Over the two decades that have elapsed since I first became interested in the ethics of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, I have changed my mind. Not about whether or not I think it should be made legally permissible, but about why I think it should not.

My early objections were merely matters of morality. Actively killing patients (ie, euthanasia in the sense in which I am using it here) seemed self-evidently wrong in principle. But at the same time, it seemed quite a good idea in practice. As the years have passed, some of the myths presented by proselytes have made me less sure of both propositions. In a bid to dispel some of those myths, let's start by applauding the Belgian government for recognising that children can participate in decisions in respect of their own lives.1 Myth number one is that euthanasia in children is wrong because children cannot have meaningful autonomy in medical care .

Let's also remind ourselves that those who favour euthanasia for children are not child-haters. They are not recommending that children be killed because they consider children unimportant or because they value life insufficiently highly . That is myth number two. Most are well-intentioned, caring people who support euthanasia because they genuinely believe it is the most compassionate way to treat suffering patients when there is no prospect of a cure. Supporters often appeal to the compassion of the owner who asks the vet to put his dog out of its misery.

Myth number three, then, is that euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide do not ameliorate suffering . They certainly do. Loving families and compassionate professionals faced with the day-to-day agony of caring for a dying child will certainly feel the same sort of relief as the child dies that a loving dog-owner experiences …


In this article, the data-driven haptic rendering approach presented in our earlier work is assessed. The approach relies on recordings from real objects from which a data-driven model is derived that captures the haptic properties of the object. We conducted two studies. In the first study, the Just Noticeable Difference (JND) for small forces, as encountered in our set-up, was determined. JNDs were obtained both for active and passive user interaction. A conservative threshold curve was derived that was then used to guide the model generation in the second study. The second study examined the achievable rendering fidelity for two objects with different stiffnesses. Subjects directly compared data-driven virtual feedback with the real objects. Results indicated that it is crucial to include dynamic material effects to achieve haptic feedback that cannot be distinguished from real objects. Results also showed that the fidelity is considerably decreased for stiffer objects due to limits of the display hardware.


Degradation of concrete in nuclear power plant (NPP) structures can be an age-related phenomena. Several research programs have been initiated by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to determine how aging is affecting the level of safety of operating nuclear plants. One such program is the Structural Aging (SAG) Program. The SAG Program involves the development of inspection methodologies for concrete structures in nuclear power plants. The work presented in this publication is a supplement to the SAG Program Potential environmental and aging factors that may affect durability of NPP concrete structures are identified, their degradation mechanisms noted, and symptoms of occurrence listed. Available nondestructive, destructive and testing techniques used in evaluating concrete structures are identified. The capabilities and limitations of the nondestructive testing methods are noted. Recommended testing methods for use in the detection of pertinent degradation factors are presented in the form of an application guide. The recommendations are based on literature review and practical experience in the application of the nondestructive testing methods to concrete structures.


The environment of a CO2 electroreduction (CO2ER) catalyst is intimately coupled with the surface reaction energetics and is therefore a critical aspect of the overall system performance. The immediate reaction environment of the electrocatalyst constitutes the electrical double layer (EDL) which extends a few nanometers into the electrolyte and screens the surface charge density. In this study, we resolve the species concentrations and potential profiles in the EDL of a CO2ER system by self-consistently solving the migration, diffusion and reaction phenomena using the generalized modified Poisson-Nernst-Planck (GMPNP) equations which include the effect of volume exclusion due to the solvated size of solution species. We demonstrate that the concentration of solvated cations builds at the outer Helmholtz plane (OHP) with increasing applied potential until the steric limit is reached. The formation of the EDL is expected to have important consequences for the transport of the CO2 molecule to the catalyst surface. The electric field in the EDL diminishes the pH in the first 5 nm from the OHP, with an accumulation of protons and a concomitant depletion of hydroxide ions. This is a considerable departure from the results obtained using reaction-diffusion models where migration is ignored. Finally, we use the GMPNP model to compare the nature of the EDL for different alkali metal cations to show the effect of solvated size and polarization of water on the resultant electric field. Our results establish the significance of the EDL and electrostatic forces in defining the local reaction environment of CO2 electrocatalysts.


The dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius) commonly referred to as 'ship of the desert' has played an important part in the development and expansion of trading networks across inhospitable habitats over 3000 years, linking Arabian, Asian, African and European civilisations. Caravan roads, which are part of the major trading networks, have facilitated livestock exchange across large geographic distances. Dromedary camels are known to have been extensively used as pack animals along these caravan roads. Archaeological records point towards the southern Arabian Peninsula as the origin of the domestic dromedary camels. However, there is uncertainty about the dromedary's dispersal out of the Arabian Peninsula to Africa and other parts of Asia. In contrast to other livestock species, the domestication of the dromedary camel has not been investigated using genetic evidence. Also, there is no information available on the genetic relationship between dromedary populations across their entire geographic distribution. Previous genetic studies were limited to a restricted number of animals, often from a single population or a small geographic region within countries. The general aims of this thesis were to characterise the origin and the geographic distribution of genetic diversity in dromedary camels and to understand the demographic history across the species range. To ascertain the global genetic structure and to contribute to the knowledge on the spread of the species after domestication, we sampled 1,083 modern-day dromedary camels from 21 countries representing the species range. Mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite markers were used for these analyses. Nine hundred and seventy animals were investigated using 17 autosomal microsatellite loci, and 759 animals were studied at the mitochondrial DNA level using a continuous 867 bp fragment spanning the end of cytochrome b, the tRNAs threonine and proline, and the beginning of the control region.


With an increase in travel to tropical countries, the need to improve the disease-risk perceptions of travelers who are either naive or given inappropriate or ineffective advice is becoming increasingly important. More widely available, specialized centers that can provide advice on tropical or travel-related diseases have been established, but their efficacy on travelers' knowledge and health has not been verified. Therefore, this study was undertaken to evaluate the impact of the service provided by a routine travel consultation at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases Travel Clinic, London, England. Self-administered questionnaires were given to 161 preconsultation and 144 postconsultation clients. The consultation included an interview covering travel plans and immunization and medical history, and advice was given on the journey, necessary immunizations, and prophylaxis. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Analytic System software and the mean differences in knowledge between pre- and postconsultation scores were correlated using the nonparametric Mann-Whitney procedure. The control of mutually confounding factors was maintained by multiple regression using the Mantel-Haenszel summary chi-square and the General Linear Model procedures. Comparison of the entry and exit scores showed a significantly improved overall knowledge of travel-related diseases in the exit, postconsultation group. Subanalysis revealed that this difference was due to an increased knowledge of malaria and its prevention and perceived risk of cholera. Knowledge about the management of diarrhea or fever, however, was not significantly improved by a consultation. Inexperienced travelers taking packaged or organized trips, and those from socioeconomic groups I and II showed the largest increase in knowledge following consultation. Our results show that a face-to-face interview for an average of 18 minutes by trained staff is an effective way of improving travelers' knowledge on certain topics. The slight improvements overall are explained by the levels of experience of travel and previously acquired knowledge of the clients in our study. Effective advice on malaria prevention and some health risks is given during an average consultation; however, there is still a need for improvement in giving information on the management of diarrhea, fever, and other travel diseases.


Abstract The aim of this paper was to analyse temporal changes in chemism of atmospheric deposition in Slovakia. Two kinds of deposition, bulk and throughfall were considered and analysed for the period of 1996-2010. Data acquired from permanent monitoring plots (PMP) of Level II were used for this purpose. These plots were established as a part of the ICP Forests Programme. The changes in the composition of deposition were identified for the spruce and beech plots. The results were compared among three spruce plots, two beech plots and one mixed spruce-beech-fir plot. Precipitation pH was higher on the beech than on the spruce plots and during the spotted period increased on both spruce and beech plots. Depositions of cations decreased significantly on the spruce and beech plots in bulk deposition for all elements except for calcium. The significant decline of sulphur and ammonium nitrogen was found on both spruce and beech plots, but the highest decrease of sulphur deposition was found in throughfall precipitation (R2 = 0.75). The amount of nitrate nitrogen did not change during the study period.


This well-regarded examination of the political party and election systems in the fifty states is now available from CQ Press. Written by two distinguished scholars, the book is unique in its focus on state-level politics. Throughout, Jewell and Morehouse explain how and why parties vary from state to state in how they operate and compete. The authors examine, among other topics, differences in political cultures, levels of two-party competition, and the rules and practices that affect party nominations and other aspects of politics. The authors also describe the interaction between state and national party organizations and demonstrate how much state party competition and state elections are affected by national trends. Underlying the work is Jewell and Morehouse's belief that the state political parties are alive and well; that they're adapting to aid today's candidates; and that there is close competition between the parties in an increasing number of states. Campaign finance at the state level is emphasized throughout the book. The authors describe the role of state parties in raising money and distributing it to candidates as well as the increasing importance that money plays in gubernatorial and state legislative elections. Many tables in the book provide cross-state data, enabling students to compare their home states with other states.


