The practical application of systemic sustainability analysis (SSA; Bell and Morse, 1999) as applied in a project instigated and managed by 'Blue Plan', one of the regional activity centres of the Mediterranean Action Plan, is set out and explained in this paper. The context in which SSA was applied and adapted to SPSA (systemic and prospective sustainability analysis) is described in the Mediterranean, primarily in Malta. The SSA process is summarized, its extension and linkage to the prospective approach is described and the comments of stakeholders in the context are added. Some preliminary outcomes are suggested. The particular focus of the paper is on the lessons learned from doing SSA|SPSA within a classic blueprint project framework. It is not assumed that SSA|SPSA is 'finished' or 'definitive'. Rather, we suggest that it is a developing and changing approach that practitioners can adapt and change to meet the specific needs of the circumstances that confront them. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.


At the outbreak of war, the imperial powers in East Africa were unprepared for a major campaign. Although the colonies possessed little strategic value in themselves, the dynamics of imperial rivalry quickly generated armed conflict. The East African campaign evolved haphazardly from neutralising German wireless communications and naval facilities to a wildly over-ambitious plan to conquer the whole of the colony with scant forces. The British wanted to keep any potential spoils for themselves, but were also strongly influenced by the expansionist policies of South Africa, largely propounded by Louis Botha and Jan Smuts.

By September 1916, the British forces, commanded by Smuts, had occupied the bulk of German East Africa with all the railways, towns and ports in their possession. However, he had failed to bring the German Schutztruppe to battle and it remained a powerful and well-motivated force. Furthermore, his reliance to manoeuvre and reluctance to fight battles led his troops ever-deeper into enemy territory and dependent on inadequate lines of communication.

Smuts continued his advance until January 1917 when he left for the Imperial War Conference. His forces were in terrible condition and unfit for further offensive operations. He was succeeded by the British General Hoskins for a bare three months, but, who nevertheless instigated badly needed reforms and reorganisation. In May 1917, the South African, General, van Deventer assumed command, an appointment that he would hold until the end of war. Van Deventer continued to build on Hoskin's work while instigating an aggressive policy of fighting hard battles whenever possible, while concurrently trying to destroy German food supplies. These methods were continued throughout the remainder of 1917 and until November 1918 when the war ended with the Schutztruppe being pursued from Portuguese East Africa into Northern Rhodesia.


During China's late imperial period (roughly 1400-1900 CE), men would gather by the millions every two or three years outside official examination compounds sprinkled across China. Only one percent of candidates would complete the academic regimen that would earn them a post in the administrative bureaucracy. "Civil Examinations "assesses the role of education, examination, and China's civil service in fostering the world's first professional class based on demonstrated knowledge and skill.While millions of men dreamed of the worldly advancement an imperial education promised, many more wondered what went on inside the prestigious walled-off examination compounds. As Benjamin A. Elman reveals, what occurred was the weaving of a complex social web. Civil examinations had been instituted in China as early as the seventh century CE, but in the Ming and Qing eras they were the nexus linking the intellectual, political, and economic life of imperial China. Local elites and members of the court sought to influence how the government regulated the classical curriculum and selected civil officials. As a guarantor of educational merit, civil examinations served to tie the dynasty to the privileged gentry and literati classes--both ideologically and institutionally.China did away with its classical examination system in 1905. But this carefully balanced and constantly contested piece of social engineering, worked out over the course of centuries, was an early harbinger of the meritocratic regime of college boards and other entrance exams that undergirds higher education in much of the world today.


The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) faces short-term and long-term challenges in selecting and recruiting an enlisted force to meet personnel requirements associated with diverse and changing missions. The DoD has established standards for aptitudes/abilities, medical conditions, and physical fitness to be used in selecting recruits who are most likely to succeed in their jobs and complete the first term of service (generally 36 months). In 1999, the Committee on the Youth Population and Military Recruitment was established by the National Research Council (NRC) in response to a request from the DoD. One focus of the committee's work was to examine trends in the youth population relative to the needs of the military and the standards used to screen applicants to meet these needs. When the committee began its work in 1999, the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force had recently experienced recruiting shortfalls. By the early 2000s, all the Services were meeting their goals; however, in the first half of calendar year 2005, both the Army and the Marine Corps experienced recruiting difficulties and, in some months, shortfalls. When recruiting goals are not being met, scientific guidance is needed to inform policy decisions regarding the advisability of lowering standards and the impact of any change on training time and cost, job performance, attrition, and the health of the force. Assessing Fitness for Military Enlistment examines the current physical, medical, and mental health standards for military enlistment in light of (1) trends in the physical condition of the youth population; (2) medical advances for treating certain conditions, as well as knowledge of the typical course of chronic conditions as young people reach adulthood; (3) the role of basic training in physical conditioning; (4) the physical demands and working conditions of various jobs in today's military services; and (5) the measures that are used by the Services to characterize an individual's physical condition. The focus is on the enlistment of 18- to 24-year-olds and their first term of service.


In modern society, the possession of a personal official identification (ID) is critical to an individual's access to government services, and social and economic programs. From voting to receipt of social benefits, the possession of an official ID determines whether or not an individual may fully exercise his or her rights as a citizen. For low- and middle-income countries, the widespread lack of such an ID is a significant stumbling block to economic growth and the development of solid social protection.


BACKGROUND Recent research on fertility in industrialized countries focuses primarily on delayed childbearing, despite the facts that large numbers of women continue to enter parenthood at relatively young ages and that early childbearing has been linked to economic disadvantage. OBJECTIVE This cross-national comparative study describes relationships between women's educational attainment and young age at first birth and evaluates the extent to which these differences have changed over time for women born 1955–1981. METHODS Defining 'early' childbearing as the age by which 20% of first births have occurred to women in a given birth cohort and country, we describe differences in early childbearing by educational attainment across three cohorts of women in 20 countries. RESULTS We find a strong negative educational gradient in early childbearing across all 20 countries and some evidence of an increase in the relative prevalence of early childbearing among the least-educated women. In 10 countries, the relative prevalence of early childbearing among women with low education is significantly higher for one or both of the more recent birth cohorts compared to the earliest cohort. However, many countries show no significant change, and in one country (Poland) there is modest evidence of a decreasing educational gap. CONCLUSIONS Evidence that educational differences in early childbearing have grown in some countries is generally consistent with the notion of family bifurcation and 'diverging destinies' by socioeconomic status. However, the pattern is not universal and future work should examine the various factors that shape these patterns, including the role of public policies.


The purpose of the present study is to assess the export potential of food and agricultural items from South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. We investigated the pattern of trade between the two regions using trade indices and trade data for HS 1–24 categories and also estimated a gravity equation to determine the factors affecting bilateral trade. We extracted UN ComTrade data on exports from the Trademap and the WITS database was used to retrieve data in trade intensities. The results of the descriptive analysis show that India has an advantageous position to achieve more gains from increasing GCC-SAARC food and agricultural trade. The results of the estimation of the gravity equation indicate that the conventional trade cost variables have significant effects on total and food and agricultural trade and India have the highest potential for increasing food and agricultural exports to GCC countries. Further economic cooperation between the GCC and India in the form of a regional integration scheme would enhance trade and food security in the region.


The first novel which appeared in Georges Simenon's famous Maigret series, in a gripping new translation by David Bellos. Inevitably Maigret was a hostile presence in the Majestic. He constituted a kind of foreign body that the hotel's atmosphere could not assimilate. Not that he looked like a cartoon policeman. He didn't have a moustache and he didn't wear heavy boots. His clothes were well cut and made of fairly light worsted. He shaved every day and looked after his hands. But his frame was proletarian. He was a big, bony man. His firm muscles filled out his jacket and quickly pulled all his trousers out of shape. He had a way of imposing himself just by standing there. His assertive presence had often irked many of his own colleagues. In Simenon's first novel featuring Maigret, the laconic detective is taken from grimy bars to luxury hotels as he traces the true identity of Pietr the Latvian. Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations. This novel has been published in previous translations as The Case of Peter the Lett and Maigret and the Enigmatic Lett. "Compelling, remorseless, brilliant." (John Gray). "One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century...Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories." (Guardian). "A supreme writer...unforgettable vividness." (Independent).


The Gage II concrete arch dam shows some limiting constraints in its structural behavior when submitted to particular hydrostatic and thermal load conditions. Its sensitivity to low temperature has led to determine two different maximum water levels during winter and summer, respectively. Therefore, a new complementary spillway, composed by a PKWeir and a flap gate weir has been designed by EDF and optimized using a physical scaled model at LCH. The experimental tests have been carried out for different configurations of the spillway. The output flow capacities of the PKWeir and the flap gate weir including their interaction through the restitution channel have been also investigated. The geometric optimization process has been conducted on several spillway parameters: number of the PKWeir units, its position relative to the flap gate weir, and the height, width and bottom slope of the restitution channel. The tested configurations have been compared based on their flow output capacity.


The non-invasive liquid-crystal and schlieren methods have been applied to the study of convective heat transfer in rib-roughened channels.

The importance of investigating heat transfer from rib-roughened surfaces and of using non-invasive tools to gain information on thermal fields for similar complex geometries is stressed in Chapter 1.

