Simultaneous interpreting (SI) is a highly complex cognitive process which aims to deliver a complete and accurate rendition of the original message in real time. However, there is a myriad of factors that can influence the process, speed being one of the factors most frequently put forward by practising interpreters as a major challenge. Against this background, we, who are professional interpreters at the United Nations and in the private market, and have observed that speed has become an increasingly present challenge in our work, have carried out an experimental study with the aim of elucidating one of the strategies that expert interpreters resort to when confronted with different speed rates, namely the omission of redundant information. Ten professional interpreters from the United Nations were asked to simultaneously interpret three speeches, which were written to be read and were of similar lexical density, at different speeds. The findings indicate that at higher speeds interpreters omit more redundant information, and it would appear that omission is a strategy the interpreter resorts to for coping with speed.


• A 41-year-old woman from the Cape Verde Islands, Africa, who had been residing in the United States for 11 months was found to have human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2)-associated acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Antibody to HIV-2 was found by enzyme immunoassay and was verified by radioimmunoprecipitation. The patient was being treated for pulmonary tuberculosis at the time of her admission to our institution. Further laboratory and clinical evaluation at our facility revealed depressed CD4 lymphocytes, oral candidiasis, and cryptococcal meningitis with indeterminate results on serologic testing for HIV type 1 (HIV-1). The biopsy specimen of a lesion in the right occipital lobe of the brain documented Toxoplasma gondii , indicating a clinical diagnosis of AIDS. To our knowledge, our study presents the first known patient with HIV2-associated AIDS in the United States. Our patient provides further evidence that HIV-2 causes severe immunodeficiency and opportunistic infection. The condition should be suspected in the face of normal or repeatedly equivocal HIV-1 antibody test results in the presence of clinically documented AIDS. ( Arch Intern Med . 1989;149:1875-1877)


Lay listeners are reliable judges when evaluating pitch accuracy of occasional singers, suggesting that enculturation and laypersons' perceptual abilities are sufficient to judge "simple" music material adequately. However, the definition of pitch accuracy in operatic performances is much more complex than in melodies performed by occasional singers. Furthermore, because listening to operatic performances is not a common activity, laypersons' experience with this complicated acoustic signal is more limited. To address the question of music expertise in evaluating operatic singing voices, listeners without music training were compared with the music experts examined in a recent study (Larrouy-Maestri, Magis, & Morsomme, 2014a) and their ratings were modeled with regard to underlying acoustic variables of pitch accuracy. As expected, some participants lacked test-retest reliability in their judgments. However, listeners who used a consistent strategy relied on a definition of pitch accuracy that appears to overlap with the quantitative criteria used by music experts. Besides clarifying the role of music expertise in the evaluation of melodies, our findings show robust perceptual abilities in laypersons when listening to complex signals such as operatic performances.


Background Flow diverters are increasingly used for the treatment of intracranial aneurysms. Understanding cavernous internal carotid artery (cICA) tortuosity may help to predict procedural complexities of deploying flow diverters. Methods Pipeline embolization device (PED) neurointerventions for ICA aneurysms proximal to the ICA termination were reviewed. Cavernous ICA tortuosity was measured as a ratio D/AP, where D=height difference of the anterior and posterior genus, AP=sum of the angles of the anterior (A) and posterior (P) genus. Four types of cICA tortuosity were proposed. An analysis of variance regression and Fisher's exact test were performed to analyze differences among the types. Results Cavernous ICA tortuosity was categorized into minimal (type I, n=28), moderate (type II–III, n=29), and severe (type IV, n=26). The groups were comparable for patient age (mean ± SEM years, type I: 55.6±10.4, II–III: 56.4±14.4, IV: 55±12.8) and aneurysm size (mean±SEM mm, type I: 6.25±3.5, II–III: 7.6±4.9, IV: 9.11±4.9). Analysis of variance demonstrated significant differences in procedural fluoroscopy time (mean ± SEM min, type I: 29.8±8.4, II–III: 44.9±34.1, IV: 52.6±17.2, p<0.005) and mean ± SEM D/AP (type I: 0.008±0.0008, II–III: 0.141±0.07, IV: 0.482±0.365, p<0.0001). Procedural complexity was also statistically significant (p<0.005) with 4%, 28%, and 35% of cases in types I, II–III, and IV, respectively, requiring intraprocedural PED removal or balloon post-processing of the implanted PED. Conclusions We propose a classification system for cICA tortuosity based on measurements of the anterior and posterior genu geometry. This classification correlates strongly with markers of PED procedural complexity and may be helpful in pre-procedure prognostication.


Ibrahim Seck is President of the Savings and Credit Commission of the Federation of NGOs of Senegal, and is a farmer from Diogo in the Niayes area.

What can we say about the state of agricultural development in Africa today?

Despite the efforts of the extension services, results are not encouraging Self-sufficiency in food has not been achieved, soils are deteriorating and yields are falling.

What is the reason behind this lack of progress?

Policy makers tend to think of farmers as passive 'beneficiaries` of development and not as active 'partners'. This is the result of a false belief that there is a kind of chain which runs from the offices of administrators to the fields via research laboratories, agricultural institutions, training centres, extension and all the other intermediaries whether technical, financial or administrative. But in reality there is no straight line from top to bottom. It is a complex tangle of social, cultural, economic, environmental and political factors of which farmers are an integral part and from which nothing should prevent them from playing a responsible role in this development process.

What are we aiming for?

We should be working towards sustainable production systems which are adapted to the current national and international situation. The goal must be to put agricultural products on the market at a price that rewards the producers. This should be achieved by using local renewable sources of energy, reducing external inputs to a minimum and ensuring that the environment is protected.

How do we get there?

By using a capital resource so far unexploited: our farmers' knowledge. There is not one amongst us who is not aware that if the land has to provide us with nourishment, we must in turn nourish the land. Even the most illiterate farmer knows that we must not lose the microorganisms in the soil that work at no cost on our behalf. On this foundation we farmers have developed strategies for survival based on diversity of production in harmony with the environment. On the other hand, modern farming practices have taken a too production-oriented line. This has not sufficiently taken into account farmers' own reasons for avoiding monoculture and for thinking of trees, not just as vegetation belonging to the forest but as an integral part of agriculture. In just the same way we farmers have used our own empirical research to develop ways of integrating livestock and draft animals into our farming systems. We have our own traditional ways of looking after our crops in the field and protecting our grain stores from the ravages of pests and diseases. Researchers should get to know us better in order to help us improve on what we already know, and not just ignore or wipe out all that we have learned at the stroke of a pen.

How should we do it?

We must, above all else, ensure that information is circulated between all the partners involved. We must remember that farmers are also a source of information; that extension staff have as much to learn as the farmers. And farmers in one region have just as much need to know how farmers in a neighbouring region do things as to know the latest results from the research laboratories. In the past knowledge was transferred visually from individual to individual and the method was: see, judge, and act. We must encourage the exchange of practical experiences because the role of farmers is crucial to the success of agriculture. It is in this context that progress will come from the farmers themselves. They ask no more than that their reasons for doing things in their own way are respected. If we can give them this respect they are capable themselves of taking up the four challenges which face them.

What are the challenges?

The first is cultural. We need to reestablish the values of village solidarity which individualism demolishes. In the past, when a farmer no longer had the means to feed his family, the villagers came in the night, anonymously, to fill his food store and he did not feel humiliated by this charity.

The second is economic. Improve profitability. This implies a need for communication between experts and farmers; a flow of information about markets, both local and further afield, and extension advice about the local and international economy.

The third is environmental. Improve techniques for protecting the environment by learning from what is being done elsewhere.

The fourth challenge is political. Achieve democratic management of power, of knowledge and of wealth. Information should serve as the means of achieving a more equal share for all by raising the level of those currently suffering the greatest disadvantage.

The farming community must become a force which cannot be ignored by the rest of society - including planners and policy makers. Then we shall achieve a system of agricultural production which is diverse, socially just, economically viable and environmentally sound. That is what sustainable agriculture is all about.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CTA.