The troglobitic (exclusively subterranean source population) catfish Ituglanis passensis (Siluriformes, Trichomycteridae) is endemic to the Passa Três Cave, São Domingos karst area, Rio Tocantins basin, Central Brazil. This unique population presents variably reduced eyes and melanic pigmentation. We describe reproduction and early development in this species based on a spontaneous (non-induced) reproductive-event that occurred in the laboratory in January–February, 2009, while simultaneously comparing with data from the cave-habitat and a previous reproductive event. Egg laying was parceled. Egg-size and number were within variations observed in epigean congeners. Larvae behavior and growth is described. A single surviving specimen was monitored over two years. Eye-regression started late, one year after birth, and followed a pattern of stasis phases intercalated with slow growth and fluctuating asymmetric rates. Late eye regression, associated with asymmetry in eye development and intra-population variability of troglomorphic traits, as shown by several Brazilian subterranean fishes, provide support for the Neutral Mutation Theory.


In this study we determined the effect of transformation of a mature sessile oak forest stand into a coppiced forest, and of thinning and throughfall reduction in a coppice stand on soil water content (SWC) and soil CO2 efflux. The precipitation reduction was induced by installing parallel drainage channels in both unthinned and thinned coppice stands. The driving factor for temporal dynamics of soil CO2 efflux in all plots was soil temperature. The other factor was soil water content but only up to about 15%. Above this threshold, there was no more effect on CO2 efflux. We found no clear difference in SWC or soil CO2 efflux between the mature and coppiced stand eight years after harvesting. On the other hand, thinning of the coppice stand resulted in increase in SWC up to 22% in proportion, which we assume to be a result of increased gap fraction of the canopy. However, no effect on soil CO2 efflux was observed two years after the thinning. Installation of the drainage channels in two plots covering 30% of the ground area resulted in decrease in SWC up to a proportional 30.5% and thus contributed up to 50.7% reduction in soil CO2 efflux.


This thesis seeks to expand the knowledge on key determinants for the payment method choice in corporate takeovers. Specifically, we examine the importance of ownership control for the financing choice. While most previous studies have taken a static acquirer-focused approach when investigating the importance of corporate control, we also take the target's ownership characteristics into account to measure the real impact on acquiring shareholders. We expect acquiring shareholders that face serious dilution of influence to have a reluctance for equity-financed acquisitions. We empirically test this using a comprehensive, global sample of 1,909 acquisitions announced between 2008 and 2014. Our sample consists of public companies, that were matched with extensive and detailed pre-deal ownership structures to test for the importance of maintaining corporate control after the acquisition. We propose a segmentation of control into absolute and relative component parts and introduce two new variables to measure them in the payment method equation. The variables seek to capture a more dynamic mechanism of control concerns than previously accounted for. Our findings suggest that acquiring shareholders do care about maintaining control, both relative and absolute control, as both our proposed dynamic ownership variables significantly reduce the probability of observing stock-financed acquisitions. These findings prove robust after controlling for numerous deal-, acquirerand target specific characteristics proven by related studies to affect the payment method choice. We find weaker evidence for the importance of control concerns for the fraction of shares offered in the consideration. The latter finding suggests that bidding shareholders will stay clear of diluting payment methods altogether if they are faced with the threat of losing control, but that maintaining corporate control is a weaker determinant of stock usage at the margin. Previous studies have proven an effect of ownership structures, but our findings suggest that the real dilution of influence acquiring shareholders will experience has an effect on the choice of offering shares at the outset. Further, we find supporting evidence for the importance of information asymmetries, cash availability and acquirer capital structure. On the other hand, we do not find evidence supporting the importance of target financials or the investment opportunities hypothesis in our empirical analysis.


Abstract The purpose of this qualitative case study is two-fold: (a) describe the implementation of a stop-motion animation video activity to support students' understanding of cell processes, and (b) present research findings about students' beliefs and use of iPads to support their creation of stop-motion videos in an introductory biology course. Data indicated that students used the devices extensively to access, seek, and share information related to cell processes, which led to their increased familiarity with using the iPad to support their learning. Using iPads and apps enriched students learning experiences by providing them with a creative way to demonstrate their understanding of content, enhanced their communication skills, and provided them with an alternative means for gathering and sharing supplementary resources.


Exhibition of student works and research projects of the Theory
of Interactive Media study program at the Ars Electronica
International Festival. The Theory of Interactive Media study
program is influenced by the convergence of new media art and
theory. Its curriculum includes several subjects which provide
students with hands-on experiences of new media as tools of
creativity. The goal is to acquaint them with the "logic,
vocabulary, and grammar" of the media that artists deal with.
The exhibition shows selected outcomes of the media art
hands-on lectures. Moreover, two examples of "out of the box"
research projects, situated on the borderline between media art
theory, practice, and curatorship, will be presented.


A national survey of duck bags was carried out during the 2013/14 hunting season in France, for the first time in 15 years. An estimated total of over 2 million dabbling and diving ducks were shot in the country, half of which were Mallard Anas platyrhynchos. Proper statistical comparisons with earlier French surveys or with similar data from other countries were not possible because of the different (and sometimes unknown) sampling protocols, but the general trends suggest a relatively stable hunting bag compared to 15 years ago. France remains the European country reporting the greatest number of ducks harvested annually as a result of a long tradition of wildfowling, a dense human population and a central geographic position within the duck flyways. The only major change was a massive decline in the estimated harvest of Common Pochard Aythya ferina, reflecting a similar pattern in other countries and the poor conservation status of the species in Western Europe. Waterfowl hunting bag survey methods should be harmonised in the future, if coordinated adaptive management of populations is to be set in place at the flyway scale.


The comparative study of Archean and post-Archean granitic rocks shows significant changes with time. The high rare-earth element fractionation and the low Yb content of the Archean granitoids indicate the major role of garnet and hornblende, whereas these two minerals do not play a prominent part in the genesis of modern granitic rocks. This difference is a direct consequence of the cooling of Earth. In Archean time the subducted oceanic crust was young and warm, so it reached the conditions of melting before dehydration had occurred, leaving a garnet- and hornblende-bearing residue. In contrast, the modern subducted oceanic slab is generally old and cold, so it is dehydrated before it reaches the melting conditions of hydrous tholeiite; therefore, in the absence of a hydrous phase, it cannot melt at shallow depth. The fluids produced by dehydration reactions of modern crust rehydrate the overlying mantle wedge, which, in consequence, can undergo partial melting and give rise to calc-alkaline magmas; in this case, olivine and pyroxene are the most important residual phases. The location of calc-alkaline magma genesis in subduction-zone environments has migrated over time from the subducted Archean oceanic crust to the mantle wedge, a migration attributed to the progressive cooling of Earth.


Shp2 is a non-receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) encoded by the PTPN11 gene. It contains two SH2 domains, a PTP domain, and a carboxyl-terminal region with tyrosine phosphorylation sites. The Shp2 PTP activity is autoinhibited by its N-SH2 domain. Shp2 is activated by docking to specific tyrosine phosphorylated sites via SH2 domains or by gain-of-function (GOF) mutations that disrupt the autoinhibition. GOF Shp2 mutations are most frequently detected in juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML), representing 35% of cases. Animal model studies using conditional knockin of GOF Shp2 E76K or Shp2 D61G in the hematopoietic compartments have shown that these Shp2 mutants cause JMML-like myeloproliferative disease (MPD), albeit after ~6 months of latency (1,2).