Chapter 2 is devoted to a description of main important published papers related to this project. Firstly, studies concerning heat transfer from rib-roughened surfaces in forced and free convection are listed and discussed in detail. Moreover, a literature survey on optical methods in heat transfer is presented, with special attention to the methods (liquid-crystal thermography and schlieren) applied in this study.

Experiments performed by using liquid-crystal thermography are presented and discussed in Chapter 3. Three configuration geometries have been investigated: a smooth channel (having flat plates) and two different ribbed channels. The investigated heat transfer mechanism was forced convection. These experiments were performed at City University, London.

Chapter 4 is devoted to experiments performed by using the schlieren optical technique. Again, the experimental study included a preliminary activity on smooth channels, followed by tests performed for rib-roughened channels. The heat transfer mechanism was natural convection. These experiments, which constitute the main body of the project, were conducted at the Dipartimento di Termoenergetica e Condizionamento Ambientale, Universita di Genova, Italy.

Finally, most important conclusions are drawn in Chapter 5. Details of relationships between the recorded optical data and the thermal field (or heat transfer coefficients) are reported in Appendix Al and A2 for the liquid-crystal thermography and the schlieren method, respectively.


Abstract. In March 2001, the world's largest depictions of standing Buddha figures located in Bamiyan (Afghanistan) were destroyed during a campaign of the Taliban leadership against all non-Muslim heritage in the country. Bamiyan and its archaeological remains have been nominated a World Heritage also to commemorate the events of destruction the site has experienced over the centuries. More than fifteen years after the Giant Buddha figures turned into dust, the UNESCO Safeguarding campaign for the preservation of the Bamiyan World Heritage property has made considerable progress. Upon continued request by the local population and the national government, the international community is asked to contribute proposals for the future presentation of the physical remains including the options of reassembling the original fragments. The achievements and backlashes of the UNESCO campaign are discussed and a proposal is given, how virtual technology can contribute to the ongoing discussion regarding the future of the site. At a time when deliberate raids during military conflicts against heritage places have become commonplace, the Bamiyan case has become emblematic and is considered now a key turning point in the heritage community on the question, which roles reconstruction can have especially in the aftermath of conflict situations. It is argued that immersive virtual reality technologies offer the chance to investigate how values attributed to cultural heritage are produced and experienced among different stakeholder groups.


The study seeks to provide a non-teleological overview of a meaningful turning point of the "progress" in late nineteenth century Italy: the period from 1876 to 1880, when the Left wing party started to rule the country. The Italian case is set against the influential background of Europe at the dawn of the "Age of Empires". The study is based on primary sources. It provides a textual analysis of parliamentary reports, governmental documents, political newspapers and magazines. It also investigates the debates involving medical, social and criminal sciences, which were closely related to politics. It thus considers the mainstream-culture of the new "bourgeois" Italy: positivism. Specific attention is devoted to a key player of positivism, Cesare Lombroso, whose "discovery" of the "criminal man" - a sort of dangerous sub-man, that had to be neutralized as such – were about to become world famous. The study seeks to provide a multifaceted and comprehensive analysis. It deals with structures and agency, by refusing both deterministic and subjectivist approaches. The research therefore focuses on the interaction between structures and agency, looking into both the impact of social processes and the cultural-political shaping of these processes. The study hopefully provides a "view from the inside" of the risky capitalistic and democratic modernization in liberal Italy. Source analysis suggests that political elites and the rising bourgeoisie experienced a paradox: a) on the one hand, a need for a "progressive" change, in order to turn that late-comer into a competitive "nation" able to cope with social problems; b) on the other hand, a fear of the "progress" itself, whose tangible implications, i.e. the politicization of social conflict, were dangerous to this weak country. That paradox might shed some light on the later centrist political agenda of "trasformismo". Moreover, it might support a view that liberal democratic and authoritarian trends, which paired up in liberal Italy, were the two sides of the same coin. As for the cultural developments, it might be argued that the biological theory of "crime" was a safe and nonetheless painful representation of the unbearable dark side ofthe "progress": the anti-illuministic features of that increasingly influential representation were dictated by "progressive" feelings.


You know you should use cascading style sheets (CSS) to simplify your web pages, but how do you use CSS? Sams Teach Yourself CSS in 24 Hours, Second Edition is a carefully organized, well-written tutorial that teaches you not only how to use cascading style sheets, but also how to make smart decisions about how and when to apply CSS, based on browser support and intended effects. You'll cover standards compliant CSS, with an emphasis on providing both a theoretical understanding and practical experience at implementing CSS. In 24 straightforward one-hour long lessons, you learn by accomplishing hands-on tasks that can be applied to your own site. The tutorials have been updated for this second edition to cover browsers that have become more widely used since the release of the first edition. It also has been updated to cover styling of forms, troubleshooting CSS, and other important new developments.


Analyzing the essence of parliamentary control, we give thought to, if the content of the concept of parliamentary control corresponds to the main function of Parliament as legislative power and the principle of separation of powers. Or maybe it is possible to use another concept, which could reveal absolute absence of subordination between the legislative and executive powers and by this way to secure legal virtues. The authors of this article analyze the essence of the concepts of supervision and control and their connection with the principal of separation of powers, determine distinctive features of supervision and control. Also by the method of document analysis examine the use of these concepts in the legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania. The authors determine the concepts of supervision, control and parliamentary control. They also emphasize the main function of Seimas, as legislative power, it means to legislate, and determine the fluxion function, it means to supervise, how the institutions of executive power implement its enactments. The lecturers came to the conclusion that parliamentary control cannot duplicate other public powers. Moreover, one power cannot dominate; otherwise the principal of separation of powers will be offend as the main principal of organization and activity of democratic public power. It has to be used one concept in the legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania – the authors of this article recommend to use the concept of "supervision". The authors also recommend to define clearly the meaning of "questions of exclusive public importance" in the enactments, they emphasize the main and fluxion functions of Seimas.


Since its inception some fifty years ago, cognitive science has seen a number of sea changes. Perhaps the best known is the development of connectionist models of cognition as an alternative to classical, symbol-based approaches. A more recent - and increasingly influential - trend is that of dynamical-systems-based, ecologically oriented models of the mind. Researchers suggest that a full understanding of the mind will require systematic study of the dynamics of interaction between mind, body, and world. Some argue that this new orientation calls for a revolutionary new metaphysics of mind, according to which mental states and processes, and even persons, literally extend into the environment. This is a state-of-the-art guide to this new movement in cognitive science. Each chapter tackles either a specific area of empirical research or specific sector of the conceptual foundation underlying this research.


Psychologists have for decades conducted experiments that have suggested severe limitations on human cognitive capacities. Many have suggested that these results have important, and largely negative, consequences for an assessment of the reliability of the American trial. They have pointed persuasively at the disturbing number of exonerations of those convicted after trial. And some have gone on to make specific proposals for the incremental, and sometimes radical, changes in the conduct of the adversary trial. This essay places these studies in a normative context and argues that they are more powerful in suggesting changes in pretrial process than in the conduct of trial itself.


This section of the Journal offers readers an opportunity to exchange interesting mathematical problems and solutions. Please send them to Ted Eisenberg, Department of Mathematics, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel or fax to: 972-86-477-648. Questions concerning proposals and/or solutions can be sent e-mail to <firstname.lastname@example.com>. Solutions to previously stated problems can be seen at <http://www.ssma.org/publications>.


To examine the biochemical changes in leaves of five different cultivar with powdery mildew disease infected and treated with fungicides (hexaconezole ) results showed that It also showed greater activitity of enzyme peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase. In case of leaves obtained from naturally infected plants at S1 stage (no disease) recorded enzyme activity of peroxidase, polyphenol oxides and cellulase suppressed. At infectional stage of fungicide treated plants (S2- no disease), cultivar V1 and V2 showed similar results as deserved at pre infectional stage (S1). However in addition to the above parameter wax content and cellulase were also higher at stage S2.At post infectional stage (S3) controlled plants (no diseased) had higher activities of enzymes peroxidase and cellulase. Incase of diseased leaves at post infectional stage had greater amount of cellulase activity.Overall it may be concluded that mustard cultivars naturally infected with powderymildewfungus and treated with fungicide (Hexaconezole) showed differential biochemical response and enzyme activity in mustard plants.


Men Without Women was a milestone in Hemingway's career. Fiesta had already established him as a novelist of exceptional power, but with these short stories, his second collection, he showed that it is possible, within the space of a few pages, to recreate a scene with absolute truth, bringing to life details observed only by the eye of a uniquely gifted artist. Hemingway's men are bullfighters and boxers, hired hands and hard drinkers, gangsters and gunmen. Each of their stories deals with masculine toughness unsoftened by woman's hand. Incisive, hard-edged, pared down to the bare minimum, they are classic Hemingway territory - they helped establish him as one of the great literary authors of the twentieth century, and one of the best American authors of all time.


