The western tropical Pacific is thought to be an important zone for generating El Nino: reflections at the boundary make it a source region of equatorial Kelvin waves. Calculations of the effect of a gappy western boundary on the reflection process are carried out in the framework of the low-frequency limit of the shallow-water equations and thus are highly idealized. The method is also applied to a schematic version of the flow through the Indonesian seas from the western Pacific to the Indian Oceans. The results indicate some strong sensitivities to the location of the gap and to the structure of the incoming flows. In addition, the results can be quite different, depending on whether the zonal extend of the gap is assumed to be infinite or finite. (More precisely, the latter means that the extend of the gap is short compared with the zonal wavelength of the relevant free waves at that frequency.) In view of the complexity of the results for even such a simplified model, it will be very difficult to be confident of any modeling study of the Indonesian throughflow short of a highly resolved numerical calculation with a detailed representation of the geometry and bathymetry. Nonetheless, we offer tentative conclusions concerning the efficiency of the western Pacific boundary as a reflector. Our results suggest that the realistic boundary will not greatly alter expectations based on a simple solid boundary if the reflections important for El Nino are primarily in motion, represented by low-order Rossby modes. This is also consistent with observational evidence indicating no anomalous throughflow during El Nino events.


Evidence identification, optic disc segmentation and automated glaucoma diagnosis are the most clinically significant tasks for clinicians to assess fundus images. However, delivering the three tasks simultaneously is extremely challenging due to the high variability of fundus structure and lack of datasets with complete annotations. In this paper, we propose an innovative Weakly-Supervised Multi-Task Learning method (WSMTL) for accurate evidence identification, optic disc segmentation and automated glaucoma diagnosis. The WSMTL method only uses weak-label data with binary diagnostic labels (normal/glaucoma) for training, while obtains pixel-level segmentation mask and diagnosis for testing. The WSMTL is constituted by a skip and densely connected CNN to capture multi-scale discriminative representation of fundus structure; a well-designed pyramid integration structure to generate high-resolution evidence map for evidence identification, in which the pixels with higher value represent higher confidence to highlight the abnormalities; a constrained clustering branch for optic disc segmentation; and a fully-connected discriminator for automated glaucoma diagnosis. Experimental results show that our proposed WSMTL effectively and simultaneously delivers evidence identification, optic disc segmentation (89.6% TP Dice), and accurate glaucoma diagnosis (92.4% AUC). This endows our WSMTL a great potential for the effective clinical assessment of glaucoma.


Abstract Bioscience undergraduates, enrolled on a first-year microbiology module, participated in the introduction of peer-assisted learning (PAL) into the curriculum. The class of 122 students was divided into groups of six to ten, with one volunteer from each group assuming the role of group leader (peer tutor). Group leaders attended a compulsory training session at which they were guided through the tutorial they would lead with their peer group. The primary aim of PAL was to raise students' self-confidence in their problem-solving and numerical skills. Students were provided with the opportunity to practise problem-solving questions from past examination papers and to discuss with their peers their answers and any difficulties they encountered, particularly with regard to any mathematics involved. Students' perceptions of their PAL experience, their group leader's contribution and the training provided for group leaders were evaluated using a questionnaire. The latter revealed that bioscience undergraduates found PAL a highly valuable learning experience. In particular, they found the less formal, comfortable and relaxed atmosphere of the PAL session provided them with greater freedom to ask questions and exerted less pressure on them to answer questions correctly than a more formal staff-led session, as well as assisting them to understand the topics covered.


This paper expands on Gibbons and Katz (1991) by looking at how the difference in wage losses across plant closing and layoff varies with race and gender. We find that the differences between white males and the other groups are striking and complex. The lemons effect of layoff holds for white males as in Gibbons and Katz model, but not for the other three demographic groups (white females, black females, and black males). These three all experience a greater decline in earnings at plant closings than at layoffs. This results from two reinforcing effects. First, plant closings have substantially more negative effects on minorities than on whites. Second, layoffs seem to have more negative consequences for white men than the other groups. We also find that the relative wage losses of blacks following layoffs increased after the Civil Rights Act of 1991 which we take as suggestive of an informational effect of layoff as in Gibbons and Katz. The results are suggestive that the large losses that African Americans experience at plant closing could result from heterogeneity in taste discrimination across firms.


We introduce the (panel) zero-inflated interval regression (ZIIR) model, which is ideally suited when data are in the form of groups, which is commonly the case in survey data, and there is an 'excess' of zero observations. We apply our new modelling framework to the analysis of visits to general practitioners (GPs) using individual-level panel data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). The ZIIR model simultaneously estimates the probability of visiting the GP and the frequency of visits (defined by given numerical intervals in the data). The results show that different socio-economic factors influence the probability of visiting the GP and the frequency of visits, thereby providing potentially valuable information to policy-makers concerned with health care allocation.


The rapidly growing of Location-based Social Networks (LBSNs) provides a vast amount of check-in data, which enables many services, e.g., point-of-interest (POI) recommendation. In this paper, we study the next new POI recommendation problem in which new POIs with respect to users' current location are to be recommended. The challenge lies in the difficulty in precisely learning users' sequential information and personalizing the recommendation model. To this end, we resort to the Metric Embedding method for the recommendation, which avoids drawbacks of the Matrix Factorization technique. We propose a personalized ranking metric embedding method (PRME) to model personalized check-in sequences. We further develop a PRME-G model, which integrates sequential information, individual preference, and geographical influence, to improve the recommendation performance. Experiments on two real-world LBSN datasets demonstrate that our new algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art next POI recommendation methods.


After the Variscan orogeny, from the upper Carboniferous to the Quaternary syn(dia)genetic and epigenetic mineralization occurred in the mid-European basin. Uranium, base metal, Sr-F-Ba, Fe-Mn, and Au-Sn placer deposits are strata bound within clastic, volcaniclastic, and calcareous rocks. Some vein-type and veinlike mineralization of post-Variscan age is found in the uplifted basement blocks and is spatially related to late Variscan and late Alpine unconformities.Post-Variscan mineralization may be subdivided into seven types with respect to the deposited environment of their host rocks: (1) saprolite-peneplain (Cu, Pb, Zn, F, Ba, Fe, Mn), (2) alluvial fan (Fe, Sn, Au, U, Pb, Zn, F, Ba), (3) braided streams-bed load fluvial systems (Pb, Zn, U, F, Ba), (4) meandering to anastomosing streams-mixed load fluvial systems (U, Pb, Cu), (5) high-energy shore zone of lake margins or coastal regions (Fe, Pb, Cu, U), (6) low-energy lake centers or near-shore marine deposits (lagoons) (Fe, Pb, Zn, Cu, U), and (7) mixed terrigenous calcareous shelf deposits (F, Sr, Zn, Pb).There were various sources of metals for the strata-bound mineralization. During the late Paleozoic and Lower Triassic the metals were supplied from volcanites and volcaniclastic rocks of calc-alkaline affiliation (volcanic arc ?). The Cu-Pb-Zn mining districts in the Kupferschiefer are located above or close to a suture zone that delineates a former active plate margin with endogenous Cu-Mo deposits. Following down the stratigraphic column in the footwall of the Kupferschiefer, the elements increase in reverse order of deposition. From the Lower Triassic to the Upper Jurassic, metamorphic and granitic rocks in Variscan basement highs became exposed to chemical weathering and acted as the metal source. Denudation of the Variscan basement is mirrored by the element spectrum of Triassic strata-bound deposits, commencing with Pb-Zn (gneisses) and leading to U deposits (granites). From the Lower Cretaceous onward some of the metals in the mineralization were derived from the basement. Most of the mineralization, however, originated from intrabasinal-intra-Mesozoic redeposition (e.g., ironstones).Five metallogenic sequences may be delineated, four of which start with mineralization in a fluvial environment and terminate with precipitation of Sr and F in a mixed clastic-carbonate shelf environment (sabkha). Metallogenic sequences reflect marine transgression and regression, which may be correlated with different rifting and spreading stages in the Atlantic Ocean.Two major unconformities, one caused by the Variscan uplift, the other by Subhercynian and Laramide movements, may be traced across the basin. Supergene (e.g., U, Mn-Fe) and hypogene (e.g., Pb-Zn) mineralizations are directly related to these first-order geohydraulic planes. Minor unconformities and erosional surfaces also influenced the development of host environments of strata-bound ore deposits and the termination of metallogenic sequences. Low relief erosional surfaces favored restricted water circulation and resulted in the formation oftransgressive black shales (e.g., Kupferschiefer). The development ofa sabkha and its related mineral deposits also requires the presence of a low topography as well as an arid climate and resultant strong evapotranspiration. Karstification, essential to mid-European Mississippi Valley-type deposits, commenced more or less contemporaneously with the evolution of tidal fiats on these erosional surfaces in a supratidal zone and persisted until the hydrology was changed by a new transgression. Vein-type mineralization related to these unconformities was at least in part supplied by sulfur and strontium from sabkha-derived evaporites, as suggested by Sr and S isotope analyses.It is difficult to define the time of formation ofpost-Variscan ore mineralization, except for syngenetic Fe-Mn, U ores (Tertiary) and Fe (Cretaceous) and Sn placers (Quaternary). The bulk of strata-bound ore mineralization in the mid-European basin formed by diagenetic and epigenetic processes. The few age data and some evidence from basin subsidence suggest that there were two intervals of diagenetic and/or epigenetic ore mineralization. The period from Lower Triassic to upper Dogger correlates with early rifting in the central parts of the Atlantic Ocean. Another set of data which derived from U-F deposits in the Upper Cretaceous and Mississippi Valley-type deposits attests to a thermal and fluid influx from deepseated rifts (Rhine graben, Ohre rift) during the Late Tertiary.