The present thesis gives a contribution to the study and the modelling of the helium behaviour (from its production to the release) in oxide nuclear fuels. In particular, a model for the production of helium in LWR oxide fuels has been developed and implemented in TUBRNP. The model takes into account the helium produced by alpha decays, (n,alpha) reactions and ternary fissions. At first, it has been verified by means of detailed neutron-transport depletion calculations, performed by means of the VESTA Monte Carlo-depletion code. A good agreement has been found in terms of helium produced and actinides concentrations for both the UO2 and MOX cases. Finally, the model has been validated against experimental data. In particular, a good agreement has been found in terms of average concentrations and radial profiles of the main alphaemitters produced in UO2 fuels. As a second step, the microstructure of oxide fuels has been studied experimentally and theoretically, since it is relevant for the behaviour of the gases. More precisely, grain growth of UO2 and MOX fuels has been investigated. In fact, grain boundaries strongly influence the diffusion process. As far as the UO2 is concerned, experimental data of unirradiated fuel pellets have been analysed and interpreted by means of different models available in literature. As far as the MOX fuel is concerned, an experimental campaign has been carried out at JRC/ITU in order to study for the first time the influence of plutonium content (0, 3.7, 9, 25 %wt) and fabrication technique (SOLGEL, SBR, MIMAS) on the grain growth of stoichiometric MOX fuels annealed at different temperatures (1350-1750°C). It has been found that normalized size distributions did not change significantly during the annealing and were similar among the different samples. On the other hand, large differences have been noticed in terms of growth kinetics. The slowest kinetics has been experienced by the SBR sample, followed by MIMAS and UO2 samples, while the two SOLGEL samples had the largest growth. No dependence with the plutonium content has been found and the predominant effect has been attributed to the pore size. In fact, SBR fuel is characterized by the largest and then slowest pores, while SOLGEL is characterized by the smallest and then fastest pores. All things considered, grain growth kinetics of the analyzed samples lies within the large scatter of the values available in the open literature for UO2 fuels, and the correlation proposed by Sari for stoichiometric fuel is in agreement with the growth experienced by the samples manufactured by means of the SOLGEL technique, which is faster with respect to commercial fuels. This means that the adoption of Sari correlation for commercial MOX fuels could lead to an overestimation of the grain growth, with consequencies for the estimation of the fission gas and helium releases. For the fuel performance, on the basis of the large scatter of the experimental data, the same correlation developed for UO2 can be used also for MOX fuels. However, a quantification of the effect of porosity and fission gas bubble on the grain boundary movement should be more deeply investigated. As a final step, the transport of helium in the fuel has been investigated. A model for the release of helium in the gap between the fuel and the cladding has been developed, implemented in TRANSURANUS and preliminarily validated on the basis of pressurized and unpressurized fuel rods. The agreement is satisfactory although some discrepancies have been noticed. More experimental data are needed for a better assesment of the model parameters (diffusion coefficients, solubilities) and for a proper validation of the model. URI: Authors: BOTAZZOLO Pietro LUZZI Lelio VAN UFFELEN Paul SCHUBERT Arndt Publication Year: 2011 Type:


The paper proposes that national morality is an important variable for explaining national anti-trafficking policy. It uses cross country regression analysis to see whether or not empirically national morality is a determinant of anti-trafficking policy. The findings of the paper are consistent with the notion that improved levels of national morality lead to better national anti-trafficking policy. National morality is found to be statistically relevant for national anti-trafficking policy when controlling for the extent of democracy, the share of the private sector in the economy, and the degree of globalization.


Due to the introduction of new broadband services, individual line data rates are expected to exceed 100 Gb/s in the near future. To operate at these high speeds, new optical signal processing techniques will have to be developed. This paper will demonstrate that two-photon absorption in a specially designed semiconductor microcavity is an ideal candidate for optical signal processing applications such as autocorrelation, sampling, and demultiplexing in high-speed wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) and hybrid WDM/optical time-division-multiplexed networks.


One of the greatest problems that scramjet research faces is fuel air mixing. The residence time for a scramjet engine, or the time it takes for a volume of air to completely pass through the engine, is on the order of 0.1 ms. In that extremely short period of time fuel must be injected and fully mirco-mixed at stoichiometric ratios with the combustion chamber airflow. The fuel-air mixture must then be combusted and expanded through the nozzle to produce thrust. The goal of this research is to develop a new more efficient method of fuel air mixing within a scramjet combustion chamber. A possible way to speed up the mixing process of parallel injection without incurring the total pressure losses that would occur in normal injection is to inject the fuel from the rear side of a backward facing step. Backward facing steps in supersonic flow produce a Prandtl-Meyer expansion fan followed by a shear layer. The instabilities in this shear layer have dominant resonant frequencies. It is believed that if fuel is injected in pulses that impinge on the shear layer at these dominant resonant frequencies that the shear layer will resonate. When the shear layer resonates the vortices that form in the shear layer will grow in magnitude, thus mixing the injected fuel with the air. To test this hypothesis a new test section was designed and built that features a one inch step under which an injector can be housed. This new test section was installed in the supersonic facility at the University of Kansas. Two injectors were also designed that each feature a face plate, one with eight injection ports arranged in a ring and one with 5 injection ports. Between the face plate and a back plate there is a cavity that houses a rotating valve that is powered by a pneumatic motor. Five valves were built: one with 8 teeth, one with 16 teeth, one with 5 teeth that are the same size as the gaps between the teeth, one with 5 teeth where the teeth are 50% larger than the gaps, and one with 5 teeth where the teeth are 50% smaller than the gaps. The 8 tooth valve and 16 tooth valve where used with the 8 port injector face plate. The 5 tooth valves were used with the 5 port injector face plate. As the valve rotates the teeth block and unblock the injection ports injecting carbon dioxide gas into the test section. The 8 port injector was tested over a range of frequencies from 1.6 kHz to 10.0 kHz. The 5 port injector was tested for each valve over a range of frequencies from 1.0 kHz to 4.0 kHz. Static pressure data was taken along the upper and lower walls of the test section by means of an array of pressure sensors. The pressure data from the test section was compared to results generated using a three dimensional CFD simulation of the test section. Overall the pressure data on the lower wall agreed reasonably well with the CFD simulation. The vorticity and turbulence contours generated by the STAR-CCM+ simulation suggest that as a pulse is injected into the test section from the step it causes the shear layer to curve outward near the point of…


For the past one hundred years, Americans have argued and worried about the quality of their schools. Some have charged that students were not learning enough, while others have complained that the schools were not in the forefront of social progress. In this authoritative history of education in the twentieth century, historian Diane Ravitch describes this ongoing battle of ideas and explains why school reform has so often failed. "Left Back" recounts grandiose efforts by education reformers to use the schools to promote social and political goals, even when they diminished the schools' ability to educate children. It shows how generations of reformers have engaged in social engineering, advocating such innovations as industrial education, intelligence testing, curricular differentiation, and life-adjustment education. These reformers, she demonstrates, simultaneously mounted vigorous campaigns against academic studies. "Left Back" charges that American schools have been damaged by three misconceptions. The first is the belief that the schools can solve any social or political problem. The second is the belief that only a portion of youngsters are capable of benefiting from a high-quality education. The third is that imparting knowledge is relatively unimportant, compared to engaging students in activities and experiences. These grave errors, Ravitch contends, have unnecessarily restricted equality of educational opportunity. They have dumbed down the schools by encouraging a general lowering of academic expectations. They have produced a diluted and bloated curriculum and pressure to enlarge individual schools so that they can offer multiple tracks to children withdifferent occupational goals. As a result, the typical American high school is too big, too anonymous, and lacks intellectual coherence. Ravitch identifies several heroic educators -- such as William T. Harris, William C. Bagley, and Isaac Kandel -- who challenged these dominant and wrong-headed ideas. These men, dissidents in their own times, are usually left out of standard histories of education or treated derisively because they believed that all children deserved the opportunity to meet high standards of learning. In describing the wars between competing traditions of education, Ravitch points the way to reviving American education. She argues that all students have the capacity to learn and that all are equally deserving of a solid liberal arts education. "Left Back" addresses issues of the utmost importance and urgency. It is a large work of history that by recovering the past illuminates a future.


In the first coprehensive introduction to the nature and development of ethnographic film, Peter Loizos reviews fifty of the most important films made between 1955 and 1985. Going beyond programmatic statements, he analyzes the films themselves, identifying and discussing their contributions to ethnographic documentation. Loizos begins by reviewing works of John Marshall and Timothy Asch in the 1950s and moves through those of Jean Rouch, Robert Gardner, and many more recent filmmakers. He reveals a steady course of innovations along four dimensions: production technology, subject matter, strategies of argument, and ethnographic authentication. His analyses of individual films address questions of realism, authenticity, genre, authorial and subjective voice, and representation of the films' creators as well as their subjects. "Innovation in Ethnographic Film," as a systematic and iluminating review of developments in ethnographic film, will be an important resource for the growing number of anthropologists and other scholars who use such films as tools for research and teaching.


The aim of this study was to analyse factors associated with remission of atopic dermatitis (AD) in childhood. A population-based AD cohort of 894 children aged 1-3 years from a cross-sectional baseline study in 2000 was followed up in 2005. The association between remission, background, health, lifestyle, and environmental variables was estimated with crude and multivariable logistic regression. At follow-up, 52% of the children had remission. Independent factors at baseline predicting remission were: milder eczema (adjusted odds ratio (aOR), 1.43; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.16-1.77); later onset of eczema (aOR 1.40; 95% CI 1.08-1.80); non-flexural eczema (aOR 2.57; 95% CI 1.62-4.09); no food allergy (aOR 1.51; 95% CI 1.11-2.04), and rural living (aOR 1.48; 95% CI 1.07-2.05). Certain aspects of AD and rural living were important for remission, but despite the initial hypotheses to the contrary, the environmental factors examined in this paper were not substantial predictors of remission.


Research has shown that youth with disabilities do not make as successful of a transition to adulthood as their peers without disabilities (Wells, Sandefur & Hogan, 2003; Timmons, Whitney-Thomas, McIntyre, Butterworth & Allen, 2004; Friedman, DeLucia, Holmbeck, Jandasek & Zebracki, 2009). However, a thorough literature review demonstrated promise related to evidence-based interventions seeking to increase successful transition to adulthood with this population to lessen this discrepancy between the two groups (Shogren, Wehmeyer, Palmer, Rifenbark & Little, 2015; Gharebeghy, Rassafiani & Cameron, 2015). The aim of this doctoral project was to explore the nature of this problem to better understand what has contributed to its development and to develop a solution to the problem through Becoming Responsible: Transitioning to Adulthood. The program is a web-based resource for parents raising youth with disabilities on how to transfer responsibility for daily life tasks from parent to child. The program is a synthesis of the Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) and the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI), which were shown to be effective with a wide variety of populations (Polatajko & Mandich, 2004; viii Wehmeyer, 2007). Additional information is included related to program evaluation, funding needs and dissemination plans.


