In the classic Bayesian restless multi-armed bandit (RMAB) problem, there are $N$ arms, with rewards on all arms evolving at each time as Markov chains with known parameters. A player seeks to activate $K \geq 1$ arms at each time in order to maximize the expected total reward obtained over multiple plays. RMAB is a challenging problem that is known to be PSPACE-hard in general. We consider in this work the even harder non-Bayesian RMAB, in which the parameters of the Markov chain are assumed to be unknown \emph{a priori}. We develop an original approach to this problem that is applicable when the corresponding Bayesian problem has the structure that, depending on the known parameter values, the optimal solution is one of a prescribed finite set of policies. In such settings, we propose to learn the optimal policy for the non-Bayesian RMAB by employing a suitable meta-policy which treats each policy from this finite set as an arm in a different non-Bayesian multi-armed bandit problem for which a single-arm selection policy is optimal. We demonstrate this approach by developing a novel sensing policy for opportunistic spectrum access over unknown dynamic channels. We prove that our policy achieves near-logarithmic regret (the difference in expected reward compared to a model-aware genie), which leads to the same average reward that can be achieved by the optimal policy under a known model. This is the first such result in the literature for a non-Bayesian RMAB. For our proof, we also develop a novel generalization of the Chernoff-Hoeffding bound.


ABSTRACTA thermophilic cyanobacterium named Thermosynechococcus CL–1 (TCL–1) was cultivated in the flat plate photobioreactors under strong illumination with dense culture to examine the effects of nutrient concentrations on the biomass production, CO2 fixation, and the potential as the feedstock for bioethanol production. The results show that concentrations of Na+, NO3–, and CaCl2•2H2O, should be decreased, but the MgSO4•7H2O concentrations should be enhanced to increase the biomass productivity or persistence of the growth. Most of the carbon contents in TCL–1 remain stable, about 40%, under various nutrient levels. In addition, the Su and Chu's medium was reorganized by picking up the nutrient concentrations resulted in the great biomass production. The adoption of the new medium for cultivating TCL–1 exhibits the great biomass productivity, CO2 fixation rate, and glycogen productivity at 138.7, 221.5, and 75.9 mg L–1 h–1, respectively, under 2,000 µE m–2 s–1 illumination in the 1.5 cm light path flat plate photobioreactors. The high biomass productivity, CO2 fixation and glycogen productivity indicate the use of Su and Chu's medium exhibits high potential for applying TCL–1 in CO2 fixation and bioethanol production potential in the flat plate phptobioreactors.


Traditional security models based on distinguishing trusted from untrusted pieces of data and program behavior continue to face difficulties keeping up with attackers' levels of sophistication and ingenuity. In this position paper, we present a novel computing paradigm for trustworthy computing whose application, operating system (OS) and architecture can leverage social trust to enhance the robustness and diversity of security mechanisms of any Internet-based computing environment. Our model would allow online social network (OSN) users to assign trust values to her friends in a privacy-preserving fashion and maintain a trust repository with trust values for objects like URLs, email addresses, IP addresses and other pieces of data that can be consumed by a socially-aware OS, allowing for fine-grained trust decisions that take into account user context and add diversity to host behavior. Our model also automatically infer trust values for people a user is not directly connected. In this paper we sketch the design of a socially-aware operating system kernel and identify several research challenges for this new paradigm.


We study properties of Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs) by analyzing their behavior on standard models of random graphs, where nodes are represented by random latent variables and edges are drawn according to a similarity kernel. This allows us to overcome the difficulties of dealing with discrete notions such as isomorphisms on very large graphs, by considering instead more natural geometric aspects. We first study the convergence of GCNs to their continuous counterpart as the number of nodes grows. Our results are fully non-asymptotic and are valid for relatively sparse graphs with an average degree that grows logarithmically with the number of nodes. We then analyze the stability of GCNs to small deformations of the random graph model. In contrast to previous studies of stability in discrete settings, our continuous setup allows us to provide more intuitive deformation-based metrics for understanding stability, which have proven useful for explaining the success of convolutional representations on Euclidean domains.


T. B. Ward (1994) investigated creativity by asking participants to draw alien creatures that they imagined to be from a planet very different from Earth. He found that participant drawings reliably contained features typical of common Earth animals. As a consequence, Ward concluded that creativity is structured. The present investigation predicts that this limitation on creativity is not restricted to drawings: the use of different technology will not change creative output. To investigate this question, participants performed Ward's task twice: once using pencil and paper and once using software made to design creatures (the Spore Creature Creator). Only minor significant differences were found. This preliminarily suggests that changing tools does not affect the overall rigidity of the creative process. This lends further support to Ward's thesis on the structural rigidity of creativity. We conclude by suggesting an elaboration to Ward's thesis that will be explored in future work. We suggest that aesthetics might be one of the factors that contribute to creative constraint, in that creatures that are too unusual would be less interesting.


The SARS-CoV-2 virus infection is a rapidly spreading global pandemic. Recent media coverage has highlighted the importance of protecting health-care workers together with issues surrounding availability and suitability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Around 20% of healthcare workers treating COVID19 cases in Italy have become infected which leads to staff absence at a critical point during the pandemic, and unfortunately in some cases mortality. PPE plays a major role in control programs. Standard PPE such as N95/FFP3 facemasks have limitations such as an ineffective seal during talking or after prolonged use, face shapes which cannot be adequately fitted, and logistical issues ensuring availability of the correct mask for each person. Furthermore, global stock is low, and issues around diagnostic testing specificity and turnaround time may lead to infectious patients receiving care from health care staff who are not wearing appropriate PPE. To address acute shortcomings in PPE availability, we have developed a simple pressurised air purified respirator unit, incorporating a combination of inexpensive and widely available components parts. The prototype was developed to minimise the number and complexity of manufacturing steps with the intention that derivative versions could be developed in many different parts of the world, including low resource settings with minor modification, where transmission could be rapid amongst high population densities. The "Personal Respirator – Southampton" (PeRSo) delivers HEPA filtered air from a battery powered fan-filter assembly through a lightweight hood/face mask that can be comfortably worn for several hours. Initial user feedback provided by doctors and nurses shows the PeRSo prototype was preferred to standard N95/FFP3 masks, being more comfortable, reducing time lost placing and removing PPE between patients, and allowing better communication. Preliminary tests indicate that the device removes microbes and passes the "fit tests" widely used to evaluate face masks. Full verification of the safety and the duration of effectiveness and durability of the device is required, as part of translation into use. Rapid upscale of production is required to protect healthcare workers from infection while the global situation accelerates, so that they can look after patients during the peak of the pandemic.


The evolution of comparative fault is among this generation's most important tort law developments. Today, nearly every state follows some form of the rule, seeking to better align liability with culpability. Despite this guiding premise, states have struggled to define comparative fault's boundaries within the context of doctrine that developed in an earlier era. Courts have addressed many issues as part of this effort. One question that has escaped significant attention, however, is whether comparative fault should apply in a fraud action. This Article asserts that comparative fault jurisdictions should not bar plaintiffs from recovering in fraud when they fail to establish justifiable reliance on a misrepresentation. Rather, courts should apply comparative fault principles and evaluate all parties' conduct in assessing damages. The Article begins by providing a brief overview of fraud, including the traditional element of justifiable reliance. It then considers the forces arrayed against the extension of comparative fault to fraud. These include the argument that justifiable reliance is merely a proxy for other elements of fraud, as well as courts' historical hesitation to apply comparative fault in any intentional tort claim or actions for purely economic harm. From there, the Article questions the status quo. It suggests that, in fact, some courts do take justifiable reliance seriously. It also notes that historical barriers to comparative fault's application in the area might be eroding. The Article then asserts that the application of comparative fault in fraud actions makes sense. It notes that policies relied upon by scholars who would limit the extension of comparative fault do not inherently apply in the area of fraud. More positively, the Article suggests that extending comparative fault to fraud would serve policies that led courts and legislatures to adopt comparative fault in the first place, as well as policies that underlie tort law generally. In sum, the refusal of courts to apply comparative fault to fraud is a vestige of an earlier day in which " all-or-nothing" rules dominated tort law. The policies that led to the development of comparative fault in almost every other area of tort law also deserve consideration in fraud.


The 'affordability' of new or expanded social protection programmes depends on more than an assessment of the fiscal costs or the poverty-reducing or developmental benefits. Diverse international organizations have shown that programmes costing less than or about 1 per cent of GDP have substantial benefits, and most low-income countries have the 'fiscal space' for such programmes (including through increased taxation). These international organizations have generally failed to convince national policy-making elites to raise and to allocate scarce domestic resources to social protection programmes. The result is an 'affordability gap' between what is advocated for African countries and what these countries' governments are willing to spend. This paper examines four cases of contestation over the 'affordability' of social protection reforms in Africa: Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, and the semi-autonomous territory of Zanzibar. In all four cases, political elites have resisted or rejected proposals for expensive reforms, and the most expensive reforms adopted cost only 0.4 to 0.5 per cent of GDP. The governments of Zambia and Botswana generally resisted even expenditures of this magnitude. The cost ceiling for reforms is far below the estimates of international organizations, reflecting political, normative and ideological factors.