ABSTRACT An extensive sheet of silty sand crossed by tidal channels is exposed at low tide in Turnagain and Knik Arms, Alaska. Transportation and deposition of sediment composing this sheet is the result of strong tidal currents due to the maximum spring tidal range of approximately 11.4 m. In Turnagain and Knik Arms, the initiation of the floodtide is accompanied by the occurrence of a tidal bore that travels at a speed of 4 m/sec or more up the tidal channels. In intertidal environments in many parts of the world, physical processes of sedimentation are typically influenced by surface fauna; sedimentary structures in some zones are altered or obliterated by the activities of the infauna. However, in Turnagain and Knik Arms, virtually no macrofauna exist, and so the area provides an opportunity to study depositional processes and sedimentary structures without the masking effects of bioturbation. Suspended-sediment values for Turnagain and Knik Arms are greatest in the summer months and nearest low-tide stages. Ice floes form during winter months and, in combination with the freezing of intertidal sediment to several meters of depth, have a significant effect on sediment dispersal and on the deepening and increased stability of the tidal channels. The intertidal sediment is mainly very well sorted, medium to very fine sand and coarse silt, with a notable paucity of gravel, coarse sand, and clay. Sediment accumulates in sandbars oriented parallel to the axis of the estuary. Textural and facies patterns reflect decreasing current energy, first, as a function of distance from the mouth of the estuary and, second, as a function of topographic elevation on the sandbars. The intertidal deposits in Turnagain Arm contain a transitional upward-fining sequence which is analogous to point-bar and channel-bar successions described by other workers. The base of the sequence contains parallel-laminated sand that is overlain by mixed parallel- and cross-laminated silty sand overlain by cross-laminated silty sand. At the top of the sequence is a unit of organically rich parallel-laminated silt and sandy silt. This suite of sedimentary features and textures indicates changing current velocities and directions as bars emerge or are modified during ebb tide, and the vertical sequences could potentially be used to record intertidal bar erosion and aggradation by point- and channel-bar migration, a process carried out primarily by bed-load currents.


Robot motion planning & control is one of the most critical and prevalent problems in the robotics community. Even though original motion planning algorithms had relied on "open-loop" strategies and policies, researchers and engineers have been focusing on feedback motion planning and control algorithms due to the uncertainties, such as process and sensor noise of autonomous robotic applications. Recently, several studies proposed some robust feedback motion planning strategies based on sparsely connected safe zones. In this class of planning and control policies, local control policy inside a single zone computes and feeds the control actions that can drive the robot to a different connected region while guaranteeing that the robot never exceeds the boundaries of the active area until convergence. While most of these studies apply only to holonomic robotic models, a recent motion planning method (RCT) can solve the motion planning and navigation problems for unicycle like robotic systems based on a randomly connected circular region tree. In this paper, we propose a new/updated feedback motion planning algorithm that substantially enhances the sparsity, computational feasibility, and input effort compared to their methodology. The new algorithm generates a sparse neighborhood tree as a set of connected obround zones. Obround regions cover larger areas inside the environment, thus leads to a more sparse tree structure. During navigation, we modify the nonlinear control policy adopted in RCT method to handle the obround shaped zones. The feedback control policy navigates the robot model from one obround zone to the adjacent area in the tree structure, ensuring it stays inside the active region's boundaries and asymptotically reaches the connected obround. We demonstrate the effectiveness and validity of the algorithm on simulation studies. Our Monte Carlo simulations show that our enhancement to the original algorithm probabilistically improves the sparsity, and produces smoother trajectories compared to two motion planning algorithms that rely on sampling based neighborhood structures.


A theoretical investigation of bond lengths and bond energies for several kinds of halogen bonding interactions is carried out using the PIXEL method. The effect of different kinds of activating agents, fluoro-, nitro-, ethynyl substitution and combinations thereof, is assessed quantitatively, and is found to be fully consistent with the results of literature screenings of the corresponding strengths, as judged by the ease of formation of cocrystals. In the best combination of activators the halogen bond is comparable or superior to a strong O-HO hydrogen bond in what concerns stabilization energies and stretching force constants. At least with iodine acceptors, in our picture the halogen-bonding effect is a localized interaction arising from the detail of the electron distribution at the halogen atom, mainly of a Coulombic-polarization nature but with dispersion energies contributing significantly. Binding energies correlate with the electrostatic potential at the tip of the halogen and even with Mulliken population analysis atomic charges, providing easily accessible guidelines for crystal engineers. For one typical cocrystal structure the analysis of separate molecule-molecule energies reveals the nature of the packing forces and rank halogen bonding as the main influence, closely followed by coplanar stacking of coformers.


The alignment of energy band edges at interfaces in three-layer structures, important in polymer-based electroluminescent devices, have been studied using photoelectron spectroscopy. Careful choice of the materials allows investigation of the role of the substrate work function. These results are in agreement with the energy level diagram commonly assumed for the metal/polymer/metal structure, with the potential drop over the polymer layer being equal to the difference between the work functions of the metal contacts. Direct indication of the alignment of the electrochemical potential across the three-layer structure has been observed by photoelectron spectroscopy.


The new global health partnerships, such as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, the Global Fund for AIDS, TB, and Malaria and UNITAID have fundamentally changed the landscape and scale of funding for global health initiatives since 2000. As many more billions of dollars flow into these organizations and through traditional bilateral and multilateral funders of health assistance, strengthening the connection between the financial flows and results increases in importance. The experience with performance-based assistance for health projects has increased in recent years, presenting the opportunity for donors to consider some of the lessons and to build them into their own programs. This paper reviews some of the experience and derives lessons for shifting more funding into performance-based instruments.


In this paper, we present a system for Distributed Intelligent Planning and Scheduling (DIPS) that helps a spacecraft function as an autonomous agent. A DIPS-based spacecraft receives only high-level goals from ground station operators, and performs its own planning and scheduling onboard, achieving these goals with onboard subsystems and in cooperation with other spacecraft. The task decentralization in DIPS employs a domain distribution algorithm that typically creates a feasible schedule after the first coordination effort, thereby decreasing inter-agent negotiation during the scheduling process. The reasoning performed by DIPS agents to optimize time and resource usage while maintaining flight rules and constraints is based on a constraint propagation paradigm. Priority-based scheduling is implemented, and a hierarchical inter-agent confirmation/authorization system is used for global goal coordination. An enhanced prototype is developed and demonstrated using space-based scenarios involving onboard instruments and a satellite constellation. The vertically layered architecture of the DIPS prototype integrates: 1) Java-based agent inference engine; 2) Prolog platform SICStus for constraint-based reasoning; and 3) KQML for inter-agent communication. We are specifically targeting our effort to enhance the planning and scheduling capability of NASA's planned nanosatellite constellations.


EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP ASKEW, JESSALYN ROBERSON B.A. UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, 1984 M.ED. BRENAU UNIVERSITY, 1 995 ED.S. BRENAU UNIVERSITY, 1996 EMBRACING THE TEXT: READING ACHIEVEMENT OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENTS-IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERS Advisor: Dr. Trevor Turner Dissertation dated May 2009 National trends in reading indicate African-American students continue to perform lower than white students. Key findings from the 2005 Reading Report card show white students in grades 4 and 8 scored higher on average than black and Hispanic students. The purpose of this study was to determine if a Balanced Reading format had an impact on the reading achievement of African-American students. It further explored the effects of teacher instructional methods, lesson planning, and student demographics (gender, ethnicity, SES) on the reading achievement of African-American students. Research was conducted in a suburban K-5 elementary school using data generated by students sores for the Fall (pretest) and Spring (posttest) administration of Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) norm-referenced test in reading. Gain comparisons were determined using a Paired Samples t Test and An Analysis of Variance between the experimental and control groups as well as student demographic effects. Pre 1 and post teacher lesson plans were evaluated using a High Definition Lesson Planning format to identifl growth in lesson planning. Teacher instructional methods were evaluated utilizing an Observation Based Instructional Assessment (OBIA) instrument to identify the implementation of higher order thinking skills, identification of student academic needs, and the incorporation of student social experiences in the instructional delivery of reading by the teacher. The results of the study revealed gain scores for both the experimental and control groups indicating the Balanced Reading format for teaching reading is effective with students. Although both groups experienced gains, the experimental group's gain was higher further indicating the treatment of lesson plan evaluation using the HDLP and teacher instructional methods as evidenced through teacher observations using the OBIA instrument was effective in raising student achievement. Through an analysis of data, student demographics of SES and ethnicity revealed an effect on student gain scores based on results of MAP posttest data. The implications of this research for administrators is the importance of differentiating instruction through effective lesson planning to meet the needs of students and the incorporation of higher order thinking skills and questions during reading instruction based on student readiness, teaching reading strategies and skills and providing multiple opportunities for reading to promote student achievement in reading. EMBRACING THE TEXT: READING ACHIEVEMENT OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENTS-IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF CLARK ATLANTA UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQLUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF EDUCATION JESSALYN ROBERSON ASKEW DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP


Generation of random sea surfaces using wave variance spectra and Fourier transforms is formulated in a way that guarantees conservation of wave energy and fully resolves wave height and slope variances. Monte Carlo polarized ray tracing, which accounts for multiple scattering between light rays and wave facets, is used to compute effective Mueller matrices for reflection and transmission of air- or water-incident polarized radiance. Irradiance reflectances computed using a Rayleigh sky radiance distribution, sea surfaces generated with Cox-Munk statistics, and unpolarized ray tracing differ by 10%-18% compared with values computed using elevation- and slope-resolving surfaces and polarized ray tracing. Radiance reflectance factors, as used to estimate water-leaving radiance from measured upwelling and sky radiances, are shown to depend on sky polarization, and improved values are given.