Gout is a common form of inflammatory arthritis that is caused by the precipitation of monosodium urate crystals (MSU) in the joints. The acute form of gout is associated with sudden painful inflammatory episodes characterised by a large infiltration of neutrophils. The involvement of monocytes and macrophages is also recognised to be important, although the exact roles of monocytes and macrophages in gout need to be clarified. The overall objective of this thesis was to investigate the contributions of neutrophils, monocytes and macrophages to acute gouty inflammation. To determine whether the presence of other cells may be affecting neutrophil activation in gout inflammation, human blood neutrophils were stimulated with MSU as a purified population and in a mixed white blood cell population. The half-life of neutrophils in culture increased from 10h in purified neutrophil cultures to >24h in mixed cell cultures. The increase in viability was associated with large increases in cytokine production (TNF[alpha], IL-1[Beta], IL-6, IL-8) in mixed cell cultures. Exposure of neutrophils to media conditioned by MSU-stimulated mononuclear cells improved both neutrophil viability and stimulated the IL-8 production from neutrophils to a greater extent than direct contact with MSU. Exposure to conditioned media also primed MSU-stimulated neutrophil superoxide responses. High superoxide production was also observed when serum was lowered to <10%. These results indicate that neutrophil activation in gout largely occurs via soluble factors present in the pro-inflammatory environment, rather than by direct contact with MSU alone. Polygodial, a compound derived from the plant, Horopito (Pseudowintera colorata), and a number of structurally related sesquiterpene dialdehydes were tested for their potential to suppress neutrophil activation in gout. Polygodial inhibited MSU- and PMAstimulated neutrophil superoxide production in vitro with IC50 values of 0.78 [micron] and 0.16 [micron] respectively. This activity was largely dependent on the dialdehyde functionality but was enhanced by the presence of ring hydroxyl groups. The removal of hydroxyl groups was also associated with an increased cytoxicity. Polygodial and two other sesquiterpene dialdehyde compounds inhibited neutrophil superoxide production in an MSU model of acute gout, while Polygodial and a second compound also inhibited neutrophil recruitment. These studies confirm Polygodial and two structurally related sesquiterpene dialdehyde as potential anti-inflammatory compounds for potential use in gout. To confirm whether monocytes and/or macrophages were important in the onset of gout, resident macrophages and MSU-recruited monocytes were studied in a peritoneal model of MSU-induced inflammation. Gr-1+,7/4- monocytes were recruited to MSU-induced inflammation within 4h, however high cytokine production (IL-1[beta], TNF[alpha], IL-6, MCP-1) in the peritoneum preceded peak monocyte infiltration. Infiltrating monocytes did not produce high amounts of IL-6 and TNF[alpha], nor were they able to produce proinflammatory cytokines when re-stimulated with MSU ex vivo. However, resident macrophages exhibited production of IL-1[beta], TNF[alpha] and IL-6 following exposure to MSU ex vivo. Depletion of macrophages in vivo by clodronate liposomes led to a reduced recruitment of neutrophils and a lowered production of IL-1[beta] and IL-6 without affecting the recruitment of monocytes. These data identify macrophages, rather than monocytes, as key cells in initiationing and driving of inflammation in acute gout. The lack of responses from MSU-stimulated monocytes led to the question of what function, if any, was being exhibited by monocytes during MSU-induced inflammation. Therefore, the phenotype and corresponding function of monocytes was profiled over the course of MSU-induced inflammation. Newly recruited monocytes were small in size and expressed high levels of Gr-1 and 7/4, low levels of F4/80 and CD80. Over 48h the expression of Gr-1 and 7/4 was lost, while the expression of CD80 increased. These changes were associated with an increase in cell size, phagocytic capacity, and the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in response to MSU. Changes in phenotype indicated differentiation into immature and then resident-like macrophages, and this was confirmed by PKH26-labelling infiltrating monocytes, which acquired an F4/80hi, resident macrophage phenotype after 3 to 5 days. Differentiation into macrophages was associated with an increased uptake of apoptotic neutrophils both in vivo and following ex vivo incubation. The phagocytosis of apoptotic neutrophils was associated with a reduced production of IL-1[beta] following stimulation with MSU ex vivo. These results indicate that MSU-recruited monocytes are not pro-inflammatory cells in gout, rather, they differentiate into resident macrophages over 3 to 5 days, and may over time aid in the resolution of gouty inflammation through the clearance of apoptotic neutrophils, a process that also suppresses further inflammatory responses. Together, the results of this thesis indicate that macrophages are key pro-inflammatory cells in gout contributing to neutrophil recruitment and cytokine production; that recruited neutrophils are activated by soluble mediators produced by MSU-activated cells, as well as by low serum environments; and that recruited monocytes are capable of both mediating the resolution of MSU-induced inflammation and replenishing the local resident macrophage population. These results provide a more clear model of the cellular events that occur during acute gout in humans that to date have been limited by a lack of in vivo-based studies.


The efficient delivery of services is a major task for service companies to survive in competition. But, services are characterised by the integration of customers in the process of service delivery. In this context, operational control of business services is an important issue as business service performance often suffers from operational problems caused by customers involved. In order to react, a service company has to identify the possible options for operational control clearly. This is not easy as the impact of customer integration is ambiguous. To facilitate this, a method for analysing and structuring customer integration in business services is proposed. The aim is to cluster, quantify and qualify customer integration in business services from a production point of view. Applying this method (as demonstrated using a real business service) operational control will be facilitated due to a better transparency of customer integration.


AbstractFour digenean species, Stenakron glacialis, Lepidapedon garrardi, Steringophorus arntzi and Otodistomum cestoides (metacercariae) were recorded in three of four bathydraconid species (59 specimens) examined in the Weddell Sea. The only previously reported species, Elytrophalloides oatesi, was found there only in other hosts. The total number of digenean species known as occurring in Bathydraconidae in Antarctica increased to 13. They were recorded in eight of ten host species examined. However, only a few specimens of most of bathydraconid species were investigated. Most of digenean species are more abundant in other fishes, especially in Nototheniidae and Channichthyidae. S. arntzi and S. glacialis normally occur in Bathydraco marri and Racovitzia glacialis respectively, but they were occasionally found also in Artedidraconidae; the latter was reported also from a liparidid. Intensities of infections are usually low, except in three large predatory species, Parachaenichthys charcoti, P. georgianus and Cygnodraco mawsoni, which can be parasitized by about 100 or more digeneans in some single hosts.


The SEC's enforcement report for fiscal year 2017 reports moderate declines in the number of filed enforcement actions, 754 compared with 868 in fiscal year 2016, and in the total monetary penalties ordered, $3.8 billion compared with $4.1 billion in fiscal 2016. The narrative accompanying the release suggests that despite the change in SEC leadership, nothing has really changed in enforcement.
This review looks behind reported numbers. By comparing enforcement with prior years, and during the first and second half of the fiscal year 2017, the review reports on changes that have taken place, in particular in enforcement against Wall Street firms and public companies. In addition to offering data on settlements and fines, the review also offers statistics on where the SEC chooses to file cases - in court or in administrative proceedings - and recent data on admissions in enforcement actions.


We investigate how counterparty credit risk influences the prices of over-the-counter CDS contracts using confidential transaction level data for practically all Dutch trades. We confirm our prior of a significant negative relationship between the credit worthiness of the CDS seller and the price of the CDS contract. We find that an increase of 100 basis points in the credit spread of the seller, decreases the price of the CDS contract by 7.2 basis points. Also, the larger the size of the CDS contract the lower the price of the CDS contract. Finally, we find that regulatory exemptions have a statistically significant but economically negligible impact on CDS pricing: Transactions exempted from banking capital requirements for Credit Valuation Adjustment risk - mostly banks transacting with non-financial institutions, sovereigns and pension funds - trade 0.14 basis points lower, all else equal.


BRIEF SESSION DESCRIPTION:
In a polarized social and political climate, students need a supportive, congenial, productive online work space now more than ever. In this workshop, you explore positive work and relationship practices along with techniques for handling disruption and nonparticipation. You will engage in the same activities as my students using blogs, group work, discussions, readings, action plans and a final summarizing survey. Participants will leave with several specific activities to use to engage students in positive learning behaviors and strategies to diffuse disruptive, nonparticipatory, and distress situations.

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FULL ABSTRACT:
This session is based on seven years of starting out online classes with a week of training in civility. Participants will participate in a distillation of the same activities in the same order as my students, progressing from awareness activities to direct instruction to guided practice to independent practice to final establishment of their own group civility code.
I have given conference presentations based upon these activities at the National Council of Teachers of English 2014 Annual Convention the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education, the World Conference on Educational Media and Technology, and the Virginia Society for Technology in Education Annual Conference.
AWARENESS. The workshop begins with a readiness activity: individual blogging on a choice of seven thought provoking questions about their current practice and beliefs about online civility. Community-building within the attendees begins with the following discussion of trigger situations, community building or destruction and self-protective strategies.
DIRECT INSTRUCTION In groups, they then tackle online readings about civility, chosen for their diverse authors and perspectives: a philosopher, a psychologist, A SCIENCE WRITER,  a teacher and a journalist. Reporting back to the whole "class" allows for sharing their responses, then deciding which author(s) speak to their own concerns and experiences as represented in their blogs.
GUIDED PRACTICE. The attendees view a Power Point presenting five different real-life examples of egregious lapses in civility, humanity and compassion, then split into groups (different from above, so everyone interacts) to try to determine what went wrong and report back to all. The group attempts to find realistic strategies to address the dysfunctional behaviors.
INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. Participants identify the most annoying/frustrating/disruptive online classroom behaviors they have encountered and debate strategies to combat and remediate them. The presenter offers her own techniques for defusing—or preferably preventing—negative behaviors.
CLOSURE.  A 20-item survey developed by past students allows participants to vote for the positive behaviors that they feel are most important to maintaining civil discourse and cooperation between members of an online community or class.  The session concludes with the establishment of a "class code of conduct" based on the top 5 most valued behaviors. If possible, there will be a quick debriefing about how the workshop experience helped participants feel themselves become a supportive, self-respecting "class" with its own norms for civil behavior.
Participants will be able to (1) use workshop materials to conduct high-interest, high-engagement activities to improve classroom atmosphere, (2) identify characteristics of positive and negative online behaviors (3) teach students—and employ themselves—techniques to defuse disruption and distress in a virtual environment (4) provide a process for students to identify their personal values for online behaviors, then (5) combine individual behaviors into a cohesive set of group behavioral norms.