Extensive anvil cirrus clouds generated by deep convection have important impacts on the Earth's radiation budget and climate. We use growth-sedimentation trajectory calculations to investigate the life cycles of anvil ice crystals as they are advected downwind from their convective source. Temperature, water vapor, and wind fields from a cloud-resolving model simulation of an isolated cumulonimbus cloud are used to drive the calculations. Ice crystals are initialized in the main upper-level detrainment zone with a size distribution based on in situ measurements made in a convective core at about 12 km. Advection, deposition growth, and sedimentation of thousands of sample ice crystals are tracked over about 2.5 hr; neither aggregation of ice crystals nor radiative effects are included. Results support the importance of deposition growth and gravitational size sorting in the evolution of the anvil cirrus. Most ice crystals initialized with maximum dimensions larger than about 200 μm fall out of the anvil and sublimate in subsaturated air below within about 2 hr. Few small ice crystals are present in the lower part of the mature anvil. Vapor deposition growth accounts for about 50% of the ice mass remaining after about 2 hr. Ice crystals larger than about 50 μm in the mature anvil have grown substantially by deposition of vapor. This result is consistent with the predominance of bullet rosette habits observed in mature anvils. Variations in ice crystal fall speeds and growth rates associated with ice crystal habit assumptions have little impact on the ice crystal life cycles. Plain Language Summary Numerical simulations of anvil cirrus ice crystal life cycles demonstrate the importance of deposition growth and sedimentation. Ice crystals with maximum dimensions larger than about 200 μm fall out of anvil cirrus within a few hours. Most ice crystals persisting in the anvils grow by deposition of vapor, and ice crystal growth is important for maintenance of the anvil ice mass. These results are consistent with the predominance of bullet rosette habits observed in mature anvil cirrus.


Repeat elements are important components of eukaryotic genomes. The dropping cost of the second and third generation sequencing technologies provides opportunities to study repeat elements of hundreds of species and thousands of individuals of one species. Based on the quality of the assembled genomes, generally there are two obstacles for studying repeat elements: (1) For species with high repetitive or complex genomes that do not have high quality genomes assembled, how do we construct de novo repeat elements? (2) For species with high quality genomes assembled, how to detect mobile elements insertions (one type of repeat elements) of different individuals of the species? It is known that most of the gaps on draft genomes are caused by repeat elements, thus a following-up question is: (3) With the understanding of repeats on genome, can we better close the gaps on draft genomes? To address the first problem that reference genomes are incomplete and often contain missing data in highly repetitive regions, we propose a method (called REPdenovo) to construct repeats directly from short sequencing reads. REPdenovo can construct various types of repeats that are highly repetitive and have low sequence divergence within copies. We show that REPdenovo is substantially better than existing methods both in terms of the number and the completeness of the repeat sequences that it recovers. The key advantage of REPdenovo is that it can reconstruct long repeats from short sequence reads. We apply the method to human data and discover a number of potentially new repeats sequences that have been missed by previous repeat annotations. Next we present an improved version of REPdenovo, which is able to reconstruct more divergent and lower frequency repeats from short sequencing reads. Comparing with the original REPdenovo, this improved approach uses more repeat-related k-mers. In addition, the new approach improves repeat assembly quality using a consensus-based k-mer processing method. We compare the performance of the new method with REPdenovo and RepARK on Human and Arabidopsis thaliana short sequencing data. The results show that the improved REPdenovo can assemble more complete repeats than REPdenovo (and also RepARK). We apply the improved REPdenovo on Hummingbird which has no known repeat library, and construct many repeat elements that are validated using PacBio long reads. Many of these repeats are likely to be true that are not in public repeat libraries. To answer the second question, we develop a novel method (called REPdenovoMEI) for detecting mobile element insertions (MEIs) with given reference genome and alignments of different individuals. Different from all existing tools, REPdenovo-MEI does not rely on any repeats library and can call MEIs efficiently and accurately. Besides calling out insertion sites, REPdenovo-MEI has a local assembly step to construct the inserted copy and a classification based approach for calling genotypes. In addition, the third-generation sequencing technology generates long reads of thousands of bases long, which usually is long enough to contain the whole repeat elements in the reads, thus can help to construct the MEIs completely. Thus, besides short reads, REPdenovo-MEI can also work with long reads to infer the inserted copies. Results on both simulated and real data show that REPdenovo-MEI outperforms existing tools on both accuracy and the number of constructed high divergent MEIs. To solve the third problem of closing gaps on draft genomes, we propose a new method (called GAPPadder) that can sensitively close gaps for large and complex genomes. Different from existing approaches, GAPPadder collects more gap originated reads, especially repeat associated reads, and better utilize the information of different insert sizes of PE and MP reads. Finally, GAPPadder provides higher quality of local assembly with an extra contigs merging step. We show GAPPadder can close more gaps on one bacterial genome, Human chromosome 14 and Human whole genome. Besides closing gaps on draft genome assembled only from short sequence reads, GAPPadder can also be used to close gaps for draft genomes assembled with long reads. We show GAPPadder can close gaps on the bed bug genome and the Asian sea bass genome that are assembled partially and fully with long reads respectively. We also show GAPPadder is efficient in both time and memory usage. De Novo Repeats Construction: Methods and Applications


The Baltic Sea climate is analysed based upon long-term oceanographic measurements. The objective of the work is to study the natural variability of present day climate with focus on the freshwater budget. The results are designed to be used for validation of climate models and for dis- crimination of the significance of modelled climate change scenarios. Almost 100 yr of observations are used in the study, including data for river runoff, water exchange through the Danish Straits (as calculated from river runoff and from sea level data from the Kattegat), salinity data from the Baltic Sea and the Kattegat, and oxygen content in the deep Baltic Sea. The analyses illustrate that fresh- water supply to the Baltic shows large variations on time scales up to several decades. The long-term variations in freshwater storage are closely correlated to accumulated changes in river runoff. This indicates strong positive feedback between the amount of outflowing surface water from the Baltic Sea and the salinity of the inflowing Kattegat water. One implication of the study is that climate con- trol simulations must cover several decades, probably up to 100 yr in order to capture the natural vari- ability of present day climate. Also, models designed to study climate change for the Baltic Sea prob- ably need to start integrating from the present day.


We tested the transmission efficiency of two genetically divergent isolates of Broad bean wilt virus 1 (BBWV- 1), PV-132 from the USA, and Ben from Spain, by two aphid species, Myzus persicae (Sulzer) and Aphis gossypii (Glover) collected in Spain. Efficiency was estimated as the number of infected plants divided by the number of single-aphid-inoculated plants. The two aphid species transmitted the virus isolates with equivalent efficiency, but the transmission rate was significantly higher for isolate Ben than for PV-132. It is hypothesized that the specificity determinants for vector-virus interaction might be similar for M. persicae and A. gossypii, whereas transmission rate could be affected by amino acid differences in the coat proteins of the two isolates.


The national air transportation system faces a tremendous challenge in the coming years. Airport congestion is already a serious problem, with delays at the most congested airports "rippling" through the air transportation system. Expected growth in the demand for air transportation will add to delays and reduce the overall reliability of air transportation. There is minimal new airport development underway to meet the growing demand. Worse still, the current system suffers from an apparent shortage of capital to meet the airport system's future financing needs. Increased private involvement in infrastructure development has proven to be an effective remedy for similar problems in other modes of transportation, and the growing support at all levels of government is a reflection of this success. Unfortunately, federal airport policy has exhibited a clear bias against increasing private-sector involvement. This bias in federal airport policy is inconsistent with the April 30, 1992 Executive Order on privatization, overall federal transportation policy, and with Secretary Andrew Card's stated support for airport privatization. Furthermore, by limiting local airport authorities' ability to increase private involvement, the bias ultimately contributes to more-congested, less-efficient airports. If it is to meet the coming challenges of congestion, long development times, and an apparent shortage of capital, the national air transportation system must be able to efficiently access the capabilities of both the public and private sectors. This will not happen unless federal airport policy is altered to remove the bias against private sector operation and ownership of airports. Federal policy needs to recognize that the private sector can safely and efficiently develop and operate airports, and allow local governments and authorities to make use of the private sector's capabilities. The ultimate need, however, is for the federal government to defer decisions on private involvement to state and local government. The decision on the appropriate level of private involvement should be made on a case-by-case basis depending on each airport's unique circumstances, a decision which local governments and authorities are uniquely qualified to make. Federal policy should recognize this and allow local authorities to determine the appropriate level of private involvement (within broad guidelines). Implementation of the April 30, 1992 Executive Order could lead to improvements in federal airport policy, but until the current bias against private involvement is corrected, private involvement in airports will remain in a holding pattern, along with irate passengers.