Since reinvasion of São Paulo State by the Aedes aegypti (L.) mosquito in 1985, flower pots and vases have been important larval habitats despite educational messages focusing on their control. The objectives of this study were to characterize flower pots and vases as larval habitats with respect to the quantities present and infested, the types of plants involved, and the specific locations of the mosquito larvae; to explore local names for houseplants; and to examine factors affecting acceptance of control measures. The results showed an average of more than four potential plant-related larval habitats per premises, of which only 0.4% were occupied by the vector. Plant-related containers represented 31% of all the containers with Aedes aegypti larvae. Although a sample of 126 respondents was able to list 105 different houseplant names, 49% of the positive plants were of two types: ferns and the ornamental plant Dieffenbachia avoena. The public's apparent unwillingness to accept recommended anti-aegypti control measures involving houseplants seems related to the relative rarity of aegypti larvae in the very common houseplant containers, the control program's poor credibility as a source of information about plants, and a perception that the recommended control measures are harmful to plants. An intervention currently being planned for dengue control will use educational material that refers specifically to those plants whose containers are most commonly found to harbor aegypti larvae; it will also utilize information sources such as botanists with greater credibility regarding plants; and it will set out alternative plant care recommendations that are more likely to appeal as beneficial to the plants and that will stand a better chance of being accepted.


Two digestibility and nitrogen balance experiments were carried out with groups of young calves given high-fat milk replacers reconstituted with water and fed in liquid form. In the first experiment six different milk replacers with crude protein contents ranging from 12.7 up to 27.6% in the dry matter were compared, the differences in protein content being brought about by adjustments to the level of separated milk protein used in the replacers. The apparent digestibility of organic matter was very high on all the treatments and unaffected by level of protein. Although the crude protein fraction showed an increase in apparent digestibility with increase in level of protein, its true digestibility was estimated to be virtually 100% on all the treatments. Retention of nitrogen expressed as a percentage of total intake remained fairly constant for diets containing from 18.8 to 27.6% of crude protein and the weight of nitrogen retained increased with each successive increase in level of dietary protein.

In the second experiment the effects of replacing half of the milk protein in a control milk replacer by different forms of animal protein were studied. The true digestibilities of the total dietary protein on the treatment containing only separated milk protein and on the other treatments containing partial substitution by dried delactosed whey, dried blood, white fish meal and meat meal were found to be 94.1, 90.9, 85.4, 91.1 and 86.6%, respectively. Their biological values were 74.7, 70.3, 69.1, 66.0 and 65.5%, respectively. A sixth treatment in which the meat meal was provided with an enzyme supplement did not effect any significant change in either digestibility or biological value. Retentions of nitrogen expressed as percentages of intake were significantly lower on all the treatments containing partial replacement of separated milk protein by the other sources of protein than on the control treatment.


Commercial actors are becoming increasingly concerned about the effect that various types of political risk, including the risk of sovereign default, has on their investments. This Essay considers the problem of rogue debtors (i.e., states that intentionally ignore their legal and financial obligations) as a type of unanticipated risk and analyzes how well various responses, including domestic litigation, interstate negotiation and investment arbitration, address investors' needs. In particular, the discussion focuses on how effective investment arbitration is in overcoming a number of difficulties traditionally associated with rogue debtors and the various means by which states are attempting to bypass the threat of investment arbitration, including the use of exclusionary treaty provisions, contractual waivers of investment arbitration and collective action clauses.


The seemingly never ending scandals in the world of finance with their damaging effects on value and human welfare (that continue unabated in spite of all the various efforts to curtail the behavior that results in those scandals) argues strongly for an addition to the current paradigm of financial economics. We summarize here our new theory of integrity that reveals integrity as a purely positive phenomenon with no normative aspects whatsoever. Adding integrity as a positive phenomenon to the paradigm of financial economics provides actionable access (rather than mere explanation with no access) to the source of the behavior that has resulted in those damaging effects on value and human welfare, thereby significantly reducing that behavior. More generally we argue that this addition to the paradigm of financial economics can create significant increases in economic efficiency and productivity.


High-voltage nanoporous anodic films grown on aluminium in certain organic electrolytes are of increasing interest for potential applications as nanotemplates to electrical capacitors and, more generally, as models for investigating self-organized growth of anodic oxides at the frontier conditions. The major difficulty associated with this technology is that the process of pore nucleation and growth over a large-area aluminium substrate needs optimization and adaptation to the specific technological conditions applied to aluminium substrates as the surface finishing pre-treatments. In this work we have studied the impact of important pre-treatment technologies for Al foils, such as high temperature annealing and electrochemical polishing, on the pore nucleation and growth during galvanostatic formation of nanoporous anodic alumina templates in aqueous solutions of citric acid. It was revealed that the self-organized pore nucleation and growth is strictly dependent upon the anodizing setup, anodizing variables, surface morphology and crystalline structure of aluminium foils, which are additionally affected by the conditions of vacuum annealing and electropolishing pre-treatments. The findings are useful for growing well-ordered nanopores for non-lithographic formation of metal and metaloxide nanostructures for advanced capacitor application.


The rapid progress of modern biotechnology has presented a number of new and unique ethical and social challenges within the context of human medical science. Research in medical biotechnology has led to increased knowledge of disease, acceleration of the treatment process, improved pharmacotherapy for infectious diseases and hope for the struggle against incurable diseases such as ALS, MS and Alzheimer's . Medical biotechnology promises major advances in human health and therefore, any limitations on the right to freedom of scientific research should be for significant reasons only, and as least restrictive as possible, so as not to impede scientific wisdom and prevent damage to the scientific undertaking. At the same time a duty exists to ensure that research in this area of biotechnology is conducted in ethically acceptable ways. A balance needs to be struck between recognizing the potential benefits which biotechnology research offers to individuals and the community as a whole, and the duty to ensure that research in this area is conducted ethically . Researchers in the biotechnology industry face challenges unlike researchers in other sectors. Unlike most other industries, advances and research in the biotechnology industry are often front page news and has to face intense scrutiny by press, academics, government and the public. As biotechnology is a newly emerging field, a further challenge facing the industry is the lack of historical precedence in the sector to provide guidance for the safe and ethical development of the technology. In biotechnology research, the usual ethical principles applicable to health research involving animals and human participants must be observed and such research must be scientifically sound.


A new scale measuring patient-therapist attachment avoidance was developed. Attachment Avoidance in Therapy Scale is a new measure based on the Bartholomew model of adult attachment (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991) and the Experience in Close Relationships Scale (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998) to measure patients' attachment avoidance towards therapists. With 112 patient-therapist dyads participating in the study, validation of a preliminary scale – measuring both attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance in therapy – took place using therapists' evaluations of patients' relational behavior and patients' self-reports about their attitude toward psychotherapy. Analysis of the data revealed six underlying scales. Results showed all six scales to be reliable. Validation of scales measuring attachment anxiety failed. The importance of Attachment Avoidance in Therapy Scale and its subscales is discussed.


Physiotherapy and rehabilitation are getting ever more relevance as an integral part of healthcare devising and employing new, effective methodologies and tools. However, not seldom are such tools boring and difficult to use properly for achieving the given training and therapeutic goals. Exergaming, the combination of physical exercise and video gaming, may help to overcome these issues by offering enjoyment and motivation. However, the literature lacks papers investigating how to integrate such devices into a serious game combining effectiveness and enjoyment. In this paper, we focus on the Balance Board (BB), a device used in gyms and in several health-related applications [1], and present an exergaming system for proprioception training. The system includes a BB, which was instrumented to act as a motion controller for an ad-hoc developed, simple 3D video game. The system aims to provide enjoyable training with the BB, boosting equilibrium exercising through the simulation of downhill skiing. We validated the score computation and tested the efficacy of the system in a user test with 40 participants, in ecological settings. The evaluation concerned user performance and a game experience questionnaire. The results showed statistically significant improvement in players' ability to use the BB. Users also reported a positive gameplay experience.


Purpose: Dolastatins are a group of structurally unique peptides originally isolated from a sea hare, Dolabella auricularia, which seem to inhibit tubulin polymerization and mitosis. Tasidotin hydrochloride (tasidotin), a novel synthetic analogue of dolastatin 15, is evaluated in preclinical models of pediatric tumors. Experimental Design: The cytotoxicity of tasidotin was evaluated in a panel of pediatric sarcoma cell lines in vitro and in vivo. Results: The IC50 in Ewing's sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, osteosarcoma, and synovial sarcoma lines ranged from 0.002 μ to 0.32 μmol/L. In the SK-ES1 and RH30 cell lines, tasidotin induced a G2-M arrest that persisted for 48 h after the drug was washed from the cells. In vitro, more than half the cells were in the early or late phase of apoptosis 48 h after treatment with tasidotin. In vivo, a significant increase in apoptotic nuclei was apparent in xenograft tumors harvested within 24 h after a 5-day course of tasidotin. In vivo response was determined in severe combined immunodeficient xenograft models of pediatric sarcomas implanted heterotopically. Significant antitumor activity was observed in all tumor lines tested. A complete response was observed in 2 synovial sarcoma lines, 1 osteosarcoma line, 1 rhabdomyosarcoma line, and 1 Ewing's sarcoma line. A partial response was observed in 1 rhabdomyosarcoma and 1 Ewing's sarcoma. Conclusions: Tasidotin induces a G2-M block in treated cells ultimately resulting in apoptosis. Antitumor activity is confirmed in vivo in preclinical xenograft models of pediatric sarcomas.