African theologians, and indeed all humanity, should individually and collectively make a permanent commitment to environmen- tal protection. Using conceptual tools as well as sociological and theological critical analysis, it can be demonstrated how closely such concepts as politics, economics, war, culture, tech- nology, urbanisation, the Internet, globalisation, missiology, and theology are related to ecology and our natural environment. Consequently, African theologians and concerned people need to take into account, and observe ecological norms as part of the fulfilment of their world mission. Mugambi and Mika (2001:4) affirm that "human beings and nature as such are valuable and deserve to survive". Therefore, global and local role players must assume appropriate responsibility in order to ensure the necessary ecological balance to sustain life on this planet. This article analyses and demonstrates the importance of environ- mental protection of the African continent. The overall objective is to promote environmental awareness and active engagement in assessing the environmental impact on all human activities.


The present work concerns with the study of debris flows and, in particular, with the related hazard in the Alpine Environment. During the last years several methodologies have been developed to evaluate hazard associated to such a complex phenomenon, whose velocity, impacting force and inappropriate temporal prediction are responsible of the related high hazard level.
This research focuses its attention on the depositional phase of debris flows through the application of a numerical model (DFlowz), and on hazard evaluation related to watersheds morphometric, morphological and geological characterization. The main aims are to test the validity of DFlowz simulations and assess sources of errors in order to understand how the empirical uncertainties influence the predictions; on the other side the research concerns with the possibility of performing hazard analysis starting from the identification of susceptible debris flow catchments and definition of their activity level.
25 well documented debris flow events have been back analyzed with the model DFlowz (Berti and Simoni, 2007): derived form the implementation of the empirical relations between event volume and planimetric and cross section inundated areas, the code allows to delineate areas affected by an event by taking into account information about volume, preferential flow path and digital elevation model (DEM) of fan area. The analysis uses an objective methodology for evaluating the accuracy of the prediction and involve the calibration of the model based on factors describing the uncertainty associated to the semi empirical relationships. The general assumptions on which the model is based have been verified although the predictive capabilities are influenced by the uncertainties of the empirical scaling relationships, which have to be necessarily taken into account and depend mostly on errors concerning deposited volume estimation.
In addition, in order to test prediction capabilities of physical-based models, some events have been simulated through the use of RAMMS (RApid Mass MovementS). The model, which has been developed by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) in Birmensdorf and the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) takes into account a one-phase approach based on Voellmy rheology (Voellmy, 1955; Salm et al., 1990). The input file combines the total volume of the debris flow located in a release area with a mean depth. The model predicts the affected area, the maximum depth and the flow velocity in each cell of the input DTM.
Relatively to hazard analysis related to watersheds characterization, the database collected by the Alto Adige Province represents an opportunity to examine debris-flow sediment dynamics at the regional scale and analyze lithologic controls. With the aim of advancing current understandings about debris flow, this study focuses on 82 events in order to characterize the topographic conditions associated with their initiation , transportation and deposition, seasonal patterns of occurrence and examine the role played by bedrock geology on sediment transfer.


During her lifelong service to the poorest of the poor, Mother Teresa became an icon of compassion to people of all religions, and none. Her selfless commitment to the care of the sick and the dying, as well as to thousands of others who no one else was prepared to help, has been recognised and acclaimed throughout the world. Yet this impressive collection of her writings shows a different and unexpected picture of the Nobel Peace Prize winner. Her absolute conviction that she was doing God's will is well known but what is a revelation is the discovery that she fulfilled her mission in spite of feeling a chasm of spiritual emptiness within her, which lasted for decades. This book is a moving chronicle of her spiritual journey and it reveals the secrets she shared only with her closest confidants. It also illustrates how the experience of an agonizing sense of loss need not hold anyone back from doing something extraordinary with their lives.


This study was basically an attempt to obtain an insight into the
pattern of relationships among students achievement in English, study
behaviour variables and home environment variables. Specifically, the
study aimed to determine the relationship of each of the study behaviour
variables to student achievement in English, the relationship of each of the
home environment variables to student achievement in English, the
relationships among the study behaviour variables and home environment
variables, the combined effect of the various study behaviour variables
and home environment variable on student's achievement in English.
This study was conducted in fourteen secondary schools in Kuala Lumpur. A total of 485 boys and 515 girls from Form Four Science, Arts
and Commerce streams were involved.
The independent variables in this study were study behaviour and
home environment. The analysis of data was based on two sets of
questionnaire, i.e.,the study behaviour questionnaire and the home
environment questionnaire. The dependent variable in this study was
student achievement in the SRP English examination. From the results of the study and a review of related literature, it
is inferred that the independent variables studied had considerable
influence on the dependent variable. The study also revealed that the
three study behaviour variables and the three home environment variables
combined explained 27.6% of the total variance in English achievement;
the best single predictor of English achievement was classroom study
behaviour; and a substantial amount of variance i n English achievement
remained unexplained.The findings have significant long-term implications for English
teaching and learning in Malaysian schools. In view of the importance of
study behaviours brought to light by this study, it is recommended that
good learning strategies be taught to students in schools to facilitate them
develop the right attitude towards English learning, and subsequently
relevant study behaviour that helps improve their performance in English.
It is also suggested that parents need to be kept informed of the objectives
and implications of the English programme in schools so that they can
provide a supportive environment at home which may help their children
do well in English.


The sharp increase of Internet usage has transformed the way goods are bought and sold. Widely available online information about products and pricing has transferred many consumers from traditional to online stores. The scope of this paper is to examine the perceptions of Greek adopters and non-adopters of online shopping in terms of demographic profile, consumers' expectations of online stores, advantages and problems related to online purchases. Additionally, the reasons for using or avoiding online shopping, as well as, the types of preferred products were studied. The findings of this paper are useful in explaining consumers' online buying behaviour. The empirical results provide important managerial implications and set the basis for further research on this field.


Background Genotypes based on high-density single nucleotide polymorphisms have recently been used to identify a number of novel recessive mutations that adversely affect fertility in dairy cattle as well as to track conditions such as polledness. The use of sequential mate allocation strategies that account for increases in genomic inbreeding and the economic impact of affected matings may result in faster allele frequency changes than strategies that do not consider inbreeding and monetary losses. However, the effect of gene editing on selection programs also should be considered because gene editing has the potential to dramatically change allele frequencies in livestock populations. Methods A simulation program developed to evaluate dairy cattle breeding schemes was extended to include the use of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR), transcription activator-like effector nuclease (TALEN), and zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) technologies for gene editing. A hypothetical technology with a perfect success rate was used to establish an upper limit on attainable progress, and a scenario with no editing served as a baseline for comparison. Results The technologies differed in the rate of success of gene editing as well as the success rate of embryo transfer based on literature estimates. The number of edited alleles was assumed to have no effect on success rate. The two scenarios evaluated considered only the horned locus or 12 recessive alleles that currently are segregating in the U.S. Holstein population. The top 1, 5, or 10% of bulls were edited each generation, and either no cows or the top 1% of cows were edited. Inefficient editing technologies produced less cumulative genetic gain and lower inbreeding than efficient ones. Gene editing was very effective at reducing the frequency of the horned haplotype (increasing the frequency of polled animals in the population), and allele frequencies of the 12 recessives segregating in the U.S. Holstein population decreased faster with editing than without. Conclusions Gene editing can be an effective tool for reducing the rate of harmful alleles in a dairy cattle population even if only a small proportion of elite animals are modified.


Enterprise Information Systems or just Enterprise Systems (ES) have become
increasingly popular since the last decade of the previous century. Many organizations
have deployed an ES implementation and the current adoption rate of these systems is
still rising. The implementation of an ES, especially when driven by a BPR rationale, has
a large impact on the adopting organization. Extensive research has shown that the
resulting organizational change process requires profound support, which most
implementations currently lack, causing a substantial number of implementation
failures. A literature overview in chapter 1 focuses on the diverse contributions dealing
with this organizational change problem in the domain of ES implementations. The ES
implementation process is researched from various perspectives, which leads to
fragmented knowledge and mostly explorative or descriptive research results.
Prescriptive research is carried out less often. This kind of research leads to conceptual
change frameworks or guidelines. On the other hand, consistent creation of a
profound and applicable ES specific change approach is lacking. This dissertation
focuses on this omission and designs an organizational change approach, which it will
then deploy in a longitudinal case study.