Extensive empirical studies have established that women fear crime more than men and theoretical arguments have suggested this difference produces consequences ranging from increased medical and psychological problems to restricted movement and limited exposure to social networks and opportunities resulting in restrictive informal social control and reduced social capital. More recently, a number of studies have begun to test the theoretical link between fear and behavior, with some suggesting fear will restrict prosocial behavior and others suggesting fear will motivate behavior that improves personal and communal well-being. This study adds to this emerging literature by exploring how fear of crime affects two measures of philanthropic behavior—donating and volunteerism. Using a stratified random telephone survey of 2,361 individuals living in the 20 counties that compose the greater Metro Atlanta area, the authors explore the role of fear of crime as an independent variable in models of donating and volunteering time to a charitable organization. Additionally, interaction terms are included in models of volunteering to control for the possibility that the strength of the relationship may vary based on sex. The results indicate that fear of crime is an important predictor of volunteering, but not donating, and that the effects are stronger for women than men.


Access to display pixels for the purpose of identification of a defect in a sealed display is difficult. Thus, it will be useful to investigate the physical defects in a passive-matrix organic light-emitting diode (PMOLED) display, such as electrically open anode or cathode, shorted anode or cathode or pixel short by driving the display as red, blue, green, white, or black image and observing the visual defects. In this paper, we associate a black horizontal line in a display with electrically open row, dark/dim horizontal line with shorted cathode, dead pixel or bright horizontal line or dark/dim vertical line with electrically shorted pixels and black vertical line with either electrically short or open anode. Further, we find a pixel short to be a complicated defect which manifests itself in a display in several ways depending on the image displayed. For example, a short in red pixel will result in bright horizontal line in a blue or green image but not in red image and its behavior in white or black image will be entirely different. However, by clearly understanding the cause of appearance of a defect, we also demonstrate that by a specific driving methodology, it is possible to identify a physical defect. We have used SPICE simulation to support the physical observations.


Carboniferous non-marine bivalves are usually classified at the 'species' level using external morphological criteria through comparison with figured and described type specimens. This system of nomenclature has allowed the recognition of stratigraphically useful morphospecies. Biometric analysis of a large number of shells of the genus Anthraconauta Pruvost, collected from the Sydney coalfield, Nova Scotia, suggests. that this system of nomenclature cannot be justified biologically. The genus appears to be morphologically homogeneous in the Upper Carboniferous of Western Europe and North America. Shell shape variation is influenced by mode of life and palaeoenvironment, as suggested by the study of modern analogues and fossil shells. If a biological classification were adopted for this group of fossils, then all their stratigraphical value would be lost. To reconcile systematics with the needs of stratigraphers, the adoption of a trinomial nomenclature is recommended. The use of cluster analysis has shown that varieties can be identified that correspond morphologically to previously named and described 'species'. Nomenclature of the form genus, species and variety would be both biologically correct and stratigraphically useful.


A relation between the phase time and the dwell time in double-barrier tunneling is investigated under the resonant and the off-resonant conditions. The role and physical meaning of the self-interference delay is discussed. The Hartman effect is examined in double-barrier geometry and a physical explanation for the phenomenon is developed.


The study is a historico-theoretical discussion of sustainable development. It provides an overview of the different definitions and practices related to sustainable development. It recognizes that a historical explanation is needed due to non-agreement of proponents, and outlines the strong ecological/ideological stance on sustainable development affirmed during the 1992 Earth Summit conference in Rio de Janeiro. Various definitions of sustainable development describe development as a composite of economic growth and/or basic rights and needs and conditions necessary for sustainability. Policymakers and planners face a dilemma of whether "sustainability" should be for people or for the biosphere. This concept later includes a discussion of the impact of social conditions and structures on the environment, with emphasis on limiting the exploitation of human systems. This is a crucial issue in the Third World where one can observe the devastating impact of poverty and colonization on the environment. The study argues that development goals and environmental issues can be reconciled, and that both the North and South have a shared role in solving these issues. The study recommends three approaches that can lead to a deeper understanding of environmental issues and offer new solutions to sustainable development. The three approaches are New Holism or interconnectedness of everything, New Immanentism or immanence of nature and its inherent order through cycles and rhythms, and New Naturalism or the view that humans are part of nature rather than apart from it. These approaches enable modern humans to live harmoniously with the environment without dominating or destroying it.


In this paper we analyse tiebreak results from some tennis players in order to investigate whether we are able to identify some strategy in this crucial moment of the game. We compared the observed results with a binomial distribution considering that the probabilities of winning or losing a point are equal. Using a $\chi^2$ test we found that, excepting some players, the greatest part of the results agrees with our hypothesis that there is no hidden strategy and the points in tiebreaks are merely aleatory.


This thesis presents the first integrated history of Vienna's four Jewish cemeteries as sites reflecting the construction, negotiation and at times contestation of Jewish communal belonging within Viennese society, embedded in the Viennese cityscape. Through a novel analysis of the sepulchral epigraphy of the thousands of matzevot or grave-memorials contained therein, the development and expression of codes of belonging constructed in the nexus between shifting notions of 'Jewish' and 'Viennese' culture are illuminated in a longue duree from the medieval into the modern periods. The Shoah, while it does not represent the first instance of the violent erasures of Jewish life and culture in the city, through its magnitude and presence in living memory constitutes a profound rupture in the historic enmeshment of the Jewish community in Viennese society. During the Shoah, the cemeteries became a focal point for the attempted excision or revision of Jewish cultural heritage and its place in Viennese culture, perpetrated by a complex network of agency, with the cemeteries moreover becoming recalibrated as sites of intense Jewish-communal introspection and activity. The cemeteries constituted after the Shoah some of the only sites of Jewish heritage to survive in the physical and memorial landscape, becoming moreover deeply contested sites of memory, within the context of the fledgling re-establishment of Jewish life in the city and the conflicted political and historical discourses in the Second Austrian Republic. This thesis presents the cemeteries as sites of the most profound engagements with Vienna's long and convoluted Jewish history, comprising moments of great cultural prowess as well as murderous destructivity, embodying the deeply interactive yet conflicted relationship between the City of Vienna and its successive Jewish communities.


Nowadays, the exclusive attention to the quantitative aspect of space design has resulted in reduced quality of most open spaces so that most of them lack of vitality and dynamicity. Thus, the present study aims to determine the physical- spatial dimensions of environmental vitality of open spaces from the viewpoints of designers and residents to compare their viewpoints and find the differences between them. The present study is carried out using triangulation design, in two quantitative and qualitative parts. In the qualitative part, a semi-structured interview is performed with those who expert in residential complex design. This interview is about the physical-spatial factors affecting vitality of open spaces. Then, the factors are extracted through open coding using the context theory approach and applying MAXQDA software. In the quantitative part, according to the existing theoretical literature, the main factors are extracted and a questionnaire is designed based on them. Then, the questionnaires are distributed among 376 residents in all residential complexes studied. The data obtained from the questionnaires are analyzed using Pearson test in SPSS software. Based on the outcomes obtained from the analysis of the interviews with experts, there are 12 main physical-spatial factors affecting the environmental vitality of the open spaces in the residential complex. According to inhabitants, the components of "sense of solidarity" and "memory-making capability of place" are the most effective components. These components, like some others, have been underestimated by the experts. Eventually, by analyzing the responses of residents, the other influential components are extracted. In addition, by analyzing the residents' opinion, residential complexes with dispersed pattern are common in two components of cohesion of situations and spatial diversity, residential complexes with centralized pattern in two components of spatial continuity and openness and residential complexes with linear pattern in four components of form, order and diversity, the sense of recognition and self-respect as well as the creation of public and private arenas. are your solutions for increasing the environmental vitality of open spaces in residential complexes?


How has originalism become so politically successful? Whether its appeal is intrinsic or depends on the political outcomes it promises, leading studies agree that the popularization of originalism came from the top down: elite actors persuaded grassroots activists to endorse originalism. By focusing on arguments about the backlash against Roe v. Wade, this Article argues that current studies of originalism as a political practice are fundamentally incomplete. First-generation originalists like Antonin Scalia, Robert Bork, and Lino Graglia defend originalism in part by pointing to the negative political and social consequences of any alternative approach. Roe has been the most powerful example used in consequentialist arguments for originalism. By failing to adhere exclusively to constitutional text or history, as Scalia has argued, the Roe Court forced lay people to question the Court's legitimacy and, in so doing, helped to create the antiabortion movement. However, these consequentialist contentions of originalism and against Roe emerged not in the academy or in the courts but within the grassroots Right. In 1980-81, antiabortion activists began arguing that Roe should be overruled because of the consequences of the Court's activism: the creation of the antiabortion movement, the polarization of debate, and the effective preclusion of any meaningful legislative compromise. These activists were not simply attracted to originalism because of its inherent worth or because of the results it produced. Instead, members of the grassroots Right pioneered justifications that later featured in the work of first-generation originalist scholars. As the Article shows, the politics of originalism have been conducted from the bottom up as well as from the top down.There is a good deal at stake in understanding the role of the grassroots Right in creating consequence-based justifications for originalism. First, by assuming that academics, politicians, and judges have dominated the politics of originalism, we have misunderstood important popular arguments for originalism or judicial restraint. Grassroots claims about originalism have a distinctive language, and their purpose and rhetoric differ considerably from the arguments articulated by politicians and professors. A second implication concerns the legal academy. The materials assembled here suggest that the battle for the future of constitutional interpretation will not be won by whoever has the best theory. The politics of judicial philosophy have involved an unpredictable and highly contingent give-and-take between grassroots activists and the political and judicial elites. This will likely to continue to be the case in the future.