Side-channel analysis constitutes a powerful attack vector against cryptographic implementations. Techniques such as power and electromagnetic side-channel analysis have been extensively studied to provide an efficient way to recover the secret key used in cryptographic algorithms. To protect against such attacks, countermeasure designers have developed protection methods, such as masking and hiding, to make the attacks harder. However, due to significant overheads, these protections are sometimes deployed only at the beginning and the end of encryption, which are the main targets for side-channel attacks.In this paper, we present a methodology for side-channel assisted differential cryptanalysis attack to target middle rounds of block cipher implementations. Such method presents a powerful attack vector against designs that normally only protect the beginning and end rounds of ciphers. We generalize the attack to SPN based ciphers and calculate the effort the attacker needs to recover the secret key. We provide experimental results on 8-bit and 32-bit microcontrollers. We provide case studies on state-of-the-art symmetric block ciphers, such as AES, SKINNY, and PRESENT. Furthermore, we show how to attack shuffling-protected implementations.


Heritage projects in the Arabian Peninsula are developing rapidly. Museums and heritage sites are symbols of shifting national identities, and a way of placing the Arabian Peninsula states on the international map. Global, i.e. Western, heritage standards and practices have been utilised for the rapid injection of heritage expertise in museum development and site management and for international recognition. The use of Western heritage models in the Arabian Peninsula inspires two key areas for research which this book examines: the obscuring of indigenous concepts and practices of heritage and expressions of cultural identity; and the tensions between local/community concepts of heritage and identity and the new national identities being constructed through museums and heritage sites at a state level.


This study reports on the development of a stochastic dynamic model to simulate a pastoral sheep enterprise. The event driven model was constructed using the iconic simulation package, ExtendTM. Events corresponded to the shifting of animals from one paddock to another. Each paddock was represented as a single entity with inherent attributes such as grazing area, sward characteristics and pasture production potential. The rotation sequence for grazing was determined by always allocating the flock of ewes, flock replacements or lambs to the paddock with the greatest pasture mass. Herbage mass was divided into three fractions: leaf, stem and dead. Pasture growth and senescence rates for individual paddocks were calculated from pasture leaf mass. A Micherlich-type function was used to relate leaf mass to total pasture growth. Senescence was assumed to increase linearly with herbage mass. Deterministic or stochastic pasture growth rate data can be generated by the model. Pasture responses to nitrogen were estimated dynamically and moderated for the farm by entering a user-defmed response for a standard 50 kg/ha nitrogen application. Animal performance was calculated using average attributes for ewes, ewe hoggets and rams, but lambs were simulated individually. Lamb performance is affected by its date of birth and sex, and this information was generated by a sub-model for mixed-age ewe and ewe hogget reproduction. The potential herbage intake of the sheep was defmed by their rumen fill and physiological energy demand, and herbage availability which was defmed by pre-grazing green herbage mass and green herbage allowance for rotational grazing and leaf mass for continuous grazing. The grazing time spent in each paddock was derived from a linear interpolation of user-defmed herbage allowances for each month of the year. The proportion of leaf, stem and dead material in the diet was calculated according to the proportion of these fractions in the sward and herbage availability. If animals were supplemented they consumed all of the material offered. This caused pasture substitution by decreasing the physiological energy demand and utilising rumen space otherwise taken up by grazed pasture. The partitioning of nutrients by animals was estimated from the ratio between energy intake and energy demand in an animal growth sub-model. This was driven by the DNA, protein and fat content of individual lambs and the average for animals in other sheep classes. Lambs were drafted for sale and graded according to user-defmed threshold drafting weights. Carcass weight and fatness (GR) were generated from the live weight and sex of individuals lambs. A genetic optimisation algorithm was developed to optirnise the systems control variables incorporated in the model. These were pasture allowance, supplement fed, nitrogen applied and lamb drafting weight. The model was evaluated against three New Zealand "farmlet" grazing experiments. This validation suggested re-parameterisation of the physiological intake limit is needed and that the British equation used to relate intake to leaf mass availability is overly sensible to the pasture conditions found in New Zealand. The model was also used to test the effects of pasture measurement errors on the profitability of a grazing system. Significant differences in profitability occurred when a CV of 40% in measurement of pasture mass was assumed (Gross margin = $NZ 495 /ha vs. $NZ 542 /ha and $NZ 570 /ha for 20 and 0% CV in measurement estimations and normal variability in pasture accumulation rates and Gross margin = $NZ 587 /ha, $NZ 576/ha and $NZ 5 19/ha, respectively for 40, 20 and 0% CV in measurement estimates and no pasture accumulation rate variability). It was concluded that low gains in system performance can be expected by improving the accuracy of measuring pre-grazing herbage mass beyond the level ( 1316% CV) provided by the correct use of current measurement techniques.


On August 28, 1963, as participants in the historic March on Washington made their way to the Lincoln Memorial, individuals in several countries around the world took to the streets and marched in support. U.S. citizens abroad and citizens of other nations, some with ties to the U.S. civil rights movement and many without, thousands marched to show their solidarity with those demonstrating in Washington. March on Washington activities in Europe were in large part due to the efforts of James Baldwin and other African Americans in Paris. Baldwin called a meeting at a Paris nightclub that ultimately led to a petition drive that quickly spread all over Europe. Hoping to support the civil rights movement although living in Paris, African American jazz musicians, actors and others circulated a petition in the international editions of U.S. papers. In Paris, one week before the Washington March, they held a walk to the U.S. Embassy, and over 560 people deposited petitions in support of the March. That same day, U.S. citizens and others called upon U.S. diplomatic posts in other European cities, registering their support for the March. The focus on U.S. diplomatic posts was not simply due to the fact that these were U.S. government offices abroad. It was also due to the fact that these activists believed that race discrimination harmed U.S. foreign affairs, and they hoped that the international impact of the civil rights movement would spur change at home. Apparently unrelated to these efforts, and uncoordinated with each other, on the date of the March on Washington, the Mayor of Kingston, Jamaica led a march of 2500 in that city. 1200 to 1400 marched on the U.S. Consulate in Amsterdam. In Oslo, Norway, one hundred people marched through heavy rain to present a petition to the U.S. Embassy. Demonstrators with picket signs protested at the U.S. Embassy in Ghana. The Nassar government ensured that no large demonstration would take place in Cairo, Egypt. Hundreds of police officers were stationed in the city early in the morning, and they stopped all but two of the thirteen marchers willing to face this police presence from approaching the U.S. Embassy. These actions pleased U.S. government representatives. As an Embassy officer put it, the government's handling of this protest was in line with the assurances to the Embassy. The U.S. government reacted to the March on Washington by trying to affect the message projected by the marchers, and the way that message was perceived overseas. Efforts to manage the international impact of the March were consistent with broader U.S. efforts during the cold war to turn the story of race in America into a story of the superiority of democracy as a system of government. Accordingly, through efforts to influence the content of speeches, and a pre- and post-March propaganda campaign, the Administration did its best to cast the March as a story about democratic political participation, rather than as a critique of government inaction on civil rights.


Associations Between Diabetes/Chronic Disease Incidence and Lifestyle Factors Among African-Born Populations by James Walakerwon Gbalah MS, University of Wisconsin-Stout, 1996 BA, Kennesaw State University, 1991 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Health Sciences Walden University February 2016 Abstract Numerous studies have revealed that immigrants' health and well-being is challenged by an increased susceptibility to diabetes/chronic disease as they settle in the United States. This study investigated a potential association between the incidence of diabetes/chronic disease and various lifestyles factors among Sub-Saharan African immigrants and refugees. The lifestyle factors studied were sociodemographics, food practices andNumerous studies have revealed that immigrants' health and well-being is challenged by an increased susceptibility to diabetes/chronic disease as they settle in the United States. This study investigated a potential association between the incidence of diabetes/chronic disease and various lifestyles factors among Sub-Saharan African immigrants and refugees. The lifestyle factors studied were sociodemographics, food practices and dietary habits, access to healthcare and insurance, acculturation, and the length of stay in the United States among these immigrants and refugees residing in Minnesota. The health belief and the socioecological models guided this study to improve understanding of SubSaharan African's health behavior and practices. This study was a cross-sectional, quantitative inquiry using data from 71 Sub-Saharan African-born individuals (36 women and 35 men) between 18 and 65 years of age who completed a modified Metro Adult Health Survey Questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis indicated that the participants' increased length of stay in the United States (B = .33, P = .02) was significantly associated with an increased incidence of diabetes/chronic disease. In contrast, participants' acculturation in the United States (B =.09, P =.41) was not significantly associated with the incidence of diabetes/chronic disease. The implication of this study is that immigrants have increased incidence of diabetes/chronic disease with an increasing length of stay in the United States. This study contributes to positive social change by providing knowledge of African immigrant health and incidence of chronic disease useful to public health educators, practitioners and other service providers who seek new direction in improving the health and health outcomes of African-born populations. Associations Between Diabetes/Chronic Disease Incidence and Lifestyle Factors Among African-Born Populations by James Walakerwon Gbalah MS, University of Wisconsin-Stout, 1996 BA, Kennesaw State University, 1991 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Health Sciences Walden University February 2016


