In this thesis we study aspects of the cosmological electroweak phase transition which are relevant to the possibility of baryogenesis at this epoch. We focus on two issues: first, requiring that the observed baryon number be of electroweak origin places strong constraints on electroweak physics, and second, baryogenesis at the electroweak scale may be driven by an asymmetry generated at the GUT scale. We use the effective potential at finite temperature as a means of analyzing phase transitions associated with spontaneous symmetry breaking. We develop the theory with two basic examples: the scalar and Abelian Higgs models. Infrared divergences near the phase transition make the one-loop description unreliable, and indeed invalidate conventional perturbation theory. Borrowing a method from studies of QCD at high temperatures, we demonstrate that the summation of ring diagrams cures the leading infrared divergences and achieves a more reliable perturbative expansion. We then apply this formalism to the minimal Standard Model, following previous work, and confirm weak first-order behavior at the phase transition. We show that requiring the baryon number not be erased by sphaleron processes after the phase transition places a stringent bound on the Higgs mass, which is incompatible with experiment. This cosmological bound, however, may be relaxed by extending the scalar sector of the Standard Model. We consider the two simplest such extensions, the addition of a gauge singlet and of a second doublet. We demonstrate that ring-improvement in the singlet extension alters previous arguments at the one-loop level and yields a more restrictive bound on the Higgs mass. While ring-improvement in the two-doublet model, in principle, also reduces the Higgs mass bound found earlier at one loop, the multitude of new couplings in this model does not permit a definitive statement. We then investigate a mechanism for generating the observed baryon asymmetry ( n B /S ~ 10- 10 ) at the electroweak phase transition from a pre-existing leptonic asymmetry ( L T /s ~ 10- 5 ) produced at the GUT scale. This mechanism works by charge transport in a strongly first-order phase transition and avoids the need for large CP-violation at the electroweak scale.


Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a key enabler of enterprise businesses: it supports automation, security enforcement, and compliance. However, most enterprises struggle with their Identity and Access Management strategy. Discussions on IAM primarily focus at the IT operational level, rather than targeting strategic decision-makers' issues, at the business level. Organizations are experiencing an increasing number of internal and external threats and risks: there is scarcity of resources and budget to address them all. Decision-makers (e.g., CIOs, CISOs) need to prioritize their choices and motivate their requests for investments. This applies for investments in IAM vs. other possible security or business investments that could be made by the organization. In this context, a range of possible IAM investment options has an effect on multiple strategic outcomes of interest, such as assurance, agility, security, compliance, productivity, and empowerment. We have developed a repeatable approach and methodology to help organizations work through this complex problem space and determine an appropriate strategy, by providing them with decision support capabilities. The proposed approach, validated in collaboration with security and IAM experts, couples economic modelling (which explores decision-makers' preferences between the different outcomes) with system modelling and simulations to predict the consequences (likely outcomes) associated with different investment choices and map them against decision-makers' preferences, in order to identify the most suitable investment options. We illustrate how this methodology has been applied in an IAM case study, in a business-driven context with core enterprise services. This work is in progress. We discuss current results and next steps.


Contemporary organizations operate under turbulent business conditions and must adapt their strategies to ongoing changes. Sustainable performance can be achieved when the organization engages in interactive processes that link emerging opportunities to forward-looking analytics. But few organizations are able to practice this consistently. Fast processes performed by managers at the frontline respond to ongoing environmental stimuli and slow processes initiated by managers at the center interpret events and reasons about updated strategic actions. Current experiential insights from the fast processes can be aggregated systematically to inform the slow processes of reasoning. When the fast and slow processes interact they can form a dynamic system that adapts organizational activities to changing conditions.


&NA; Despite major advances in HIV testing, early detection of infection at the point of care (PoC) remains a key challenge. Although rapid antibody PoC and laboratory-based nucleic acid amplification tests dominate the diagnostics market, the viral capsid protein p24 is recognized as an alternative early virological biomarker of infection. However, the detection of ultra-low levels of p24 at the PoC has proven challenging. Here we review the landscape of p24 diagnostics to identify knowledge gaps and barriers and help shape future research agendas. Five hundred and seventy-four research articles to May 2018 that propose or evaluate diagnostic assays for p24 were identified and reviewed. We give a brief history of diagnostic development, and the utility of p24 as a biomarker in different populations such as infants, the newly infected, those on preexposure prophylaxis and self-testers. We review the performance of commercial p24 assays and consider elements such as immune complex disruption, resource-poor settings, prevalence, and assay antibodies. Emerging and ultrasensitive assays are reviewed and show a number of promising approaches but further translation has been limited. We summarize studies on the health economic benefits of using antigen testing. Finally, we speculate on the future uses of high-performance p24 assays, particularly, if available in self-test format.


ABSTRACT A common rationale for offering online courses in K-12 schools is that they allow students to take courses not offered at their schools; however, there has been little research on how online courses are used to expand curricular options when operating at scale. We assess the extent to which students and schools use online courses for this purpose by analyzing statewide, student-course level data from high school students in Florida, which has the largest virtual sector in the nation. We introduce a "novel course" framework to address this question. We define a virtual course as "novel" if it is only available to a student virtually, not face-to-face through their own home high school. We find that 7% of high school students in 2013–14 enrolled in novel online courses. Novel courses were more commonly used by higher-achieving students, in rural schools, and in schools with relatively few Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate offerings.


Cooperative spectrum sensing (CSS) is a promising technique in cognitive radio networks (CRNs) that utilises multi- user diversity to mitigate channel instability and noise uncertainty. In this study, the relationship between 'cooperation mechanisms' and 'spatial-spectral diversity' over multiple channels jointly sensing is investigated in the presence of an imperfect reporting channel. The multiple channels are sensed at the receiver built on the filter bank-based multi-carrier system. The multi-channel CSS strategies are modelled by the introduced 'cooperative ratio' to balance the requirements on 'sensing accuracy', 'efficiency' and 'overhead', which is quantitatively characterised by the energy consumption. The target of CSS is to maximise the aggregate opportunistic throughput of secondary users (SUs) by jointly considering constraints on sensing overhead and the aggregate interference to primary users (PUs). The optimisation is divided into two sequential sub- optimisation processes, 'multi-user diversity optimisation' and 'multi-channel diversity optimisation'. An approach is developed from generic algorithms to solve the two sub-problems. Numerical results show that the optimal CSS scheme is effective in improving channel utilisation for SUs with low interference to PUs. This study establishes a valuable cooperative model for the design of multi-channel spectrum sensing algorithms in CRNs.


The potential relationship between domestic environmental regulation and international competitiveness has evoked various speculations. The common neoclassical train of thought is that strict environmental regulation is detrimental to the competitiveness of industry, and that it induces phenomena such as ecological dumping, ecological capital flight, and regulatory 'chill' in environmental standards. A different view is that strict environmental regulation triggers industry's innovation potential, and subsequently increases its competitiveness. The impact of environmental regulation on competitiveness has been analyzed in terms of international capital movements, new firm formation, and international trade. This paper focuses on a statistically rigorous analysis of international trade studies, using a technique that is known as meta-analysis. The paper presents a statistically supported evaluation of the literature, in order to assess what the main conclusions regarding the relationship between environmental regulation and competitiveness are when it comes to studies on international trade flows. The synthesis of the literature is subsequently used to present guidelines for future primary research in this area.


This paper describes a proposal of multiple ontology data integration system for a question answering framework called AQUA. We propose an approach for mediating between a given query and a set of resources. This method is based on a Meta-ontology (which contains contents of each individual sources) and our similarity algorithm based on analysis of neighborhood of classes. We argue that AQUA can perform mappings between queries and an ontological space by using a mediator agent based on a Meta-ontology and our similarity algorithm.


We present a new oblivious RAM that supports variable-sized storage blocks (vORAM), which is the first ORAM to allow varying block sizes without trivial padding. We also present a new history-independent data structure (a HIRB tree) that can be stored within a vORAM. Together, this construction provides an efficient and practical oblivious data structure (ODS) for a key/value map, and goes further to provide an additional privacy guarantee as compared to prior ODS maps: even upon client compromise, deleted data and the history of old operations remain hidden to the attacker. We implement and measure the performance of our system using Amazon Web Services, and the single-operation time for a realistic database (up to 256K entries) is less than 1 second. This represents a 100x speed-up compared to the current best oblivious map data structure (which provides neither secure deletion nor history independence) by Wang et al. (CCS 14).


Ninety-two cases of vesicouterine fistula reported in the world literature since 1908 are reviewed. The lesion was rarely seen before 1947. It usually followed a vaginal operative delivery and the usual complaint was total urinary incontinence. Diagnosis was most often made indirectly by seeing urine or dye pass through an intact external cervical 0s. Management usually involved a vaginal, surgical approach to repair. Since 1947, vesicouterine fistula, while not common, is no longer rare. It occurs most often after low segment cesarean section. While urinary incontinence may occur, the major symptom is cyclic hematuria (menouria). The diagnosis is best made by hysterogram performed with a short-tipped cannula. Management consists of an abdominal, surgical approach, the technique of which varies with the patient's need for future reproductive capacity.


