This thesis aims to identify business strategies to close the gap between the current and the potential conditions in the cocoa production industry, comparing the situations in Colombia and Mexico.
On the basis of meaningful background information of the countries and their cocoa industry, potential business strategies to improve the farmer's negotiation power as well as B2B Marketing strategies to ensure a fair and sustainable cocoa business were examined. In addition, drivers and barriers that support or hinder fair and sustainable cocoa production were considered, to have a greater picture beyond the borders of the cocoa industry. To make the analysis complete, the local experts and cocoa producers from both countries were invited to share their impressions, opinions and ideas by answering two surveys, which were tailored appropriately to the purpose of this paper.
Overall, in Colombia, the most significant business strategy is the establishment of Strategic Alliances. Nonetheless, also Diversification, Horizontal Integration, Vertical Integration, In-House Production and Niche Market Targeting play an important role, while Local Exchange and Trading Systems (LETS) and Share Acquisition are currently not being commonly in Colombia. In terms of B2B Marketing Strategies, Certification Schemes and Buyer-Supplier Relationship-Building are most important, although also Joint Ventures and Co-Creation play a significant role in Colombia.
In Mexico, the most important Business Strategies are Diversification, Strategic Alliances and Niche Market Targeting. However, also Horizontal Integration, In-House Production and Barter Economy are important strategies in Mexico, while Vertical Integration, LETS and Share Acquisition are currently not being applied in the country. In terms of B2B Marketing Strategies, Joint Ventures and Joint Ventures are of most significant importance in Mexico. Nonetheless, also the usage of Certification Schemes and Co-Creation is considered to be essential.
In addition to all Business Strategies and B2B Marketing Strategies, Drivers, such as Business Ethics, Governmental, Economic and Regulatory Interventions as well as an Increase in Partnerships and Associations, and Barriers, like Food Speculation, Governmental, Economic and Regulatory Interventions, Customer Expectations, Infrastructural issues and the Concentration of Buyers have great effects on sustainability and fairness within the cocoa industry.


Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) was detected in avocado trees growing at several locations in Peru by using nucleic acid spot hybridization assays. A viroidlike nucleic acid with a mobility similar to that of PSTVd was also found by return polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of RNA extracted from several trees, and a mild strain of PSTVd was recovered from Nicandra physalodes inoculated with leaf sap from affected avocados. Sequence analysis of cDNAs obtained using the polymerase chain reaction with primers to PSTVd indicated the presence of three different sequence variants of PSTVd in the avocado trees. The PSTVd infections were often latent, but some trees coinfected with avocado sunblotch viroid showed symptoms that included bunchiness of the inflorescence, decrease in both fruit size and number, and eventual decline and death. This is the first report of the isolation of PSTVd from a natural host other than potato


BACKGROUND
Gastric cancer is the first cause of cancer death in Iran. Most of the patients are diagnosed in advanced stages and survival rate is low. The aim of this study was to evaluate the survival rate of patients with gastric and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma receiving combination chemotherapy and radiation therapy in Iran.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study was conducted on 53 patients with gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma referring to Shahid Ramezanzadeh Radiation Oncology Center between 2004 and 2010. All patients underwent surgical operation, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Data contained in patients' records were extracted and follow-up was conducted through telephone contacts. To analyze the data, Kaplan Meier curves, and SPSS software were employed.

RESULTS
Seventeen (32.1%) patients were female and 36 (67.9%) were male. Mean age was 58.32 years. In 14 patients (26.9%) no lymph node was resected or reported by the pathologist. In 29 patients (54.7%) one to six lymph nodes were found, and in10 patients (18.9%) seven lymph nodes or more were detected. In two patients, (3.77%) more than 15 lymph nodes were resected. Surgical staging was impossible for 16 patients (30.2%). Mean survival was 50.9 months and median survival was 51 months. 3,5 and 7 year survival rates were 73%, 36%, and 18% respectively. None of the variables had a significant relation to survival.

CONCLUSIONS
Despite inadequate surgery, the survival rate in our study is one of the best one reported in our country. We think this advantage may be due to poly drug chemotherapy and sequential radiation therapy.


A search for fermionic top quark partners T of charge 2/3 is presented. The search is carried out in proton-proton collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns collected at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 8 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The T quarks are assumed to be produced strongly in pairs and can decay into tH, tZ, and bW. The search is performed in five exclusive channels: a single-lepton channel, a multilepton channel, two all-hadronic channels optimized either for the bW or the tH decay, and one channel in which the Higgs boson decays into two photons. The results are found to be compatible with the standard model expectations in all the investigated final states. A statistical combination of these results is performed and lower limits on the T quark mass are set. Depending on the branching fractions, lower mass limits between 720 and 920 GeV at 95% confidence level are found. These are among the strongest limits on vector-like T quarks obtained to date.


The X-band Acquisition Aid (AAP) software is a low-cost acquisition aid for the Deep Space Network (DSN) antennas, and is used while acquiring a spacecraft shortly after it has launched. When enabled, the acquisition aid provides corrections to the antenna-predicted trajectory of the spacecraft to compensate for the variations that occur during the actual launch. The AAP software also provides the corrections to the antenna-predicted trajectory to the navigation team that uses the corrections to refine their model of the spacecraft in order to produce improved antenna-predicted trajectories for each spacecraft that passes over each complex. The software provides an automated Acquisition Aid receiver calibration, and provides graphical displays to the operator and remote viewers via an Ethernet connection. It has a Web server, and the remote workstations use the Firefox browser to view the displays. At any given time, only one operator can control any particular display in order to avoid conflicting commands from more than one control point. The configuration and control is accomplished solely via the graphical displays. The operator does not have to remember any commands. Only a few configuration parameters need to be changed, and can be saved to the appropriate spacecraft-dependent configuration file on the AAP s hard disk. AAP automates the calibration sequence by first commanding the antenna to the correct position, starting the receiver calibration sequence, and then providing the operator with the option of accepting or rejecting the new calibration parameters. If accepted, the new parameters are stored in the appropriate spacecraft-dependent configuration file. The calibration can be performed on the Sun, greatly expanding the window of opportunity for calibration. The spacecraft traditionally used for calibration is in view typically twice per day, and only for about ten minutes each pass.


In recent years a growing concern for global warming and environmental issues has become apparent. Turkey as a rapidly developing country has several environmental problems. In that situation, the attitudes towards to environment and the consciousness level of the Turkish consumers have gained much more importance. For the purpose of increasing the level of consciousness about environmental issues, communication professionals have to establish a relationship between a positive environmental attitudes and environmentally responsible behaviors through the means of communication. Before designing and implementing any kind of communication process, the characteristics and current consciousness level of target group has to be clearly identified. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the attitudes of the Turkish consumers regarding to their current environmental consciousness and their willingness to adopt environmentally friendly consumption behavior. The environmental consciousness survey used in this study was delivered to the 186 students of 298 attending the first year obligatory courses in Communication Sciences Faculty. In this study, the environmental consciousness was formed by the factors related to awareness and act, concern about environment and willingness, were statistically were analyzed in terms of the opinions of the respondents concerning the environmental consciousness in terms of gender, the region that they came from, their department in the faculty of communication sciences, education level of parents, any kind of training concerning the environmental issues or any environmental associations or social clubs memberships.


This study reports findings about what factors affect the job commitment and satisfaction of lower‐ranked police officers. Over the past decade, there have been significant attempts to reform organisational processes within police services of a number of Western democracies. These reforms have changed the organisational context within which policing takes place and, consequently, the work practices of police officers have changed and, in turn, their commitment and satisfaction may also have been affected. The study used Metcalfe and Dick's instrument for measuring police commitment and Johlke and Duhan's instrument for measuring the employees' satisfaction with communication processes between supervisors and service employees. The findings first suggest a relatively high level of pride in the police service, with reasonable levels of identification with the police service's goals and increased involvement with rank (from constable to sergeant). On the other hand, there is increasing dissatisfaction with appraisal/promotional procedures and information communication modes as rank increases (from constables to sergeants) and an inverse relationship between rank and organisational commitment overall.


Purpose. This research investigates the objective and subjective effects of wearing the Rehband® cooling garment. Method. A multi-centre, randomized crossover study was conducted regarding 43 heat-sensitive persons with multiple sclerosis (MS), comparing active treatment with placebo. Subjects were tested immediately before and after intervention. Ten- (10TW) and 30-metre timed walk (30TW), oral temperature, spasticity, standing balance and timed up and go (TUG) and nine-hole peg test (NHPT) performance were measured. A study-specific questionnaire was used to evaluate subjective experiences. Results. Active treatment produced statistically significant objective improvement in 10TW, 30TW, one-legged stance, tandem stance (right) and TUG; statistically significant subjective improvement was also found in fatigue, spasticity, weakness, balance, gait, transfers, ability to think clearly and time to recover. The coherence between the objective and subjective results indicates clinical relevance from the subjects' perspective. There were no statistically significant differences between treatments in terms of oral temperature, spasticity (measured by the modified Ashworth scale), tandem stance (left), step test or NHPT, or subjective signs such as difficulty in dressing, dysarthria or pain. Conclusions. Active cooling with a Rehband® vest is likely to have a positive effect on everyday life in heat-sensitive persons with MS.