Commonplace among his supporters and many Americans is the idea that Ronald Reagan was an exemplar of philosophical consistency as president of the United States. Reagan, it is said, knew who he was, spoke and wrote consistently about his vision for America, and pursued a policy agenda informed by it. Reagan, others observe, was a "conviction politician" with a "sacramental vision" of America (Heclo 2003), a strategic thinker, a transformational leader (Burns 2003), and a rhetorical paragon who left policy and tactical calculations to others. As his noted biographer Lou Cannon (2003) suggests, however, this image is paradoxical: Reagan was the ultimate pragmatist and transactional leader in both Sacramento and Washington. Among other things, he enacted the largest tax increase in California history, signed an abortion rights bill for that state, and presided over a series of tax increases and burgeoning budget deficits in Washington (for other recent scholarly views, see Brownlee and Graham 2003). In contrast, the conventional wisdom among most commentators, scholars, and large segments of the American public is that Bill Clinton exhibited little philosophical, rhetorical, or policy consistency as president. Indeed, one recurring theme of an early and influential scholarly appraisal of Clinton's performance marshaled compelling evidence that it was difficult to discern any coherent philosophy at all midway through his first term (Campbell and Rockman 1996). As one contributor wrote, the "debate over what kind of Democrat Clinton is tells the story," adding that "Clinton does not seem to know, and neither does anyone else" (Aberbach 1996). Added another scholar evaluating aspects of the administration's domestic policy, "The administration seemed unwilling to deal [i.e., bargain with Congress] yet unable to fight" (Wilson 1996). Argued others in the volume, "International actors may have already taken their measures of the differences between Bill Clinton's rhetoric and his commitment" (Berman and Goldman 1996). Since then, powerful critiques of Clinton's presidency and personal character also have helped foster the image of a calculating rather than conviction-driven president (see, e.g., Reeves 1996; Burns and Sorenson 1999; Buchanan 2000; Gergen 2000; Johnson 2001; Maraniss 2001; Morris 2002). Playing into this image, among other things, are his "triangulation" strategy; his parsing of words during campaigns and personal scandals; claims that he either "played off his enemies rather than taking the lead himself" (Maraniss 2001) or discerned his middle-ground positions after listening to opposing viewpoints, believing that "on most questions there were all manner of ways to split the difference" (Harris 2005, 68); his desire to always keep options open, which translated into perceptions of uncertainty and vacillation; and his voracious appetite for polling data. However, they do not persuasively demonstrate that Clinton actually lacked a core set of beliefs that--amid the surface noise of tactical considerations, decision styles, and personal peccadilloes--informed his major initiatives. Indeed, one can accept these perceptions as in some sense accurate, but still hold that Clinton had a core philosophy. This exploratory study assesses more systematically than has been the case to date the constancy of Clinton's legislative, administrative, and rhetorical record, sees how well linked Clinton's words and actions were, and discerns how well those words and deeds communicated an image of having core beliefs. Examined, first, is the extent to which Clinton's New Covenant philosophy of "opportunity, responsibility, community" informed his policy and rhetorical record throughout his political career. Analysis reveals that Clinton's policy initiatives and rhetorical legacy were informed by a discernible, sustained, and coherent philosophy regarding the proper relationship between citizens and the state, the essence of his New Covenant philosophy. …


This article presents a legal and political analysis of the 2003-2005 effort of Governor Mitt Romney to make the death penalty available as a sentencing option in Massachusetts. It begins with a description of the history of capital punishment in the state as context for Mr. Romney's creation of the Governor's Council on Capital Punishment. The Council's mandate, recommendations, and Final Report are set forth, followed by a summary of proposed legislation based thereon. Public, media, and academic reactions to the Governor's plan are the basis for an analysis of the political implications of this undertaking, framed by the question "Was Governor Romney primarily interested in making good public policy or in advancing his political ambitions to be President of the United States?" The article then takes an objective look at the merits of the Romney plan in terms of current understandings about the practice and policy of capital punishment in the United States. With the defeat of the Romney bill and the strength of the legislative rejection of the death penalty in Massachusetts as a backdrop, the article concludes with a focus on what this process teaches about Mr. Romney's governing style and the strength of his political beliefs.


Objectives To develop a formula for allocating resources for commissioning hospital care to all general practices in England based on the health needs of the people registered in each practice Design Multivariate prospective statistical models were developed in which routinely collected electronic information from 2005-6 and 2006-7 on individuals and the areas in which they lived was used to predict their costs of hospital care in the next year, 2007-8. Data on individuals included all diagnoses recorded at any inpatient admission. Models were developed on a random sample of 5 million people and validated on a second random sample of 5 million people and a third sample of 5 million people drawn from a random sample of practices. Setting All general practices in England as of 1 April 2007. All NHS inpatient admissions and outpatient attendances for individuals registered with a general practice on that date. Subjects All individuals registered with a general practice in England at 1 April 2007. Main outcome measures Power of the statistical models to predict the costs of the individual patient or each practice's registered population for 2007-8 tested with a range of metrics (R2 reported here). Comparisons of predicted costs in 2007-8 with actual costs incurred in the same year were calculated by individual and by practice. Results Models including person level information (age, sex, and ICD-10 codes diagnostic recorded) and a range of area level information (such as socioeconomic deprivation and supply of health facilities) were most predictive of costs. After accounting for person level variables, area level variables added little explanatory power. The best models for resource allocation could predict upwards of 77% of the variation in costs at practice level, and about 12% at the person level. With these models, the predicted costs of about a third of practices would exceed or undershoot the actual costs by 10% or more. Smaller practices were more likely to be in these groups. Conclusions A model was developed that performed well by international standards, and could be used for allocations to practices for commissioning. The best formulas, however, could predict only about 12% of the variation in next year's costs of most inpatient and outpatient NHS care for each individual. Person-based diagnostic data significantly added to the predictive power of the models.


Background. There are increasing demands on health and social care (HSC) professionals to make decisions based on bestevidence to inform their practice. To do this, they must be skilled in searching the literature. A robust approach to literaturereviewing that results in optimal outcomes is highly desirable in a climate where time and resources are limited.Aim. This paper explores the processes of undertaking a structured literature search and measuring the effectiveness of fivecommonly used health and social care databases.Method. A review question was posed using the qualitative version of PICO (Population, Interest, Context and Outcome): 'Howdo HSC professionals (P) make decisions (I) in relation to pregnant women (C) where there is a safeguarding concern (O) regardingan unborn child?' Databases selected for review were: ASSIA, CINAHL Plus, Ovid MEDLINE, PsycINFO and Social Care Online.Searches were undertaken from October 2014 to April 2015. A rapid update was undertaken in March 2016 prior to publication.Papers were screened for their suitability for inclusion using a screening tool developed by the research team. Papers were requiredto report empirical research; to have been published in peer-reviewed journals, as an indicator of a measure of quality; and to beavailable in the English language. Full-text papers were chosen if the data were gathered from or about decision-making regardingsafeguarding in pregnancy by midwives, nurses, social workers and professional managers. The quality of the chosen databaseswas determined by sensitivity (capacity to retrieve a satisfactory number of papers), precision (to prevent the retrieval of too manyirrelevant papers) and Numbers Needed to Read (NNR) – number of papers needed to read to find one paper to include.Results. A total of 866 papers were identified, titles and abstracts were reviewed by the researcher and full-text papers werefurther reviewed by the research team, both using a screening tool. These results were discussed and nine papers were identifiedfor review. Sensitivity was greatest on CINAHL Plus and Ovid MEDLINE. Precision scores were generally low; CINAHL Plusscored the highest at 4%. CINAHL Plus was found to be most effective with an NNR score of 26%, followed by PsycINFO withan NNR score of 36% and Ovid MEDLINE was the lowest precision with an NNR score of 45%.Implications. The challenges of robust searching for literature indicate that if evidence-based practice is to become a reality,regular training for midwives, social workers and other healthcare professionals in database searching is essential


We document the mechanism through which the risk of fire sales in the sovereign bond market contributed to the effectiveness of two major central bank interventions designed to restore financial stability during the European sovereign debt crisis. As a lender of last resort via the long-term refinancing operations (LTROs), the European Central Bank (ECB) improved the collateral value of sovereign bonds of peripheral countries. This resulted in an elevated concentration of these bonds in the portfolios of domestic banks, increasing fire-sale risk and making both banks and sovereign bonds riskier. In contrast, the ECB's announcement of being a potential buyer of last resort via the Outright Monetary Transaction (OMT) program attracted new investors and reduced fire-sale risk in the sovereign bond market.


Phosphorus in runoff from agricultural land is an important component of nonpoint-source pollution and can accelerate eutrophication of lakes and streams. Long-term land application of P as fertilizer and animal wastes has resulted in elevated levels of soil P in many locations in the USA. Problems with soils high in P are often aggravated by the proximity of many of these areas to P-sensitive water bodies, such as the Great Lakes, Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, Lake Okeechobee, and the Everglades. This paper provides a brief overview of the issues and options related to management of agricultural P that were discussed at a special symposium titled, "Agricultural Phosphorus and Eutrophication," held at the November 1996 American Society of Agronomy annual meetings. Topics discussed at the symposium and reviewed here included the role of P in eutrophication; identification of P-sensitive water bodies; P transport mechanisms; chemical forms and fate of P; identification of P source areas; modeling of P transport; water quality criteria; and management of soil and manure P, off-farm P inputs, and P transport processes.