The human gastrointestinal tract is divided into sections, allowing digestion and nutrient absorption in the proximal region to be separate from the vast microbial populations in the large intestine, thereby reducing conflict between host and microbes. In the distinct habitats of the gut, environmental filtering and competitive exclusion between microbes are the driving factors shaping microbial diversity, and stochastic factors during colonization history and in situ evolution are likely to introduce intersubject variability. Adaptive strategies of microbes with different niches are genomically encoded: Specialists have smaller genomes than generalists, and microbes with environmental reservoirs have large accessory genomes. A shift toward a Neolithic diet increased loads of simple carbohydrates and selected for their increased breakdown and absorption in the small intestine. Humans who outcompeted microbes for the new substrates obtained more energy from their diets and prospered, an evolutionary process reflected in modern population genetics. The three-way interactions between human genetics, diet, and the microbiota fundamentally shaped modern populations and continue to affect health globally.


The current reflection is about a new roadmap that the American giant, Google, Inc must follow to reenter successfully the Chinese market by using tools like forensic accounting, audit techniques and other relevant initiatives related to better transparency of business transactions. In order to achieve this, the piece develops the history between Google Inc, and China, what went wrong, and other issues related to the breakdown. On January 25, 2006, the American company Google, Inc. announced that it would provide access to the Internet in China through a new portal named Google.cn. At the same time, Google executives agreed to censor all search results which included content considered objectionable by the Chinese government. With a population of 1.3 billion and a growing economy, China represents an enormously important market for the future of U.S. companies. The number of Internet users in the country has grown substantially over the past few years, and is currently estimated to have reached 111 million regular users. China, in fact, is now ranked as the second largest Internet market in the world. China's economy has grown consistently over the last 30 years at unprecedented rates, which has made it one of the most sought-after venues for investment by multinational corporations. With this, more Chinese have the means to purchase Internet access and devices. At the same time, Google has grown into one of the largest multinational companies in the world, and entered China in the early part of 21st century seeking to continue its growth. Rather than finding success, Google faced an array of problems. In fact, the Chinese government, however, offers all Internet search providers a difficult choice: either censor results or do not do business in China. With the introduction of Google.cn, Chinese Internet users could access the same search engine with a speed similar to that of Google.com in the United States. Instead of the Chinese government filtering search results, Google now routes the inquiry through their own servers and removes any officially banned content. Search results are typically returned within only a fraction of a second. Although Chinese users would have previously received the same limited results, Google had no role in the actual censorship of information until the debut of Google.cn.


Recognized to the influence of micropollutants, heavy metals represented on the ecological status of surface waters, including delta ecosystems, the paper aims to study the impact of environmental factors (temperature, pH, electroconductivitity, total salt content, dissolved oxygen content) the presence of heavy metals in the aquatic ecosystems of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve. In this paper special attention is given to the conservation of sampling and water samples, sediments, plankton and plant material, to the specific methods for the determination of heavy metals and physical-chemical indicators, and to the specific methods for quality assurance of chemical analysis. It presents a wide range of data on the concentration levels of heavy metals, both in terms of spatial distribution, and bioaccumulation in water samples, sediments, plankton and morphological parts of species that characterize the Reservation of aquatic ecosystems of the Danube Delta Biosphere, in terms of the levels and effects of heavy metal pollution.


OBJECTIVEDual antiplatelet therapy is required for the treatment of intracranial aneurysms with the Pipeline embolization device (PED). Platelet function testing (PFT) is often used to assess the efficacy of the antiplatelet regimen prior to PED placement. The optimal impedance values for whole blood aggregometry in this setting have not been defined.METHODSA retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database was performed for the years 2011-2015 to identify patients with intracranial aneurysms treated with the PED who underwent pretreatment PFT using whole blood aggregometry. Antiplatelet therapy was not altered based on PFT results; all patients remained on standard doses of aspirin and clopidogrel. Clinical, radiographic, and laboratory data were analyzed to identify the optimal cutoff impedance value for clopidogrel responsiveness using the receiver operating characteristic curve and Youden's index.RESULTSForty-nine patients underwent 53 endovascular procedures for the treatment of 76 aneurysms using the PED. The majority of these aneurysms were located in the anterior circulation (90.8%) and affected the internal carotid artery (89.5%). Patients in 30 procedures (56.6%) were identified as clopidogrel responders based on the manufacturer cutoff value (< 6 Ω). Thromboembolic complications occurred in 13 (24.5%) procedures; patients in 6 (11.3%) cases were symptomatic and those in 3 (5.7%) cases had ischemic strokes. Eleven of the 13 (84.6%) thromboembolic complications occurred in clopidogrel nonresponders. An impedance value of ≥ 6 Ω was independently associated with thromboembolic complications. The optimal electrical impedance value was identified as ≥ 6 Ω (sensitivity 84.6%, specificity 70.0%, area under the curve 0.77) for identifying clopidogrel nonresponders.CONCLUSIONSThromboembolic complications are more common following PED placement in patients who do not respond adequately to clopidogrel. Clopidogrel nonresponders can be identified using pretreatment whole blood aggregometry. The optimal cutoff value to categorize a patient as a clopidogrel nonresponder when using whole blood aggregometry is ≥ 6 Ω.


Emerging application domains such as interactive vision, animation, and multimedia collaboration display dynamic scalable parallelism and high-computational requirements, making them good candidates for executing on parallel architectures such as SMPs and clusters of SMPs. Stampede is a programming system that has many of the needed functionalities such as high-level data sharing, dynamic cluster-wide threads and their synchronization, support for task and data parallelism, handling of time-sequenced data items, and automatic buffer management. We present an overview of Stampede, the primary data abstractions, the algorithmic basis of garbage collection, and the issues in implementing these abstractions on a cluster of SMPs. We also present a set of micromeasurements along with two multimedia applications implemented on top of Stampede, through which we demonstrate the low overhead of this runtime and that it is suitable for the streaming multimedia applications.


A calculation of the wave functions round a vacancy in a metal has been carried out for a simple model. This corresponds to the case of a finite number of particles in a free-electron metal, with the boundary condition that the wave functions vanish on the surface of the spherical metal. Calculations are reported for particle numbers of approximately 2 x 102, 2 x 103 and 106. The density fluctuations in the unperturbed metal are found to be serious for the first two cases, but by consideration of the difference between the electronic density distributions in the perturbed and the unperturbed cases, extrapolation from the case of a relatively small number of particles to obtain results valid for very large numbers is shown to be feasible in the region surrounding the vacancy. The possibility of obtaining an accurate density difference by consideration only of states of low orbital angular momentum is exploited. Comparison is made between the finite metal results, existing Thomas–Fermi calculations, and a self-consistent von Weizsäcker calculation which is also reported here. By examination of the solutions of Poisson's equation, it is shown that the total charge density obtained by summing the squares of the normalized wave functions for the assumed Thomas–Fermi potential in the 106 particle case is such as to make this potential self-consistent to a good approximation. Our calculations also reveal long-range oscillations in the total perturbed electron density for finite metals. Although the amplitude of these oscillations decreases with increasing volume, extrapolation to the case of an infinite metal does not seem justified here. However, our calculations should provide an upper bound to the amplitude for the assumed potential, and the oscillations are small. Finally, brief reference is made to applications of the present results.


At the beginning of the 1990s, the Internet's various fragmented information networks were combined into one integrated network of systems. As a result, the commercial utilization of the Internet boomed, creating com- pletely new business models and economic structures in the process. A similar reaction is now anticipated from the digitalization of industry and society at large. However, the main question is: "How can all the separately structured, isolated systems be fused into one seamless network of systems?" So far, the problem has mainly been addressed from the standpoint of centralized and decentralized system architectures. Our analysis shows, however, that completely new and innovative technological approaches, such as the blockchain technology, are emerging to address this problem. These new distributed architecture solu- tions may completely revolutionize the anticipated structures and business models of the digitalization current- ly in progress, as they allow machines to autonomously share much more than just data, e.g. computing power, storage capacity or even electric power. As a result, understanding digitalization in its full capacity requires a systems approach and a new kind of higher-level thinking on the scale of a network of systems.


Robert D. Denham has collected in these volumes the 266 letters, cards, and telegrams that Helen Kemp and Northrop Frye wrote to each other during the six periods when they were apart, from the winter of 1931-32 until the summer of 1939. The letters form a compelling narrative of their early relationship. They tell of a romance in which two people fall in love, want to get married, and are confronted with obstacles blocking their path, including lack of money and the education they both need to advance their careers. But the story is much more than a romance. The letters reveal Frye's early talent as a writer, illustrating that both the matter and the manner of his criticism had begun to take shape when he was only nineteen. Helen Kemp's expressiveness and intelligence come through clearly in her letters, which were only discovered in 1992. Kemp and Frye share their thoughts on literature, music, religion, politics, education, and a host of other topics. They discuss their alma mater, Victoria College; artists and musicians of Toronto; southwestern Saskatchewan, where Frye spent a summer as a pastor on a United Church circuit; Frye's hometown, Moncton, New Brunswick; and Kemp's neighbourhood on Fulton Avenue in Toronto. We travel with them around the world, from Ottawa to Rome. We see through their eyes the early years of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, the struggles of the United Church of Canada, the activities of the Student Christian Movement, the appeal of Communism, the rise of fascism, and the beginnings of art education in the galleries of Canada.