The environmental impact assessment procedure is a worldwide known procedure for comprehensive evaluation of the likely impact of a proposed activity on the environment. In this contribution, the author attempts to compare the basic features of this procedure set by the 1991 Espoo international convention, by the EC Directive 85/337/EEC as amended by the Directive 97/11/EC, and the Czech legislation. The main interest is devoted to selected legal problems which must be faced in the national law. They can be divided into the following areas, such as the definition of activities to which the EIA procedure is applied, timeliness of the procedure, the complexity of the analysis, correctness of the outcomes and participation of the public. The contribution deals specifically with problematic parts of> the Czech national law and tries to find ways how to solve them.


Hepatitis B viruses synthesize their open circular DNA genomes by reverse transcription of an RNA intermediate. The details of this process have been examined with the use of mammalian hepatitis B viruses to map the sites for initiation and termination of DNA synthesis and to explore the consequences of mutations introduced at short, separated direct repeats (DR1 and DR2) implicated in the mechanisms of initiation. The first DNA strand to be synthesized is initiated within DR1, apparently by a protein primer, and the completed strand has a short terminal redundancy. In contrast, the second DNA strand begins with the sequence adjacent to DR2, but its 5' end is joined to an oligoribonucleotide that contains DR1; thus the putative RNA primer has been transposed to the position of DR2. It is now possible to propose a detailed strategy for reverse transcription by hepatitis B viruses that can be instructively compared with that used by retroviruses.


Protection relays play an integral part in electrical power systems. They monitor and detect abnormal system conditions and initiate the operation of protective devices like circuit breakers to take corrective action and restore the power system to its normal state. Over the years, the technology has evolved from the old electromechanical-based relays to the new microprocessor-based relays also known as intelligent electronic devices, such as the SEL 787 transformer protection relay. Correct operation of these devices is critical as malfunction or incorrect operation might lead to severe damage to protected equipment and costly power outages. In commissioning, maintenance and training fields, the correct operation and accuracy verification is determined through carrying out fault simulations on the relay using different types of test equipment or simulators. This thesis investigates the capabilities of SEL 787 relay by using low level fault simulators and setting the foundation for the development of a National Instrument CompactDaq and LabVIEW fault simulator.

The thesis comprises the following three main parts:

Part 1: SEL 787 Transformer protection relay
In this thesis, research has been carried out on the design and application of the SEL 787 relay in transformer protection. The hardware components and the software platform used by the relay has been analysed. Investigation of the software tools to facilitate efficient simulations and hence explore the functionality of the relay has been conducted.

Part 2: Fault simulators / Test equipment
Focuses on the different types of fault simulators in particular low level simulators like the SEL RTS system. Simulations where carried out on the SEL 787 relay using the SEL RTS system. The simulation results were analysed using standards and manufacturer specifications.

Part 3: LabVIEW CompactDaq Simulator
Involves the proposed design of a low level simulator using the CompactDaq modules and LabVIEW software. Analysis of the CompactDaq modules was conducted. Tests were successfully carried out using the CompactDaq system via NI Max test panel on the SEL 787 protection relay.


Town centre management (TCM) as a practice-based concept has existed in the UK, North America and much of Western Europe for over twenty five years. TCM was first defined by Wells (1991, p. 24) in the academic literature as "a comprehensive response to competitive pressures, which involves development, management and promotion of both public and private areas within town centres, for the benefit of all concerned". Yet, this concept has evolved considerably since its first inceptions in the 1980s as the public-private partnerships that manage high streets, districts, town centres, quarters and other place formats have themselves faced a period of unprecedented environmental and socio-economic changes in the matrix of our towns and cities. This DProf by Public Works project explores the author's contribution to this evolving paradigm over a ten year period by advocating a global-local approach to the town centre management profession. Specific knowledge gaps addressed by the author over this period include the contribution of small and medium sized retailers to the vitality, diversity and viability of town centres in a number of European countries, a pan-European classification tool (typology) of town centre management schemes, the development of the UK's first ever professional and academic qualifications in place management and the founding of the first-ever practice-based international interdisciplinary publication on the management of towns and cities – the Journal of Town and City Management. The author's transformational learning experience over this period serves as a backdrop for reflection throughout. Finally, insights into the future of town centres are offered along with some of the key strategic challenges that the town centre management profession will need to address in the medium term in order to continue to thrive into the future.


Roughly one quarter of active upper limb prosthetic technology is rejected by the user, and user surveys have identified key areas requiring improvement: function, comfort, cost, durability, and appearance. Here we present the first systematic, clinical assessment of a novel prosthetic hand, the SoftHand Pro (SHP), in participants with transradial amputation and age-matched, limb-intact participants. The SHP is a robust and functional prosthetic hand that minimizes cost and weight using an underactuated design with a single motor. Participants with limb loss were evaluated on functional clinical measures before and after a 6–8 hour training period with the SHP as well as with their own prosthesis; limb-intact participants were tested only before and after SHP training. Participants with limb loss also evaluated their own prosthesis and the SHP (following training) using subjective questionnaires. Both objective and subjective results were positive and illuminated the strengths and weaknesses of the SHP. In particular, results pre-training show the SHP is easy to use, and significant improvement in the Activities Measure for Upper Limb Amputees in both groups following a 6–8 hour training highlights the ease of learning the unique features of the SHP (median improvement: 4.71 and 3.26 and p = 0.009 and 0.036 for limb loss and limb-intact groups, respectively). Further, we found no difference in performance compared to participant's own commercial devices in several clinical measures and found performance surpassing these devices on two functional tasks, buttoning a shirt and using a cell phone, suggesting a functional prosthetic design. Finally, improvements are needed in the SHP design and/or training in light of poor results in small object manipulation. Taken together, these results show the promise of the SHP, a flexible and adaptive prosthetic hand, and pave a path forward to ensuring higher functionality in future.


Macroecology provides a novel conceptual framework for analysis of the distribution and abundance of organisms at very large scales. Its rapid development in recent years has been dri- ven primarily by studies of terrestrial taxa; the vast potential of marine systems to contribute to the macroecological research effort remains largely untapped. International collaborative efforts such as MarBEF have provided fresh impetus to the collation of regional databases of species occurrences, such as the newly available MacroBen database of the European soft sediment benthic fauna. Here, we provide a first macroecological summary of this unique database. We show that in common with almost all previously analysed assemblages, the frequency distribution of regional site occupancies across species in the MacroBen database is strongly right-skewed. More unusually, this right skew remains under logarithmic transformation. There is little evidence for any major differences between higher taxa in this frequency distribution (based on the 8 animal classes for which we have sufficient data). Indeed, considerable variation in occupancy persisted across the taxonomic hierarchy, such that most variation occurred between species within genera. There was a weak positive relationship between local population density and regional occupancy across species, but this abundance-occu- pancy relationship varied considerably between higher taxa and between geographical areas. Our results highlight the potential of databases such as MacroBen to consolidate macroecological gener- alities and to test emerging theory. Contribution to the Theme Section 'Large-scale studies of the European benthos: the MacroBen database' OPENEN


This paper presents an analytical two-port, lumped-element model of a piezoelectric composite circular plate. In particular, the individual components of a piezoelectric unimorph transducer are modeled as lumped elements of an equivalent electrical circuit using conjugate power variables. The transverse static deflection field as a function of pressure and voltage loading is determined to synthesize the two-port dynamic model. Classical laminated plate theory is used to derive the equations of equilibrium for clamped circular laminated plates containing one or more piezoelectric layers. A closed-form solution is obtained for a unimorph device in which the diameter of the piezoelectric layer is less than that of the shim. Methods to estimate the model parameters are discussed, and model verification via finite-element analyses and experiments is presented. The results indicate that the resulting lumped-element model provides a reasonable prediction (within 3%) of the measured response to voltage loading and the natural frequency, thus enabling design optimization of unimorph piezoelectric transducers.


Is there a God, or a spiritual reality beyond nature? Physicist Taner Edis takes a fresh look at this age-old question, focusing on what we have learned about our world rather than on traditional metaphysical disputes. Emphasising a search for explanation rather than listing flaws in theistic metaphysics, Edis uses the results of natural science to present a world where complexity, intelligence, and even the sublime heights of religious experience emerge from what is ultimately material and random. Sympathetically criticising Muslim and New Age perspectives, as well as Jewish and Christian arguments, Edis argues that a thoroughgoing naturalism leads to a much better explanation of our world. While making it clear that spiritual views have a genuine intellectual appeal, Edis systematically critiques such arguments, contrasting them with stronger naturalistic explanations. Science is central to this naturalistic picture; modern physics, evolutionary biology, and critical history, as well as contemporary psychology and brain sciences, all cast doubt on any spiritual reality. Bringing together ideas from many disciplines in a style that remains accessible to non-specialists, and also interesting to scientists and philosophers, Edis provides an informative, in-depth statement of the case for scientific naturalism as the most accurate and powerful description of our world today.