Claus Oetke, in his "Ancient Indian Logic as a Theory of Non-monotonic Reasoning," presents a sweeping new interpretation of the early history of Indian logic. His main proposal is that Indian logic up until Dharmakirti was nonmonotonic in character-similar to some of the newer logics that have been explored in the field of Artificial Intelligence, such as default logic, which abandon deductive validity as a requirement for formally acceptable arguments; Dharmakirti, he suggests, was the first to consider that a good argument should be one for which it is not possible for the property identified as the "reason" (hetu) to occur without the property to be proved (sadhya)-a requirement akin to deductive validity. Oetke's approach is challenged here, arguing that from the very beginning in India something like monotonic, that is, deductively valid, reasoning was the ideal or norm, but that the conception of that ideal was continually refined, in that the criteria for determining when it is realized were progressively sharpened.


Background: End of life is defined as the last 12 months before a person dies, with 1% of the total population passing each year. Primary care providers can predict end of life and implement interventions. Early identification of patients for palliative care prevents crises, meets the needs of patients and families, and reduces the cost of healthcare. Screening for end-of-life care needs in primary care using the Gold Standards Framework (GSF) and the Prognostic Indicator Guidance (PIG) tool/surprise question will minimize risk of missed interventional opportunities. Purpose: This educational intervention served to increase provider knowledge of the GSF and PIG, and supplied providers with resources for screening patients for end-of-life care needs. Presentation and Toolkit: An educational presentation of this integrative review and resource packet was given to providers and staff in a primary care clinic. The packet contained current evidence, statistics, references, and resources available for patients and providers. The DNP student created an end-of-life care screening algorithm and an adapted screening tool, both of which were embedded in the resource packet. Outcomes/Discussion: The DNP student successfully met the desired outcomes. Pre(100%) and post-presentation (73%) surveys revealed a 100% increase in provider knowledge regarding the GSF, PIG, surprise question, and available resources. Respondents (100%) said they would use the packet and felt confident doing so. The algorithm was deemed helpful, easy to use and satisfied the providers desire for guidance in this process. Implications/Conclusion: Implications for future practice include the effective and efficient use of the resource packet for early identification of end-of-life patients in primary care. The DNP student is available to consult and assist with implementation of the packet into practice.


Ambient temperature has an profound effect in the physiology of all animals and accurate evaluation of both external and internal temperatures is therefore an essential factor for fitness and survival. To this end, animals possess specialized cells and organs, which have evolved to obtain accurate information about this crucial factor. Drosophila melanogaster relies on different thermosenstive neurons to gauge both its internal as well as the external temperature. One thermosensitive organ is located in the arista, a feather like structure protruding from the third segment of the fly's antenna. It has been found that the arista houses six neurons, three of which exhibit excitatory responses to heat (and were therefore called hot cells) and three which are responding to cold (named cold cells). In this study, I characterized the responses properties of the thermosensory organ in the arista and I analyzed the role that the TRP ion channel NOMPC, classically associated with mechanosensation, plays in this particular structure. Using Ca2+ imaging, I found that the amplitude of temperature evoked Ca2+ responses appears to be determined by the relative change in temperature, rather than the absolute value. I furthermore found evidence that the TRP channel NOMPC can be found in the hot cell population of arista neurons. Data obtained in this study shows that a knockdown of nompC leads to a reduction in the temperature response amplitude of hot cells. Homozygous nompC null mutants exhibit a stronger reduction in amplitude than heterozygous mutants, hinting at a possible gene dosage effect. The response modulation via NOMPC also affects behaviour, as locomotion experiments in a temperature gradient showed that nompC knockdown mutants show later hot avoidance and have a higher preferred temperature. The effect in both physiological and behavioural experiments could be rescued. Taken together, the findings of this study show that the thermosensitive neurons in the arista of Drosophila function as relative temperature sensors and that NOMPC serves an important modulatory role for the temperature evoked responses of these neurons.


This article looks critically at the procedural protections American universities give students accused of sexual assault. It begins by situating these policies historically, providing background to Title IX and the different guidelines promulgated by the Department of Education. Next, it presents original research on the procedural protections provided by the 50 flagship state universities. In October 2014, university administrators were contacted and asked a series of questions about the rights afforded to students, including the standard of proof, right to an adjudicatory hearing, right to confront and cross examine witnesses, right to counsel, right to silence, and right to appeal. This Article describes findings and then compares them with prior studies. After arguing that state university students are entitled to procedural due process, the article uses the balancing test from Matthews v Eldridge to evaluate whether universities are adequately protecting the due process rights of the accused. The article concludes by considering how universities can more fairly and effectively respond to sexual assault.


Trials involving volitionally placed carcasses are often used to estimate the portion of the collision-caused fatality population that is undetected by periodic fatality searches at wind turbines. Huso and Erickson criticized our paper reporting on a comparison of carcass persistence rates between what we termed conventional versus novel approaches to these trials. In our novel approach, we measured carcass persistence rates by placing only 1–2 fresh carcasses per week, instead of the typical 10 or more carcasses at a time, often using found carcasses of unknown time since death. Huso and Erickson directed most of their critique to this novel aspect of our approach, although the novelty of our approach also included the use of event-triggered camera traps, which we used to record exact times of removals and to identify vertebrate scavenger species responsible for the removals. In our replies to Huso and Erickson's major criticisms, we acknowledge flaws in our field methods for arriving at fatality rate estimates, but we also point out the larger flaws in the methods used by Huso and Erickson, especially in their use of mean days to removal as a measure of carcass persistence. We conclude by introducing a more appropriate detection trial, which combines searcher detection and scavenger removal trials, and integrates this detection trial into periodic fatality monitoring. © 2013 The Wildlife Society.


Global competition on the passenger aircraft market has increased dramatically in recent years. The merger of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas in 1997 left the world with only two major competitors. Boeing in the US and Europe's most successful multinational business alliance, Airbus Industries. Air carriers benefit from the bipolar nature of the market for passenger aircrafts. They use the commonality within an aircraft family of one manufacturer in order to reduce costs not only for spare parts and maintenance, but also for pilot training and deployment. For many years, Boeing has dominated the passenger aircraft market. Boeing produced more than 60 percent of the large passenger airplanes. Last year Boeing delivered 489 airplanes compared to 311 by Airbus and logged 611 orders compared to 520 for Airbus. But since its transformation in the year 1997 from a consortium of four European partners (Aerospatiale, Daimler Aerospace Airbus (each with a 37.9% stake), British Aerospace (20%), and the Spanish Casa (4%)) into an independent company with one goal of producing passenger aircrafts, Airbus Industries pressed ahead by improving and expanding both the high and low ends of its product line. The current Airbus line covers the entire spectrum of modern passenger aircrafts, and the market share of Airbus Industries increased to more than 50%. The market segment for 350+ seat aircrafts, however, is still monopolized by Boeing. Studies predict that this market will by value represent around 35% of worldwide demand for aircrafts. With its A380 project, Airbus Industries aims to develop a passenger aircraft with a seating capacity of up to 825 (min. 555) and a range of up to 16,200 km. This aircraft will by the year 2004 surpass Boeing's 747 as the world's largest passenger plane. In a first reaction to this project Boeing came up with a 525 passenger stretch version of its 747. But the market tends to prefer Airbus. Up to now Airbus has reaped more than 60 orders for the A380 555-seat version and several options for the 825-seat version; no air carrier has shown interest yet to place an order for the 747X. It seems that Boeing is striking the sails in the battle for Super Jumbo customers. Boeing dropped its plans to build the stretch version of the classic 747 and shifted its focus to a new arena -- speed -- with the development of a smaller radical jet with about 175-250 seats. This new airplane named "Sonic Cruiser" will fly close to the speed of sound and allow faster, higher, and farther flights than any other current airplane. It also shall be less noisy at takeoff and landing. The new design is to complement Boeing's existing product line. Drawings show an aircraft unlike existing commercial jets, with delta wings near its tail, two smaller wings near the nose, and a pair of engines blended into the wing. The delivery of the "Sonic Cruiser" is announced for 2006, but the project is in fact still in its infancy. Boeing is not yet able to say how many passengers it will carry, how far it will fly or what it will cost. Without any doubt such a plane can be built. The question is whether the new Boeing jet can make money for airlines and meet the strict noise and pollution standards. It will burn 40 per cent more fuel than other commercial jets. The 44th Paris-Le Bourget Air Show in June 2001 was dominated by the trans-Atlantic rivalry between Boeing and Airbus, with both companies touting very different visions of future air travel. But with respect to the large market for Super Jumbos it can be speculated if Boeing's decision is definitive or it only puts such a project on hold. It seems that this year has brought the turning point on the passenger aircraft market. Before the Paris Air Show Boeing had booked 124 orders and Airbus 144. During the show Airbus obtained another 155 firm orders including a 111 plane order (10 for the A380) from International Lease Finance Corp. and 20 additional options on planes. …