NHS England, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Picker and NHS Improvement started the work described in this article to strengthen how patients, carers and staff working together in co-design and co-production can make a real difference in improving experience of care. Always Events®, which is an improvement methodology for the co-design and consistent implementation of those aspects of patient experience that matter most to patients in a health care setting, was chosen. The approach has been to first test the methodology with three organizations then to spread to a substantial proportion of acute health care providers, with concurrent scale-up within organizations that were early adopters in single settings, and then spread to other providers including care homes, primary care and integrated care systems. For organizations to be successful in embedding and sustaining Always Events, and to have a significant impact on improving experience, we learnt that health organizations should: a) co-produce with patients/service users from the very start and throughout every phase, b) integrate quality improvement, patient experience and person-centered care, c) identify an Executive Leader champion who can support the team to gain momentum from the beginning, d) keep an open mind and not be tempted to pre-determine what changes need to be made; patients/service users & staff know the challenges and have the best, simplest and most affordable ideas for improvement and finally, e) involving point of care staff from the beginning and co-designing the Always Event with them will support engagement and reduce resistance to


Gas turbines for military applications, when operating in harsh environments like deserts often encounter unexpected operation faults. Such performance deterioration of the gas turbine decreases the mission readiness of the Air Force and simultaneously increases the maintenance costs. Some of the major factors responsible for the reduced performance are ingestion of debris during take off and landing, distorted intake flows during low altitude maneuvers, and hot gas ingestion during artillery firing. The focus of this thesis is to study ingestion of debris; specifically sand. The region of interest being the internal cooling ribbed duct of the turbine blade. The presence of serpentine passages and strong localized cross flow components makes this region prone to deposition, erosion, and corrosion (DEC) by sand particles. A Lagrangian particle tracking technique was implemented in a generalized coordinate multi-block Navier-Stokes solver in a distributed parallel framework. The developed algorithm was validated by comparing the computed particle statistics for 28 microns lycopodium, 50 microns glass, and 70 microns copper with available data [2] for a turbulent channel flow at Reτ=180. Computations were performed for a particle-laden turbulent flow through a stationary ribbed square duct (rib pitch / rib height = 10, rib height / hydraulic diameter = 0.1) using an Eulerian-Lagrangian framework. Particle sizes of 10, 50, and 100 microns with response times (normalized by friction velocity and hydraulic diameter) of 0.06875, 1.71875, and 6.875 respectively are considered. The calculations are performed for a nominal bulk Reynolds number of 20,000 under fully developed conditions. The carrier phase was solved using Large Eddy Simulation (LES) with Dynamic Smagorinsky Model [1]. Due to low volume fraction of the particles, one-way fluid-particle coupling was assumed. It is found that at any given instant in time about 40% of the total number of 10 micron particles are concentrated in the vicinity (within 0.05 Dh) of the duct surfaces, compared to 26% of the 50 and 100 micron particles. The 10 micron particles are more sensitive to the flow features and are prone to preferential concentration more so than the larger particles. At the side walls of the duct, the 10 micron particles exhibit a high potential to erode the region in the vicinity of the rib due to secondary flow impingement. The larger particles are more prone to eroding the area between the ribs and towards the center of the duct. At the ribbed walls, while the 10 micron particles exhibit a fairly uniform propensity for erosion, the 100 micron particles show a much higher tendency to erode the surface in the vicinity of the reattachment region. The rib face facing the flow is by far the most susceptible to erosion and deposition for all particle sizes. While the top of the rib does not exhibit a large propensity to be eroded, the back of the rib is as susceptible as the other duct surfaces because of particles which are entrained into the recirculation zone behind the rib.


This paper investigates how foreign language learners use discourse markers (such as so, well, you know, I mean) in English speech. These small words that do not contribute much, if anything at all, to the propositional content of a message but modify it in subtle ways, are often considered among the last elements acquired in a foreign language. This contribution reports on close scrutiny of a corpus of English-spoken interviews with Belgian native speakers of Dutch, half of whom are undergraduates majoring in Commercial Sciences and half of whom are majoring in English Linguistics, and sets it off against a comparable native speaker corpus. The investigation shows that the language learners exhibit a clear preference for 'operative discourse markers' and neglect or avoid �involvement discourse markers�. It is argued that in learner speech the former take on functions typically fulfilled by the latter to a greater extent than in native speech, and that in some cases the learners revert to a code-switching strategy to cater for their pragmatic needs, bringing markers from Dutch into their English speech. Finally, questions are raised as to the place of such pragmatic devices in foreign language learning.


In this paper the space of images is considered as a Riemannian manifold using the metamorphosis approach, where the underlying Riemannian metric simultaneously measures the cost of image transport and intensity variation. A robust and effective variational time discretization of geodesics paths is proposed. This requires to minimize a discrete path energy consisting of a sum of consecutive image matching functionals over a set of image intensity maps and pairwise matching deformations. For square-integrable input images the existence of discrete, connecting geodesic paths defined as minimizers of this variational problem is shown. Furthermore, $\Gamma$-convergence of the underlying discrete path energy to the continuous path energy is proved. This includes a diffeomorphism property for the induced transport and the existence of a square-integrable weak material derivative in space and time. A spatial discretization via finite elements combined with an alternating descent scheme in the set of image intensity maps and the set of matching deformations is presented to approximate discrete geodesic paths numerically. Computational results underline the efficiency of the proposed approach and demonstrate important qualitative properties.


Retail store managers may not follow order advices generated by an automated inventory replenishment system if their incentives differ from the cost-minimization objective of the system or if they perceive the system to be suboptimal. We study the ordering behavior of retail store managers in a supermarket chain to characterize such deviations in ordering behavior, investigate their potential drivers, and thereby devise a method to improve automated replenishment systems. Using orders, shipments, and point-of-sale data for 19,417 item--store combinations over five stores, we show that (i) store managers consistently modify automated order advices by advancing orders from peak to nonpeak days, and (ii) this behavior is explained significantly by product characteristics such as case pack size relative to average demand per item, net shelf space, product variety, demand uncertainty, and seasonality error. Our regression results suggest that store managers improve upon the automated replenishment system by incorporating two ignored factors: in-store handling costs and sales improvement potential through better in-stock. Based on these results, we construct a method to modify automated order advices by learning from the behavior of store managers. Motivated by the management coefficients theory, our method is efficient to implement and outperforms store managers by achieving a more balanced handling workload with similar average days of inventory.


Liu, J. 2020. Towards Fast and Robust Algorithms in Flash X-ray single-particle Imaging. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 1905. 79 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-513-0877-7. Modern X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) technology provides the possibility to acquire a large number of diffraction patterns from individual biological nano-particles, including proteins, viruses, and DNA. Ideally, the collected data frames are high-quality single-particle diffraction patterns. However, unfortunately, the raw dataset is noisy and also contains patterns with scatterings from multiple particles, contaminated particles, etc. The data complexity and the massive volumes of raw data make pattern selection a time-consuming and challenge task. Further, X-rays interact with particles at random and the captured patterns are the 2D intensities of the scattered waves, i.e. we cannot observe the particle orientations and the phase information from the 2D diffraction patterns. To reconstruct 2D diffraction patterns into 3D structures of the desired particle, we need a sufficiently large single-particle-pattern dataset. The computational methodology for this reconstruction task is still under development and in need of an improved understanding of the algorithmic uncertainties. In this thesis, we tackle some of the challenges to obtain 3D structures of sample molecules from single-particle diffraction patterns. First, we have developed two classification methods to select single-particle diffraction patterns that are similar to provided templates. Second, we have accelerated the 3D reconstruction procedures by distributing the computations among Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and by proposing an adaptive discretization of 3D space. Third, to better understand the uncertainties of the 3D reconstruction procedure, we have evaluated the impact of the different sources of resolution-limiting factors and introduced a practically applicable computational methodology in the form of bootstrap procedures for assessing the reconstruction uncertainty. These technologies form a data-analysis pipeline for recovering 3D structures from the raw X-ray single-particle data, which also analyzes the uncertainties. With the experimental developments of the X-ray single-particle technology, we expect that the data volumes will be increasing sharply, and hence, we believe such a computational pipeline will be critical to retrieve particle structures in the achievable resolution.


The specific institutionalization of time is a major defining element of democracies and a vulnerable condition of their stability and legitimacy. The first part of the chapter covers the regular temporal routines of democratic systems. In the synchronic dimension, it considers the time requirements of democratic practices and examines the timed relationship between different levels and actors of the democratic system. In the diachronic dimension, the chapter asks for the time horizons that temporal constitutions of democracies create for political actors—related to future expectations and to past experiences. The second part of the chapter turns to time challenges democracies face today. First, it addresses the issue of social acceleration that goes along with potential vulnerabilities and adaptabilities of democratic systems. Second, the chapter discusses problems created by situations of crisis in states of emergency and in democratic transitions. Based on that, the chapter draws some conclusions for future research.


Research on the perception of facial emotional expressions (FEEs) often uses static images that do not capture the dynamic character of social coordination in natural settings. Recent behavioral and neuroimaging studies suggest that dynamic FEEs (videos or morphs) enhance emotion perception. To identify mechanisms associated with the perception of FEEs with natural dynamics, the present EEG (Electroencephalography)study compared (i) ecologically valid stimuli of angry and happy FEEs with natural dynamics to (ii) FEEs with unnatural dynamics, and to (iii) static FEEs. FEEs with unnatural dynamics showed faces moving in a biologically possible but unpredictable and atypical manner, generally resulting in ambivalent emotional content. Participants were asked to explicitly recognize FEEs. Using whole power (WP) and phase synchrony (Phase Locking Index, PLI), we found that brain responses discriminated between natural and unnatural FEEs (both static and dynamic). Differences were primarily observed in the timing and brain topographies of delta and theta PLI and WP, and in alpha and beta WP. Our results support the view that biologically plausible, albeit atypical, FEEs are processed by the brain by different mechanisms than natural FEEs. We conclude that natural movement dynamics are essential for the perception of FEEs and the associated brain processes.


