena involving magnetization dynamics. Finally, we used exchange bias to investigate and subsequently engineer the magnetic and electric properties of various antiferromagnets intended for diverse spintronic applications including reading via tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance.


Create your own podcasts, edit music, and more with this open source audio editor Teaches basic techniques for using Audacity to record and edit audio tracks - like podcasts and interviews Combines learning to use software program with the simple theories behind digital audio and common audio terms Provides advanced editing techniques and tips for using Audacity beyond a first project Uses a task based, step-by-step approach to guide newcomers into the world of audio editing In Detail Using the Audacity software as the starting off point, we discuss what the software is, what it can do, how you can use it, and where you go to get started installing it. All of this information is grounded in some basic audio editing terminology and background for those that aren't so technology inclined. Then we'll start digging into a sample project! You'll learn about how to set up a project, create a voice track, record an interview with Skype, and basic audio editing techniques. All of this done in an easy to follow, task based approach with lots of examples. Here, we plan to go a step further, we teach how to wrap all of these steps together and create a podcast that can be posted on your own website or blog. There's always more you can do with Audacity! The last portion of the book is dedicated to just that - discussing more advanced editing and mixing techniques, using affects, adding music, adding additional plug-ins to the software. All still incorporating examples and easy to follow tasks you can try on your own audio projects. What you will learn from this book Learn to use the Audacity software--what it is, how to install it, and all of its main features Learn setting up projects and how to record your content for your first podcast Master audio editing basics for voice tracks like trimming, amplifying, removing "noise," duplicating and splitting tracks, changing pitch, speed, and more Create MP3 Podcasts from your saved projects and then prepare the file and upload it to personal websites or iTunes Learn more about advanced editing techniques like fading in and out, click removal, timeshifting, using multiple audio tracks, overdubbing, mixing and more Add background music to projects as well as import music from CDs, cassette tapes, and vinyl records Use all the audio effects pre-installed with Audacity like echo, amplify, bass boost, and normalize Install and use Audacity plugins like Nyquist, LADSPA, and VST effects Common terms used audio recording and editing as the book has a complete Glossary All toolbar, menu, and keyboard shortcuts used in the software Approach Conversational and practical, this book is full of real life examples of where and how you would use the Audacity software. Not only does it give you task-based step-by-step instructions from installation to advanced audio editing techniques, it caters to the beginner to familiarize them with all the jargon, suggests recording equipment, it walks them through a simple sample project showing off everything Audacity can do. Who this book is written for If you are new to audio recording and editing, and particularly using the Audacity software, this book is for you. It explains everything from common audio industry terms and software basics. Technical sound engineering details and jargon are omitted to keep the book friendly and easy to understand.


Scientists warn us about climate change and its effects on the outdoor environment. These effects can have significant consequences for the indoor environment, also in the Netherlands. Climate changes will affect different aspects of the indoor environment as well as the stakeholders of that indoor environment. Buildings will require less heating in the winter and more cooling in the summer, resulting in an increase use of air conditioning systems. Increasing relative humidity indoors and rising moisture from the ground will cause significantly more mould problems resulting in further health risks. Additionally, effects on lighting and acoustical quality, but also several psycho-social effects seem likely to occur. It is concluded that possible adaptations, whether performed at the source of climate change effects, the building or by involving people, can only be executed properly when the possible effects of climate changes on occupant wishes and needs as well as the interactions of these occupants with their environment are well understood.


Research has highlighted the decline of physical activity during the last twenty years and identified adolescence as the age of the greatest decline. Despite the fact that the benefits of physical activity have been proven, many children and youth do not meet the current guidelines for sufficient physical activity. There are however various factors that influence physical activity levels amongst the youth and researchers have highlighted the links between environmental conditions and health-related behaviours such as physical inactivity. Therefore an increased emphasis exists on the role of the social and physical environment as key modifiable determinants of physical activity. The aim of this study is thus to explore the social environmental factors that influence the physical activity participation among female school-going adolescents in the Western Cape. Focus group discussions were held with 55 school-going adolescents in a selected community in the Western Cape. The discussions yielded four (4) themes: safety; financial constraints, competing responsibilities and parental support. These themes highlighted that physical activity participation was influenced by the social, economic and physical environments that these adolescents live in. Opportunities to be physically active in an enjoyable and comfortable environment are undoubtedly essential for all girls. Therefore appropriate activity interventions taking into consideration issues related to social support, safety and cost-effectiveness of activities are more likely to effectively engage and sustain participation in physical activity.