We will investigate the concept of the self (and its relation to personal identity in multiple cyber worlds). This investigation has its own justification, the fact that several questions concerning personal identity are answered by constructing examples of thought experiments involving fictional worlds. Thus it seems legitimate to us to discuss the problem in the framework of "concrete" alternative worlds which we call cyber worlds. The next section deals with a brief history of the problem of personal identity in modern philosophy and introduces the concept of the "self". In section 2 we introduce conceptual frameworks that illustrate the idea of the self as composed of information in multiple cyber worlds and as a result pose some important questions to be investigated further, we finally conclude with section 3 and we consider how some concepts from anthropology may be applied to the study of the Cyberspace. Some authors tend to confuse, or overlap the concept of virtual communities or reality with the concept of Cyberspace because this is a rather vague concept. In this paper we consider virtual communities and virtual reality as just one portion of the Cyberspace. At the moment we are not going to try to answer fundamental ontological questions such as: what is Cyberspace? Is it or does it have a dimension? We assume that there exists a Cyberspace, a sort of electromagnetic space (and this space may be divide into modules), where a virtual interaction might be created and we will refer to this as a virtual world.


Framboidal pyrite has been used as a paleo-redox proxy and a biomarker in ancient sediments, but the interpretation of pyrite framboids can be controversial, especially where later overgrowths have obscured primary textures. Here we show how nano-scale chemical mapping of organic carbon and nitrogen (CN org ) can detect relict framboids within Precambrian pyrite grains and determine their formation mechanism. Pyrite grains associated with an Ediacaran fossil Lagerstatte from Newfoundland (ca. 560 Ma) hold significance for our understanding of taphonomy and redox history of the earliest macrofossil assemblages. They show distinct chemical zoning with respect to CN org . Relict framboids are revealed as spheroidal zones within larger pyrite grains, whereby pure pyrite microcrystals are enclosed by a mesh-like matrix of pyrite possessing elevated CN org , replicating observations from framboids growing within modern biofilms. Subsequent pyrite overgrowths also incorporated CN org from biofilms, with concentric CN org zoning showing that the availability of CN org progressively decreased during later pyrite growth. Multiple framboids are commonly cemented together by these overgrowths to form larger grains, with relict framboids only detectable in CN org maps. In situ sulfur isotope data (δ 34 S = ∼−24‰ to −15‰) show that the source of sulfur for the pyrite was also biologically mediated, most likely via a sulfate-reducing microbial metabolism within the biofilms. Relict framboids have significantly smaller diameters than the pyrite grains that enclose them, suggesting that the use of framboid diameters to infer water column paleo-redox conditions should be approached with caution. This work shows that pyrite framboids have formed within organic biofilms for at least 560 m.y., and provides a novel methodology that could readily be extended to search for such biomarkers in older rocks and potentially on other planets.


Statement of the problem: Learning about classic authors, whose language is hardly understandable for children, has become a challenge. The decline of literary reading and the lack of focus in the subject matter and idea of the text, which are interrelated to the early culture / identity, make students lose their will to read classic works, thus failing to fulfil the aims and competencies required with the Pre-university Curriculum Framework. Methodology: The research is based on the analysis of Curriculum Framework and the structure of school subjects. Furthermore, methods of teaching classic works and use of complementary means are treated through a combination of quantitative method with the ethnographic one. Results: The research concludes that students tend to read classic works (works by old authors) more easily if they are offered the abridged versions. Making of abridged collections of such works, and complementing book contents with digital content is the tendency that schools have in the digital era. Conclusions / recommendations: MEST should aim towards changing the structure of language and literature course, draft new programs, and prepare additional content for teaching and learning of texts and classic authors (e-school).


The carrier-number dependence of the thermoelectric power is investigated in the band-filling controlled organic conductors, β′-(BEDT-TTF)3(CoCl4)2−x(GaCl4)x (BEDT-TTF: bis(ethylenedithio)tetrathiafulvalene). Although the BEDT-TTF molecules are positively charged, the thermopower is negative in the entire temperature range and produces a broad peak around 150 K. The nontrivial temperature and carrier-number dependence is quantitatively analyzed by calculating the thermopower from the band structure. The thermopower becomes gradually smaller with increasing x, where electron doping occurs at the upper band of the strongly dimerized system. At the same time, the bandwidth shrinks due to the negative chemical pressure, and the conductivity decreases in spite of the increasing electron number. Since the parent compound at x = 0 has a semimetallic band structure, the thermoelectric power factor monotonously decreases upon doping, in sharp contrast to that in organic polymers.


This Article is the first to address the issue of the constitutionality of the motion to dismiss. Until now, motions to dismiss have not been the subject of much academic commentary, in part because courts have rarely dismissed cases upon motions to dismiss. However, decisions by the Court this past term in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly and Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor Issues & Rights, Ltd. changed the civil procedure landscape tremendously. In these decisions, the Court "retire[d]" the fifty-year-old rule of Conley v. Gibson under which a complaint could not be dismissed unless there was "no set of facts" upon which relief could be granted. The Court cast this rule away in favor of a standard under which courts critically assess whether the claim is plausible and at times, examine inferences that favor both the plaintiff and the defendant. In setting up this new standard, the Court emphasized the concern that companies should not be subject to discovery and forced settlements in unmeritorious cases and also stressed that Congress and the rule-makers possessed the authority to establish pleading procedures. Under the new standards, courts will dismiss cases much more often using the motion to dismiss. This impending phenomenon of increased dismissals by judges before the fact-finder hears any evidence is noteworthy. It will compound a significant decline in the number of jury trials due to dismissals upon summary judgment, and this will occur in the presence of the Seventh Amendment that, by its text and history, strongly protects the right to a jury trial. Under established Supreme Court case law interpreting the Seventh Amendment, the "common law" governs the power of constitutional actors such as the courts and Congress to interfere with the jury trial. Under this case law, a modern procedure must satisfy the substance of the English common law jury trial in 1791 to be constitutional under the Seventh Amendment. This Article argues that Twombly and Tellabs did not adequately follow the Supreme Court jurisprudence on the Seventh Amendment. In Twombly, albeit not raised, the Court failed to recognize the Seventh Amendment issue that overlay its decision despite the significant effect of the decision on the right to a jury trial. In Tellabs, where it did recognize a Seventh Amendment question, the Court ignored the governing common law. These cases open up a new constitutional discussion that tests the limits of the Seventh Amendment. The Article shows that the new motion to dismiss standards do not adequately comport with the substance of the common law jury trial and thus are unconstitutional. Contrary to the common law, these standards permit courts to improperly assess the plausibility of facts and corresponding inferences pled by plaintiffs and weigh those inferences against inferences that favor defendants. The Article concludes that while Twombly and Tellabs were in the limited areas of antitrust and securities fraud, the standards set forth in those cases will be used to dismiss a variety of fact-intensive cases including those frequently dismissed upon summary judgment such as employment discrimination and other civil rights cases.


By using data drawn from the Regional Competitiveness Index, this paper provides empirical analyses aimed at investigating the competitiveness of Italian regions over the time period 2010-2013 when Italy was seriously affected by the sovereign debt crisis. The competitiveness gap among Italian NUTS2 Southern regions, Northern ones and other European NUTS2 regions is evaluated at the beginning and at the end of this period. Statistical data processing shows that over the years under investigation the competitiveness of Italian Southern regions worsened with few exceptions. Furthermore, a general worsening of Italian competitiveness compared with other European regions is reported, especially when looking at some indicators among those examined.


This article shows how the relatively new concept of Perfect Withdrawal Rate can be used in assessing the appropriate sustainable withdrawal amounts from a pot of wealth. This concept can be applied equally to private retirement funds, endowments, and charities—and, indeed, in any context requiring regular withdrawals from an initial source of funds. The subject of estimating sustainable withdrawal rates usually falls back on describing the likely minimum safe withdrawal possibilities for various portfolio constructions over different decumulation periods. This analysis employs either a long period of historical data or a recombination of data in the form of Monte Carlo simulations. To illustrate the power of the Perfect Withdrawal concept, the article considers the case of someone who initiated retirement on January 1, 2000, at age 65 and, with the benefit of actual investment returns, assesses investment and withdrawal rate options and lessons to be learned from this experience. The article also introduces the concept and a methodology for purchasing a delayed annuity so that at age 85 (on December 31, 2019), the hypothetical retiree is fully transitioned from investment income to annuity income for the rest of their life, no matter how long that may be. TOPICS: Retirement, pension funds, foundations & endowments, quantitative methods, simulations Key Findings ▪ The introduction of delayed annuities into retirement planning helps complete analysis of the decumulation experience. ▪ The larger the sum required for a delayed annuity, the more variable the final withdrawals in the decumulation journey become. ▪ The delayed annuity purchase amount is a moving target; withdrawal amounts have to adapt in the attempt to meet the objective.