The aim of this study is to adapt the Moral Integrity Scale developed by Sclenker (2008) to Turkish and conduct its psychometric analysis. The scale items were translated into Turkish by five specialists in the first place. After the language structure, culture suitability and understandability of the items were examined by the two experts, the items agreed upon were translated back to their original language by the two translation experts. After the positive evaluations of the experts, the final version of the scale items was decided. During the adaptation process of the study, data were collected from 470 people for exploratory factor analysis; from 248 people for confirmatory factor analysis and from 100 people for criterion validity. In this context, Exploratory Factor Analysis (AFA) was used to test the construct validity of the scale first. As a result of the exploratory factor analysis, it is seen that the moral integrity scale explains 52,127% of the variance as one dimension. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was then performed to test the construct validity of the scale. The one-dimensional and 18-item structure of the Moral Integrity Scale was analyzed with DFA and accepted fit indices were obtained (X2 / sd = 2.745; p <.001; RMSEA = 0.061; S-RMR = 0.051; NFI = 0.929; CFI = 0.954; GFI = 0.915; RFI = 0.919). In order to calculate the scale reliability, the Cronbach Alpha (α) internal consistency coefficients and the difference between the lower and upper scores of 27% were examined. For the Moral Integrity Scale, the internal consistency coefficient Cronbach's Alpha value was determined as 961. At the same time, the moral identity scale was used for criterion validity and a significant positive relationship was obtained with the two sub-dimensions of this scale. The total score obtained from the scale gives the person's moral integrity score. According to all these results, it is understood that the Moral Integrity Scale has sufficient validity and reliability values.


Kolmogorov's 'third hypothesis' asserts that in intermittent turbulence the average ε of the dissipation ε, taken over any domain D, is ruled by the lognormal probability distribution. This hypothesis will be shown to be inconsistent, save under assumptions that are extreme and unlikely. Further, a widely used justification of lognormality, due to Yaglom and based on probabilistic argument involving a self-similar cascade, will be discussed. In this model, lognormality indeed applies strictly when D is 'an eddy', typically a three-dimensional box embedded in a self-similar hierarchy, and may perhaps remain a reasonable approximation when D consists of a few such eddies. On the other hand, the experimental situation is described better by considering averages taken over essentially one-dimensional domains D. The first purpose of this paper is to carry out Yaglom's cascade argument, labelled as 'microcanonical', for such averaging domains. The second is to replace Yaglom's model by a different, less constrained one, based upon the concept of 'canonical cascade'. It will be shown, both for one-dimensional domains in a microcanonical cascade, and for all domains in canonical cascades, that in every non-degenerate caJe the distribution of ε differs from the lognormal distribution. Depending upon various parameters, the discrepancy may be either moderate, or considerable, or even extreme. In the latter two cases, high-order moments of E turn out to be infinite. This avoids various paradoxes (to be explored) that are present in Kolmogorov's and Yaglom's approaches. The third purpose is to note that high-order moments become infinite only when the number of levels of the cascade tends to infinity, meaning that the internal scale η tends to zero. Granted the usual value of η, this number of levels is actually small, so the representativity of the limit is questionable. This issue was investigated through computer simulation. The results bear upon the question of the extent to which Kolmogorov's second hypothesis applies in the face of intermittency. The fourth purpose is as follows. Yaglom noted that the cascade model predicts that dissipation only occurs in a portion of space of very small total volume. In order to describe the structure of this portion of space, it will be shown useful to introduce the concept of the 'intrinsic fractional dimension' A of the carrier of intermittent turbulence. The fifth purpose is to study the relations between the parameters ruling the distribution of η, and those ruling its spectral and dimensional properties. Both conceptually and numerically, these various parameters turn out to be distinct, which opens up several problems for empirical study.


It is a widely held belief that bilinguals have an advantage over monolinguals in executive control tasks, but is this an accurate reflection of all studies? The idea of a bilingual advantage may result from a publication bias favouring studies with positive results over null or negative effects. We examined the publication percentages of conference abstracts with results supporting or challenging the bilingual advantage. Studies with results fully supporting the bilingual-advantage theory were most likely to be published, followed by studies with mixed results. Studies challenging the bilingual advantage were published the least. This discrepancy was not due to differences in sample size, tests used, or statistical power. A test for funnel plot asymmetry provided further evidence for the existence of a publication bias.


BL Lacertae (Lac) objects that are detected at very high energies (VHE) are of fundamental importance to study multiple astrophysical processes, including the physics of jets, the properties of the extragalactic background light and the strength of the intergalactic magnetic field. Unfortunately, since most blazars have featureless optical spectra that preclude a redshift determination, a substantial fraction of these VHE extragalactic sources cannot be used for cosmological studies. To assess whether molecular lines are a viable way to establish distances, we have undertaken a pilot programme at the Institut of Millimetrique (IRAM) 30 m telescope to search for CO lines in three BL Lac objects with known redshifts. We report a positive detection of  M⊙ towards 1ES 1959+650, but due to the poor quality of the baseline, this value is affected by a large systematic uncertainty. For the remaining two sources, W Comae and RGB J0710+591, we derive 3σ upper limits at, respectively, and 1.6 × 109  M⊙, assuming a line width of 150 km s−1 and a standard conversion factor α = 4  M⊙ (K km s−1 pc2)−1. If these low molecular gas masses are typical for blazars, blind redshift searches in molecular lines are currently unfeasible. However, deep observations are still a promising way to obtain precise redshifts for sources whose approximate distances are known via indirect methods. Our observations further reveal a deficiency of molecular gas in BL Lac objects compared to quasars, suggesting that the host galaxies of these two types of active galactic nuclei (AGN) are not drawn from the same parent population. Future observations are needed to assess whether this discrepancy is statistically significant, but our pilot programme shows how studies of the interstellar medium in AGN can provide key information to explore the connection between the active nuclei and the host galaxies.


We present a quantum teleportation experiment in the quantum relay configuration using the installed telecommunication network of Swisscom. In this experiment, the Bell-state measurement occurs well after the entanglement has been distributed, at a point where the photon upon which data are teleported is already far away, and the entangled qubits are photons created from a different crystal and laser pulse than the teleported qubit. A raw fidelity of 0.93±0.04 has been achieved using a heralded single-photon source.


The internal braincase anatomy of the holotype of Alioramus altai, a relatively small-bodied tyrannosauroid from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia, was studied using high-resolution computed tomography. A number of derived characters strengthen the diagnosis of this taxon as both a tyrannosauroid and a unique, new species (e.g., endocranial position of the gasserian ganglion, internal ramification of the facial nerve). Also present are features intermediate between the basal theropod and avialan conditions that optimize as the ancestral condition for Coelurosauria—a diverse group of derived theropods that includes modern birds. The expression of several primitive theropod features as derived character states within Tyrannosauroidea establishes previously unrecognized evolutionary complexity and morphological plasticity at the base of Coelurosauria. It also demonstrates the critical role heterochrony may have played in driving patterns of endocranial variability within the group and potentially reveals stages in the evolution of neuroanatomical development that could not be inferred based solely on developmental observations of the major archosaurian crown clades. We discuss the integration of paleontology with variability studies, especially as applied to the nature of morphological transformations along the phylogenetically long branches that tend to separate the crown clades of major vertebrate groups.


The lasso is an important method for sparse, high-dimensional regression problems, with efficient algorithms available, a long history of practical success, and a large body of theoretical results supporting and explaining its performance. But even with the best available algorithms, finding the lasso solutions remains a computationally challenging task in cases where the number of covariates vastly exceeds the number of data points.

Marginal regression, where each dependent variable is regressed separately on each covariate, offers a promising alternative in this case because the estimates can be computed roughly two orders faster than the lasso solutions. The question that remains is how the statistical performance of the method compares to that of the lasso in these cases.

In this paper, we study the relative statistical performance of the lasso and marginal regression for sparse, high-dimensional regression problems. We consider the problem of learning which coefficients are non-zero. Our main results are as follows: (i) we compare the conditions under which the lasso and marginal regression guarantee exact recovery in the fixed design, noise free case; (ii) we establish conditions under which marginal regression provides exact recovery with high probability in the fixed design, noise free, random coefficients case; and (iii) we derive rates of convergence for both procedures, where performance is measured by the number of coefficients with incorrect sign, and characterize the regions in the parameter space recovery is and is not possible under this metric.

In light of the computational advantages of marginal regression in very high dimensional problems, our theoretical and simulations results suggest that the procedure merits further study.


Raman spectroscopy was used to show that across 10 cm of diaphyseal (mid-shaft) cortical bone the phosphate-to-amide I ratio (a measure of the mineral to collagen ratio) can vary by as much as 8%, and the phosphate-to-carbonate ratio (a measure of carbonate inclusion in mineral crystals) by as much as 5%. The data are preliminary but are important because they reveal a spatial variation at a scale that is much larger than many of the spectral maps reported in the literature to date. Thus they illustrate natural variation in chemical composition that could have been overlooked in such studies or could have appeared as an undue error where the overall composition of the bone was investigated. Quantifying the variation in mid-shaft cortical bone at the millimeter/centimeter scale reduces the possibility of natural heterogeneity obscuring the average bone composition, or being mistaken for experimental signal, and results in an improvement in the sampling accuracy analogous to that obtained by switching from micrometer-size point spectra of bones to spectral images obtained across hundreds of micrometers. Although the study was carried out using Raman spectroscopy, the underlying cause of the variation is ascribed to the variation of the chemical composition of the bone; therefore the findings have direct implications for other chemically specific analytical methods such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy or nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.