The Pastons of Norfolk left behind them an incomparable picture of life in fifteenth-century England in the earliest great collection of family letters in English. The letters span three generations and most were written during the reigns of HenryVI, Edward IV, and Richard III, in a period of political turmoil, local anarchy, and war abroad and at home. They reveal personal hopes and anxieties, and contain as well as business matters a wealth of information on leisure pursuits, education, and domestic life. The writers express themselves with a clarity and vigour that is remarkable at this early date, and the letter illustrate, as no other documents can, the state of the language in daily use immediately before and after the introduction of printing. This modernized selection prepared from the original manuscripts is designed to present the full range of the Pastons' principle concerns. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.


As the INT community matures, one hears increasing calls for the field to become more scientific, and even prior restraint in which researchers avoid a project entirely out fear it wouldn't be sufficiently scientific. In this position paper, I'll argue that science, and more generally rigor, are not well served by a discourse that labels things as "science" and "not science." In particular, I will argue that we need to open ourselves to the adoption of methods from the arts, including case studies and the practice of studio critique.


Abstract The Monte Carlo method is widely used to compute the fundamental eigenfunction and eigenvalue for nuclear systems. However, the standard power iteration method computes only the fundamental eigenmode, while it would be beneficial to also compute the higher eigenfunctions and eigenvalues to support the reactor transient analysis, stability analysis, and assessments of nuclear safety, as well as to enable certain source convergence acceleration techniques. Modifications to the power method have been developed that in principle can accomplish this goal, but they typically lead to unphysical positive and negative particles requiring a procedure to compute the net-weight deposition. In this paper, we present a new mechanism that enables the Monte Carlo procedure, with certain modifications, to compute the second eigenfunction and eigenvalue for one-dimensional (1-D) problems. The method could in principle be extended to higher harmonics and general geometries. The results from numerical examples, including a 1-D, two-group, multiregion example, are consistent with reference results. Moreover, the extra computational cost of this method is of the same order of magnitude as the conventional Monte Carlo simulations. This method can be applied solely to solve for the high eigenmodes, or implemented as a part of a net-weight computation mechanism when negative particles are present in the modified power iteration method.


This article aims to outline the factors that have influenced the strengthening of Sino-Latin American relations. It argues that Latin America's political, commercial and financial interests towards China are explained in terms of the position consolidated by China as the world's second largest economy. An analysis of Brazil as a relatively industrialized country and of Ecuador as a small nation serve as an empirical reference in explaining and understanding how the foreign policies of both countries have behaved with respect to China and allows us to question the priority areas of their relationship from a comparative perspective. The article concludes that while both countries have a strategic relationship with China, in Brazil's case, foreign policy is strongly tied to China in the political, commercial and financial spheres, while Ecuador's financial dependence on China is the most important element in its foreign policy.


Modeling of on-body propagation channels is of paramount importance to those wishing to evaluate radio channel performance for wearable devices in body area networks (BANs). Difficulties in modeling arise due to the highly variable channel conditions related to changes in the user's state and local environment. This study characterizes these influences by using time-series analysis to examine and model signal characteristics for on-body radio channels in user stationary and mobile scenarios in four different locations: anechoic chamber, open office area, hallway, and outdoor environment. Autocorrelation and cross-correlation functions are reported and shown to be dependent on body state and surroundings. Autoregressive (AR) transfer functions are used to perform time-series analysis and develop models for fading in various on-body links. Due to the non-Gaussian nature of the logarithmically transformed observed signal envelope in the majority of mobile user states, a simple method for reproducing the fading based on lognormal and Nakagami statistics is proposed. The validity of the AR models is evaluated using hypothesis testing, which is based on the Ljung-Box statistic, and the estimated distributional parameters of the simulator output compared with those from experimental results.


In the wake of the announcement of numerous federal ad hoc programs to stimulate the economy in response to the COVID-19 crisis, it is worth discussing how the suite of business risk management tools that are part of the Canadian Agricultural Partnership is likely to respond to the negative impacts of the pandemic on Canadian agriculture. We argue for a short term bonification of AgriInvest and AgriStability to face the challenges ahead and to minimize the inefficiencies associated with ad hoc programs. More broadly, our arguments to use a risk management tool for a black swan event instead of ad hoc programs is likely to fuel the debate between risk management and income support.


Ingle et al. (2007) reported Ar/Ar ages for Manihiki plateau rocks and suggested some of them were contemporaneous (~120 Ma) with lavas from the Ontong Java and Hikurangi plateaus, each some 2500 km distant (Ingle et al., 2007, their Fig. 1). Critical examination of the radiometric data suggests that widespread volcanism in the centralwestern Pacifi c at ~120 Ma is questionable. All Ar/Ar results need to be evaluated for (1) statistical validity of plateau segments (Baksi, 2005), and (2) the state of alteration of splits used for dating purposes. The alteration index (AI) (Baksi, 2007a, 2007b) quantitatively evaluates the freshness of samples by monitoring the quantity of Ar seen in the various steps of the Ar/Ar incremental heating work. These tests are applied to the results of Ingle et al. (2007); errors are quoted at the 1σ level. For tholeiitic sample D2–1, steps 3–6 defi ne the best plateau; steps 7–9 are left out as they have very large associated errors (Ingle et al., 2007, their Fig. 3A). The plateau age is 117.8 ± 1.5 Ma; the mean square of weighted deviates (MSWD) value is 0.028, and the corresponding probability value is 0.994; the step age errors have been overestimated by a factor of ~5. Using these smaller error estimates yields a more "precise" plateau age of 117.83 ± 0.30 Ma, with a probability of occurrence of ~0.55. The average AI (Ar/Ar) of the plateau steps is four times higher than the cutoff value for fresh samples of <0.0006 (Baksi, 2007a). For sample D3–1 (alkalic lava), Ingle et al. selected steps 3–6 as yielding a plateau age. Step 6 is measurably younger than the others and should not be included in the plateau (Ingle et al., 2007, their Fig. 3C). The MSWD value (5.3) for steps 3–5 shows a probability of occurrence of ~0.005. This is unacceptable and the age cannot be taken to refl ect the time of crystallization of sample D3–1. Further, the AI of the three plateau steps average >10 times the cutoff for fresh samples. No (proper) age was recovered for sample D3–1 and, at best, a minimum age was recovered for D2–1. Ingle et al. compared their 117.9 ± 1.8 Ma age on sample D2–1 to the 121.8 ± 2.6 Ma (Ar/Ar age) reported for the Ontong Java plateau by Mahoney et al. (1993) (see Baksi (2007b, their Fig. 11A). The latter specimen has been shown to be altered (Baksi, 2007b, Fig. 11B) and unlikely to yield a proper estimate of its time of crystallization. The age of the Hikurangi plateau is reported in an abstract (Hoernle et al., 2005); no isotopic data are available for statistical inspection and/or the AI test. It is premature to equate (in time) lavas from the Manihiki, Ontong Java, and Hikurangi plateaus. The dangers associated with the unquestioning use of Ar/Ar "ages" for oceanic rocks has been detailed elsewhere (Baksi, 1999, 2005, 2007b). This is illustrated by estimates for the age of the Bend in the Hawaiian-Emperor Chain, which are included in all introductory geoscience textbooks. Earlier work on whole-rock basalts suggested an age of 43 Ma (Dalrymple and Clague, 1976). More recent work on mineral separates (Sharp and Clague, 2006) indicates an age of 50 Ma. Sharp and Clague (2006) suggested that the earlier ages were based on dating of post-shield material and thus underestimated the age of the main shieldbuilding phase at each seamount. This is unlikely, because the difference in age at each seamount is ~5–7 m.y., much larger than that estimated for shield–post-shield volcanism (~2 m.y.). As suggested elsewhere (Baksi, 2007b), the discrepancy in the ages results from the dating of altered material over three decades ago. The AI of the whole-rock samples dated by Dalrymple and Clague (1976) are >10 times the cutoff value (Ar/Ar < 0.0006). AI values (Ar/Ar) for the plagioclase samples of Sharp and Clague (2006) average ~0.00006, the cutoff for fresh samples. These (HF) acid-leached mineral separates yielded ages close to the crystallization value; the age of the Bend in the Chain is ~50 Ma. Seafl oor rocks are prone to alteration; this leads to considerable loss of Ar* from the component silicate phases. It is critical that all Ar/Ar ages obtained on submarine rocks be critically assessed for statistical validity, as well as by the AI method. In the absence of high quality radio metric data for such rocks, speculation on immense volcanic events (plumes?), making up large sections of the seafl oor such as in the central-western Pacifi c Ocean, is premature.