This study which lasted for 12 weeks investigated the effects of garlic and probiotics additives in the diets of grower pigs. A total of sixteen 16 weeks old grower pigs were randomly assigned to four treatments. Each treatment had 2 replicates of 2 pigs per replicate that were housed in a previously cleaned and disinfected pen measuring 3.2m x2.7m with concrete floor, feeding trough and water drinker. Four treatment diets (T1, T2, T3, and T4) were used in a 2x2 factorial arrangement in a Completely Randomized Design. T1 contained 0g garlic and 0g probiotics in a 50kg basal diet. T2 contained 50g of probiotics in a 50kg basal diet. T3 had 50g of garlic in a 50kg basal diet while T4 had 50g of garlic and 50g of probiotics in a 50kg basal diet. Pigs were fed 4% of their average body weight per pen and water was provided ad libitum, while other management principles were observed. The initial body weight (1BWkg), height at withers (HWcm), chest girth (CGcm), body flank (BFcm) and body length (BLcm) were measured and recorded at the beginning of the experiment and subsequently measured bi-weekly till the end of the experiment. At the end of the experiment, 2 pigs were randomly selected from each treatment for carcass, serum and hematological investigation. Blood samples were collected through the retro-bulbar plexus of the medial canthus of the eye of the pigs using syringes and needles and placed in micro tubes with Ethylene diamine tetracetic acid (EDTA) as anti-coagulant. The economic implication of the study was also calculated. Data obtained were subjected to a oneway analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SPSS. Significantly different means were separated using Duncan's New Multiple Range Test. Results obtained indicated that there were statistical differences (P<0.05) in the performance characteristic, linear body measurements, and carcass and organ characteristics. Result on serum biochemistry showed no significant differences (P>0.05) in ALT, AST, TCRE, and Urea among the treatment groups while there were significant differences (P<0.05) in ALP and BIL in T1 but similar in T2, T3 and T4 (P>0.05). Result on serum cholesterol showed significant differences (P<0.05) in HDL which was similar in T1, T3 and T4. TRIG and VLDL values were also significantly difference (P<0.05) with T1 and T3 being similar but higher than values for T2 and T4 which are themselves similar (P>0.05). LDL values were similar (P>0.05) in T1, T3 and T4 but higher (P<0.05) than T2. Feed cost per kg gain was highly significant (P<0.05) in T1 (220.22±17.61), but similar (P>0.05) in T2 (159.52±10.19), T3 (167.93±13.31) and T4 (151.10±10.94). There were significant differences (P<0.05) in the total white blood cell TWBC with T2 (16.33±1.83), and T3 (16.35±0.45) having comparable means values, while still being highest and lowest in T4 (20.20±0.15) and T1 (12.43±1.63) respectively. However, there were non significant differences (P<0.05) observed in the packed cell volume PCV, red blood count RBC and hemoglobin concentration HbC. It is concluded that feeding garlic or probiotics to growing pigs results in better performance, serum chemistry and economics of production.


One of the most basic aspects in laboratory is communication. The way researchers communicate could affect the outcomes of their research. This article will investigate how problems related to communication can hinder the accomplishment of laboratory objectives. Also, we will present what behaviours, actions or measures during communication influence a laboratory practice development. For this research, the laboratories of Yachay University for Experimental Technology and Research were visited to witness different laboratory practices in the fields of biology and chemistry. Communication interactions between professor-student and student-student were recorded and analyzed. We discovered four communication problems that interfere with the normal development of the practices: (1) disrupted communication process, (2) lack of communication, (3) assumptions, and (4) non-verbal communication. Ways of increasing the possibility of success by controlling these problems, as well as factors that affect laboratory research are discussed.


Crafting Gender: Women and Folk Art in Latin America and the Caribbean. Edited by Eli Bartra. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003. Pp. ix + 245, acknowledgments, introduction, photographs, notes, index. $79.95 cloth, $22.95 paper) It is entirely to the credit of this informative and challenging volume's editor and contributors, largely anthropologists, sociologists or art historians, that folklorists will be immediately familiar with the key issues raised in it. For many years it has been a result, if not the goal, of folkloristics to recognize and articulate the qualities of popular creativity and imagination, even if this has been dependent upon a lexicon of economic and cultural privilege-the urge to legitimate being conditioned by the extant vocabulary and colored by criteria that divided artist from artisan, writer from storyteller or drama from ritual. Feminist folklorists (or folklorists who work with a consciousness of gender) find themselves in a more complicated bind. If folklore has been conceived of as androgynous, anonymous or marginal, its practice and interpretation within the discipline has been virilist, if not machoistic. For this and other reasons the hidden histories and aesthetics of women's folklore-quilting, carving, pottery, silver work, stitching or weaving-have remained unarticulated within either the local vernacular discourse or within the analytical discourse of the discipline. Written from a feminist perspective, Crafting Gender gives fascinating insights into the gendered nature of the creative process at the heart of contemporary Latin American indigenous and mestizo, population. Much of the book's appeal lies in the warm personal depictions of the lives and creativity of the artists themselves. The book is enriching in its portrayal of the vitality and vigor of post-colonial vernacular culture and the adaptive strategies and creativity of women sensitive to both local and global cultural process; it will go some way towards sharpening and refocusing interest in Latin American folk art. While it stands alone as an instructive and informative reader on the subject, it also complements the existing literature, usefully surveyed here by the volume editor, Eli Bartra. There is much here of interest to the student or scholar interested in gender, material culture or contemporary popular culture in general. In all cases, women artists gain strength through processes of innovation and experimentation out of constantly changing economic and social circumstances. The Saramaka women of Suriname Maroon society are a case in point. Traditionally their artistry was employed to compete for and impress a scarce male population. Over time this found them recombining traditional patterns with those learned from missionaries, priests or women's magazines, crocheting with the spokes of old umbrellas, making anklets from the insides of aluminum cables. In Puerto Rican vernacular religious art, the production of the santos de palo or wooden saints had been a male occupation traditionally, but is increasingly becoming female. …


This report identifies the key findings which were developed during a workshop involving a number of regional micro, small and medium enterprises from a range of industrial sectors and experts in the field of cyber security and business. The purpose of this dialogue was to establish the issues that businesses classed as an SME face with respect to Cyber Security. The output from this workshop, along with this report identifies the market failures that key stakeholders, such as universities and government, need to address in order to support the industry and help to grow a secure digital economy. This workshop follows on from CSC2012 and also the report SBCSS2012 which highlighted the significant problems SMEs are facing with regard to receiving support with regard to cyber security. Security Lancaster partnered with the ICT KTN and sought to work with a diverse group of SMEs in facilitated teams, taken through a series of guided exercises, to first and foremost identify their concerns around cyber security and subsequently capture any potential ways forward.


The present study on
 the morphology of human olfactory mucosa was carried out with
 emphasis on its regional distribution, and changes related with age
 and gender. Eighty tissue samples (forty for either sex) were
 collected from cadavers ranging from 30 to 82 years of age,
 available in the mortuary of King Edward Medical College,
 Lahore.Individual age groups of males and females included 10
 specimens from each sex. The histological study of the mucosa
 included morphology, regional distribution, quantitative analysis of
 all four major types of epithelial cells, height of epithelium and
 thickness of lamina propria in the roof, medial and lateral walls of
 both nasal cavities. A detailed study of the epithelium revealed the
 presence of classically known three cells: olfactory cells,
 sustentacular cells and basal cells and a fourth type, microvillar
 cells. In the age group 30-39 years (male and female) the mucosa was
 seen in the roof lying next to cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone
 and extending on both sides of the nasal septum and on the lateral
 walls of both nasal cavities. At places the respiratory epithelium
 was seen in the area of the olfactory epithelium which was much
 thicker. In the age group of 40-49 years, early age related changes
 were observed in the shape of occasional short epithelial
 invaginations, and disturbance of the zonal distribution of
 olfactory and supporting cells.In the age group 50-59 years, major
 morphological changes were observed like substantial reduction in
 the number of nuclei resulting in decreased height of the
 epithelium, disturbance of zonal distribution and presence of
 epithelial invaginations. The age group of 60 years onwards showed
 gradual thinning of the epithelium, epithelial invaginations, and in
 few cases atrophied olfactory epithelium devoid of olfactory cells.
 ANOVA showed significant age related decrease in the number of
 olfactory and sustentacular cells and in the height of the olfactory
 epithelium among the male and female groups. There was no
 significant age related decrease in the number of basal cells and
 thickness of the lamina propria. The number of microvillar cells was
 markedly less when compared to other cells of the epithelium. These
 results suggest that loss of olfactory and sustentacular cells
 becomes pronounced in individuals of both sexes of 50+ years of age.
 The results of the present study suggest that the reduction in the
 number of
 olfactory receptors and in the height of neuroepithelium with
 advancing age is associated with impairment of olfactory
 sensibility. There was no evidence of significant sex related
 differences in the olfactory mucosa. These results are in the
 accordance with the previous observations in humans and other
 mammals showing a decline in the olfactory capacity with aging,
 mostly attributable to a decline in the number of olfactory cells.
 Contrary to earlier observations, the present study did not reveal
 any conclusive evidence that females had an increased sense of smell
 based on histological observations alone.


All instructors would all like to be a "Dream Come True" but unfortunately many come across to their students as a 'nightmare'. The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics in effective and successful online and/or face-to-face instructors. Characteristics as perceived by pre-service teachers in each setting were investigated in the survey. Results reveled that students in both types of learning environments desire and appear to need communication (or contact) with the instructor in order to be considered effective and successful in their studies. However, students held face-to-face instructors to higher standards on their knowledge than the online instructors. Survey information was divided into five categories and provided very different information. Although this was a limited study, it provided valuable information that instructors cannot view teaching both online and face to face classes as one-fits all type approach


Dr. Michael Gershon has devoted his career to understanding the human bowel (the stomach, esophagus, small intestine, and colon). His thirty years of research have led to an extraordinary rediscovery: nerve cells in the gut that act as a brain. This "second brain" can control our gut all by itself. Our two brains -- the one in our head and the one in our bowel -- must cooperate. If they do not, then there is chaos in the gut and misery in the head -- everything from "butterflies" to cramps, from diarrhea to constipation. Dr. Gershon's work has led to radical new understandings about a wide range of gastrointestinal problems including gastroenteritis, nervous stomach, and irritable bowel syndrome. The Second Brain represents a quantum leap in medical knowledge and is already benefiting patients whose symptoms were previously dismissed as neurotic or "it's all in your head."