Objective – This study re-examines the findings of a paper (Ladd, 2010) that investigated whether evidence indicated print equivalent journal collections needed to be preserved, based on the quality of their electronic surrogates. The current study investigates whether: 1) electronic surrogate articles that failed (i.e., the print equivalent article needed to be consulted to view all the content/information) in the first study had improved in quality; and 2) there was evidence that poor-quality electronic surrogates could impact on research if the print equivalent articles did not exist.
Methods – Each of the 198 PDF documents identified in the 2010 study as failing were re-examined to assess whether any change in quality had occurred. To assess the possible impact for researchers if they needed to rely solely on poor-quality electronic journal surrogates, citation data were collected for each of the failed scholarly PDFs using Web of Science and Scopus, and usage count data were collected from Web of Science.
Results – Across the electronic journal backfiles/archives examined, there were 13.6% fewer failures of electronic surrogates for all PDF documents than in the original study, while for scholarly PDF documents (e.g., research papers) there were 13.8% fewer failures. One electronic journal archive accounted for 91.7% of the improvement for scholarly PDF documents. A second archive accounted for all the observed improvement for non-scholarly PDF documents. The study found that for the failed scholarly PDF documents from the original study, 58.7% had been cited or had Web of Science usage counts from 2010 onward.
Conclusion – The study demonstrates a continued need for retaining print equivalent journal titles for the foreseeable future, while poor-quality electronic surrogates are being replaced and digitally preserved. There are still poor-quality images, poor-quality scans of text-only articles, missing pages, and even content of PDF documents that could not be explained (e.g., incorrect text for images when compared to the print). While it is known that not all researchers will consult each of the papers that they cite, although it is best practice to do so, the extent of citations of the failed scholarly PDF documents indicate that having to rely solely on electronic surrogates could pose a problem for researchers.


Child maltreatment in the family context is a prevalent and pervasive phenomenon in many modern societies. The global perpetration of child abuse and neglect stands in stark contrast to its almost universal condemnation as exemplified in the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child. Much work has been devoted to the task of prevention, yet a grand synthesis of the literature is missing. Focusing on two core elements of prevention, that is, antecedents for maltreatment and the effectiveness of (preventative) interventions, we performed an umbrella review of meta‐analyses published between January 1, 2014, and December 17, 2018. Meta‐analyses were systematically collected, assessed, and integrated following a uniform approach to allow their comparison across domains. From this analysis of thousands of studies including almost 1.5 million participants, the following risk factors were derived: parental experience of maltreatment in his or her own childhood (d = .47), low socioeconomic status of the family (d = .34), dependent and aggressive parental personality (d = .45), intimate partner violence (d = .41), and higher baseline autonomic nervous system activity (d = .24). The effect size for autonomic stress reactivity was not significant (d = −.10). The umbrella review of interventions to prevent or reduce child maltreatment showed modest intervention effectiveness (d = .23 for interventions targeting child abuse potential or families with self‐reported maltreatment and d = .27 for officially reported child maltreatment cases). Despite numerous studies on child maltreatment, some large gaps in our knowledge of antecedents exist. Neurobiological antecedents should receive more research investment. Differential susceptibility theory may shed more light on questions aimed at breaking the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment and on the modest (preventive) intervention effects. In combination with family‐based interaction‐focused interventions, large‐scale socioeconomic experiments such as cash transfer trials and experiments with vouchers to move to a lower‐poverty area might be tested to prevent or reduce child maltreatment. Prevalence, antecedents, and preventive interventions of prenatal maltreatment deserve continuing scientific, clinical, and policy attention.