Current methods for reaching and defining success in society are not sustainable. A major shift in society's definition of economic success is required, and organizations represent a key leverage point in the transition to a sustainable economy. This research looks to practices within organizations with a sustainability purpose in an attempt to understand how their organizational culture creates an environment for continual strategic decision making towards sustainability. A combination of literature review and structured interviews were used to elicit the cultural practices of 18 organizations with a clear social and ecological sustainability purpose. The research confirmed the importance of organizational culture for maintaining alignment with a sustainability purpose by fostering motivation and commitment towards sustainability at both a collective and individual level in the organization. Eight overarching areas of practice were identified as being present in the organizations included in the study. The practices identified help organizations to act strategically and in the right direction towards sustainability on a daily basis, standing as a complement to the strategic prioritization model of the FSSD.


Summary The layering in the Hypersthene-gabbro of Centre II, Ardnamurchan has been mapped in as much detail as possible. The dips are confocal and steepen inwards, up to more than 50°, towards a central area occupied by later intrusions. The pattern of confocal dips is incomplete, partly because the eastern half of the gabbro has been cut out by Centre III intrusions and partly because the gabbro is not rhythmically layered throughout. There is convincing evidence that the layering was produced by bottom accumulation on successive floors which were more or less horizontal, so that the inward steepening must be due to later deformation. It is considered that the deformation concerned represents a downbending produced by movement on a ring fault, which is now obliterated. This process of cauldron subsidence dropped the central part of the gabbro to a lower level and permitted the emplacement of the next intrusion in the Centre II sequence, the granophyric quartz-dolerite. From a survey of the literature it would appear that there are other gabbros for which the attitude of the layering shows a pattern which we think may have been produced by cauldron subsidence.


This study examines Quevedo's La constancia y paciencia del santo Job from its biblical source text through to 16th and 17th century commentators and translators (Horozco y Covarrubias, Guillaume Du Vair, Jacques-Auguste de Thou, Jose Gallo, Cipriano de la Huerga, Diego de Zuniga, Juan de Pineda, etc.). In particular, I analyze the interpretation of Job 3,25-26. In his exegesis of the term indignatio, Quevedo imagines that the word does not refer to the wrath of God but to Job's indignation at the behaviour of the kings, his friends who although seeing him in trouble do not help him. With his use of this Biblical verse Quevedo makes an accusation against his own friends who do not come to his aid at the time of his captivity in the convent of San Marcos in Leon. Moreover, the notion of shame is closely examined through the studies of Rawls, Williams, Girard, Nussbaum.


The image change detection is been used in various applications like map updating, building change detection, disaster assessment, military application etc. In recent years image matching algorithm from computer vision have been introduced and used in satellite imagery. One of the important application of image change detection such as building change detection is discuss in this paper. When we are dealing with building change due to different imaging conditions 2D information obtain for different dates is not sufficient. It has been become difficult to distinguish the building changes from various man made construction such as roads and bridges due to similarity. So for to obtain the 3D building changes, stereo imagery is of importance. Therefore Digital Surface Model (DSM) and stereo imagery is used for building change detection. To detect the similarity information between two original images the Kullback Leibler Divergence(KLD) is preferred. Whereas Dempster Shafer Fusion theory (DS fusion) is used to combine the result of DSM and K L divergence, in order to improve accuracy. Image change detection can be used in both rural and urban area, image obtain from digital camera, satellite, Google earth, USGS etc. Detecting and monitoring urban area changes are of great relevance for city planning, environmental monitoring. In this we have shown an example of image change detection. Change detection by information measure using radio metric information at the level of pixel is not sufficient to discriminate the ground structure. So object based or structural based image descriptions are used to resolve the problem of radio metric information. If resolution of image is decreases than transform produce a non-linear temporal behavior which cannot be capture by linear transform change detection method. The image capture from satellite a DSM co-registration and refinement a pre processing is required.


Problem Statement: The use of self-report questionnaires may lead to biases such as careless responses that distort the research outcomes. Early detection of careless responses in self-report questionnaires may reduce error, but little guidance exists in the literature regarding techniques for detecting such careless or random responses in self-report questionnaires. Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this study was to examine whether the respondent"s goodness-of-fit test score (RGF) can be used to indicate careless responses in completing self-report questionnaires. It is hypothesized that there is a significant difference of RGF between careless responses and true responses and that RGF of careless responses is higher than RGF for true responses. Method: An experimental research design that made use of a self-reported questionnaire was conducted with 205 respondents divided into two groups. The first group responded truthfully to the questionnaire while the second group responded carelessly to the questionnaire. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire had been tested. One hundred and eighty five respondents were selected as the group of true responses, while another 20 respondents comprised the group of careless responses. T-test of independent sample was used to evaluate the different RGF among true responses and careless responses. Findings: After comparing the mean scores of RGF between careless responses and true responses, a significant difference was found. The frequency distribution of true responses tends to be normally distributed while the existence of careless responses creates a skewed distribution to the right. The RGF of careless responses is higher than the RGF of true responses. Conclusion and Recommendations: RGF may be used as an indicator of respondent"s careless responses in self-report questionnaires in which more accurate data are expected. Social science research that makes use of self-report questionnaire in measuring affective domain may compute RGF to determine whether careless responses exist. Keywords: Careless response, Questionnaire development, Random response, Goodness-of-fit.


Terraces in phylogenetic tree space are, among other things, important for the design of tree space search strategies. While the phenomenon of phylogenetic terraces is already known for unlinked partition models on partitioned phylogenomic data sets, it has not yet been studied if an analogous structure is present under linked and scaled partition models. To this end, we analyze aspects such as the log-likelihood distributions, likelihood-based significance tests, and nearest neighborhood interchanges on the trees residing on a terrace and compare their distributions among unlinked, linked, and scaled partition models. Our study shows that there exists a terrace-like structure under linked and scaled partition models as well. We denote this phenomenon as quasi-terrace. Therefore quasi-terraces should be taken into account in the design of tree search algorithms as well as when reporting results on 'the' final tree topology in empirical phylogenetic studies.


textabstractThe choice of a particular model in quantitative economic analysis reflects the economic
question analyzed, jointly with related economic theory and the specific structure of the
given data being analyzed. The degree to which economic theory or the data dominates
the analysis is an important strategic decision that the researcher has to face. In the first
strategy, the model is based mainly on a priori economic theory. Several contributions
in the economics literature, in particular those that occurred in the period just after the
second World War, are based on this strategy, suggesting explicit links between economic
theory, mathematics and statistics (see e.g. the contributions of the Cowles Foundation
for Research in Economics at Yale University. In the second strategy, which became more
popular during late nineteen seventies and early nineteen eighties, modeling is based more
on the data information, see e.g. Sims (1980). In the time series context, the advantages
of this data-based approach are addressed and it is mentioned that economic theory often
does not provide precise information on functional relationships between variables. A
good survey of this approach is given by Zellner and Palm (2004). These latter authors
conclude that the use of data information for discovering and repairing the defects of
proposed models are of crucial importance.
Common practice in empirical research is to combine these strategies in a meaningful
way, i.e. the constructed model is based on economic theory and the data information at
the same time. This combination of strategies is motivated by two arguments: On the one
hand, data information may not be informative enough. On the other hand, too strong
assumptions may affect the reliability of results and the forecasting performance. This thesis
considers the relatively more data-based approach in analyzing economic relationships
and provides alternative methods to avoid very strong assumptions in the analysis.
This thesis consists of two parts. The first part develops new econometric models with
a sufficient degree of flexibility to accommodate various forms and degrees of heterogeneity
in (the relations among) economic variables. The second part considers model uncertainty
issues providing new tools for evaluating to what extent one (or more) model is suitable
to the economic data at hand.


