The growth of Yb:S-FAP [Yb3+:Sr5(PO4)3F] crystals is being developed for use as the gain medium in the Mercury Laser, a gas-cooled amplifier system intended to yield 100J, 10Hz and 10% efficiency in 3 nsec when completed, for inertial fusion energy. A number of defect issues have been overcome to produce high quality crystals, including: cloudiness, bubble core defects, anomalous absorption, low-angle grain boundaries, cracking, and crystal inclusions. Currently useful crystals are routinely produced for fabrication into full size slabs. However, stress cracking during fabrication is being addressed as a critical issue in producing the 14 slabs necessary for full activation of the Mercury Laser.


Permutation testing for multivariate stochastic ordering and ANOVA designs is a fundamental issue in many scientific fields such as medicine, biology, pharmaceutical studies, engineering, economics, psychology, and social sciences. This book presents new advanced methods and related R codes to perform complex multivariate analyses. The prerequisites are a standard course in statistics and some background in multivariate analysis and R software.


This article explores the question of what happened to European assets in the process of decolonization. It argues that decolonization created a money panic of sorts that led white settlers, businessmen, and officials to seek to liquidate assets they owned and move funds out of the colonial world. Instead of being repatriated to metropolitan countries with high tax rates and exchange controls, money moved to tax havens. Decolonization thus provided an important share of early postwar tax haven business in a period when tax havens and offshore finance expanded during the 1950s and 1960s. In turn, the withdrawal of Euro-American investments from the decolonizing world set the stage for the politics of development and modernization in the coming decades. Ironically, the outflow of funds during decolonization and the subsequent return of some funds in restructured form as investments by multinational and other companies soon caused difficulties in newly independent developing countries. Companies soon found ways to rebook profits to have occurred in a tax haven rather than in the developing world, thus depriving low-income countries from tax revenue. The withdrawal of Euro-American investments from the colonial world during decolonization moreover had implications for the growth of portfolio investment, as funds removed from colonies were often invested through a tax haven onwards in US securities. All in all, decolonization was an economic and financial event that is only beginning to emerge in full detail.


In Australia increasing traffic loadings are placing greater pressure on sprayed seal unbound granular pavements, with some non-standard materials no longer being fit-for-purpose. Unfortunately, in many rural areas, the use of high-quality crushed rock is not a cost-effective treatment to improve the structure of these pavements. Consequently, there is growing interest in pavement-strengthening treatments, such as in situ cement stabilisation, that enhance existing non-standard materials. The required thickness of cement stabilisation is commonly governed by the fatigue characteristics of the treated material. This paper presents the results of an on-going Austroads research project to investigate the laboratory fatigue life of a wide range of cemented materials. Flexural beams were manufactured and tested using newly developed laboratory methods. In addition to the fatigue tests, flexural strength and flexural modulus tests were also conducted. Results showed that the fatigue relationship for cemented materials is significantly dependent on breaking strain and not modulus, which suggests that the current Austroads design criterion can be improved. The ratio of initial strain resulting in a fatigue life of 106 cycles divided by breaking strain is seen as a potentially superior method of incorporating material quality into the cemented materials' fatigue relationship. Finally, a presumptive laboratory relationship based on strain ratio was developed. The presumptive fatigue relationship is conservatively based on a strain ratio of 0.35 for 106 load cycles. A strain damage exponent of 12 is recommended for pavement design.


The well-known income inequality hypothesis implies that people in countries with a more equal income distribution show higher levels of well-being than people in unequal countries. To adequately test this hypothesis, it is first important that individual-level aspects such as income, education and social trust are adequately taken into account. This is relevant especially because people in equal countries are more likely to possess high levels of income, education and social trust, which may seriously influence the actual effect of income inequality. To deal with this methodological issue, it is preferred to use multilevel data that consists of information of various people across various countries. To constitute multilevel data, we employ the World Value Survey and the European Value Survey, and enrich it with contextual national-level information. Analyzing multilevel data with ordinary regression may result in the hypothesis on the national level being too easily accepted. It, therefore, is advisable to employ multilevel analyses. Results from our multilevel analysis indicate that (among the developed countries) national income inequality is not detrimental for people's well-being, and that people with higher income, education and social trust do report higher levels of well-being.


Five ideas constitute the central message of this study. First, urban rickshaw pullers come from a very poor economic background consistent with the characteristics of chronic poverty. Second, rickshaw pulling provides a route of modest upward mobility for those among the rural chronically poor who come to the city for work. Third, the rickshaw pullers are susceptible to systematic health risks. Deteriorating health combined with health shocks can impose a significant burden on the urban poor, dragging down the pace of upward mobility during their lifetime. Fourth, the activity of rickshaw pulling represents an unsustainable livelihood, as the initial welfare gain tapers off with length of involvement in the sector. As longitudinal data is lacking, this story has emerged through an inductive comparison of younger, recent joiners and long duration, older rickshaw pullers, as well as current and former pullers. Fifth, intergenerational mobility of rickshaw puller households is constrained by very limited schooling and the poor range of occupational choices for children. Public policy has an important role to play in mitigating health shocks, as well as supporting targeted education for the urban poor in the informal sector, for sustainable urban poverty reduction.


A generic protocol for the creation of material-mediated self-assembled patterns of streptavidin, defined solely by patterns of gold and SiO2, is presented. Protein-adsorption resistance of selected regions was obtained by material-specific adsorption of thiol-modified poly ethylene glycol thiol-PEG on gold followed by adsorption of poly-L-lysine PLL modified PEG PLL-g-PEG on SiO2. Selective streptavidin binding to either gold or SiO2 or both was ensured by introducing biotin-modified thiolated thiol-biotin and/or biotin-modified PLL-g-PEG PLL-g-PEGbiotin compounds. The introduction of biotin did not influence the protein-adsorption resistance. On the macroscopic scale, the protein-adsorption-resistant properties and the streptavidin-binding capacity were optimized using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring. The reproduction of micrometer-scale gold patterns on SiO2 into patterns of streptavidin was verified using fluorescence microscopy, while the compatibility of the material-specific surface-modification strategy with nanoscale features was accomplished by modifying a localized surface plasmon resonance LSPR active template, defined by randomly distributed nanoapertures in a thin gold film on SiO2. The demonstrated compatibility of the latter substrate with LSPR-based label-free sensing of biorecognition reactions, combined with the fact that all compounds utilized are commercially available, makes the surface-modification protocol attractive as a generic surface modification solution for a broad range of biorecognition-based assays. © 2007 American Vacuum Society. DOI: 10.1116/1.2717926


Taking its cue from Charles Martindale's concept of 'chain of receptions' (Martindale 1993), this essay traces various 'chains' of influential readings of Apuleius'  The Golden Ass , from the reception of this novel in the early Renaissance up to the present day. The rigid allegorical readings of Apuleius' novel represented by for instance Fulgentius, and more importantly by Beroaldo, which had been the first links in a sustainable chain of receptions, have in the course of time been replaced by other, equally influential chains of receptions in modern times. These new chains of receptions have each offered new approaches to the perennial problems that confront the reader of Apuleius' novel, and opened up ever more layers of interpretation. In this essay it is argued that 'allegory' should not be dismissed completely: A softer form of allegory, allegory as a function of reading, that is to say, keeping an open eye for 'allegorical moments' in The Golden Ass , on the one hand may enrich our interpretation of this text, and on the other hand does justice to the cultural and spiritual context of the era in which it was written. In an Appendix two different sets of woodcuts, both from around 1500, are shown to represent two different approaches to  The Golden Ass already in early modern times. Maaike Zimmerman is (retired) senior lecturer of Latin Language and Literature at the Classics Department of the University of Groningen (Netherlands). She has been the leading editor of Ancient Narrative from its foundation in 2000 up to early 2009. At present, she is preparing a text edition of Apuleius'  Metamorphoses for the  Oxford Classical Texts series. She has been the leader of the 'Groningen Commentaries on Apuleius' ( GCA ) research group that since 1977 has published a series of commentaries on individual books of Apuleius'  Metamorphoses . Her own publications include: M. Zimmerman,  Apuleius Madaurensis, Metamorphoses: Book X. Text, Introduction and Commentary , Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 2000.


The fidelity of light with arbitrary polarizations stored in a warm
 87Rb atomic vapor at different storage time
 is studied. The exponential decay of regeneration efficiency with the storage time
 is observed and a detectable signal at 300-¹s storage time is still existed. The
 storage fidelity at different storage time is well maintained in our experiment.


The tail region of C. elegans contains a number of blast cell and neuron types that either are found only in the tail, or are different from more anterior homologues. In egl-5 mutants, the fates of many of these tail cells are abnormal or transformed to those of anterior homologues. The affected cells are related only by position and not by ancestry. egl-5 is also required for normal development of the somatic gonad and sex muscles in males. The function of egl-5 in all these tissues is cell autonomous. By genetic mapping, egl-5 lies very close to mab-5, a gene with an analogous role in the immediately anterior body region. egl-5 and mab-5 may constitute a 'mini-cluster' of regional determination genes, similar to those described in other animal phyla.