Aim: Oxidative stress contributes to the development of atherosclerosis via production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Xanthine oxidase is an important enzyme that generates ROS and mediates oxidative modification of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) which is a key step in fatty streak and subsequent atheroma formation. Allopurinol is a xanthine oxidase inhibitor that has been shown to reduce the concentrations of the biological markers of oxidative stress. This meta-analysis was designed to summarize the effect of allopurinol treatment on markers of oxidative stress.
Methods: Medline, PubMed, Pro Quest Health & Medical Complete, Clinical Key, Wiley Online Library, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched till 29th July, 2017. Meta-analysis was planned for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that investigated allopurinol effects on oxidative stress. A random-effect model was used to calculate the raw mean difference or the standardized mean difference (with 95% confidence intervals: CI) as an estimate of effect size. Heterogeneity was quantified by four types of information; Q-statistic, I2 statistic, T2, and T.
Results: 37 eligible studies were identified; 14 were included in the final analysis and subdivided between two oxidative stress markers: there were 8 Malondialdehyde (MDA)-based studies (198 subjects) and 6 oxidized Low-density lipoprotein (Ox-LDL)-based studies (347 subjects). Allopurinol treatment was associated with a statistically significant reduction in mean MDA serum concentration, by 0.403 nmol/ml (95% CI; -0.618, -0.189) (P<0.001) and a non-significant reduction in Ox-LDL serum concentration assessed by the standardized mean difference, by 0.409 (95% CI; -1.332, 0.515) (P=0.386).
Conclusion: The antioxidant potential of allopurinol has been confirmed by a significant reduction of the serum concentration of MDA in a heterogeneous group of patients and healthy adults. The non-significant reduction in Ox-LDL may reflect methodological differences. To confirm whether or not allopurinol has clinically relevant antioxidant properties, future studies require reproducible measurement techniques and clearer characterization and quantification in different patient groups.


This article revisits and seeks to add to some of the author's earlier work to highlight, once again, the manner in which art is able to return our gaze and induce critical reflection. In line with Herbert Marcuse's notion of "The Great Refusal", it is suggested that art has the potential to help us 'see' anew that which is familiar, the everyday, the banal. Drawing upon the work of the surrealist art movement, the paper highlights the manner in which an "estrangement-effect" is created that gives us sufficient distance to reflexively consider the taken-for-granted. The techniques used by the surrealists are shown to have their parallels in the work of some who occupy a 'space' in the field of organisation studies. The author argues the case that the field of organisation studies needs to recognize and protect this space of refusal.


Over the past two decades, state and federal education policies have tried to hold schools more accountable for educating students by tying rewards and sanctions to test scores and other measurable outcomes. A common criticism of these policies is that they may induce schools to "game the system" along with—or instead of—making genuine educational improvements. One such strategic response may be to classify low-performing students into categories that are excluded from grade computation in an effort to artificially inflate scores. This article analyzes school responses to an influential accountability-tied voucher program in Florida. The authors find evidence of increased classification into "excluded" categories in failing schools following the program's inception. Their findings have important implications for New York City's Progress Reports program and New York's implementation of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. While these policies were modeled after the Florida program, they contain important design differences that are likely to discourage this type of gaming, although they may encourage other strategic classifications.


Our colleagues at the University of Nevada Reno, the authors of the Nevada Judicial Evaluation Pilot Project: Final Report (NJEPP Report) and the Nevada Judicial Evaluation Project: Supplement to the Final Report (NJEP Supplement), have done an admirable job of setting up a framework for a workable program. They succeed in identifying key components for a successful judicial performance evaluation (JPE) program for Nevada. In the spirit of collaboration, and because of our good faith interest in making sure that Nevada's JPE system is as fair as it can possibly be, we wish to supplement the NJEPP Report's findings with some additional reflections on creating a system that meets the Commission's goals.Our key observations are as follows: 1) there is a potential for bias in any judicial evaluation program. Steps must be taken to mitigate this possibility, 2) the survey respondent groups must be carefully identified, and instruments must be sensitive to the strengths and weaknesses of the assessments from each group, 3) because response bias is likely to lead to unreliable results, steps must be taken to boost the response rates of the various respondent groups, 4) care must be taken when aggregating the survey data, as implicit value judgments are made whenever averages are computed, 5) the process of creating, implementing, interpreting and utilizing judicial evaluation data will require many different groups of actors. The roles of these groups must be clearly delineated, 6) the use of state-sponsored JPEs in contested judicial elections is unprecedented. The use of such a program in this context raises critical issues of fairness and threatens the integrity of the electoral process, 7) female and minority judges are the most likely to be evaluated harshly, even when the JPE system is well designed, because of unconscious biases. In the interest of fairness, questions that are the most likely to bring into the evaluation process unconscious biases should be either eliminated or weighed less, and 8) The Commission should consider creating a system whereby each piece of information is weighted systematically and a priori. Putting more weight on objective measures (e.g., ethical complaints filed against a judge, record of whether a judge has been overturned by a superior court, and number of cases handled) may help to alleviate some of the potential for bias and unfairness.


This study aims at developing students' pronunciation skills by using English movies as a teaching media and investigating the students' perception of the use English movie in learning pronunciation. To attain the objectives, a two-cycled action research was conducted to 35 tenth graders at SMA Angkasa 2, East Jakarta in March to May 2017. Data were collected using test, some observation sheets, and a questionnaire. The results revealed that the movies developed the students' pronunciation skills. Their poor pronunciation (indicated by the pretest mean score of 48,11) developed after participating in Cycle I (mean score, 62.5) and developed higher after Cycle II (mean score, 76.08). Along with the increase of frequency of watching the movies and the researcher's improvement in facilitating the actions as well, the students' enthusiasm and involvement in the actions keep on increasing. It was concluded that using use movies as teaching media is effective to develop students' pronunciation skills. EFL teachers are, therefore, recommended to use movies as an alternative media to develop students' pronunciation skills. Further studies are recommended to carry out experimental studies to see the degree of effectiveness of using movies in pronunciation teaching to senior high school students.


Static directory based service discovery is unsuitable for m-commerce in ad-hoc environments. In this paper, we present Allia: a peer-to-peer caching based and policy-driven agent-service discovery framework to facilitate cross-platform service discovery in ad-hoc environments for mobile electronic commerce applications. Our approach removes the problems associated with structured compound formation of agent communities in mobile commerce environment and achieves high degree of flexibility in adapting itself to the changes of the ad-hoc environment. Our framework takes into consideration device capabilities and limitations, user preferences regarding usage of the devices, application specifics with respect to mobile commerce and adapts accordingly. We also present an initial implementation of Allia over ThinkPads and iPAQs by extending the LEAP Agent Platform and using Bluetooth as the underlying network protocol.


Abstract: The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) led a consultative process to develop a self-assessment tool for HIV monitoring and evaluation (M&E) leadership competencies. The tool seemed fit-for-purpose in M&E staff recruitment and professional development. The willingness to use the self-assessment was related to the pragmatic and reality-based nature of the tool. A competency-based approach to M&E training was well accepted by professionals working at national and service-delivery levels. However, there is a need to update the HIV M&E competencies to adapt to specific M&E challenges in the broader context of aid effectiveness and to reflect a maturing evaluation profession.


The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable "Environmental Attitude Scale" (EAS) for secondary school (5th, 8th grade), high school (11th) and undergraduate college students. The reliability and validity studies of the scale were carried out in three different countries (Finland, USA and Turkey). The sampling size was 1687 students. For the construct validity, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was run and in order to test the accuracy of the obtained factor structure. The scale was composed of three sub scales: "Environmental Behaviour Sub Scale (EBSS)", "Environmental Opinion Sub Scale (EOSS)" and "Environmental Emotion Sub Scale (EESS)". The EBSS and EESS consist of two factors each and the EOSS consists of one factor. The EBSS had 13 items, EOSS 11 items and EESS 16 items, all using a 5-point Likert scale. The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient for the whole scale was found to be α=.94, and reliability coefficient of the first subscale was found to be α=.91, second subscale α=.82 and third subscale α=.94 and the Spearman Brown coefficients were found to be .85, .83, .80 and .85, respectively. Reliability and validity results of the study show that the "Environmental Attitude Scale" can be used to measure the environmental attitudes of the different levels of students.


The Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the European Union and the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) nation-states are the most recent construct in a long history of developing countries' dependency and reliance on developed European countries. Even though Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) are widely used by countries party to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the European Union is hiding behind illusions of non-economic trade benefits, such as increased stability and health benefits, in their EPAs with ACP countries. The European Union has the economic bargaining power, creating an upper hand in the trade negotiations with the former colonial countries and other developing countries. The EPAs, like other PTAs, consistently have provisions that should be found to violate the most-favored nation (MFN) clause. Even though GATT Article XXIV allows for PTAs, in order for the WTO to achieve one of its initiatives to liberalize world trade, the MFN clause should penetrate throughout he EU-ACP agreements.