The closed-set speaker identification problem is defined as the search within a set of persons for the speaker of a certain utterance. It is reported that the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) classifier achieves very high classification accuracies (in the range 95% 100%) when both the training and testing utterances are recorded in sound proof studio, i.e., there is neither additive noise nor spectral distortion to the speech signals. However, in real life applications, speech is usually corrupted by noise and bandlimitation. Moreover, there is a mismatch between the recording conditions of the training and testing environments. As a result, the classification accuracy of GMM-based systems deteriorates significantly. In this thesis, we propose a twostep procedure for improving the speaker identification performance under noisy environment. In the first step, we introduce a new classifier: vector autoregressive Gaussian mixture (VARGM) model. Unlike the GMM, the new classifier models correlations between successive feature vectors. We also integrate the proposed method into the framework of the universal background model (UBM). In addition, we develop the learning procedure according to the maximum likelihood (ML) criterion. Based on a thorough experimental evaluation, the proposed method achieves an improvement of 3 to 5% in the identification accuracy. In the second step, we propose a new compensation technique based on the generalized maximum likelihood (GML) decision rule. In particular, we assume a general form for the distribution of the noise-corrupted utterances, which contains two types of parameters: clean speech-related parameters and noise-related parameters. While the clean speech related parameters are estimated during the training phase, the noise related parameters are estimated from the corrupted speech in the testing phase. We applied the proposed method to utterances of 50 speakers selected from the TIMIT database, artificially corrupted by convolutive and additive noise. The signal to noise ratio (SNR) varies from 0 to 20 dB. Simulation results reveal that the proposed method achieves good robustness against variation in the iii SNR. For utterances corrupted by covolutive noise, the improvement in the classification accuracy ranges from 70% for SNR = 0 dB to around 4% for SNR = 10dB, compared to the standard ML decision rule. For utterances corrupted by additive noise, the improvement in the classification accuracy ranges from 1% to 10% for SNRs ranging from 0 to 20 dB. The proposed VARGM classifier is also applied to the speech emotion classification problem. In particular, we use the Berlin emotional speech database to validate the classification performance of the proposed VARGM classifier. The proposed technique provides a classification accuracy of 76% versus 71% for the hidden Markov model, 67% for the k-nearest neighbors, 55% for feed-forward neural networks. The model gives also better discrimination between high-arousal emotions (joy, anger, fear), low arousal emotions (sadness, boredom), and neutral emotions than the HMM. Another interesting application of the VARGM model is the blind equalization of multi input multiple output (MIMO) communication channels. Based on VARGM modeling of MIMO channels, we propose a four-step equalization procedure. First, the received data vectors are fitted into a VARGM model using the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm. The constructed VARGM model is then used to filter the received data. A Baysian decision rule is then applied to identify the transmitted symbols up to a permutation and phase ambiguities, which are finally resolved using a small training sequence. Moreover, we propose a fast and easily implementable model order selection technique. The new equalization algorithm is compared to the whitening method and found to provide less symbol error probability. The proposed technique is also applied to frequency-flat slow fading channels and found to provide a more accurate estimate of the channel response than that provided by the blind de-convolution exploiting channel encoding (BDCC) method and at a higher information rate.


1065-6251 Copyr Current Opinion in Hematology was launched in 1994. It is part of a successful series of review journals whose unique format is designed to provide a systematic and critical assessment of the literature as presented in the many primary journals. The field of hematology is divided into nine sections that are reviewed once a year. Each section is assigned a Section Editor, a leading authority in the area, who identifies the most important topics at that time. Here we are pleased to introduce the Section Editors for this issue.


This report constitutes the last of a three-part series detailing the developments in the agriculture trade negotiations currently underway at the World Trade Organisation.

Building upon the first two reports in the series, the present report examines the salient issues emerging within the WTO agriculture negotiations. Bear in mind, though, when reading through this assessment, that by virtue of its early stage of development and its dynamism, the negotiation process continues to be very uncertain. Strategic alliances, such as the Cairns Group, although proving very successful in driving the negotiations' agenda on specific issues, may begin to weaken as the negotiation enters into more serious technical discussions and bargaining.

Since the last report, participation in the WTO agriculture negotiations has flourished, particularly from the African membership. In the interim between the Fifth and the end of the Sixth Special Session, 10 additional proposals were submitted bringing the total number of proposals to 44. Three technical submissions have also been received.

Perhaps, the most significant development to have occurred within the negotiations since the release of the last report has been the adoption of a work programme which will structure the next year of negotiations. This is important not simply because it signals the willingness of Members to proceed with the talks, but also because it moves the negotiation away from the posturing dialogue which characterised phase one and towards more technical dialogue better suited for concession bargaining

The report is subdivided into three main sections:

Section 1 is a brief introduction placing the agriculture negotiations within the logistical context of the WTO;
Section 2 extrapolates from the negotiation those themes that are gaining in significance as the negotiation progresses;
Section 3 provides descriptive and analytical detail of selected proposals that were submitted to the negotiation.
Section 4 discusses briefly those emerging themes which will be highly relevant to the negotiation in the coming months.
The methodology used in compiling this report combined extensive outreach to country delegates based in Geneva as well as representatives of local non-governmental organizations and intergovernmental organizations with a thorough assessment of the country proposals and official statements submitted to the WTO Secretariat during the course of the last several months.


Report issued by the U.S. Bureau of Mines discussing the mining of phosphate rock in Rich County, Utah. As stated in the introduction, "this information circular describes methods used in mining inclined beds of phosphate rock in mines operated by San Francisco Chemical Co." (p. 1). This report includes maps, illustrations, and photographs.


Germ cells are totipotent--they can give rise to all different cell types. Ciosk et al. now show that the translational regulators MEX-3 and GLD-1 maintain totipotency in the germ line of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. When these two factors were eliminated, ectopic cells were found in the gonad due to the differentiation of germ cells into somatic cell types such as muscle, neurons, and intestinal cells. This transdifferentiation was associated with a loss of germ cell features such as P granules and germ cell proteins. These "worm teratomas" may be useful as a genetically tractable model system for understanding teratoma biology. R. Ciosk, M. DePalma, J. R. Priess, Translational regulators maintain totipotency in the Caenorhabditis elegans germline. Science 311, 851-853 (2006). [Abstract] [Full Text]


This book explores one of the central questions that has haunted husbands and wives and lovers over the millennia of history: What kind of afterlife might they expect for their love once one or both of them have died? Focusing on the evolution of ideas about posthumous love within medieval and early modern Europe, the book includes many religions and cultures in order to understand how expectations about the afterlife differed across traditions.


This research evaluated the biopharmaceutical equivalence in vitro of three brands of glibenclamide 5-mg tablets (reference, brand name, and generic drugs) from Lima, Peru following the guidelines of the Biopharmaceutical Classification System (BCS). Glibenclamide is a BCS class 2 drug. Quality control parameters were evaluated including hardness, weight, friability, and drug content (hardness: 2.6–2.8 kg-f; weight [mean ± SD]: 103.3–109.8 mg ± 0.27–0.53; friability: 0.19–0.55%; content: 100.65–103.3%). To assess dissolution, apparatus 2 was used at 75 rpm, 900 mL of dissolution medium (37 ± 0.5 °C) at pH 6.8; simulated intestinal fluid without enzymes was used as the dissolution medium. Samples (5 mL) were withdrawn at 5, 10, 15, 30, 45, 60, and 90 min and analyzed at 300 nm in a UV spectrophotometer. Dissolution percentages were 52.79–59.78% at 15 minutes, 59.78–64.54% at 30 mins, 79.64–85.13% at 60 min, and 98.33–99.92% at 90 min. Based on the similarity factor (f2), the dissolution profiles of the brand name (66.61) and generic (70.10) drugs were considered similar to the reference drug (i.e., f2 50–100). Dissolution efficiency was greater than 70% and mean dissolution time exceeded 30 min (p > 0.05). According to the similarity factor and dissolution efficiency, the brand name and generic drugs are biopharmaceutical equivalents in vitro with the reference drug at pH 6.8, with a percentage difference < 5%. However, glibenclamide tablets cannot be exempt from relative bioavailability studies because they did not release at least 85% of the drug within 30 minutes.


A set of detailed geostatistical simulations of porosity has been produced for a layered stratigraphic sequence of welded and nonwelded volcanic tuffs at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The simulations are produced using a composite. model of spatial continuity and they are highly conditioned to abundant drill hole (core) information. A set of derivative simulations of saturated hydraulic conductivity has been produced, in the absence of conditioning data, using a cross-variable relationship developed from similar data elsewhere. The detailed simulations reproduce both the major stratigraphic units and finer scale layering indicated by the drill hole data. These simulations have been scaled up several order of magnitude to represent block-scale effective hydrologic properties suitable for use in numerical modeling of groundwater flow and transport. The upscaling process involves the reformulation of a previously reported method that iteratively adapts an initial arbitrary grid to ``homogenize`` the detailed hydraulic properties contained within the adjusted cell limits and to minimize the size of cell in highly heterogeneous regions. Although the computation of the block-effective property involves simple numerical averaging, the blocks over which these averages are computed are relatively homogeneous, which reduces the numerical difficulties involved in averaging non-additive properties, such as permeability. The entire process of simulation and upscaling is rapid and computationally efficient compared with alterative techniques. It is thus suitable for the Monte Carlo evaluation of the uncertainty in site characterization as it affects the results of groundwater flow and transport calculations.


This contribution addressed the question of epistemological transformation in the study of the Old Testament in South Africa. Epistemological transformation entails the way in which we think of knowledge: what do we teach, why do we teach the knowledge that we teach and how do we teach? This contribution focused on the first and second aspects of knowledge. The aspect of transformation brings to mind the post–1994 situation in South Africa. In view of the major transition South Africa has made in terms of an inclusive democratic dispensation this new state of affairs, combined with the past we came from, necessitates a process of epistemological transformation in the study of the Old Testament. At the occasion of the retirement of a colleague it might be appropriate to look back and open up some possibilities for the future of Old Testament studies in South Africa.