Abstract : An artificial problem was constructed and described in the last report. During this quarter, another, more difficult, artificial problem was constructed. As before, the objects to be found and some potential false positives each have component patterns. Each positive has two different component patterns chosen from three types. In addition, the rectangles which form the objects and the sub-patterns all have artificial shadows added (Figure 1). The angle of the shadow is randomly-chosen. The potential false positive objects either have two component patterns of the same type, or only one pattern of some type, and one or both of the component patterns may not have a shadow. Thus the pattern tree must detect all three types of components with shadows to be able to detect a positive. As in the previous simpler problem, the positives and potential false-positives are 18-by-11 pixel rectangles, but now their brightness is randomly-chosen between 136 to 247. The sub-patterns have a brightness that is independently chosen at random from the same range, but both patterns (if there are two in an object) have the same brightness. The component patterns are three-by-three x, +, and square patterns. (KAR) P. 2


Background: Despite being one of the most studied families within the Carnivora, the phylogenetic relationships among the members of the bear family (Ursidae) have long remained unclear. Widely divergent topologies have been suggested based on various data sets and methods. Results: We present a fully resolved phylogeny for ursids based on ten complete mitochondrial genome sequences from all eight living and two recently extinct bear species, the European cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) and the American giant short-faced bear (Arctodus simus). The mitogenomic data yield a well-resolved topology for ursids, with the sloth bear at the basal position within the genus Ursus. The sun bear is the sister taxon to both the American and Asian black bears, and this clade is the sister clade of cave bear, brown bear and polar bear confirming a recent study on bear mitochondrial genomes. Conclusion: Sequences from extinct bears represent the third and fourth Pleistocene species for which complete mitochondrial genomes have been sequenced. Moreover, the cave bear specimen demonstrates that mitogenomic studies can be applied to Pleistocene fossils that have not been preserved in permafrost, and therefore have a broad application within ancient DNA research. Molecular dating of the mtDNA divergence times suggests a rapid radiation of bears in both the Old and New Worlds around 5 million years ago, at the Miocene-Pliocene boundary. This coincides with major global changes, such as the Messinian crisis and the first opening of the Bering Strait, and suggests a global influence of such events on species radiations. Published: 28 July 2008 BMC Evolutionary Biology 2008, 8:220 doi:10.1186/1471-2148-8-220 Received: 4 April 2008 Accepted: 28 July 2008 This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/8/220 © 2008 Krause et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


Introduced feral pigs (Sus scrofa) include native fruit and seed in their diet, and thus may act as seed dispersers if seeds are passed intact. The aim of this study was to determine whether pigs consume, and subsequently disperse, intact seeds of the New Zealand native tree matai (Prumnopitys taxifolia). Two captive pigs were fed 100 ripe fruit of matai and their faeces checked for seeds for 4 days. Fourteen intact seeds (14%) were recovered and 57% of these germinated under glasshouse conditions, comparable with germination from hand-cleaned seeds. We collected 3.5 kg of feral pig faeces from matai-dominated forest in Isolated Hill Reserve, southern Marlborough. This sample contained over 450 intact matai seeds; these seeds readily germinated in the glasshouse, reaching 68% germination after 22 months. These results indicate that pigs are consuming native fruit and passing some viable seeds out - thus acting as occasional seed dispersers.


Author Bill Calkins is the leading voice of this industry, and he's once again delivered the perfect study companion for UNIX system professionals preparing for the Solaris 9 System Administrator exams (310-014 and 310-015). Readers preparing for this exam find our Training Guide series to be the most efficient self-study tool in the market. This book is their one-stop shop because of its teaching methodology, the accompanying PrepLogic testing software, and superior Web site support at www.quepublishing.com/certification. Training Guides are subjected to rigorous technical review by a team of industry experts, and are Cramsession Approved Study Material!The accompanying CD features PrepLogic(R) Practice Tests, Preview Edition. This product includes one complete PrepLogic Practice Test with approximately the same number of questions found on the actual vendor exam. Each question contains full, detailed explanations of the correct and incorrect answers. The engine offers two study modes, Practice Test and Flash Review, full exam customization, and a detailed score report.


BACKGROUND
The National Physical Activity Plan Alliance partnered with physical activity experts to develop a report card that provides a comprehensive assessment of physical activity among United States children and youth.

METHODS
The 2014 U.S. Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth includes 10 indicators: overall physical activity levels, sedentary behaviors, active transportation, organized sport participation, active play, health-related fitness, family and peers, school, community and the built environment, and government strategies and investments. Data from nationally representative surveys were used to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the physical activity indicators. The Committee used the best available data source to grade the indicators using a standard rubric.

RESULTS
Approximately one-quarter of children and youth 6 to 15 years of age were at least moderately active for 60 min/day on at least 5 days per week. The prevalence was lower among youth compared with younger children, resulting in a grade of D- for overall physical activity levels. Five of the remaining 9 indicators received grades ranging from B- to F, whereas there was insufficient data to grade 4 indicators, highlighting the need for more research in some areas.

CONCLUSIONS
Physical activity levels among U.S. children and youth are low and sedentary behavior is high, suggesting that current infrastructure, policies, programs, and investments in support of children's physical activity are not sufficient.


As a versatile, straightforward, and cost-effective strategy for the synthesis of self-organized nanomaterials, electrochemical anodization is nowadays frequently used to synthesize anodic metal oxide nanostructures for various solar cell applications. This chapter mainly discusses the synthesis of various anodic TiO 2 nanostructures on foils and as membranes or powders, and their potential use as the photoanode materials based on foils, transparent conductive oxide substrates, and flexible substrates in dye-sensitized solar cell applications, acting as dye-loading frames, light-harvesting enhancement assembly, and electron transport medium. Through the control and modulation of the electrical and chemical parameters of electrochemical anodization process, such as applied voltages, currents, bath temperatures, electrolyte composition, or post-treatments, anodic nanostructures with controllable structures and geometries and unique optical, electronic, and photoelectric properties in solar cell applications can be obtained. Compared with other types of nanostructures, there are several major advantages for anodic nanostruc‐ tures to be used in solar cells. They are (1) optimized solar cell configuration to achieve efficient light utilization; (2) easy fabrication of large size nanostructures to enhance light scattering; (3) precise modulation of the electrochemical processes to realize periodic nanostructured geometry with excellent optical properties; (4) unidirectional electron transport pathways with suppressed charge recombination; and (5) large surface areas by modification of nanostructures. Due to the simple fabrication processes and unique properties, the anodic nanostructures will have a fascinating future to boost the solar cell performances.


Systems-Theoretic Accident Modeling and Process (STAMP) is a novel accident causality model and has been used in various areas. Most of the STAMP based hazard analysis methods are ad-hoc without rigorous procedures, and the process model used in STAMP is too simple to identify the hazardous control actions as the causes. Petri nets, which have been used to graphically model computer-controlled systems and resolve system safety issues, can make the hazard analysis with STAMP more effective. To identify the hazardous control actions in the STAMP-based hazard analysis, extended Petri nets are proposed in this paper to model the control processes in the system control structure. The runtime control action failures are considered in the reachability graph for the hazard analysis. Furthermore, the types of hazardous control actions are studied and analyzed in the extended reachability graph.


To summarise the arguments in this paper, a case will be made for and against an increase in the minimum wage. First the case for the defence of a minimum wage increase. An increase in a minimum wage will, if the increase is within bounds, only increase the percentage of the output that low-skilled workers receive, without altering their employment numbers. If the marginal utility of income decreases with income, a minimum wage will thus increase social welfare in the short term. In the short term it is even possible that the reduction in the wages of the high-skilled workers will increase the labour supply of the high-skilled workers, thereby increasing employment of low-skilled workers and output in the short run. As to the long run: because low-skilled workers are in practice not able to borrow against future wages, a higher minimum wage may increase the education that low-skilled workers are able to afford for 19 themselves and their children, thereby increasing the number of high-skilled workers. This will increase total output in the long run. If there is a long run negative effect of a higher minimum wage on the number of low-skilled jobs, this will increase the incentives of low-skilled workers to become high-skilled, increasing output even further in the long run. Empirically, this possibility does not conflict with the findings that individual low-skilled workers increase their labour supply and their employment prospects if benefits are lowered, or that labour demand for low-skilled workers, in any particular firm or industry, decreases if the wages of the low-skilled workers increases. These are all the effect of the fact that high-skilled workers will move to those firms and industries where they can earn higher wages and will try and combine with those low-skilled workers who will accept the lowest wages. An economy-wide minimum wage will make this †fleeing†behaviour impossible. The empirical evidence for this view comes from case studies which suggest that an increase in the minimum wage does not lead to a substantial reduction in the number of employed workers in the short run. Now the case against an increase of the minimum wage. If a large increase in the minimum wage crosses a technological †switching point†, where an existing alternative team technology becomes optimal for the high-skilled workers, the number of low-skilled workers employed will decrease dramatically. As this technology is not used before the increase of the minimum wage, there is no way to empirically tell beforehand whether such a technological switching point will be crossed or not. Even in the short run therefore, an increase in the minimum wage may unexpectedly result in a large reduction in the employment levels of low-skilled workers. In the longer run, the increased incentives for high-skilled workers to find technologies that reduce the number of low-skilled jobs in production, may reduce the long run demand for low-skilled jobs. This may explain why the US and European case studies find such a small effect of a change in the minimum wage: as it takes time to develop and implement new technologies, the effects of a minimum wage under team production will only be felt in the long run. Also, the increase in a minimum wage may reduce the incentives for low-skilled workers to become high-skilled, increasing the number of low-skilled workers and hence reducing output in the long run. A final possibility is that an increase in the minimum wage decreases the wage of high-skilled workers and reduces the labour supply of high-skilled workers, thereby reducing the demand for low-skilled workers, even in the short run11 . Both cases make arguments about what happens to technology and the number of low-skilled workers in the long run, as a result of a higher minimum wage. As it is virtually impossible in an empirical study to separate the long-run effects of a minimum wage on employment and transition probabilities, from all the other factors that influence employment levels and transition probabilities (business cycles, technology shocks, changes in the international competitive environment, government intervention in education markets, etc.), I have little hope that either of these cases can be proven convincingly.