Given a winning-bid withdrawal in a combinatorial auction, finding an alternative repair solution of adequate revenue without causing undue disturbance to the remaining winning bids in the original solution may be difficult or even impossible. This "bid-takers exposure problem" may be preemptively addressed by finding a solution that is robust to winning-bid withdrawal. We introduce the concept of monotonicity-in-expectation. We provide impossibility results concerning truthful mechanisms for robust solutions with bounded social-welfare losses in which the bid-taker cannot rescind items from winning bidders to repair a solution. We also show that this result extends to combinatorial auctions that include a form of leveled-commitment contract. However, we present a positive result regarding truthfulness for combinatorial auctions in a restricted setting that comprises a computationally efficient allocation algorithm that seeks to maximize expected social welfare.


The core processes of emotion understanding, emotion control, cognitive understanding, and cognitive control and their association with early indicators of social and academic success were examined in a sample of 141 3-year-old children. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the hypothesized four-factor model of emotion and cognition in early childhood. A subsequent structural model indicated that emotion understanding processes were significantly positively associated with early indicators of academic success, while emotion control processes were inversely related to socioemotional problems. These results point to the utility of an integrated model of emotion and cognition in early development and offer support for the differentiation of understanding and control processes within these developmental arenas as a framework for future study.


Canistel fruit also known as tiesa, has a scientific name Pouteria campechiana, is a yellow-colored tropical fruit but unlike other fruits, it is not juicy and sweet. The development of tiesa into polvoron was the main purpose of this study. Tiesa fruit was dehydrated and ground. Results showed that ground dehydrated tiesa fruit has a dark orange color and gritty texture. This was added to the classic recipe for polvoron. Three trials were conducted to standardize the procedure and ingredients. The developed tiesa polvoron is a low fat, sweet delicacy. It is a good source of calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin C. It has more fiber, niacin, and vitamin A compared to the classic polvoron. This research also determined the acceptability of tiesa polvoron in terms of appearance, aroma, flavor, and texture. The respondents of the study were 60 grade two students of Puting Kahoy Elementary School who were selected through purposive sampling. The respondents evaluated tiesa polvoron using a modified sensory evaluation form based on seven point facial hedonic scales. Frequencies and percentages were analyzed using Microsoft Excel. The study revealed that tiesa polvoron were liked very much in all the criteria. These results led to the conclusion that tiesa polvoron is healthy, nutritious, and delicious.


This thesis proposes a general and efficient model-based object recognition scheme. The scheme addresses the problem of identifying instances of model objects in single images. The model objects are two or three dimensional, and their instances in the scene might be overlapping and partially occluded by other unknown objects. The camera viewpoint is unknown and assumed to be arbitrary. The images can be two dimensional intensity images or three dimensional range images. The scheme deals uniformly with all feasible imaging transformations, from the simplest case of pure translation to the most complex case of the perspective transformation.
The proposed method is based on geometric hashing. It hypothesizes model to scene transformations based on corresponding model and scene feature subsets. These subsets have the minimal cardinality, which still allow to recover the imaging transformation for a given transformation type. In order to prune the search space of all model and scene feature subset pairs, a hashing scheme is used. It is based on geometrical relations among the object features, which are invariant under the given transformation type.
The recognition algorithm has two major steps. First, a hash-table, encoding the geometrical invariants of the model features, is prepared. This stage is independent of the scenes to be later processed, and can be executed off-line. In the second stage, an efficient matching algorithm is performed, which utilizes the previously prepared hash-table. The efficacy of the recognition is achieved by considering only those model and scene subsets, which are 'similar' under the given transformation type.
The algorithm was tested in 'real-life' situations for the important cases of recognizing flat and solid objects in the 3D world, using the weak perspective approximation to the perspective transformation.


Abstract. Nitrogen applied to the surface of the land for agricultural purposes represents a significant source of reactive nitrogen (Nr) that can be emitted as a gaseous Nr species, be denitrified to atmospheric nitrogen (N2), run off during rain events or form plant-useable nitrogen in the soil. To investigate the magnitude, temporal variability and spatial heterogeneity of nitrogen pathways on a global scale from sources of animal manure and synthetic fertilizer, we developed a mechanistic parameterization of these pathways within a global terrestrial land model, the Community Land Model (CLM). In this first model version the parameterization emphasizes an explicit climate-dependent approach while using highly simplified representations of agricultural practices, including manure management and fertilizer application. The climate-dependent approach explicitly simulates the relationship between meteorological variables and biogeochemical processes to calculate the volatilization of ammonia (NH3), nitrification and runoff of Nr following manure or synthetic fertilizer application. For the year 2000, approximately 125 Tg N yr−1 is applied as manure and 62 Tg N yr−1 is applied as synthetic fertilizer. We estimate the resulting global NH3 emissions are 21 Tg N yr−1 from manure (17 % of manure production) and 12 Tg N yr−1 from fertilizer (19 % of fertilizer application); reactive nitrogen runoff during rain events is calculated as 11 Tg N yr−1 from manure and 5 Tg N yr−1 from fertilizer. The remaining nitrogen from manure (93 Tg N yr−1) and synthetic fertilizer (45 Tg N yr−1) is captured by the canopy or transferred to the soil nitrogen pools. The parameterization was implemented in the CLM from 1850 to 2000 using a transient simulation which predicted that, even though absolute values of all nitrogen pathways are increasing with increased manure and synthetic fertilizer application, partitioning of nitrogen to NH3 emissions from manure is increasing on a percentage basis, from 14 % of nitrogen applied in 1850 (3 Tg NH3 yr−1) to 17 % of nitrogen applied in 2000 (21 Tg NH3 yr−1). Under current manure and synthetic fertilizer application rates we find a global sensitivity of an additional 1 Tg NH3 (approximately 3 % of manure and fertilizer) emitted per year per °C of warming. While the model confirms earlier estimates of nitrogen fluxes made in a range of studies, its key purpose is to provide a theoretical framework that can be employed within a biogeochemical model, that can explicitly respond to climate and that can evolve and improve with further observation.


SUMMARY In this study, a bilateral teleoperation control algorithm is developed in which the model-mediation method is integrated with an impedance controller. The model-mediation method is also extended to three-degrees-of-freedom teleoperation. The aim of this controller is to compensate for instability issues and excessive forcing applied to the slave environment stemming from time delays in communication. The proposed control method is experimentally tested with two haptic desktop devices. Test results indicate that stability and passivity of the bilateral teleoperation system is preserved under variable time delays in communication. It is also observed that safer interactions of the slave system with its environment can be achieved by utilizing an extended version of the model-mediation method with an impedance controller.


Background: Spirituality has been considered as an important quality of life dimension. Objectives: To present a literature review about quality of life and spirituality, their association and measurement. Methods: Search for title words in PsycINFO and PubMed/Medline database between 1979-2005. Results: Quality of life is a new concept, that embraces and transcends the concept of health. It is composed by several domains or dimensions: physical, psychological, environmental, among others. Called "the missing measure in health", it has been defined as the individual's perception of his/her position in life, considering cultural and value systems in which he/she lives, and in relation to his/her goals, expectations, standards and worries. There are consistent evidences of the association between quality of life and spirituality/religiosity, obtained from studies with reasonable methodological rigor, using many variables to assess spirituality (for example: religious affiliation, prayer, and spiritual/religious coping). There are also several valid and reliable quality of life instruments that assess the spiritual/religious dimension. Conclusions: New studies are needed especially in Brazil. These studies will provide empirical data to be used to plan spiritually based health care interventions, aimingat a a better quality of life.


We study gender and race in high-impact entrepreneurship using a tightly controlled randomized field experiment. We sent out 80,000 pitch emails introducing promising but fictitious start-ups to 28,000 venture capitalists and angels. Each email was sent by a fictitious entrepreneur with randomly assigned gender and race. Female entrepreneurs received 9% more interested replies than males pitching identical projects and Asians received 6% more than Whites. Our results suggest that investors do not discriminate against female or Asian entrepreneurs when evaluating unsolicited pitch emails and that future research on investor biases should focus on networks and in-person interactions.


This dissertation explores the development of studentand process-centered writing classrooms within the context of a traditionally structured, curriculum-centered high school. The focus of the study is on how teachers and students experience and address contradictions between assumptions implicit in writing process pedagogy and assumptions implicit in the structure and organization of the high school. An eight-month ethnography of two high school English classrooms, the study is a descriptive narrative of the classroom and school events punctuated by the reflective comments of teachers and students in intensive and extensive interviews. The classrooms are "placed" within the school, the teachers within their lives, the school within the community. The research findings suggest that teachers interested in teaching processes and in developing studentcentered classrooms in the high school may be frustrated by institutional factors. These include time structures and curriculum fragmentation, authoritarian administrative models, attitudes toward work, and accountability and comparative evaluation measures, all of which assume transmission pedagogies. Students who have "learned school" appear not only to understand how school works, but also to be critically articulate about school success strategies and procedures that trivialize learning. Teachers and students address these frustrations by bringing their own lives into the classroom, by talking about their intentions for their classrooms, by negotiating curriculum and evaluation. Thus they begin to change the institution. Finally, change itself--personal, professional, and organizational--is explored as an organic process, taking place from the inside out.