Identification of epochs from speech signals is a prominent task in speech processing. In this paper, epoch extraction is attempted from phase spectrum of speech signals. The phase spectrum of speech is modelled as an allpass (AP) filter by minimizing entropy of energy in the associated error signal. The AP residual thus obtained contains prominent unambiguous peaks at epoch locations. These peaks in AP residual constitute a set of candidate epoch locations from which appropriate ones are identified using a dynamic programming algorithm. The proposed method is evaluated on a subset of CMU Arctic database and it is observed that it delivered better epoch extraction performance than the prominent speech events estimation method-DYPSA. In case of telephone channel speech, the proposed method significantly outperformed zero frequency resonator based method also.


Many learning algorithms concern themselves with learning from large amounts of data without human interaction. Synthetic characters that interact with human beings present a wholly different problem: they must learn quickly from few examples provided by a non-expert teacher. Training must be intuitive, provide feedback, and still allow training of nontrivial new behaviours. We present a learning mechanism that allows an autonomous synthetic character to learn sequences of actions from natural interaction with a human trainer. The synthetic character learns from only a handful of training examples, in a realtime and complex environment. Building on an existing framework for training a virtual dog to perform single actions on command and explore its action and state space, we give the dog the ability to notice consistent reward patterns that follow sequences of actions. Using an approximate online algorithm to check the Markov property for an action, the dog can discover action sequences that reliably predict rewards and turn these sequences into actions, allowing them to be associated with speech commands. This framework leads to a natural and easy training procedure that is a version of Backward Chaining, a technique commonly used by animal trainers to teach sequences of actions.


Substantial technological advances in proteomics and related computational science have been made in the past few years. These advances overcome in part the complexity and heterogeneity of the human proteome, permitting quantitative analysis and identification of protein changes associated with tumor development. Here, we discuss some of these advances that are uncovering new cancer biomarkers that have potential to detect cancer at early and curable stages and address remaining challenges.


In the previous five reports in this series, I examined recent changes in the number of registered light-duty vehicles (cars, SUVs, pickups, and vans), and the corresponding changes in distance driven and fuel consumed. The units of the analyses were both the absolute numbers and the rates per person, per driver, per household, and (where appropriate) per vehicle. The main finding of those reports was that the respective rates all reached their maxima around 2004. I argued that, because the onsets of the reductions in these rates preceded the onset of the recession (in 2008), the reductions in these rates likely reflect fundamental, noneconomic changes in society. Therefore, these maxima have a reasonable chance of being long-term peaks as well. The present report examines the relationship between road transportation and economic activity since the end of the Second World War. The two measures of interest were distance driven by all vehicles per inflation-adjusted GDP and fuel consumed by all vehicles per inflation-adjusted GDP. The main finding is that distance driven per GDP reached its highest values in a broad plateau from the early 1970s through the early 1990s, and then decreased steadily. By 2012, the value of this measure decreased by 22% from its absolute maximum, which was reached in 1977. Some of the factors that likely contributed to the recent decline in the value of this measure are the decreased amount of personal transportation, decreased contribution to GDP of truck transportation, and the increased contribution to GDP of data services, information processing, and e-commerce. The amount of fuel consumed per GDP peaked in the early 1970s, and then decreased by 47% by 2012. The relatively steep decline in the value of this measure reflects the added contribution of the improvement in vehicle fuel economy from the 1970s on.


New trade union roles and contexts have encouraged the emergence of new representatives and provided the basis for a more diverse activism. This book asks whether trade union activity and ideologies allow for the expression and mobilisation of different social identities and whether, in a changed and changing economic and political context, these eclipse class. Based upon the voices of the activists themselves, this book restores the subject to the landscape of industrial relations. It reasserts the centrality of work and the workplace to social identity, but emphasizes the importance of gender, race and ethnicity to changing work relations and consequently to the production of collective identity and consciousness. Yet new activism may be articulated in rather abstract concepts of equality and fairness, distinct from earlier more assertive and politically focused collective mobilization of politically conscious identities which characterized the self-organisation of social movements, but also from the language and vocabulary of class consciousness – reflecting legacies of political defeat.


Optical label switching (OLS) is an important approach for building future all-optical networks. In OLS systems, the label and payload can be encoded on the same optical carrier through orthogonal modulation schemes. We demonstrate the generation of wavelength-shift-keying (WSK) encoded optical pulses using spectral processing techniques and their applications in optical labeling systems. We show that the extinction ratio impairment issue for WSK-labeled intensity-modulated optical systems can be solved by using pulse position modulation (PPM) for the payload data, because PPM can guarantee equalized pulse energy in each of the bit period. In our optical labeling experiments with 622 Mb/s label and 9.95-Gb/s payload, the power penalty for the optical WSK label is reduced from 17.5 to 1.6 dB at the bit-error rate of 10/sup -9/ when the payload modulation format is changed from intensity modulation to PPM.


This thesis investigated how guanxi was related to exchange relationships between supervisors and subordinates in China. Since guanxi is a relationship-based phenomenon and extends into all levels and domains of Chinese society, it was argued that it would be associated with the relationships that were established between supervisors and subordinates.
This thesis used a model of both 'supervisors and subordinates' perspectives of leader member exchange (LMX) and the impact of guanxi on those relationships. The thesis replicated some established relationships, and then added to the literature by providing an elaboration of how guanxi is related to LMX through its different dimensions. A multi-dimensional approach to LMX and a differential behaviours approach to guanxi were used to test hypotheses. In order to establish guanxi's influence on leadership relations in China, this thesis used LMX as the dependent variable, which was measured using the multi-dimensional LMX-MDM scale. The thesis first tested the variables of perceived similarity, perceived liking and perceived subordinate performance as antecedents of LMX, since previous research in western countries had found them to be predictors of LMX (Engle & Lord 1997; Kacmar et al. 2009; Liden et al. 1993). Guanxi was introduced as a moderating variable, since it was hypothesized that it would influence the relationships between the three predictor variables and LMX-MDM.


Background Joint destruction in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was until recently seen as an irreversible state. Lately, it was found that repair of bone erosions occurs; however, little is known about its prevalence. Objective To investigate the frequency of repair and patients' characteristics associated with repair in an inception cohort. Patients and methods 250 patients with RA, included in the Leiden Early Arthritis Clinic between 1993 and 2000 and treated with conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, were studied (mean follow-up 10.1 years). Radiographs obtained annually were scored using the Sharp–van der Heijde method, initially aware of the chronology. Patients with a negative change in erosion scores on subsequent radiographs were selected and their series of radiographs were rescored with concealed time sequence by three readers. Repair was defined as agreement between two readers of a negative change in erosion scores that persisted for at least 2 years. Results Repair was identified in 32 joints in 18 patients (7.2%). Patients with repair had a greater prevalence of autoantibodies (rheumatoid arthritis, anti-citrullinated protein antibody) and a higher level of joint destruction. In the joints with repair, arthritis was absent in the 2 years preceding repair. Conclusions Repair occurred in 7.2% of the patients with RA, particularly in clinically inactive joints in patients with severe destructive disease.


This paper examines the performance of sterling on international currency exchanges and the implications for the UK economy. Section 3 summarises the results from the EMU study published in 1996. Section four outlines the implications for Ireland of sterlings strength and considers the impact of a sudden 25 per cent depreciation in sterling onboth the Irish and the UK economies. Section five presents our conclusions.


The Lifelog Search Challenge (LSC) is an international content retrieval competition that evaluates search for personal lifelog data. At the LSC, content-based search is performed over a multi-modal dataset, continuously recorded by a lifelogger over 27 days, consisting of multimedia content, biometric data, human activity data, and information activities data. In this work, we report on the first LSC that took place in Yokohama, Japan in 2018 as a special workshop at ACM International Conference on Multimedia Retrieval 2018 (ICMR 2018). We describe the general idea of this challenge, summarise the participating search systems as well as the evaluation procedure, and analyse the search performance of the teams in various aspects. We try to identify reasons why some systems performed better than others and provide an outlook as well as open issues for upcoming iterations of the challenge.


With the continuous development of market economy, enterprises face growing competitive pressure and enterprise management plays more obvious role. Positive organizational behavior has played an important role in modern enterprise management and adopting diversified management mode can greatly promote the development of enterprises and make enterprises keep lasting competitiveness. This paper first analyzes relevant knowledge of positive organizational behavior, analyzes the application of positive organizational behavior in enterprise management. It focuses on the study of incentive role of positive organizational behavior on employees in modern enterprise management and it is expected to provide some help for relevant personnel.