Education is often regarded as a route to social mobility. For this to be the case, however, the link between family background and adult outcomes must be broken (or at least reduced) once we take account of an individual's education history. This paper focuses on individuals who have completed university and provides new evidence on differences in graduates' earnings by socio-economic background, with a particular focus on whether they attended a private school. We use data on the population of individuals graduating from UK universities in 2006-07 and find that those who attended private schools earn around 7% more per year, on average, than state school students some 3.5 years after graduation, even when comparing otherwise similar graduates and allowing for differences in degree subject, university attended and degree classification. This work complements Macmillan et al. (2013), who found that graduates from private schools were more likely to enter "high status" occupations. However, our results show that earnings differences persist even within occupations, with graduates who attended private schools earning 6% more than their state school compatriots working in the same occupations. This is equivalent to around £1,500 extra per year in our data. Together, these results suggest that there is a pressing need to understand why private schooling confers such an advantage in the labour market, even amongst similarly achieving graduates, and why higher education does not appear to be the leveller it was hoped to be.


Owing to their capability of bypassing conventional high-priced and inflexible silicon based electronics to manufacture a variety of devices on flexible substrates by using large-scale and high-volume printing techniques, printed electronics (PE) have attracted increasing attention in the field of manufacturing industry for electronic devices. This simple and cost-effective approach could enhance current methods of constructing a patterned surface for nanomaterials and offer opportunities for developing fully-printed functional devices, especially offering the possibility of ubiquitous low-cost and flexible devices. This review presents a summary of work to date on the inorganic nanomaterials involved in PE applications, focused on the utilization of inorganic nanomaterials-based inks in the successful preparation of printed conductive patterns, electrodes, sensors, thin film transistors (TFTs) and other micro-/nanoscale devices. The printing techniques, sintering methods and printability of functional inks with their associated challenges are discussed, and we look forward so you can glimpse the future of PE applications.


Michael Jackson's "Lifeworlds" is a masterful collection of essays, the culmination of a career aimed at understanding the relationship between anthropology and philosophy. Seeking the truths that are found in the interstices between examiner and examined, world and word, and body and mind, and taking inspiration from James, Dewey, Arendt, Husserl, Sartre, Camus, and, especially, Merleau-Ponty, Jackson creates in these chapters a distinctive anthropological pursuit of existential inquiry. More important, he buttresses this philosophical approach with committed empirical research. Traveling from the Kuranko in Sierra Leone to the Maori in New Zealand to the Warlpiri in Australia, Jackson argues that anthropological subjects continually negotiate - imaginatively, practically, and politically - their relations with the forces surrounding them and the resources they find in themselves or in solidarity with significant others. At the same time that they mirror facets of the larger world, they also help shape it. Stitching the themes, people, and locales of these essays into a sustained argument for a philosophical anthropology that focuses on the places between, Jackson offers a pragmatic understanding of how people act to make their lives more viable, to grasp the elusive, to counteract external powers, and to turn abstract possibilities into embodied truths.


Behcet (1935) referred to the highly stigmatising and common inflammatory skin disease psoriasis (derived from the Greek word psora meaning itch) as "the antidote to a dermatologist's ego," and although in some respects this is still true, major progress has been made in several important areas. Psoriasis occurs worldwide and affects about 2% of the population in the United Kingdom.

A great deal is known about the genetic and immunological mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Some of the new biological treatments recently licensed for psoriasis have been developed as a result of this improved understanding, whereas others have been contributory—for example, the profound efficacy of agents that block the actions of cytokine tumour necrosis factor highlighted the key role of tumour necrosis factor in the disease's pathogenesis. Evidence is also accumulating that psoriasis is not just associated with skin disease. Epidemiological studies have shown an increased standardised mortality in patients with psoriasis, particularly related to cancer and heart disease. Clinically relevant psychological and psychiatric comorbidity are also common and potentially amenable to therapeutic intervention. This article presents an overview of these developments and their implications for clinical practice.

### Genetic factors

Scans of the human genome reveal at least nine different loci with susceptibility to psoriasis (PSORS1-9). PSORS-1, a region of the major histocompatibility complex on chromosome 6p2, is the major genetic determinant of psoriasis, and accounts for up to 50% of genetic susceptibility to the disease,1 w1 although the definitive gene has not yet been identified.

Several of the implicated loci are shared by other autoimmune and inflammatory diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, type1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and atopic dermatitis, suggesting that similar mechanisms underlie many common genetically complex inflammatory diseases.

#### Summary points

Psoriasis is a common, disfiguring, and stigmatising skin disease associated with profound impaired quality of life

The gene …


Student nurses walk in urban streets and parks to observe ecological concerns such as energy pollution and human-wildlife conflicts; and reflect on how they will communicate the benefits of outdoor activities for a range of individuals. While the socially advantaged may readily embrace outdoor activities, those from less advantaged backgrounds often view public spaces as high risk environments. On their walk students meet and talk to the people they will care for when they are in practice. They learn about the space where they will later encourage people to walk. And they get to walk and meet each other. Some reports from these urban walks view nature as dirty and dangerous. The teaching innovation that which requires students to step out into the real three dimensional world and use all five senses to observe has won a prestigious quality award from the local health education board and been evaluated positively by students. The method draws on the health worker's long established practice of 'walking the patch' and their need to observe and write a report of what was noticed in a given time and area. The walk provides an opportunity to observe both old and new public health challenges and initiatives, from drainage systems upwards. The instructions given to the student to walk about in a group, observing, notice and conversing have been developed from the psychogeography 'derive' developed by Guy Debord in Paris in the 1950s, which we first used successfully with business studies students to disrupt traditional transmissive learning. The educational initiative is valuable for healthcare professionals to learning about their area of practice and reflecting on how to develop strategies and manage challenges of using the natural environment as a space for developing healthy living.


It all began in a converted Chinese laundry on Chicago's north side on a cold December night in 1959. No one could have known that by the next century, The Second City would have established itself as the premier comedy institution in the world. Taking its act north, The Second City would build a second permanent home in Toronto where it would create the Emmy-Award winning television series "SCTV." Pioneering the use of improvisation in developing talent and creating satiric revue comedy, The Second City has become - in the words of the New York Times - "A Comedy Empire." The Second City Almanac of Improvisation - like the theatre itself - is a collection of diverse ideas, viewpoints, and memories, written by a vast array of teachers, actors, and directors who all got their start at the legendary comedy theatre. Fred Willard recalls his introduction to The Second City style in the mid-Sixties; Tim Kazurinsky gives a hilarious visual demonstration on the art of object work; "Saturday Night Live" star Tina Fey talks about re-improvising material as a mode of writing revue comedy; noted director Mick Napier takes on the thorny debate between long-form improvisation and short-form improvisation. Anne Libera guides the reader through each essay by providing a road map for understanding how The Second City method of improv-based comedy has become the industry standard. Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Alan Arkin, Joan Rivers, Robert Klein, Peter Boyle, Harold Ramis, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, John Candy, Martin Short, Gilda Radner, George Wendt, Jim Belushi, Bonnie Hunt, Mike Myers, Ryan Stiles, Rachel Dratch, Nia Vardalos - no other theatre can boast an alumni list of this magnitude. The Second City Almanac of Improvisation provides practical instruction, personal details, and inspiration to both improvisers and their fans.


"Bildung" and "Kultur" are among the key terms of the German Enlightenment, and appear in various hierarchical forms in the late 18th century. In Adelung's Versuch einer Geschichte der Cultur des menschlichen Geschlechts (1782), which partly draws on Herder's Auch eine Philosophie der Geschichte zur Bildung der Menschheit (1774), the term Cultur refers to a social phenomenon that subsumes "refinement" (Verfeinerung), "Enlightenment" (Aufklärung) and "abilities" (Fähigkeiten). Adelung's concept of culture is tightly linked to his interpretation of human history, which differs both from that of the largely politically oriented universal histories of his time, and from that of the anthropologically based "philosophies of history" (Iselin, Herder, Kant). For Adelung, culture is produced by "crowds in confined spaces" and thus appears as a quantitative phenomenon, as opposed to the qualitative elements such as power (Kraft) and fermentation (Gärung) that determine the course of history in Herder's philosophy of history of 1774. Cultur emerges from a balance that comes about when the material and non-material components of a given culture are "in the most exact proportion" to each other. The idea of the "Maximum" formulated in Herder's Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit (1784), which is described as "a climax" that every nation reaches in its own way, appears to be developed critically as a counterpart to Adelung's concept of balance.


Patent settlements between originator and generic firms in the pharmaceutical industry have been challenged by antitrust and competition authorities in the U.S. and the EU. Particularly settlements with large "reverse payments" to generic firms raise the concern of collusive behaviour for protecting weak patents and delaying price competition through generic entry and therefore harming consumers. However, it is still heavily disputed under what conditions such patent settlements are anticompetitive and violate antitrust rules. This article scrutinizes critically what economic analysis has so far contributed to our knowledge about the effects of these patent settlements and the possible rules for their antitrust treatment. An important claim of this paper is that the problem of patent settlements can only be understood, if we analyze it not only from a narrow antitrust perspective but also take into account its deep interrelationship with the problems (and the economics) of the patent system. Therefore we identify three different channels of effects, how patent settlements can influence consumer welfare: (1) price effects, (2) innovation incentive effects, and (3) effects via the incentives to challenge weak patents. The paper critically analyzes the existing economic studies and identifies a number of research gaps, especially also in regard to trade offs between different effects. It also suggests that policy solutions for these patent settlements should also be sought in combination with patent law solutions.