Objectives: (1) Determine erectile dysfunction (ED) prevalence in patients with cardio‐ vascular risk factors (CVRF). (2) Assess ED incidence in relation to the extent of control‐ ling CVRF. Methodology: Patients: Enrolled participants came to the health centres in the study area. In accordance with the incidence of diseases with cardiovascular risks (CVR) in the Basic Health Regions of the study area, sample size was calculated with a 95% con‐ fidence interval and an alpha error of 0.005, resulting in a sample of 210 people, of which 30 could not complete the study for various reasons (change of address, death, refused to complete questionnaire, etc.). A full awareness and diffusion campaign was organized with talks and leaflets. Letters: A standard letter was given to patients which explained the importance of sexual health, offering them an appointment with a DUE (Diploma in Nursing) survey taker. The questionnaire was devised by the research group and was given by a fully trained DUE survey taker. Previously, contact was made with all the health centres, physicians and nursing staff to give them information on ED and CVRF and to inform them about the work to be done in their health region. Those patients who did not come to the appointment were telephoned to insist on the importance of attending and completing the questionnaire. Variables analysis: We analysed age, level of education, civil status, height, weight and body mass index (BMI), SBP, DBP, smoking habit, number cigarettes/day, year smoking began, ex‐smoker, year smoking stopped, alcohol consumption, grams alcohol/week, as well as consumption of other drugs, fre ‐ quency and type. Blood test: glucose, haemoglobin glycated haemoglobin, total choles‐ terol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, artherogenic index, creatinine, urea, SHIM questionnaire and ED according to SHIM. Statistical analysis: an observational, descriptive, analytical, cross‐sectional study. Qualitative variables are presented as exact values and a percentage; quantitative variables as the mean and standard deviation (SD). A means comparison was done with the Student's t ‐test for independent groups, or the Mann‐Whitney U test if normality conditions (using the Kolmogorov‐Smirnoff or Shapiro‐Wilks test) were not fulfilled. The chi‐squared test was used for qualitative vari ‐ ables. Results: Of the 210 selected people, 179 completed the questionnaire (85.2%). The mean age was 64.5 ± 11.6 years. When analysing all the study variables in relation to the main variable, presence or absence of ED, age played an important role in ED appearing as ED incidence rises with age. Blood pressure had no significant relationship with the studied variable, and the same hold for BMI and its subdivision into normal weight and obesity. As regards toxic habits, neither cigarette smoking nor alcohol consumption influ ‐ enced the presence of ED. The same hold for the sociological‐type variables (civil states, level of education). Regarding the biochemical variables from blood tests, a significant relationship with the atherogenic index and its recoded variable at high and low athero‐ genic risk (p < 0.04) was noted. In the glycaemic profile, a glycaemia mean of 126 mg/dl was obtained in the ED presence group, which is the cut‐off point proposed by ADA117 (American Diabetes Association) to consider a subject diabetic. Likewise, glycated hae ‐ moglobin presented figures in the two groups can be considered an alternation of a practically diabetic glucose metabolism. In our study, the presence of diabetic disease, high blood pressure (HBP) and dyslipidaemia showed no significant relationship with ED presence for each disease. However, in the combination of these diseases, a statisti‐ cally significant relationship was seen when CVR increases, according to the Framinghan tables. Neither did each disease's duration show a significant relationship with ED pres ‐ ence nor significant differences for the drugs used to treat the three pathologies were found. The coronary risk calculated according to the Framinghan tables indicated a sta‐ tistically significant result, as did excessive risk (the difference between the coronary risk and the average assigned per age) for ED presence. The LISAT 8 test suggested that ED affected health‐associated quality of life and was statistically significant in two items of sex life and economic situation and was borderline statistically significant in the general life and working life items. Conclusions: There is a high ED prevalence in patients with high CVR. When ED improves, the better CVRFs are controlled. These patients' pluripa ‐ thology implies aggressive polymedication which doctors must consider as it increases the risk of ED.


We address the problem of action recognition by describing actions as time series of frames and introduce a new kernel to compare their dynamical aspects. Action recognition in realistic videos has been successfully addressed using kernel methods like SVMs. Most existing approaches average local features over video volumes and compare the resulting vectors using kernels on bags of features. In contrast, we model actions as time series of per-frame representations and propose a kernel specifically tailored for the purpose of action recognition. Our main contributions are the following: (i) we provide a new principled way to compare the dynamics and temporal structure of actions by computing the distance between their auto-correlations, (ii) we derive a practical formulation to compute this distance in any feature space deriving from a base kernel between frames and (iii) we report experimental results on recent action recognition datasets showing that it provides useful complementary information to the average distribution of frames, as used in state-of-the-art models based on bag-of-features.


Data from two Phase IIb trials, POWER 1 and 2 (TMC114-C213 and C202), were pooled to examine the effect of baseline viral susceptibility on response to control protease inhibitors [CPI(s)] compared with response to darunavir (TMC114) given with low-dose ritonavir (darunavir/r) in treatment-experienced HIV patients. POWER 1 and 2 were randomized, controlled Phase IIb trials with a similar design. Patients with one or more primary PI mutations and HIV-1 RNA >1000 copies/ml were randomized to receive an optimized background regimen plus darunavir/r or CPI(s). POWER 1 and 2 week 24 efficacy (intent-to-treat using time-to-loss of virologic response algorithm) data were pooled and analyzed according to baseline subgroups of susceptibility to the CPI regimen, fold-change (FC) in EC(50) to darunavir, and number of darunavir resistance-associated mutations (RAMs). In total, 131 patients received darunavir/r 600/100 mg twice daily; 124 received CPI(s) [lopinavir/r, 20%; saquinavir/r, 19%; (fos)-amprenavir/r, 24%; atazanavir/r, 11%; and 23% used dual-boosted CPI(s)]. At baseline, 72% of patients were resistant (defined as FC) to their investigator-selected CPIs. At week 24, darunavir/r 600/100 mg twice daily provided greater efficacy benefits over CPI(s), even when the virus was predicted to be fully susceptible to the CPI. The response to darunavir decreased when FC to darunavir at baseline was >40 or when three or more darunavir RAMs (in addition to other PI mutations) were present at baseline. Darunavir/r 600/100 mg twice daily showed efficacy benefits over CPI use regardless of viral susceptibility at baseline, FC to darunavir or boosting type in a population of treatment-experienced HIV-infected patients.


This debate article highlights that to perform efficiently and meaningfully, the structure and organization of a health system need to be adjusted to its philosophy, mission, and expected duties. Development of the required organizational structure, in line with the objectives and strategies of the national health policy are fundamental principles of healthcare stewardship. Despite several reforms and initiatives in the course of the last few decades, the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MoHME), as the steward of the health system in Iran, has not been performing efficient enough to respond to serious emerging challenges. In order to move in line with sustainable health development agenda and reach universal health coverage (UHC), we advocate fundamental structural and institutional reforms within the MoHME in Iran.


Recent scholarship has begun to assess the role of intellectual property rights in the theory of the Coasean firm. Some of this scholarship has looked at the effects of intellectual property on decisions to "make or buy" inputs to production. Other scholarship has looked at the effects of intellectual property on allocation of resources between employees and the firm. In this paper, we integrate these two lines of scholarship, positing a "Goldilocks hypothesis" for the proper disposition of intellectual property rights. We argue that to properly allocate resources within the firm, property rights must be calibrated so as to avoid on the one hand misappropriation of firm resources when rights are inadequate, and on the other hand dissipation of employee incentives when rights are excessive. Similarly, we argue that in order to properly manage transactions costs at the edge of firms, property rights must be calibrated so as to avoid on the one hand inefficient integration into the firm of specialized functions when property rights are inadequate, and on the other hand a fragmented anti-commons of specialty firms when property rights are excessive. Thus, we conclude that in order to contribute to the efficient structure of firms, intellectual property rights can be neither too weak nor too strong, but must be constituted "just right."


Consider the following consistent Sylvester tensor equation[mathscr{X}times_1 A +mathscr{X}times_2 B+mathscr{X}times_3 C=mathscr{D},]where the matrices $A,B, C$ and the tensor $mathscr{D}$ are given and $mathscr{X}$ is the unknown tensor. The current paper concerns with examining a simple and neat framework for accelerating the speed of convergence of the gradient-based iterative algorithm and its modified version for solving the mentioned Sylvester tensor equation without setting the restriction of the existence of a unique solution. Numerical experiments are reported which confirm the validity of the presented results.


We present a series of theoretical arguments supporting the claim that a large class of modern learning algorithms that rely solely on the smoothness prior - with similarity between examples expressed with a local kernel - are sensitive to the curse of dimensionality, or more precisely to the variability of the target. Our discussion covers supervised, semi-supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms. These algorithms are found to be local in the sense that crucial properties of the learned function at x depend mostly on the neighbors of x in the training set. This makes them sensitive to the curse of dimensionality, well studied for classical non-parametric statistical learning. We show in the case of the Gaussian kernel that when the function to be learned has many variations, these algorithms require a number of training examples proportional to the number of variations, which could be large even though there may exist short descriptions of the target function, i.e. their Kolmogorov complexity may be low. This suggests that there exist non-local learning algorithms that at least have the potential to learn about such structured but apparently complex functions (because locally they have many variations), while not using very specific prior domain knowledge.


Background and Purpose: Figs are one of the fruits that the Qur'an has sworn and it is a badge of honor and certain superiority lies in the fruit. In this article, this article is about the medical effects of fig on brain disease and sensual and heart power changes. It is often said that the medical fig effects are like induced heating and obese and laxity and antiinflammatory respiratory tract. But the particular effect of fig on brain and heart power is said rarely. Methods and Materials: This is a review and descriptive article. At first we search about effects of fig on nerve system in Traditional Iranian Medicine references and Islamic books and credible scientific internet sites. The collected data were reviewed in detail and as a review article was written. Results: Prophet MOHAMMAD said that long use of fig cause to lenity. In Traditional Iranian Medicine books fig can decrease the capacity of anger and is introduced as an increasing factor of wisdom. Fig is also helpful for epilepsy, psychosis and obsession. In the new research a diet enriched with figs in Alzheimer's disease modified oxidative stress and increased learning and their memory dramatically. Also Na K ATPase activity and AChE in the brain during treatment with figs was corrected. Conclusion: Use of fig is effective on purging the soul and brain and heart power and is effective to epilepsy and psychosis and obsession. It is probable that fig is able to propitiate and create pleasure feeling in heart. It may increase brain tissue and intellectual ability.