This paper summarizes experimental support to spin-mediated consciousness theory from various sources including the results of our own. In doing so, we also provide explanations based on this theory to experimental phenomena such as out-of-body experience and sensed presence, quantum-like cognitive functions and optical illusions. Whether one agrees or not with the spin-mediated consciousness theory is for one alone to judge. In any event, the importance of the experimental results mentioned in this paper is obvious: quantum effects play important roles in brain/cognitive functions despite of the denials and suspicions of the naysayer and skeptics.


This paper examines the link between multinational enterprises and plant exit in Chile. We investigate three main questions: are affiliates of foreign multinationals more likely to exit than domestic firms? Does the exit probability of multinationals depend on its export orientation?, and Does the presence of multinationals affect the survival of other firms in the economy? Our results show that foreign plants are more likely to exit the economy, controlling for other firm and industry characteristics, only during the late 1990s, a period when the Chilean economy experience a massive slowdown. Our data also suggest that only domestic market oriented multinationals responded to this negative shock by being more "footloose"; this is not true for multinational exporters. We also find that the presence of multinationals has a positive effect on plant survival in the early 1990s. This positive effect, however, is fully captured by productivity, once controlling for TFP in our exit regressions we do not find any further impact of multinational presence on a plant's probability of exit. JEL classification: F2, L6


Human‐induced ocean warming and acidification have received increasing attention over the past decade and are considered to have substantial consequences for a broad range of marine species and their interactions. Understanding how these interactions shift in response to climate change is particularly important with regard to foundation species, such as the brown alga Fucus vesiculosus. This macroalga represents the dominant habitat former on coastal rocky substrata of the Baltic Sea, fulfilling functions essential for the entire benthic community. Its ability to withstand extensive fouling and herbivory regulates the associated community and ecosystem dynamics. This study tested the interactive effects of future warming, acidification, and seasonality on the interactions of a marine macroalga with potential foulers and consumers. F. vesiculosus rockweeds were exposed to different combinations of conditions predicted regionally for the year 2100 (+∆5°C, +∆700 μatm CO2) using multifactorial long‐term experiments in novel outdoor benthic mesocosms ("Benthocosms") over 9–12‐week periods in four seasons. Possible shifts in the macroalgal susceptibility to fouling and consumption were tested using consecutive bioassays. Algal susceptibility to fouling and grazing varied substantially among seasons and between treatments. In all seasons, warming predominantly affected anti‐fouling and anti‐herbivory interactions while acidification had a subtle nonsignificant influence. Interestingly, anti‐microfouling activity was highest during winter under warming, while anti‐macrofouling and anti‐herbivory activities were highest in the summer under warming. These contrasting findings indicate that seasonal changes in anti‐fouling and anti‐herbivory traits may interact with ocean warming in altering F. vesiculosus community composition in the future.


Reasoning under uncertainty is a key challenge in context aware pervasive systems. In this paper we propose R-CS a situation based context reasoning model that employs ranking technique to rank and order context attributes. Using the proposed ranking technique and available context information, we compute dynamic situation spaces (a collection of contextual attributes that best represent a real world situation) We also propose and incorporate multilevel hierarchical contextual regions into R-CS that enables situation reasoning to be based on one or more dependent context attributes. We present a theoretical approach to compute importance and relevance of newly discovered context attributes which are not defined within the situation space definition by employing the approach of investigating similar neighboring situation spaces. R-CS builds on context spaces theory, a context model based on situation reasoning. We have implemented the proposed algorithms/approaches into R-CS and have validated them by evaluating against context spaces reasoning model.


At a time when planning should be raising its game to meet the needs of an ageing society, the Government is progressing changes to legislation and funding for housing which will affect future approaches for better or worse. However, the planning system and development plans should be an important mechanism for developing policies to meet older people's housing needs. This viewpoint looks at the future role of planning in this changing context, suggesting that a comprehensive review of planning practice relating to older people's housing could help meet housing needs across all generations.


Prosody Transfer (PT) is a technique that aims to use the prosody from a source audio as a reference while synthesising speech. Fine-grained PT aims at capturing prosodic aspects like rhythm, emphasis, melody, duration, and loudness, from a source audio at a very granular level and transferring them when synthesising speech in a different target speaker's voice. Current approaches for fine-grained PT suffer from source speaker leakage, where the synthesised speech has the voice identity of the source speaker as opposed to the target speaker. In order to mitigate this issue, they compromise on the quality of PT. In this paper, we propose CopyCat, a novel, many-to-many PT system that is robust to source speaker leakage, without using parallel data. We achieve this through a novel reference encoder architecture capable of capturing temporal prosodic representations which are robust to source speaker leakage. We compare CopyCat against a state-of-the-art fine-grained PT model through various subjective evaluations, where we show a relative improvement of $47\%$ in the quality of prosody transfer and $14\%$ in preserving the target speaker identity, while still maintaining the same naturalness.


The Global Financial Inclusion (Global Findex) database, launched by the World Bank in 2011, provides comparable indicators showing how people around the world save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. The 2014 edition of the database reveals that 62 percent of adults worldwide have an account at a bank or another type of financial institution or with a mobile money provider. Between 2011 and 2014, 700 million adults became account holders while the number of those without an account—the unbanked—dropped by 20 percent to 2 billion. What drove this increase in account ownership? A growth in account penetration of 13 percentage points in developing economies and innovations in technology—particularly mobile money, which is helping to rapidly expand access to financial services in Sub-Saharan Africa. Along with these gains, the data also show that big opportunities remain to increase financial inclusion, especially among women and poor people. Governments and the private sector can play a pivotal role by shifting the payment of wages and government transfers from cash into accounts. There are also large opportunities to spur greater use of accounts, allowing those who already have one to benefit more fully from financial inclusion. In developing economies 1.3 billion adults with an account pay utility bills in cash, and more than half a billion pay school fees in cash. Digitizing payments like these would enable account holders to make the payments in a way that is easier, more affordable, and more secure.


This paper problematizes the issue of an "active female gaze" as opposed to the passive one determined by the dominant ideological system that produces an "active male gaze" in narratives of cinema and advertisements. In mainstream cinema as well as the advertisement industry, usually the story is rendered from an essentially male perspective, regardless of the narrator's being male or female. It is so even when the subject matter is related to issues that directly concern women like the repression of their desires or Lesbianism, for instance. Using some of the key ideas propounded by British film critic Laura Mulvey, the paper examines some of the texts from both cinema and the advertisement industry to find out the complex mechanism of the "male gaze." It also attempts to explore the possibility of a "female gaze" that might, if achieved, give new dimensions to both forms of entertainment.


The distinction between wage-led and profit-led growth is a major feature of Post-Keynesian economics and it has triggered an extensive econometric literature aimed at identifying whether economies are wage or profit-led. That literature treats the economy's character as exogenously given. This paper questions that assumption and shows an economy's character is endogenous and subject to policy influence. This generates a Post-Keynesian analogue of the Lucas critique whereby the econometrically identified character of the economy depends on policy rather than being a natural characteristic. Over the past twenty years, policy has made economies appear more profit-led by lowering workers' share of the wage bill and tax rates on shareholder income. Increasing workers' wage bill share increases growth and capacity utilization regardless of whether the economy is wage-led, profit-led or conflictive. That speaks to making it the primary focus of policy efforts.


The appropriateness of Christian themes in the performing arts has often been debated. Defenders have argued that various media, including drama, can serve as instruments of spiritual edification, while critics have contended that such efforts often eventuate in sacrilege and a vulgarising exploitation of the sacred for commercial and entertainment purposes. A heated debate took place in 1903 when Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal , which since its premiere at Bayreuth in 1882 had been hailed as a magnificent representation of redemption and other themes central to Christianity, was staged at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York – its first performance as an opera outside its original venue. Numerous clergymen and lay people in several denominations sought to have the production banned and cautioned fellow Christians against seeing it. Others, generally of a theologically more liberal bent, defended the work. The heated public controversy is placed into historical context and compared with the history of Parsifal in the United Kingdom, where it was widely appreciated without noteworthy opposition.


This research deals with English prepositions and the difficulties English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students face while they master prepositions. The researchers also intend to identify the needs of English teachers who wish to improve their teaching skills through a better explanation of prepositions by giving them some practical tips. The participants in this research were 50 teachers. Data were collected through questionnaires done with English teachers from Albania, Greece and Kosovo. The aim of the questionnaires was to discover if the teachers taught prepositions in the class or not. The research findings revealed that most of the EFL teachers teach what's in the textbook or they just do not explain prepositions at all. Most of the teachers felt that English prepositions are difficult to teach to nonnative speakers, for many reasons: 1. polysemy of prepositions, where different meanings change according to the context in which prepositions are used; 2. lack of a spoken and written guide on how to use prepositions; 3. native language interference. At the end of article the authors provide multiple activities concerning prepositions, their acquisition and their usage. Keywords: prepositions, EFL students, native language interference, acquisition


ABSTRACT Long, J.H.; Hanebuth, T.J.J.; Alexander, C.R., and Wehmiller, J.F., 2021. Depositional environments and stratigraphy of Quaternary paleochannel systems offshore of the Georgia Bight, southeastern U.S.A. Journal of Coastal Research, 37(5), 883–905. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Paleochannels are common subsurface geological features beneath inner continental shelves and coastal plains and are important archives of ancient depositional environments. This study, focusing on a 450-km portion of the inner continental shelf of the SE United States, adds to understanding of the timing of paleochannel development, the paleoenvironments in which they formed, and the mechanisms that drove their formation. Integrated analysis of 1089 km of high-resolution seismic reflection data and 12 sediment cores reveals that (1) most paleochannels documented here formed in backbarrier environments (estuarine or lagoonal) and were subsequently filled during transgression or following avulsion, preserving mud-rich, tidally influenced deposits; (2) the preservation of nonmarine deposits is rare; (3) paleochannels are either solitary or amalgamated, forming paleochannel complexes within which they are arranged in multistory (vertically stacked) or multilateral (horizontally offset) configurations, a product of local hydrodynamic conditions, antecedent geology, glacioeustatic cycles, and regional isostatic adjustments; and (4) a general southerly increase in the overall degree of channelization is observed across the Georgia Bight, a function of long-term accommodation, interaction with underlying stratigraphy, and dominant coastal processes. The composition and spatiotemporal distribution of paleochannel systems has implications for understanding the long-term evolution and preservation of complex coastal systems and informing regional Quaternary sea-level reconstructions.