Large scale atmospheric oscillations are known to have an influence on waves in the North Atlantic. In quantifying how the wave and wind climate of this region may change towards the end of the century due to climate change, it is useful to investigate the influence of large scale oscillations using indices such as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO: fluctuations in the difference between the Icelandic low pressure system and the Azore high pressure system). In this study a statistical analysis of the station-based NAO index was carried out using an ensemble of EC-Earth global climate simulations, where EC-Earth is a European-developed atmosphere ocean sea-ice coupled climate model. The NAO index was compared to observations and to projected changes in the index by the end of the century under the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 forcing scenarios. In addition, an ensemble of EC-Earth driven WAVEWATCH III wave model projections over the North Atlantic was analysed to determine the correlations between the NAO and significant wave height (Hs) and the NAO and extreme ocean states. For the most part, no statistically significant differences were found between the distributions of observed and modelled station-based NAO or in projected distributions of the NAO. Means and extremes ofHs are projected to decrease on average by the end of this century. The 95th percentile ofHs is strongly positively correlated to the NAO. Projections ofHs extremes are location dependent and in fact, under the influence of positive NAO the 20-year return levels of Hs were found to be amplified in some regions. However, it is important to note that the projected decreases in the 95th percentile of Hs off the west coast of Ireland are not statistically significant in one of the RCP4.5 and one of the RCP8.5 simulations (me41, me83) which indicates that there is still uncertainty in the projections of higher percentiles.


It might seem surprising to find, in a royal correspondence dedicated primarily to the task of public administration, elements of informal expression, an obvious informal tone of personal concern, and even numerous signs of friendly consort. Since the royal person remains indistinguishable from his function, he avoids with greater difficulty than others the hierarchical imperatives that determine epistolary exchanges. Even so, the letters addressed by Henry III to his court favourites and to state secretary Villeroy are particular in that they exhibit an exemplary sociability that invites reciprocity within the master-servant relationship. The present article aims to show that this rhetoric of familiarity contributes to an expression of favour which strengthens a privileged mode of communication, which constitutes a real pact of fidelity. Indeed, epistolary correspondence is seen as much more than a simple administrative expedient, or a means of long-distance communication. It is seen rather as a political technique which is useful in serving the mutual interest of the correspondents.


Design and Usability Testing of a mHealth Application for Midwives in Rural Ghana Olivia Velez Midwives in Ghana provide the majority of rural primary and maternal healthcare services, but have limited access to data for decision making and knowledge work. Few mobile health (mHealth) applications have been designed for midwives. The study purpose was to design and test an mHealth application (mClinic) that can improve data access and reduce the reporting burden for midwives at the Millennium Villages Project site in Ghana. From the design science field, the Information Systems Research Framework guided this study through two research cycles: 1) Relevance, and 2) Design. The first phase of the Relevance Cycle took a user-centered approach to assess the people, organizations, and technology of the midwives' environment through participant observation, contextual inquiry, and interviews. In the second phase, structured requirements specification was used to categorize the data into goals, system qualities, and constraints. From the categorized data, use cases were developed for patient registration, antenatal care, malaria, family planning, and referrals. Use cases then informed the development of functional requirements. In the Design Cycle, we first used functional requirements for patient registration and malaria to develop the mClinic prototype as part of a coded-in-country initiative. Next, we examined usability of the mClinic prototype by conducting field testing, heuristic evaluation, and usability surveys. Additionally, low-fidelity prototyping was used to determine applicability of the other use cases to the midwives' environment. Midwives reported inability to access critical data, high patient loads, and extensive reporting requirements. Low technical self-efficacy and inadequate infrastructure were identified as barriers to implementation. Heuristic evaluation noted issues related to hardware selection, workflow, and security. Midwives ranked the tool as useful in the usability survey; however, ease-of-use rankings were neutral. Interviews indicated this was related to low technical self-efficacy. Applicability checks found support for touch-entry prototypes over those that included lengthy forms or text-entry. The study supported the utility of design science and user-centered methods in rural Ghana for understanding the midwives' environment, developing functional requirements, and guiding evaluation. Midwives reported mClinic would facilitate data access and reduce reporting burdens. Improving midwives data access is essential for clinical decision making and promoting their knowledge work.


Private redress theories of punitive damages recognize an individual victim's right to be punitive. That right exists because the defendant knew its conduct would probably cause the victim a severe injury, yet the defendant still acted, willfully injuring the victim. The injured victim can seek and obtain punitive damages to punish the defendant for disrespecting her rights.
This Article is the first to apply private redress theories of punitive damages to claims involving a defective product. This application is unexpectedly difficult because of the importance of evidence of harm to nonparties in establishing defect, and because the defendant's knowledge of the probable injury was not specific to the injured victim but instead general to all potential victims.
Absent special circumstances, the manufacturer disrespected each of the injured victims in the same way. Consistent with private redress theories, each injured plaintiff can seek punishment for that disrespect. But the disrespect is not unique and each injured plaintiff should receive an identical punitive damage award.


Due to the novelty factor of Google Glass, specifically in Europe, only few research attempts were made of the potential of Google Glass. The present study aims to explore visitor's first time usage behavior of Google Glass within the cultural context. In total, 29 Art Gallery visitors tested the Google Glass prototype application "Museum Zoom" and took part in an interview. The data were analyzed using content analysis and revealed that among all age groups, the majority of visitors had a favourable opinion regarding the usage of Google Glass within Art Gallery settings. This exploratory study revealed that users were able to quickly adjust to the novel interaction and generally perceived the device to enhance the Art Gallery visitors experience though the provision of additional content and easy to use as well as social networking functions. Although technological issues remained, participants were curious to interact with the device.


In today's intense global competition, supply chain management (SCM) is as a vital tool for helping managers to improve productivity, profitability and the performance of their organisations. In doing so, SCM requires more accurate cost data regarding all activities and processes within the organisations. Given the above, activity-based costing (ABC) can significantly contribute to global supply chain management as it is suggested to fulfil the above requirements by providing more accurate, detailed and up-to-date information on all activities and processes in organisations.

Contributing to the SCM and ABC literature, current study first identifies different types of improvements which ABC can offer to SCM and the performance of the organisations, then it examines the extent of association between business size as well as business industry (as organisational factors) affecting the adoption of ABC in New Zealand (NZ) through using a survey questionnaire and targeting NZ qualified CIMA members. To improve SCM and organisations' performance by increasing the adoption of ABC in organisations, one of the main implications of the findings is that the adoption of ABC in smaller firms needs more attention compared with the larger firms regardless of their industries (manufacturing versus non-manufacturing firms). However, when the decision is made to implement ABC, non-manufacturing firms (rather than manufacturing firms) need more attention to proceed with a higher level of adoption of ABC.


A question that has gained widespread interest is 'how can learning tasks be structured to encourage creative thinking in the classroom?' This paper adopts the stance of drawing upon theories of learning and creativity to encourage creative thinking in the classroom. A number of scholars have suggested that the processes of 'learn-ing' and 'creativity are inextricably linked. Extending upon this, a generative framework is presented which exists as a design support tool for planning creative learning experiences. A demonstration of how this framework can be applied is made through the design of SoundScape – A music composition program designed for school children. This paper reports upon a study using SoundScape within a school with 96 children aged 11. The study focused on two objectives, firstly, identifying any differences in explicitly supporting the creative processes of 'preparation' as opposed to not, and secondly, comparing the outcomes of using real-world metaphors to create music compared to the use of abstract visual representation to specify music. through considering aspects of the


Friction, avalanches and phase transitions in granular media by Aline Hubard Adviser: Mark Shattuck We explore the microscopic interactions and properties of dry granular materials in the plane using experiments and simulations. We use statistics of this microscopic information to better understand and predict the bulk behavior and evolution of granular materials. In the first part, we study the geometric structure of mechanically stable packings of frictional disks in configuration space. Our experimental setup contains frictional disks confined in a vertical plane and subject to a series of small amplitude vibrations that compact the system by reducing the friction between contacts during each vibration step. We find that the evolution of the packings forms a tree-like structure in the configuration space and that the particles move in the direction of gravity projected onto the null space of the rigidity matrix determined from the contact network of the packing. We suggest that this formalism can also be used to explain the evolution of frictional packings under other forcing conditions. v In the second part, we address the question of universality in granular avalanches. We set up an experiment made from a quasi-two-dimensional rotating drum half-filled with a mono-layer of stainless-steel spheres. We measure the size of the avalanches created by the increased gravitational stress on the pile as we rotate. We find that the size and duration of the avalanches follow a power law and that the avalanche shapes are self-similar and nearly parabolic. This indicates that the avalanches belong to a universality class, which has been predicted by mean field theory. Finally we look at granular phase transitions from gas to crystal and ask which local properties best describe the granular phase transition in mono-disperse disks from gas to crystal. We perform two-dimensional numerical simulations with different boundary conditions and driving mechanisms, in which we measure the local area fraction, bond order, and anisotropy.