Objective. To determine the elapsed time while receiving aggressive therapy to the first observation of clinically inactive disease (CID), total duration of CID and potential predictors of this response in a cohort of children with recent onset of polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (poly-JIA). Methods. Eighty-five children were randomized blindly to methotrexate (MTX), etanercept, and rapidly tapered prednisolone (MEP) or MTX monotherapy and assessed for CID over 1 year of treatment. Patients who failed to achieve intermediary endpoints were switched to open-label MEP treatment. Results. Fifty-eight (68.2%) of the 85 patients achieved CID at 1 or more visits including 18 who received blinded MEP, 11 while receiving MTX monotherapy, and 29 while receiving open-label MEP. Patients starting on MEP achieved CID earlier and had more study days in CID compared to those starting MTX, but the differences were not significantly different. Patients given MEP (more aggressive therapy) earlier in the disease course were statistically more likely to have a higher proportion of followup visits in CID than those with longer disease course at baseline. Those who achieved American College of Rheumatology Pediatric 70 response at 4 months had a significantly greater proportion of followup visits in CID, compared to those who failed to achieve this improvement (p < 0.0001). Of the 32 patients who met criteria for CID and then lost CID status, only 3 fulfilled the definition of disease flare. Conclusion. Shorter disease duration prior to treatment, a robust response at 4 months, and more aggressive therapy result in a higher likelihood and longer duration of CID in patients with poly-JIA. The original trial from which data for this analysis were obtained is registered on www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT 00443430.


The IWAVE control structure facilitates construction of wave simulators with flexible specification of input and output. This document describes synthesis of seismograms and wavefield movies from initial data and from single and multiple sources (right-hand sides), and linearized ("Born") and linearized adjoint (reverse time migration) modeling. The choice of physical model and simulation method constant density acoustics with Dirichlet boundary conditions and (2, 2k) finite difference schemes is the simplest possible, but the framework accommodates any regularly gridded stencil-based discretization of arbitrary wave physics in the same way.


Speculative Philosophy, the Troubled Middle, and the Ethics of Animal Experimentation The human use of animals, particularly in scientific experimentation, is a highly contentious and vexed question. Passions run deep, and level-headed thinkers often lose their balance and good sense. This in itself is highly interesting. We seem confronted by ultimate issues about the meaning and significance of human and organic life for which we are ill-prepared. It is not just that extreme emotionalists refuse to listen to reason. The reasoners themselves, the philosophers, are deeply divided over how ethically to judge the use of animals. The "animal issue" exhibits a more fundamental and pervasive feature of philosophy, ethical theory, and social mores. On ultimate philosophic, ethical, and social matters there is no consensus. The controversy over animal experimentation crucially hinges on the question of the relative value of animal and human life. At one extreme, there are steadfast champions of human welfare and scientific progress who claim that animals have no inherent value or worth and thus are not objects of ethical concern. All value accrues to man or God, and we can use animals as we will, as long as we do not endanger or violate our own humanity. At the other extreme, there are ardent and vocal advocates of animal rights, those broadly in the antivivisectionist tradition, who claim that at least certain animals, if not all life, have an ethical significance comparable to our own. We ought not to use or treat animals in ways that we would not treat human beings. In short, animals are in crucial respects our moral equals. The animal rightists point to undeniable instances of animal abuse and radically call into question the moral justification of animal experiments. They would significantly reduce, if not altogether eliminate, scientific research on animals irrespective of possible human benefits. Then there are those in the troubled middle who find an inherent goodness in organic life and concrete values manifested in individual animals. But they also believe that the relatively superior goodness and value of human life, coupled with our vulnerable and "needy" status in the world, warrant the ethically judicious use of animals in scientific research. These middle ones recognize the legitimate and often conflicting needs and requirements of both human and animal welfare. In short, they wish to balance the undeniable benefits that result from scientific research with a genuine concern for the well-being of animals. With respect to experimentation, they are the ones most truly vexed by ethical questions of what and how many animals to use; of whether alternatives to animal use are scientifically efficacious and justified; of whether research protocols are sound and important enough to warrant the infliction of harm, suffering, or death; and of how to reduce animal suffering and harm without jeopardizing legitimate benefits that might accrue to both human and animal life. These are questions that typically animate the more ethically concerned members of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs). Under the Animal Welfare Act of 1966, as amended in 1985, The Health Research Extension Act of 1985 (National Institutes of Health), and the animal welfare policy of the Public Health Service (1985), IACUCs are mandated for all institutions receiving federal funds for research on animals. The committees, which have monitoring functions analogous to Institutional Review Boards for human experimentation, oversee the care of laboratory animals and review research protocols for their scientifically legitimate and humane treatment of animals. The general aim of IACICs is to encourage the best and most beneficial scientific research with the least possible animal use and suffering. Yet all is not well with IACUCs. They are plagued by nagging practical and theoretical problems. …


A series of perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) surveys were conducted in two water purification plants (WPPs) having ozonation and granular activated carbon (GAC) filtration processes. In each plant, six different processes samples (source water, influent, coagulation-sedimentation effluent, ozonation effluent, GAC filtration effluent, and final tap water) were collected for two times and eight PFCs were measured. The results showed that seven kinds of PFCs (PFHxS, PFOS, PFHpA, PFOA, PFNA, PFDA, and PFUnDA) were detected in both plants with concentration range of 0.5–53.5 ng L −1 , while the range of total concentration of all seven PFCs was 31–90 ng L −1 . All detected PFCs were not removed effectively in both dates but removal was observed to some extent for certain PFCs (PFNA, PFDA, PFOS, and PFUnDA) by GAC filtration tank.


Aim:
The current geographical distribution of species largely reflects colonization success after natural long‐distance dispersal or introduction by humans. Plants with selfing ability should have an advantage when establishing on islands where mates and pollinators are limited (Baker's law). However, high percentages of dioecious and self‐incompatible species have been reported for some islands, possibly resulting from post‐colonization evolution. Given that such evolution is less likely to apply to alien species recently introduced to islands by humans, tests of Baker's law on islands need to consider both native and naturalized alien species.

Location:
Global.

Time period:
Undefined.

Major taxa studied:
Angiosperms.

Methods:
To test whether the colonization of islands is associated with selfing ability (self‐compatibility and autofertility), we combined three comprehensive global databases: one on breeding systems of species, one on island and mainland distributions of native species and one on global naturalization of alien plants. We assigned each of a total of 1,752 species, from 161 angiosperm families, as mainland species, island colonists and/or island endemics (i.e., species that are restricted to islands). To assess potential relationships between island occurrence and selfing ability of species, we used multinomial logistic regressions.

Results:
We found that species with high selfing ability were slightly more likely to be island colonist than mainland species. However, selfing ability did not increase the likelihood of being an island endemic in contrast to mainland species. Among island colonists, selfing ability did not differ between species on oceanic and on continental islands or between species native to islands and naturalized on islands.

Main conclusions:
We performed a comprehensive test of Baker's law by considering many angiosperm families, using continuous metrics of self‐compatibility and autofertility and including both native and naturalized species. We provide global evidence that high selfing ability may foster island colonization of angiosperms.


For years, it had been what is called a "deteriorating situation." Now all over South Africa the cities are battlegrounds. The members of the Smales family - liberal whites - are rescued from the terror by their servant, July, who leads them to refuge in his village. What happens to the Smaleses and to July - the shifts in character and relationships - gives us an unforgettable look into the terrifying, tacit understandings and misunderstandings between blacks and whites.


Purpose
The proliferation of terrorism worldwide raises the risk that terrorist strategies could evolve from conventional methods (e.g. suicide attacks) to biological, chemical and even radioactive and nuclear attacks (commonly abbreviated as CBRN) which are potentially much more dangerous. The authors make three contributions toward a better understanding of this risk and how it responds to counterterrorism measures.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors develop a game that captures the terrorists' potential strategic substitution between conventional and CBRN-type attacks; the authors calibrate the parameters of the game to real data using a novel calibration method and a partially unique dataset; they estimate the heavy-tailed distribution of attack severity and thus the probability of a successful attack, the underlying effort to launch an attack and the intrinsic difficulty of launching different types of attacks.

Findings
The authors find that in equilibrium, CBRN attacks, though less likely and more difficult to execute, are more deadly. In the end, the trade-off between, on one hand, the greater difficulty of carrying out a CBRN attack, and on the other, the greater deadliness of such an attack, points to a level of optimal counterterrorism spending by governments that weighs toward defending against CBRN attacks. The authors discuss these results and compare them with the actual level of counterterrorism spending by the US Government.

Originality/value
The framework of the game allows for substitution between the conventional and CBRN weapon types. These aspects of this paper, together with the unique calibration methodology, and the use of some unique terrorism data for the first time, are what distinguish this work from similar game theoretic papers in this area.