Summary: While states increasingly have the possibility to settle environmental disputes before various international courts and tribunals, the right of the EC Member States to use these fora is progressively restricted due to the expanding jurisdiction of the ECJ - at least as far as intra-EC Member States disputes are concerned. Thus, the possibility that the same environmental dispute could come before an international court/tribunal and the ECJ at the same time is rising. Accordingly, a concurrence between the jurisdiction of international courts/tribunals on the one hand and the ECJ on the other hand arises, which increases the possibility of conflicting judgments regarding the same dispute. In the first part of this two-part article ([2005] EELR 213-25) the author discusses two developments in international law in detail. First, the aspect of institutionalisation of international law and second, the danger of fragmentation of international law. He then turns to the developments in European law. In particular, this section analyses the precise extent of the jurisdiction of the ECJ in regard to international environmental law, the jurisprudence of the ECJ on international law issues and its effect on the competence of the EC Member States to utilise dispute resolution mechanisms outside the EC Treaty. As an illustration of the problems associated with the concurrence of jurisdiction, the author discusses the MOX plant and Ijzeren Rijn disputes.
This second instalment of the article analyses the consequences of the concurrence of jurisdiction on the basis of the MOX plant and Ijzeren disputes and wraps up the discussion by presenting a number of possible solutions.
As a caveat, it should be noted that this paper does not deal with arbitration proceedings involving private parties and their relationship with Community law and international law.


This study evaluated the activities of dentists, dental care and oral hygiene practices in the long-term care institutions of Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais, Brazil). A semi-structured questionnaire was handed out to the coordinators of 37 philanthropic and 30 private institutions. The data was compared by the chi-square and Fisher's Exact Tests. 81% of the questionnaires were answered. The majority of the private (74.2%) and philanthropic institutions (87%) do not have a dentist (p=0.21). The location, period of existence, type institution kind and number of residents weren't factors regarding the presence of a dentist (p>0.05). 67% of the philanthropic institutions with equipped consultation rooms had dentists, though there were none when there was no consultation room. Even without consultation rooms, 13% of the private institutions had dentists. When necessary, 69.6% of the philanthropic institutions refer the elderly to public health centers, while 58.1% of the private institutions refer them to their family dentists. A higher percentage of the private institutions adopted systematic oral hygiene procedures (p=0.01), with a considerable divergence of treatment reported. There is a need to include a dentist on the health staff in the institutions and for systematization of oral hygiene practices.


The Tragic Choices during the Covid Health Emergency: When the Resources are Limited, Who Should be Cured First among Several Patients? A Comparative Law Analysis
SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. L'approccio italiano: le raccomandazioni di etica clinica della SIAARTI e le linee guida SIAARTI-SIMLA - 3. La gestione della scarsità di risorse sanitarie a livello comparato - 4. Considerazioni (finali) comparatistiche - 5. Uno sguardo verso il futuro.
ABSTRACT: During the Covid-19 health emergency, a situation of scarcity of resources of different nature, albeit all somehow connected with the "medical world" (e.g. nurses and doctors), dramatically unfolded. This organisational "catch-22" induced the SIAARTI (the Italian Medical Society) to issue some recommendations of clinical ethics. The last ones turn out to be the subject matter of multiple criticisms: given the potential criteria of allocation of resources, one of those adopted the chronological one. Starting from this reflection, the paper discusses and analyses, from a comparative perspective, the approach taken by further countries: in this respect the demarcation lines existing between the Italian responses to the pandemic and those coming from other European - but not EU, namely Switzerland and the United Kingdom - countries will be highlighted.


Stigmatized minorities may have an advantage in persuading majority group members during some face-to-face interactions due to the greater self-presentational demands such interactions elicit. In contrast to models which predict greater persuasive impact of members of ingroups, White participants were more convinced by persuasive appeals delivered by a Black interaction partner than by a White interaction partner. When interacting with a Black partner, Whites engaged in greater self-presentation, which in turn made them more susceptible to their partner's persuasive appeal (Studies 1 and 2). This persuasive benefit of stigma was eliminated when participants were exposed to the same partners making the same arguments on video, decreasing self-presentational demands (Study 2). We conclude by discussing when stigma is likely to facilitate versus impair persuasion.


Although Chicago is considered to have one of the world's most beautiful and also stable waterfronts, much of its shore protection is in imminent danger of failure. Nearly 80% of Chicago's 48 kilometers of lakeshore is armored landfill. Approximately 30 kilometers of the armor was built in the early part of this century, and is close-driven wood piles capped with stepped cut-stone. The shore protection structures were built for an established design lake level which has been exceeded this year, and may be exceeded by 1 meter in the near future. Although the structures have held up remarkably well over the years, the rate of deterioration will accelerate if no action is taken to repair them. In two sections of the Chicago lakeshore that are not protected by landfill, residential buildings are undergoing storm wave attack due to loss of protective beaches. Short and long term management solutions include revetments and sheet pile reinforcement of the wood pile structures, and offshore breakwaters and islands to protect endangered buildings.


We introduce a formulation for the rate-distortion optimized transmission scheduling of packetized video that incorporates a new, more accurate model for Internet packet delay and loss. The model assumes that delays at successive transmission times form a 1st order Markov random process. The model uses feedback to learn about delays in the recent past, and finds delay distributions for later transmissions by chaining together approximated conditional delay distributions. In prior work, this model has proved to be more accurate than the iid /spl Gamma/ delay model commonly used for rate-distortion optimized streaming. In this work, we show how to use the new delay and loss model to perform rate-distortion optimized packet transmission scheduling. Our results show a more than 1 dB gain in scheduling performance for our new delay model over the iid /spl Gamma/ model, for streaming simulations conducted with measured Internet delay and loss traces.


Several research groups have shown how to correlate fMRI responses to the meanings of presented stimuli. This paper presents new methods for doing so when only a natural language annotation is available as the description of the stimulus. We study fMRI data gathered from subjects watching an episode of BBCs Sherlock [4], and learn bidirectional mappings between fMRI responses and natural language representations. We show how to leverage data from multiple subjects watching the same movie to improve the accuracy of the mappings, allowing us to succeed at a scene classification task with 72% accuracy (random guessing would give 4%) and at a scene ranking task with average rank in the top 4% (random guessing would give 50%). The key ingredients are (a) the use of the Shared Response Model (SRM) and its variant SRM-ICA [5, 24] to aggregate fMRI data from multiple subjects, both of which are shown to be superior to standard PCA in producing low-dimensional representations for the tasks in this paper; (b) a sentence embedding technique adapted from the natural language processing (NLP) literature [3] that produces semantic vector representation of the annotations; (c) interpretably using previous timestep information in the featurization of the predictor data.


The cognitive map and the use of names
In this paper, the author attempts to provide a general summary of the relationship between the cognitive map and spatial concepts on the one hand, and between the onomasticon related to the cognitive map and discourses about space on the other hand, focusing on universal as well as culturally specific features. To this end, the author summarizes and interprets all the relevant results of national and international research from the areas of geography, socio-geography, anthropology, psychology, socio-onomastics and cognitive linguistics. Space is made up of different places and their relationships, which are represented on the cognitive map. At the same time, the development of the cognitive map is governed by many factors. In addition to one's own experiences of the geographical environment. A significant proportion of geographic knowledge also results from different sources or from a combination of sources. In this context, the linguistic-cultural background also influences the individual's geographical concepts and spatial cognition. At the same time, there are general features, organizing principles in spatial cognition resulting from the mechanisms of cognition, which influence the development of the mental map and name-giving practices as well. A good example is that one can only define a place in relation to another place, and this relation is often reflected in place names. Closely connected to this, is the view of centre-periphery relations in space, which is often manifested in discourse about places and sometimes in the meanings of place names, as well. The connotative meaning attached to words can also be mentioned as a common feature, and this is present both in the organization of discourse about space and in place names. These interrelated principles may apply in different ways to different areas, communities and cultures.


This paper proposes a preprocessing stage to augment the bank of features that one can retrieve from binary images to help increase the accuracy of pattern recognition algorithms. To this end, by applying successive dilations to a given shape, we can capture a new dimension of its vital characteristics which we term hereafter: the shape growth pattern (SGP). This work investigates the feasibility of such a notion and also builds upon our prior work on structure preserving dilation using Delaunay triangulation. Experiments on two public data sets are conducted, including comparisons to existing algorithms. We deployed two renowned machine learning methods into the classification process (i.e., convolutional neural network-CNN- and random forests-RF-) since they perform well in pattern recognition tasks. The results show a clear improvement of the proposed approach's classification accuracy (especially for data sets with limited training samples) as well as robustness against noise when compared to existing methods.


Minority views on technical issues are largely absent from the public arena. Increasingly corporate organization of science has led to knowledge monopolies, which, with the unwitting help of uncritical mass media, effect a kind of censorship. Since corporate scientific organizations also control the funding of research, by denying funds for unorthodox work they function as research cartels as well as knowledge monopolies. A related aspect of contemporary science is commercialization. Science is now altogether different from the traditional disinterested search, by self-motivated individuals, to understand the world. What national and international organizations publicly proclaim as scientific information is not safeguarded by the traditional process of peer review. Society needs new arrangements to ensure that public information about matters of science will be trustworthy. Actions to curb the power of the monopolies and cartels can be conceived: mandatory funding of contrarian research, mandatory presence of contrarian opinion on advisory panels, a Science Court to adjudicate technical controversies, ombudsman offices at a variety of organizations. Most sorely needed is vigorously investigative science journalism.