Global warming is having a great impact on the Arctic region, due to the change of air temperature and precipitation. As a consequence, the glacial ice melts and englacial materials are being transported into the ocean. These substances can constitute a source of nutrients in food webs or, on the contrary, a source of contaminants. In this research seven marine Svalbard glaciers and their tidewater tongues were focused. This survey provides a first attempt comparing microbial communities from coastal and tidewater glaciers that reveal a hitherto unknown microbial diversity. A wider diversity was found in glaciers than in seawater samples. Glacier microorganisms mainly corresponded to the phylum Proteobacteria (48.8%), Bacteroidetes (29.1%) and Cyanobacteria (16.3%) (Fig. 3 A). Seawater microorganisms belonged to Bacteroidetes (40.3%), Actinobacteria (31.7%) and Proteobacteria (25.4%). Other phyla found such as Firmicutes, Thermi, Gemmatimonadetes, Verrucomicrobia, Nitrospirae, Chloroflexi, Planctomycetes and Chlamydiae were less abundant. The distribution of microbial communities was affected in different extent by the concentration of nutrients (nitrogen nutrients, dissolved organic carbon and soluble reactive phosphorus) and by environmental parameters such as salinity. Nevertheless, the environmental variables did not influence in the distribution of the microbial communities as much as the concentration of nutrients did. Our results demonstrate an interchange between glacier and coastal microbial populations as well as the presence of some indicator species (i.e. Hymenobacter) as possible sentinels for bacterial transport between glaciers and their downstream seawaters. The consequence of this process could be the alteration of the water composition of the fiords producing serious consequences throughout the marine ecosystem and in the cycling of globally important elements.


PURPOSE
To accurately quantify and account for systematic errors in the measurement of dose for unflattened photon beams due to characteristics specific to these beams.

METHODS
Dose measurements were taken on five photon beams (6X, 6X FFF, 10X, 10X FFF, and 15X) on a Varian TrueBeam STx using one diode and five ion chambers (PTW Farmer, CC13, CC04, and PTW 3D Pinpoint) which were selected to span a range of dimensions. Errors in the percent depth dose (PDD) due to depth dependent P_ion effects were measured. High-resolution diode scans for profiles at 6X FFF and 10X FFF were used to create an analytical fit model. This model was used to calculate the reduction in dose (caused by volume averaging) in unflattened beams due to chamber size. Each chamber was cross-calibrated (using the flattened beams) against the farmer chamber to determine N_D,w(Co-60). These N_D,w(Co-60) values were then used to determine the absolute dose in the FFF beams.

RESULTS
Changes in P_ion were most pronounced in the 10X FFF beam. This effect resulted in a 1% and 1.5% increase in the measured PDD at depths of 10cm and 20cm, respectively, for 10X FFF with the CC13 chamber. The farmer chamber had the most significant volume averaging effect with a calculated (and measured) dose reduction of 0.35% and 0.72% for 6X FFF and 10X FFF, respectively. An analytical correction factor, P_Flat, was developed to account for this effect.

CONCLUSION
Corrections are necessary to reduce the errors produced when measuring dose in unflattened beams. Two types of errors were quantified that will each lower the measured dose to dmax. When following a TG-51 calibration, uncorrected absolute dose measurements may Result in a worst-case error on the order of 2%. We developed an analytical correction factor that substantially reduces this error for common farmer chambers.


The development of efficient systems for precise attitude and position determination of airborne sensor platforms is having a huge impact in different remote sensing applications, resulting in higher productivity levels and lower exploitation costs. This technology is also being successfully applied to different mobile mapping systems. Being aware of this fact, the authors have developed a navigation system that can be used either in real time or in post-processing mode, depending on the requirements of the user. The system is modular and can have different configurations. In the case reported here the airborne segment consists of a low cost IMU, two double frequency GPS receivers, an industrial PC and a radio communication link to allow real time DGPS. As a complement, a mini TV is used to display graphical information, such as the position of the aircraft over a map and a simulated Horizontal Situation Indicator (HSI) that the pilots use to follow pre-programmed flight profiles. The ground segment is based on a GPS reference station, a PC that compresses the GPS corrections (and also displays data that is being sent by the aircraft) and a set of radio transceivers that are spread over the surveying area. In July/August 1999 the system was subject to final testing on board a Portuguese Air Force aircraft. In order to evaluate the attainable accuracy, a photogrammetric camera was also installed and rigidly fixed to the aircraft's structure. More than 400 photos were taken and the triggering instants registered. Ground control was performed for image georeferencing, which allowed the determination of the position and attitude of the camera at the instant the shot was taken. Because the camera is coupled to the aircraft body, this information can be compared to the obtained with the navigation system and its accuracy assessed. In this paper, besides a general description of the system implementation and algorithmic structure, the real time and post-processing results obtained during these test flights are presented and compared to the photogrammetric results. To conclude, general remarks regarding the system performance and its sootiness to different remote sensing applications are discussed.


Based on the resource-based view of the firm (RBV) and the resource/capability perspective of innovation, this study explores the independent and complementary effects of two types of innovation capability (namely product development capability and operational capability) on market performance in a sample of 2971 Chinese industrial firms. Product development capability and operational capability have different degrees of firm specificity in terms of the technological complexity of underlying resources. We further explore industry dynamism as an important moderating effect on the relationship between different types of innovation capability and market performance. Our findings suggest that,in the Chinese firms surveyed, both product development and operational capability in innovation positively contribute to market performance. The effect of operational capability is notably stronger than that of product development capability. We also confirm the complementary effect of operational capability with product development capability in enhancing market performance. Our findings further suggest that product development capability tends to have a stronger effect on market performance when the level of industry dynamism is low, while the impact of operational capability on market performance is stronger in industries with a relatively high level of dynamism.


The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on coordination failures, apply game theory to coordination issues within selected rural development projects in order to develop a set of guidelines to avoid and minimize coordination failures. The ultimate aim is to promote development effectiveness by helping to improve project design. The intended audience is operational staff of the bank, staff in other donor agencies, policy makers, and academics interested in development effectiveness, enterprise development, and rural development. Case studies concern themselves with the rural agricultural and non-agricultural development in Latin America, but the theoretical insights can be applied to any sector or region of the world.


Predation rates of freshwater turtle nests can vary markedly, suggesting that in addition to different suites of predators present, environmental factors (e.g. vegetation characteristics, distance to water/clearing and rainfall) also influence survival of turtle nests. Understanding the influence of environmental factors on nest success can aid turtle conservation through successful management of nesting habitat. This study simultaneously investigated the effect of multiple factors on artificial nest survivorship at a site where oblong turtles Chelodina colliei were present. Over a 12-month period, we monitored the fate of 580 artificial nests installed as 145 nest-sets, each having one of four treatments: (1) two chicken eggs (E) buried and the ground sprayed with water from a turtle pond (S) (E+S+), (2) two chicken eggs (E+S-), (3) nest sprayed (E-S+) and (4) hole dug and refilled (E-S-). Seven environmental factors were recorded for each site and nests. Nests were monitored for 2 months after installation, by which time, 46% of the nests had been excavated. Depredation rate was affected by both the presence of eggs (P<0.001) and being sprayed with turtle pond water (P=0.005); but we found that even 38% of empty nests (holes simply dug and refilled) were excavated. Nest excavation was more likely for more obvious nests located in areas with more sparse vegetation (P<0.05) closer to the shoreline (P<0.01). Excavation rates were highest immediately after installation, but continued for the duration of the monitoring period. The introduced red fox Vulpes vulpes was identified as the only predator observed on cameras for a subset of 60 nest-sets. In conclusion, foxes use both visual and olfactory cues to locate nests, and environmental conditions at the nest site significantly influence the fate of the nests.


Obesity is at epidemic levels in the United States, and is directly associated with decreased life expectancy, reduced quality of life, and increased health care costs. Public health system partners agree that reversing obesity trends will require a concerted effort led by government as well as business and civic organizations and that a multi-faceted approach will be needed to transform communities into places where the healthy choice becomes the easy choice for everyone. A foundational role for local health departments is to promote healthy behaviors. Public Health – Dayton & Montgomery County (PHDMC) has a history of providing community-based health education programs and preventive screening services, and is committed to reducing barriers to access, particularly for populations experiencing health disparities. Funding for these programs and initiatives emanate from a property tax levy, federal and state grants, and from foundations. This case study begins in February 2008, and explores PHDMC's rationale for assuming operational control of a fitness center located in a highly underserved neighborhood in southwest Dayton, Ohio, eventually named The Healthy Lifestyle Center (HLC). The study outlines the HLC's strengths and weaknesses, lessons learned during the first three years of business, and the decision-making process used to determine whether to continue the program after 2011. This in-depth case study illustrates the challenges as well as opportunities confronting local health department leaders as they endeavor to build chronic disease prevention capacity and implement evidence-based practices in today's complex, rapidly changing political, social and economic climate.


This thesis presents a methodology for the design optimization of hydraulic runner blades. The originality of the methodology comes from the geometric definition of the blade shapes, which uses parametric surfaces instead of a set of profiles. The main advantage of using surfaces is the number of parameters required. The use of surfaces requires a different technique for the blade construction when compared to traditional approaches. NURBS surfaces are used for the geometric representation, the properties provided by such parametric formulation permit to reach the necessary flexibility and accuracy to be attained. Moreover, the surface approach can be seen as a way to liberate the blade design from traditional discrete sectional approaches. Actual blade optimization procedures are a compromise between the quality of the design, its performance analysis and the subsequent computational time-consumed effort. The improvements provided by the above mentioned geometric definition allow the use of more realistic analysis tools for the design evaluation. Thus, Navier-Stokes (k – e) simulations are integrated in a simple and direct optimization process. The resulting methodology is not penalized by the time-effort required and becomes of interest for its use in industrial applications. Finally, we supply a number of examples to demonstrate the feasibility of the optimization proposal. These examples illustrate the application of the methodology at different levels of geometric complexity. They are interesting not only through the results obtained, but also because they become acceptable in terms of time consumed on daily and industrial applications.