Mistake about or ignorance of the law does not exculpate in criminal law, except in limited circumstances. Doctrine and theory cognate to this principle are, by now, well developed and understood. But might an actor's awareness of the illegality or wrongfulness of her conduct inculpate — that is, constitute a form of mens rea that establishes or aggravates liability? Trends in recent adjudication in white collar crime suggest that the answer is yes. This article, part of a symposium issue on Adjudicating the Guilty Mind, takes the first pass at describing the mental state of "consciousness of wrongdoing," assessing its fit with the conceptual architecture of substantive criminal law, and uncovering the many challenges of proof and adjudication that this concept poses. Three conclusions broadly emerge from this initial, and somewhat truncated, inquiry: first, inculpating an actor for adverting to the legal or normative significance of her conduct is an attractive means of dealing with difficult line-drawing problems presented by many white collar offenses; second, the method can be justified on both retributive and deterrent grounds; and third, the practice requires much more thought and precision at the operational level, lest problems inherent in the structure of criminal adjudication be exacerbated in cases in which liability depends on the idea that an actor "knew what she was doing was wrong."


In this century, the shortage of clean water supply is an issue of concern and the problem is expected to become more serious in the future. Consequently, researchers are trying to find the best solution to address this problem by introducing new desalination technologies that are able to accommodate the increasing demand for clean water. One of the new technologies introduced is desalination of seawater through freeze concentration. In this study, progressive freeze concentration (PFC) was implemented to produce pure water in the form of an ice crystal block, leaving behind higher concentration seawater using a coil crystallizer. The effect of operating parameters such as initial concentration and coolant temperature were investigated. Meanwhile, the efficiency of the system was reviewed based on the value of the effective partition constant K which is defined by the ratio of solute in ice and liquid phase. A low value of K indicates when the system is most efficient. In addition, the results for the overall heat transfer coefficient are also presented to observe the heat transfer involved in the system.


The last two decades changed the post-socialist legal orders both quantitatively and qualitatively in such a manner, which can rarely be experienced in history. Though some of its aspects have already been analyzed, a comprehensive study of one of these legal orders in English is still missing. This volume attempts to fill this gap by analyzing the transformation of the Hungarian legal order between 1985 and 2005. It presents the transformation of the Hungarian legal order from three different aspects. Firstly, it analyzes concrete legal questions, like the constitutional problems of accession to the European Union, dealing with the past, the status law, the development of minority protection, and the relationship between international and municipal law.Secondly, it tries to give a general theoretical overview on the last 20 years in the issues of law and politics, law and economy, legitimacy of the Constitution, law importation, culture and European integration, changes in legal thinking, and sociological and criminological characteristics of the transition. Thirdly, it takes account of changes in the established areas of Hungarian law and legal science like constitutional law, agricultural law, criminal law, criminal procedure, consumer protection, environmental law, administrative law, financial law, civil law, civil procedure and social law.


The Poverty-Related Diseases College was a virtual African-European college and network that connected young African and European biomedical scientists working on poverty-related diseases. The aim of the Poverty-Related Diseases College was to build sustainable scientific capacity and international networks in poverty-related biomedical research in the context of the development of Africa. The Poverty-Related Diseases College consisted of three elective and mandatory training modules followed by a reality check in Africa and a science exchange in either Europe or the USA. In this analysis paper, we present our experience and evaluation, discuss the strengths and encountered weaknesses of the programme, and provide recommendations to policymakers and funders.


In this paper the privatization of the planning profession is examined. The analysis proceeds with an exploration of how planners represent their profession through text and speech. Three kinds of rhetoric dominate discussion: a rhetoric of instrumentalism, which is concerned with reestablishing physical planning at the core of the discipline; a rhetoric of negotiation, which often loses sight of why negotiation was initiated in the first place; and a rhetoric of performance assessment, which is content with a planning which achieves its sponsors' goals. None of these concentrations is intrinsically wrong, but their cumulative effect has been to permit a commodification of the functions of planning, which has subsequently facilitated the privatization process. Other elements of planning, not susceptible to commodification, have been dropped from the discourse. One such loss has been the rhetoric of reform, which has traditionally connected planning with its progressive roots and political action. Also absent is a rhetoric of theory, which would permit comparative analysis of the meanings of a postmodern planning.


After going through literature of Horney's triparti te neurotic trends, the items for the Self Orientat ion Scale were selected. The scale was developed with 15 items. Each item begins with a situation which has three alternative behav ioral responses. One depicting moving towards people, second depicting moving away and the third depicting moving against p eople. The scale was administered to 100 students. For item analysis of the test the median split was applied to the scores of moving towards people, away from people and against people and two groups for each neurotic trend were obtained. The frequenc ies of the responses to each alternative were tabulated for the high and th e low groups. Chi-square test was applied on these frequencies to test whether the particular response differentiated between the high and the low groups pertaining to the concerned tendency. Those items where a significant chi square value has been obtai ned have high discriminative validity and thus are quite appropriate for distinguishing people who are high or low on the re spective trends.


On October 17, 1994, "The Nation" ran the headline 'The Immigration Wars' on its cover over an illustration showing the western border of the United States with a multitude of people marching toward it. In the foreground, the Statue of Liberty topped by an upside-down American flag is joined by a growling guard dog lunging at a man carrying a pack. The magazine's coverage of emerging anti-immigrant sentiment shows how highly charged the images and texts on popular magazine covers can be. This provocative book gives a cultural history of the immigration issue in the United States since 1965, using popular magazine covers as a fascinating entry into a discussion of our attitudes toward one of the most volatile debates in the nation. Leo Chavez gathers and analyzes over seventy cover images from politically diverse magazines, including "Time", "Newsweek", "U.S. News and World Report", "Business Week", "The New Republic", "The Nation", and "American Heritage". He traces the connections between the social, legal, and economic conditions surrounding immigration and the diverse images through which it is portrayed. "Covering Immigration" suggests that media images not only reflect the national mood but also play a powerful role in shaping national discourse. Drawing on insights from anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies, this original and perceptive book raises new questions about the media's influence over the public's increasing fear of immigration.


Wood plastic composites are complex, anisotropic, and heterogeneous materials. A key to increasing the share of the WPC materials in the market is developing stronger, highly engineered WPCs characterized by greater structural performance and increased durability. These are achieved by enhanced manufacturing processes, more efficient profile designs, and new formulations providing better interaction between the wood particles and the plastic matrix. Significant progress in this area is hard to imagine without better understanding of the composite performance and internal bond durability on the micro-mechanical level, and reliable modeling based on that understanding. The objective of this paper is to present a brief review of promising material characterization techniques based on advanced imaging technologies and inverse problem methodology, which seem particularly suitable for complex heterogeneous composites. Full-field imaging techniques and specifically X-ray computed tomography (CT) combined with numerical modeling tools have a potential to advance the fundamental knowledge on the effect of manufacturing parameters on the micromechanics of such materials and their response to loads and environmental exposure.


The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 provides the same civil rights protection to individuals with disabilities as other federal laws that prevent discrimination on the basis of race, gender, national origin, and religion (Button & Wobschall, 1994). Title III of the ADA directs that public facilities make reasonable modifications to control discrimination and support accessibility in policies, practices, and procedures (Council for Exceptional Children, 1994). As a result of this landmark legislation, accessibility alterations like providing ramps to elevated areas and providing accessible signage through height adjustments and raised lettering have become commonplace across the country. Historically, schools have focused their attentions on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which was originally called Public Law 94-142. This legislation, enacted in 1975, also provided federal funding for schools to help meet the needs of students with disabilities (Smith, 2001). In addition to requirements which require that a work place provide reasonable accommodations for workers with disabilities, ADA Title II also includes requirements that schools be accessible to students with disabilities. As more parents become aware of this legislation those elementary schools who have not historically provided reasonable accessibility for students with disabilities will come under increasing pressure to make all aspects of their programs, facilities, and services available to students with disabilities (Joffee, 1994). In addition to parental pressure national organizations such as the National Education Association have also published position papers which support the provision of a fully accessible school environment for students with disabilities (NEA, 2002). The requirement that elementary schools provided accessible environments not only has legal and professional ramifications but financial as well. Section 504 of the ADA also specifies that organizations which receive federal funding may lose that funding if they do not comply with the provisions of the ADA (Smith, 2001). The World Wide Web (WWW) is an important information resource for Elementary Schools. Accessibility across platforms and geographic distance makes the WWW an ideal universal medium for disseminating information to parents and students. Wang (1997) discussed use of the Internet for increased self-advocacy by individuals with physical impairments and disabilities. Approximately 8% of all WWW users have a disability (Capozzi, 1998). While technical developments have enhanced and provided new exciting opportunities for the WWW, they have, at the same time, complicated and limited the accessibility of the content and resources for individuals with disabilities. Physical barriers are obvious accessibility concerns confronting students with disabilities. Web site developers need to be aware that on-line barriers can create significant accessibility problems for some users. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that all organizations make reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires that all organizations receiving U.S. Federal funds must comply with standards that make electronic equipment and Web sites usable by people with vision impairments, hearing impairments, and other disabilities. It is important that Elementary School Web site developers use and follow standards that allow accessibility to all WWW users. A variety of disabilities can reduce accessibility to the WWW. Visual, hearing, movement, cognitive, speech, and other impairments can limit availability of information. Assisted technologies or accessibility aids such as Braille output systems, modification of keyboards, screen enlargement utilities, voice output utilities, and other technologies allow students with disabilities to access information on the WWW. However, because of the complexity of many Internet resources, some information cannot be accessed with these aids. …


Different concepts of knowledge and the ways they are valued have influence on the politics of research and development, information, arts, and culture in various countries. In a time when knowledge increasingly gains importance for economic and social development, these concepts of knowledge, as they are defined within society, are receiving greater attention. State governments worldwide aim for the creation of "knowledge societies". At the core of these knowledge-based futures lie particular understandings of knowledge in each country, which determine what kinds of knowledge society are constructed. This paper attempts to grasp the dominant concepts of knowledge in Germany and Singapore as reflected in state activities and budgeting. The data suggest that the dominant concepts of knowledge in both countries differed widely in the past, which was in great part due to the structural realities in each country. Yet in recent times, with the common goals of economic growth and the exposure to global competition, these concepts of knowledge seem to increasingly converge.