A systematic bias towards low palaeomagnetic inclination recorded in clastic sediments, that is, inclination shallowing, has been recognized and studied for decades. Identification, understanding and correction of this inclination shallowing are critical for palaeogeographic reconstructions, particularly those used in climatemodels and to date collisional events in convergent orogenic systems, such as those surrounding the Neotethys. Here we report palaeomagnetic inclinations from the sedimentary Eocene upper Linzizong Group of Southern Tibet that are ∼20◦ lower than conformable underlying volcanic units. At face value, the palaeomagnetic results from these sedimentary rocks suggest the southern margin of Asia was located ∼10◦N, which is inconsistent with recent reviews of the palaeolatitude of Southern Tibet. We apply two different correction methods to estimate the magnitude of inclination shallowing independently from the volcanics. The mean inclination is corrected from 20.5◦ to 40.0◦ within 95 per cent confidence limits between 33.1◦ and 49.5◦ by the elongation/inclination (E/I) correction method; an anisotropy-based inclination correction method steepens the mean inclination to 41.3 ± 3.3◦ after a curve fitting- determined particle anisotropy of 1.39 is applied. These corrected inclinations are statistically indistinguishable from the well-determined 40.3 ± 4.5o mean inclination of the underlying volcanic rocks that provides an independent check on the validity of these correction methods. Our results show that inclination shallowing in sedimentary rocks can be corrected. Careful inspection of stratigraphic variations of rock magnetic properties and remanence anisotropy suggests shallowing was caused mainly by a combination of syn- and post-depositional processes such as particle imbrication and sedimentary compaction that vary in importance throughout the section. Palaeolatitudes calculated from palaeomagnetic directions from Eocene sedimentary rocks of the upper Linzizong Group that have corrected for inclination shallowing are consistent with palaeolatitude history of the Lhasa terrane, and suggest that the India-Asia collision began at ∼20◦N by 45-55 Ma


Knowledge of the magnitude, frequency, and duration of low flows is critical for water-supply management; reservoir design; waste-load allocation; and the preservation of water quality and quantity for irrigation, recreation, and ecological conservation purposes. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Kansas Water Office, completed a statewide study to develop regression equations for selected low-flow frequency and flow-duration statistics for ungaged streams in Kansas. The low-flow statistics included the annual and monthly 1-, 7-, and 30-day mean low flow for a recurrence interval of 10 years; flow-duration exceedance probabilities of 0.01, 0.1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 90, 95, 99, 99.9, and 99.99 percent; and mean annual flow. Data used in this analysis were from 254 USGS continuous-record streamgages using data through March 31, 2017, for the regression equation analysis and using data through September 30, 2017, for the flow-duration curve analysis. The streamgages used in the regression analysis of this report are in Kansas and 50 miles beyond the borders of the State. A trend analysis was done because trends can intro duce bias into results. Some trends were detected; however, no streamgage was omitted from the analysis because of the pres ence of a trend. Geographic-information-system software was used to compute 13 basin characteristics for each streamgage. The State of Kansas was divided into two study areas for the regional regression analysis. Logistic and left-censored regression techniques were used to develop the equations because of the presence of zero flows in the datasets. A collection of performance metrics is provided to estimate the accuracy of each equation. These equations are only applicable to streams in Kansas that are not substantially affected by diversion, regulation, or urbanization. Basin characteristics of these ungaged locations also need to be within the range of the basin characteristics used to develop these equations. tested against the regional regression equations using 19 pairs of streamgages. The 7-day annual mean low-flow statistic was estimated using the regression equations and the DAR method. The absolute difference, in percent, was calculated using the observed 7-day annual mean low flow for both methods. The results of the Wilcoxon signed-rank test indicated that the difference between the absolute differences, in percent, for the groups tested was not statistically significant. Previous USGS studies state it is preferable to use the DAR method when the ratio is between 0.5 and 1.5. Some studies offer no scientific basis for these guidelines, whereas other studies have developed different guidelines. In Kansas, the DAR method produced the smallest absolute difference, in percent, when the ratio of drainage areas was between 0.5 and 1.5. The results of this study indicate that the DAR method is appropriate for use in Kansas when estimating streamflow at an ungaged location if there is a nearby streamgage on the same river or stream where the DAR is between 0.5 and 1.5 and the low-flow statistic at the nearby streamgage is not zero. The regression equations developed in this report will be incorporated into the USGS StreamStats web-based geographic-information-system tool. This will allow users to click on any ungaged location within StreamStats and com pute estimates of the selected low-flow frequency and flow-duration statistics. The low-flow frequency and flow-duration statistics for streamgages in Kansas also will be available in StreamStats.


Orbital cellulitis is a potential blinding condition resulting from infection of the orbital contents, including the optic nerve. It may be fatal in cases with extension into the optic canal and subsequently the brain. Common aetiologies include extension of infection from paranasal sinusitis or preseptal cellulitis. This case report depicts the unusual occurrence of orbital cellulitis following a trivial superficial conjunctiva laceration wound from a motor-vehicle accident. Aggressive treatment with systemic antibiotics resulted in good visual outcome. All wound on or around the globe must be diligently treated to prevent such detrimental complication.


The purpose of the study is to examine the effects of the motivational climate created by the coach and perceived by a group of young handball players on their goal orientations, their beliefs regarding reasons for success and their self-satisfaction. The study participants were 159 young handball players. Players were administered a battery composed of tests to measure the above-mentioned motivational constructs. Results showed that a perceived mastery-oriented motivational climate was positively related to a task-centered goal orientation, enjoyment, and a belief that success may be achieved through effort. In contrast, a perceived performance-orientated training climate was linked to an ego-centered goal orientation, boredom, or lack of enthusiasm, and a belief that the routes of success in this sport are the abilities and the use of deception techniques. On the whole, this study underlines the educational role of the coach in young handball players. Specifically, the coach's socializing role influences both handball player's commitment and positive motivational profile as well as sport performance.


This investigation in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin, offshore Newfoundland, involves a petrophysical analysis to determine the relationship of Vp/Vs to lithology and the evaluation of PP and PS synthetic seismograms for these Vp/Vs values. The petrophysical analysis indicates that the sediments in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin fit quite well with the Castagna (1985) mud rock line. Our key finding is that for rock in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin, a Vp/Vs of 1.75 should differentiate a clay or calcite-rich bed from a quartz-rich deposit. Analysis of the synthetic seismogram indicates that the Garotta (1987) interval travel-time calculation will successfully determine lithology for formation scale events. Analysis of individual beds indicates that tuning and resolution issues dominate the calculated Vp/Vs. It is recommended that Vp/Vs analysis using interval times should be limited to intervals greater than a wavelength. Vp/Vs analysis using multi-component seismic in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin shows significant promise.


Making English a New Latin The paper looks at various aspects of the so-called Latin-English analogy and particularly at the ways in which English may share the fate of Latin in ultimately becoming a victim of its own success. A critical factor in the history of Latin was a conceptual split between its native and non-native varieties, which eventually proved instrumental in establishing its reputation as a dead language. The author wishes to argue that current proposals for a codification of English as a Lingua Franca, aimed at providing vast numbers of L2 learners with a pedagogical alternative that does not emulate L1 standards, may be regarded as major steps towards making English a new Latin: creating a similar split between native versus foreigners' English.


Visible light communications (VLC) is a valuable addition to future generations of networks, utilizing light for illumination for the purposes of advanced service provisioning at high speed. Low energy consumption, license free and RF interference free operation are compelling advantages. VLC systems are affected by sunlight limiting connection availability and reliability. The paper presents an analysis of the performance of VLC systems at different locations around the world over the cycle of a year; the evaluation considers the impact of sunlight as a function of location, time and for different surfaces over the four seasons of the year.