Recurrent neural networks are convenient and efficient models for language modeling. However, when applied on the level of characters instead of words, they suffer from several problems. In order to successfully model long-term dependencies, the hidden representation needs to be large. This in turn implies higher computational costs, which can become prohibitive in practice. We propose two alternative structural modifications to the classical RNN model. The first one consists on conditioning the character level representation on the previous word representation. The other one uses the character history to condition the output probability. We evaluate the performance of the two proposed modifications on challenging, multi-lingual real world data.


This research paper attempts to assess European responses to the Arab uprisings and, in particular, the introduced change in the EU policy towards its Southern Neighborhood. In specific terms, to what extent do security and strategic considerations still constitute the basis in the EU's fundamental revision of its policy in the Southern Neighborhood? And to what extent is the need to safeguard security and strategic interests undermining an authentic EU role in building deep democracy in the region? The presented analyses provide a profound scrutiny and assessment of the new version of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), an empirical evidence of persisting security considerations post-2011 in Euro-Arab relations, and a more elaborated vision of future Euro-Arab relations, attempting to balance between three considerations: security, democracy, and governance. The paper argues that the EU response to revolutionary events in the Arab region has been weak and that the new version of the ENP results hollow. Wide disagreements among European capitals on how to react to Arab uprisings, the sudden influx of illegal migrants and refugees, increased energy concerns, and the rise of political Islam, especially in radical forms, appears to be the key reasons behind this weak response. The study advocates that a proactive and agile EU role in the Arab region post-2011 should not be considered as derived from a moral stance. Rather, it is urgently required as it is in Europe's own interest. The historic events in the Arab region suggest that the EU should not merely revise its own ENP with the Southern Mediterranean. However, it should develop a comprehensive vision and an all-encompassing approach to the entire Arab region, from the West Mediterranean to the Gulf. Finally, this paper provides a number of policy recommendations, attempting to offer a frame for such a vision.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the efficacy of aloe vera gel and placebo in the topical management of vulval lichen planus.

STUDY DESIGN
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY
Department of Dermatology, Isra University Hospital, Hyderabad, from January 2007 to January 2008.

METHODOLOGY
Thirty-four female patients were randomized into two groups to receive aloe vera gel or placebo for local application for 8 weeks. Clinical data and treatment response was graded according to Thongprasom criteria. Z-test was used for comparing response between the groups.

RESULTS
Thirty-four consecutive patients participated in the study. We found erosive and ulcerative lesions in 83% and 17%, respectively. The most common site of vulval lichen planus was the labia minora. Fourteen (82%) out of 17 patients treated with aloe vera had a good response i.e. clinically improved by at least 50% after 8 weeks of treatment, while one (5%) of 17 placebo-treated patients had a similar response (p < 0.001). Furthermore, one patient (5%) treated with aloe vera had a complete clinical remission. No side-effects were found in both groups.

CONCLUSION
Aloe vera gel was a safe and effective treatment for patients with vulval lichen planus.


Where have we come with breeding for methane emissions – update from international collaborations Climate change is a growing international concern and it is well established that release of greenhouse gases (GHG) is a contributing factor. So far, within animal production, there is little or no concerted effort on long-term breeding strategies to mitigate GHG from ruminants. In recent years, several consortia have been formed to collect and combine data for genetic evaluation. Discussion areas of these consortia focus on (1) What are genetic parameters for methane (CH4) emissions, (2) What proxies can be used to assess CH4 emission, and (3) What are the prospects of breeding for lower emitting animals? The estimated genetic parameters show that enteric CH4 is a heritable trait, and that it is highly genetically correlated with DMI. So far, the most useful proxies relate to feed intake, milk mid-infrared spectral data, and fatty acid concentrations in milk. To be able to move forward with a genetic evaluation and ranking of animals for CH4 emission, international collaboration is essential to make progress in this area. Collaboration is not only in terms of sharing ideas, experiences and phenotypes, but also in terms of coming to a consensus regarding what phenotype to collect and to select for. Keywords: greenhouse gas emission, enteric methane, genetic control


This thesis presents a critical examination of the processes of creativity in the performance of Persian classical music. Using current literature, information from musicians, and detailed musical analyses, the thesis endeavours to reach an understanding of what creativity means in the Persian context, and to examine the ways in which creativity takes place and the factors which affect it. A consideration of the nature of human creativity in general is followed by a critique of the concepts and terminology of creativity used within (ethno)musicology. Several areas are subsequently explored for their potential contribution to an understanding of creative musical processes. There is a consideration of possible parallels between musical and linguistic creativity, as well as an exploration of theories about the psycho-physiological determinants of musical creativity. With specific reference to Persian classical music, various aspects of the basic canonic repertoire, the radif, are examined, and this is followed by a discussion of the processes by which the radif is learnt, this being a crucial stage in laying the foundations of musical creativity. There is also a consideration of the concepts of creativity in this musical tradition, as well as changes to such concepts in recent years.

The musical analyses focus on a number of performances and versions of the radif, primarily from dastgah Segah. There is an examination of the sectional organisation of both performances and radifs, as well as of compositional procedures, typical melodic patterns, and including specific focus on the ways in which material from the radif is treated in performance. The aim is to comprehend how it is that musicians use the knowledge acquired during training to present unique expressions of the musical tradition at every performance occasion. The thesis seeks to contribute to a greater understanding of generative musical processes and ultimately, towards a better understanding of the nature of human creativity.


On May 20, 2012, at 4:03 local time (2:03 UTC), a large part of the Po Valley between the cities of Ferrara, Modena and Mantova was struck by a damaging earthquake (Ml 5.9). The epicenter was located by the Istituto Nazionale di Geo-fisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) seismic network [ISIDe 2010] at 44.889 ˚N and 11.228 ˚E, approximately 30 km west of Ferrara (Figure 1). The event was preceded by a foreshock that occurred at 01:13 local time, with a magnitude of Ml 4. The mainshock started an intense seismic sequence that lasted for weeks, counting more than 2,000 events, six of which had Ml >5. The strongest earthquakes of this sequence occurred on May 29, 2012, with Ml 5.8 and Ml 5.3, recorded at 9:00 and 12:55 local time, respectively. The epicenters of the May 29, 2012, events were located at the westernmost part of the rupture zone of the May 20, 2012, earthquake (Figure 2). The May 20 and 29, 2012, earthquakes were felt through the whole of northern and central Italy, and as far as Switzerland, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, south-eastern France and southern Germany. Historical information reveals that the seismic activity in the Po Valley is moderate […]


The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) has been employed by the world's public health officials to chart the nature, frequency, and geographic origins of diseases and causes of death in human populations since the late nineteenth century. The ICD has been modified every decade since the 1890s. A study by Bowker and Star (2000) of these changes, in concert with the work of others on the practices employed in information mapping, can be used to better understand the organization of large-scale web sites. Specifically, web designers must adapt classification schemes to fit multiple social worlds. Additionally, we need to understand that these systems can become so entrenched in our thinking that they become "invisible", thus undermining our ability to adapt them as future needs or insights arise.


Emerging from a matrix of Old Left, black nationalist, and bohemian ideologies and institutions, African American artists and intellectuals in the 1960s coalesced to form the Black Arts Movement, the cultural wing of the Black Power Movement. In this comprehensive analysis, James Smethurst examines the formation of the Black Arts Movement and demonstrates how it deeply influenced the production and reception of literature and art in the United States through its negotiations of the ideological climate of the Cold War, decolonization, and the civil rights movement. Taking a regional approach, Smethurst examines local expressions of the nascent Black Arts Movement, a movement distinctive in its geographical reach and diversity, while always keeping the frame of the larger movement in view. The Black Arts Movement, he argues, fundamentally changed American attitudes about the relationship between popular culture and "high" art and dramatically transformed the landscape of public funding for the arts.


Abstract After the November 2015 terror attacks in Paris, the French government reacted swiftly by declaring a state of emergency. This state of emergency remained in place for over two years before it was ended in November 2017, only after being replaced by the new anti-terror legislation. The attacks as well as the government's reactions evoked parallels to 9/11 and its aftermath. This is a puzzling observation when taking into consideration that the Bush administration's reactions have been criticized harshly and that the US 'War on Terror' (WoT) was initially considered a serious failure in France. We can assume that this adaption of the discourse and practices stems from a successful establishment of the WoT macro-securitization. By using Securitization Theory, we outline the development of this macro-securitization by comparing its current manifestation in France against the backdrop of its origins in the US after 9/11. We analysed securitizing moves in the discourses, as well as domestic and international emergency measure policies. We find extensive similarities with view of both; yet there are differing degrees of securitizing terrorism and the institutionalisation of the WoT in the two states. This suggests that the WoT narrative is still dominant internationally to frame the risk of terrorism as an existential threat, thus enabling repressive actions and the obstruction of a meaningful debate about the underlying problems causing terrorism in the first place.