EDITOR,-Please see below (panel) guidelines for imaging children who present to the A&E department as a result of head injuries. We have managed to achieve a temporary consensus (at least) between the A&E department, radiology department, two paediatric neurologists, and a paediatric neurosurgeon, which must be some form of record! The reason for devising local recommendations came about as we felt that the Royal College of Radiology guidelines booklet paid insufficient attention to the needs of children presenting to A&E as a consequence of a variety of head injuries.' Although guidelines for managing adult patients with head injuries can be applied to children, the indications for skull radiography and emergency CT scanning can be different in a paediatric population, and so we have made our own modifications.'2 Our local recommendations are based somewhat loosely on the RCR guidelines booklet for skull radiography in adults.' Despite the wide availability of CT scanners, we are aware of no imaging protocol or strategy, specifically for the paediatric population with head injuries, that includes a rational use of both skull radiography and CT.134 Our recommendations are intended to act as a guide to paediatricians and A&E staff managing children with head injuries-a full clinical history where possible and sensible clinical judgement are necessary for this to be implemented properly. These recommendations will hopefully provide a framework within which judgement can safely be exercised, particularly by inexperienced staff. We accept that there are certain inherent limitations to our approach, for example a clear history of unconsciousness can be difficult to elicit in some children and the exact significance of a fall of approximately 1 metre on to a hard surface has not, to the best of our knowledge, been clearly defined. Similarly, vomiting more than twice may be a relative rather than an absolute indication for admission. Despite these limitations, we believe our recommendations are a useful guide in the management of children with head injuries in the A&E department. A fundamental question arises regarding the need to perform skull radiographs in children who appear well but who have a "medium risk of intracranial injury". Our justification for this is that some cases of unexpected non-accidental injury are picked up in this manner. Similarly, many head injuries are not witnessed and so their severity is difficult to estimate-clinical management can often depend on the skull radiographic findings. Although most children with skull fractures do not develop serious intracranial complications, fractures are more common among children who develop such complications.4 Finally, we would be interested to hear how this problem is approached in other centres managing children with head injuries.


NOT CHANGING LOOKS. PRESENTATION OF CRUELTY AND EVIL IN THE FILMS OF ANDRZEJ WAJDAAmong Andrzej Wajda's legacy, the image of the totalitarian regime and its repercussions for people, countries, and humanity holds a significant place. Films of Andrzej Wajda, who was a liaison officer in the anti-Hitler Polish underground, are a kind of chronicle of the survivors of twentieth century. The article is dedicated to study the various forms of evil and its effects on real people. The study is applicable for our time because the world again deals with the recidivism of evil which the Soviet government spread in its own country and beyond its own borders. In the USRR, the perception of Andrzej Wajda's films was dependent on the political play in action: when the relations between two countries were friendly, he received awards, however after the Solidarity was established, no one ever mentioned Wajda. The epic work Danton, about the French revolution, made in France during times difficult for Poland because of the martial law imposed on Poland, reveals the effects of revolution that paradoxically destroyed its most dedicated revolutionists, including Danton. Wajda's refusal to American producers to direct a motion picture based on a screen play of Aleksander Slozenicyn had se-rious reasons, primarily commitment to his homeland. He made up for the missed opportunity to show Stalin's evil empire when he shot the film Katyń. This word echoes deep tragedy in the heart of every Pole and the director succeeded in portraying the cruelty of mechanism of punishment in totalitarian USRR. The second most important aspect was the discovery of the lies of this regime, which tried to place the responsibility for the execution of Polish officers on the Nazis. After a premiere of Katyń in Ukraine, Andrzej Wajda was awarded the medal of Jaroslaw Madry. The article also includes the theme of influence of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novels on Andrzej Wajda's work — the director not only used Dostoyevsky's work for his filmmaking and staging, but as well he was inspired by Dostoyevsky's deep analysis of dangerous social phenomena and the courage in discovering the evil. In Wajda's films, which belongs to the so-called "cinema of moral unrest", the tragic fate of a talented journalist Jerzy Michalowski, the hero of film Bez znieczulenia who personalizes the characteristics of a professional  and a good man, simply horrifies. In his last film Powidoki, the director masterfully shows circles of hell survived by avant-garde artist Wladyslaw Strzeminski, the lecturer of Fine Arts Academy. All the films mentioned above are deemed necessary warning for future generations, they cannot put up with the aggression — on a political and private levels. Wajda's lessons are universal, timeless, and everla-sting, like an eternal battle of good against evil.


Teacher talk is a major way in which instructors support and provide scaffolding for their students, frame their pedagogies, model ways of thinking, and convey ideas. Effective teacher talk about engineering design at all levels of students' educational experiences has the potential to better prepare students for success in engineering and increase the diversity of engineering fields. However, the most effective ways for teachers to talk to their students during engineering design are not well understood. This three-study dissertation examines the ways in which instructors use talk to interact with their students through a variety of different engineering design settings and contexts, with potential implications to improve and educate how teachers present engineering to their students. Overall, this thesis addresses the research question: How do instructors (teachers and professors) use talk interactions to scaffold students in engineering design? The first study is a case study that focuses on the whole class verbal interactions of an experienced and successful teacher throughout the entirety of a month-long life science-based STEM integration unit in a 6th grade classroom. Results show that this teacher's talk helped to integrate engineering with the science and mathematics content of the unit and modeled the practices of informed designers to help students learn engineering in the context of their science classroom. He framed lessons around problem scoping, incorporated engineering ideas into scientific verbal interactions and aligned individual lessons and the overall unit with the engineering design process. The second study uses naturalistic inquiry to examine how six different teachers of 6th, 7th, and 8th grades talked to their students while the students were actively working in small teams on engineering design projects. Results indicate that the teachers had conversations with the students about many areas of engineering, demonstrating that middle school teachers can have high-level conversations with their students about their design ideas. However, when students struggle to communicate their ideas, the different levels of support outlined in the coding framework and examples provide a structure of support for teachers to give their students. Additionally, there were many areas of engineering that were underemphasized in the teachers' talk and each teacher had different emphasis. The third study examines how professors in mechanical and biomedical engineering talk to their students during introductory engineering design projects. Results show that the three professors used their talk to support their role as a guide and mentor to students during their projects, although they had different goals with their mentoring. They used their talk to push students' ideas to consider their problems more broadly, encouraged students to brainstorm diverse out-of-the-box ideas, supported teaming, and modeled engineering language. They maintained a focus on non-technical content, including the iterative nature of design, teaming, and communication, but made references to how students would apply this knowledge in future, more technical projects. The professors supported many challenges for novice designers, including supporting prototype development to represent ideas and iterating to improve their ideas, but were not comprehensive in their support of other challenges, especially problem scoping, testing and troubleshooting, and reflecting on the process. The final chapter of this dissertation presents a synthesis across the three studies and a summary of the implications for teaching. These implications include many examples of high-quality engineering conversations with students at different levels of their education, identification of aspects of engineering education that are underemphasized in teachers' talk to their students, and connections to needed areas of support and professional development for teachers.


Abstract In efforts to fight fraud and abuse in health care organizations, the federal government is increasingly relying on the False Claims Act and qui tam suits brought by whistleblowers. This article argues this approach is dysfunctional for both the whistleblowers and the organizations targeted by them. The article proposes that enhanced standards, strong individual inner controls, both informed by virtue ethics and utilized by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) during the health care organization accreditation process, offer a better alternative than the current retributive approach now used by the federal government. Introduction Since the mid-1990s, the federal government increasingly relies on whistleblowing as a method to control fraud, waste and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Although not the result of a single, specific policy decision, several factors combined to create the situation. First, in 1986, an amendment to the Federal False Claims Act made the filing of whistleblower suits much easier. Second, in 1995 in an effort to combat fraud, waste and abuse in both Medicare and Medicaid, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) implemented a new anti-fraud, waste and abuse program called "Operation Restore Trust" or (ORT). Elected officials and managers, who worked in the program offices of both Medicare and Medicaid programs, and even the general public, were concerned about fraud, waste and abuse for years. Medicare alone lost $20 billion in 1997 to fraud, waste and abuse. This translates to a loss of 11 cents of every Medicare dollar spent in the United States (HCFA, 2000). Although we will not know the exact dollar amount of Medicare and Medicaid lost to fraud, waste and abuse a reduction of any sort in the losses will not only result in a financial savings for the taxpayers, but will provide a much needed increase in public confidence in the future integrity of the programs. As a method to achieve these ends, whistleblowing is not without its hazards. For example, very often during the process of disclosure the individual whistleblower is placed at extreme personal and professional risk. Although the False Claims Act allows for potential financial gain for the successful whistleblower, many whistleblowers ultimately regret their decisions. Moreover, as this article will argue in a subsequent section, many of the organizations targeted by whistleblowers suffer both during and long after the original allegation. This article argues that whistleblowing is dysfunctional for both whistleblowers and their organizations. Health care organizations, whose primary mission is to care for the sick and injured in an increasingly competitive marketplace, can ill afford such a dysfunction situation. Yet, fraud, waste and abuse in health care persist and public managers and policy makers should not ignore it. This article suggests that our health care organizations need alternative methods that do not cause disruption and dysfunction to address the problem of fraud, waste and abuse in health care. According to Fletcher, Sorrell and Silva (1998), private health care accrediting organizations (such as the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, or JCAHO) can provide a viable alternative to whistleblowing, but only if the JCAHO goes beyond mere compliance with standard practices. This article also argues the JCAHO accreditation process can provide an alternative to whistleblowing, but only if the JCAHO includes a strong ethical grounding in its approach to health care accreditation. The article examines the potential for virtue ethics, as first described by Aristotle, and later developed by Lynch and Lynch (1997) as an ethical mind-set for managers in both public and private sector organizations, to provide just such an ethical grounding for the JCAHO standards. …


ABSTRACT Artemisinin (ART) resistance has spread through Southeast Asia, posing a serious threat to the control and elimination of malaria. ART resistance has been associated with mutations in the Plasmodium falciparum kelch-13 (Pfk13) propeller domain. Phenotypically, ART resistance is defined as delayed parasite clearance in patients due to the reduced susceptibility of early ring-stage parasites to the active metabolite of ART dihydroartemisinin (DHA). Early rings can enter a state of quiescence upon DHA exposure and resume growth in its absence. These quiescent rings are referred to as dormant rings or DHA-pretreated rings (here called dormant rings). The imidazolopiperazines (IPZ) are a novel class of antimalarial drugs that have demonstrated efficacy in early clinical trials. Here, we characterized the stage of action of the IPZ GNF179 and evaluated its activity against rings and dormant rings in wild-type and ART-resistant parasites. Unlike DHA, GNF179 does not induce dormancy. We show that GNF179 is more rapidly cidal against schizonts than against ring and trophozoite stages. However, with 12 h of exposure, the compound effectively kills rings and dormant rings of both susceptible and ART-resistant parasites within 72 h. We further demonstrate that in combination with ART, GNF179 effectively prevents recrudescence of dormant rings, including those bearing pfk13 propeller mutations.