Vasopressin action in the renal collecting duct is believed to be mediated by the cycling of water channels in principal and, possibly, intercalated cells. We used 6-carboxyfluorescein (6-CF) or fluorescein-labeled dextran (FITC-dextran) to determine the location and water permeability of endocytic vesicles from papilla and inner stripe of Brattleboro rats in different states of diuresis. Fifteen minutes after FITC-dextran infusion, fluorescent vesicles were concentrated at the apical pole of principal and intercalated cells. The osmotic water permeability (Pf) of these endosomes was measured by fluorescence quenching. In papillary endosomes, Pf was high (0.04 +/- 0.004 cm/s) when rats were in physiological states of antidiuresis or after treatment with vasopressin, 1-desamino-8-D-arginine vasopressin (DDAVP), or oxytocin; endosomes isolated from these regions of untreated animals had a low Pf. The number of papillary endosomes with high Pf increased with increasing doses of DDAVP. Endosomes from the inner stripe also had a high Pf only after vasopressin treatment. Confocal microscopy of sections of papilla showed that vasopressin significantly increased endocytosis in principal cells but had no effect on intercalated cells. Our data demonstrate that the bulk of fluorescently labeled vesicles from the papilla originate from the apical membrane of principal cells and contain water channels in their limiting membrane only when the rats are in physiological states of antidiuresis. In contrast, the majority of endocytosis in intercalated cells is not involved in water channel recycling.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Background: Invasive hemodynamic evaluation through right heart catheterization plays an essential role in the diagnosis, categorization, and risk stratification of patients with pulmonary hypertension. Methods: Subjects enrolled in the PVDOMICS (Redefining Pulmonary Hypertension through Pulmonary Vascular Disease Phenomics) program undergo an extensive invasive hemodynamic evaluation that includes repeated measurements at rest and during several provocative physiological challenges. It is a National Institutes of Health/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute initiative to reclassify pulmonary hypertension groups based on clustered phenotypic and phenomic characteristics. At a subset of centers, participants also undergo an invasive cardiopulmonary exercise test to assess changes in hemodynamics and gas exchange during exercise. Conclusions: When coupled with other physiological testing and blood -omic analyses involved in the PVDOMICS study, the comprehensive right heart catheterization protocol described here holds promise to clarify the diagnosis and clustering of pulmonary hypertension patients into cohorts beyond the traditional 5 World Symposium on Pulmonary Hypertension groups. This article will describe the methods applied for invasive hemodynamic characterization in the PVDOMICS program. Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT02980887.


Because of their low weight, cost and energy consumption, optic-flow sensors attract growing interest in robotics for tasks such as self-motion estimation or depth measurement. Most applications require a large number of these sensors, which involves a fair amount of calibration work for each setup. In particular, the viewing direction of each sensor has to be measured for proper operation. This task is often cumbersome and prone to errors, and has to be carried out every time the setup is slightly modified. This paper proposes an algorithm for viewing direction calibration relying on rate gyroscope readings and a recursive weighted linear least square estimation of the rotation matrix elements. The method only requires the user to realize random rotational motions of its setup by hand. The algorithm provides hints about the current precision of the estimation and what motions should be performed to improve it. To assess the validity of the method, tests were performed on an experimental setup and the results compared to a precise manual calibration. The repeatability of the gyroscope-based calibration process reached ±1.7° per axis.


The issue of economic costs and in particular macroeconomic costs of the degradation of land is slowly becoming a priority one in international meetings on the development of dry regions. It is also being combined with the cost of inaction revealed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 2005. However, there are not many practical studies of the cost of degradation of land on a national level and furthermore the few there are not referenced very well in scientific publications. This article will describe different studies undertaken mainly by the World Bank, their methods and limitations as well as their results. Two types of approach can be distinguished on the whole: (i) modelling principally based on understanding processes of rainfall erosion, based on plot surveys and (ii) furthermore more spatial approaches dividing the areas affected according to the main economic activities which take place there. The results show that the cost of desertification is often equal to or greater than the agricultural growth of the countries concerned which brings into question the reality or sustainability of their rural development. Analyses of the rate of return on investments in the fight against desertification are still inadequate. Referring to several key studies on this issue and a review of several anti-desertification projects, the document shows that the rates of return of successful projects are often under-evaluated because they are generally limited to agricultural production gains. However the delays in return on investment observed for the rehabilitation of degraded land can also explain why anti-desertification projects are so poorly deployed among local populations who are not able to bear the cost. Finally we consider investment in the recovery and maintenance of land as a motor of rural development. Should one not as well in order to fight against desertification, promote small industries producing products from dry regions as well as ecotourism or service activities?


Trade liberalization comes about through reductions in various types of trade barriers. This paper introduces, apart from the customary real trade costs (i.e. iceberg and fixed export costs), two revenue generating trade barriers (i.e. an ad valorem tariff and a trade license) into a standard heterogeneous-firms-trade model with Pareto distributed productivities. We derive analytical welfare rankings of all four liberalization channels for an equal effect on two openness measures, for any trade cost level and while all four barriers are simultaneously present, i.e. for any initial equilibrium. We show that when openness is measured at retail prices, not border prices, the welfare rankings are sensitive to the degree of efficiency in revenue redistribution, e.g. the share of tariff revenues wasted on rent-seeking activities. As a result, multilateral tariff reductions can switch from the least to the most preferred mode of liberalization. Among the other three barriers we establish a universal welfare ranking for any strictly positive level of revenue redistribution and for either measure of openness.


Over the many years since the introduction of the Internet Protocol,
we have seen a number of transitions throughout the protocol stack,
such as deploying a new protocol, or updating or replacing an existing
protocol. Many protocols and technologies were not designed to enable
smooth transition to alternatives or to easily deploy extensions;
thus, some transitions, such as the introduction of IPv6, have been
difficult. This document attempts to summarize some basic principles
to enable future transitions, and it also summarizes what makes for a
good transition plan.


This paper proposes a new robust position control method for a novel series elastic actuator (SEA). It is a wellknown fact that SEAs provide many benefits in force control, e.g., lower reflected inertia and impedance, greater shock tolerance, safety, and so on. However, current SEA designs have a common performance limitation due to the compromise on the selection of spring stiffness. The performance of an SEA can be significantly improved by changing the stiffness of the spring; however, designing a variable-stiffness SEA is a quite challenging task. In this paper, a novel variable-stiffness SEA, which can relax the fundamental performance limitation of conventional SEAs, is proposed. It consists of torsional and linear springs, which have different compliances, in series. The soft and hard springs improve the performance when low and high force control applications are performed, respectively. Although SEAs have several advantages in force control, their position control problem is more complicated than the force control one. Moreover, using extra springs increases the number of vibration mode, which may significantly deteriorate the performance, in the position control problem of the SEA. In this paper, a new position control system, which improves the performance by increasing the robustness and suppressing the vibration, is proposed for a novel SEA. Experimental results are given to validate the proposal.


A representative democracy depends on a universally trusted voting system for the election of representatives; voters need to believe that their votes count, and all parties need to be convinced that the winner and loser of the election were declared legitimately. Direct recording electronic (DRE) voting systems are increasingly being deployed to fill this role. Unfortunately, doubts have been raised as to the trustworthiness of these systems. This article presents a research voting system and associated class project which was used to demonstrate several classes of bugs that might occur in such a voting system unbeknownst to voters, with the difficulty of detecting these bugs through auditing. The intent of this project is to justify the mistrust sometimes placed in DRE voting systems that lack a voter-verifiable audit


In studying Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) in obese children, the quantification of obesity through MRI has been shown to be useful. For large-scale studies, interactive or manual segmentation strategies become inadequate. Our goal is to automate this process to facilitate high throughput, precision, and accuracy and to eliminate subjectivity in quantification. In this paper, we demonstrate the adaptation, to this application, of a general body-wide Automatic Anatomy Recognition (AAR) system that is being developed separately. The AAR system has been developed based on existing clinical CT image data of 50-60 year-old male subjects and using fuzzy models of a large number of objects in each body region. The individual objects and their models are arranged in a hierarchy that is specific to each body region. In the application under consideration in this paper, we are primarily interested in only the skin boundary, and subcutaneous and visceral adipose region. Further, the image modality is MRI, and the study subjects are 8-17 year-old females. We demonstrate in this paper that, once such a full AAR system is built, it can be easily adapted to a new application by specifying the objects of interest, their hierarchy, and a few other application-specific parameters. Our tests based on MRI of 14 obese subjects indicate a recognition accuracy of about 2 voxels or better for both types of adipose regions. This seems quite adequate in terms of the initialization of model-based graph-cut (GC) and iterative relative fuzzy connectedness (IRFC) algorithms implemented in our AAR system for subsequent delineation of the objects. Both algorithms achieved low false positive volume fraction (FPVF) and high true positive volume fraction (TPVF), with IRFC performing better than GC.