Intrduction  Southeast Asia deserves more sustained attention from American policymakers than it has received in the recent past, according to the independent Task Force report. It argues that Southeast Asia has a long history of important security and economic ties with the United States and is of strategic interest. Yet the United States has benignly neglected the area and its needs and growth potential for almost two decades. With the economic crisis in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the late 1990s, the reestablishment of U.S. diplomatic ties with Vietnam, and the recent ethnic strife and devolution in Indonesia, the region and its member nations are back on the international skyline. The shortsightedness of recent U.S. policy toward the region, the report states, is troublesome because of the region's importance to U.S. national interests: with a population of 525 million and an annual gross national product of $700 billion, Southeast Asia has become America's fifth-largest trading partner; it is home to several emerging democracies. Today, the region is more volatile than at any time since the Vietnam War. In several nations, especially Indonesia and the Philippines, the aftershocks from the economic crisis and rising political turmoil continue to make for fractious polities, fragile economies, and a loss of investor confidence. The report recommends that the United States maintain regional security by preserving a credible military presence and a viable regional training and support structure. That, according to the Task Force, will help prevent both intraregional conflict and domination by outside powers. The report also devotes particular attention to U.S. relations with Indonesia. The Task Force says that helping to foster economic and political reform in Indonesia—now in the "throes of social, political, and economic instability"—would have important implications in the region and the world. Indonesia, the Task Force notes, is the world's fourth most populous nation and the fulcrum of Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and has the world's largest Muslim community. It is also a major oil exporter and the only Asian member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Methodology The research is basic in terms of its goal, and casual and descriptive- analytic in terms of method and nature. Data gathering procedure is based on library findings. Result and discussion The United States strategic blunders in South West Asia at the turn of the 21st Century have not led to any strategic gains to reinforce the United States image and standing in South West Asia. The United States can be said to have lost heavily in strategic terms when viewed against the fact that its military distractions in Afghanistan and Iraq led it to be militarily oblivious to the security of the Asia Pacific and East Asia in particular. The strategic vacuum caused by US inattentiveness led China to exploit this vacuum by an unrestrained and fast-track military rise for over a decade. The recent United States strategic pivot to Asia Pacific is a belated effort to reverse the above trend and win back South East Asian nations unnerved by China's aggression in the South China Sea and East China Sea areas. On balance it can be stated that the United States strategic blunders in South West Asia have cost it heavily not only in South West Asia but also in Asia Pacific. In strategic terms it will take years for the United States to regain its strategic balance. How should the next U.S. president exercise strategic leadership in East Asia?  First, with good reason for fundamental optimism – because there remains very significant regional demand for U.S. leadership in East Asia. Second, with empathy for allies and supporter states. It is crucial for the next U.S. president to recognize that, unlike the United States, East Asian states have to live permanently in China's shadow. Very few regional leaders will choose – or be able to stick with – policies that actively antagonize China. This is because their relationships with China stretch beyond maritime disputes to encompass economic and security interdependence. In this context, U.S. strategic leadership means enabling these states to keep supporting U.S. leadership without forcing them to make zero-sum choices vis-a-vis China. Third, with resolve towards China. This resolve can cut two ways. The new president can choose to play hardball, upholding U.S. interests and principles clearly and firmly and responding in kind to Chinese assertiveness. This may work: Chinese leaders may continue to be deterred by the specter of a potential military conflict with the U.S. that they might not be able to win. But I would recommend applying resolve in a different way: Persuade China to become the world's most important supporter of a regional and global order that the U.S. wants to uphold. This is a more difficult enterprise because it will involve a change of mindset in Washington, from the current take-it-or-leave-it attitude towards some negotiation with China about reforms it wants to see and the role it wants to play in the international order. Conclusion The U.S new administration will try to consider initiating a workable framework for cooperation with China in key regional maritime issues, such as navigational safety, zones. It seems to me that the only viable short- to medium-term means of managing the South China Sea disputes is the tried and tested one of China and the other rival claimants agreeing to put aside the territorial disputes, possibly in favor of selected projects of joint resources protection, exploration and development. While these agreements will not directly involve the U.S., which is a non-claimant, Washington can lead in creating more propitious "weather conditions" for such an outcome, by shifting the current dynamic away from the deadlock over international arbitration and freedom of navigation.


The gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) Type A receptor (GABAA-R) mediates the majority of rapid inhibition in the central nervous system and is the site of action for many clinically used drugs. GABAA-R mediated inhibition can occur via the conventional mechanism - the transient activation of synaptic receptors i.e. phasic inhibition, or via continuous activation of extrasynaptic, high affinity receptors by low concentrations of ambient GABA, leading to "tonic" inhibition. The GABAA-R alpha4 subunit is expressed at high levels in the dentate gyrus and thalamus and when partnered with the delta subunit, it is suspected to contribute to tonic inhibition. In vitro studies have found that GABAA-Rs containing alpha4 and delta are highly sensitive to ethanol and to competitive GABAA-R agonists such as gaboxadol and muscimol. In light of these findings, the central hypothesis tested in this thesis was that extrasynaptic GABAA-Rs mediate the depressant effects of these drugs. To provide a model for understanding the precise role of alpha4 containing GABAA-Rs in drug action, mice were engineered to lack the alpha4 subunit by targeted disruption of the Gabra4 gene. alpha4 Subunit knockout mice were viable and superficially indistinguishable from wild-type mice. In electrophysiological recordings, alpha4 knockout mice showed a lack of tonic inhibition in dentate granule cells and thalamic relay neurons. alpha4 knockout mice were also less sensitive to the behavioral effects of gaboxadol and muscimol. However, alpha4 knockout mice did not differ in ethanol-induced changes in anxiety, locomotion, ataxia, coordination, analgesia, or thermoregulation. These data demonstrate that tonic inhibition in dentate granule cells and thalamic relay neurons is mediated by extrasynaptic GABAA-Rs containing the alpha4 subunit and that gaboxadol and muscimol likely achieve their effects via the activation of this GABAA-R subtype. These data also suggest that GABAA-Rs containing the alpha4 subunit are not necessary for many acute behavioral responses to ethanol.


In every democratic polity there exist individuals and groups who hold some but not all of the essential elements of citizenship. Scholars who study citizenship routinely reach for shared concepts and language to identify forms of political membership held by migrants, children, the disabled, and other groups of individuals who, for various reasons, are neither full citizens nor non-citizens.This book introduces the concept of semi-citizenship as a means of dramatically advancing debates about individuals who hold some, but not all, elements of full democratic citizenship. By analytically classifying the rights of citizenship and their various combinations, scholars can typologize semi-citizens and produce comparisons of different kinds of semi-citizenships and of semi-citizenships in different states. The book uses theoretical analysis, historical examples, and contemporary cases of semi-citizenship to illustrate how normative and governmental doctrines of citizenship converge and conflict, making semi-citizenship an enduring and inevitable part of democratic politics.


This article argues that the failure of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOx) to prohibit auditors for public companies from also providing tax services to audit clients or their executives and selling tax shelters to anyone remains a Trojan horse that threatens both the investing public and the auditing profession. Although SOx enacted several reforms designed to enhance auditor independence, the legislation and implementing regulations that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) subsequently promulgated allow an auditor for a publicly traded company to provide tax services to the company as long as the audit committee preapproves the engagement. As the most vocal advocate in the legal academy for increased auditor independence, Professor Bernard Wolfman has repeatedly argued that a conflict of interest arises anytime an auditor offers significant tax advice to an audit client or promotes a tax shelter to anyone. Going beyond Professor Wolfman''s recommendations and in an effort to prevent further damage to the auditing profession's reputation, the public's confidence in the capital markets in this country, and the U.S. economy generally, this article argues that auditors for public companies should also not provide tax compliance services to audit clients or their executives. Accordingly, this article urges individual auditors, auditing firms, the accounting profession, audit committees, investors, and, if necessary, the newly created Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and the SEC, to take those actions necessary to preclude auditors for public companies from providing tax services to audit clients or their executives and from promoting tax shelters to anyone. While various tax services present potential conflicts of interest in differing degrees, drawing lines between different types of tax services, such as tax return preparation, tax consulting, and tax planning, presents very significant practical difficulties. Recognizing these practical difficulties, this article recommends a "bright line," best practice that would bar registered public accounting firms from rendering tax services to audit clients or their executives and promoting tax shelters to anyone. The article suggests that if an auditing firm embraces and advertises such a "total independence" policy, the firm may gain a competitive advantage in attracting new audit clients. Such an approach might even allow one or more non-Big Four accounting firms to compete favorably with the Big Four, reducing consolidation and increasing competition in the industry.


For a long time, the public debate about Industry 4.0 has suggested two main perspectives: the technological one and the perspective on industrial policies. On the opposite, the discussion on the social and organizational effects of the new paradigm has not evolved so much. Our paper examines this specific point of view, and reflects on how workers and work organization are exposed to the changes generated within the smart factory. The analysis is developed in three stages. The first shows how the innovation introduced by «enabling technologies» transforms the models of communication within the production process, through the use of digital media. The second describes the effects connected to the introduction of these tools in work organization, which recall the character of lean production, and amplifies its effects through the real-time data generation and analysis. The third outlines two ideal-typical figures of the smart factory, called «augmented blue collar» and «new conception engineer». The piece ends with some thoughts on training and on workers participation in the production cycle. These factors are crucial steps in the concrete realization of a smart factory, but they are also the turning point in understanding Industry 4.0 as an opportunity for enterprises and not as a cost to society.