Drawing on ethnographic observations and informal conversations with judges in Dallas Immigration Court, as well as archival documents, this article describes two approaches through which judges in this setting justify their decisions during removal proceedings. The "scripted approach," used to effect the routine removal of noncitizens in most of the completed cases observed, entails judges' recitation of well-rehearsed narratives regarding the limited legal rights and remedies available to noncitizens. The "extemporaneous approach" involves judges moving beyond their scripts and deliberating in greater depth about noncitizens' cases. In doing so, judges' personal attitudes, biases, and motivations are often revealed as they articulate their desire to circumvent the removal process for noncitizens they view as "deserving" of relief—but for whom only temporary relief from removal is often available given judges' interpretations of immigration law. Although judges recognize that this temporary relief may allow some noncitizens to remain in the United States indefinitely, incomplete protection from removal can leave noncitizens in a precarious legal status and jeopardize these individuals' future opportunities for legalization. These findings support a conceptualization of immigration judges as street-level bureaucrats, or frontline workers who interpret the law—sometimes unevenly—to enforce government policy while interfacing with the individuals subject to said policy. The study thus amplifies the social control capacity of the federal immigration regime.


Recently Burger et al. (2012) and Xie et al. (2012) proposed to use a denoising autoencoder (DAE) for denoising noisy images. They showed that a plain, deep DAE can denoise noisy images as well as the conventional methods such as BM3D and KSVD. Both of them approached image denoising by denoising small, image patches of a larger image and combining them to form a clean image. In this setting, it is usual to use the encoder of the DAE to obtain the latent representation and subsequently apply the decoder to get the clean patch. We propose that a simple sparsification of the latent representation found by the encoder improves denoising performance, both when the DAE was trained with and without sparsity regularization. The experiments confirm that the proposed sparsification indeed helps both denoising a small image patch and denoising a larger image consisting of those patches. Furthermore, it is found out that the proposed method improves even classification performance when test samples are corrupted with noise.


There is very little research on whether global human rights regimes serve as tools for the promotion of a domestic agenda of rights within democratic states, although their role under authoritarianism has been extensively analyzed. This article offers a case study of the impact of one such regime, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, on domestic advocacy in democratic Argentina. The effectiveness of the convention at the domestic level depends, at least in part, on the extent to which it empowers activists within states to make claims on behalf of children. The article identifies an increase in claims-making on behalf of children since the convention was ratified and discusses its role in bringing about legislation that establishes children as rights-bearing individuals. Nevertheless, the deterioration in children's social rights over the same period raises doubts as to whether the domestic incorporation of the convention, on its own, can create social and economic entitlements for children. KEYWORDS: children, rights, global norms, domestic activism, Argentina. ********** The past two decades have witnessed the proliferation of international norms and institutions aimed at strengthening human rights globally. Regime change to democracy in regions like Latin America and Eastern Europe have further contributed to the democratic "norms cascade," and many of the newly installed democratic states have actively sought to incorporate international treaties or conventions into their domestic political structures. (1) Yet, while there is an extensive literature that focuses on the role played by global human rights regimes and transnational networks in addressing gross human rights violations under authoritarianism, there is still little detailed analysis on the role of global regimes as tools for the promotion of a domestic agenda of rights within democratic states. The aim of this article is to help fill that gap. We focus on the domestic impact of one global regime, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), on the politics of children's rights in Argentina. In this way, we hope to address the question of whether the ratification by a democratic state of global human rights regimes such as the CRC provides networks and organizations with effective advocacy tools through which rights claims can be made or grievances redressed. The article proceeds in the following way. In the first section, we discuss the emergence of rights-based regimes such as the CRC, which we see as part of the trend to global governance. We then identify the guiding principles of the CRC and the nature of the rights it embodies. In the final section, we explore the extent to which the CRC has helped advance an agenda of children's rights in Argentina. Has the CRC reshaped the advocacy politics of Argentine civic organizations that have emerged around the defense of the rights of children and young people? What kind of rights can be claimed domestically under the CRC? How do domestic activists evaluate the CRC? These are the central questions we address here. Global Governance Regimes and Domestic Rights Global governance regimes have emerged in areas ranging from the ways in which financial risks and credits are assessed and allocated to the norms that discursively regulate how governments behave and power is deployed in trade, investment, the environment, labor, health, development, and. human rights. Some regimes, such as those that govern trade and the global financial architecture, are more detailed and more closely policed than others. Global regimes in areas such as health, labor standards, and social inclusion remain, in sharp contrast, under-resourced and have weaker powers of implementation. (2) Nevertheless, there is a marked global trend toward establishing global social and political standards, especially in contrast to the period before 1989. Democratization, understood as the establishment of the rule of law and minimum civil and individual liberties, is now a central plank of the international order. …


This project involved the development of a fault diagnostic system for Safetruck, an intelligent vehicle prototype. The fault diagnostic system continuously monitors the health of vehicle sensors, detects a failure when it happens, and identifies the source of the failure. The fault diagnostic system monitors several key components: the Global Positioning System, lateral accelerometer, and yaw-rate gyroscope, which constitute the set of lateral dynamic sensors, as well as the forward-looking radar that measures distance relative velocity, and azimuth angle to other vehicles and objects on the highway. To design the project's lateral fault diagnostic system, researchers exploited the model-based dynamic relationships that exist between the three lateral sensors. They verified the system's performance through extensive experiments on the Safetruck. This project also explored a number of new approaches to creating a reliable fault detection system for radar. Monitoring the radar's health poses a special challenge because the radar measures the distance to another independent vehicle on the highway. In the absence of inter-vehicle communications, the fault diagnostic system has no way of knowing the other vehicle's motion, which means that model-based approaches cannot be used. Experimental results indicate that an inexpensive redundant sensor combined with a specially designed nonlinear filter would provide the most reliable method for radar health monitoring.


Background: Obesity may be associated with an increase in asthma and atopy in children. If so, the effect could be due to an effect of obesity on lung volume and thus airway hyperresponsiveness. Methods: Data from 5993 caucasian children aged 7–12 years from seven epidemiological studies performed in NSW were analysed. Subjects were included if data were available for height, weight, age, skin prick test results to a common panel of aeroallergens, and a measure of airway responsiveness. History of doctor diagnosed asthma, wheeze, cough, and medication use was obtained by questionnaire. Recent asthma was defined as a doctor diagnosis of asthma ever and wheeze in the last 12 months. Body mass index (BMI) percentiles, divided into quintiles per year age, were used as a measure of standardised weight. Dose response ratio (DRR) was used as a measure of airway responsiveness. Airway hyperresponsiveness was defined as a DRR of ⩾8.1. Adjusted odds ratios were obtained by logistic regression. Results: After adjusting for atopy, sex, age, smoking and family history, BMI was a significant risk factor for wheeze ever (OR = 1.06, p = 0.007) and cough (OR = 1.08, p = 0.001), but not for recent asthma (OR = 1.02, p = 0.43) or airway hyperresponsiveness (OR = 0.97 p = 0.17). In girls a higher BMI was significantly associated with higher prevalence of atopy (χ2 trend 7.9, p = 0.005), wheeze ever (χ2 trend 10.4, p = 0.001), and cough (χ2 trend 12.3, p<0.001). These were not significant in boys. Conclusions: Higher BMI is a risk factor for atopy, wheeze ever, and cough in girls only. Higher BMI is not a risk factor for asthma or airway hyperresponsiveness in either boys or girls.


Mammalian cells transfected with the S. cerevisiae APN1 protein acquire resistance to oxidizing agents, the damage of which are mainly repaired via DNA base excision repair (BER). We have recently hypothesized that this effect might be linked to the possible capacity of APN1 to accelerate mammalian BER by its 3' diesterase activity. We have investigated here the effect of pure APN1 protein on BER performed by mouse embryonic fibroblast extracts. No significant acceleration was observed in the repair of either a single AP site cleaved by the bifunctional glycosylase NTH of E. coli or the repair of a single 8-oxoguanine, initiated by the bifunctional glycosylase OGG1. Similarly, no significant effect was observed on the repair of a single U (initiated by the monofunctional glycosylase U DNA glycosylase) or the repair of a single natural abasic site. The inability of APN1 to increase the efficiency of BER initiated by bifunctional glycosylases indicates that removal of 3' blocking fragments is not the rate limiting step of this repair pathway.