This thesis is a time-fixed snapshot of how teaching is perceived and
evaluated in Higher Education in Vietnam. The interest in exploring this question lies
in its implications for improving teaching through teaching evaluation practice.
Although the thesis is not directed to the teaching evaluation system per se,
understanding the perceptions of teaching underlying the system is a prerequisite to
teaching improvement.
This case study was conducted at a public and a non-public university in
Vietnam. Five university administrators – the designers of the Student Evaluation of
Teaching (SET) instrument, and one hundred teachers participated in this study. Data
were obtained through semi-structured interviews, survey-questionnaire, and analysis
of documents including institutional SET Forms and Guideline on SETs from the
Ministry of Education and Training, Vietnam.
Findings show that in Vietnam tertiary teaching was generally perceived as
focusing on the teachers and their teaching, in a "linked-chain" fashion, from
MOET's policy framework to university administrators, and to teachers. Two
approaches to teaching evaluation, that is, student presage-focused, and teaching
context-focused were found in this study. These approaches are characterised by
congruence of the perception of teaching held by the university administrators, with
the focus of teaching evaluation, and the purpose of the evaluation.
The research presented in this thesis makes a considerable contribution to the
literature. First, it argues for an approach to teaching evaluation underpinned by
student-centred perceptions of teaching, that is, teaching as facilitating critical
thinking and as enabling conceptual change. The teaching evaluation instrument used
for such an approach becomes student evaluation of learning. Second, it extends the understanding of administrators' perceptions of teaching, which were under researched,
compared with the prevalent literature on teachers' perceptions of
teaching. Third, the study gives prominence to administrators and teachers in the
Higher Education (HE) system of a developing country whose views were much less
researched than those of developed countries. Finally, the study adds to the present
lack of literature on the HE in Vietnam and provides a systemic view of the HE
system through the lens of the perceptions of teaching which lie behind the teaching
evaluation system. By doing so, it contributes to explanation of the Vietnamese
Government's failures in its attempts at quality improvement in HE.


The combination of N-modular redundancy (NMR) and standby sparing has resulted in a promising redundancy technique for protecting those portions of a fault-tolerant system whose continuous real-time operation is essential. This technique, known as hybrid redundancy, uses N + Sp identical modules. N of these are connected to a majority voter to form an NMR core. The remaining Sp are used as standby spares. Disagreement detectors instruct a switch to replace with a standby spare any of the N modules that disagrees with the majority consensus. Since the switch and disagreement detector, as well as the modules, must function properly for the system to perform its designed task, the overall system reliability depends on the disagreement detector, switch, and hybrid reliabilities. Hence the overall reliability is a function of switch reliability. A highly reliable, thus simple, switch is desirable. First, strategies where every spare can be switched into every voter position (totally assigned) are considered. An optimal strategy is developed where the number of states in the switch is the criterion used for optimality. Formulas for the switch state count for the various strategies are derived and the strategies compared. Next, partially assigned switching strategies, strategies where every spare need not be capable of occupying every voter position, are examined. It is shown that designs where all spares are assigned to the same t + 2 of the 2t + 1 voter positions have as good reliability as the more complex totally assigned switching strategy.


Insulinoma (INS), which causes clinical signs associated with hypoglycaemia, is the most common pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour (pNET) of dogs and humans. Ten tot fifteen percent of human INS metastasise to regional lymph nodes and the liver, and these are referred to as 'malignant INS'. Surgical excision of malignant INS is rarely complete and malignant INS generally respond poorly to traditional chemotherapeutic agent regimens. Therefore, recurrence is likely, leading to decreased survival times in affected individuals. In the dog, the biological course of INS resembles that of malignant INS in humans, since >95% of these canine tumours metastasise. In the dog, as in humans, surgery along with optional post-operative medical therapy, remains the recommended approach when possible. However, the prognosis for canine INS is still poor, because primary INS is frequently inoperable and/or micrometastases are missed during surgery. Therefore, novel approaches are needed to improve diagnosis, therapy and prognosis for both canine and human INS. Comparative oncology aims to utilise spontaneous tumours in pet animals as sophisticated models for the study of human cancer biology and therapy. Since the release of the canine genome in 2005, cancer in dogs has been repeatedly emphasised as an excellent model for humans. Naturally-occurring cancer in dogs and humans share similarities in histology, tumour biology, and response to conventional therapies. Regarding the close resemblance to human malignant INS, canine INS forms an interesting study model for human INS. Novel targets for human and canine INS therapy may be identified by uncovering the pathways underlying tumourigenesis of canine INS. The aims of this study were to: 1.Develop a novel surgical technique for resection of canine insulinomas and abdominal lymph node metastases; 2.Establish reliable prognostic biomarkers for canine insulinomas that facilitate optimal patient management; 3.Identify novel druggable targets in canine and human insulinomas. It was demonstrated that partial pancreatectomy using a bipolar vessel-sealing device (BVSD) was a safe and viable alternative to conventional methods of pancreatectomy for canine INS. BVSD pancreatectomy in dogs with INS significantly decreased operative and hospitalisation times and was not associated with more clinical complications than conventional pancreatectomy. Tumour size, TNM stage, stromal fibrosis and the Ki67 index proved to be useful parameters to predict clinical behaviour of canine INS. Novel druggable genes in canine and human INS were identified, using quantitative real-time PCR, and microarray analysis. Using flow cytometric analysis, athymic mice and zebrafish embryo xenografts assays, CD90 was identified as insulinoma cancer stem cell marker with the potential to serve as a druggable target.


The electrocardiogram (ECG) is not only a very useful diagnostic tool for clinical purposes, but also is a potential new biometric tool for human identification. TheECG may be useful as a biometric in the future, since it can easily be combined with other biometrics to provide a liveness check with little additional cost. This research focused on short-term, resting, Lead-I ECG signals recorded from the palms. A total of 168 young college volunteers were investigated for identification as a predetermined group.  Fifty persons were randomly selected from this ECG biometric database as the development dataset. Then, the identification algorithm developed from this group was tested on the entire database. In this research, two algorithms were evaluated for ECG identification during system development. The algorithms included template matching and distance classification methods. Signal averaging was applied to generate ECG databases and templates for reducing the noise recorded with palm ECG signals. When a single algorithm was applied to the development dataset, the identification rate (that is, rank one probability) was up to 98% (49 out of 50 persons). However, when the prescreening process was added to construct a combined system model, the identification rate increased to 100% accuracy on the development dataset. The combined model formed our ECG biometric system model based on results from the development dataset. The identification rate was 95.3% when the same combined system model was tested on the entire ECG biometric database.

 Key words: Biometrics, biometric liveness tests, electrocardiogram (ECG), ECG features, identification, template matching, distance classification


Streamside management zones (SMZs) are a common and effective mechanism used to protect and maintain water quality during timber harvesting operations. In the southeastern United States timber harvesting is typically allowed inside the SMZ, but there is little information regarding suitable types of harvesting systems and the acceptable amount of canopy cover. The effects of two harvesting systems and harvesting intensities on visual soil disturbance were evaluated throughout Virginia and eastern West Virginia. The harvesting systems were a chainsaw/cable-skidder system (manual) and a feller-buncher/grapple-skidder system (mechanized). A total of 118 unique SMZ plots were measured at 50 different harvest sites, split evenly between manual and mechanized operations. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) at the p < 0.10 significance level indicated that there was no significant difference in visual indices of soil disturbance levels between the two systems. However, the manual system had significantly more "rutted" disturbed area and slash cover than the mechanized system. Harvesting intensity was found to be a significant factor in the occurrence of total visual soil disturbance (slight, deep, rutted classes). Slope gradient was evaluated and revealed that slope percentages had no significant effect on percent soil disturbance for this study. Based on the parameters measured, the general occurrence and frequency of soil disturbance generally depends on the specific site conditions.


The present paper is an attempt to study the impacts of Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline on trilateral cooperation between Iran, Pakistan and India in the context of regional development. The pipeline can work both as a deterrent and a confidence-building measure, in a geopolitical set up where interstate and intrastate forces as well as extra-territorial forces are at work to undermine any attempt for regional cooperation aiming at flourishing of regional development. The political environment in South Asia is marked by an ambience of hope and anticipation. The most intensive diplomatic engagement has occurred between Pakistan and India. Three wars in 1947-48, 1965, and 1971 and a constant state of military preparedness on both sides of the border have marked six decades of bitter contest between India and Pakistan. Today, both the countries need a peaceful ambiance to concentrate on economic development of their nations. The IPI pipeline can provide an opportunity for both the countries to engage in a mutually beneficial economic project and begin a new phase in their bilateral relations on the one hand and enter into a trilateral relation with Iran on the other. Iran has the second largest gas reserves of the world at its disposal and is a major member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and hence can be a very effective party to this triangle. The engagement of the three countries in this giant gas project can pave the way for a dynamic regional cooperation. The data for the present paper has been collected through library research. The garnered data has been analyzed based on descriptive-historical-analytical method. The theoretical framework of the present study is Stephen Jones' Unified Field Theory of Political Geography (Jones, 1955), who maintains that geopolitical fields are just like magnetic ∗ E-mail: email@example.com www.SID.ir Archive of SID


In his commentary, Ralph Martin singles out two themes that are high on today's agenda of theological and practical inquiry and planning. These themes are the cosmic dimensions of Christological teaching and the role of the church as God's locus and agent of reconciliation. In this examination, the author allows Paul's voice to be heard again on these important themes. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching is a distinctive resource for those who interpret the Bible in the church. Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.