Although research has demonstrated that interpersonal communication about alcohol influences drinking behaviors, this notion has mainly been examined in offline contexts with familiar conversation partners. The present study investigated how communication mode and familiarity influence conversational valence (i.e., how negatively or positively people talk) and binge drinking norms. During a 2 (offline vs. online communication) × 2 (unfamiliar vs. familiar conversation partner) lab experiment, participants (N = 76) were exposed to an anti–binge drinking campaign, after which they discussed binge drinking and the campaign. Binge drinking norms were measured 1 week before and directly after the discussion. Results revealed that conversations between unfamiliar conversation partners were positive about the campaign, especially in offline settings, subsequently leading to healthier binge drinking norms. We recommend that researchers further investigate the influence of communication mode and familiarity on discussion effects, and we suggest that health promotion attempts might benefit from eliciting conversations about anti–binge drinking campaigns between unfamiliar persons.


Estimating the salaries of professional athletes has received a substantial amount of attention both in the press and in academic journals. A statistical technique that can be used to obtain an estimate of a player's salary with a given set of performance characteristics is the classical least squares regression analysis. This technique does not work well, however, if the data upon which the model is based contain outliers or are not normally distributed. In this paper we focus our attention on the salaries of American League baseball players in 2007 and demonstrate the usefulness of an alternative estimation approach – that of quantile regression analysis. Our results indicate that ordinary least squares regression overestimates the salaries of poor players, and underestimates the salaries of star players. This, we believe, is a compelling reason to apply quantile regression in the prediction of baseball player salaries.


Single cell transcriptomics (scRNA-seq) has transformed our ability to discover and annotate cell types and states, but deep biological understanding requires more than a taxonomic listing of clusters. As new methods arise to measure distinct cellular modalities, including high-dimensional immunophenotypes, chromatin accessibility, and spatial positioning, a key analytical challenge is to integrate these datasets into a harmonized atlas that can be used to better understand cellular identity and function. Here, we develop a computational strategy to "anchor" diverse datasets together, enabling us to integrate and compare single cell measurements not only across scRNA-seq technologies, but different modalities as well. After demonstrating substantial improvement over existing methods for data integration, we anchor scRNA-seq experiments with scATAC-seq datasets to explore chromatin differences in closely related interneuron subsets, and project single cell protein measurements onto a human bone marrow atlas to annotate and characterize lymphocyte populations. Lastly, we demonstrate how anchoring can harmonize in-situ gene expression and scRNA-seq datasets, allowing for the transcriptome-wide imputation of spatial gene expression patterns, and the identification of spatial relationships between mapped cell types in the visual cortex. Our work presents a strategy for comprehensive integration of single cell data, including the assembly of harmonized references, and the transfer of information across datasets. Availability: Installation instructions, documentation, and tutorials are available at: https://www.satijalab.org/seurat


The protection of power distribution and transmission systems is a critical application in ensuring safe, reliable and efficient supply of electricity to the consumers. The protection allows for the mitigation of damage due to various network faults, preventing equipment damage and reducing downtime that can often result.

Within the University there is a collection of digital protective relays manufactured by Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, where the functionality, requirements and operational knowledge of the available devices remains largely unknown. Thus this thesis was tasked with drawing out this knowledge and providing a means of demonstrating the functions of the available devices.

In order to develop this understanding the project was divided into several components; familiarisation, investigation, Simulator development and operations testing.

The familiarisation and investigation components of the project allowed for acquisition of the required level of knowledge about the devices to enable development of a suitable Simulation platform to demonstrate the functional operations and applications of the available devices. This portion of the project yielded the required details about the scope of the protective functionality, the mechanisms and requirements to program this functionality and the operation requirements. This resulted in the construction of a hardware based Simulation platform, provided through Lab-Volt equipment, demonstrating the functional capability of the Transformer Protection Relay. The testing component provided a mechanism to ensure that the simulation and relay would demonstrate the available functionality as expected.

The simulation platform can be used to demonstrate the overcurrent and differential protection functionality along with providing an operable insight into the relay monitoring and metering capabilities. Hardware limitations prevented a truly realistic simulation being developed and tested, notably the low fault levels and restricted fault types available. However the construction of this Simulator has demonstrated the acquired knowledge of the relays and provided the groundwork to extend the Simulator to incorporate further relays and protective functionality.


We estimate a dynamic model of multidimensional human capital development from childhood through adolescence and into early adulthood for a Peruvian cohort born in 1994. We exploit multiple measures of cognitive and socio-emotional skills and a latent factor structure to estimate flexible skills production functions between the ages of 8 and 22. We focus particularly on socio-emotional skill development, and provide the first estimates of such skill production over such a long period in a developing country context. In the last period, when individuals reach adulthood at age 22, we show that socio-emotional skills can be separated into two distinct domains - social skills and task effectiveness skills- which develop differently especially with regard to time use and cross-productivity with cognition. We find that individuals with higher task effectiveness are less likely to have engaged in risky behaviours such as smoking, taking drugs, and engaging with gangs.


Finding out which terms – scientific or otherwise— fail to refer is an extremely complex business since both felicitous reference and failure to refer must be negotiated (Eco, 1997). Causal theories of reference –even so-called hybrid theories (Enc, 1967; Nola, 1980, Kitcher, 1978-93) – posit that in order to refer to something, we need the regulative idea of an ontological reference, which operates even when we refer to impossibilia or inconceivable objects. Evidently, this is not the case of the referent of phlogiston, which is neither inconceivable nor impossible, nor, alas, does it exist. In the antipodes, from a representational-physicalist point of departure (Devitt and Sterelny, 1987), a term fails to refer if it has no actual ontological grounds: phlogiston fails to refer because it has no physical existence. Phlogiston can even be considered to be a fictional entity, and referring to a fictional entity is not the same as a reference in a fiction or a fictional reference Salmon (1998): a fictional entity is an object in the same sense as an abstract object, and therefore we can genuinely refer to it.
The question is: who claims that phlogiston does not exist? Nowadays, everyone does, fundamentally and primarily because science has established it as a fact. The process that led to this result is extremely complex, lengthy and multi-dimensional. It involved factors of several kinds: cognitive, social, political, historical, as well as ontological, and this last factor has been neglected. I do not claim that phlogiston (like dinosaurs) once existed and then ceased to exist -- science only allows us a sneak-peek into what exists and what, sometimes mistakenly, is supposed to exist. Paraphrasing Latour (1985), this inquiry is about following the journey of the referents, even when they do not end up being physical-existent or existing objects.

I believe with Bach (1999, 2004) that the notion of reference is essentially pragmatic; that the difference between alluding to something and referring to or denoting something must be established; that to achieve this the semantic properties of terms are not sufficient, and finally that references are not semantic but cognitive properties that relate thoughts and objects of any kind. My assumption is that to refer to something one must be capable of having thoughts about it and that the propositions one attempts to communicate in the course of referring to it are singular with respect to it. Being in a position to have a thought about a particular thing requires being connected to that thing, via perception, memory, communication and/ or education. Therefore, only in an exceedingly narrow realist theory of reference does phlogiston fail to refer.
Unless a theory of reference of scientific terms is based on the study of the actual linguistic communicative practices among scientists, it will inevitably pose serious epistemological difficulties.


Skin rashes are observed in about 2-3% of patients taking medication for any reason. Since the cutaneous manifestations are also common in viral exanthemas, rickettsial-bacterial infections and rheumatologic diseases, it is important to exclude other conditions that may mimic drug-induced allergic reactions in patients having skin rashes. Here, we report a patient of Mediterranean Spotted Fever (MSF) who was initially misdiagnosed as a drug eruption. The clinician should take into account the skin manifestations that can also be seen in the course of infectious diseases and they should consider the possibility of various infections in the diagnosis of drug allergy such as a Mediterranean Spotted Fever.


What happens to the language fingerprints of a work when it is translated into another language? While translation studies has often prioritized concepts of equivalence (of form and function), and of textual function, digital humanities methodologies can provide a new analytical lens onto ways that stylistic traces of a text's source language can persist in a translated text. This paper presents initial findings of a project undertaken by the Stanford Literary Lab, which has identified distinctive grammatical features in short stories that have been translated into English. While the phenomenon of "translationese" has been well established particularly in corpus translation studies, we argue that digital humanities methods can be valuable for identifying specific traits for a vision of a world atlas of literary style.


Among the most thoughtful students of the ancient world, Georg Luck has offered subtle and nuanced interpretations of a broad range of classical subjects. "Ancient Pathways, Hidden Pursuits" brings together the best of Georg Luck's many papers and articles on Graeco-Roman life and thought in the realm of religious beliefs, occult practices, psychology, and morals. The collection complements Luck's "Arcana Mundi," an introduction to magic and the occult in antiquity, which has been published in several languages.The present volume includes the author's thoughts on Greek and Roman religions, early Christianity, Greek and Roman psychology and morals, and magic and the occult. Luck's main findings explore generally neglected areas of ancient civilization, locating magic and philosophy with religion as vehicles for moral and psychological guidance. Throughout this study, one finds meaning in "superstitious" and conflicting patterns of behavior and learns much about the nature of the human soul. This collection will serve as a valuable reference for those interested in the driving motivations of ancient man."The topics of the individual articles in this volume are very central and of great humanistic appeal, and they indeed form a thematic unity concerning man and religion in Greek and Roman society." --Ludwig Koenen, Herbert C. Youtie Distinguished University Professor of Papyrology, University of MichiganGeorg Luck is Professor of Classics, emeritus, The Johns Hopkins University.


Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) dowel bars were installed on one new construction project and two dowel bar retrofit projects to evaluate the performance of this type of dowel bar in comparison to steel dowel bars installed on the same contracts. The primary data collection site (I-82, Yakima River Br. Vic. to Granger) included 67 joints retrofit with GFRP dowels and an equal number of epoxy coated doweled joints that serve as the control section. Falling weight deflectometer (FWD) testing will be used to evaluate the load transfer efficiency (LTE) of the two types of dowel bars. Periodic coring of the concrete at the joints is also planned to examine the condition of the GFRP and epoxy coated dowels. Post-installation FWD testing of the primary data site revealed that the average LTE of the joints retrofit with epoxy coated dowel was higher than the joints retrofit with the GFRP dowels and that the difference was statistically significant. Preinstallation FWD testing showed no difference in the LTE of the joints in the areas where the GFRP and epoxy coated dowels were installed.


This edition, originally published in 1953 in the admirable Methuen Classical Texts series, has been maintained in print by Bradda Books. This longevity is deserved; for it remains a very fine edition, manageable at different levels of attainment. Maguinness had chiefly in mind students at sixth-form or early university level but, for the benefit of less practised students taking GCSE or in their second year of Latin bugun at University, he wisely included a Vocabulary (marked with syllable lengths to tie in with his very useful section on scansion and reading aloud) and a considerable amount of fairly elementary linguistic matter in the Notes. The Introduction gives an outline of the background knowledge needed by a beginner in Virgilian studies. For a succinct and always level-headed approach to the "Aeneid," this remains a splendid edition - one for which more advanced Virgilians still have every reason to be thankful; and Book XII gives an excellent flavour of the whole epic and the meaning of its constantly enigmatic closure.


It is increasingly apparent that the traditional scene graph is not fulfilling the requirements of real-time interactive systems. The use of a single graph as a representation of the current state of the world means that display systems, that may operate at very different rates, or may need to predict ahead the state, need to be very tightly integrated with behaviour and semantics. In this position paper, we will propose a type of field called the "ambient field" which represents information proximate to the user's senses, which they could sample over short time periods. These fields might represent audio, video, haptic or other potentially sensed information. A display device can then sample these fields as necessary to construct the best representation possible at its own display rate. The ambient field draws on the concept of the ambient optical array from Gibson, light fields from computer graphics rendering and point-based physics simulations.


The promulgation of effective prevention and treatment strategies for the complex behavioral acts that constitute rape and homicide awaits the availability of reliable etiological data, including diagnostic data. This article endeavors to enhance that database by providing a comparison of the diagnostic presentations of three offender groups--murderers, rapists, and rapists who murder their victims.


PURPOSE
Recent data suggest that the glutamatergic system is important in the proliferation and migration of glioblastoma. Talampanel is a well-tolerated, oral alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptor blocker that could be beneficial in this disease.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
This trial was designed to estimate overall survival in adults with newly diagnosed glioblastoma treated with talampanel in addition to standard radiation (RT) and temozolomide (TMZ). A secondary purpose was to evaluate talampanel toxicity in this setting. Talampanel was initiated with RT + TMZ and discontinued for toxicity or disease progression. Survival was compared with historical controls.

RESULTS
Seventy-two patients were enrolled from December 2005 to July 2006. Their median age was 60 years (range, 37 to 85 years, with 17% > 70 years), median Karnofsky performance score was 90 (range, 70 to 100), and 77% had a debulking procedure. With a median follow-up time of 18 months, 55 patients (76%) have died, yielding a median survival time of 18.3 months (95% CI, 14.6 to 22.5 months). When the 60 patients who were 18 to 70 years old were compared with the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) RT + TMZ data, the median survival (20.3 v 14.6 months, respectively) and percentage of patients surviving at 24 months (41.7% v 26.5%, respectively; P = .02) seemed superior. The percentage of patients methylated at O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase was lower than on the EORTC study (29% v 43%, respectively). Talampanel was well tolerated and did not increase the known hematologic or nonhematologic toxicities of TMZ.

CONCLUSION
Talampanel can be added to RT + TMZ without significant additional toxicity. The encouraging survival results in methylated and unmethylated patients suggest that blocking AMPA receptors may be a useful strategy in newly diagnosed glioblastoma.


The AutoML approach aims to deliver peak performance from a machine learning  portfolio on the dataset at hand. A Monte-Carlo Tree Search Algorithm Selection and Configuration (Mosaic) approach is presented to tackle this mixed (combinatorial and continuous) expensive optimization problem on the structured search space of ML pipelines. Extensive lesion studies are conducted to independently assess and compare: i) the optimization processes based on Bayesian Optimization or Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS); ii) its warm-start initialization based on meta-features or random runs; iii) the ensembling of the solutions gathered along the search. Mosaic is assessed on the OpenML 100 benchmark and the Scikit-learn portfolio, with statistically significant gains over AutoSkLearn, winner of all former AutoML challenges.


A variety of robustness objections have been made against evolutionary game theory. One of these objections alleges that the games used in the underlying model are too arbitrary and oversimplified to generate a robust model of interesting prosocial behaviors. In this paper, I argue that the robustness objection can be met. However, in order to do so, we must attend to important conceptual issues regarding the nature of fairness, justice, and other moral concepts. Specifically, we must better understand the relationship between moral concepts and formal characterizations of games.


Question

We ask if there are significant changes in plant species composition after 20 yr of documented temperature increase (~1 °C), and if the temporal changes are different in closed temperate oak forest compared to semi-open canopy. Answers to these questions may indicate if climate warming and/or canopy closure, controlled by land-use regime, is the main driver of any documented compositional changes in the forest between 1993 and 2013.

Location

Phulchoki Mountain, central Himalaya (Nepal).

Methods

We resampled 64 plots of 100 m2 after 20 yr and recorded all terrestrial vascular plants and percentage canopy cover in each sample plot. We analysed the compositional changes in terms of species abundance, frequency and spatial translocation in relation to atmospheric temperature and canopy cover using univariate and multivariate statistics.

Results

We find clear changes in the species composition, with abundance of almost half of the studied species having increased and one-quarter of the species having decreased over the past two decades. The changes vary among life forms: trees increased, whereas decreasing species were mainly herbaceous or shrubs. Similarly, shade-tolerant species increased, whereas those adapted to open habitat decreased. The compositional changes are mainly explained through the increased regional temperature, with a significant buffering effect of tree canopy cover. A significant increase in low-elevation (warm-adapted) species is detected, but this thermophilization is only found in the semi-open forest.

Conclusions

Fine-scale temporal changes in the temperate oak forests are mainly driven by macroclimate warming, although change in land-use regime also has a profound direct effect by governing canopy closure that, in turn, moderates the effect of climate warming. Tree canopy cover governs the relative abundances of different species based on their adaptive characteristics, such as shade tolerance and life-form traits. The magnitude of the temporal vegetation change would therefore be dependent on both the degree of regional climate warming and forest canopy closure.


In an empirical study of white-collar criminals in Norway, 80 out of 305 convicted criminals were detected by the media. This paper presents results from the study, and discusses media role in white-collar crime detection. White-collar crime detection and follow up seems to be related to a number of simultaneous journalistic procedures and cultural elements. For example, the argument of white-collar crime detection among journalists seems to be related to the story's importance in itself and, as such, it will be treated as just another crime or news story and have the same internal process. It is also based on the elements of the story in itself and the extent that it can be described as a story that is regarded as interesting for the readers. That will be dependent on the general profile of the news medium, the journalistic competences and the overall resources and priorities of the news medium.


Multi-channel service delivery is increasingly used in the interactions with citizens and businesses. Some projects have been undertaken successfully, whereas others failed and the reasons for success are not entirely clear. In this paper we focus on success factors for the development and implementation of multi-channel service delivery strategy. The factors are derived based on a document analysis and expanded and validated by public sector staff working in this field. In total 21 CSF were found and the top eight critical factors concern especially institutional and macro issues related to managing the interdependencies of strategic decisions, lobbying for strong political support and management buy-in, harnessing scarce resources, determining the right channel and services mix, enhancing inter-organizational integration and coordination, and managing clients' perceptions. The findings should help to improve the development of service delivery strategies.


Childhood obesity has become a huge issue in the United States. This study examines the relationship between body image and free time physical activity in children ages 5-8 years old. The Collins Figure Drawings were used to assess how participants viewed their ideal body image and perceived body image and behavior observed most often was recorded. Overall, results indicated that 34.5% of participants were overweight. Fifty-eight percent of boys and fifty-four percent of girls were dissatisfied with their bodies. The behavior most observed during free time for both girls and boys was sitting. Although the majority of participants were dissatisfied with their bodies, it did not impact the amount of physical activity children achieved. Participants were engaged in moderate physical activity for 13 minutes during free time (free time was for 30 minutes). Results from this study indicated that there is no relationship between body image and physical activity.