(This technical report will be published to become a working paper) This paper summarizes the history and the development process of the Linux Operating Systems (OS), and recommends several best practices for both the academic and industrial environments. Based on Minix source codes and originally created by Linus Torvalds in September 1991, the first Linux operating system had a basic functionality and it was made publicly available for software improvement and contributions. In the late 1990s, the Linux had divided into different packages of software, which was known as "distribution", where different organizations developed their own versions of software based on Linus Torvald's kernel (the engine of the Linux), including the well-known Red Hat, Debian, SuSE and Turbolinux. By the end of the year 2005, there are several new concepts and deployment added to the development of Linux. Firstly, there are "live CD" distributions, which enable booting Linux from CDs without installing the Linux on the hardware. Secondly, the installation processes have become much easier since the 1990s, where installations on the Graphical Interfaces have become the main stream. Thirdly, the Linux OS have become much more user-friendly, thus being particularly true with regards to Desktop distributions, where the multimedia, publishing and desktop functions are easy to use. Fourthly, more and more countries are developing their own versions of Linux for easy customization, personalization and full language support, which all lead to a surge of Linux distributions. Fifthly, many Linux OS provide the 64-bit versions, which offer a better performance than the traditional 32-bit Linux OS. Finally, some of the Linux organizations have successfully transformed into commercial organizations including Red Hat, Novell and Mandriva. This paper also investigates both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Linux OS, which include: Red Hat Enterprise WS/ES/AS 3/4, Red Hat 8.0/9.0, Fedora Core 4, CentOS 4.2, SuSE 9.3/10.0, Novell Desktop 9.0, Gentoo 2005.1, Ubuntu 5.10/6.0.4, Kbuntu 5.10/6.04, Mandriva 2006, Debian 3.1, Red Flag 5.0, TurboLinux 10, PCLinux OS 0.92, XandrOS Desktop 3.0.1, Knoppix 4.0.2/Parallel Knoppix 2005.12, Kanotix 2005.4, playLinEx 1.0, Tao 4.0, Studio64, MEPIS 3.4.1/3.4.3, Damn Small 2.2, Puppy 1.0.7, Berry 0.66/0.67, Fox 1.0 and B2D 2005.12. Finally, this paper presents a break-through in the technology – integrating twelve different Linux distributions on a single 64-bit machine and providing stable, robust and multi-functional server-side applications. This is part of the fundamental system/software architecture for the Personal High Performance Computing (PHPC), where the Integrated Linux, Windows and Macintosh Cluster is implemented and used for (a) running Java and .NET Web Services and b) sharing jobs at different platforms, which can run single jobs altogether or run different jobs simultaneously.


This work originated from a proposal by the Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ). Oceanography Department, and Human Sciences and Social Integration Department of Colegio de Aplicacao-UERJ for the development of an Environmental Education Program having the Copacabana beach as its theme. The central aim would be to develop pedagogic instruments, to be used at elementary and secondary levels, by means of creating and adapting material for research in three subjects: History, Geography and Oceanography. Thus the beach and its location areas were considered, in a first stage, under those different points of view. The project does not simply consist of informing beach users how to proceed. It aims at imparting the knowledge of how beach dynamics act upon space, and how man must interact with them in a harmonious relationship. The project does not only propose to show 'what to do', but mainly to inform 'why to do it'.


Background: Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a potentially life-threatening condition marked by left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and heart failure. The disease incidence is rising and most of the cases are identified now due to availability of widespread echocardiography and possible suspicion by cardiologist. Materials and Methods: This was hospital-based study conducted in the department of medicine of a tertiary hospital, Bangladesh. The study population consisted of postpartum patients admitted to medicine ward for evaluating dyspnea from January 2012 to January 2017. Totally 31 patients were diagnosed as PPCM and taken as a sample after exclusion of all criteria. Results: Most of the patients belonged to 20–24 years of age group (51.6%, n = 16) and most patients developed PPCM in primigravida (51.6%). About 67.7% admitted from rural area and 32.3% from urban area. Exertional breathlessness (45.1%, n = 14) and orthopnea (32.2%, n = 10) are the predominant symptoms in all age groups, while exertional breathlessness was 50% presentations from early age group and 14.3% from elder group, while orthopnea was Observed 70% from early age group. Nearly 9.3% of participants in the study had twin pregnancy. Association of gestational hypertension and diabetes mellitus was found in this study group as 12.9%, n = 4, and 16.1%, n = 5. Majority of the patients (35.5%, n = 11) had no specific electrocardiography changes; sinus tachycardia and ST-T changes were found equally (22.5%, n = 7). About one-third of the patients (29%, n = 9) were found to have severe LV systolic dysfunction (ejection fraction [EF] <30%) and more than half of the patients had moderate LV systolic dysfunction (EF: 31%–40%). Conclusion: As PPCM is rising worldwide, so proper suspicion, early referral, early intervention, and prevention can overcome the misdiagnosis of PPCM which often leads to clinical deterioration and in some instances death.


The application of freeze-fracture techniques to studies of brain structure has led to the recognition of two unsuspected specializations of membrane structure, each distributed in a specific pattern across the surface of astrocytes. 'Assemblies' (aggregates of uniform, small particles packed in orthogonal array into rectangular or square aggregates) are found to characterize astrocytic plasma membranes apposed to blood vessels or to the cerebrospinal fluid at the surface of the brain. These particle aggregates are much less densely packed in astrocytic processes in brain parenchyma. Assemblies are not fixation artifacts, have been shown to extend to the true outer surface of the membrane, are remarkably labile in the setting of anoxia, and are at least in part protein. The function of assemblies is unknown, but their positioning suggests that they may have a role in the transport of some material into or out of the blood and cerebrospinal fluid compartments. A second specialization of intramembrane particle distribution, the polygonal particle junction, links astrocytic processes at the surface of the brain, and also links proximal, large caliber astrocytic processes in brain parenchyma. The function of this membrane specialization also is unknown, but it may subserve a mechanical role.


Echelles of the type now produced by the Bausch & Lomb Optical Company lie intermediate in dispersive properties between ordinary diffraction gratings and such interferometers as the Fabry-Perot etalon. When crossed with a concave grating in a stigmatic mount of the type recently described ( Harrison
 Archer
 Camus

 , J. Opt. Soc. Am.42, 706 [ 1952]) an echelle might be expected to give wavelength precision between the approximately one part in 106 of which the grating is capable and the one part in 25×106 of the etalon. We find precision to about 1 part in 5×106 attainable with the echelle.Identification of the order of interference m of any cycle on an echellegram can be made quickly and exactly by use of a standard plate or scale, which can be marked uniquely after photography of two or three known lines. A horizontal fiducial line of constant mλ0 is recorded on the spectrogram by reflecting light from a mirror which can be swung into position in front of the echelle. The exact mλ0 value for the plate is determined from the two or three standard lines photographed on it. Wavelength reduction is most conveniently made in terms of mλ, using the mλ0 line as a reference. The vertical mλ dispersion is first assumed constant over the entire plate, and an approximate mλ value is determined for each line in terms of its distance l from mλ0. A small correction ∊ is then added for each line, values of ∊ for the entire fixed focal surface having been determined in advance with some complex spectrum having many known lines, such as thorium. Values of ∊ are found to not exceed 0.050 m order-angstroms with our instrument. This range includes empirical corrections for error of coincidence, nonuniformity of dispersion along a cycle, variable magnification of the spectrograph, and all other deviations from vertical linearity or horizontal constancy of mλ.On division by three-figure integral values of m, wavelengths can be obtained to within about 0.001A throughout the visible and ultraviolet spectrum, with little added complexity beyond that required for reducing grating spectrograms, and with greater precision, compactness, and spectrum coverage on a single plate.A discussion of the so-called "error of concidence" is included, as this phenomenon, which has been principally of historical importance since the early days of spectroscopy, now affects the accuracy attainable with a single fiducial line and two or three Hg 198 lines, when substituted for the large number of standard lines needed for precision wavelength determinations with concave gratings.


By drawing on the median voter model, George Stigler (1970) provided a theoretical basis for the alleged empirical regularity found by Aaron Director that income redistribution runs from the poor and the rich to the middle classes. The median voter model is however only applicable to describe modern representative democracies under relatively strong and unrealistic assumptions, which makes alternative equilibria of income redistribution equally plausible. In this paper, we survey the theoretical and empirical literature on the political economy of income redistribution with a particular focus on the more recent results from the comparative political economics literature. The comparisons between presidential and parliamentarian democracies, majoritarian and proportional representation systems, direct and representative democracy or federalism and Unitarianism are the most important distinctions to be looked at. In addition, we analyze the impact of these different institutions on income redistribution econometrically by drawing on three different data sets. In contrast to the largest part of the comparative political economics literature, we do however not measure income redistribution by particular spending programs or redistributive taxation, but instead by Gini coefficients which allow to focus on the income redistribution achieved by the state.


Recent advances in digital video hardware, software and coding standards have led to a wide variety of digital video products. However, such continuous evolution leads to the necessity of regular replacements of the available multimedia devices. To avoid this, a new initiative within the MPEG community, namely Reconfigurable Video Coding, has risen to provide the flexible framework that allows for the "simple" realization of highly-reconfigurable video coding solutions, without the need to wait for decades to replace the existing infrastructure. This paper illustrates the different design schemes to build various platform-specific proprietary libraries, at various granularity levels, together with a case study to prove the concept.


The focus of this Article is to suggest that the judicial decision-making process is often not as rational and objective as we would like to believe. Bias often affects the decision making of judges, sometimes to the extent that it appears that the writer of the opinion is living in an alternate universe. As we progress professionally, and become more steeped in our biases, we sometimes move toward creating a world that exists in our heads and has little relation to the "real" world. While this assertion will be developed in the context of courts' interpreting "particularly" in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, the Article first examines a recent and highly significant Supreme Court decision, Stoneridge Investment Partners, LLC v. Scientific-Atlanta. The Article then focuses upon two cases, In re Spectrum Brands, Inc. Securities Litigation and In re Silicon Graphics Inc. Securities Litigation, to illustrate what I have called the "alternate universe" type of thinking that some courts have employed. In these two cases, the courts have either ignored or been unaware of sound management practices, the existence of which would have supported the "particularity" these courts found wanting in the pleadings. Some courts appear oblivious to both the widely recognized practice of manufacturing earnings and the economic incentives that exist for management to do just that. While courts employ a presumption that senior management is informed when applying the business judgment rule, all too often they also, in effect, employ a presumption that senior management is not informed when critiquing the specificity of plaintiffs' pleadings. If senior management is not informed about the economic situation of the company that they represent to the public, representations which later turn out to be false, what then are they doing that justifies the million-dollar compensation packages that they enjoy?