The Internet's crucial role in modern life, commerce, and government underscores the need to study the security of the protocols and infrastructure that comprise it. For years, we've focused on endpoint security and ignored infrastructure weaknesses. Recent discoveries and initiatives highlight a simple fact: the core is just as vulnerable as the edge. This special issue brings together Internet infrastructure security articles that focus on IPv6, multinational policy, and wireless protocols.


From Widgits to Digits is about the changing nature of the employment relationship and its implications for labor and employment law. For most of the twentieth century, employers fostered long-term employment relationships through the use of implicit promises of job security, well-defined hierarchical job ladders, and longevity-based wage and benefit schemes. Today's employers no longer value longevity or seek to encourage long-term attachment between the employee and the firm. Instead employers seek flexibility in their employment relationships. As a result, employees now operate as free agents in a boundaryless workplace, in which they move across departmental lines within firms, and across firm borders, throughout their working lives. Today's challenge is to find a means to provide workers with continuity in wages, on-going training opportunities, sustainable and transferable skills, unambiguous ownership of their human capital, portable benefits, and an infrastructure of support structures to enable them to weather career transitions.


Detection of continuous-wave (CW) terahertz (THz) radiation is demonstrated using a large-area microstructured photomixer. The photomixer, which has interdigitated electrodes, is utilized in an incoherent detection scheme without any focusing optics for the incoming THz radiation. The large-area microstructured photomixer is driven at a high laser power of 900 mW, which results in an increased responsivity of 120 mA/W, in comparison with conventional small-area photomixer detectors. By mapping out the receiving pattern of the photomixer detector, we show that the large-area photomixer is capable of scanning the incident THz beam by changing the incidence angles of the CW laser beams used in the photomixing detection process. We demonstrate a scan range of ±50°. Moreover, the optimum spot size of the laser beams illuminating the photomixer detector for maximizing the responsivity of the detector is specified.


To build systems shielding users from fraudulent (or phishing) websites, designers need to know which attack strategies work and why. This paper provides the first empirical evidence about which malicious strategies are successful at deceiving general users. We first analyzed a large set of captured phishing attacks and developed a set of hypotheses about why these strategies might work. We then assessed these hypotheses with a usability study in which 22 participants were shown 20 web sites and asked to determine which ones were fraudulent. We found that 23% of the participants did not look at browser-based cues such as the address bar, status bar and the security indicators, leading to incorrect choices 40% of the time. We also found that some visual deception attacks can fool even the most sophisticated users. These results illustrate that standard security indicators are not effective for a substantial fraction of users, and suggest that alternative approaches are needed.


The terms science and scientific literacy, historically refer to natural sciences, but in recent years the term scientific literacy has included terms from mathematics and technology with applications in the physical sciences. The term science literacy was first encountered in an article by Paul DeHart Hurd in 1958 entitled Science Literacy: Its Meaning for American Schools (Laugksch, 2000). According to Hurd, the term refers to the community's understanding of science and its applications. Norris & Philips (2003) believe that the term scientific literacy refers to general scientific knowledge that one must have in order to be able to understand scientific applications, to be able to distinguish between science and non-science and to recognize the benefits and risks of science.


Combining international political theory and EU studies, Richard Bellamy provides an original account of the democratic legitimacy of international organisations. He proposes a new interpretation of the EU's democratic failings and how they might be addressed. Drawing on the republican theory of freedom as non-domination, Bellamy proposes a way to combine national popular sovereignty with the pursuit of fair and equitable relations of non-domination among states and their citizens. Applying this approach to the EU, Bellamy shows that its democratic failings lie not with the democratic deficit at the EU level but with a democratic disconnect at the member state level. Rather than shifting democratic authority to the European Parliament, this book argues that the EU needs to reconnect with the different 'demoi' of the member states by empowering national parliaments in the EU policy-making process.


The earliest extant interpretation of the entire Song of Songs is its Old Greek translation. A critical edition of the Old Greek text is provided in the format of the Computer Assisted Tools for Septuagint Study (CATSS) Variants Project. This is the first comprehensive critical edition of this text since 1823. It contains new or corrected collations of several manuscripts. The collected evidence suggests that OG Song of Songs, as preserved for us in the witnesses, was a homogeneous translation, but continuously subject to revision in comparison to a multiform and changing Hebrew text. It was the work of a Jewish translator of modest skill, working perhaps about the beginning of the common era. Its text-form served as the basis for all later Old Greek manuscripts, which in turn were the bases for other translations. The translation appears to have been a relatively sober attempt to represent each element in its Hebrew Vorlage by a corresponding Greek element. There are no indications that its translator interpreted the text allegorically, but its consistent formal equivalence with the Hebrew resulted in a Greek text that was just as multivalent as the Hebrew--open to allegorical interpretation on a wide variety of levels. Some of its scribes provided aids for the use of readers: divisions of sense-units and rubrics (headings in red ink) to identify changes in speaker. The rubrics interpret the Song as a narrative dialogue. The rubrics in the Song have no known precedent in late antique manuscripts of drama and dialogue. Instead, they appear to have been a new genre of interpretive material. The Greek rubrics focus on the narrative level of the text rather than its allegorical interpretation. The rubrics of Codex Sinaiticus bear a literary relationship with rubrics in several later Latin manuscripts. Their use in both Greek and Latin is examined. Redaction criticism is used to speculate about the development of the rubrics from a hypothetical Greek predecessor. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Religious Studies First Advisor Robert Alan Kraft This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1179 Subject Categories Biblical Studies | Classical Literature and Philology | Comparative and Historical Linguistics | History of Christianity | History of Religion | History of Religions of Western Origin | Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion | Translation Studies This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1179 LOST KEYS TEXT AND INTERPRETATION IN OLD GREEK SONG OF SONGS AND ITS EARLIEST MANUSCRIPT WITNESSES


Background We conducted a prospective cohort study in highly sensitized kidney transplant candidates with a calculated panel reactive antibody (cPRA) greater than 50% and on the deceased-donor waiting list for more than 5 years to investigate the effects of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and rituximab treatment. Methods Desensitization protocol included two doses of IVIG (2 g/kg, max 120 g each dose) and a single dose of rituximab (375 mg/m2). Patients were followed up monthly by Luminex single antigen beads. Whole blood gene expression profiles were studied by Affymetrix Human 1.0 ST GeneChips before and after treatment. Results Forty patients were eligible for desensitization treatment. Thirteen of these patients agreed to participate, and 11 completed the treatment. After a mean follow-up of 334 ± 82 days, two desensitized patients (18%) received a kidney transplant compared with 14 patients (52%) in the nondesensitized group. Comparing with 14 patients who received transplants without any desensitization treatment, desensitized patients showed higher class I (99% vs. 80%) and class II (98% vs. 69%) cPRA levels and more unacceptable antigens (32 vs. 8). Desensitization treatment did not lead to any significant reduction in patients' class I and II cPRA levels and any change in the mean number of unacceptable antigens or their mean fluorescence intensity values. Whole blood gene expression analysis by microarrays demonstrated down-regulation of immunoglobulin and B-cell–associated transcripts after treatment. Conclusion These results suggested that pretransplant desensitization with IVIG and rituximab was not successful in highly sensitized kidney transplant candidates with cPRA levels higher than 90%.


Preface Shui Chuen Lee I. A View from Asia: An Introduction Shui Chuen Lee, Justin Ho Medicine and the Biomedical Technologies in the Context of Asian Perspectives II. The Family and its Impact on Bioethics and Personhood Ruiping Fan Confucian Familism and its Implications for Bioethics H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr. The Family in Transition and in Authority: The Impact of Biotechnology Stephen Erickson Family Life, Bioethics, and Confucianism III. Medical Decision-Making and Traditional Conception of the Family Shuh-Jen Sheu A Truth-Telling Guideline: The Choice Between Patient Family Autonomy Stephen Wear Truth-Telling to the Sick and Dying in Traditional Chinese Culture: A Reappraisal Shui Chuen Lee On Relational Autonomy: From Feminist Critique to a Confucian Model for Clinical Practice Leonardo D. de Castro Reproductive Technology and Post-traditional Family IV. Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Confucian, Islamic, and Western Perspectives Ruiping Fan The Ethics of Experimenting with Human Pluripotent Stem Cells and the Interests of the Family Shui Chuen Lee A Confucian Evaluation of Embryonic Stem Cell Experimentation: An Analysis of the Moral Status of Human Embryos Wen-May Rei Reproductive Choices in a Patriarchal, Legal, and Social Institution: Sex Selection in Taiwan Wong Hon Chung Regulations for Human Embryonic Stem Research in East Asian Countries: A Confucian Critique Sahin Aksoy, Anwar Nasim An Islamic Approach to Stem Cell Experimentation H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr. Why Western Culture, Unlike Confucian Culture, is so Concerned about Embryonic Stem Cell Research: The Christian Roots of the Difference V. Taking the Family Seriously: Confucian Approaches to Health Care Financing Kris Teo Confucian Health Care System in Singapore: A Family-oriented Approach to Financial Sustainability Erika Yu Respect for the Elderly and Family Responsibility: A Confucian Response to the Old Age Allowance Policy in Hong Kong Jeremy Garrett and Justin Ho The Family and Medical Savings Accounts: Reflections on Confucian Approaches to Health Care Financing VI. A Concluding, Quasi-Confucian Postscript Ruiping Fan Reflecting on the Family, Confucius, H. T. Engelhardt, Jr. and the Health Care Challenges of the 21st Century


We explore how market power in a complementary input sector compares to that in a downstream sector for producer and consumer welfare. We develop a model of a homogeneous product market encompassing bilateral and complementary relationships. Our main finding is that market power exercised by the supplier of a complementary input generates greater negative welfare effects than the same level of market power exercised by downstream firms. We provide a discussion of the implications of the results for policy in the context of current problems in the Canadian grain-handling and transportation system.