This paper addresses the ongoing 'European Migrant Crisis' by, first, discussing the return of internal borders within the European Union as zones for controlling and sorting migrants, and then both internal and external borders as areas in which policing and national policy choices deeply challenge international law, which was designed to protect all human beings regardless of their country of departure. The primary argument developed here is that some EU countries neglect to abide by the European and international regulations on migration, asylum seekers, and human rights, with unprecedented consequences. Border policies are presented here as paradoxical governmental tools, which are not applied equally and uniformly. The main consequence is the growing gap between rights guaranteed under the law and their selective application within a border management where the state of exception is increasingly visible.


A new tetracationic triple-stranded supramolecular cylinder is prepared from a bis(pyridylimine) ligand containing a diphenylmethane and two ketimine groups in the spacer. The cylinder is longer and slightly wider than the corresponding cylinder containing just diphenylmethane spacers. Inter-strand CH...pi interactions are not observed and this affects the relay of the chiral information within the cylinder; a mixture of rac and meso isomers results, with the meso isomer being the dominant solution species and characterised in the solid state by crystallography. This new cylinder does bind to DNA as confirmed by induced circular dichroism signals in both the metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) and in-ligand bands of the cylinder. Flow linear dichroism demonstrates that the cylinder binds to DNA in a specific orientation(s) and is consistent with (major) groove-binding as seen for the shorter cylinder. Some DNA bending/coiling is observed but the effect is much less dramatic than observed for the cylinder with diphenylmethane spacers confirming that coiling is not solely a consequence of the tetracationic charge, but rather is related to the precise size and shape of the cylinder.


The purpose of the paper is to review and evaluate efforts to integrate research into teaching in a postgraduate degree program in real estate management at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. The majority of the students in the program come from European countries, but a significant minority is from Asia. The long term goals of the changes were to increase graduation rates as well as the quality of dissertations. In order to validate our findings, the data for this paper emanate from a number of different sources, such as students' course evaluations, students' grades as well as interviews with students. The results show that the first cohort of students found it stressful when individual research writing was introduced towards the end of their studies, since they had very little practice and experience in research writing. With a more gradual and earlier introduction in teams, coupled with changes in assessment tasks, the second cohort found individual research writing less stressful and more beneficial. Performance in the second cohort has improved significantly. By creating a more aligned course design, students have spent more time on task, which is the most significant factor in creating a better learning environment.


Extracted from text ... Book Reviews 137
GLOBAL DISORDER
How To Avoid A
Fourth World War
ROBERT HARVEY
Robinson, London, 2003, 477 pages
This book looks at the factors that are likely to
create an unstable world, possibly even leading
to a fourth world war in the post-Cold War and
post-9/11 period. Harvey identifies a wide range
of issues that are taking place around the world,
some of which are already creating conflict.
He looks at the threat of terrorist organisations,
border disputes between nuclear India
and Pakistan, the 'menacing' North Korea, the
implications of the fissures between the US and
the EU, ..


The study explored the relationship of play and development in adolescents. It was developed to determine if play in adolescents has a cognitive developmental purpose. The research design was a quantitative study with qualitative elements. The design of the study consisted two groups of participants who engaged in either a computer program to test cognitive skills or a computer game which contains the same tests. The participants (N = 216) were adolescent males and females (ages 12-19) from urban mid-Atlantic Catholic high schools. After vetting the data, the total was N = 167 and only included males (ages 14-19). The study indicated that adolescent males performed the cognitive tasks of memory and reading better in the play condition than the work condition and performed the cognitive tasks of logic and mathematics better in the work condition than the play condition. Differences in performance related to age are not present. This study suggests that play may have an effect on adolescents' cognitive development; therefore, it can be used as an effective method for some types of instruction. The study may contribute to the literature with the groundwork for further research exploring the cognitive nature of play in adolescents and its potential impact on identity formation.


That these two subjects—the History of Science and the Psychology of Invention—are intimately connected with one another, is immediately evident and needs no explanation. Perhaps, however, it has not always been sufficiently appreciated. The recent Congress for the History of Science (Jerusalem, 1953) has given me an opportunity of trying to apply to the latter the data of the former.


Objective The Getting Recovery Right After Neck Dissection (GRRAND) intervention is a physiotherapy programme for patients with head and neck cancer who have undergone neck dissection. The aim of this qualitative study was to understand if the intervention was useful, acceptable and whether it was feasible to conduct a randomised controlled trial (RCT). Design This qualitative study was embedded within the GRRAND-Feasibility (GRRAND-F) Study. Setting Participants were recruited from four acute National Health Service hospitals in England between 2020 and 2021. Participants We interviewed four usual care and four intervention patient-participants from a single study site (Oxford). Six were male, two were female. All were white British ethnicity. We interviewed two physiotherapists from Oxford who delivered the GRRAND-F intervention, and physiotherapists from Birmingham, Poole and Norwich who were trained to deliver the intervention but were not able to deliver it within the study time frame. Results The analysis identified five themes: (1) Acceptability, (2) Adherence, (3) Outcomes, (4) Feasibility and (5) Stand-alone themes (prehabilitation, video consultations, healthcare use). Patient-participants and physiotherapist-participants agreed that usual care was not meeting patients' rehabilitation needs. The GRRAND intervention provided biopsychosocial support. In comparison to the usual care group, patient-participants who received the intervention were more confident that they could perform rehabilitation exercises and were more motivated to engage in long-term adaptive behaviour change. Physiotherapists felt they needed more administrative support to participate in an RCT. Conclusion Participants felt that usual care was insufficient. GRRAND provided much needed, biopsychosocial support to patients. Participants were supportive that it would be feasible to test GRRAND in an RCT. Trial registration number ISRCTN11979997.


The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are the foundation for the Administration to achieve lower costs, streamline processes and provide better service to citizens; but above all they allow you to convert the public sector in a driving agent of economic development and innovation of one country, two key factors in times of crisis. However, there is still a digital divide in rural areas. This article is presented as access and appropriate use of ICT changes the management of municipal processes in rural areas, benefiting taxpayers and the community in general. Under the Draft Social Cohesion, the methodology used and the results obtained are described. This project seeks to improve the management of municipal services to the population through the inclusion of innovations and new technologies, to offer better services to the population.


In 2005, India passed a law giving individuals the right to information on the State's acts and decisions. Using this law, the authors in this edited volume applied for official records about four of the worst episodes of mass violence in independent India. These traumatic events had not previously been scrutinised using the recently-minted law on this scale. The authors filed over 800 applications for information; the results of their unusual endeavour led to this book. Sifting through hundreds of government documents on criminal justice, administrative discipline, commissions of inquiry, emergency relief and monetary compensation, the authors examine the State's response to sectarian violence in Nellie in 1983, Delhi in 1984, Bhagalpur in 1989 and Gujarat in 2002. Hundreds of people, most of them religious minorities, were killed, injured, displaced from their homes, and stripped of their livelihoods in these episodes of mass violence. In each instance, violence was encouraged by the politically powerful and tolerated by the police. This book examines official records and shows how State apathy in the wake of violence thwarted attempts to rehabilitate survivors and punish perpetrators. These failures are not simply an unfortunate coincidence. The State's own records reveal that national and state governments have been negligent in recurring, systematic ways. By detailing how State processes have failed, this disquieting book demonstrates that the State could have pursued justice and reparation for victims of mass violence in the past, and could, in substantial measure, still do so.


We study reward maximisation in a wide class of structured stochastic multi-armed bandit problems, where the mean rewards of arms satisfy some given structural constraints, e.g. linear, unimodal, sparse, etc. Our aim is to develop methods that are flexible (in that they easily adapt to different structures), powerful (in that they perform well empirically and/or provably match instance-dependent lower bounds) and efficient in that the per-round computational burden is small.
We develop asymptotically optimal algorithms from instance-dependent lower-bounds using iterative saddle-point solvers. Our approach generalises recent iterative methods for pure exploration to reward maximisation, where a major challenge arises from the estimation of the sub-optimality gaps and their reciprocals. Still we manage to achieve all the above desiderata. Notably, our technique avoids the computational cost of the full-blown saddle point oracle employed by previous work, while at the same time enabling finite-time regret bounds.
Our experiments reveal that our method successfully leverages the structural assumptions, while its regret is at worst comparable to that of vanilla UCB.


BACKGROUND
IR3535 is among the most widely used synthetic insect repellents, particularly for the mitigation of mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, dengue, and Zika, as well as to control flies, ticks, fleas, lice, and mites. These insects are well-known vectors of deadly diseases that affect humans, livestock, and crops. Moreover, global warming could increase the populations of these vectors.

RESULTS
Here, we performed IR3535 dose-response analyses on Drosophila melanogaster, a well-known insect model organism, using electrophysiology and binary food choice assays. Our findings indicated that bitter-sensing gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs) are indispensable to detect IR3535. Further, potential candidate gustatory receptors were screened, among which GR47a was identified as a key molecular sensor. 0.1%-0.4% ranges of IR3535 affected larval development and mortality. Additionally, DEET (i.e., another commonly used insecticide) was found to exert synergistic effects when co-administered with IR3535.