: A method for the operative treatment of stress incontinence in the female is described. The anatomical importance of the levator sling behind the urethra is stressed. The pubococcygeal muscles which have been lateralized by trauma are prepared. The levator ani muscle with its fascia is mobilized and the two muscle components of the perineal muscles are joined in the midline. The muscular adaptation starts behind the symphysis and is carried on dorsally as far as necessary. In this way a strong sub-urethral and subvesical muscular plate is created. In 673 patients who were treated by this method recurrence was rare. A concomitant six weeks. Urodynamic studies and physical measurements showed the pivotal importance of the levator ani muscle for the maintenance of continence.


Along with the technical progress experienced by the Camacari Petochemical Complex in the last few years, new policies, following new worldwide trends, in pollution control and prevention became mandatory. The knowledge acquired from recent development and research has helped CETREL-Empresa de Protecao Ambiental S.A. and the State of Bahia EPA (CRA) to develop and implement new programs for the environmental protection of the entire Camacari Petrochemical Complex area. Among these strategies the Source Pollution Control Program (SPCP) has been playing a very important role in industrial pollution prevention. In addition to other measures taken by CETREL to reduce pollutant emissions, the implementation of an incineration unit for organic chlorinated liquid residues has also proven to be a very efficient treatment. It not only avoids problems for CETREL9s centralized activated sludge plant, but it also reduces dramatically the emission of volatile chlorinated hydrocarbons into the environment.


The scholarship on the economics of individual sports is scant relative to that of team sports. This study advances sport management scholarship, particularly sport economics, by using consumer-theory modeling to estimate Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) pay-per-view purchases. Our generalized linear models show fan preferences for certain weight classes, star fighters, outcome uncertainty and comain event quality factors as well as scheduling preferences for holiday weekends. The popular notion that The Ultimate Fighter reality series served as the impetus for the UFC's growth is supported in part. The study concludes by showing how the modeling results impact firm revenue generation via fight card characteristics.


BACKGROUND
Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. Functional impairment, resulting in poor performance in activities of daily living (ADL) among stroke survivors is common. Current rehabilitation approaches have limited effectiveness in improving ADL performance, function, muscle strength, and cognitive abilities (including spatial neglect) after stroke, with improving cognition being the number one research priority in this field. A possible adjunct to stroke rehabilitation might be non-invasive brain stimulation by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to modulate cortical excitability, and hence to improve these outcomes in people after stroke.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the effects of tDCS on ADL, arm and leg function, muscle strength and cognitive abilities (including spatial neglect), dropouts and adverse events in people after stroke.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Stroke Group Trials Register, CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase and seven other databases in January 2019. In an effort to identify further published, unpublished, and ongoing trials, we also searched trials registers and reference lists, handsearched conference proceedings, and contacted authors and equipment manufacturers.

SELECTION CRITERIA
This is the update of an existing review. In the previous version of this review, we focused on the effects of tDCS on ADL and function. In this update, we broadened our inclusion criteria to compare any kind of active tDCS for improving ADL, function, muscle strength and cognitive abilities (including spatial neglect) versus any kind of placebo or control intervention.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two review authors independently assessed trial quality and risk of bias, extracted data, and applied GRADE criteria. If necessary, we contacted study authors to ask for additional information. We collected information on dropouts and adverse events from the trial reports.

MAIN RESULTS
We included 67 studies involving a total of 1729 patients after stroke. We also identified 116 ongoing studies. The risk of bias did not differ substantially for different comparisons and outcomes. The majority of participants had ischaemic stroke, with mean age between 43 and 75 years, in the acute, postacute, and chronic phase after stroke, and level of impairment ranged from severe to less severe. Included studies differed in terms of type, location and duration of stimulation, amount of current delivered, electrode size and positioning, as well as type and location of stroke. We found 23 studies with 781 participants examining the effects of tDCS versus sham tDCS (or any other passive intervention) on our primary outcome measure, ADL after stroke. Nineteen studies with 686 participants reported absolute values and showed evidence of effect regarding ADL performance at the end of the intervention period (standardised mean difference (SMD) 0.28, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.13 to 0.44; random-effects model; moderate-quality evidence). Four studies with 95 participants reported change scores, and showed an effect (SMD 0.48, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.95; moderate-quality evidence). Six studies with 269 participants assessed the effects of tDCS on ADL at the end of follow-up and provided absolute values, and found improved ADL (SMD 0.31, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.62; moderate-quality evidence). One study with 16 participants provided change scores and found no effect (SMD -0.64, 95% CI -1.66 to 0.37; low-quality evidence). However, the results did not persist in a sensitivity analysis that included only trials with proper allocation concealment. Thirty-four trials with a total of 985 participants measured upper extremity function at the end of the intervention period. Twenty-four studies with 792 participants that presented absolute values found no effect in favour of tDCS (SMD 0.17, 95% CI -0.05 to 0.38; moderate-quality evidence). Ten studies with 193 participants that presented change values also found no effect (SMD 0.33, 95% CI -0.12 to 0.79; low-quality evidence). Regarding the effects of tDCS on upper extremity function at the end of follow-up, we identified five studies with a total of 211 participants (absolute values) without an effect (SMD -0.00, 95% CI -0.39 to 0.39; moderate-quality evidence). Three studies with 72 participants presenting change scores found an effect (SMD 1.07; 95% CI 0.04 to 2.11; low-quality evidence). Twelve studies with 258 participants reported outcome data for lower extremity function and 18 studies with 553 participants reported outcome data on muscle strength at the end of the intervention period, but there was no effect (high-quality evidence). Three studies with 156 participants reported outcome data on muscle strength at follow-up, but there was no evidence of an effect (moderate-quality evidence). Two studies with 56 participants found no evidence of effect of tDCS on cognitive abilities (low-quality evidence), but one study with 30 participants found evidence of effect of tDCS for improving spatial neglect (very low-quality evidence). In 47 studies with 1330 participants, the proportions of dropouts and adverse events were comparable between groups (risk ratio (RR) 1.25, 95% CI 0.74 to 2.13; random-effects model; moderate-quality evidence).  AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is evidence of very low to moderate quality on the effectiveness of tDCS versus control (sham intervention or any other intervention) for improving ADL outcomes after stroke. However, the results did not persist in a sensitivity analyses including only trials with proper allocation concealment. Evidence of low to high quality suggests that there is no effect of tDCS on arm function and leg function, muscle strength, and cognitive abilities in people after stroke. Evidence of very low quality suggests that there is an effect on hemispatial neglect. There was moderate-quality evidence that adverse events and numbers of people discontinuing the treatment are not increased. Future studies should particularly engage with patients who may benefit the most from tDCS after stroke, but also should investigate the effects in routine application. Therefore, further large-scale randomised controlled trials with a parallel-group design and sample size estimation for tDCS are needed.


Nobel Laureate Eugene Wigner once wondered about "the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics" in the formulation of the laws of nature. "Is God a Mathematician?" investigates why mathematics is as powerful as it is. From ancient times to the present, scientists and philosophers have marveled at how such a seemingly abstract discipline could so perfectly explain the natural world. More than that -- mathematics has often made predictions, for example, about subatomic particles or cosmic phenomena that were unknown at the time, but later were proven to be true. Is mathematics ultimately invented or discovered? If, as Einstein insisted, mathematics is "a product of human thought that is independent of experience," how can it so accurately describe and even predict the world around us?Mathematicians themselves often insist that their work has no practical effect. The British mathematician G. H. Hardy went so far as to describe his own work this way: "No discovery of mine has made, or is likely to make, directly or indirectly, for good or ill, the least difference to the amenity of the world." He was wrong. The Hardy-Weinberg law allows population geneticists to predict how genes are transmitted from one generation to the next, and Hardy's work on the theory of numbers found unexpected implications in the development of codes.Physicist and author Mario Livio brilliantly explores mathematical ideas from Pythagoras to the present day as he shows us how intriguing questions and ingenious answers have led to ever deeper insights into our world. This fascinating book will interest anyone curious about the human mind, the scientific world, and the relationship between them.