Motivated by modern physiology, cellular automata of Greenberg-Hastings type is considered. The basic cell of the system performs a cyclic 3-state intrinsic dynamics F → R → A → F → ... which is delimited by time intervals nF , nR, nA of steps spent by the cell in particular states. It is shown that proposed cellular automata can be thought as a reliable approximate model to the real cardiac pacemaker. The time intervals determine the period of the whole pacemaker beating. The relation between nR and nF works as a switch between two types of global dynamics: active dynamics where permanent mutual impacts between cells generate the most frequent impulses, and passive dynamics which is distinguished by the special self-organization of phases between the subsequent cells. The passive dynamics allows to propagate signals from the outside world while the active dynamics protects the system against external influence.


The concept of lossless state or system is generalized by the definition of k-losslessness. If k>N( N-1)/2 for an N-state machine, k-lossless implies lossless. The series connection of a set of discrete time systems {Ai}, where Ai is ki-lossless, results in a system which is min{ki}-lossless. This result is a simple verification of the intuitive notion that a noiseless communication channel is only as lossless as the most lossy system in the channel. By means of input- output pair analysis, systems with the decomposition property (one of the necessary but not sufficient conditions for linearity) are shown to be information-lossless of finite order m, when one state has finite order m. Further, every state must have exactly the same order. For an N-state system with decomposition and zero-state linearity, information-lossless implies information-lossless of finite order m≤N. As a consequence, all information-lossless linear sequential machines used as encoders allow decoding to begin after m received symbols, provided that the encoder's starting state is known in advance.


Complex mission or task specification languages play a fundamentally important role in human/robotic interaction. In realistic scenarios such as emergency response, specifying temporal, resource and other constraints on a mission is an essential component due to the dynamic and contingent nature of the operational environments. It is also desirable that in addition to having a formal semantics, the language should be sufficiently expressive, pragmatic and abstract. The main goal of this paper is to propose a mission specification language that meets these requirements. It is based on extending both the syntax and semantics of a well-established formalism for reasoning about action and change, Temporal Action Logic (TAL), in order to represent temporal composite actions with constraints. Fixpoints are required to specify loops and recursion in the extended language. The results include a sound and complete proof theory for this extension. To ensure that the composite language constructs are adequately grounded in the pragmatic operation of robotic systems, Task Specification Trees (TSTS) and their mapping to these constructs are proposed. The expressive and pragmatic adequacy of this approach is demonstrated using an emergency response scenario.


Born Global firms are becoming increasingly more important in terms of internationalization, in- novation, ability to grow and providing employment. Most of the previous research about Born Globals is done in North America, Europe or Australia, all these being developed industrialized countries but not developing countries or emerging markets. However, the emerging markets in general, and the Chinese in particular, have become very important for the world economy. Our aim is to investigate the differences between Western literature and literature from emerging markets, regarding internationalization process of Born Global firms. We also aim to discuss the various success factors, which underlie Born Globals' internationalization process, particularly focusing on Born Globals firms in the China. Our methodology in this research has been literature review and interviews with Chinese CEOs of Born Global firms. However, this paper is only based on the litterateur part of our research. Our analysis shows that most of the Chinese Born Globals publications about the internationalization success factors are based on the Western literature and use them as the theoretical platform in the design of their own research strategy and research questions design. The consequence of this observation is important as it indicates that Chinese researchers are reproducing research under different contextual and situational conditions that might lead to unclear conclusions or maybe even wrong conclusions. Furthermore, compared to most Western Born Global companies, which treat innovation as core competence, the innovation culture becomes one of the biggest weaknesses of Chinese manufacturing Born Globals' interna- tionalization. China has special economic environment. Chinese manufacturing Born Globals not only need to follow the market but also the government policies, since the government greatly in- fluences the industries and the whole economy. To foreign investors who want to exploit Chinese market, they also should take Chinese economic background and government policies into con- sideration. One important aspect of Chinese born Globals, neglected in previous research on Born Globals, that has been identified in our research, is the critical success factor of Chinese manufac- * The authors have equal authorship. # Corresponding author.


There is currently much focus on the application of magnesium alloys to automotive structural components. This has arisen due to the positive environmental aspects associated with use of magnesium alloys such as weight reduction and recycling potential. In recent years many researchers have focused on the application of various forming processes to magnesium alloys. Magnesium alloys would seem highly suitable for sheet forming due to high N and r values, however, in application their formability has been inferior to, for example, aluminium alloys. It has thus been concluded that, when dealing with magnesium alloys, it is difficult to predict formability based on material properties. In order to improve formability and forming accuracy when using Mg alloys it is necessary to build a database and inference system which could decide the optimal forming parameters for complex automotive components. Currently not enough data is available to build such a database due to the limited number of studies available in literature. In this study an experimental analysis of hemispherical bulge forming at elevated temperature was undertaken in order to evaluate formability and hence build a database for forming process design. A finite element model based on the experiment has been built and validated against the experimental results. A ductile failure criterion has been integrated with the FE model and is used to predict the onset of failure. This paper discusses the development and validation of the finite element model with the ductile failure criterion and presents results from the experimental tests and FE simulations.


PART 1: HOW TO TACKLE CASE STUDY ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATIONS. Case Study Analysis. PART 2: SHORT CASES FOR DISCUSSION. Ethical Marketing - GM Foods: Supermarkets Versus the Regulators. The Marketing Environment - Formula 1 and Tobacco. Non-Business Marketing - Marketing the NSPCC. Marketing Mix - Private Health Care. New Product Development - Smelly Fabrics. Promotion - Surprise Advertising. Direct Marketing - Boxman on the Internet. Marketing Operations - McDonalds Controls PART 3: FULL CASES. Aer Lingus -Beyond Face Value. JCB Backhoe Loader - Internationally into the Dictionary. Lego -Building for the Future. Electric Vehicles in their Infancy - Researching Target Market Attitudes. Stepcan - Differential Advantage Through Packaging. Kodak Norge - The Search for Information. Petrol Retailing - Supermarket Giants Take on the Oil Companies. Waterford Crystal - Targeting Youths. TGI Fridays - Themed Restaurants Compete. Royal Ahold - Socially Responsible Global Expansion. Heineken - Global Expansion, Local Branding. Games Workshop - Warfare in the Creche. Turkish Ice Cream Wars. Sleeping on a Budget - Lodge Hotels Lead the Way. ABN AMRO - Global Strengths, Regional Necessities. Chester Zoo - Combining Marketing and Conservation. Carrefour - The Global Hypermarket. PART 4: THEORY NOTES. T1: What is Marketing? T2: The Marketing Environment and Competition T3: Buying Behaviour T4: Marketing Research T5: Forecasting T6: Market Segmentation T7: Competitive Strategy T8: The Marketing Mix: Products and Product Management T9: The Marketing Mix: Place - Distribution and Marketing Channels T10: The Marketing Mix: Pricing T11: The Marketing Mix: Promotion T12: Direct Marketing and the Internet T13: The Marketing of Services T14: Industrial, Business-to-business Marketing T15: Marketing Planning T16: International Marketing T17: Ethics and Social Responsibility in Marketing PART 5: GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS PART 6: FURTHER READINGS


How do distinct design approaches influence development of smart materials and how, in turn, do new technologies influence textile design processes?

The CraftTech book and exhibition are part of a body of work (comprising publications, exhibitions, sketchbooks and videos) that explores how interdisciplinary design processes affect the creation of smart materials that are used as alternative communication platforms. Utilising photonic textiles and polymeric optical fibres (POFs) as mediums, this research explores hybrid design frameworks that utilise interdisciplinary approaches. The process of 'making' is critical to this practice based research. It involves explicitly studying the practitioner's perspective when synergising design and technology.

The showcased research is based on studies conducted in two international collaborative workshops that brought together practitioners across many disciplines (textiles, fashion, millinery, electronic engineering and textile technology) to experiment, develop and create. The research investigates how hybrid design processes adapt, refine and improve new technology and vice versa. It furthermore demonstrates how craft integrated practice allows flexible problem solving via first-hand experience. The research documents and studies this balance of interdisciplinary methods and processes via design practice, conducted in two workshops at the Institute of Textiles and Clothing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Royal College of Art in London on 11-15 September 2017 and 24-27 November 2017, respectively.


Abstract We study the effect of education on equity ownership in the form of stocks or mutual funds (outside of retirement accounts). We find a causal effect of education on stockholding using the number of colleges in the county where the respondent grew up as an instrument and data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The effect is particularly strong for whites from non-privileged backgrounds. We explore the channels through which education affects equity holdings using the Wisconsin Longitudinal Survey and find that, controlling for family fixed effects, increased cognition and features associated with having a white collar job appear to be the main channels.