The purpose of this Thesis is to investigate the infrared properties of Cataclysmic Variable Stars, in particular, to develop the techniques needed to study the contributions to the infrared light of the red dwarf and the accretion disc around its white dwarf companion. A particular requirement of these techniques is that they do not rely on a model of the poorly understood discs. They can be applied not only to Cataclysmic Variable Stars, but also to other interacting systems containing a red star, such as symbiotic stars. Analysis of the visible to infrared colours of fourteen largely uneclipsing systems, based on flux ratio diagrams, shows that the red dwarfs and the opaque gas in the disc supply most of the infrared light, but the contributions of each vary widely from system to system, with more light coming from the red dwarfs in the longer period systems than in the shorter period ones. For nearly all the systems studied, upper limits can be found to the fluxes of the red dwarfs that are approximately independent of spectral type and of the conditions in the accretion discs. In highly inclined systems, measurements of the amplitudes of the tidally induced ellipsoidal variations of the red dwarfs provide a more precise measure of the proportion of light coming from the red dwarf. A technique to simulate the light curves of tidally distorted red dwarfs successfully accounts for the infrared light curves of U Geminorum, a system in which the red dwarf supplies nearly all the infrared light. Completing the Thesis is a visible and infrared study of the eclipsing dwarf nova OY Carina in quiescence. This system has been studied because in the visible, the red dwarf is seen to eclipse the white dwarf. Analysis of these eclipses, based on the assumption that the red dwarf fills its Roche Lobe, allows the determination of several fundamental properties of the system: the inclination of the system is 73.5° to 81°, the mass of the white dwarf lies in the broad range 0.4-1.4 M⊙ and the red dwarf lies either on or slightly below the Main Sequence mass radius relation. The principal source of uncertainty in the analysis is that the semi-amplitude of the radial velocity variations of the white dwarf is poorly known. The infrared light curves show an eclipse of the disc and, half a cycle later, a secondary minimum produced by the ellipsoidal variations of the red dwarf and its eclipse by the disc. The depth of this minimum and the colours of the system imply that the red dwarf supplies approximately one-half of the uneclipsed light of the system and that it eclipses more than three-fifths of the light of the disc. The latter result requires that the K magnitude of the red dwarf lies in the range 14.2 to 14.7. The distance to the system, as deduced from these limits and an estimate of the surface brightness of the red dwarf lies in the range 100 to 300pc. The infrared light of the disc comes largely from optically thin emission; the opaque gas occupying most of the disc does not supply much of infrared light because the disc is atypically small and more highly inclined compared with other systems.


We report an experimental and theoretical study of two most critical yet still to-be-answered issues in dispensing-based nanoimprint lithography (D-NIL): air bubble formation and absorption, and discuss their impact on NIL yield and throughput. Using real-time observation via video, we found two different mechanisms for air bubble formation (feature pinning and multi-droplet encircling), and studied the dynamic behaviour of the air absorption and air bubble shrinking under different conditions. Furthermore, we developed theoretical models and simulation programs of the air absorption and bubble shrinking based on molecular diffusion theory and hydrodynamics. We compared these models with experiments, and found excellent agreement. Our study shows that the key factors that affect the air dissolution time (and hence the air bubble shrinking time) are air bubble initial size, imprinting pressure, air solubility, and resist residue layer thickness. One of our key conclusions from the study, which has significant practical importance, is that although the air in a bubble can be completely dissolved in a resist liquid as long as the bubble is smaller than a certain size, the air absorption time might be too long for the dispensing-NIL operating in atmosphere or poor vacuum to have a necessary throughput in mass manufacturing.


The Congo reform campaign in Britain was the largest humanitarian movement in British Imperial politics during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The texts used in this analysis emerged from the conflict and attempted to make sense of the atrocities committed against the people of the Congo Free State. This analysis examines the impact of imperial ideology on the subjects of empire. It uses the texts of three authors, Arthur Conan Doyle, Joseph Conrad, and E.D. Morel, analyzing the literary underpinnings of imperial culture. It utilizes theoretical frameworks through which this literature can be understood and considers three manifestations of imperial culture: a preoccupation with violence, an inherent sense of national duty, and racist language. These manifestations reveal an inherent sense of superiority, effectively perpetuating imperial culture despite an effort to correct its impact.


The Personal Router is a mobile personal user agent whose task is to dynamically model the user, update its knowledge of a market of wireless service providers and select providers that satisfies the user' s expected preferences. The task of seamlessly managing the procurement and execution of short or long term connection for a mobile user is further complicated because mobile users performs multiple, concurrent and varied tasks in different locations and are reluctant to interact and provide subjective preference information to the agent. In this paper we present a detailed description and a formal model of the problem. We then show how the user modeling problem can be represented as a Markov Decision Process and suggest reinforcement learning and collaborative filtering as two candidate solution mechanisms for the information problem in the user modeling.


Study objective: To assess the short term association between air pollution and mortality in different zones of an industrial city. An intra-urban study design is used to test the hypothesis that socioeconomic characteristics modify the acute health effects of ambient air pollution exposure. Design: The City of Hamilton, Canada, was divided into five zones based on proximity to fixed site air pollution monitors. Within each zone, daily counts of non-trauma mortality and air pollution estimates were combined. Generalised linear models (GLMs) were used to test mortality associations with sulphur dioxide (SO2) and with particulate air pollution measured by the coefficient of haze (CoH). Main results: Increased mortality was associated with air pollution exposure in a citywide model and in intra-urban zones with lower socioeconomic characteristics. Low educational attainment and high manufacturing employment in the zones significantly and positively modified the acute mortality effects of air pollution exposure. Discussion: Three possible explanations are proposed for the observed effect modification by education and manufacturing: (1) those in manufacturing receive higher workplace exposures that combine with ambient exposures to produce larger health effects; (2) persons with lower education are less mobile and experience less exposure measurement error, which reduces bias toward the null; or (3) manufacturing and education proxy for many social variables representing material deprivation, and poor material conditions increase susceptibility to health risks from air pollution.


Combining abstract, symbolic reasoning with continuous neural reasoning is a grand challenge of representation learning. As a step in this direction, we propose a new architecture, called neural equivalence networks, for the problem of learning continuous semantic representations of algebraic and logical expressions. These networks are trained to represent semantic equivalence, even of expressions that are syntactically very different. The challenge is that semantic representations must be computed in a syntax-directed manner, because semantics is compositional, but at the same time, small changes in syntax can lead to very large changes in semantics, which can be difficult for continuous neural architectures. We perform an exhaustive evaluation on the task of checking equivalence on a highly diverse class of symbolic algebraic and boolean expression types, showing that our model significantly outperforms existing architectures.


Mechanical systems in cars are replaced by electronic equivalents. To be authorized for the road, validation that the replacements are at least as good as the old systems is required. For electronic braking systems (brake-by-wire), this goodness translates to safety in terms of maintaining timing constraints. Yet, in the future, the safety of braking maneuvres will depend, not only, on electronic brakes, but also on cooperative driving maneuvres orchestrated among many cars. Connecting both brake-by-wire on the microscopic level with cooperative braking on the macroscopic level allows for determining safety on a broader scale, as both systems feed from the same resource: Time. This paper discusses work-in-progress, introducing and combining two threads: electronic brakes and cooperative braking. Discussing safety on two levels simultaneously motivates connecting a Simulink model of an electronic brake-by-wire system with the traffic simulator SUMO for conducting the required combined validation. How safe is a car in relation to a given maximal braking distance? What is the optimal distribution of reaction time between electronic brakes and cooperative braking? The validation focuses on non-functional safety limited by temporal constraints (translated to braking distance). It can be exploited in an early validation approach to help reduce costs of more expensive real world experimentation. It can also determine the boundaries at which sufficient safety can be guaranteed.


Although of short duration, mitosis is a complex and dynamic multi-step process fundamental for development of organs including the brain. In the developing cerebral cortex, abnormal mitosis of neural progenitors can cause defects in brain size and function. Hence, there is a critical need for tools to understand the mechanisms of neural progenitor mitosis. Cortical development in rodents is an outstanding model for studying this process. Neural progenitor mitosis is commonly examined in fixed brain sections. This protocol will describe in detail an approach for live imaging of mitosis in ex vivo embryonic brain slices. We will describe the critical steps for this procedure, which include: brain extraction, brain embedding, vibratome sectioning of brain slices, staining and culturing of slices, and time-lapse imaging. We will then demonstrate and describe in detail how to perform post-acquisition analysis of mitosis. We include representative results from this assay using the vital dye Syto11, transgenic mice (histone H2B-EGFP and centrin-EGFP), and in utero electroporation (mCherry-α-tubulin). We will discuss how this procedure can be best optimized and how it can be modified for study of genetic regulation of mitosis. Live imaging of mitosis in brain slices is a flexible approach to assess the impact of age, anatomy, and genetic perturbation in a controlled environment, and to generate a large amount of data with high temporal and spatial resolution. Hence this protocol will complement existing tools for analysis of neural progenitor mitosis.