In this paper, we describe an unsupervised measure for quantifying the 'informativeness' of correlation matrices formed from the pairwise similarities or relationships among data instances. The measure quantifies the heterogeneity of the correlations and is defined as the distance between a correlation matrix and the nearest correlation matrix with constant off-diagonal entries. This non-parametric notion generalizes existing test statistics for equality of correlation coefficients by allowing for alternative distance metrics, such as the Bures and other distances from quantum information theory. For several distance and dissimilarity metrics, we derive closed-form expressions of informativeness, which can be applied as objective functions for machine learning applications. Empirically, we demonstrate that informativeness is a useful criterion for selecting kernel parameters, choosing the dimension for kernel-based nonlinear dimensionality reduction, and identifying structured graphs. We also consider the problem of finding a maximally informative correlation matrix around a target matrix, and explore parameterizing the optimization in terms of the coordinates of the sample or through a lower-dimensional embedding. In the latter case, we find that maximizing the Bures-based informativeness measure, which is maximal for centered rank-1 correlation matrices, is equivalent to minimizing a specific matrix norm, and present an algorithm to solve the minimization problem using the norm's proximal operator. The proposed correlation denoising algorithm consistently improves spectral clustering. Overall, we find informativeness to be a novel and useful criterion for identifying non-trivial correlation structure..


The conventional wisdom holds that one cannot rely on courts to protect civil liberties in the face of national security claims by the government, especially in times of emergency. This article offers a revisionist view of the history of judicial intervention on matters of national security. It argues that the conventional wisdom focuses too narrowly on the specific plaintiffs who appear before courts in times of crisis, most of whom lose. But it notes that if one steps back and takes a longer view of the role of courts on matters of national security, the judicial record is not so bleak. While the Supreme Court (in)famously upheld punishment of speech during World War I, racial discrimination during World War II, and guilt by association during the height of the McCarthy era, it ultimately developed tests that essentially rule these emergency tactics off the table for future emergencies. The article discusses why the formal attributes of judicial decisionmaking are especially suited to playing this more long-term role in the defense of civil liberties. The article then examines the courts' record on civil liberties in the post-September 11 period, and argues that while it is too early to make any formal assessment, the record so far is much better, from a liberties perspective, than in previous times of crisis. I suggest some reasons why courts may be more inclined today to question national security claims. Finally, the article responds to a proposal advanced by Professors Oren Gross and Mark Tushnet, in independent articles, to acknowledge openly the legitimacy of extraconstitutional measures in times of emergency. Gross and Tushnet propose shifting the locus for assessing emergency powers from the judicial to the political branches. I argue that this proposal is fundamentally misguided, and would likely lead to even less protection of civil liberties than we have seen in the past. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, judicial review is the worst protector of liberty in times of crisis, with the exception of all the others.


Numerous empirical studies have been devoted to analyses of diverse inflation
processes and have demonstrated consistent patterns for money price relationships for
various market economies. While these propositions may be valid for market economies,
they do not seem to be holding for the majority of transition economies. Except for Russia
and Poland, no systematic pattern for the money price relationship was detected in
transition economies in the first half of the 1990s, thus undermining the conventional
monetarist view at least in the transitional context. If indeed this were the case, it would
imply among other things, that traditional tools used for stabilization and control of
inflation in advanced market economies may not be appropriate for transition economies.
The main objective of this dissertation is to scrutinize critically and rigorously
inflation process in post-communist Russia, and the strength, dynamics, and causality of the
relationship between inflation and various monetary aggregates. In particular, we test,
whether lagged inflation has been an important determinant of contemporaneous rise in
prices in this transition economy. In addition, we test whether there is a significant
relationship between inflation and various monetary aggregates, and whether the lower
inflationary environment that emerged in Russia in 1994, and especially in 1995, has
caused the transmission of monetary impulses to future inflation to become both, slower
and weaker. Furthermore, in a twofold aim, we shed some additional light on the issue of
the choice of lag selection criteria in causality testing on one hand, and the issue of
suitability of monetary aggregates for influencing and controlling inflation via policy
instrument, in transition economies like the Russian Federation, on the other. Moreover,
since each segment of our analysis contributes to the evaluation of the suitability of
stabilization attempts in Russia, the role of international financial institution under whose
influence stabilization was conducted, is inevitably brought under the spotlights. In this
context, the dual role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), of being the main
coordinator of the Western assistance to Russia on one hand, and the main guide to Russian
economic policy on the other, merits a special attention. Finally, suggestion for further
research and conclusion from the analysis are outlined. The most important findings
contained in this summary are delineated bellow.
Our analyses of macroeconomic instability in Postcommunist Russia emphasises the
necessity of coordination of fiscal and monetary policies. Although Russia may not be an economy with a fiscal dominant regime, the study demonstratest hat continuing problems
with balancing of goverm-nenbt udget have led to eventualm onetisationo f the deficit. The
analyses presented in the dissertation reiterate the notion that monetisation of the deficit,
rather than the deficit themselves has been affecting the price level in Postcommunist
Russia.
In contrast to earlier claims, this study produces ample evidence that lagged
inflation has been an important determinant of contemporaneous rise in prices in
Postcommunist Russia. Using very simple autoregressive models, economic agents were
able to make consistent, unbiased, and efficient one-month ahead forecasts of inflation.
Although not rational in the strong form of efficiency, inflationary expectations together
with a prevailing inflationary inertia ought to have been taken into consideration in
stabilisation efforts. The preference for the orthodox money-based stabilisation programs
indicates that this was not the case in this transition economy prior to July 1995.
The analysis presented in this dissertation illustrates that the influence of changes in
broad money growth on future inflation is considerably weaker and more protracted as the
new economic environment in Russia has become more stable. Our evidence suggests that,
the systematic pattern for money price relationship is fading in the new environment. Also,
the average speed of transmission from changes in the growth of ruble broad money to
inflation has shifted from just over three months in the first two and a half years of
transition to just short of five months thereafter. In addition, the models of inflation
presented in the dissertation give a reasonably good short hand description of the
fundamental inflation process in Russia.
The results presented in this chapter also unequivocally point out that the choice of
a lag length in distribute lag models can be critical for the outcome of causality testing.
Among variety of ad hoc and statistical criteria for the optimum lag length selection, the
Akaike's FPE criterion is found to outperform all others. Leaning on these results, the
study found the existence of the feedback or bilateral causality between inflation and broad
money in Postcommunist Russia. The findings question the wisdom of choosing moneybased
stabilization as the optimal policy advice for this transition economy.
Finally, this chapter argues that the IMF financial and good technical assistance to
Russia in the 1990s has been less than generous. Not only the size of the assistance might
have not been adequate but also the timing and actual disbursements of these funds were in
sharp discord with pledges. More importantly, the IMF made a number of serious policy mistakes in both design and the implementation of the reforms, which significantly
contributed to a delay in stabilisation of the economy and were thus costly in terms of the
loss of welfare to the society. However, the IMF, as a main guide and a coordinator of the
Western assistance to Russia, has done just enough to spoon-fed Russia to the point of no
return to planned economy and autarky.


The First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope (FACT) has been monitoring Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) for the past five years. The use of robust silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) allows for a continuous, unbiased sampling even during bright-light conditions. This dataset promises insights into the core regions of AGN by investigating the periodicity of the sources. Periodic changes in the flux could indicate a binary nature of the supermassive black holes.
A study using the Lomb-Scargle periodogram to find periodicity in monitored AGN is presented. Repeating patterns in the observation times, like moon periods and seasonal effects, affect the analysis by introducing spurious peaks into the periodogram. The zenith-dependence of the observed $\gamma$-ray rates further complicate the interpretation. Showing no variability at TeV energies, the $\gamma$-ray flux of the Crab Nebula is used to characterize this latter effect, before applying the Lomb-Scargle algorithm.


This research includes the study of Photcatalytic degradation of Rohdamine b using Titanium dioxide anatas , which is achieved by the irradiation of suspended solution consists of different concentration of Rohdamine b with 0.13gm/100ml of mixed metal oxide semiconductor titanium dioxide anatas by using mercury lamp 160 Watts from external source inside a pyrex photoreaction cell of 100 ml at room temperature 298 K . In order to study the effect of metal oxide Titanium dioxide anatas in Photcatalytic degradation of Rohdamine b, several experiments were carried out in various conditions to attain the best Photcatalytic degradation of Rohdamine b. These experiments include the effect of hydrogen per oxide , the effect of temperature. The products was studied by using UV-Vis spectrophotometer.