The success of diffusion MRI is deeply rooted in the fact that during their micrometric random displacements water molecules explore tissue microstructure. Hence by labeling magnetically spins of displaced water, diffusion MRI provides us with exquisite information about the sizes and orientations on the multiple compartments present inside an imaging voxel. Through the causal relation between on one hand the imaged restricted and oriented water mobility and on the other hand the axonal orientations in brain white matter, diffusion MRI has become a powerful method to infer fiber tract architecture and brain anatomic connectivity. This work is not only a journey that takes us from essential diffusion MRI physics to an investigation of the brain neuronal circuitry, but also a thesis aiming at demonstrating the power of large scale analysis of brain connectivity, where every technological component is essential. After a short introduction on molecular diffusion and diffusion NMR, we start by showing that diffusion contrast is positive. This key issue that was only postulated up to now, allows us to justify why diffusion can be computed accurately with the only signal modulus. Accordingly, various emerging MRI techniques that map non-Gaussian diffusion have found a sound justification. In particular it is precisely the result that allows us to map distribution of diffusion related spin displacements by Fourier transformation of the measured signal modulus, hence to do Diffusion Spectrum MRI. We show through multiples MR experiments how the shape of this distribution in a complicated multi-compartment biological system can be measured and how its characteristic local heterogeneity is a mirror of fiber architectures. We discuss in detail its interpretation and its relation to other diffusion MRI techniques. Tractography is the necessary link that from diffusion MRI provides us with nerve fiber trajectories and maps of brain axonal connectivity. In this thesis two algorithms are proposed, while the first is designed for diffusion tensor MRI, the second is shaped for high angular resolution diffusion MRI and specifically tested on Diffusion Spectrum MRI. After having considered the potentials and the limitations of these line generation algorithms, we investigate whether tractography can be formulated as a segmentation problem in a high dimensional non Euclidean space, i.e. position-orientation space. With the help of the developed tools we address some key neuro-scientific questions. Based on diffusion tensor MRI data of 32 healthy volunteers, language networks are investigated. It is shown that right-handed men are massively interconnected between the left-hemisphere speech areas whereas the homologous in the right hemisphere are sparse; furthermore interhemispheric connections between the speech areas and their contralatera1 homologues are relatively strong. Women and left-handed men have equally strong intrahemispheric connections in both hemispheres, but women have a higher density of interhemispheric connections. After this quantitative study, Diffusion Spectrum MRI data of a single subject is collected and tractography performed in order to analyze the global connectivity pattern of the human brain. For this purpose we propose to model this large scale architecture by an abstract graph. It is shown that the long-range axonal network exhibits a "small world" topology. This type of particular architecture is present in various large scale communication networks. They emerge usually from a growing process where optimal communication has to be developed under some resource constraints. Furthermore we show also that the architecture of axonal connectivity between cortical areas exhibits a hierarchical organization. These results, which confirm more indirect studies, provide essential material to discuss not only brain evolution and development but also information processing at the level of the brain.


It is generally recognized that SMEs are presently the most important and fundamental organizations for accelerating national economic development. They play crucial roles and functions in helping large enterprises increase production efficiency by supplying primary spare parts and components. Even though IT is the key element for international and domestic trading, only a small number of Thai SMEs use IT for increasing their productivity and efficiency and for trading. Since the world economy is becoming a digital economy, the uses of electronic networks or electronic media should not be ignored. Consequently, Thai SMEs in general are unable to compete on the world market.Thai government has recognized the benefits of IT use for SMEs. However, the cost of using IT may be too high for small organizations. The government is planning to create a positive environment for SMEs by using IT for SME capacity building, financial assistance and human resource development. E-Government is one of the projects designed to ease all barriers of IT use by SMEs.


This paper reports an undergraduate experiment based on analytical chemistry, electrochemistry and materials science of carbon microelectrodes. The modification of the electroactive surface of the carbon microelectrode was done using gold nanoparticles electrodeposited from gold solution. To determine the changes on the surface, the electrode was subjected to simple optical microscopy. Next, the electrode was characterized using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry of two known electrochemical redox markers: hexaamineruthenium(III) chloride and potassium hexacyanoferrate (III), i.e. potassium ferricyanide. The redox behavior of both markers demonstrated the change in electrode surface. After modification, the ferricyanide reduction peaks were observed to increase significantly, as a consequence of accelerated electron transfer. Furthermore, changes in wave slope and half-wave potentials (E½) of the redox waves also confirmed an altered electrode surface that students can logically trace back to the modification. The electrode tip dimension was also determined using a modified form of the Cottrell equation, confirming the tip size to be 2.0 µm. The discussion of these results enables an understanding of electrochemistry, analytical chemistry and materials chemistry, and presents an excellent opportunity to apply these in an undergraduate setting.


The film formation in lip seals, due to the non-Newtonian rheology of the lubricant, has been a topic of speculation. Earlier work suggests that normal stresses in grease would be favorable for the film buildup between the seal lip and shaft or bearing ring. In the current article, we evaluate this earlier work and our earlier theoretical seal lip model with a series of experiments. We use a modified concentric cylinder geometry and a model fluid to study the fluid pressure distribution in the seal-type geometry. The results are then related to grease-lubricated seals and our earlier theoretical predictions. The present analysis shows that this earlier work and our earlier predictions are not correct and indicate that normal stresses in the grease pull the seal lip toward the shaft, increasing the contact pressure. However, normal stresses also ensure the presence of grease on the shaft or bearing inner ring, which enhances replenishment of the sealing contact.


Pompe disease, glycosomal storage disorder type II, is caused by a deficiency of lysosomal exo-α-1,4-glucosidase, which participates in glycogen degradation. Due to the wide variety of its clinical symptoms, this lysosomal storage disorder is difficult to diagnose. The "gold standard" diagnosis of Pompe disease is based on an enzyme activity analysis in leucocytes, dried blood spots or tissues, followed by confirmation through mutational analysis. Screening of many inborn metabolic diseases normally requires also the detection of a specific metabolite. In Pompe disease, high levels of a specific glucose tetrasaccharide, αGlc(1→6)αGlc(1→4)αGlc(1→4)Glc, accumulate in patients' urine. Some medical laboratories continue to favour traditional 1-dimensional TLC for the analysis of urine oligosaccharides, however, this method has some limitations in its analytical specificity and sensitivity. More modern and robust spectral techniques, including mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy, possess many advantages and are increasingly used. Here, the different analytical methods applied in Pompe disease diagnosis are experimentally compared.


After an endless wait, a proposal for a new Package Travel Directive repealing Directive 90/314/EEC1 was presented on 9 July 2013 (hereafter, the Proposal).This article is aimed at providing an overall view of the Proposal. I will address the following issues: The concept of traveller; online package holidays and assisted travel arrangements; information requirements; a new particular right of withdrawal for package travel; other changes to the contract before the start of the package; performance of the Package; and insolvency protection. Some early concluding remarks are made as to when a future Package Travel Directive might take place at some future date


The MutS protein of Escherichia coli plays a key role in the recognition and repair of errors made during the replication of DNA. Homologs of MutS have been found in many species including eukaryotes, Archaea and other bacteria, and together these proteins have been grouped into the MutS family. Although many of these proteins have similar activities to the E.coli MutS, there is significant diversity of function among the MutS family members. This diversity is even seen within species; many species encode multiple MutS homologs with distinct functions. To better characterize the MutS protein family, I have used a combination of phylogenetic reconstructions and analysis of complete genome sequences. This phylogenomic analysis is used to infer the evolutionary relationships among the MutS family members and to divide the family into subfamilies of orthologs. Analysis of the distribution of these orthologs in particular species and examination of the relationships within and between subfamilies is used to identify likely evolutionary events (e.g. gene duplications, lateral transfer and gene loss) in the history of the MutS family. In particular, evidence is presented that a gene duplication early in the evolution of life resulted in two main MutS lineages, one including proteins known to function in mismatch repair and the other including proteins known to function in chromosome segregation and crossingover. The inferred evolutionary history of the MutS family is used to make predictions about some of the uncharacterized genes and species included in the analysis. For example, since function is generally conserved within subfamilies and lineages, it is proposed that the function of uncharacterized proteins can be predicted by their position in the MutS family tree. The uses of phylogenomic approaches to the study of genes and genomes are discussed.


I thank Professor Elshtain for her response to my article, and the editors for inviting me to make some clarifications and engage in what is emerging as a profound normative dispute about the underlying hopes and worldview of "just war" thinkers and various post-Kantian tendencies. This dispute is centered on our view of the role of war in international society, the normative promise and understanding of "peace," and, to a lesser extent, on critiques of sovereignty and the state. If our exchange has any value, it will be to highlight the considerable stakes of this dispute, which might have otherwise remained hidden in a few short pages of Elshtain's important Women and War.


Numerous human diseases are associated with conformational change and aggregation of proteins, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, prion diseases (such as mad cow disease), familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease), Huntington's, and type II (mature onset) diabetes. In many cases, it has been demonstrated that conformational change and aggregation can occur outside living cells and complex biochemical networks. Hence, approaches from materials and physical science have enhanced our understanding of the role of protein aggregation in these diseases at the molecular and nanoscale levels. In this article, we will review what is known about these protein structures from the perspective of materials science, focusing on the details of emergent oligomeric and nanotube-like structures, their interactions with model lipid bilayers, how the structures relate to observed biological phenomena, and how protein aggregation and amyloid formation can be employed for the good in biology and materials science.


There are discrepancies between matrix and subordinate clauses that call for explanation, particularly the apparent fact that computational operations may affect matrix but not subordinate clauses, and not vice versa. Explanations were offered in the 1970's through principles of Universal Grammar but those principles became unstatable as theories of UG developed and the explanations were lost. This volume and other venues present descriptive work on such discrepancies, often exploiting the multiplicity of functional categories made available by cartographic approaches to syntax. But little is said about how to explain the discrepancies. This paper develops an explanatory approach through theories of language acquisition under which children seek cues only in simple domains, defined in terms of Binding Domains and not clauses. The fact that some cues are not expressed in embedded Binding Domains must then follow from independent properties of embedded Domains.