CONCLUSION
Our findings confirmed that IR3535 directly activates bitter-sensing GRNs, which are mediated by GR47a. This relatively safe and highly potent insecticide can be largely used in combination with DEET to increase its efficiency to protect livestock and crops. Collectively, our findings suggest that the molecular sensors elucidated herein could be used as targets for the development of alternative insecticides. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


We have known for some time that an intact ventromedial prefrontal cortex (PFC) is essential for normal social and moral functioning, thanks in large part to studies of individuals who have suffered damage to it (Damasio, 1994). In this issue of Brain , Taber-Thomas and colleagues report that the specific nature of a person's moral impairment depends not only upon where brain damage occurs, but also when (Taber-Thomas et al. , 2014).

Their point of departure is a landmark study showing that individuals with damage to ventromedial PFC make abnormal judgements when faced with a specific class of moral dilemma (Koenigs et al. , 2007). These dilemmas hinge on a trade-off between allowing several people to die, or saving them by personally killing a single victim. For instance, the trolley problem asks whether it is acceptable to save five people from being hit by a runaway trolley by shoving a man in front of it in order to slow it down (such a bizarrely unfortunate railway mishap may seem the stuff of pure fantasy, but try telling that to Phineas Gage).

Koenigs and colleagues (2007) showed that although neurotypical individuals and those with brain damage to regions outside the ventromedial PFC tended to disfavour such direct harm despite its utilitarian benefits, individuals with adult-onset damage to ventromedial PFC are significantly more likely to judge such harms acceptable. Importantly, however, the differences between groups did not extend to another class of moral 'dilemma'. Specifically, ventromedial PFC participants were just as likely as others to condemn self-interested harmful actions (bumping off a stingy boss, stealing a wallet, selling a daughter into the …


This article considers how we can improve legal outcomes of conflicts that occur in very small arenas. The conflicts can be of many kinds, including a nuisance dispute between neighbors, an impending collision between two moving vehicles, a joint decision between spouses about whether or on what terms to continue their marriage, or a disagreement between managers and shareholders within a firm.The prevailing literature typically refers to these small environments as "markets." Thinking of them as markets, however, averts our attention from larger environments that should be considered but that often do not function well as private markets. For example, efficiency queries typically look at the wealth created (or destroyed) only in the micromarket at hand, treating gains or losses to others only as externalities to the extent that they are not internalized by bargaining or adoption of the appropriate legal rule. Stepping back and looking at a larger arena often permits superior solutions, particularly when extraction from previous commitments is costly.Focusing on the larger rather the smaller environment can enable an increase in social wealth or welfare but may also require greater State intervention. As the environment becomes larger bargaining works less well. As a result, we may have to abandon the language of markets or constrain its use, particularly when instability (cycling) or behavioral issues are prominent. In these settings the "market" is often little more than a metaphor. One way to think of the problem is as institutional fracture, or the cost of breaking the arenas in which people interact into excessively small pieces.A comparison of the law and economics of common law nuisance and that of automobile accidents illustrates the differences. The Coasean literature focused on neighbors whose interests were in place and where bargaining was conceivable. As a result, two people sharing a single building in London came to be regarded as the "market" for legal analysis. By contrast, bargaining metaphors completely failed in the law of automobile accidents, where bargaining is a much less promising resolution to conflict problems. This forced the analysis to step back and consider the full arena in which motor vehicles operate rather than individual pairwise conflicts. As a result, outcomes in cases involving traffic disputes are inherently superior to outcomes in cases involving nuisance disputes between neighbors.The article also develops a theory of useful default rules for avoiding or controlling institutional fracture. The literature on private default rules has not done an adequate job of differentiating their use in different institutional settings. A complete theory of private default rules must address three important issues. The first is How should the legal policy maker select a default rule? The second is When should the rule be a "default" and when should it be absolute? Third is What kind of bargaining coalition is needed to reverse the default?Finally, often it makes sense to "stack" a contractual mechanism, together with appropriate default rules, on top of a regulatory mechanism. For example, an optimal land use policy would use an underdeterrent zoning law, which eliminates more severe conflicts before they occur, but stack on top of this a set of private contract rules for dealing with more narrowly focused and idiosyncratic land use conflicts.A well designed system for allocating resources necessarily involves the heavy use of markets, but markets must be properly designed. Coase's suggestion that the legal system would be unimportant but for transaction costs could literally apply only to a social contract formed during some initial position when people had made no resource commitments whatsoever. As soon as the first investment is made, however, all bets are off. From that point the movement of resources can be costly with or without transactions, and a well designed legal system must minimize the costs of movement by both transactional and nontransactional means. To be sure, while bargaining over the price of moving a smokestack might be costless and perfect, someone still has to tear the smokestack down and rebuild it in a different place.


This paper presents an adaptive and intelligent power control approach for microgrid systems in the grid-connected operation mode. The proposed critic-based adaptive control system contains a neuro-fuzzy controller and a fuzzy critic agent. The fuzzy critic agent employs a reinforcement learning algorithm based on neuro-dynamic programming. The system feedback is made available to the critic agent's input as the controller's action in the previous state. The evaluation or reinforcement signal produced by the critic agent together with the back-propagation of error is then used for online tuning of the output layer weights of the neuro-fuzzy controller. The proposed controller shows superior results compared with the traditional PI control. The transient response time is significantly reduced, power oscillations are eliminated, and fast convergence is achieved. The simple design and improved dynamic behavior of the proposed controller make it a promising nominee for power control of microgrid systems.


This article deals with near-field acoustic emission (AE) signal sensing with a low-profile piezoelectric film strain sensor. In general, AE signals can be represented as a summation of moment tensor (dipoles or double couples) weighted Greens' functions. Basic theories of the Green's function and moment tensor are introduced first. The formulation presented here extends the AE elastodynamic solution to stress-wave induced surface strain response in half space. As a special case with potential use for sensor calibration, stress wave-induced surface strain response to a surface pulse load is presented. To verify the derivation, experiments were carried out with glass capillary breakage on a large steel block. The experimental result matches the theoretical prediction fairly well. Based on the surface pulse case study, the characteristics of strain and displacement signals are illustrated for both P and Rayleigh wave arrivals, which could provide insights for such strain sensor design and implementation. Due to the finite sensing area of piezoelectric film strain sensor, its aperture effect cannot be neglected in practical use, especially in higher frequency AE signal sensing, which is also investigated in this article.


Animals may use a variety of search patterns to locate resources when the exact locations of those resources are unknown. Theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that the optimal type of random walk will vary based on the distribution of resources such as prey. Once resources are located, the animal may utilize a movement strategy that allows it to remain within a small area and maximize resource acquisition (area-restricted searching, ARS). Detecting the location of ARS zones is important, as it identifies profitable habitat to the animal, although such analysis is rarely conducted with fishes. We utilized correlated random walk (CRW), fractal, and first passage time (FPT) analysis to quantify the response of planktivorous manta rays Manta alfredi to spatial scale and identify locations of ARS within lagoons at Palmyra Atoll. Mantas used CRWs at small spatial scales to move between prey patches, but not at larger scales as they performed home-ranging behavior. One domain was located with straighter movements at scales <330 m, and more tortuous movements at scales >330 m. ARS was located adjacent to ledges with high abundance of plankton, or within channels. Fractal and FPT analyses suggest that mantas used patches that were 5 to 49% of the scale of their activity space over short time periods (days). Quantitative analytical tools help explain observed patterns of movements and demonstrate the importance of lagoon habitats to these macro-planktivores.


We use 373 hours ($\approx$ 15 days) of data from the second science run of the LIGO gravitational-wave detectors to search for signals from binary neutron star coalescences within a maximum distance of about 1.5 Mpc, a volume of space which includes the Andromeda Galaxy and other galaxies of the Local Group of galaxies. This analysis requires a signal to be found in data from detectors at the two LIGO sites, according to a set of coincidence criteria. The background (accidental coincidence rate) is determined from the data and is used to judge the significance of event candidates. No inspiral gravitational wave events were identified in our search. Using a population model which includes the Local Group, we establish an upper limit of less than 47 inspiral events per year per Milky Way equivalent galaxy with 90% confidence for non-spinning binary neutron star systems with component masses between 1 and 3 $M_\odot$.


This book assesses Ireland's major political, social and cultural developments during this troubled century. With a chronological appraoch to the events that have shaped a nation, this book provides both an impression of day-to-day life in Ireland since 1900, while also offering a political and historical overview of the period. It is a portrait of a nation's struggle to define itself; to translate the strong national identity of the Irish abroad into a coherent homogeneity at home. Blighted, or blessed, with a deeply ambivalent attitude to the power of the English influence over the centuries, the Irish people have for decades been divided between those loyal to the British Crown, and those advocates of Home Rule. This division found formal expression in the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, separating the Protestant North from the new Irish Free State (later the Republic of Ireland) in the South. While this fledgling state established its autonomy, introducing a republican constitution in 1937 and seceding from the Commonwealth in 1949, the identity of the nation as a whole continued to struggle with the difficulties of its perpetual political and religious cleavages. It also examines the artistic and social wealth of a formidable cultural legacy. The influence of writers and poets, artists and playwrights such as Joyce, Yeats, Shaw and Synge is discussed in both social and political contexts, and wider cultural trends are examined in an accessible style. The author shows us Ireland and the Irish as they really are - the truths behind the stereotype of gregarious, sport-loving Guinness drinkers, as well as the realities of the lasting wounds inflicted on this divided nation.


This paper concerns mining in the SADCC in the context of the present world crisis. As such it concentrates on the bulk of mineral-metal extraction in the region which is for export onto the world market, primarily to the industrialized OECD countries. The potentially important area of intra-regional mineral-metal trade is not considered.