Tumor cells make a proteoglycan that stimulates macrophages to help promote metastasis. Metastasis, or distribution of cancer cells to form tumors in new sites, is the most deadly property of cancer cells and requires not only changes in cancer cells themselves but also the capacity of these cells to influence the microenvironment around them. Kim et al. identified a mechanism by which mouse-derived Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) cells can control the activity of macrophages in the vicinity of tumor cells and thus enhance metastasis. Kim et al. found that culture medium in which the carcinoma cells were grown contained a factor that enhanced production of tumor-supporting cytokines tumor necrosis factor–α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) from cultured bone marrow–derived macrophages. TNF-α appeared to be the critical factor for metastasis, because knockout animals lacking TNF-α had increased survival compared with control animals when injected with LLC cells. The effect of culture medium from the carcinoma cells on macrophages required Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and was absent in macrophages from mice lacking TLR2 or its adaptor protein Myd88. TLR2 was also implicated in metastasis because Tlr2–/– mice showed fewer tumors and greater survival than control mice when injected with the LCC cells. Purification by column chromatography of the active factor from the culture medium allowed its identification by mass spectrometry as the chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan versican. Versican can enhance growth and migration of tumor cells and angiogenesis. Immunodepletion of versican from the culture medium from LLC cells diminished the effect of the medium on cytokine production by macrophages. Furthermore, depletion of versican from LLC cells with short hairpin RNA reduced generation of tumors in animals injected with the cells and enhanced survival of the injected animals. TLR2 and its co-receptor CD14 were associated with versican immunoprecipitated from macrophages exposed to the culture medium from LCC cells, but it is not clear whether versican directly associates with the receptor. Thus, the authors propose that these lung cancer cells usurp components of the innate immune system to create conditions favorable to tumor cell growth. They note that such control points are potential targets for therapeutic strategies to block metastasis. S. Kim, H. Takahashi, W.-W. Lin, P. Descargues, S. Grivennikov, Y. Kim, J.-L. Luo, M. Karin, Carcinoma-produced factors activate myeloid cells through TLR2 to stimulate metastasis. Nature 457, 102–106 (2009). [PubMed]


In this paper we argue that, to fully understand managers' perceptions of modern slavery risk in the context of a UK health-care supply chain, it is necessary to adopt a 'labour' supply chain lens that puts the employment relationship at the heart of socially-sustainable supply chain management practice. The distancing and dismantling of employee relations we found, when coupled with an increase in staff turnover, may increase modern slavery risk for permanent, as well as temporary employees, close to the point of commissioning. The implications of this research for policy makers, educators, management practitioners and future research are discussed.


Abstract The ability of hydrodynamically self-excited jets to lock into strong external forcing is well known. Their dynamics before lock-in and the specific bifurcations through which they lock in, however, are less well known. In this experimental study, we acoustically force a low-density jet around its natural global frequency. We examine its response leading up to lock-in and compare this to that of a forced van der Pol oscillator. We find that, when forced at increasing amplitudes, the jet undergoes a sequence of two nonlinear transitions: (i) from periodicity to ${ \mathbb{T} }^{2} $ quasiperiodicity via a torus-birth bifurcation; and then (ii) from ${ \mathbb{T} }^{2} $ quasiperiodicity to 1:1 lock-in via either a saddle-node bifurcation with frequency pulling, if the forcing and natural frequencies are close together, or a torus-death bifurcation without frequency pulling, but with a gradual suppression of the natural mode, if the two frequencies are far apart. We also find that the jet locks in most readily when forced close to its natural frequency, but that the details contain two asymmetries: the jet (i) locks in more readily and (ii) oscillates more strongly when it is forced below its natural frequency than when it is forced above it. Except for the second asymmetry, all of these transitions, bifurcations and dynamics are accurately reproduced by the forced van der Pol oscillator. This shows that this complex (infinite-dimensional) forced self-excited jet can be modelled reasonably well as a simple (three-dimensional) forced self-excited oscillator. This result adds to the growing evidence that open self-excited flows behave essentially like low-dimensional nonlinear dynamical systems. It also strengthens the universality of such flows, raising the possibility that more of them, including some industrially relevant flames, can be similarly modelled.


Like in other CEEC, transition in the beginning of the 1990s had significant consequences for the agricultural and food sectors in Slovakia. For example, Slovakian consumers reacted to the abolition of consumer subsidies by drastically reducing their consumption of milk and milk products. Concurrently, milk production declined and now stands at fifty percent of its 1989 level. Dairies were closed down while those remaining carried on producing under constantly increasing overcapacities. In the years prior to EU accession, activities in the milk sector were primarily aimed at the adoption of EU standards. Meanwhile, the Slovakian milk processing industry is predominantly in the possession of foreign investors. Present per capita consumption of milk and milk production is still at a very low level, which nutrition experts assess as an alarming health risk. This paper contains an overview of the Slovakian dairy sector, which comprises the complete milk chain - from primary production to processing and retailing up to consumption. The description is complemented by background information on demographic, economic and political parameters in Slovakia.


Even before the conquest of the Balkan peninsula was completed by the end of the 15 century, the Ottoman Empire was faced with the need to increase the Muslim component of the local population so as to affirm Ottoman power in the new lands. The central authorities, the army and the clergy began to systematically implement a policy of Islamization. Colonization and migration were among the factors that led to the settlement of a numerous Muslim population. Conversion to Islam was linked to certain advantages, such as pardon for violations of law, the distribution of offices and positions, assistance for impoverished new Muslims, inclusion in Ottoman military organizations such as the spahi, the janissaries, the yaya (peasant infantry), the muslem (autonomous peasant cavalry), the akinji (advance cavalry), the yuruks, etc. There was a merging of ethnic and religious identity stemming from the way in which the Empire was organized and from the importance of religion for the exercise of power. Religious affiliation became an ethnonym of power, and power was in Muslim hands. Evidently, the causes and factors of the conversion to Islam of part of the Balkan population have not been definitively clarified and will remain debatable if the explanation is looked for in "coercion" alone or in "voluntary choice" alone. Perhaps the causes might be related to the internal political strategy of the Ottoman state with regard to the numerous population of the Balkans as well as to the medieval religiousness of the peasants and the incapacity of the Orthodox Church, in its subordinate position, to maintain their faith and provide them with material assistance.


: A growing part of communication in couple relationships involves technical means such as the conventional telephone, the cell phone and the Internet. This study examines how telecommunication media are integrated in the couples' everyday life based on three theoretical approaches: 1. Using the Theory of Interpersonal Media Choice, different profiles of couple's media use were analyzed. 2. By adopting the Social Exchange Theory it was investigated to what extent couples regard their telecommunication messages (i.e. letters, e-mails, SMS) as emotional resources and if and how they strive to achieve equity regarding this message exchange. 3. Attachment theory was adopted to find out how attachment styles affect media use within couple relationships and which role telecommunication media play in attachment situations (i.e. distressing situations in which the partner's support is strongly sought). Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with N=10 respondents (5 couples). A qualitative content analysis of the interview data revealed that couples develop very different patterns of media use, that they indeed see telecommunication messages as emotional resources and that they are able to cope with attachment situations successfully, especially via mobile communication. But sometimes telecommunication media also seem to generate new communication problems. Further research is needed to better understand how telecommunication is embedded in couple relationships and how it transforms couple communication.


The Acoustic Black Hole effect (ABH) is a passive vibration damping technique without added mass based on flexural waves properties in thin structures with variable thickness. The usual implementation on plates is a region where the thickness is reduced with a power law profile, covered with a visco-elastic layer. The inhomogoneity induces a decrease of the wave speed and an increase of the amplitude in the small thickness region, which makes the energy dissipation more efficient due to the absorbing layer. The wave amplitude in the ABH easily reaches the plate thickness and is the origin of geometrical nonlinearities. These nonlin-earities can generate coupling between linear beam eigenmodes of the structure and induce energy transfer between low and high frequency regime. This phenomenon may be used to increase the efficiency of the ABH treatment in the low frequency regime where it is usually inefficient. An experimental investigation shows that the ABH termination displays a nonlinear behaviour and allows for modal coupling. A strongly nonlinear regime can also be observed, which is associated with Wave Turbulence. A model of nonlinear ABH beam as von Karman plate of variable thickness and a modal resolution of the problem confirm the observed effects and gives more insights on these results.


In this paper, we demonstrate an all-fiber pulse-shaping system that can generate shape-controllable pulses with a short rise time and high resolution by adjusting variable optical attenuators of the 64 fiber channels independently. A 6.4 ns arbitrarily shaped pulse with less than 0.1 dB shaping precision is obtained by stacking 150 ps chirped subpulse of 1053 nm. The linewidth of pulse is 1.2 nm and the dynamic range operating at 1 Hz rate is more than 40 dB.


Human signature identification is a process for identifying and obtaining a person who has the signature. Signature identification technology includes in biometrics system which uses a behavioral human nature characteristics. For the time being, there are many signature forgeries which are generally make  a harm for people who have the signatures. Signature forgery occurs easily for which a system which can assist to identify a person's signature is required. Identification system which will be implemented uses Backpropagation Neural Network model and is supprorted by Delphi programming language. In order to identify a signature, image of signature firstly needs a preprocessing and features extraction. In the preprocessing, there are three stages which have to be performed, there are: converting the grayscaled image, contrasting the image, and edge detection of the image. Features extraction process is performed by segmenting the image in the form of rows and columns which has a purpose to get a significant feature information of the image of signature, as well as to get a data value which will be an input for neural network. Neural network training  is performed to get an accurate classification from trained data input of signatures. A signature can be identified when the signature is comprised in one of classes which formed of training process. The research uses 150 images of signatures which consist of 10 responders for database for which it requires 10 data from each responder and 5 responders from outer side of database for which it requires 5 data from each responder. Conclusions of the research are that the application system has a 95% percentage of success level for identifying the signatures from the testing of trained data, while it has only 88% percentage of success level from the testing of outer side of database. Keywords : Signature identification, biometrics, feature extraction, backpropagation neural network