This paper presents a unified approach to analyzing patterns of reconfiguration in dataflow graphs. The approach is based on hierarchical decomposition of the structure and execution of a dataflow model. In general, reconfiguration of any part of the system might occur at any point during the execution of a model. However, arbitrary reconfiguration must often be restricted, given the constraints of particular dataflow models of computation or modeling constructs. For instance, the reconfiguration of parameters that influence dataflow scheduling or soundness of data type checking must be more heavily restricted. The paper first presents an abstract mathematical model that is sufficient to represent the reconfiguration of many types of dataflow graphs. Using this model, a behavioral type theory is developed that bounds the points in the execution of a model when individual parameters can be reconfigured. This theory can be used to efficiently check semantic constraints on reconfiguration, enabling the safe use of parameter reconfiguration at all levels of hierarchy.


Professor Sandra Johnson has identified what she calls physician's "bad law" claims. In some circumstances, physicians perceive that there is significant legal risk in doing what they think is clinically appropriate. In response, physicians sometimes take a medically inappropriate course of action, because it appears safer. For example, physicians might feel intimidated by aggressively enforced drug control laws. In response, they may under-treat patients' pain to avoid perceived (and real) threats of investigation, discipline, or criminal prosecution. In short, well-meaning laws sometimes have the unintended side-effect of incentivizing physicians to do "bad" things. Johnson identifies three responses to physicians' "bad law" claims. Each of these is aimed at "relieving [physicians'] fears and reducing or managing the legal risk, real or perceived, so that doctors can freely engage in the socially desirable behaviors threatened by the operation of the putative bad law." First, to the extent that physicians' fears of the law are based on misinformation or misunderstanding, it might seem that they could be educated about the actual (often low or virtually non-existent) legal risk. Second, if physicians perceive a particular desirable course of action as too risky, asymmetrical incentives might be eliminated by making inappropriate alternatives equally risky. But Johnson explains that these two responses are typically unlikely to be effective. The third response to "bad law" claims is safe harbor legal immunity. Johnson observes that this is one of "the more familiar legislative responses to physician-reported fears of legal risks." Indeed, it would seem to be the strongest legal weapon in quelling physicians' fears of legal risk. Immunity, after all, is a classic mechanism for encouraging legally fearful individuals to do their job.9 But Johnson concludes that "the evidence seems to indicate otherwise." When does legal safe harbor immunity work to dispel physicians' legal fears? When does it fail? What are the essential attributes of an effective safe harbor? What are the limitations? These are the question that I will address in this Article. In Section I, I provide a brief taxonomy of medical safe harbors. In Section II, I outline the essential attributes of an effective safe harbor. Finally, in Section III, I discuss three key limitations of medical safe harbors. Notwithstanding these limitations, I conclude that safe harbors can be an efficacious mechanism for addressing physicians' "bad law" claims.


We consider finite model approximations of discrete-time partially observed Markov decision processes (POMDPs) under the discounted cost criterion. After converting the original partially observed stochastic control problem to a fully observed one on the belief space, the finite models are obtained through the uniform quantization of the state and action spaces of the belief space Markov decision process (MDP). Under mild assumptions on the components of the original model, it is established that the policies obtained from these finite models are nearly optimal for the belief space MDP, and so, for the original partially observed problem. The assumptions essentially require that the belief space MDP satisfies a mild weak continuity condition. We provide an example and introduce explicit approximation procedures for the quantization of the set of probability measures on the state space of POMDP (i.e., belief space).


Novel technologies and teaching methods are being integrated into post-secondary classrooms at unprecedented rates. Educators must be certain implemented changes provide equitable alternatives to traditional pedagogical practices, before migrating to modern paradigms. However, changes in classroom practices each introduce unique psychological influences into the classroom, which may influence traditional metrics of pedagogical success. Evaluation methods for assessing classroom changes should evolve with pedagogy, to accurately measure its effects. In this paper, we share our experience exploring the equity of replacing traditional paper-and-pencil testing with digital examinations, to demonstrate the complexity of modern educational assessment. We observed a variety of variables, many of which often go unmeasured in pedagogical evaluations, influenced our metrics of success, and altered our initial conclusions. Further, our analysis suggests classroom changes may influence demographic groups differently, and these effects may be hidden, if success is only measured within the aggregate student body. Evaluations that do not explicitly consider and identify these effects may not be able to observe them. Our experience indicates that evaluations that do not account for demographics are incomplete, at best. More importantly, our results suggest these evaluations may draw, and support, invalid conclusions. By describing the difficulties we encountered in evaluating the equity of digital examinations, we invite educators and education researchers to move beyond simplistic evaluations, consider the underlying factors influencing traditional metrics of success, and adopt a more nuanced view of pedagogical evaluation practices.


Abstract Classification of families of hypnobryalean mosses into the Hypnales, Leucodontales, and Hookeriales has been taxonomically difficult. Several researchers have sequenced different genes for independent phylogenetic studies of these three pleurocarp groups. Our goal is to summarize available molecular data and compile the largest data set to infer phylogenetic relationships among families as basis for classification at ordinal level. Sequences of rbcL, trnL-F, and rps4 loci for 38 exemplars of most families of Hypnales, Leucodontales, and Hookeriales were analyzed to evaluate whether or not each of the three orders is monophyletic. Cladistic analyses of combined sequences, using five taxa in the Bryales as outgroups, reveal a robust clade (decay > 5) including all hypnobryalean pleurocarps. Within this group, one clade (decay = 2) includes only taxa of the Hookeriales, and is sister to a large monophyletic group (Hypnales sensu lato) containing all other taxa (decay = 2) previously in the Leucodontales and Hypnales. These relationships suggest that the ordinal level taxonomy needs to be reconsidered since major lineages detected do not correspond to the traditional Leucodontales or Hypnales. These two orders are not supported by any molecular evidence from rbcL, trnL-F, or rps4, either analyzed singly or in different combinations. Additionally, present results indicate the need for changes to the current system of three suborders of Hypnales and four of the Leucodontales. Phylogenetic reconstructions based on molecular data emphasize the need for a re-examination of the taxonomic relevance of morphological characters and corroborate previous interpretations of sporophytic morphological similarities as multiple transitions to similar solutions to epiphytism among the pleurocarps.


Objective. To evaluate the effects of etanercept treatment on patient-reported outcomes (PRO) in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Methods. A 24-week double-blind comparison to placebo was followed by a 48-week open-label phase in which all eligible patients received etanercept. PRO were measured using the Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI), the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form (SF-36), the EQ-5D visual analog scale (VAS), and the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) patient pain assessment. Results. Beginning at Week 4 and continuing through Week 24 of double-blind treatment, patients treated with etanercept had significantly higher mean percentage improvement in HAQ-DI relative to baseline than patients given placebo (53.6% vs 6.4% at Week 24; p < 0.001). After 48 weeks of open-label treatment with etanercept, the mean percentage change from study baseline was 52.8% for the original etanercept group and 46.9% for the original placebo group, with 41.2% of patients overall achieving a HAQ-DI of 0. Mean changes relative to baseline for SF-36 physical component summary scores, EQ-5D VAS, and ACR pain assessment were also significant in the double-blind period for etanercept compared with placebo (p < 0.001 for all 3 measures). Patients taking placebo achieved similar improvements once they began treatment with etanercept in the open-label period. Conclusion. Patients with PsA treated with etanercept reported significant improvements in physical function that were almost 10 times the improvement seen with placebo and were maintained for up to 2 years. Almost half of patients treated with etanercept reported no disability by the end of the study.


This work examines the intersection of place-based and border pedagogies, including the concepts of heteroglossia, meliorism, critical cosmopolitanism, nepantla, dialogic feminism, and pragmatic hope that form the basis of a new critical border dialogic . Critical border dialogic (Cashman, 2015, in press) resituates teachers, students, cultural workers, decision makers, policymakers, and the larger community. A critical border dialogic draws upon a critical pedagogy of place and border pedagogy. Gruenewald's (2003) critical, place-based pedagogy influences assumptions, practices, and outcomes. Border pedagogy (Giroux, 2005), in turn, engages a critical pedagogy of place and involves a recognition and understanding of margins as affected by history, power, and difference. A critical border dialogic positions us, as educators, students, cultural workers, and members of the larger community, on the course to critical border praxis . Critical border praxis actively engages us as cross borders in a contemplation of historically and socially constructed limitations.


Firms generate new knowledge that leads to innovations by recombining existing knowledge sources. A successful recombination depends on both the availability of a knowledge stock (human capital pool) that contains innovation-relevant knowledge and the regulation of the knowledge flow through the application of human resource management practices. However, while human resource theory expects complementarities between both the human capital pool and the human resource management system it does not explicitly address their implications for knowledge exchange. Moreover, empirical approaches neglect the complexity of complementarities between the two factors. This study analyzes complementarities within and between the human capital pool and the human resource management system and shows their implications for knowledge exchange. We empirically analyze these complementarities by applying fsQCA to identify taxonomies that explain superior innovation performance. We show that firms can achieve superior innovation performance through multiple and complex pathways. Our results show four taxonomies that substantially differ in terms of human capital diversity, application of human resource management practices and the environmental dynamism of the firm.