I. INTRODUCTION II. CAPTAINING THE FALSE CLAIMS ACT INTO UNCHARTED WATERS A. The Explosion of the False Claims Act B. Novel and Expansive Legal Theories Continue to Emerge III. THE HEIGHTENED IMPORTANCE OF EVIDENCE FROM GOVERNMENT ENTITIES A. Average Wholesale Price Litigation B. Off-Label Marketing of Pharmaceuticals Litigation C. Federal Funding Challenges IV. UNIQUE ISSUES OF SPOLIATION IN FALSE CLAIMS ACT LITIGATION A. An Unregulated Seal Period and Generous Statute of Limitations Can Delay False Claims Act Cases Indeterminately B. The Lack of a Clear "Trigger Date " Can Delay Preservation Efforts C. The Scope of the Government's Duty to Preserve Evidence in False Claims Act Cases Can Be Unclear D. The Government's Outdated Position on the Relevance of "Government Knowledge " Evidence Can Contribute to Spoliation V. RECOMMENDATIONS A. Increased Court Attention to Spoliation Issues in FCA Actions B. Improved Guidance for Government Attorneys C. Defendants Should Actively Seek to Protect The Preservation of Evidence Spurred by treble damages, substantial penalties, and lucrative relator awards, litigation under federal and state False Claims Act ("FCA ") statutes has exploded in recent years. Much of that explosion stems from aggressive and creative legal theories that challenge controversial industry practices or even well-known loopholes or waste in government policy. Evidence from governmental entities can be critically important in litigating these FCA claims. Unique aspects of False Claims Act actions, however, can aggravate the risk of losing this important evidence, leaving the parties, judges, and juries without the evidentiary record necessary to equitably adjudicate these disputes. Defendants can face the risk of treble damages, substantial penalties, or worse without the opportunity to build their defense before evidence is destroyed. Calling on his first-hand experience litigating FCA cases, the author highlights the risk of government spoliation in FCA cases and provides recommendations for courts and counsel to address this escalating problem. I. INTRODUCTION On a near-daily basis, the legal press brings word of a new, novel theory of liability under the False Claims Act ("FCA"), a federal law imposing liability on persons and companies who defraud the government. In this environment, alleged malfeasance with any feasible connection to government funds could invite exposure to treble damages, substantial statutory penalties, or worse under the FCA and its state law companions. Government contractors face potential FCA liability on all matters of contractual disputes, including those related to the costs of shipping, feeding overseas troops, the pricing for computer software, and providing nonconforming parts to the military. (1) Banks face FCA claims ranging from alleged failures to follow mortgage approval standards to assertions that inflated foreign exchange rates defrauded pension funds. (2) Pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers face myriad FcA allegations, from promoting the "off-label" use of drugs and misreporting drug prices to alleged violations of FDA regulations in connection with securing drug approvals and misrepresenting the efficacy of drugs. (3) Even alleged recruiting violations and misstatements in accreditation certifications by educational institutions can give rise to FcA claims. (4) And these are just a handful of seemingly endless possibilities. The FcA promotes new targets and theories with substantial financial awards for those who formulate them. FcA actions are typically filed in the first instance by private citizen "relators"--often former corporate employees or other "industry insiders"--who stand to recover 15 to 30% of any recovery. (5) The risks posed by treble damages, substantial penalties, and threats of exclusion from government programs or criminal liability has led to breathtaking settlements in recent years that run into the hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars. …


Prior research examines practitioner, investor, and executive perceptions of corporate tax planning. However, little is known about how the typical U.S. consumer views corporate tax planning. We examine consumers' perceptions of corporate tax planning using both survey and experimental methods. First, we survey U.S. consumers and find that while most express negative preferences for tax planning, they rank it at the bottom of purchase decision factors. Few consumers recall ever seeing a negative media article about taxes. Thus, while consumers state a preference against corporate tax planning, that preference is not particularly strong. However, for the minority of consumers who have read negative articles about a firm's tax planning, a significant portion claim to have changed their purchasing behavior accordingly. Second, we use an experiment to investigate the consumer effects of tax planning, randomly treating consumers with exposure to news about tax planning and imposing real economic consequences on the participants. We find that consumers exposed to negative tax information about a firm are significantly less likely to prefer receiving a gift card from that firm, suggesting that there is an effect of tax planning on consumer preferences even in the presence of a real economic consequence.


Previous studies regarding static energy meter errors under non-sinusoidal load conditions have shown that these meters can produce erroneous readings. This paper describes an investigation done using loads consisting of a commercial lighting dimmer in combination with either a resistive heater or an array of various energy-saving lamps. Dimmer impedance and phase firing angle were gradually adjusted to change load conditions. Several meters showed dramatic variations in metering error under different load conditions. In the most extreme case, metering errors ranged from five times the energy consumed by the load to registering almost no energy. Though perhaps not typically found in households, the load combinations used in this study were able to highlight sensitivities of different static energy meters to changes in load conditions.


The possibility of achieving nanometer-scale sensitivity in a surface-enhanced Raman (SERS) experiment while using larger-sized probes (0.1-1 mum) is investigated. The application targeted is carbon film transformation under high-energy beam irradiation, and, primarily, the transformation of amorphous carbon into nanocrystalline graphite. The carbon film covers nanometer-size Ag particles which enhance the signal from zones of material adjacent to them. This geometry gives access to the film/substrate interface, and in this way it complements scanning near-field techniques which have similar spatial sensitivity but are mainly surface sensitive. The SERS effect has been studied as a function of the Ag nanoparticle size, carbon film thickness, and excitation wavelength. A selective enhancement of the Raman cross section of the D band of amorphous carbons was observed. The dielectric properties of the carbon film, when used as an overlayer, strongly affect the SERS enhancement, so that changes in the dielectric function upon irradiation can be used to produce local enhancement contrast, and to establish an identification procedure for material transformation.


"This volume was developed in collaboration with founders of important and exemplary artist-run spaces of the 1960s-1970s. It represents the first extensive research on this subject and introduces spaces such as Art Metropole in Toronto, Artpool in Budapest, Ecart in Geneva, Franklin Furnace in New York, MOCA in San Francisco, La Mamelle in San Francisco, Printed Matter in New York, Western Front in Vancouver, and Zona in Florence, whose founders include Carl Andre, John Armleder, AA Bronson, Sol LeWitt, Lucy Lippard, Tom Marioni, and Maurizio Nannucci. At a time of transition to new aesthetic approaches, these artists promoted community spirit and organizational skills, pioneering a revaluation of traditional art concepts.
The book documents not only the activities of these spaces, but also maps the artistic strategies and positions that took currency during this period. It thus shows how the inner life of collective self-organization and the exchange between like-minded artist-run spaces developed dynamically." -- Site web de l'editeur.


According to World Health Organization reports, the root of applied researches problems in developing countries are running the researches based on academic researchers' interests as well as decision-making in executive systems based on their managers' experiences. The problems will be eliminated by stakeholders' participation. In 2001, the Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach was proposed to engage the stakeholders in Iran's research projects. This approach not only would enable the community, but also could change the researchers' view on the researches process. It also helps the researchers to apply the researches findings. So, the Population Lab strategy, as a relevant infrastructure to establish CBPR approach, was selected. The strategy was started by 13 Universities of Medical Sciences in Iran. After three years; a qualitative research was done to evaluate the stakeholders' challenges and obstacles to participate with the population labs. We formed 5 discussion groups and accomplished Focus Group Discussions (FGD) in the groups around five main axes. We collected the stakeholders' opinions during the FGDs until data saturation were obtained. According to the data analysis, the most important challenges were distrust, lack of commitment and determination among policy-makers and decision-makers to engage the stakeholders. Besides, the stakeholders' mistrust in their role recognition in partnership was one of the main challenges. Since one of the main principles of sustainable and comprehensive development is to employ local methods, it seems lack of a localized model of stakeholders' participation reduced participation of stakeholders in participatory researches.