Targeting a master molecule that helps cancer cells survive when blood oxygen levels are low may offer a potentially powerful strategy for blocking tumor growth, say researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. The molecule, "hypoxia-inducible factor 1," or HIF-1, controls production of a number of other proteins, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which work in concert to help nurture these stressed cancer cells. Researchers show that genetically jamming HIF-1 damages the vascular microenvironment and impairs tumor growth, according to the study, published in the June 16th issue of Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The resarchers found, for example, that while new blood vessels will still grow in tumors when HIF-1 is blocked, the blood vessels were small, with thin walls, and no lumen -- the passage through which blood flows. The tumors were only about 1/10th the size of cancerous masses seen in a group of control mice. Although the researchers caution that their study was conducted only in animals, they say the findings are of note because HIF-1, as a master molecule, could prove to be a target for anti-cancer drugs. "We have shown, genetically, that inhibiting HIF-1 significantly impairs tumor growth, so it seems that targeting HIF-1 might offer a great deal of promise in regulating the growth of solid tumors," says the study's senior author, Lee Ellis, M.D., a professor in the Departments of Surgical Oncology and Cancer Biology at M. D. Anderson. The value of inhibiting this "angiogenic" pathway has already been shown in federal approval of the drug Avastin, an antibody that binds VEGF and prevents its effect on angiogenesis. But there are no drugs currently available or in testing that specifically target HIF-1, Ellis says, so clinical validation of these findings in patients will probably be years away. "The next step in the process is to seek or develop agents that specifically target HIF-1; until then, this work is limited to animal models," he says. The study focused on HIF-1's role in gastric (stomach) cancer, but the master molecule is believed to play a role in growth and metastasis of colon, pancreatic and other cancers, and is directly associated with development of renal cell carcinoma, says Ellis. Cells continually produce HIF-1 proteins, but they are quickly degraded if the cell is healthy, receiving a sufficient supply of oxygen. If the cell become hypoxic (lacking oxygen), HIF-1 is not destroyed. It binds with a partner protein and moves into the cell's nucleus, where it turns on a large number of genes that help support the cell in a relatively caustic environment "of low oxygen and nutrients, and increased acidity," says Ellis. "When cells grow faster than blood vessels, such as when cancer develops and there is not enough oxygen and glucose around, HIF-1 becomes active, pushing the growth of new blood vessels." In the study, the researchers conducted a series of both cell culture and mouse experiments; previous studies conducted in one or the other system have been contradictory. They transferred a gene into human gastric cancer cells that would not allow HIF-1 to initiate gene activation in the cell nucleus, and then found that in hypoxic conditions, VEGF secretion was not increased, showing that HIF-1 controlled VEGF levels. They then conducted animal studies, including one in which the altered cancer cells were injected into the stomach wall. Gastric tumors grew in both a control group and in the experimental group of animals. At 22 days, tumors growing in the experimental group, in cells that expressed low levels of HIF-1, were significantly smaller than those growing in the control group. "We were able to markedly inhibit tumor growth, and we also found something interesting," says Ellis. "The number of blood vessels between the groups was unchanged, yet in experimental mice, the vessels were smaller, and without a lumen. They didn't appear to be able to remain open. They were not 'good' vessels." The investigators evaluated the structure of these altered vessels and found they didn't contain many pericytes. Normal blood vessels have endothelial cells surrounded by pericytes, which provide structurally rigidity and also modulate endothelial cell survival. "We found that the endothelial cells had little pericyte coverage in tumors with decreased HIF-1 activity, suggesting that HIF-1 not only regulates molecules that mediate endothelial cell function, but also pericyte function," Ellis says. These results suggest that HIF-1 not only regulates VEGF expression in cancer cells, he says, "but also contributes to the formation of a complex proangiogenic microenvironment in tumors, affecting both the structure and function of blood vessels." The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health. Co-authors include, from M. D. Anderson's Department of Cancer Biology: Oliver Stoeltzing, M.D., Fan Fan, BS, Weinbiao Liu, M.D., and Anna Belcheva, M.D.; from M. D. Anderson's Department of Surgical Oncology: Marya McCarty, Ph.D., and Jane Wey, M.D. Another co-author, Gregg Semenza, M.D., Ph.D., at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is a leading expert on HIF-1 research.


The Supreme Court's 2006 decision in eBay v. MercExchange is widely regarded as one of the most important patent law rulings of the past decade. Historically, patent holders who won on the merits in litigation nearly always obtained a permanent injunction against infringers. In eBay, the Court unanimously rejected this "general rule" that a prevailing patentee is entitled to an injunction, instead holding that lower courts must apply a four-factor test before granting such relief. Almost ten years later, however, significant questions remain regarding how this four-factor test is being applied, as there has there has been little rigorous empirical examination of eBay's actual impact in patent litigation.This Article helps fill this gap in the literature by reporting the results of an original empirical study of contested permanent injunction decisions in district courts for a 7½ year period following eBay. It finds that eBay has effectively created a bifurcated regime for patent remedies, where operating companies who compete against an infringer still obtain permanent injunctions in the vast majority of cases that are successfully litigated to judgment. In contrast, non-practicing entities almost always are denied injunctive relief. These findings are robust even after controlling for the field of patented technology and the particular court that decided the injunction request. It also finds that permanent injunction rates vary significantly based on patented technology and forum. Finally, this Article considers some implications of these findings for both participants in the patent system and policy makers.


This paper deals with the question of political disappearance and forced migration as a stimulus for performative re-presentation. My argument rests on the idea that the loss of life or rights by violent repression does not necessarily amount to the non-appearance or complete effacement of an individual or group. On the contrary, I contend that political performance can be the direct consequence of such acts of politically-motivated disappearance. I will argue that during Augusto Pinochet's military rule in Chile from 1973 to 1988, much of the State-sponsored violence fuelled an anti-military protest culture that was creatively and powerfully orchestrated in song and chant. The power of song is here dependent upon the tragedy of loss and absence, which would suggest that the performance of disappearance can be read as a natural refusal to accept death and political destitution, exile and fugitiveness. The paper is composed as a critical fugue- that is, as a statement followed by a number of subsequent variations. The recurring theme in this text is that of the invisible fugitive as a new type of performative appearance that cannot be killed again. The aim of the fugitive's song is thus to bring the dead back onto the political stage as though they were living. Here I draw inspiration from the song 'El Aparecido', by Victor Jara, which is arguably one of the most memorable anthems of the opposition movement during the Pinochet years. Key words: performance of disappearance, Chile, Pinochet, song, Victor Jara.


The ocean's influence on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere is poorly understood. This work characterises the oceanic emission and/or uptake of methanol, acetone, acetaldehyde, isoprene and dimethyl sulphide (DMS) as a function of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and a suite of biological parameters. The measurements were taken following a phytoplankton bloom, in May/June 2005 with a proton transfer reaction mass spectrometer (PTR-MS), from mesocosm enclosures anchored in the Raunefjord, Southern Norway. The net flux of methanol was always into the ocean, and was stronger at night. Isoprene and acetaldehyde were emitted from the ocean, correlating with light (ravcorr, isoprene=0.49; ravcorr, acetaldehyde=0.70) and phytoplankton abundance. DMS was also emitted to the air but did not correlate significantly with light (ravcorr, dms=0.01). Under conditions of high biological activity and a PAR of ~450 μmol photons m‑2 s‑1, acetone was emitted from the ocean, otherwise it was uptaken. The inter-VOC correlations were highest between the day time emission fluxes of acetone and acetaldehyde (rav=0.96), acetaldehyde and isoprene (rav=0.88) and acetone and isoprene (rav=0.85). The mean fluxes for methanol, acetone, acetaldehyde, isoprene and DMS were ‑0.26 ng m‑2 s‑1, 0.21 ng m‑2 s‑1, 0.23 ng m‑2 s‑1, 0.12 ng m‑2 s‑1 and 0.3 ng m‑2 s‑1, respectively. This work shows that compound specific PAR and biological dependency should be used for estimating the influence of the global ocean on atmospheric VOC budgets.


Despite advances with triplex-forming oligonucleotides, peptide nucleic acids, polyamides and--more recently--engineered proteins, there remains an urgent need for synthetic ligands that enable specific recognition of double-stranded (ds) DNA to accelerate studies aiming at detecting, regulating and modifying genes. Invaders, i.e., energetically activated DNA duplexes with interstrand zipper arrangements of intercalator-functionalized nucleotides, are emerging as an attractive approach toward this goal. Here, we characterize and compare Invaders based on 1-, 2- and 4-pyrenyl-functionalized O2'-alkylated uridine monomers X-Z by means of thermal denaturation experiments, optical spectroscopy, force-field simulations and recognition experiments using DNA hairpins as model targets. We demonstrate that Invaders with +1 interstrand zippers of X or Y monomers efficiently recognize mixed-sequence DNA hairpins with single nucleotide fidelity. Intercalator-mediated unwinding and activation of the double-stranded probe, coupled with extraordinary stabilization of probe-target duplexes (ΔT(m)/modification up to +14.0 °C), provides the driving force for dsDNA recognition. In contrast, Z-modified Invaders show much lower dsDNA recognition efficiency. Thus, even very conservative changes in the chemical makeup of the intercalator-functionalized nucleotides used to activate Invader duplexes, affects dsDNA-recognition efficiency of the probes, which highlights the importance of systematic structure-property studies. The insight from this study will guide future design of Invaders for applications in molecular biology and nucleic acid diagnostics.