Background: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is associated with pain, limited
function and reduced quality of life (QoL), with prevalence associated with sports
participation, which represents a clinical and financial burden to patients and healthcare
systems. ACL reconstruction is the main treatment and pre-operative physiotherapy
potentially plays a role in preparing patients for surgery and improves post-surgery
health outcomes. Its effectiveness on patients' health outcomes pre- and post-surgery
and awareness of patients and healthcare professionals have not been investigated in the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). There is a lack of standardised protocols used in
practice for pre-operative physiotherapy management of patients undergoing ACL
reconstruction, and the clinical and financial effects have not been investigated.
Aims: This thesis aims to develop a standardised pre-operative physiotherapy
programme for patients undergoing ACL reconstruction based on clinical and literature
evidence, and to investigate the effectiveness of the developed protocol in KSA.
Methods: This study included three inter-related phases. Phase 1 - a survey of the
prevalence of ACL injury in Riyadh, KSA, and of pre-operative physiotherapy
awareness of healthcare professionals and ACL-deficient patients. A sample of 200
patients and 200 practitioners was surveyed and the Ministry of Health and 3 hospitals
were contacted about ACL injury cases. Phase 2 - a systematic review of literature on
pre-operative physiotherapy programmes and effectiveness in ACL injury management.
Phase 3 - a quasi-randomised clinical trial of a standardised pre-operative protocol,
using Phase 1 and 2 findings. This protocol was administered to ACL-deficient patients
undergoing reconstruction in KSA. Two patient groups were included: an intervention
group (n = 39), who received the developed pre-operative programme; and a control
group (n = 45), who did not receive pre-operative physiotherapy. The primary outcome
measures were based on the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), and
secondary outcomes included range of motion, quadriceps and hamstring muscle
strength, health status (using the EQ-5D-5L tool), pain score, QoL and resource use.
Results: Phase 1 showed ACL injury is the most prevalent knee related injury (53%),
with young, active participants being mostly affected (60%). The prevalence in Riyadh
(31 per 100,000) was similar to international figures. 82% healthcare professionals were
aware of pre-operative physiotherapy, whereas 55% of surveyed patients were aware.
Phase 2 suggested that pre-operative physiotherapy is beneficial to ACL injury patients.
Phase 3 demonstrated that primary and secondary outcomes were improved prior to
surgery in the intervention group compared to baseline (p < 0.01). Post-surgery outcome
measures were better in the intervention group than the control group (p < 0.05) except
function in sports activity, which was similar. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio
(ICER) related to pre-operative physiotherapy intervention was estimated at 13449 SR
(£2241) per QALY gained and the intervention was cost-effective.
Conclusions: The findings showed the clinical and cost-effectiveness of the developed,
evidence-based pre-operative protocol in preparing patients for ACL reconstruction and
improving health outcomes post-surgery. Therefore, pre-operative physiotherapy for
ACL injury should be integrated routinely into the Saudi healthcare system.


University of Washington researchers studied the structural and geotechnical aspects of the seismic vulnerability of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. A design-level earthquake would strongly shake the viaduct and cause widespread liquefaction of the underlying loose, saturated soils. The liquefaction would likely cause the foundations to settle and to move laterally. The Alaskan Way Viaduct's reinforcing details make the viaduct particularly vulnerable to strong shaking and to foundation movements induced by liquefaction. In a design level earthquake, the Alaskan Way Viaduct would be severely damaged and multiple sections could collapse.


In this paper we explain how merging of ontologies is captured by the pushout construction from category theory, and argue that this is a very natural approach to the problem. We study this independent of a specific choice of ontology representation language, and thus provide a sort of blueprint for the development of algorithms applicable in practice. For this purpose, we view category theory as a universal "meta specification language" that enables us to specify properties of ontological relationships and constructions in a way that does not depend on any particular implementation. This can be achieved since the basic objects of study in category theory are the relationships between multiple ontological specifications, not the internal structure of a single knowledge representation. Categorical pushouts are already considered in some approaches to ontology research (Jannink et al. 1998; Schorlemmer, Potter, & Robertson 2002; Goguen 2005; Kent 2005) and we do not claim our treatment to be entirely original. Still we have the impression that the potential of category theoretic approaches is by far not exhausted in todays ontology research. For our particular case the treatment will focus on the ontology merging, for which we will give both intuitive explanations and precise definitions. This reflects our belief that, at the current stage of research, it is not desirable to fade out the mathematical details of the categorical approach completely, since the interfaces to current techniques in ontology research are not yet available to their full extent. We will also keep this treatment rather general, not narrowing the discussion to specific formalisms – this added generality is one of the strengths of category theory. A long version of this paper with a tutorial character is available from the first author's homepage.


A Geographic Information System (GIS) serves as the tangible and intangible means by which spatially related phenomena can be created, analyzed and rendered. GIS metadata serves as the formal framework to catalog information about a GIS data set. Metadata is independent of the encoded spatial and attribute information. GIS metadata is a subset of electronic metadata which catalogs electronic resources such as web pages
and software applications. However, GIS metadata is inherently different than electronic media because each metadata file can be applied to a spatial component that is not implicit with other forms of metadata. Using open source technologies such as R, Perl and PHP, metadata information
for large GIS data sets (thousands of layers) can be gleaned quickly and more efficiently than the human element. In doing so, metrics to express the integrity of both the metadata and GIS data can be captured, displayed and compared for use in the decision making process. Supervised and unsupervised techniques allow users and computer
algorithms to explore unseen trends about the GIS data not obvious to the human component. The validity of these analyses was tested using a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Responses from 40 GIS professionals about the results of this methodology were captured to find a relationship between this technology's Perceived Ease of Use,
Perceived Usefulness, Attitude Towards Using and the Intention to Further use this technology.


In this paper we present an approach that customize the BDI model to define a so-called "DIBRA: desire-intention-belief-rapport-adaptation" as a generic method to support progress from individual autonomous agent concept towards interactive multiple agents. Rapport here refers to the component that connects an agent to its environment, whereas adaptation module incorporates mechanisms of learning. The contribution of this paper is twofold; first, we propose a development approach that enables us to combine the internal and the interactive structures of multiagent system; second, the proposed methodology is applied to a real-world application targeting assistance in product development process. We believe that the five proposed tiers for multiagent systems (MAS) development serves for mastering the complexity and the difficulty of setting up effective autonomous interactive MAS


This Glossary, designed as a practical aid to the reading of Chaucer, is intended to be serviceable with any of the widely read editions. Its primary aim is to explain the meanings of words and phrases used by Chaucer in ways which are unfamiliar in modern English. Words used as they are today are not included, but many now in common use do appear, as they had different connotations in Chaucer's time. This concise working tool will be valuable to all Middle English scholars.


The characteristics and the structure, conduct and performance of Peninsular Malaysia's forestry subsector are examined. Special attention is paid to the declining resourse base, the paucity of regeneration efforts and the high degree of fragmentation at all levels. The above factors manifest themselves in the primary processing and in the limited but increasing involvement in down-stream processing. Export performance and the increasing competition from other producers are noted. These and other problems are seen to be worsening and there is a dire need for government policies and strategies to alleviate them. The second aim of this study is to attempt to forecast the subsector's main characteristics in the year 2000. Efforts at conservation and replenishment and the reduction of forest areas for harvesting are noted. In 15 Years time it is expected that a small number (perhaps ten or fewer) of wholly or partly government owned Intergrated Timber Complexes (ITCs) will pay a much larger role in the timber subsector. Manufacturing will be geared towards for more downstream processing. In the field of exports there seems to be no early prospects of solution. The formation of a "Malaysia Incorporated" national timber trade associaton represented by both government and private organizations including participants from the Association of Bankers will go a long way towards finding remedies to problems experienced in the timber trade. Through this association a consolidated approach to market research and product development, cargo consolidation and shipping arrangement is possible. The association can play a role in improving trading facilities notably facilities at the port and sources of finance.


Ferrimagnetic nanocrystals are present in virtually every organism. They are used by bacteria, algae, mollusks, insects, and vertebrates either for navigating in the geomagnetic field or for hardening their tissues. Advanced transmission electron microscopy techniques, including electron holography, reveal the complex interplay between the physical and magnetic properties and biological functions of ferrimagnetic nanocrystals in bacteria. Although some information is now available about magnetic sensory systems in more complex organisms, much further research is required to understand fully the origin and function of biomagnetism.


The integration of test-banks for computer-based testing, textbooks, and electronic lecture notes in first-year mathematics courses has changed the way mathematics is taught at Bennett College (Greensboro, North Carolina). Classes meet in two electronic classrooms each with 27 computers on a local area network and aprojection system. An integrated computerized instructional system (ICISS) has been set up in both labs so that a variety of teaching/learning approaches can be used. The main objective of the system is to involve students in the learning process by avoiding excessive writing on the board, providing information in an interactive mode, and allowing students to explore some concepts through computer software. The system contains a set of extensive test-banks for each course and a graphics editor with many mathematical symbols available is used to add questions or modify questions in the test-banks. The ICISS system includes several programs that support the testing/tutorial process. An eight-digit coding system is used which allows the instructor to select the types of questions selected at random by the computer. The Course Management System produces an electronic grade book, so that scores can be entered into the grade book quickly and easily directly from the file server. Electronic Lecture Notes have been installed for Basic Mathematics, Beginning Algebra, and Pre-Calculus. A summary of the results of student attitudes in a questionnaire about the use of the ICISS materials is provided, as well as sample screens of online review and practice testing. (AEF) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ********************************************************************************